Indonesian Terrorists 'Infiltrating Islamic Schools': At Least 198 Islamic Boarding Schools Have Ties To Terrorist Networks
New
Age Islam News Bureau
27
January 2022
Anti-terror
police conduct a raid in Tangerang, near Jakarta, on May 16, 2018, following a
spate of terror attacks in Indonesia. (Photo: AFP)
----
• No
One Allowed To Raise Jihad Funds In Islamic State: Lahore High Court
• Afghanistan
"Hanging By A Thread": UN Urges Taliban To "Seize The
Moment"
• Islamic
State Terrorists Surrender To Kurds At Captured, Child-Filled Prison
• French
Channel Slammed For 'Insulting And Dishonest' Report On Muslims
Southeast Asia
• Why
Muslim-Majority Indonesia Moved Its Capital To Nusantara That’s Steeped In
Hindu Heritage
• China
supplies mounted howitzers to Pak to maintain arms parity with India
--------
Pakistan
• Nationwide
protests against murder of journalist in Pakistan
• Fighting
Taliban and mistrust, Pakistan marks one year polio-free
• Women’s
role in promoting peace vital: Ashrafi
• Pakistan
urges UNSC to note India’s crimes in occupied Kashmir
• Jamaat-i-Islami
to hold its own long march to Islamabad
• Terrorist
killed in North Waziristan operation
• One
killed in police violence at MQM protest against Sindh LG laws
--------
South Asia
• Bangladeshi
Christians Live In Fear Amid Eviction Threats
• Bangladesh
Keen To Work With India To Realise Shared Vision Of Building Peaceful And
Prosperous Region: PM Hasina
• UN
chief urges major Afghan aid increase, unfreezing assets
• Taliban
Govt Stops Media Outlets From Holding Conference
--------
Arab World
• Saudi
Arabia, UAE, UK, US condemn Houthi attacks, reaffirm support for Gulf security
• UAE
prosecutors summon people who posted videos of Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi
• How
attack on Kurdish-run prison in northeast Syria will affect Islamic State
• Syria:
SDF says it has retaken Hasakah prison from Islamic State fighters
• New
mosque in Fujairah with capacity to accommodate 600 worshippers opened
• UAE
discussing defence upgrade after Houthi attacks: Envoy to UN
--------
Europe
• UK
Muslim Leader Says Islamophobia Survey Reveals Scale Of Problem In Britain
• France
targets groups, websites with expanded powers under anti-terror law
• UK
govt suffers court defeat after citizenship appeal by alleged Daesh member
• Ex-Irish
Soldier Justified Jihad Before Joining IS, Witness Says
• Bosnia
Crisis: Why Muslims Could Once Again End Up In Mass Graves
• Anti-Turkey,
anti-Islam circles exist in European Parliament: Turkey rapporteur
• Muslim
boy referred to UK government anti-extremist program
• Family
of murdered Yasmin Chkaifi praise ‘hero’ driver who tried to stop attacker
--------
India
• At
UNSC Meet, India Seeks ‘Concrete Progress’ By Taliban On Terror Group Support
• Students
Islamic Organisation Hyderabad Organises Blood Donation Camp On Republic Day
• Two
Islamic Seminaries Celebrate Republic Day In Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian
District
• India
slams Pakistan for raising Kashmir at UN
• Focus
on trade and connectivity as PM Modi set to host first India-Central Asia
summit
--------
Mideast
• Iranian
President: Israeli Regime Enemy of Humanity
• Navy
Commander: Enemies’ Dream of Pushing Iran Out of Scene Never Comes True
• Israel’s
President to visit Turkey in February: Erdogan
• FM:
Iran Resolved to Broaden Ties with African States
• Iran’s
Top Commander Warns of Israel’s Threat to Regional Security
• Iran
Urges UNSC to Address Violation of Human Rights in Palestine, Yemen
• At
a West Bank outpost, Israeli settlers flaunt their power
• 5
Yemenis killed in Houthi shelling on residential area in Marib province
• Israel
requests Germany’s help to reach prisoners swap deal with Hamas
--------
Africa
• Unrest
In Libya Caused Instability In West Africa: Ugandan President
• EU
‘Strongly’ Condemns Coup In Burkina Faso
• UN
mission says it operates under Sudan’s request amid protests
• At
least 1 killed, 2 wounded as bomb blast hits teashop in Somalia
• We
lost three men, eight cows poisoned in Southern Kaduna – Miyetti Allah
• Jordan
armed forces kill 27 drug smugglers attempting to enter from Syria
• Burkina
Faso’s defence minister arrested: Media reports
--------
North America
• US
To Shut Down Afghan Embassy, Strip Diplomats Of Immunity: Sources
• US
appreciates Kuwait’s support for mutual return to compliance with Iran nuclear
deal: Blinken
• US-brokered
maritime border talks with Lebanon to resume next week: Israel
• UN
warns Afghanistan facing intimidation, stark rights decline
• Qatari
emir to meet US president next week: White House
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/indonesian-terrorists-islamic-school/d/126252
--------
Indonesian
Terrorists 'Infiltrating Islamic Schools': At Least 198 Islamic Boarding
Schools Have Ties To Terrorist Networks
Anti-terror
police conduct a raid in Tangerang, near Jakarta, on May 16, 2018, following a
spate of terror attacks in Indonesia. (Photo: AFP)
----
Katharina
Reny Lestari
January
26, 2022
At
least 198 Islamic boarding schools have ties to terrorist networks, according
to Indonesia’s National Counterterrorism Agency.
Agency
chief Boy Rafli Amar made the claim at a meeting with MPs on Jan. 25, saying
the assessment was a result of the agency’s terrorism prevention efforts last
year.
“There
are 11 Islamic boarding schools with ties to Jamaah Ansharut Khilafah, 68 with
Jemaah Islamiyah and 119 with links to [Jamaah] Ansharut Daulah, an Islamic
State affiliate,” he said.
Jemaah
Islamiyah, which has links to al-Qaeda, has been blamed for a series of
terrorist attacks in Indonesia and Southeast Asia over the past few decades,
including the 2002 Bali bombings and attacks on Christian churches.
Jamaah
Ansharut Khilafah, believed to operate in Central Java province, was
established in 2015 by a former leader of Jemaah Islamiyah's education
division.
Stanislaus
Riyanta, an intelligence analyst from the state-run University of Indonesia,
said the revelation should come as no surprise and indicated terrorist networks
were changing tactics.
“Instead
of using terror, they are targeting religious activities to gain influence in
society. They can infiltrate Islamic boarding schools easily and spread their
radical ideology like a Muslim cleric delivers a sermon,” he told UCA News.
He
said terrorist networks are using Islamic boarding schools as tools to meet
their goal.
“They
want to gain political power. So, the first thing they need to do is recruit
more members,” he said.
He
said a concerted effort to root out such extremism in these schools is needed
by the state.
“Make
sure these schools stick to the existing curriculum on Islamic religious
education and their teachers are thoroughly vetted. Parents also need to be
extra careful about which school to send their children,” he said.
Franciscan
Father Vinsensius Darmin Mbula, chairman of the National Council of Catholic
Education, called the revelation “worrying,” especially for Christians who have
often been the targets of extremists.
“Islamic
boarding schools must be managed inclusively and build good relations with
others. It’s distressing to hear about such links to extremists,” he told UCA
News.
He
said the government needs to act quickly to turn these schools away from
extremism and to prevent others from falling under its spell.
Source:
UCA News
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https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesian-terrorists-infiltrating-islamic-schools/95869#
--------
No
One Allowed To Raise Jihad Funds In Islamic State: Lahore High Court
Lahore
High Court (Photo| Special Arrangement)
----
January
27, 2022
LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court has ruled that inciting public to raise funds for ‘Jihad’
(holy war) is not allowed to individuals in an Islamic state as this may be
considered as “Baghawat” (treason).
“At
the most it may be a job of the state to collect national funds for a declared
war, if essential, which cannot be raised privately by any organisation,” a
two-judge bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi explains in a verdict,
dismissing appeals of two men convicted for raising funds for proscribed
militant outfit Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
An
anti-terrorism court of Sargodha had handed down five-year imprisonment each to
the appellants –Muhammad Ibrahim and Ubaidur Rehman -- in January 2021.
As
per the prosecution story, the police on a tip-off arrested Ibrahim and
recovered 136 pamphlets, one used and two unused subscription books of the
banned outfit and cash, whereas a receipt of donation was recovered from
Rehman, besides other material.
The
counsel for the appellants argued that neither any other donor, nor the person
to whom the funds were transferred, was arrested, nor any membership card of
the proscribed organisation was recovered from the appellants.
Justice
Najafi, the author of the verdict, rejected the arguments, saying no mala fide
of the police witnesses was even alleged to cast aspersion on their
credibility.
He
observes that the display of different heads on the pamphlet was not essential
as the fact remains that the TTP is a defunct and proscribed organisation which
has caused damage not only to the state institutions and targeted the state
high functionaries, but also intensified the wave of terrorism in the past,
which would not have been possible without financial support.
The
judge maintains that the prosecution proved the case against the appellants on
the basis of direct evidence beyond reasonable doubt.
Source:
Dawn
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click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Afghanistan
"Hanging By A Thread": UN Urges Taliban To "Seize The
Moment"
"Without
action, lives will be lost, and despair and extremism will grow," UN Chief
said.
----
January
27, 2022
United
Nations: The Taliban must uphold the fundamental human rights of women and
children, the United Nations chief said Wednesday, urging the international
community to release frozen Afghan aid to prevent families from selling their
babies to buy food.
Secretary-General
Antonio Guterres also warned that "Afghanistan is hanging by a
thread" as millions of impoverished citizens struggle to survive amid
deteriorating humanitarian conditions.
"We
urge the Taliban to seize this moment and garner international trust and
goodwill by recognizing -- and upholding -- the basic human rights that belong
to every girl and woman," Guterres told a UN Security Council meeting.
He
expressed concern about recent reports of arbitrary arrests and abductions of
women activists, saying: "I strongly appeal for their release."
At
the same time, he added, "I appeal to the international community to step
up support for the people of Afghanistan," including by releasing aid
funds in Washington that remain frozen by the World Bank and the US government.
Over
half of all Afghans face "extreme levels of hunger," Guterres told
the council, and "some families are selling their babies to purchase
food."
China's
UN ambassador Zhang Jun mentioned the case of one woman who "sold her two
daughters and a kidney" to feed her family.
"This
is a human tragedy," he said, implicitly urging Washington to lift
"unilateral sanctions" and ease the freeze on Afghan assets.
The
United Nations continues to call for "a relaxation of those
sanctions" which squeeze the economy and prevent the full delivery of
essential services, UN envoy to Afghanistan Deborah Lyons told the council via
videolink.
Guterres
said international aid agencies and donors "need to jump-start
Afghanistan's economy through increased liquidity," including $1.2 billion
from a World Bank-managed fund for Afghanistan's reconstruction that has been
frozen since the fundamentalist Taliban took over last August as US forces
exited.
"Without
action, lives will be lost, and despair and extremism will grow," he said.
Naseer
Ahmad Faiq, charge d'affaires of Afghanistan's mission, also weighed in at the
meeting, stressing he was speaking "on behalf of the people of
Afghanistan" to condemn actions by the country's new rulers.
"I
call on the Taliban to put an end to these human rights violations, honor their
general amnesty, allow women to work and open the doors of schools and
universities for girls," said Faiq.
No
country has recognized the Taliban government.
Taliban
officials recently held talks with Western powers in Oslo to address the
humanitarian crisis, with Western diplomats linking humanitarian aid to
Afghanistan to an improvement in human rights.
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Wednesday's
session of the 15-member Security Council sought to clarify the mandate of the
UN political mission in Afghanistan.
The
mandate expires March 17 and must be reviewed to account for the Taliban's
return to power.
Source:
ND TV
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click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Islamic
State Terrorists Surrender To Kurds At Captured, Child-Filled Prison
Members
of the Syrian Democratic Forces after the six-prison siege ends. Photograph:
AFP/Getty Images
-----
26
Jan, 2022
The
Kurdish-led SDF have beaten off Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists at
the al-Sina’a prison in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka.
In a
tweet on Wednesday, spokesman Farhad Shami confirmed the victory, stating that
all IS militants had surrendered just hours after 500 handed themselves over
following earlier clashes.
“Game
Over Daesh,” he wrote in a subsequent tweet.
Shami
shared photos from the prison in the aftermath of the battle.
His
tweets made no reference to the 850 children and minors the UN children’s
agency believes to have been caught in clashes at the prison complex.
UNICEF
has registered its concern for the fate of the children who had been living
alongside some 5,000 prisoners since it was seized by militants last Thursday.
“Every
day counts. It’s very hard to even imagine what atrocities these children are
witnessing,” UNICEF’s Middle East and North Africa regional advocacy and communications
head, Juliette Touma, said on Tuesday.
The
children, who had reportedly been detained for suspected links to IS during the
US-backed campaign in 2019, were being held in a dormitory at the facility. The
SDF said IS militants had been holed up in the building.
The
Kurdish-led forces claimed the children were being used as a “human shield.”
Sina’a
prison is the largest facility operated by the SDF.
Source:
RT
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.rt.com/news/547435-islamic-state-terrorists-surrender-kurds/
--------
French
Channel Slammed For 'Insulting And Dishonest' Report On Muslims
French
journalists are accused of indulging in anti-Muslim propaganda in the run-up to
the country's presidential elections.
-----
January
26, 2022
Working
in cahoots with the state, French journalists are accused of indulging in
anti-Muslim propaganda in the run-up to the country's presidential elections.
According
to critics, French journalists, in coordination with the country's intelligence
services, have produced a documentary targeting Muslims in the country.
Aired
on Sunday evening, M6, a local French channel broadcast a report on its program
"Forbidden Zone" titled: "Faced with the danger of radical
Islam, the responses of the State".
One
of the Muslims featured in the film, a young woman, Lilia Bouziane, said she
was the victim of manipulation.
Bouziane
said that she was ambushed by the show, which she believed would be about the
views of young people towards secularism.
Instead,
the law student in Lyon said the show had used selected quotes that aimed to
affirm the state's narrative against Muslims.
In an
impassioned video on social media, Bouziane says, "women have been silent
for too long. Today, Lilia Bouziane, a Muslim and French woman, will not be silent,
and I will not let this kind of thing go. I have been betrayed and manipulated
by journalists of Forbidden Zone."
One
former French minister seeing Bouziane on TV following the airing of the show
said, "She does not want to take off her hijab and wants to become a
lawyer. It's simple, let her go and live in a Muslim state…!"
Flagrant
Islamophobic speech in France has become the norm in recent years, often
couched in the language of secularism.
One
critic of the former minister ridiculed the comment saying, "there is no
incompatibility between being a professional lawyer and wearing the veil."
The
report on "Forbidden Zone" sought to frame Muslim shops and
organisations set up by Muslims to facilitate their religious practice and the
transmission of it to their children as something dangerous and a form of
radical Islam.
The
journalists of Forbidden Zone sought to create the impression that certain
innocuous practises specific to Muslims, which the show considered
"extreme", consisted of activities like teaching the Quran to
children or wearing the long veil by women.
Throughout
the programme, the journalist sought to demonstrate how Muslims in France
tried, by all means, to circumvent the republican laws and the framework of
secularism in France.
One
human rights defender said that following the broadcast by "Forbidden
Zone", the French State "decided to close these shops because they
sell Islamic outfits, eyeless dolls and religious books! #SeparatismLaw has
consequences on Muslims freedoms."
A
left-leaning politician in France was also scathing of the TV report accusing
the country's right-wing interior minister Gerald Darmanin of playing politics
with Muslims in the run-up to the presidential elections to be held in April.
"Three
months before the presidential elections, the report by #ZoneInterdite on M6 in
Roubaix is a gutter report, insulting and dishonest. We already know the
beneficiary of this propaganda: the minister of the Interior," said the
left-leaning politician.
One
of France's most far-right, racist and Islamophobic politicians and
presidential candidate, Eric Zemmour, referred to the Muslim communities that
appeared on the show as "Afghanistan two hours from Paris."
A
French court recently found Zemmour guilty of racist hate speech for a televised
tirade against unaccompanied child migrants in September 2020.
Zemmour
has "normalised extreme far-right rhetoric in the mainstream which is no
longer confined to the fringes of French society," a human rights defender
recently told TRT World.
Recently
a study in France revealed a strong tendency by the country's media to give
far-right voices airtime and amplify their fringe views.
The
study went on to add that the right and the extreme right parties and voices
are overrepresented in the country's media outlets.
Source:
Trt World
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click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Southeast Asia
Why Muslim-majority Indonesia moved its capital to Nusantara that’s steeped in Hindu heritage
Jan
26, 2022
The
southeast Asian nation of Indonesia's plan to relocate its capital from the
heavily polluted and sinking Jakarta took its most significant step last week
when the country's parliament approved a bill to shift the capital to an
earmarked 256,000-hectare plot of land in East Kalimantan.
Indonesia
President Joko Widodo took to Twitter to confirm the same, adding that the new
capital will be called Nusantara which translates to 'archipelago' in Javanese.
According
to reports, the name was chosen from a shortlist of 80 others for its easily
recognisable character. However, there's a lot more behind the decision.
Minister of National Development Planning Suharso Monoarfa told parliament that
the president sought to highlight Indonesia's diversity through the new
capital. “So Nusantara is a unity concept that accommodates all of our
diversity, whether in race, language, or ethnicity, and the new Indonesia
capital, under that name will reveal that reality,” he said.
While
Nusantara may literally translate to 'archipelago' in Javanese, it also,
curiously, has roots in Indonesia's history with Hinduism. According to census
data from 2010, roughly 87 per cent of Indonesians identified themselves as
Muslim, followed by 9.87 per cent who were Christian. Hinduism was the
third-most common religion in the country, accounting for just 1.7 per cent of
Indonesia's nearly 250 million-strong population.
However,
the country, and especially Bali, has a long history with Hinduism. Before
Hinduism and Buddhism reached Indonesia's shores, its indigenous population's faith
was grounded in animist beliefs. But following the establishment of trade
networks from China to India during the 1st century, Hinduism reached the
western archipelago.
The
religion was embraced by indigenous rulers who viewed it as a powerful vehicle
to consolidate their status as rightful authorities. Pre-existing animist
beliefs were blended with Hinduism to form a hybrid religion that deviated
quite significantly from the kind of Hinduism practised in India.
Hinduism
thrived in Kalimantan, Sumatra and Java between the 5th and 13th centuries
until the last major empire, Majapahit (1293 – 1527). The legend goes that
Gajah Mada, the prime minister of the Majapahit empire during the 14th century
vowed not to eat any food containing spices until he had conquered all of
Nusantara.
Given
the reach of the Majapahit empire, he likely meant to include present-day
Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, southern Thailand and Timor Leste. Mada would,
ultimately, succeed in unifying the entire archipelago or Nusantara, cementing
his revered status in Indonesian history. The Majapahit empire, which was the
last of the Hindu kingdoms, stayed in power till the early 16th century when it
finally fell at the hands of Islamic conquerors.
Source:
Times Now News
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China
supplies mounted howitzers to Pak to maintain arms parity with India
Jan
27, 2022
By
Shishir Gupta
In a
move that ensures that Pakistan continues to remain locked up in confrontation
with India, Islamabad has received first batch of Chinese manufactured vehicle
mounted howitzers to counter the Indian K-9 Vajra howitzers. Beijing is also
supplying NORINCO AR-1 300 mm multi barrel rocket launchers to Rawalpindi so
that the Pakistan Army has a reply to Indian rocket launchers. The total
contract worth is around USD 512 million.
The
supply of conventional weapon systems, fighter aircraft, destroyers and even
the inclination to give DF-17 hypersonic missile to counter India’s latest
acquisition, the S-400 air defence system, are all part of Beijing long
strategy to keep Rawalpindi GHQ in a state of permanent confrontation with
India. This strategy has paid dividends to Beijing regime in the past as forces
India to remain alert on its western border with a power that boxes much above
its weight category due to heavy lift from China, be it in international fora
or in military or nuclear parity. The role played by Beijing in developing
Pakistan into a nuclear state along with the covert supply of delivery systems
since 1990s is all well documented.
According
to reports, Pakistan in 2019 signed a contract with Chinese arms major NORINCO
to supply 236 SH-15 155 mm vehicle mounted howitzers apart from AR-1 heavy
rocket launchers. In addition to artillery, the contract also includes supply
and technology transfer for various ammunition including extended range
artillery shells and guided artillery shells with the range of 53 kilometers. Clearly,
this supply is to boost the firepower of Pakistan army all along the western
border, specially to heat up the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in case
the existing ceasefire breaks down or to send a message on Kashmir.
The
reported supply of DF-17 mobile, solid fueled medium range ballistic missile by
China to Pakistan is to pump up Rawalpindi’s ballistic missile system as the
hypersonic missile is difficult to track by most existing radars and equally
difficult to engage by existing surface to air missile systems including S-400
system. Mounted on a hypersonic glide vehicle, the DF-17 is said to have a
combination of maneuverability and high speed that poses significant challenges
to conventional missile defence. China has tested the DF-17 missile at least
nine times since 2014 and is said to have 1950 km range with a speed of at
least five times that of sound or Mach 5.
While
India also tested its scramjet powered Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator
Cruise Vehicle (HSTDV) on September 7, 2020 for launch of hypersonic missiles,
the Chinese supply will clearly force Defence Research and Development
Organization to speed up the indigenous project.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Pakistan
Nationwide
protests against murder of journalist in Pakistan
Jan
27, 2022
LAHORE:
Apart from the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), Pakistan Federal
Union of Journalist (PFJU) hundreds of Electricity, Water & Power
Development Authority (WAPDA) workers held protests across the country over the
killing of journalist Hasnain Shah and demanded that the authorities
immediately arrest and punish his murderers.
They
also urged the government to provide journalists with security, The News
International reported.
Hasnain
Shah, a crime reporter on a private TV channel, was shot dead outside Lahore
Press Club.
According
to a statement issued by the CPNE, Shah was shot by unidentified assailants on
a motorcycle while sitting in his car outside the Lahore Press Club, according
to Express Tribune
Highlighting
the failing "law-and-order situation" in the country, the Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the killing of the Lahore
journalist.
"HRCP
condemns the assassination of Capital TV journalist Hasnain Shah, who was
killed in broad daylight on Davis Road in Lahore earlier today. This is yet
another testament to the failing law-and-order situation and the increased
vulnerability of journalists," the HRCP has said in a statement.
PFJU
President Shehzada Zulfiqar condemned the incident, saying that the provincial
government has failed to maintain law and order in the city.
The
journalist union demanded the authorities arrest the suspects at the earliest.
The
Lahore Economic Journalist Association also condemned the killing and said that
the lives of journalists are not safe and the administration has failed to
protect them.
Lahore
Press Club President Azam Chaudhry said a journalist's murder in front of the
press club in broad daylight is a moment of reflection for the government.
He
added that the incident would not go unnoticed and the authorities will be held
responsible if culprits are not apprehended soon.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Fighting
Taliban and mistrust, Pakistan marks one year polio-free
Jan
27, 2022
MARDAN,
Pakistan: Bathed in crisp morning light, Sidra Hussain grips a cooler stacked
with glistening vials of polio vaccine in northwest Pakistan.
Watching
over Hussain and her partner, a policeman unslings his rifle and eyes the
horizon.
In
concert they begin their task -- going door-to-door on the outskirts of Mardan
city, dripping bitter doses of rose-coloured medicine into infants' mouths on
the eve of a major milestone for the nation's anti-polio drive.
The
last infection of the wild poliovirus was recorded on January 27, 2021,
according to officials, and Friday marks the first time in Pakistan's history
that a year has passed with no new cases.
To
formally eradicate the disease, a nation must be polio-free for three
consecutive years -- but even 12 months is a long time in a country where
vaccination teams are in the crosshairs of a simmering insurgency.
Since
the Taliban takeover of neighbouring Afghanistan, the Pakistan version of the
movement has become emboldened and its fighters frequently target polio teams.
"Life
or death is in God's hands," Hussain told AFP this week, amid a patchwork
of high-walled compounds in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
"We
have to come," she said defiantly. "We can't just turn back because
it's difficult."
Nigeria
officially eradicated wild polio in 2020, leaving Pakistan and Afghanistan as
the only countries where the disease -- which causes crippling paralysis -- is
still endemic.
Spread
through faeces and saliva, the virus has historically thrived in the blurred
borderlands between the South Asian nations, where state infrastructure is weak
and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have carved out a home.
A
separate group sharing common heritage with the Afghan Taliban, the TTP was
founded in 2007 and once held sway over large swathes of the restive tribal
tracts of Pakistan.
In
2014 it was largely ousted by an army offensive, its fighters retreating across
the porous border with Afghanistan.
But
last year overall militant attacks surged by 56 per cent according to the
Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, reversing a six-year
downward trend.
The
largest number of assaults came in August, coinciding with the Taliban takeover
of Kabul.
Pakistan's
newspapers are regularly peppered with stories of police slain as they guard
polio teams -- and just this week a constable was gunned down in Kohat -- 80
kilometres (50 miles) southwest of Mardan.
Pakistani
media has reported as many as 70 polio workers killed in militant attacks since
2012 -- mostly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Still,
a TTP spokesman told AFP it "never attacked any polio workers", and
that security forces were their target.
"They
will be targeted wherever they perform their duties," he said
Mardan
deputy commissioner Habib Ullah Arif admits polio teams are "a very soft
target", but says the fight to eradicate the disease is entwined with the
security threat.
"There
is only one concept: we are going to defeat polio, we are going to defeat
militancy," he pledged.
Pakistan
anti-polio drives have been running since 1994, with up to 260,000 vaccinators
staging regular waves of regional inoculation campaigns.
But
on the fringes of the country, the teams often face scepticism.
"In
certain areas of Pakistan, it was considered as a Western conspiracy,"
explained Shahzad Baig -- head of the national polio eradication programme.
The
theories ranged wildly: polio teams are spies, the vaccines cause infertility,
or contain pig fat forbidden by Islam.
The
spy theory gained currency with the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, whose
hideaway in Abbottabad was revealed to the United States -- unwittingly or
otherwise -- by a vaccine programme run by a Pakistani doctor.
"It's
a complex situation," said Baig. "It's socio-economical, it's
political."
The
porous border with Afghanistan -- a strategic crutch for the TTP -- can also
keep polio circulating.
"For
the virus, Pakistan and Afghanistan were one country," said Baig.
In
Mardan, 10 teams -- each comprising two women and an armed police guard -- fan
out across the city's suburbs as morning turns to afternoon.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Women’s
role in promoting peace vital: Ashrafi
January
27, 2022
Islamabad
: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Religious Harmony Maulana Tahir
Ashrafi said the women had a pivotal role in promoting peace, tolerance, and
harmony in society.
He
was addressing a seminar on "Role of Islamic Women Scholars for Creating
Peace in Society" organized by the Shariah Academy of International Islamic
University (IIU) on the Faisal Masjid Campus.
Maulana
Tahir Ashrafi said that there are campaigns such as Islamophobia that are
designed to hurt the image of Islam, women can help end such lethal and fake
campaigns by disseminating the true message of Islam to the world.
He
said Islam is a staunch supporter of women's rights as it has provided many
prerogatives to women including inheritance and their participation in society.
"The
role of mother, sister, and daughter creates a balance in society," he said.
Referring
to the challenges of the hour, he said the solution to social problems lies in
strengthening the relationship with Allah. He furthered that promoting
tolerance in society is the solution to many problems.
Discussing
the Paigham-e-Pakistan narrative, the PM's aide said the message of
Paigham-e-Pakistan is based on discouraging violence, oppression, terrorism,
and bigotry and at the same time it teaches interfaith harmony. He also shed
light on the rights of minorities.
Speaking
on the occasion, former ambassador Naila Chauhan said that women have been
given the right to play their role in society by both Islam and the
constitution of Pakistan.
She
urged the students to focus on their destination, consider the obstacles along
the way as temporary, and have their faith in Almighty Allah. On the occasion,
the organizer of the seminar and Director-General Shariah Academy, Prof. Dr.
Farkhanda Zia thanked the distinguished guests for attending the seminar.
She
also shed light on the activities held under the banner of the Daughters of
Pakistan narrative and highlighted the aims and objectives of the program, as
well as the role of women in promoting peace in society.
Dr.
Amna Mahmood of the Politics and IR Department of the Female Campus of the
University also expressed her views during the seminar on the significant role
of women in society.
Source:
The News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/928505-women-s-role-in-promoting-peace-vital-ashrafi
--------
Pakistan
urges UNSC to note India’s crimes in occupied Kashmir
Anwar
Iqbal
January
27, 2022
UNITED
NATIONS: Pakistan has urged the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to take
cognisance of the compelling evidence of India’s crimes in occupied Jammu and
Kashmir and to hold accountable the Indian officials and personnel responsible
for these crimes.
Speaking
in a Security Council debate on “Protection of civilians in armed conflict”,
Ambassador Munir Akram accused India of financing, sponsoring and supporting
terrorist attacks against Pakistan, including from the territory of
Afghanistan.
“India
has funded and supported UNSC listed terrorist entities to carry out
cross-border terrorist attacks against Pakistani military and civilian
targets,” he said, citing a 2020 attack on the Karachi Stock Exchange, a recent
terrorist attack in Lahore and the killing of Chinese and Pakistani engineers
at Dasu last year.
Pakistan
released a comprehensive and well-researched dossier last year on India’s
involvement in terrorist attacks inside Pakistan and on the crimes committed by
Indian officials in occupied Kashmir. The report included audio and video
evidence of 3,432 cases of war crimes perpetrated by senior officers of the
Indian occupying forces since 1989.
Responding
to Pakistan’s statement, India claimed that “the entire Union Territories of
Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were, are and will always be an integral and
inalienable part of India, irrespective of what the representative of Pakistan
believes”. He also repeated New Delhi’s claim that Azad Kashmir too belonged to
India and urged Pakistan to “immediately vacate all areas” under its control.
In a
counter-response, Pakistan rejected India’s claims and reminded the Security
Council that terrorism in South Asia originated from India.
“They
have sponsored terrorism in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and all other
neighbours and history will attest to that,” he said.
At a
news briefing in New York earlier this week, UN Secretary General Antonio
Guterres clarified that the United Nations still regarded Jammu and Kashmir as
a disputed territory and this dispute needs to be resolved in accordance with
UN resolutions passed since the beginning of the discord more than 70 years
ago.
“We
have, as you know, a peacekeeping operation there. We are of course committed,”
the UN chief said, recalling that he has offered his “good offices” several
times to resolve this dispute.
“And
we hope that this is something that can be solved peacefully and that the
situation in Kashmir is a situation in which human rights are respected and in
which people can live in peace and security,” Mr Guterres said.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1671698/pakistan-urges-unsc-to-note-indias-crimes-in-occupied-kashmir
--------
Jamaat-i-Islami
to hold its own long march to Islamabad
January
27, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
After the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has also
announced that it will hold its own “decisive” long march on Islamabad in
March.
The
announcement was made by JI secretary general Amirul Azeem after presiding over
a meeting of the party office-bearers from northern Punjab at the party’s
Rawalpindi office on Wednesday.
The
JI secretary general said the party had decided to hold anti-government long
marches at tehsil, district and provincial level from Feb 6 which would
continue till March, when a “final and decisive” long march towards the capital
would be held against the government.
He
said that the party had already made planning for the protest campaign during
which 101 sit-ins would be arranged in various parts of the country.
The
PDM had already given the call for a long march to Islamabad on the Pakistan
Day to protest against the unprecedented price-hike and inflation in the
country.
Besides
the PDM, the other opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has also given a
separate call for a long march from Sindh to Islamabad on February 27.
Talking
to reporters after a meeting of the PDM component parties in Islamabad on
Tuesday, PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman had expressed his annoyance over
the PPP’s decision to hold its own long march.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1671633/jamaat-i-islami-to-hold-its-own-long-march-to-islamabad
--------
Terrorist
killed in North Waziristan operation
January
27, 2022
PESHAWAR:
A terrorist was killed during an intelligence-based operation in Spinwam area
of North Waziristan district on Wednesday, Inter-Services Public Relations said
in a statement issued here.
The
statement said the IBO was conducted on the reported presence of a terrorist in
the area.
It
said that during intense exchange of fire, a terrorist identified as Saddam was
killed.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1671678/terrorist-killed-in-north-waziristan-operation
--------
One
killed in police violence at MQM protest against Sindh LG laws
January
27, 2022
KARACHI:
Police in Karachi clashed overnight with activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement
(MQM) demanding the repeal of the contentious local government laws to limit
the powers of mayors, killing one, officials said Thursday.
The
violence erupted when police swung batons and fired tear gas to prevent rallygoers
from marching towards government offices in the city, drawing nationwide
condemnation across the political spectrum.
The
MQM told reporters that party member Mohammad Aslam died at a hospital after
being injured in the ensuing crash with police. Women and children were also
among the dozens of injured.
MQM
mainly represents ethnic migrants, or Muhajirs, who fled to Pakistan from India
during the Partition, and it dominates politics in Karachi. It is an ally in
the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan at the Centre.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
South Asia
Bangladeshi
Christians Live In Fear Amid Eviction Threats
January
27, 2022
Christians
in the Dyenna area of Bangladesh’s Tangial district are living in fear after
local people's representatives threatened to evict them and stop the
construction of a church.
Pastor
Mrinal Kanti Baul of the Evangelical Holiness Protestant Church complained that
they were being stopped from building the church by members of the ruling party
in a village located some 100 kilometres from national capital Dhaka.
“The
constitution of Bangladesh has given us freedom of religion. But here I’m being
prevented from building a church and being threatened with expulsion from the
village. We have informed the administration in writing,” he told UCA News.
The
latest incident occurred on Jan. 22 but church leaders said they were first
attacked by local Muslim mobs soon after they purchased the land and started
building a church in 2013.
The
evangelical church has been operating in the Dyenna area since 2010. The
village has about 25 active members while their congregation across Bangladesh
is 3,000-strong.
Accused
Dyenna Union Council Chairman Afzal Hossain denied the allegations against him,
saying that many local Muslims gathered near the under-construction church and,
anticipating some trouble, he had asked for help from the administration.
“I
did it for the good of the Christian community. I am obliged to act according
to what the administration says,” Hossain told UCA News.
District
Commissioner Ataul Gani told UCA News that he had heard of the incident and
asked police to investigate. “I have told the local Christians to report any
further problem to the police and action will be taken in the matter,” he said.
A
leader of the Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Unity Council in Tangail
district, speaking on condition of anonymity, said interfering with religious
freedom does not behoove a civilized man.
Source:
UCA News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.ucanews.com/news/bangladeshi-christians-live-in-fear-amid-eviction-threats/95874
--------
Bangladesh
keen to work with India to realise shared vision of building peaceful and
prosperous region: PM Hasina
Jan
26, 2022
DHAKA:
Bangladesh is keen to work with India towards realising the shared vision of
building a peaceful and prosperous region, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on
Wednesday as she extended greetings to her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi and
the people of India on the country's 73rd Republic Day.
In a
letter written to Modi, Hasina said the year 2021 was a “historic one” for the
Bangladesh-India relationship, marked by celebrations of “epochal” events and
engagements at the highest levels.
"On
behalf of the Government and the people of Bangladesh and on my own behalf, I
extend the warmest wishes and heartiest felicitations to you and the People of
India on the auspicious occasion of the Republic Day of India," she said.
Hasina
said the unique ties of close friendship, cooperation and trust between the two
countries have flourished and grown from strength to strength in recent years.
Many
new frontiers of cooperation alongside all traditional areas have been
identified, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.
"We
look forward to working with India in the next fifty years and beyond, towards
realising the shared vision of building a peaceful and prosperous region,"
she said.
Hasina
said she "thankfully" recalled Modi's visit to Dhaka in March last
year to join the celebrations of the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's
independence, the birth centenary of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh
Mujibur Rahman and 50 years of establishment of diplomatic ties between
Bangladesh and India.
“Your
gracious presence on these occasions had added extra enthusiasm to the
celebrations and allowed us to further consolidate our excellent bilateral
relations, which so happily exist between our two countries," she wrote in
the letter.
Hasina
said she recalled with gratitude the support rendered by the government and the
people of India during Bangladesh's Liberation War in 1971 and said this set
the foundation of "our unique relationship."
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN
chief urges major Afghan aid increase, unfreezing assets
27
January ,2022
The
UN chief urged nations Wednesday to greatly boost humanitarian aid for millions
of Afghans living in “a frozen hell” and release nearly $9 billion in frozen
assets to pull Afghanistan’s economy back from the brink of a collapse that
could set off a mass exodus of people fleeing the country.
“Time
is of the essence,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security
Council. “Without action, lives will be lost, and despair and extremism will
grow.”
Guterres
said liquidity must be urgently restored to the Afghan economy. He said that
means freeing up the country’s frozen currency reserves, re-engaging with its
Central Bank and finding other ways to inject money, including allowing
international funds to pay the salaries of doctors, teachers, sanitation
workers, electricians and other civil servants.
China
and Russia reiterated their calls for unfreezing Afghan assets, while US
Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the Biden administration is examining
“various options to ease the liquidity crunch.”
She
said the United States, which announced an initial contribution of $308 million
in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan on January 11, remains the largest provider
of assistance to the country. But she said that “much more support from the
international community will be required to meet the extraordinary level of
need the Afghan people are experiencing.”
Afghanistan’s
aid-dependent economy was already stumbling when the Taliban seized power last
August amid the chaotic departure of US and NATO troops after 20 years. The
international community froze Afghanistan’s assets abroad and halted economic
support, unwilling to work with the Taliban, given the brutality during their
1996-2001 rule and refusal to educate girls and allow women to work.
Guterres
said the World Bank’s reconstruction trust fund for Afghanistan transferred
$280 million last month to the UN children’s agency UNICEF and the World Food
Program. He urged the remaining $1.2 million to be released urgently to help
Afghans survive the winter.
Deborah
Lyons, the UN special representative for Afghanistan, told the council that the
more than $4.4 billion humanitarian appeal the UN launched two weeks ago for
Afghanistan -- the largest in the UN’s history for a single country -- “is
roughly the same amount that donors spent on the entire operating budget of the
government.” Most of that budget support came from the United States.
The
UN says 8.7 million Afghans are on the brink of starvation, and Guterres said
over half the population faces “extreme levels of hunger.”
“More
than 80 percent of the population relies on contaminated drinking water, and
some families are selling their babies to purchase food,” he warned.
The
council adopted a resolution last month affirming that humanitarian aid to
Afghans doesn’t violate sanctions against the Taliban, but China’s UN
ambassador, Zhang Jun, claimed aid “is being used as a bargaining chip, a
political tool.”
That
is “playing games with the lives and well-being of 38 million Afghans who are
in dire need of relief,” Zhang said, saying that freezing Afghan assets and
unilateral sanctions “are no less lethal than military intervention.”
If
Afghan women “can’t even have food or survive, then the talk of education,
employment and political participation will become empty words,” he added.
Deputy
Russian Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky warned that unless the issue of unfreezing Afghanistan’s
assets is quickly solved “Afghanistan has no long-term prospects to make it out
of this crisis.”
“We
call on the United States and other Western donors to get the money back to the
country,” he said. “The money belongs to the Afghan people and cannot be used
for bargaining or as a tool to punish the Afghans for the new reality that has
evolved in their country.”
Polyansky
warned that the consequences of Afghanistan’s economic collapse will not only
increase the number of refugees but will “spread terrorist activity, boost drug
production and, as a result, lead to even greater instability both in the
region and beyond.”
Lyons,
the UN envoy, said in a video briefing from Kabul that it is clear donors are
still not satisfied with political progress by the Taliban, either in including
greater ethnic diversity in its government or in ensuring girls’ higher
education and women’s opportunities to work.
This
week, a high-level Taliban delegation met with Afghan civil society
representatives in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.
Lyons
noted that a joint communique from the talks highlighted that “understanding
and joint cooperation are the only solutions to all the problems of
Afghanistan.” She said now the Taliban “must act on it.”
Norwegian
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, whose country holds the Security Council
presidency this month and chaired the meeting, said the Taliban delegation also
held direct talks with representatives from Norway, the US, France and Britain,
but he stressed that did not signify recognition of the Taliban government.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Taliban
govt stops media outlets from holding conference
Jan
27, 2022
NEW
DELHI: The Taliban government in Afghanistan prevented media outlets from
holding a press conference in Kabul over concerns about the status of media in
the country, reported media organisations.
The
conference was supposed to be held on Wednesday in Kabul, reported TOLO News.
The
Afghanistan Journalist Center in a statement said the conference was to be
attended by 11 representatives from different media organisations.
"All
national and international media outlets were covering it, however,
unfortunately, due to the verbal order of the officials of the Islamic Emirate,
the conference was cancelled," said Ali Asghar Akbarzada, head of the
Afghanistan National Journalists' Union.
Members
of the Afghanistan National Journalists Union said that the Islamic Emirate
instructed them to not hold the conference until they receive permission.
"We
call on the Islamic Emirate to finalise their decision in the future. They
should make the decision as soon as possible and give us a permit so we can
hold our conference based on it," Akbarzada said.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab World
Saudi
Arabia, UAE, UK, US condemn Houthi attacks, reaffirm support for Gulf security
26
January ,2022
Saudi
Arabia, the UAE, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Oman have condemned
the Houthi attacks, which targeted civilian sites in the Kingdom and Emirati
capital Abu Dhabi, and reaffirmed support for both Gulf countries’ national
security, a joint statement issued by the Saudi foreign ministry revealed on
Wednesday.
Senior
representatives from the five countries met on Wednesday to discuss Yemen’s
Iran-backed Houthis’ attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE recently. The UN envoy
to Yemen participated in the meeting.
Both
the UAE and Saudi Arabia have intercepted missile attacks launched by the
Houthis targeting civilian sites in the Gulf countries within the two weeks.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“The
Quintet strongly condemned the Houthis’ repeated attacks against civilians
within Yemen, including US local staff in Sanaa and their continued heinous
terrorist attacks against Saudi Arabia and more recently the UAE. Such actions
are obstructing peace efforts and exacerbating suffering,” the statement read.
It
added: “The Quintet expressed full support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE and
their legitimate national security concerns and called for an immediate end to
attacks by the Houthis. The Quintet acknowledged the legitimate right of Saudi
Arabia and the UAE to defend themselves against terrorist attacks as per
international law and following international humanitarian law, including
taking all feasible precautions to avoid civilian harm.”
The
five countries also discussed the “illicit Iranian provision of missiles and
advanced weaponry to the Houthis.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UAE
prosecutors summon people who posted videos of Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi
26
January ,2022
UAE
state prosecutors summoned people who shared videos on social media of defense
forces intercepting missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthis at Abu Dhabi, state news
agency WAM reported on Wednesday.
The
Public Prosecution warned that videos “endanger vital and military facilities
and would affect the security and stability of society.”
UAE's
Attorney General Hamad al-Shamsi said: “Deterrent legal measures will be taken
against those who publish these materials,” warning community members of the
“dangers of publishing and circulating these materials on social media,” and
calling for compliance with the laws in force in the country, according to WAM.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
Attorney General cautioned against violating the laws regarding sharing such
videos on social media which he said creates confusion in society.
He
also warned of the “dangers of rumors and the negative consequences they have
on the state, which may reach the point of threatening societal peace and
create of a state of panic and fear among individuals for reasons that have no
basis in reality.”
The
UAE intercepted early Monday a missile attack launched by the Iran-backed
Houthis targeting Abu Dhabi, the second such attempted strike within less than
a week.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
How
attack on Kurdish-run prison in northeast Syria will affect Islamic State
Sultan
al-Kanj
January
26, 2022
The
Islamic State (IS) launched an attack against Al-Sinaa prison in northeast
Syria on the night of Jan 20-21. The prison, located in Hasakah’s Ghweran
neighborhood, is run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Clashes
then erupted between the SDF and IS militants around the prison, before
spreading to other nearby areas.
On
Jan. 25, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes resulted in
the death of 159 people, including 107 IS militants, 45 SDF forces and prison
guards, and seven civilians.
The
war monitor said the death toll may be higher than announced given that there
are dozens whose fate is unknown, in addition to the large number of wounded,
some of whom are in critical condition.
Meanwhile,
cautious calm prevailed Jan. 25 (as of the time of this writing), after the
SDF, backed by the US-led coalition, managed to take control of a number of
wings in the prison, and at least 300 IS militants surrendered, according to
the SDF.
The
Ghweran prison houses around 5,000 foreign and Syrian IS fighters and their
relatives arrested by the SDF over the past few years during battles with IS in
northeastern Syria with the support of the US-led coalition.
Most
of the prisoners are prominent IS leaders who had participated in the battles
and held administrative and military positions during IS’ control of areas in
Syria in previous years.
On
Jan. 22, the activist-run Euphrates Post Network reported that most of those
who launched the attack on the prison came from the countryside of Deir ez-Zor
and the city of al-Shaddadi in the southern countryside of Hasakah and were
stationed in several houses in the Ghweran neighborhood.
The
network said, citing its own sources, that the attack had been in the pipeline
for several months after IS was recently able to recruit new members in the
Deir ez-Zor countryside in preparation for the latest operation aimed at
releasing IS prisoners from Al-Sinaa prison.
The
IS-affiliated Amaq News Agency cited IS sources as saying that the group’s
members killed dozens of SDF members and released more than 800 prisoners in
batches in the first two days following the initial attack.
The
agency reported that the attack was launched by “martyrs” Abu Abd al-Rahman and
Abu al-Farouq al-Muhajirin who detonated truck bombs at the prison gate, thus
causing major destruction at the site, killing and wounding many members.
On
Jan. 25, the SDF’s media center said that the SDF and its security forces
regained control of several points on the northern side of the prison walls.
In a
Jan. 24 statement, the media center announced, “Three hundred IS mercenaries
who participated in the attack on Al-Sinaa prison surrendered. At 5 a.m., after
a call [on the militants] to safely surrender and hand over their weapons, our
forces raided and took control of one of the prison buildings where mercenaries
were holed up. About 300 mercenaries surrendered to our forces, and the
operation is ongoing according to plan.”
It
continued, “Our forces and the Internal Security Forces continue to comb the
Ghweran neighborhood and pursue terrorist cells that tried to support IS
mercenaries in prison. Our forces are showing a high level of caution given the
presence of civilians in the area who were used at some point by those mercenaries
as human shields. During a clash with those cells, eight dangerous mercenaries
were eliminated.”
Khalil
Miqdad, a Qatar-based researcher focusing on the affairs of jihadist groups,
told Al-Monitor, “The IS organization wants to prove through this attack that
it is following the orders of its leadership as far as prisoners are concerned
in order to prove that it did not abandon them. Such a strategy can have great
positive psychological and moral effects on the group’s members.”
He
said, “After it lost its last stronghold in Baghouz, the organization sought to
rearrange its cards, including its leadership and combat strategy. IS considers
that each battle goes through three stages, which are attrition, wall
demolition and then controlling some important positions. And this is its
current strategy.”
Miqdad
noted, “Attrition is carried out based on the surrounding circumstances through
groups striking in separate places, continuously and intensively. These groups
are tightly intertwined and difficult to dissolve and penetrate. They enjoy
relative independence in terms of the decision to attack, withdraw and choose
the target. Their aim is to strike the enemy’s resources, namely its financial
and human capabilities, by targeting valuable and important equipment and
carrying out assassinations against informants and prominent leaders, in
addition to constant ambushes and attacks.”
He
stressed that several factors helped IS in its latest operation, the most
important of which was the members’ commitment to the leadership’s instructions
to free prisoners, and the experience they gained from several attempts to
storm prisons in Iraq, all the while drawing lessons from previous failed
attempts to free the prisoners of the Ghweran prison, he added.
Source:
Al Monitor
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Syria:
SDF says it has retaken Hasakah prison from Islamic State fighters
26
January 2022
The
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia said on Wednesday it had seized full control
over Hasakah’s al-Sinaa prison after the “surrendering of all Daesh [Islamic
State group] terrorists”.
However,
it is unclear what has happened to hundreds of minors held hostage in the
prison. MEE understands that thousands of detainees are surrendering.
Fighting
first engulfed the prison on Thursday, when Islamic State (IS) fighters rammed
two vehicles packed with explosives into the facility, in one of the boldest
attacks by the group in the region in recent years. Fighting around the prison,
which is thought to have housed more than 3,500 suspected IS members, is
reported to have left hundreds dead.
More
than 700 minors, who were rounded up as IS collapsed in 2018-19 and were also
held in the prison, were reportedly being held hostage by IS fighters. The SDF
has not disclosed whether the hostage situation is continuing.
"Through
a precise operation, we were able to reach these blocs and surround IS
militants who were using these minors as human shields, which is one of the
reasons behind the delay of our operation," SDF spokesman Farhad Shami
told Middle East Eye.
The
minors, he said, are aged between 10-17 and "have been trained on the
jihadi ideology", though some were undergoing a rehabilitation programme.
"I
don’t have information on their condition yet, but, naturally, seven days of
this ordeal will have an impact on their psychological state."
Clara
Moore, a Syria-based researcher at the Rojava Information Center (RIC), told
MEE: "This incident underscores [that] a different way of housing minors
in the justice system is necessary, but the AANES [Autonomous Administration of
North and East Syria] and SDF still have severe material constraints. Due to
lack of resources the prison itself was not custom built. It was a retrofitted
dormitory which the SDF continually stressed was a security concern."
Moore
added: "The inside of the prison has been a black box for the last few
days. As far as we know there were around 650 minors inside, and anecdotal and
photographic evidence has confirmed what observers feared most: that minors
were among the injured and potentially the dead."
Aziz
Suleiman, a resident in Hasakah's Salihiye neighbourhood who is closely
following the siege, told MEE the hostage situation had not yet been resolved.
"The
children are still [in the previous situation], but there are talks going on
for their release. There is a small group [of IS fighters] who are keeping the
children with them. I believe that in the coming hours they will also be
released. Because they don't have a space or any option, they will surrender
themselves to the security forces," he said.
Earlier
on Wednesday, the SDF media centre said the number of “terrorists forced to
surrender has risen to about 1,000”. It added that large-scale sweeping
operations were being carried out in many areas of Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor and
Raqqa provinces.
Major
General John W Brennan, Jr., commander of the international coalition fighting
IS, hailed the SDF's advance. He warned it shows that the status quo of keeping
IS suspects, both foreign and local, in Kurdish detention was untenable.
"This
is a global problem that requires many nations to come together to develop an
enduring long-term solution. The makeshift prisons throughout Syria are a
breeding ground for Daesh’s failed
ideology. We must thoroughly investigate the circumstances that allowed this
attack to happen."
Around
45,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, with several families being
forced to sleep on the streets in freezing temperatures. With relief
organisations' local operations suspended due to the security threat, little
aid has been forthcoming.
Khalid,
39, has lived in Hasakah for two years and aftern being displaced from
Serekaniye, also known as Ras al-Ain on the Turkish border.
"Up
until last night there were clashes. In the neighborhoods of Ghewiran, Hush
al-Bar and Hay az-Zohour, they still have their cells," he told MEE.
"The
people displaced from the fighting areas have been relocated to other parts of
the city. The SDF evacuated them, and gave them space to stay, and they are
also providing water and food. The Kurdish Red Crescent (KRC) staff are also
here, they provide medical treatment and milk for the babies."
Source:
Middle East Eye
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-hasakah-prison-islamic-state-clashes-sdf-says-retaken
--------
New
mosque in Fujairah with capacity to accommodate 600 worshippers opened
by
Afkar Ali Ahmed
26
Jan 2022
A new
mosque, with a capacity to accommodate up to 600 worshippers, was inaugurated
by the Sharjah Charity Society in Fujairah on Wednesday.
Al
Ghoul Mosque was built on an area of 657.49 square meters, at a cost of Dh2
million, according to Dr Ali Muhammad Al Salami, Director of the Department of
the Society in Dibba Al Hisn.
The
mosque was built with the support of the Association’s donors in coordination
with the General Authority for Islamic Affairs in Fujairah.
The
mosque has a number of facilities, including wash rooms, ablution areas,
parking lots, and accommodation for the imam.
Khaled
Al Dhanhani, Director of the General Authority for Islamic Affairs and
Endowments, Fujairah, thanked the Sharjah Charity Society for its initiative to
build the Al Ghoub Mosque.
Source:
Khaleej Times
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UAE
discussing defence upgrade after Houthi attacks: Envoy to UN
26
January ,2022
The
United Arab Emirates may upgrade its defensive capabilities after missile
attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia, while continuing diplomacy with
Tehran to reduce regional tensions, a senior UAE diplomat said.
The
Emirati envoy to the United Nations, Lana Nusseibeh, told CNN on Tuesday that
UAE intelligence showed the two assaults - the first on the regional commercial
and tourism hub - had originated from Yemen, and there was also a need to stem
illicit flows of weapons and funds to the group.
The
Arab Coalition, which includes the UAE, accuses Iran of supplying the Houthis
with arms, which both Tehran and the group deny.
Monday’s
strike, aimed at a base in Abu Dhabi hosting US forces, was thwarted by
American-built Patriot interceptors, after a deadly attack a week earlier on
the capital.
Nusseibeh
confirmed ongoing security discussions with Washington, but declined to provide
details. The UAE uses the US anti-missile interception system THAAD.
“Our
ability to intercept and deflect these attacks is world class,” she said.
“There can always be upgrades and improvements and... additional intelligence
cooperation and I think these are the fields we’re looking at with our (US)
partners.”
She
said the UAE, which has urged Washington to reinstate a terrorist designation
of the Houthis, was also discussing with partners increasing pressure on the
group to engage with stalled UN-led peace efforts.
“That
means listing them again on sanctions regimes... potentially listing additional
figures, it means stopping the illicit flow of weapons and finance to them.”
The
Houthis said they are punishing the UAE for backing forces battling the group
in energy-producing regions, after the UAE in 2019 largely distanced itself
from Yemen.
The
Houthis have repeatedly launched attacks on Saudi Arabia in the war.
Nusseibeh
said the Houthis would not succeed in undermining the UAE’s safe-haven status.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
UK
Muslim leader says Islamophobia survey reveals scale of problem in Britain
January
26, 2022
LONDON:
A UK Muslim leader said on Tuesday that the findings of a survey on
Islamophobia had highlighted “the pervasive nature of the problem” in Britain.
The
study, conducted by researchers at the University of Birmingham, revealed that
Islamophobia had passed the so-called dinner table test in being considered
suitable for polite conversation and socially acceptable.
Titled,
“The Dinner Table Prejudice: Islamophobia in Contemporary Britain,” the survey
found that Muslims were the UK’s second least-liked group after gypsy and Irish
travelers, with 25.9 percent of the British public feeling negative toward
Muslims, and 9.9 percent very negative.
Speaking
at the report’s launch, Zara Mohammed, the first female secretary-general of
the Muslim Council of Britain, said Islamophobia was definitely real, contrary
to what some people thought, and that it impacted on all aspects of society.
“I
think what’s really great about this report and its contribution to the body of
evidence is that it shows us not just the pervasive nature of the problem but
also that Muslims are some of the least-liked people in the population.
“In
my one year so far as the secretary-general of the MCB, what we have seen is
unfortunately a very changing landscape for British Muslims and one that is
becoming increasingly hostile.
“This
is the reality of how Muslims are perceived in everyday Britain, and that is in
2022 as well,” she added.
More
than one-in-four people quizzed for the survey, and nearly half of Conservative
Party supporters and those who voted to leave the EU, held conspiratorial views
that “no-go areas” in the UK existed where Shariah law ruled.
And
26.5 percent of those questioned agreed with the statement that, “there are
areas in Britain that operate under Shariah law where non-Muslims are not able
to enter,” the study said. Among Conservative Party voters and those who
elected to leave the EU, the figure increased to 43.4 percent.
A
further 36.3 percent of Brits said they thought that “Islam threatens the
British way of life,” and 18.1 percent supported, and 9.5 percent strongly
supported, the idea of banning all Muslim migration to the UK.
“British
people acknowledge their ignorance of most non-Christian religions, with a
majority stating they are ‘not sure’ how Jewish (50.8 percent) and Sikh (62.7
percent) scriptures are taught.
“In
the case of Islam, however, people feel more confident making a judgement, with
only 40.7 percent being unsure. This is despite the fact that people are much
more likely to make the incorrect assumption that Islam is ‘totally’
literalistic. Prejudice toward Islam is not simply ignorance, then, but
miseducation and misrecognition,” the study report added.
Mohammed
pointed out that Islamophobia had a very real knock-on impact on the everyday
lives of Muslims, and she welcomed the academic evidence contained in reports
such as the latest one written by Stephen Jones and Amy Unsworth.
She
noted that it was important to document the problem and share data with policy
makers when asking for change.
“In
some ways it empowers Muslim communities to say, ‘don’t think it’s in your
heads, actually something needs to be done.’
“The
government’s own evidence on hate crime found that 40 percent of all those
facing hate crime were Muslims. This is very much a real problem and I’m hoping
that on the back of the work that Prof. Jones has done, we will all be able to
benefit from it and use it in our campaigns, activism, and conversations.
“Whilst
Islamophobia has certainly passed the dinner table test, it’s time for us to be
able to move forward and make a real change, and the MCB remains committed to
doing that,” Mohammed said.
The
survey launch has coincided with news headlines about British Muslim Conservative
MP Nusrat Ghani’s claims that her faith was given as a reason for her sacking
as a government minister in 2020.
She
said she was told that her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” at a meeting and
that her “Muslim woman minister status was making colleagues feel
uncomfortable.”
“It
was like being punched in the stomach. I felt humiliated and powerless,” she
added.
British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered a Cabinet Office inquiry into the
claims.
On
Ghani’s allegations, Mohammed said they “highlighted just how systemic and
institutional the problem of Islamophobia is. It hits hard, and it hits deep.”
She
added that Islamophobia, “isn’t just in our heads, and just over this weekend
we have seen at the heart of politics how this also plays out.
“What
is actually being done? What is the approach of decision makers to tackling the
problem, if any?”
She
said the MCB had been working to push for the adoption of a definition of
Islamophobia developed by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims.
According
to the APPG definition, Islamophobia was rooted in racism and was a type of
racism that targeted expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness. The
definition was widely endorsed throughout Muslim communities, political
parties, and civil society.
However,
the ruling Conservative Party rejected the APPG definition in 2019 and said it
needed “more consideration.”
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2012456/world
--------
France
targets groups, websites with expanded powers under anti-terror law
January
26, 2022
PARIS:
The French government said this week it was closing down an activist-run media outlet
and a Muslim website deemed at odds with “national values“
This
is the latest in a series of steps that rights groups and lawyers say infringe
on democratic freedoms.
Following
a violent protest against the extreme right in Nantes, Interior Minister Gerald
Darmanin said he would shut down “Nantes Révoltée,” a local media platform,
which had relayed information about the protest.
Days
earlier, he had announced plans to close the website “La Voie Droite,” which
publishes Islamic religious content.
The government
has been making increasing use of powers to shut down organizations or groups.
In the last two years, there have been 12 such shutdowns, an uptick from seven
between 2016 and 2019, according to French public records.
Before
dissolving an association, the Ministry of Interior informs the concerned
party, which has 15 days to reply with its counter-arguments. Then, once the
decree is published, the organization can take the case to the Council of
State, an administrative court.
To
date, Nante Révoltée says it has not received any communication from the
Ministry of Interior regarding its closure.
Of
the organizations shut by decree since January 2020, seven are Muslim-related,
including associations to run mosques, a humanitarian organization and anti-Islamophobia
groups, the records show. Three far-right groups have been closed.
Announcing
the plan to close “Nantes Révoltée” to MPs in the French parliament on Tuesday,
Darmanin described it as an “ultra-left” group that had repeatedly called for
violence against the state and the police in the run-up to the weekend protest,
at which three people were arrested, shop windows were broken and fights broke
out.
Raphael
Kempf, a lawyer for Nantes Révoltée, said that a website sharing information on
an event could not be held responsible for what happens there.
“We
are seeing a government that is using this legal tool to attack voices that
criticize them,” says Kempf, adding that the government now has enhanced powers
under 2021 legislation that makes inciting violence grounds for dissolution.
Previously the groups had to themselves be armed or violent.
CRITICAL
VOICES
The
2021 legislation was introduced in response to violent attacks that France has
seen in recent years, including the beheading of schoolteacher Samuel Paty in
2020 and the 2015 attacks on Paris that killed 130 people.
But
some lawyers and campaign groups say the authorities are overreaching to muzzle
critical voices and target anyone practicing a form of Islam not approved by
the state.
During
a TV interview on Sunday, Darmanin announced the Islamic website “La Voie
Droite” would be closed using the 2021 legislation for “content inciting for
hatred and calling for jihad.”
La
Voie Droite denied publishing such content, saying in a statement that “when we
encourage Muslims to respect the texts, it is opposed to any type of threat or
legitimation of violence.”
The
French Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for
comment.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2012686/world
--------
UK
govt suffers court defeat after citizenship appeal by alleged Daesh member
January
26, 2022
LONDON:
The latest stage of a UK Home Office strategy to strip Britons of their
citizenship over terror offenses has been defeated in court.
Following
a legal challenge by a woman who had allegedly joined Daesh after traveling to
Syria, The England and Wales Court of Appeal found that it was unlawful to
remove people’s nationality without providing proper notice.
Identified
in legal records only as D4, the woman is being held in a Syrian prisoner camp,
Al-Roj, and was not informed by UK authorities that her British citizenship had
been removed for more than 10 months.
The
Home Office had previously appealed a decision made by the High Court, which
ruled that the stripping of D4’s citizenship was “void and of no effect.”
The
court heard that D4 has been imprisoned in Al-Roj since January 2019, together
with other women and children who were captured when fleeing former Daesh
territories.
But a
year later, when D4 requested repatriation to the UK through her solicitors,
she was informed that her citizenship had been stripped a year earlier, and her
request was refused.
D4
then appealed to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission and started
judicial review proceedings in the High Court.
And
in the latest ruling, Lady Justice Whipple said on Wednesday: “There may be good
policy reasons for empowering the home secretary to deprive a person of
citizenship without giving notice, but such a step is not lawful under this
legislation.
“If
the government wishes to empower the secretary in that way, it must persuade
parliament to amend the primary legislation. That is what it is currently
seeking to do under the Nationality and Borders Bill — it is for parliament to
decide.”
She
added that the architects of the 1981 British Nationality Act “deliberately
structured the process for depriving someone of their citizenship to include
minimum safeguards for the individual.
“The
1981 Act does not confer powers of such breadth that the home secretary can
deem notice to have been given where no step at all has been taken to
communicate the notice to the person concerned, and the order has simply been
put on the person’s Home Office file.”
The
controversial Nationality and Borders Bill, spearheaded by UK Home Secretary
Priti Patel, would remove the requirement to give notice of citizenship
deprivation under certain conditions.
These
include if a home secretary “does not have the information needed to be able to
give notice,” if a notice would “not be reasonably practicable” or if it was
“not in the interests of national security or in the interests of the
relationship between the UK and another country.”
The
Home Office is now seeking permission to appeal the judgment at the Supreme
Court.
An
official statement said: “The government will not apologize for removing the
citizenship of terrorists, those involved in serious and organized crime and
those who seek to do us harm.
“Citizenship
deprivation only happens after very careful consideration of the facts and in
accordance with international law. Each case is assessed individually on its
own merits and always comes with the right to appeal.”
Britons
who joined Daesh make up the majority of the more than 150 people who have had
their citizenship stripped since 2014.
Jonathan
Hall QC, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, said in a report
that the stripping of citizenship “has been a major part of the UK’s response
to those who have travel led to Daesh-controlled areas.”
The
government is “cynically attempting to circumvent the courts” through the
Nationality and Borders Bill, the legal charity Reprieve has warned.
Reprieve
director Maya Foa said: “It would render this ruling moot, making a mockery of
the rule of law. Ministers should change course and recognize that depriving
people of their citizenship without even telling them is an affront to British
principles of justice and fairness.”
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2012496/world
--------
Ex-Irish
Soldier Justified Jihad Before Joining IS, Witness Says
January
26, 2022
DUBLIN
—
A
former Irish army soldier justified jihad suicide bombings while attending a
mosque in Ireland before she joined the Islamic State group in Syria, a Dublin
court was told Wednesday.
Lisa
Smith, 39, is on trial accused of being a member of the Islamist extremists
after traveling to war-ravaged Syria in 2015.
She
has pleaded not guilty to membership of an unlawful terrorist group between
October 28, 2015, and December 1, 2019.
She
has also denied funding terrorism by sending $900 to aid medical treatment for
a Syrian man in Turkey.
But
Carol Karimah Duffy, who introduced Smith to a mosque in Dundalk before she
left for Syria, said she made attendees there uncomfortable.
"There
was a lot of talk about justifying why the suicide bombs were happening,"
Duffy told the Special Criminal Court of Smith's conversations with others at
the mosque.
"That
we were being attacked so we were attacking back. It was us and them,” Duffy
said. "Then there was talk of jihad and it was her version of jihad, which
would have been the holy war jihad."
Duffy
added that Smith also said she wanted to find a husband who would be willing to
die as a Muslim martyr.
Smith
moved to IS-controlled territory in October 2015 after buying a one-way ticket
from Dublin to Turkey, and from there crossing the border to Syria.
The
court was told on Tuesday that she lived in Raqqa, the capital of IS leader Abu
Bakr al-Baghdadi's self-styled caliphate, and unsuccessfully attempted to get
her husband to join her.
He
refused and she divorced him in 2016. Some months later, she married a U.K.
national who had moved to Syria and been involved in patrols on the Iraq
border.
When
Raqqa fell to allied forces in 2018, she moved to Baghouz, the group's last
remaining stronghold.
Source:
VOA News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Bosnia
Crisis: Why Muslims Could Once Again End Up In Mass Graves
Ehlimana
Memisevic
26
January 2022
This
month marked 30 years since the founding of Republika Srpska, when Bosnian
Serbs declared their own state in Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by ethnic
cleansing and genocide. Commemorating its founding on 9 January 1992 was
declared unconstitutional by Bosnia’s Constitutional Court in 2015.
During
celebrations across Republika Srpska, where genocidal violence against
non-Serbs was committed during 1992 and 1995, war criminals were reportedly
glorified, while returnees to towns from which non-Serbs were expelled were targeted.
The celebrations included a march by armed police through Banja Luka.
In
the summer of 1992, as the mass killings and disappearances of Bosniak Muslims
in my hometown of Visegrad intensified, my mother and I separated from my
father, my 17-year-old brother and my 13-year-old sister, who were among the
groups targeted first. I was six years old at the time. They fled Visegrad,
while my mother and I went to her parents’ village; she could not leave her
parents behind. It was a time of deep fear and despair.
We
soon realised, however, that we also needed to flee. My grandfather hid the
family’s valuables in hopes of reclaiming them upon our return. But we never
returned, and I never saw my grandfather again.
In
July 1995, the genocide culminated in the Srebrenica massacre. My grandfather,
and many others from his village, were among more than 8,000 men and boys
killed. His partial remains were recovered from a mass grave near Zvornik in
2009; then, in 2020, one of his missing arm bones was exhumed from another mass
grave.
Atrocities
and denial
The
feeling that peace is only temporary has never completely left me. Although
some of the worst atrocities were committed in my hometown - mass rape, torture
and murder, including the burning to death of more than 120 civilians, mostly
women and children, in June 1992 - Visegrad’s Serb residents and government
officials continue to deny these crimes ever took place there.
These
crimes are both systematically denied, yet celebrated. Some of the perpetrators
still serve in the government and police force. In March 2019, members of the
Ravna Gora Movement, a Serb nationalist Chetnik organisation, rallied in
Visegrad and chanted: “There will be hell, the Drina [river] will be bloody,
here come the Chetniks from the Serb mountains” - an apparent call to ethnic
cleansing and genocide.
The
political crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina in recent months, described in a
report delivered to the UN last year as the biggest “existential threat of the
post-war period”, reawakened my trauma of the war, driving home the threat that
it could soon start all over again. I felt as helpless as I did three decades
ago when I separated from my family members, some of whom I never saw again.
The
political crisis escalated when the Office of the High Representative, which
oversees the implementation of the peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war,
announced last July the criminalisation of genocide denial in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Milorad Dodik, the Serb member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency,
subsequently rejected the announcement, saying the law would never be accepted
and Republika Srpska would “launch the process of dissolution”.
In
December, the National Assembly of Republika Srpska moved to withdraw from
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s judiciary, security and defence institutions. Dodik
has also threatened to expel Bosnian army troops from Republika Srpska. In a
report to the UN, Bosnia’s high representative warned Dodik’s actions were
“tantamount to secession without proclaiming it” - and if the international
community does not intervene quickly, “the prospects for further division and
conflict are very real”.
Anti-Muslim
rhetoric
Dodik
has said that if the West tries to intervene militarily, he has “friends” who
would support the Serb cause. The 9 January ceremonies in Republika Srpska were
attended by top Serbian officials, the Russian ambassador, the Chinese deputy
ambassador and far-right European politicians.
According
to a recent report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Russian
government-backed foundations have been holding events to promote reports
denying the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, “as Moscow seeks to exploit divisions in
Bosnia and Herzegovina and increase its influence among the country’s Serbs”.
Meanwhile,
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, known for his anti-immigrant policies
and his claims that Muslims pose a threat to Europe’s Christian values,
strongly supports Dodik. He has vowed that Hungary would block any EU move to
sanction Dodik for his separatist plans, and the Hungarian government has
provided 100 million euros ($114m) in financial assistance to Republika Srpska
to “enhance stability in the region”.
At a
summit in Budapest last September, Dodik said: “We are Christians. This is my
experience, and my experience makes me say that the Muslims do not abandon
their values … I just call us to defend Europe, the whole of Europe, not just
the European Union.”
The
same kind of anti-Muslim rhetoric was used by Serb nationalists in the 1980s
and 1990s, aiming to justify their genocidal campaigns against Bosniak Muslims.
In 1994, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic said Muslims “have dark
schemes, wishing to make Bosnia a springboard for Islamic penetration in
Europe”. He added that the West would “be grateful to us one day because we
decided to defend Christian values and culture”.
Source:
Middle East Eye
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/bosnia-crisis-muslims-mass-graves-again-why
--------
Anti-Turkey,
anti-Islam circles exist in European Parliament: Turkey rapporteur
JAN
26, 2022
There
are prejudices in the form of anti-Turkey and anti-Islam political circles in
the European Parliament (EP), the institution's Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez
Amor said Tuesday.
"However,
these do not form the majority within the EP. We are open to appreciate and
investigate Turkey’s steps toward the EU," Amor told Deutsche Welle (DW),
indicating that Turkey did not make enough progress regarding the fulfillment
of accession criteria, human rights and the rule of law in the country.
The
year 2021 was better in terms of Turkey-European Union relations than the
previous year, he added. "2020 was a year in which tensions in Turkey-EU
ties reached a peak," he said. Amor said that he welcomed President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan’s statements regarding Turkey’s determination to be part of the
EU but said that the bloc expects concrete action.
Turkey-EU
relations are marked by disputes on several issues, including tensions in the
Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey's role in Syria, the migrant crisis and the
stalemate in Turkey's accession process to join the bloc.
Turkey
recently reiterated that it is part of Europe and sees its future in the EU,
adding that it will continue to work toward full membership.
Turkey
has the longest history with the union and the longest negotiation process. The
country signed an association agreement with the EU's predecessor in 1964, the
European Economic Community (EEC), which is usually regarded as a first step to
eventually becoming a candidate. Applying for official candidacy in 1987,
Turkey had to wait until 1999 to be granted the status of a candidate country.
For the start of the negotiations, however, Turkey had to wait for another six
years, until 2005 – a uniquely long process compared with other candidates.
Turkey,
Armenia relations
When
asked about how the EU views recent steps taken by Turkey and Armenia toward
normalization, Amor said: "This is perfect and good news. This is the
atmosphere that we want to see in Turkey. Turkey is a strong regional
actor."
"It
is a positive approach for Turkey to be a regional actor at European standards
and to act side by side outside our region," he expressed.
After
a 1 1/2 hour meeting recently in Moscow, the Turkish and Armenian foreign
ministries published the same statement hailing the talks and agreeing to
"continue negotiations without preconditions." Turkey aims for the
next meeting to be held either in Turkey or Armenia, sources said.
Former
Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kılıç was named as the Turkish special
envoy on Dec. 15, 2021, to discuss the steps toward normalization with
neighboring Armenia. Three days later, Armenia appointed its special
representative, Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ruben Rubinyan.
Source:
Daily Sabah
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Muslim
boy referred to UK government anti-extremist program
January
27, 2022
LONDON:
An 11-year-old boy from a Muslim family was referred to a UK government
anti-extremism program, called Prevent, after telling a friend that he hoped
his school would burn down.
His mother
told The Guardian newspaper: “Being a brown, Muslim, Asian boy does not make
you a terrorist.”
She
admitted that her son’s comments were unacceptable but added that they were
“isolated” and the result of stress. The child is said to suffer from anxiety.
An
investigation by the boy’s school into the incident found no evidence of any
links to extremist groups or prior instances of radical rhetoric.
“Prevent
guidance places clear emphasis on appropriateness and proportionality,” his
mother said.
The
Prevent officer who examined the case decided not to take any further action
but, as per protocol, the boy’s personal information was due to be logged for
six years in a police counterterrorism database until his mother intervened.
She
also complained to the school, in the north of England, that she had not been
informed about the incident or the referral, and is set to receive an apology.
“I
was told by the Prevent officer that the matter would not be taken any further
as it looked like a matter related to an 11-year-old boy struggling with
school,” she said. “My son had become so unhappy and stressed about the demands
placed on him relating to homework.”
She
added that she had to fight to have her son’s name removed from the
counterterrorism database, she added.
“I’ve
achieved a partial victory because the police have agreed to remove his name
from their database but I am seeking further information from his files, which
are held by the UK Home Office,” she said.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2012766/world
--------
Family
of murdered Yasmin Chkaifi praise ‘hero’ driver who tried to stop attacker
January
26, 2022
LONDON:
The family of a murdered mother-of-two have hailed the driver who allegedly
killed her attacker with his car a “hero” and say he should not face a murder
charge for his actions.
Yasmin
Chkaifi, 43, was stabbed to death in Maida Vale, west London, on Monday by her
former husband, Leon McCaskre, 41.
A
26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after he allegedly mowed
down McCaskre with his car in an attempt to prevent him from harming Chkaifi
further.
Her
family, who visited the scene on Tuesday to pay their respects, praised the
actions of the passer-by and said that his bravery deserves recognition.
“The
driver of the car was a hero. We didn’t know him at all but he is an absolute
hero,” they told reporters. “He saw what was happening and he tried to stop
them.
“We
want to say to him, ‘Thank you so much. Thank you for risking your life and
thank you for not just standing there filming what was happening. Thank you for
trying to do something.’
“He
should not have been arrested; he is our hero. Our family are very proud of
him, we hope that the Queen can give him a medal or something, and there is no
way he should be charged and go through the justice system for what he did.”
Police
confirmed that both of the deceased were from Maida Vale and had previously
been in a relationship. Relatives of Chkaifi said that McCaskre was abusive
during the three years the couple were together.
After
they broke up three years ago, Chkaifi secured a restraining order against
McCaskre and, according to one of her sons, installed a panic alarm.
McCaskre
missed a scheduled court appearance on Jan. 4, where he had been due to face a
charge of breaching a stalking order forbidding him from contacting Chkaifi,
and an arrest warrant was issued in his name.
“Leon
was a monster, a demon. His behavior towards her over the years was harrowing,”
a member of Chkaifi’s family said.
Another
relative alleged that McCaskre had been violent to Chkaifi but the police “had
not done anything about it.”
He
added: “The police have let another one slip through the net — how many more
women have to die?”
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2012581/world
--------
India
At
UNSC Meet, India Seeks ‘Concrete Progress’ By Taliban On Terror Group Support
Jan
27, 2022
By
Rezaul H Laskar
NEW
DELHI: India on Wednesday called for “concrete progress” by the Taliban setup
in Afghanistan to ensure that UN-sanctioned terror groups do not get support
from Afghan soil or from terrorist sanctuaries in the region, an apparent
reference to Pakistan. India’s ambassador to the United Nations, TS Tirumurti,
outlined the country’s position while addressing a meeting of the UN Security
Council that discussed the situation in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the
takeover of Kabul by the Taliban.
Tirumurti
said the world community’s expectations regarding Afghanistan and the Taliban
setup were clearly outlined in UN Security Council resolution 2593, which also
laid down the requirements in terms of the fight against terrorism.
As a
contiguous neighbour and long-standing partner of Afghanistan, India is
concerned by recent developments in Afghanistan, especially the deteriorating
humanitarian situation, he said. India also shares the world community’s
concerns on issues such as providing humanitarian aid, ensuring formation of a
truly inclusive and representative government, combating terror and preserving
the rights of women, children and minorities.
“Terrorism
continues to pose a serious threat to Afghanistan and to the region,” he said.
Resolution 2593 noted the Taliban’s commitment not to allow the use of Afghan
soil for terrorism, including terrorists and groups designated under UN
Security Council resolution 1267, he added.
“However,
we need to see concrete progress in ensuring that such proscribed terrorist
entities do not get any support, tacit or direct, either from Afghan soil or
from the terrorist sanctuaries based in the region,” Tirumurti said in an
apparent reference to Pakistan.
Resolution
2593 also laid down the world community’s expectations regarding an inclusive
and representative political settlement with meaningful participation of women
and minorities and diverse political-ethnic groups in the country, the
importance of upholding human rights, including those of women, children and
minorities, and the need to provide humanitarian aid to the Afghan people.
“Peace
and security in Afghanistan is a critical imperative that all of us need to
collectively strive for. The recent developments in Afghanistan will have a
significant impact on the neighbouring countries and the wider region with
global implications,” Tirumurti said.
“India
calls for an inclusive dispensation in Afghanistan which represents all
sections of Afghan society. A broad based, inclusive and representative
formation is necessary for internal legitimacy,” he added.
India
has committed to provide 50,000 tonnes of wheat, lifesaving medicines and one
million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the Afghan people. “We have already
dispatched three shipments of humanitarian assistance consisting of medicines
and Covid medicines,” Tirumurti said.
Tirumurti
also briefed the same meeting as the current chair of the 1988 sanctions
committee, which monitors UN sanctions on Taliban leaders and entities linked
to the group. He noted that the committee on December 22 extended the
three-month travel ban exemption for 14 listed Taliban members to continue
attending talks.
He
said that while the committee fully supports the travel ban exemption so that
the UN-sanctioned Taliban leaders can attend talks aimed at promoting peace and
stability in Afghanistan, UN member states should remember that the exemption
is only for this purpose.
Tirumurti
said more than 30 UN-sanctioned Taliban members are occupying senior cabinet
positions and humanitarian aid providers should use reasonable efforts to
minimise the accrual of benefits to these designated individuals.
Source:
Hindustan Times
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Students
Islamic Organisation Hyderabad Organises Blood Donation Camp On Republic Day
27th
January 2022
Hyderabad:
The Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) organised a blood donation camp on
Wednesday, January 26 for Thalassemia patients.
The
SIO unit of Wadi-E-Huda conducted the camp at the Muslim General Hospital, to
donate blood to Thalassemia patients, in the city who require at least two
units of blood every month.
The
camp was organised on a national holiday to ensure the convenience of donors
and attract them in large numbers. Donors were also awarded certificates of
appreciation, for the same.
it is
estimated that there are about 270 million Thalassemia patients in the world
with the largest number of children with Thalassemia Major, who need a regular
blood transfusion, in India, and over 10,000-15,000 children are born with the
blood disorder, every year.
“We
had sixty donors who donated for the benefit of Thaleesemia patients today. The
camp was organised by the Wadi-E-Mehmood wing of the SIO alongside Muslim
General Hospital, located near Pahaadi Shareef,” said SIO unit President, Dr.
Imaam.
The
camp that was organised for a period of five hours, between 10 am to 3 pm,
witnessed a maximum number of youngsters who chose to donate blood for the
cause.
Source:
Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/hyderabad-sio-organises-blood-donation-camp-on-republic-day-2264877/
--------
Two
Islamic Seminaries Celebrate Republic Day In Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian
District
26
January, 2022
Srinagar,
Jan 26 (PTI) Two Islamic seminaries in militancy-infested Shopian district,
which were under the scanner of security forces after some of their students
allegedly joined terrorist ranks, on Wednesday celebrated Republic Day which
was observed with patriotic fervour across Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
Pictures
of the functions at Darul-Uloom in Pinjora village and Siraj-ul-Uloom in Hillow
village went viral on social media, showing students and teachers hoisting the
national flag and chanting ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Vande Mataram’.
Though
the official celebrations were presided by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha at Maulana
Azad Stadium in Jammu, a number of official and private functions were held in
all the districts of the valley.
This
is for the first time the national flag has been installed in such large
numbers in the city and other parts of the valley which has been grappling with
Pakistan-sponsored terrorism for the past 32 years.
Darul-Uloom,
a religious school, at Pinjora came under the lens of security agencies when
three of its students were apprehended in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district on
December 11 last year while trying to exfiltrate to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
(PoK) for arms training, the officials said.
They
said the interrogation revealed that the students were motivated by a person
from Karimabad village of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district and one of the boys’
uncle had gone to PoK in 2015.
Though
the boys denied the involvement of Darul-Uloom teachers in their
radicalisation, the investigation revealed that over 20 boys from the school,
which started functioning in 2001, had joined militant ranks.
The
officials said a background check of all the teachers and students enrolled in
the religious school is under process.
They
said that as part of efforts of imbibing patriotism and nationalism, Republic
Day celebrations were held in the seminary in which the students and teachers
turned in good numbers, despite heavy snow.
The
tricolour was unfurled in the snow-covered lawns and the attendees, most of
whom were wearing ‘pheran’ (a loose gown used by Kashmiris to keep warm during
winter), chanted slogans in praise of the country, the officials said.
A
similar function was observed in Siraj-ul-Uloom at Hillow village where the
students and teachers chanted “Jai Hind” and “Vande Mataram” during the
tricolour unfurling ceremony, they said.
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://theprint.in/india/islamic-seminaries-celebrate-republic-day-in-jks-shopian-district/813632/
--------
India
slams Pakistan for raising Kashmir at UN
Jan
27, 2022
NEW DELHI:
India on Tuesday slammed Pakistan at the UN for raising the Kashmir issue,
saying most terror attacks around the world had their origin in that country
and that the 26/11 perpetrators continued to enjoy state patronage.
The
government also said any meaningful dialogue can be held only in an atmosphere
free of terror and that the onus was on Pakistan to create such an atmosphere.
Till then, said the government, India will continue to take firm and decisive
steps to respond to cross-border terrorism.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Focus
on trade and connectivity as PM Modi set to host first India-Central Asia
summit
Suhasini
Haidar
JANUARY
26, 2022
PM to
hold video conference with Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi will hold the first India-Central Asia summit on
Thursday, in a video conference with five Presidents from Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Government officials said
the major areas of focus for the conference would be trade and connectivity,
building development partnerships and enhancing cultural and people-to-people
contacts, but it is clear that a number of global and regional developments
will also form a large part of the discussions, set to begin around 4.30 p.m
IST.
During
the conference, the countries are expected to propose ways to increase trade
between India and the region, which is only about $2 billion at present, most
of which comes from energy imports from Kazakhstan. India extended a $1 billion
Line of Credit (LOC) for development projects in the areas of energy,
healthcare, connectivity, IT, and agriculture in 2020 and proposes to increase
the number of educational opportunities for students from Central Asian
countries. In addition, India hopes to build on its trilateral working group on
Chabahar with Iran and Uzbekistan to strengthen connectivity to the region.
Meanwhile,
other developments like the COVID-19 are expected to be discussed, and in
particular rebuilding economies affected by pandemic. This has also been a
major subject for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) where India and
the Central Asian countries are members along with Russia, China, Iran and
Pakistan. The five leaders including Kazakhstan’s Kassym-Jomart
Tokayev,Kyrgyzstan’s Sadyr Japarov,Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon, Turkmenistan’s
Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov andUzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyevwere due to be
chief guests at the Republic Day parade in Delhi on Wednesday, but their visits
were cancelled due to the current wave of coronavirus cases in India.
The
growing tensions between Russia and NATO countries over the troop build-up on
the Ukraine-Russia border, which Moscow says is in response to plans for NATO
expansion in East Europe, will cast a shadow over the meeting as well, given
the close strategic ties between Russia and the five former Soviet States, as
well as Russian ties with India. During the recent uprising in Kazakhstan, President
Tokayev had received support from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who
dispatched Russian Army soldiers to help restore the situation.
Afghanistan
situation
The
situation in Afghanistan, which was discussed at length at the SCO, and in
November by National Security Advisors at an India-Central Asia meet hosted by
NSA Ajit Doval, as well as at the meeting of India-Central Asia Foreign
Ministers in December will also come up.
Despite
statements from several multilateral groupings, the Taliban regime in Kabul is
yet to agree to forming an inclusive government, restoring education for girls
of all ages, andgiving concrete guarantees on preventing terrorist groups from
operating in Afghanistan. This week, Taliban talks with Western countries at a
conference in Oslo took many by surprise as the Taliban delegation included
Anas Haqqani, a Taliban minister and a member of the Haqqani network that is on
the UN Security Council’s sanctions list and wanted for a number of terror
attacks. New Delhi has been concerned about the possible “mainstreaming” of the
Taliban, and of legitimising Pakistan’s backing for the group, as they both
demand that the Taliban regime be recognised as the official Afghan government.
Muslim majority Central Asian countries, that promote themselves as “moderate
Islamic states” have also expressed concern about Taliban rule giving fillip to
radicalisation in the region. However, not all Central Asian countries are on
the same page as India on dealing with the Taliban, and with the exception of
Tajikistan, all have exchanged high level diplomatic visits with Kabul, while
at least two, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have reopened their missions in
Afghanistan.
Source:
The Hindu
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Iranian
President: Israeli Regime Enemy of Humanity
2022-January-26
The
Zionist regime is the enemy of humanity and can by no means be a friend to the
Muslim nations, and that the Zionist occupation and aggression in the region and
against the Palestinian people will bear testimony to that, President Rayeesi
said in the meeting in Tehran on Wednesday.
He
added that relations between Tehran and Baku are based on shared religious
beliefs, adding that Iran and Azerbaijan are like two relatives.
Rayeesi
also referred to his meeting with the President of Azerbaijan on the sidelines
of the ECO Summit in Turkmenistan, saying that the process of developing
economic and trade relations, including transit interactions between the two
countries, is accelerating after the meeting.
He
stressed that Iran's power in the region is used to create security, and stated
that the presence of Takfiri and ISIL terrorist groups is not in the interest
of the people of the region anywhere.
"These
gangs were created by the Americans and the Zionists and have committed
criminal acts wherever they were."
The
president added that Tehran is ready to provide Baku with its technical
engineering capabilities.
He
expressed the hope that with the conscious presence and planning of the
Azerbaijani Armed Forces, the Takfiri movements and those who have proven their
animosity towards Muslims will not be able to gain a foothold in the region.
Hasanov,
for his part, described his meetings and talks with his Iranian counterpart as
very useful and fruitful, saying that they lay the ground for the future
cooperation.
Iranian
Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian announced in December that Tehran and
Baku are determined to take effective steps to further develop bilateral ties,
adding that Iran has devised a strong roadmap to this end.
The
Iranian top diplomat made the remarks in a joint press conference with his
Azeri counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov in Baku.
Given
the will of leaders of both countries, strong and effective steps will be taken
in line with serving interests of the two nations, Amir Abdollahian said.
He
referred to the meeting between Iranian and Azeri presidents on the sidelines
of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Ashgabat late in
November, and said the meeting was a turning point in bilateral relations.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14001106000739/Iranian-Presiden-Israeli-Regime-Enemy-f-Hmaniy
--------
Navy
Commander: Enemies’ Dream of Pushing Iran Out of Scene Never Comes True
2022-January-26
Now
the enemies pursue the objective of pushing us out of the scene, but they will
not live long enough to see their dreams come true, Rear Admiral Irani said,
addressing a festival of the Navy in the Eastern city of Mashhad on Tuesday.
He
added that the country's navy has turned into a determining force in the
region.
In
relevant remarks in September, Rear Admiral Irani underlined that the country's
Naval Forces are fully prepared to be present and conduct operations at any
point in oceans across the globe.
"We
are able to carry out our missions in even in stormy ocean environments and
thousands of kilometers from our homeland," Rear Admiral Irani said on the
sidelines of a welcoming ceremony held for the return of the 75th Fleet of the
Islamic Republic of Iran Army’s Navy 75th Naval Fleet.
"By
successful execution of its mission, the 75th Naval Fleet of Army achieved all
the predetermined goals. One of our most important goals was to prove to global
arrogance that even roaring waters could not stand in our way," he added.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israel’s
President to visit Turkey in February: Erdogan
27
January ,2022
Israeli
President Isaac Herzog will pay an official visit to Turkey in February,
Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Wednesday, hailing it as a
chance to mend frayed relations with Israel.
“This
visit could open a new chapter in relations between Turkey and Israel,” Erdogan
said in an interview with Turkey's NTV channel, adding that he was "ready
to take steps in Israel's direction in all areas, including natural gas"
Relations
between majority-Muslim Turkey and Israel froze over after the death of 10
civilians in an Israeli raid on a Turkish flotilla carrying aid for the Gaza
Strip in 2010.
In
recent months, however, the two countries have been working on a rapprochement,
with Erdogan, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, holding telephone
talks with Herzog and other Israeli leaders.
The
Turkish strongman had already said last week he was prepared to work with
Israel on reviving an old project to ship Mediterranean gas to European clients
via Turkey.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
FM:
Iran Resolved to Broaden Ties with African States
2022-January-26
The
two foreign ministers discussed different issues of mutual interest, as well as
regional and international issues.
The
two sides agreed on forming a joint working committee, exploring the
possibility of launching embassies in the two capitals and exchanging trade
delegations.
The
Togolese foreign minister also invited Amir Abdollahian to pay a visit to Lomé
and the Iranian foreign minister welcomed the invitation.
In
relevant remarks on Monday, Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi said that
his country attaches great importance to broadening of relations and
cooperation with the Asian and African states.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14001106000620/FM-Iran-Reslved-Braden-Ties-wih-African-Saes
--------
Iran’s
Top Commander Warns of Israel’s Threat to Regional Security
2022-January-26
The
Israeli regime is the root-cause of discord in the region and poses a threat to
the security and stability of all regional countries, General Baqeri said on
Tuesday in a meeting with Azerbaijan’s Minister of Defense Colonel General
Zakir Hasanov, who arrived in Tehran at the head of a delegation.
He
also expressed the hope that the visit by the Azerbaijani defense minister
would present an opportunity for both sides to strengthen defense, technical
and military cooperation.
General
Baqeri stressed the importance of more consultations between the Iranian and
Azerbaijani officials to prevent misunderstandings, adding, “Our principled
stance is to solve issues in the region by regional countries without any
foreign interference.”
He said
the territorial integrity of all countries must be respected and that Iran is
sensitive about the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan.
General
Baqeri said the liberation of Azerbaijan’s occupied territories in a war with
neighboring Armenia following some three decades pleased Leader of the Islamic
Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and the people of Iran.
He
further reiterated the Islamic Republic’s policy on the expansion of relations
with neighbors, saying Iran and Azerbaijan have many commonalities in history,
religion, language, among other things, and Iranians feel close to the fellow
Muslim nation in Azerbaijan.
General
Baqeri announced Iran’s readiness to participate in the projects to reconstruct
liberated territories of Azerbaijan.
Elsewhere
in his remarks, Baqeri warned that the terrorists in Syria and Iraq have been
defeated but not eliminated, saying, “These terrorists are trying to boost
their presence in the region, including in Afghanistan, the Caucasus and the
Central Asia.”
The
top Iranian commander urged regional countries to strengthen their cooperation
to counter terrorism.
The
Azerbaijani defense minister elaborated on the liberation of the occupied
territories during the 44-day war with Armenia.
Armenia
and Azerbaijan fought a six-week war in 2020 in which Azeri troops drove
Armenian forces out of swathes of territory they had long controlled in and
around the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
Urges UNSC to Address Violation of Human Rights in Palestine, Yemen
2022-January-26
"The
most serious violation of IHL (the international humanitarian law) is the
decades-long systematic inhumane and apartheid policies and practices of the
Israeli regime in the Occupied Palestinian Territory," Takht Ravanchi said
in a statement, addressing a UN Security Council session on ‘wars in cities:
protection of civilians in urban settings’.
He
added that the violations include a range of brutalities, such as deliberate,
systematic, and massive killing of civilians, including women and children as
well as seizure and demolition of their homes.
Earlier
this month, Takht Ravanchi had also warned that the Israeli regime's crimes and
the UN Security Council's inaction have deteriorated the situation in the
occupied Palestinian territories.
"Similarly,
in Yemen, the systematic and serious breaches of IHL have caused the widespread
and deliberate destruction of civilian infrastructures, targeted killings of
civilians, including women and children, and strict unlawful blockades of
civilian ports and airports," Takht Ravanchi added.
"The
UN Security Council has a duty to ensure the protection of civilians and compel
violators of international human rights law to immediately end such flagrant
crimes and hold them accountable for their crimes."
"It
is unfortunate and worrying that in the Middle East region, including in the
occupied Palestinian territories and Yemen, the implementation of international
humanitarian law is brutally violated," Takht Ravanchi noted.
Leading
several of its allies, Saudi Arabia started the war on the Arab world’s already
poorest nation in March 2015 to change the country’s ruling structure in favor
of its former Riyadh-allied government.
The
war has stopped short of the goal, while killing tens of thousands of Yemenis
in the process and turning the entire country into the scene of the world’s
worst humanitarian crisis.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
At a
West Bank outpost, Israeli settlers flaunt their power
26
January ,2022
The
Jewish settlement of Homesh, built on privately owned Palestinian land deep
inside the occupied West Bank, was dismantled in 2005 and cannot be rebuilt. At
least, that’s what Israeli law says.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
But
when a group of settlers drove up to the site last week, they were waved
through army checkpoints that were closed to Palestinian vehicles and arrived
at a cluster of tents on the windy hilltop. There, dozens of settlers were
studying in a makeshift yeshiva, or religious school.
Empty
wine bottles and bags of trash stood out for collection, the remains of a
holiday feast attended by hundreds of settlers the night before and documented
on social media.
The
settlers’ ability to maintain a presence at Homesh, guarded by a detachment of
Israeli soldiers, is a vivid display of the power of the settler movement
nearly 55 years after Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war.
Their
strength has also been on display in a wave of attacks against Palestinians and
Israeli peace activists in recent months, many in plain view of Israeli
soldiers, who appear unable or unwilling to stop them, despite Israeli
officials’ promises to maintain law and order. The worst of the violence has
been linked to hard-line settler outposts like Homesh.
That
Israeli authorities have not cleared Homesh — which under Israeli law is
blatantly illegal — makes it nearly impossible to imagine the removal of any of
Israel’s 130 officially authorized settlements as part of any future peace
deal. Nearly 500,000 settlers now live in those settlements, as well as dozens
of unauthorized outposts like Homesh.
The
Palestinians view the settlements as the main obstacle to any two-state
solution to the century-old conflict, and most countries view them as a
violation of international law. But in an increasingly hawkish Israel, the
settlers enjoy wide support.
“We
are privileged, thank God, to live here and study Torah, and we shall continue
to do so with God’s help,” said Rabbi Menachem Ben Shachar, a teacher at the
yeshiva.
“The
people of Israel need to hold onto Homesh, to study Torah here and in every
other place in the Land of Israel,” he said, using a biblical term for what is
today Israel and the West Bank.
Israel
dismantled the settlement in 2005 as part of its withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip, and the law prohibits Israeli citizens from entering the area. Israel’s
Supreme Court has acknowledged that the land belongs to Palestinians from the
nearby village of Burqa.
But
the settlers have repeatedly returned, setting up tents and other structures on
the foundations of former homes, now overgrown with weeds.
The
army has demolished the structures on several occasions, but more often
tolerates their presence. The January 16 party was just the latest in a series
of marches, political rallies and other gatherings held at the site over the
years, some attended by Israeli lawmakers.
The
Israeli military said in a statement that it did not approve the event and took
steps to prevent civilians from reaching the area, including setting up
checkpoints. The settlers appear to have walked around them. The military
refused to discuss the larger issues around Homesh, and a government
spokeswoman declined to comment.
The
killing of a yeshiva student by a Palestinian gunman near the outpost last
month has become a rallying cry for the settlers, who say evacuating Homesh now
would amount to appeasing terrorism. But the survival of the outpost after 16
years is rooted in a deeper shift in Israel that makes it nearly impossible to
rein in even the settlers’ most brazen activities.
Israel’s
parliament is dominated by parties that support the settlers. The current
government, a fragile coalition reliant on factions from across the political
spectrum, knows that any major confrontation with the settlers could spell its
demise. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is a former settler leader and is
opposed to Palestinian statehood.
The
consequences are felt by Palestinians in Burqa and surrounding villages.
Over
the weekend, masked settlers descended on another village in the northern West
Bank, attacked a group of Palestinians and Israeli peace activists with stones
and clubs, and set a car on fire. Israel’s public security minister, Omer
Barlev, called the attackers “terrorists” but said police have struggled to
catch them because they flee before authorities arrive.
The
owners of the land where Homesh was built risk being attacked by settlers if
they try to access it. Yesh Din, an Israeli rights group that represents the
residents of Burqa in court, has documented at least 20 attacks and seven
incidents of property damage since 2017.
A
15-year-old Palestinian said he was kidnapped and tortured by settlers in
August. Six farmers were hospitalized after settlers attacked them with metal
batons and stones in November, according to B’Tselem, another Israeli rights
group.
Ben
Shachar, the teacher at the yeshiva, said farmers should coordinate their entry
with the Israeli military. He said he’s open to dialogue with “any Arab who
accepts that the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people,” but that
terrorism is “part of the DNA of Arab society.”
Yesh
Din is currently petitioning the Supreme Court on behalf of the Palestinians,
hoping it will pressure authorities to remove the outpost and allow them to
access their land.
“It’s
a funny petition, right?” said Lior Amihai, the director of Yesh Din. “We have
a petition to enable Palestinians to enter their land, but according to the law
they (already) have access to their land.”
Ghalib
Hajah, who was born and raised in Burqa and now runs a prosperous construction
firm inside Israel, is putting the finishing touches on what he had hoped would
be a quiet country home for him and his wife. The balconies look out over
rolling hills and olive terraces.
The
day after the yeshiva student was killed, a group of settlers pelted Hajah’s
house with stones, shattering several of the newly installed windows as well as
tiles from Italy stacked outside. Others smashed gravestones in the village
cemetery.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
5
Yemenis killed in Houthi shelling on residential area in Marib province
Shukri
Hussein
27.01.2022
SANAA,
Yemen
Five
Yemeni civilians were killed and more than 20 sustained injuries Wednesday in a
rocket attack on Marib province in central Yemen by the Houthi rebel group, a
source told Anadolu Agency.
"Five
civilians, including a woman, were martyred when a ballistic missile was fired
by the Houthis on the residential airport neighborhood in central Marib,"
said the source in the office of Marib province's governor.
The
source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to
speak to the media, added that Houthi shelling left 23 wounded, including
several who are in critical condition.
The
Houthi group has yet to comment on the reports.
Iranian-aligned
Houthi rebels have for months stepped up attacks to take control of oil-rich
Marib province, one of the most important strongholds of the legitimate
government and home to the headquarters of Yemen’s Defense Ministry.
Yemen
has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels
captured much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israel
requests Germany’s help to reach prisoners swap deal with Hamas
Abdelraouf
Arna'out
26.01.2022
JERUSALEM
Israel
requested Germany’s help Wednesday in reaching a prisoners swap deal with the
Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.
The
request was made during a meeting between Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy and German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, according to a statement by the Israeli
legislative body.
Levy,
who has been in Germany since Monday, will participate in a ceremony marking
International Holocaust Remembrance Day later Thursday.
He
said the request was made in light of recent success by German mediators in
reaching deals.
Germany
made an important contribution to the Egyptian-mediated prisoners' swap between
Hamas and Israel in 2011.
In
April 2016, Hamas said it had taken four Israeli soldiers captive. It withheld
their identities except for Oron Shaul, an Israeli soldier missing since the
2014 Israeli offensive on Gaza.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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Africa
Unrest
in Libya caused instability in West Africa: Ugandan president
Godfrey
Olukya
26.01.2022
KAMPALA,
Uganda
Uganda’s
president on Wednesday condemned the coup in Burkina Faso, saying recent coups
in West Africa were triggered by unrest in Libya after the fall of Muammar
Gaddafi’s government.
Addressing
the nation to mark the country’s 36th Liberation Day at Kololo ground in the
capital Kampala, Yoweri Museveni said: “West Africa’s problems started with the
attack on Libya. After the government there collapsed, terrorist groups in
Libya spread into Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, and other countries.”
Blaming
Libya’s chaos for insecurity in Africa, he said such coups could not have taken
place had there been unity among the leaders in Africa.
He
said terrorists destabilized governments because the African leaders failed to
build strong armies.
Museveni
condemned power grabs in Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso.
He
said Uganda joined hands with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to fight the
Allied Democratic Forces terrorists who have been killing people for over two
decades.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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EU
‘strongly’ condemns coup in Burkina Faso
Agnes
Szucs
26.01.2022
The
European Union on Wednesday condemned the coup in Burkina Faso and warned of
“immediate consequences” for their partnership if constitutional order is not
restored.
In a
statement, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “strongly condemned” the coup
that overthrew the elected President Roch Kabore and suspended the functioning
of democratic institutions.
Borrell
called for an “immediate return to constitutional order” and release of “all
those illegally detained, starting with President Kabore.”
On
Monday, the Patriotic Movement for Liberation and Restoration, a group of armed
forces, announced on the state television RTB that they overthrew the
government of Kabore.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/eu-strongly-condemns-coup-in-burkina-faso/2485951
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UN
mission says it operates under Sudan’s request amid protests
Talal
Ismail
26.01.2022
KHARTOUM,
Sudan
The
United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) said
Wednesday it is in there by request of Sudan along with a mandate by the UN
Security Council.
Hundreds
of Sudanese demonstrated Wednesday in front of the mission’s headquarters and
other foreign embassies in Khartoum protesting what they said is "foreign
intervention" in the country's affairs.
UNITAMS
said on Twitter that it defends "freedom of assembly & expression and
offered to receive a delegation" from the protesters to listen to their
demands but "they refused."
The
head of UNITAMS, Volcker Perthes, announced Jan. 8, the launch of
UN-facilitated consultations for a political process among all Sudanese parties
to reach a political settlement to the country crisis.
Sudan
has been in turmoil since Oct. 25 last year, when the military dismissed Prime
Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of
emergency.
Prior
to the military takeover, Sudan was governed by a sovereign council of military
and civilian officials tasked with overseeing the transition period until
elections in 2023.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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At
least 1 killed, 2 wounded as bomb blast hits teashop in Somalia
Mohammed
Dhaysane
26.01.2022
MOGADISHU,
Somalia
At
least one person was killed and two others wounded when a bomb blast hit a
teashop in northeastern Somalia on Wednesday, local media reported.
According
to Somali National Television (SNTV), a police officer was among those injured
in the explosion in Bosaso, the provincial capital of the Bari region.
A
local police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told Anadolu Agency
over the phone that the bomb was planted by al-Shabaab terrorists.
The
targeted teashop was frequented by locals and security forces, according to
Bosaso residents who spoke to Anadolu Agency via phone.
Bosaso
is a port city 1,414 kilometers (878 miles) northeast of the Somali capital
Mogadishu.
Al-Qaeda-affiliated
terrorist group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack via radio
Andalus.
It
also claimed the blast killed Mohamed Bahwal, a Wardheer district commissioner.
The
group also said that it attacked Wednesday a convoy of the African Union
peacekeeping mission forces in Somalia in the village of Bufow, lower Shabelle
region, killing at three Ugandan troops and wounded two others. There has been
no immediate comment from the peacekeeping mission on the al-Shabaab claim.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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We
lost three men, eight cows poisoned in Southern Kaduna – Miyetti Allah
January
26, 2022
By
Amos Tauna
The
Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association (MACBAN) has alleged that the renewed
Southern Kaduna crisis led to killings of three Fulani herders while eight cows
were poisoned.
The
group also alleged that the Fulani herdsmen were killed in different locations
in Zangon Kataf and Kauru Local Government Areas in Southern Kaduna.
Alhaji
Abdulhamid Musa Albarka, Chairman of MACBAN in Southern Kaduna, alleged that one
herdsman, Yusuf Mamuda, 16, was found dead on Sunday at Zaman Dabo District in
Atyap Chiefdom in Zango Kataf, with his head cut off and taken away by his
killers.
He
added, “another man in company of his brother was killed in Atyap when he
stopped to buy petroleum for his motorcycle.”
He
explained that another herdsman, Amadu Surubu, was killed when some armed youth
attacked Bakin Kogi Market in Kauru Local Government Area on Monday while e8ght
cows were poisoned in Fadama Area in the local government.
Mr
Gabriel Joseph, the Youth Leader of the Atyap Chiefdom, explained that
attackers invaded Kurmin Masara in the chiefdom on January 11 and killed three
people.
He
alleged that they burnt a house and a police vehicle.
Samuel
Aruwan, the state Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs,
had in a statement confirmed that one person was killed and two others injured
in the communal clash.
He
further explained that an inter-ethnic communal clash erupted during peak
market hours in Bakin Kogi Market of Kauru LGA located near its boundaries with
Zangon Kataf.
Source:
Daily Post
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Jordan
armed forces kill 27 drug smugglers attempting to enter from Syria
27
January ,2022
Jordan’s
armed forces have killed 27 drug smugglers who sought to infiltrate the border
from Syria, according to a statement.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Burkina
Faso’s defence minister arrested: Media reports
James
Tasamba
26.01.2022
KIGALI,
Rwanda
The
defense minister in Burkina Faso was arrested Wednesday, days after the
military took power in the West African country, according to media reports.
Gen.
Barthelemy Simpore was arrested early Wednesday, said the Minute newspaper.
The
military overthrew President Roch Kabore on Monday in the third coup in West
Africa in nine months, following coups in Mali and Guinea.
Simpore
appeared on national television during the early hours of the coup and assured
the country that everything was under control.
But
within hours Kabore’s government was overthrown.
Since
the takeover by the military, which calls itself the Patriotic Movement for
Liberation and Restoration, those close to the deposed president have been
arrested.
Media
reports said the president of the National Assembly, Alassane Bala Sakande,
Prime Minister Lassina Zerbo and other high-ranking members of Kabore's
government have been barred from leaving their homes.
Kabore
was detained Monday and later resigned following the coup.
The
UN has called for the immediate release of Kabore and high-level officials who
have been detained.
The
military junta led by Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba promised it would
propose a return to constitutional order “within a reasonable time frame.”
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/burkina-faso-s-defense-minister-arrested-media-reports/2486485
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North America
US to
shut down Afghan embassy, strip diplomats of immunity: Sources
26
January ,2022
The
US government has informed Afghanistan’s diplomats in the country that they
will shut down the embassy in Washington and the consulate missions in Los
Angeles and New York, sources familiar with the matter tell Al Arabiya English.
The
Afghan diplomats will also be stripped of their diplomatic immunity, one source
said, according to a memo sent to the Afghan diplomats at the beginning of the
week.
A
State Department official told Al Arabiya English that there had been “no
change in the status of the Afghan mission or its personnel.”
But a
diplomatic source revealed: “They said there would be a shutdown of the embassy
[in Washington] and the consulate missions in LA and New York.”
Washington’s
move comes less than six months after the chaotic US withdrawal from
Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.
The
Taliban have not been recognized by much of the international community,
including the United States. However, Norway hosted the Taliban this week for
meetings with Western officials.
The
US, UK, Norway, France, Germany, Italy and the EU met with the Taliban in Oslo.
Former
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani saw his government collapse on August 15 after he
fled the country and the Afghan security forces failed to prevent the Taliban
from taking over.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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US
appreciates Kuwait’s support for mutual return to compliance with Iran nuclear
deal: Blinken
January
26, 2022
LONDON:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US appreciates Kuwait’s support
for a mutual return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal.
Speaking
at a joint conference during Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nasser
Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah’s visit to the US, Blinken said they discussed Iran, and
that the JCPOA is the “most effective way to ensure that Iran cannot develop a
nuclear weapon.”
“We
are very grateful for Kuwait’s close coordination through venues like the GCC
Iran working group where we have stood together against Iran’s destabilising
actions in the region,” the secretary of state said.
Blinken
thanked Kuwait for helping to “significantly reduce the threat that Daesh poses
to international security even as we remain very vigilant about the ongoing
threat.”
He
also said that the Gulf country stood by the US during the evacuation of
Afghanistan in August 2021 as people fled Taliban rule.
Kuwait
helped the US evacuate thousands of people from Afghanistan including US
citizens, foreign nationals and Afghans, Blinken said.
“Because
of Kuwait’s help, thousands of people reached safety and Afghan families have
been able to start new lives around the world.“This was a signal of Kuwait’s
generosity and its commitment to humanitarianism and international stability.”
“We
see that in the leadership role that Kuwait plays in institutions like the Gulf
Cooperation Council and the Arab League,” he added.
Sheikh
Ahmad thanked US commitment to the stability and security of Kuwait and the
region.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2012516/middle-east
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US-brokered
maritime border talks with Lebanon to resume next week: Israel
26
January ,2022
Israel’s
Energy Ministry said on Wednesday it was willing to continue negotiations for
setting its maritime border with Lebanon and that talks would resume next week.
Long
time foes Lebanon and Israel started indirect negotiations through US mediation
in 2020 at a UN peacekeeping base in Lebanon’s Naqoura, but the talks have
stalled several times.
The
maritime border dispute has held up exploration in the potentially gas-rich
area.
“Lebanon
is ready to resume negotiating the demarcation of the southern maritime
borders, in a way that preserves the rights and sovereignty of the Lebanese
state,” President Michel Aoun said.
Israel
was also willing to continue negotiations, the Energy Ministry said, adding
that Energy Minister Karine Elharrar would meet US envoy Amos Hochstein next
week as part of efforts to settle the dispute.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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UN
warns Afghanistan facing intimidation, stark rights decline
Michael
Hernandez
26.01.2022
WASHINGTON
Afghanistan
is in the midst of an increasingly severe crackdown on human rights with
dissents being forcefully repressed, the UN's special envoy for the country
warned on Wednesday.
Deborah
Lyons told the Security Council that the UN has accrued "compelling
evidence" of what she said is an "emerging environment of
intimidation, and a deterioration in respect for human rights" as the
Taliban consolidate their hold on power after ousting the internationally
recognized government in August.
"This
suggests that the consolidation of government authority may be leading toward
control of the population by fear, rather than by understanding and responding
to its needs," said Lyons. "Afghans now live with different, but no
less real, fears than those they faced during decades of war."
She
pointed to "credible allegations" of the Taliban killing and
disappearing former government employees and security forces, as well as a
"growing number" of arrests targeting political opponents, civil
society members and other dissidents. The media has also come under pressure
"from de facto authorities to report in ways that are not critical of
them," she said.
The
stark deterioration in Afghanistan's rights environment comes as the country
grapples with an economic meltdown that has led to a crisis of dire proportions
in which people have been forced to sell their children and organs.
Following
the Taliban's takeover, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the US
Federal Reserve cut off Afghanistan's access to international funds.
That
includes about $9 billion in central bank assets, according to UN chief Antonio
Guterres, who also warned that the economic collapse is being accompanied by
the Taliban's crackdown on human rights.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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Qatari
emir to meet US president next week: White House
Servet
Günerigök
26.01.2022
WASHINGTON
US
President Biden will host Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Monday
at the White House.
"The
visit provides an opportunity for the President and Amir to consult on a range
of regional and global issues of mutual interest, including promoting security
and prosperity in the Gulf and broader Middle East region, ensuring the
stability of global energy supplies, supporting the people of Afghanistan, and
strengthening commercial and investment cooperation between our
countries," the White House said in a statement.
During
the meeting, Biden will thank the Qatari emir for Doha's efforts to ensure the
safe transit from Afghanistan of US citizens, lawful permanent residents and
Afghan partners.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/qatari-emir-to-meet-us-president-next-week-white-house-/2485498
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/indonesian-terrorists-islamic-school/d/126252