New Age Islam News Bureau
11 November 2020
Representational image
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• Muslims, Hindus, Christians And Buddhists Are Laid
To Rest Side By Side In The Country’s Only Interfaith Cemetery
• To Ensure Peace Of Mind Among Muslims, Ensure
Covid-19 Vaccines Are Halal, Says Pahang Mufti
• Muslim Brotherhood Is A Terrorist Group: Saudi
Arabia’s Council Of Senior Scholars
• Lahore High Court Reserves Judgement In Plea Against
Two-Finger Test Of Sexual Assault Survivors
• Minors Arrested For Planning Terror Attacks In The
West Bank For Hamas
• Bengal BJP Takes First Step To Win Over Muslims,
Inducts ‘5,000 Into Party’
• Biden Will Have A Cozy Relationship With Saudi
Arabia: Analyst
Africa
• Islamist Militants Of Islamic State Chanted 'Allah u
Akbar' And Turn Football Pitch In Mozambique Into 'Execution Ground', Behead
Over 50 People
• Israel To Send First Delegation To Sudan To ‘Firm
Up’ Normalization Deal: Report
• Libyan torture victims file US federal lawsuit
against Haftar, target assets
• US urged to shelve $2.9bn drone sale to UAE over
civilian deaths in Yemen, Libya
• Nigeria: 6 Nigerians Convicted in UAE Over 'Boko
Haram Funding'
• Nigeria: Boko Haram Launches Fresh Attack in Gwoza
Town - Residents
• ADF Militia Kill More Than a Dozen in Attacks Near
DR Congo’s Beni
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South Asia
• Muslims, Hindus, Christians And Buddhists Are Laid To
Rest Side By Side In The Country’s Only Interfaith Cemetery
• Myanmar’s First Muslim MP-Elect In 5 Years Vows To
Champion Rights
• Unfortunately ‘Comprehensive’ Ceasefire Has Not Been
Realized: Ghani
• ANA Defused 3 IEDs in Western Province of Heart
• Taliban Offensive Claims 4 ANP in Logar Province
• Key ‘Alqaeda Commander’ Killed in Farah Province
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Southeast Asia
• To Ensure Peace Of Mind Among Muslims, Ensure
Covid-19 Vaccines Are Halal, Says Pahang Mufti
• Thousands Welcome Back Rizieq Shihab, A Firebrand
Cleric And Islamist Indonesian Cleric In Jakarta
• Thailand: Yellow-Clad Muslims Express Support for
Monarchy
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Arab world
• Muslim Brotherhood Is A Terrorist Group: Saudi
Arabia’s Council Of Senior Scholars
• Iraqi Army, Int’l Coalition Launch Anti-ISIS
Operation
• Iran, Syria Discuss Repatriation of Refugees,
Bilateral Ties
• Hariri prosecutors seek life sentence for Hezbollah
member Salim Ayyash
• Turkey withdraws from another base in northwest
Syria: Report
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Pakistan
• Lahore High Court Reserves Judgement In Plea Against
Two-Finger Test Of Sexual Assault Survivors
• PM Imran Continues Fight Against Islamophobia At
SCO-CHS Conference
• Sarina Isa, wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa of SC
Against Exclusion Of Three Judges From Review Bench
• Jang Group chief asked to furnish Rs10m bond,
surrender passport
• PM should hold talks with opposition to take country
forward, says Kamal
• Pakistan, Russia joint ‘friendship’ exercise
underway: ISPR
• Counter-terror court sends PML-N leader to jail on
judicial remand
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Mideast
• Minors Arrested For Planning Terror Attacks In The
West Bank For Hamas
• OIC: Israel Demolition Of Palestinian Village Act Of
Ethnic Cleansing
• Erdogan congratulates Joe Biden, urges closer
US-Turkish relations
• Iran Welcomes Russian-Mediated Agreement between
Azerbaijan, Armenia
• Thousands of Yemenis Develop Cancer Due to Saudi
Coalition's Use of Banned Weapons
• Iran frees 157 detained during protests as more US
sanctions loom under Trump admin.
• Israeli parliament approves deal establishing ties
with Bahrain
• Ankara says it expects issues poisoning ties with
Washington to be addressed
• World leaders remember Saeb Erakat as passionate
representative of Palestinian cause
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India
• Bengal BJP Takes First Step To Win Over Muslims,
Inducts ‘5,000 Into Party’
• Gujarat High Court Has Lifted The Stay On Offering
Prayers At A Newly Constructed Mosque On A Graveyard
• Failure To Protect Muslim Graveyards: Telangana HC
Summons Waqf Board CEO
• Pakistan shells 3 sectors along LoC in Poonch
• Two terrorists killed in Shopian encounter
• Indian Army gifts 20 fully-trained military horses,
10 mine-detection dogs to Bangladesh
• PM Modi takes dig at Pakistan during virtual SCO meeting
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North America
• Biden will have a cozy relationship with Saudi
Arabia: Analyst
• Prosecutors: Man’s hatred was behind Minnesota
mosque attack
• Top US diplomat Pompeo says he will travel to UAE,
Saudi Arabia, Israel this week
• Outgoing Trump administration imposes new
Iran-related sanctions
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Europe
• France’s Macron Says Terrorism Threat Requires
Re-Think Of Open-Border Schengen
• Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: Nagorno-Karabakh deal
is right step, Erdogan tells Putin
• Germany’s Merkel urges European Schengen area border
reform after terrorist attacks
• EU refuses to attend international conference on
Syrian refugees
• Russia deploys peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh as
war draws to close
• Macron to host Austria's Kurz ahead of EU talks on
terror response
• Austria stopped trailing Vienna attacker in summer,
report says
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/islamist-militants-islamic-state-chanted/d/123441
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Islamist Militants Of Islamic State Chanted 'Allah U
Akbar' And Turn Football Pitch In Mozambique Into 'Execution Ground', Behead
Over 50 People
November 10, 2020
Representational image
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Islamist militants beheaded more than 50 people in
northern Mozambique's Cabo Delgado province, state media reported. A football
pitch in a village was reportedly turned into an "execution ground",
where they decapitated and chopped bodies.
Several people were also beheaded in another village.
Gunmen chanting "Allahu Akbar [God is
greatest]" fired shots and set homes on fire when they raided Nanjaba
village on Friday night, the state-owned Mozambique News Agency quoted
survivors as saying.
Two people were beheaded in the village and several
women abducted, the news agency added.
A separate group of militants carried out another
attack on Muatide village, where they beheaded more than 50 people, the news
agency reported.
Villagers who tried to flee were caught and taken to
the local football ground where they were beheaded and chopped to pieces. The
atrocity was carried out from Friday night to Sunday, another news report said.
The gas-rich Cabo Delgado province has been witnessing
a series of gruesome attacks since 2017 in which up to 2,000 people have been
killed and over 4 lakh have been left homeless.
According to reports, the militants were linked to the
Islamic State (IS) group.
The group has exploited poverty and unemployment to
recruit youth in their fight to establish Islamic rule in the area. Many locals
complain that they have benefited little from the province's ruby and gas
industries.
The latest attack is probably the worst carried out by
the militants, said a BBC report.
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/mozambique-islamist-militants-beheading-footbal-pitch-execution-ground-1739792-2020-11-10
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Muslims, Hindus, Christians And Buddhists Are Laid To
Rest Side By Side In The Country’s Only Interfaith Cemetery
November 04, 2020
Christians light candles at the interfaith cemetery in
Masdair of Bangladesh’s Narayanganj district on All Souls’ Day on Nov. 2.
(Photo courtesy of Pintoo Purification)
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In an industrial hub on the banks of the River
Shitalakshya, about 30 kilometers from Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, stands a
cemetery on about 8,100 square meters of land.
It is the only cemetery in this Muslim-majority
country where followers of four major religions — Muslims, Hindus, Christians
and Buddhists — have been buried for decades.
Administered by Narayanganj City Corporation since
1972, the history of this unique final resting place in the Masdair area of
Narayanganj district is largely undocumented. Local sources say it developed as
a Hindu cremation site during the British colonial era before it slowly
developed into a melting pot for other faiths.
Holy Cross Father Elias Hembrom, the parish priest,
noted that the interfaith cemetery has played a unique role in sustaining
harmony among religions for years.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/four-faiths-united-in-death-in-bangladesh/90158#
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To Ensure Peace Of Mind Among Muslims, Ensure Covid-19
Vaccines Are Halal, Says Pahang Mufti
Adam Abu Bakar
November 11, 2020
Mufti Abdul Rahman Osman says no Muslim will object if
the Covid-19 vaccine is halal and has no forbidden items as per shariah law.
(AP pic)
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PETALING JAYA: Pahang mufti Abdul Rahman Osman hopes
the much spoken about Covid-19 vaccine will be halal to ensure peace of mind
among Muslims.
He said while the utmost importance in Islamic law was
to save lives, health authorities must ensure the vaccine was free from items
deemed to be forbidden by the religion.
“We must ensure that it is halal. If there are no
forbidden items in the vaccines, as per shariah laws, it should not harm
anyone. If this is fulfilled, there will be no objections,” he told FMT.
Rahman was responding to comments by netizens on
Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s social media
account where they raised questions regarding the vaccine’s halal status.
Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said
the halal concerns would be addressed by the health ministry, with advice from
the National Fatwa Council.
“The ministry would first and foremost evaluate the
vaccine in terms of efficacy and safety. It must be said in order to return to normal
life, vaccines are the best way forward.”
Putrajaya had recently said it would make advance
bookings for the vaccine through its participation in the Covid-19 Vaccine
Global Access (Covax) initiative, with an estimated cost of over RM3 billion.
Khairy, who is co-chair of the government’s vaccine
supplies committee, said the allocation would be able to immunise 70% of the
country’s population next year.
He had said vaccines would come as early as the first
quarter of next year, with medical workers the priority to receive them.
As for the halal issue, Khairy had urged for more
explanatory sessions for the people and assured that the vaccines would be
vetted and approved by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department or Jakim.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/11/11/ensure-covid-19-vaccines-are-halal-says-pahang-mufti/
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Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist group: Saudi
Arabia’s Council of Senior Scholars
Tamara Abueish
11 November 2020
The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization and
does not represent Islam, Saudi Press Agency cited Saudi Arabia’s Council of
Senior Scholars as saying on Tuesday.
“The Muslim Brothers’ Group is a terrorist group and
[does not] represent the method of Islam, rather it blindly follows its
partisan objectives that are running contrary to the guidance of our graceful
religion, while taking religion as a mask to disguise its purposes in order to
practice the opposite such as sedition, wreaking havoc, committing violence and
terrorism,” the council said.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
In 2014, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates
officially designated the group as a terrorist organization “to keep sedition
at bay.” Bahrain and Egypt soon followed suit.
The countries have urged the public to stay away from
the organization and not sympathize with its actions.
According to the council, the Muslim Brotherhood’s
mission is “calling for rebellion against the rulers, wreaking havoc in the
states, [and] destabilizing co-existence in the country.”
The group’s only goal is “to grab the reins of power”
rather than show “any care of Islamic creed,” SPA cited the council as saying.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/11/11/Muslim-Brotherhood-is-a-terrorist-group-Saudi-Arabia-s-Council-of-Senior-Scholars
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Lahore High Court Reserves Judgement In Plea Against
Two-Finger Test Of Sexual Assault Survivors
11 Nov 2020
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday reserved
judgment in two public interest petitions challenging an old practice called
two-finger test (TFT) for examination of sexual assault survivors for being
disrespectful, inhuman and violative of fundamental rights of the women.
Before closing the hearing, Justice Ayesha A. Malik expressed
her displeasure over the Punjab government’s slackness towards legislation to
abolish the test. The judge noted that the government, despite an undertaking,
failed to present a proposed draft of the legislation.
Additional Advocate General Jawad Yaqoob told the
court that a meeting of a sub-committee of the provincial cabinet was held on
the issue. However, Justice Malik declared the provincial government’s response
unsatisfactory. She observed that the federal government had also undertaken to
bring legislation on the issue.
The petitioners’ counsel argued that the court had the
jurisdiction to order the legislature for a legislation on a particular issue.
Justice Malik concluded the proceedings and reserved the verdict.
In this case, the provincial health authorities had
previously told the court that the TFT had limited evidential value and would
be abolished from the protocol of medico-legal certificate (MLC) unless
necessitated. The government maintained that the TFT should not be performed unless
where it deems necessary to be performed in good faith for determination of
injuries and disease.
The petitions were filed by PML-N MNA Shaista Pervez
Malik and women rights activists, academics, journalists and advocates. They
include Sadaf Aziz, Farida Shaheed, Farieha Aziz, Farah Zia, Sarah Zaman,
Maliha Zia Lari, Dr Aisha Babar and Zainab Husain.
Advocate Sahar Zareen Bandial and Barrister Sameer
Khosa represented the petitioners.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1589777/lhc-reserves-judgement-in-plea-against-test-of-sexual-assault-survivors
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Minors arrested for planning terror attacks in the
West Bank for Hamas
By ANNA AHRONHEIM
NOVEMBER 9, 2020
Hamas has been recruiting minors in the West Bank to
carry out terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens and soldiers, the Shin Bet
(Israel Security Agency) said Monday.
Two Palestinian minors, including a 16-year-old, were
arrested by the Shin Bet last month. During their investigation, it was found
that they had been recruited by Hamas over the Internet to carry out terrorist
attacks, the Shin Bet said in a press release.
Their contact with Hamas in the Gaza Strip took place
“frequently and over several months” on various social-networking sites, the
Shin Bet said, adding that they were recruited by Bilal Kardi from Hamas’s
cyber unit.
The two minors were expecting to receive weapons,
ammunition, uniforms and money to carry out shooting attacks and kidnappings in
the West Bank for Hamas. They tried unsuccessfully to manufacture pipe bombs,
the Shin Bet said.
They were asked to carry out various tasks for the
group, such as collecting information on settlements, including photographing
Bat Ayin and Kfar Etzion, and providing maps and gathering points of soldiers
in the area.
In return for their attacks, Hamas promised that they
would be paid and that it would take responsibility for their actions.
They were indicted in the Juvenile Military Court
earlier this month.
“The investigation illustrates the extent of Hamas’s
borderless efforts to promote terrorist attacks and terrorist infrastructure in
the West Bank while exploiting minors and harming their families,” the Shin Bet
said, adding that it would “continue to work to thwart Hamas’s efforts in the
Gaza Strip to establish a terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank to promote
terrorist attacks in Israeli territory and undermine regional stability.”
The Gaza periphery has been somewhat calmer than in
past years, but there has been an increase in terrorist attacks in the West
Bank from 70 in July to 82 in October, with the majority being firebombs thrown
at Israelis.
Fewer threats in the West Bank and Gaza Strip allow
the IDF to focus on those in the North from Iran and Hezbollah, but it
continues to monitor the two areas with concern, senior IDF officers have said.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/shin-bet-hamas-recruiting-minors-to-carry-out-terror-attacks-in-west-bank-648503?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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Bengal BJP Takes First Step To Win Over Muslims,
Inducts ‘5,000 Into Party’
by Santanu Chowdhury
November 11, 2020
Eyeing a share in the Muslim vote bank ahead of the
2021 Assembly polls, the state BJP’s minority Morcha has begun a campaign to
reach out to the community in South Bengal districts and, according to a
leader, inducted more than 5,000 Muslims into the party in the last 10 days.
State minority morcha president Ali Hossain on Tuesday
told The Indian Express that another 5,000 Muslims will become BJP members
during a “massive” BJP rally at Amta in Howrah district on Thursday.
“This is going to be the biggest rally we have
organised for people belonging to the minority community. Over 25,000 people
will take part in the rally. Our stat party president Dilip Ghosh will address
the participants,” Hossain said.
Giving the break-up of the 5,000 members who have
joined the BJP since October 31, he said they are from North 24 Parganas,
Burdwan, Purulia and Howrah districts. Hossain revealed that 300 joined the
party in Burdwan district on October 31; 340 from Bankura district’s Bishnupur
on November 1; 800 from Purulia the following day; 800 from Howrah’s Uluberia
area on November 4; 700 from Baruipur on November 7; and 1,000 from Bongaon the
next day.
“This shows how Muslims are aligning with the BJP,”
the BJP leader stressed, adding that a large number of of the new members are
educated and intellectuals.
The BJP is learnt to have received a good response
from Muslims at Uluberia in Howrah, Bongaon in North 24 Parganas and Burdwan
Town in East Midnapore. BJP sources said the campaign will brighten its chances
of putting up a better electoral performance in minority-dominated areas in the
2021 Assembly polls.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the ruling TMC had a lead
in 93 out of the 125 minority-dominated Assembly segments while the BJP was
ahead in 23 and the Congress in nine seats. In 70 of the 93 Assembly seats, the
margin of votes between the TMC and the BJP was fewer than 40,000.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/bjp-takes-first-step-to-win-over-muslims-inducts-5000-into-party-7047038/
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Biden will have a cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia:
Analyst
10 November 2020
Saudis feel confident that “the Biden administration
will continue to have a cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia,” an American human
rights and peace activist says.
Saudi Arabia on Monday congratulated Biden on his
reported election victory over the kingdom’s “personal” friend Donald Trump.
Riyadh was conspicuously silent for long after Biden
surpassed the 270 electoral votes he needed to become the 46th US president on
Saturday.
“Well, I think that it certainly signifies that Saudi
Arabia thinks of Biden as a friend which I think is correct. I mean, if we look
at the Obama administration in which Biden served, I mean, Obama was very
friendly to Saudi Arabia, sold billions of dollars of military hardware,
including for its genocidal war in Yemen,” said Daniel Kovalik, who teaches
international human rights at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
“So I think the Saudis feel confident that the Biden
administration will continue to have a cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia,” he
stated.
“In some ways, there are some differences between
Biden and Trump. I think in some areas, Biden will be less aggressive but in
some areas may be more aggressive than Trump,” he noted.
“The one thing Biden did say was that he would stop or
was at least inclined to stop supporting Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, which
would be great,” he said.
“I mean that would be a huge step forward. I mean that
has to happen so if that was the one change that he made that would be great,”
he concluded.
Trump traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2017 in his first
official foreign visit, signing a $110-billion arms deal with the kingdom. The
US arms support, an update on its already lavish supply of weapons to Saudi
Arabia, came although the kingdom was at the height of a war he had
orchestrated against Yemen. The United Nations has said the military aggression
is responsible for turning the already impoverished country into the scene of
the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
A year later, Trump refused to admonish Saudi over the
grisly murder and dismemberment of dual US-Saudi citizen and bin Salman critic,
Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Riyadh also avoided international
legal action and scrutiny under US protection, although, the CIA considered bin
Salman to have played a role in the assassination.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638333/Biden-will-have-a-cozy-relationship-with-Saudi-Arabia
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Africa
Israel to send first delegation to Sudan to ‘firm up’
normalization deal: Report
10 November 2020
Israel reportedly plans to send a first delegation to
Sudan in the coming days to “firm up” a declared normalization deal between Tel
Aviv and Khartoum.
The delegation would visit Sudan on Sunday, Reuters
reported on Tuesday, citing an anonymous source whom it said had been briefed
on the “provisional itinerary.”
Neither Israeli nor Sudanese officials made any
immediate comment on the report.
In October, US President Donald Trump announced at the
White House that Sudan and Israel had agreed to normalize relations.
Sudan thus became the third Arab country — after the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain — to agree to a normalization deal with
Israel since August.
But no signing ceremony has been held between Sudan
and Israel so far.
The development came after an agreement between Sudan
and the US under which Washington agreed to remove Sudan from a list of
countries it calls “state sponsors of terrorism,” unblocking economic aid to
and investment in the African country.
Palestinian factions and people have roundly condemned
the normalization deals between the Arab governments and Israel, calling out
the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan for betraying their cause. The deals have been met
with popular resentment on the Arab street as well.
Meanwhile, Sudan’s official news agency SUNA said US
special envoy Donald Booth arrived in Sudan on Monday to hold discussions with
senior officials of the African state on the outcome of removing Sudan from the
US list of “state sponsors of terrorism.”
SUNA said that Booth had held separate meetings with
Sudan’s Minister of Industry and Trade Madani Abbas Mdani and Undersecretary of
the Labor and Social Development Mohammed al-Shabek.
The US envoy is scheduled to hold a meeting with
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and Sovereign Council Chief General
Abdel Fattah al-Burhan on Thursday.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638318/Israel-to-send-first-delegation-to-Sudan-to-firm-up-normalization-deal-Report
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Libyan torture victims file US federal lawsuit against
Haftar, target assets
10 November 2020
The families of the victims of torture and
extrajudicial killings in Libya have reportedly filed US federal lawsuits
against the self-styled commander of Libyan rebel forces, renegade General
Khalifa Haftar, over charges of war crimes.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday that
the lawsuits had been filed in multiple jurisdictions.
Haftar owns millions of dollars’ worth of US real
estate. He was backed by the CIA at one time.
The American daily said the plaintiffs were targeting
the assets in the US as compensation for Haftar’s involvement in war crimes in
Libya.
“Most of the 17 Haftar-linked properties targeted are
owned by limited liability companies (LLC) controlled by his son Okba Haftar,”
the WSJ said, adding, “The LLC with the largest number of properties is
Eastfield Holdings, with around 10 properties worth about $4.5m.”
One property, a 5,600-square-foot house in Great
Falls, Fairfax County of Virginia, is valued at nearly $2.5 million, according
to the newspaper, while public records also list a condo in Falls Church, in
the southeastern US state, as well as a three-bedroom ranch.
The WSJ also said that as recently as July, Haftar’s
son reportedly purchased a $700,000 horse farm in the small town of Boyce,
Virginia, which has a population of 589 people.
The prosecutors argued that Haftar’s long-time
residency in the US and ownership of assets there are two facts that are
sufficient grounds for granting Virginia state jurisdiction over his alleged
war crimes in Libya and confiscating his assets.
Over the past couple of years, multiple Libyan
families have filed lawsuits against Haftar, including two filed in Virginia
and one in Washington, for his war crimes, accusing the US national of murder,
starvation and torture, among other charges.
After Haftar failed in a coup attempt against Libyan
dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 1987, he moved to the US with his family –
including his sons Khalid and Saddam – and eventually became an American
citizen.
After more than two decades in the US, Haftar returned
to Libya when Gaddafi was ousted and killed in a NATO-backed uprising.
Since 2014, two rival seats of power have emerged in
Libya, namely the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez
al-Sarraj, and another group based in the east of the country that is
militarily backed by rebels under the command of a military strongman Haftar.
The rebels, supported by the United Arab Emirates,
Egypt, and Jordan, launched a deadly offensive to capture the capital Tripoli
last April. But the government forces repelled that offensive and gained the
upper hand against the rebels elsewhere in the country with crucial help from
Turkey.
Libyan government forces have discovered scores of
mass graves since Haftar’s rebels retreated from areas under their control,
particularly in Tarhuna region, some 80 kilometers southeast of the capital
Tripoli, which served as the main staging point for Haftar’s failed offensive.
The renegade general has so far violated previous
ceasefire agreements with the government, but the two rival sides eventually
agreed in Geneva last month to sign a "permanent ceasefire" agreement
in all areas.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638327/Libya-victims-torture-lawsuits-Haftar
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US urged to shelve $2.9bn drone sale to UAE over
civilian deaths in Yemen, Libya
10 November 2020
Amnesty International has called on the United States
to drop plans to sell sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), saying that there is evidence of civilian deaths as a
result Abu Dhabi’s involvement in war-torn Yemen and Libya.
Philippe Nassif, advocacy director for the Middle East
and North Africa at Amnesty International USA, said on Monday that Washington
must resolutely refrain from supplying the UAE with arms that could kill
civilians in Yemen and Libya.
“The startling fact that the United States government
continues its unflinching support of providing weapons that risk adding to the
devastating toll of Yemeni civilians unlawfully killed and injured by US-made
weapons should shake to the core every person living in this country,” Nassif
said.
Last week, the US State Department gave Congress
notification of the planned sale of more than a dozen state-of-the-art armed
MQ-9B unmanned aerial vehicles to the UAE under a deal worth approximately
$2.9bn, less than two months after the Persian Gulf country signed a
US-brokered deal to normalize with Israel.
The move comes on the heels of a previous notification
of a potential sale of 50 Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter jets to the UAE,
in a sale that could amount to $10 billion.
“These US drones could be responsible for UAE attacks
that violate international humanitarian law and kill, as well as injure,
thousands of Yemeni civilians already bearing the brunt of the one of the
world’s most devastating humanitarian catastrophes,” Nassif pointed out.
The UAE is a key party to a Saudi-led coalition of
countries waging a devastating military campaign against Yemen since March
2015, with the goal of bringing a former Riyadh-friendly government back to
power there.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data
Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the
war has claimed more than 100,000 lives for over the past five years.
Amnesty International further warned against the
worrying consequences of US armed drones sale to the UAE, pointing to the extensive
evidence that Abu Dhabi used armed drones in Libya in violation of a 2011 UN
Security Council arms embargo by operating the aircraft on behalf of renegade
military commander General Khalifa Haftar’s rebel forces.
Two rival seats of power have emerged in the country
since 2014, namely the internationally-recognized government run by Prime
Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and the parliament based in the eastern city of
Tobruk, supported militarily by Haftar’s rebels.
The Libyan rebels are supported by the UAE, Egypt, and
Jordan. They are controlling large swaths of Eastern Libya, in the conflict
against the internationally backed Government of National Accord (GNA).
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638302/US-urged-to-shelve-drone-sales-to-UAE-over-civilian-deaths-in-Yemen-Libya
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Nigeria: 6 Nigerians Convicted in UAE Over 'Boko Haram
Funding'
9 NOVEMBER 2020
Dubai, Abuja, Kano — Six Nigerians have been convicted
by an Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over alleged
funding of Boko Haram, investigations by Daily Trust reveals.
Two of the convicts, Surajo Abubakar Muhammad and
Saleh Yusuf Adamu were sentenced to life imprisonment while the remaining four,
Ibrahim Ali Alhassan, AbdurRahman Ado Musa, Bashir Ali Yusuf and Muhammad
Ibrahim Isa were handed ten-year imprisonment respectively.
The convicts, according to a court judgment
exclusively obtained by Daily Trust were tried and convicted in 2019.
The court judgment also showed that between 2015 and
2016, the convicts were involved in different cash transfers allegedly in
favour of Boko Haram to the tune of USD782, 000.00 even as those close to them
said the transactions were for legitimate purposes.
Our correspondents report that for the past 11 years,
the issue of Boko Haram funding had remained mysterious and different theories
advanced by prominent personalities and groups.
This was probably the first time certain individuals
were identified albeit outside the shores of Nigeria. A senior government
official confirmed that they were aware of the case.
"They were framed up"
However, families of those affected told the Daily
Trust that the victims were "framed up" considering that they had
been doing legitimate bureau de change business in the UAE before their arrest.
The conviction of the six suspects was said to have
been upheld by the appellate court in the UAE after they lost an appeal earlier
filed at a lower court.
According to the judgment, all the accused were
charged with funding a terror group (Boko Haram) by facilitating transfers of
money from Dubai to Nigeria for alleged terror operations.
Engaging in such an activity is a crime under Article
29, Clause 3 of UAE's Federal Law No 7 of 2017 with regards to anti-terrorism
law, documents seen by this paper showed.
How they were arrested, tried
Court documents seen by Daily Trust indicate that
arrest warrants from the office of the National Security Bureau were issued
against the accused after investigations "confirmed their involvement and
membership of the Boko Haram" terror group in Nigeria, and transferring
money for that group.
The accused were said to have been apprehended between
April 16 and 17, 2017, and their homes searched according to the search warrant
issued by the National Security Prosecution office dated April 16, 2017.
Thereafter, interrogation files were prepared for each
of them.
The first and second accused were said to have been
charged for joining the Boko Haram group in Nigeria knowingly, which is a crime
punishable under Article 22/2 of the Federal Law No 7 of 2017 with regards to
anti-terrorism punishable by death or life imprisonment.
The third, fourth, fifth and sixth accused were
charged with assisting the terror group knowingly, which is a crime under
Article 31, Clause 1 of the same law, and is punishable by life imprisonment or
jail for not less than five years under the UAE law.
Undercover agents at large
It was gathered that almost all the transactions that
landed the six Nigerians now in jail in the UAE were initiated by two undercover
Boko Haram agents who are based in Nigeria from where they were facilitating
the funding transactions.
One of them, Alhaji Sa'idu who is allegedly based in
Nigeria, is said to be a senior undercover Boko Haram member responsible for
facilitating the group's access to funds from its sponsors.
Also fingered in some of the transitions is one Alhaji
Ashiru, who is said to be "a Nigerian government official" and yet a
senior undercover Boko Haram member who facilitated the transfer of
misappropriated public funds to the group.
How indicted Nigerians got involved
Families of those affected told our correspondents
that their relatives were most likely deceived in the course of their routine
bureau de change transactions to the extent that some of the transactions they
facilitated turned out to be for proceeds meant for Boko Haram activities.
It was gathered that one of the Boko Haram couriers,
Alhaji Sa'idu, would arrange an unidentified or vaguely identified Arab person
on a visit to Dubai from Turkey to hand over an amount of money in US Dollars
to one of the convicts who would, in turn, advise his Nigerian-based business
partners to hand over the Naira equivalent of the amount to him (Alhaji
Sa'idu).
A source familiar with the case said, "I think
Alhaji Sa'idu is just Nom de guerre who used the gullibility of the victims to
achieve his aim. They were into bureau de change business, receiving and
sending monies on behalf of others.
"From what I understand, they have been doing the
business for long and along the line, they fell into a trap. I am not siding
with them or trying to indict them but generally, there is ignorance on their
side," he said.
'No fair hearing'
Auwalu Ali Alhassan, an elder brother to two of the
convicts; Ibrahim Ali and Bashir Ali said his siblings were not given a fair
hearing during the trial, adding that efforts to get the Nigerian government to
intervene proved abortive.
According to him, "There was no fair hearing
during the court case; no witnesses and they were just convicted to ten years
in prison (Ibrahim and Bashir) and those that provided them with the monies
were sentenced to 25 years each. They were earlier accused of money laundering
and nothing more but along the line, the charge changed to financing
terrorism".
On how they responded to the alleged funding of
terrorism by their brothers, Alhassan said, "The case was appealed and
still the ruling was upheld. We reported back to foreign affairs (here in
Nigeria) and they advised us to wait till after the appeal."
He said following his brothers' arrest, he went to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and reported to the then Minister of State, Khadija
Bukar Abba Ibrahim and also spoke with the UAE Ambassador to Nigeria and it was
agreed that they would be released and send out of the country (UAE).
"This wasn't to be. After they were taken to
court they were later charged with terrorism, that those monies they collected
were from people linked with a terrorist.
"Our brothers were not accused of terrorism. The
ministry requested inquiries trying to use diplomatic relations to secure their
release since they were not convicted of terrorism and to seek an explanation
from the UAE of what really happened. It was at that point when the COVID
pandemic sets in. Till date, the government of the UAE has not provided the
information and court proceedings being sought by the Nigerian government.
"We have been to relevant places including the
Ministry of Justice and the Diaspora Commission; they keep telling us no
response (from the UAE). We even wrote an open letter to the president, which
was published in some national dailies but no positive development. The boys
are still being held in prison. We are seeing lack of interest from the
Nigerian government to secure their release," he said.
How the convicts moved to Dubai
Alhassan explained how his brothers started money
exchange business in Kano and later moved to Dubai where they were eventually
arrested.
"We realised that the business was booming as
more people visit Dubai from Kano and other parts of the world so we decided to
ask Ibrahim to move to Dubai as part of our business expansion strategies.
He said on arrival, "Ibrahim started buying
things for other businessmen based here at the Kantin Kwari Market, Kofar
Wambai and others.
Sometimes, he settled school fees of children studying
abroad and also transferred monies to people to Hong Kong or China where they
intended to buy commodities. This was all possible because he had a residence
permit of the United Arab Emirate," he said.
According to him, Ibrahim later set up a company
called Kofar Ruwa General Enterprises that was duly registered in Dubai and
which enabled him to transact business and money transfers in Dubai.
"We do send gold and dollars as well for him to
sell but later dollar was stopped by the government; so we sent him gold to
convert to Dirham (Dubai local currency) for people and because of the status
of Dubai being the hub of international business he was doing well.
"He went there in 2015 with his family and they
were all having their residence permits as well. He became a trusted ally and
respected by many to the point people started keeping their monies with him and
it was at this point that his younger brother, Ibrahim Ali, later joined him.
He too got papers and was living there peacefully," he said.
He said after two years his brothers were arrested by
authorities in Dubai in 2017 and all their belongings got confiscated.
"For three months we didn't know their
whereabouts; it was later that we got to know they were moved to Abu Dhabi. The
authorities took away about 800,000 USD, equivalents to 3 million Dirham, which
was peoples' money brought for safe keep.
"They accused them of collecting stolen monies
from people," he said adding: "If you accuse them of wrongdoing they
should be arraigned before a court but that wasn't to be till after two years
before they were charged to court."
Justice ministry reacts
Contacted, the Attorney - General and Minister of
Justice, Abubakar Malami said the Nigerian government was aware of the matter
and had written the UAE seeking records of proceedings but was yet to get
feedback.
Commenting on claims by families of some of the
convicts that different government agencies including the ministry of justice
failed to come to their aid, Malami said it was not true that the Nigerian
government did not do anything on the matter.
"Nigerian government has written firstly for
copies of the proceedings, which will give us the opportunity to see whether
justice was done or not. And on whether they have committed the crime, we
requested to know who and who are involved so that the Nigerian government will
know what to do next.
"Nigerian government is working but it doesn't
have the exclusive control, it has to rely on the information provided by UAE.
So, it is not in control of the speed of response or action.
"We are working on both the issues that they did
not receive a fair hearing and that they were alleged to have supported Boko
Haram activities," he said.
On the alleged undercover agents who are said to be at
large, Malami said the Nigerian government has instructed all the associated
agencies including the financial intelligence unit to profile the allegation.
"Since the relationship involves issues of money
between Nigeria and UAE, the Nigerian government has equally instructed the
existing agencies of government to embark on an investigation on that and we
have gone far.
"We await further intelligence from the UAE,
which has relevance to the conviction and trial in order to do what we can as a
follow-up to take the next line of action," he said.
The Embassy of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in
Nigeria did not respond to Daily Trust's request to comment on the matter at
the time of filing this report. A text message seeking a reaction from the
embassy was not responded to.
Lawyers react
A legal practitioner based in Kano, Barrister Yusuf
Muhammed Ahmed said the only option available is for the families of the
convicts to approach a Supreme Court in the UAE if there is one.
"Sometimes a case will move from a magistrate
court to high court and then to appeal court... All of them would stand on the
same judgment only for the Supreme Court to do away with the judgment and order
a fresh case," he said.
However, Barrister Ahmed Sani in Abuja said the case
could be resolved through diplomatic ways. "If the appeal court in UAE is
the final place, Nigeria can use its diplomatic link to save the convicts
especially if there is evidence that they did not deliberately make themselves
available to ship the proceeds of crime.
"I see some elements of ignorance and greed on
the side of the convicts... They should have established the record of the
people they were dealing with because ignorance is not an excuse in the eye of
law and you know that the Arab countries are not taking it lightly in dealing
with monies meant for terrorism funding," he said.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202011090939.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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Nigeria: Boko Haram Launches Fresh Attack in Gwoza
Town - Residents
8 NOVEMBER 2020
Maiduguri — Fleeing residents of Gwoza Local
Government Area of Borno state have revealed that armed Boko Haram sect have on
Sunday night launched an attack on the town with fear of severe casualties.
Gwoza is one of the Council areas declared as Boko
Haram caliphate until it was liberated.
The incident according to sources started at about
10pm with heavy sounds of gunshots and explosions from the side of the
terrorists and security operatives.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202011090498.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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ADF Militia Kill More Than a Dozen in Attacks Near DR
Congo’s Beni
NOVEMBER 9, 2020
More than a dozen people have been killed in two
attacks near Beni in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo that were blamed on
the Islamist ADF group, local sources said Sunday.
Late Saturday, an initial assault killed seven people,
territorial administrator Donat Kibwana told an AFP correspondent, adding that
“the attack took place at 11 pm and it was the ADF,” which originated in the
1990s as a Ugandan Muslim rebel group.
Kibwana said the toll was still provisional and that
the attack occurred at a town called Kisima.
A second assault took place early Sunday near Oicha,
which is in the same region as Beni, where the local authority and other
sources said six people had died.
The ADF is one of more than 100 militias that plague
the eastern provinces of the vast DR Congo.
The group has killed more than 640 civilians since the
army launched a crackdown on it last November, according to an unofficial
count.
The ADF has never claimed responsibility for attacks.
But since April 2019, several of its assaults have been claimed by the
so-called Islamic State’s Central Africa Province, which has sometimes made
factual errors in its statements.
A total of 2,127 people have died in eastern DRC since
President Felix Tshisekedi‘s inauguration in January 2019, according to an
estimate in late October by experts at the Kivu Security Tracker (KST).
That is more than during the 20 years his predecessor
Joseph Kabila was in power, during which 1,553 civilians are believed to have
been killed, the KST says.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/11/09/adf-kill-dozen-dr-congo/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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South Asia
Myanmar’s first Muslim MP-elect in 5 years vows to
champion rights
November 10, 2020
YANGON: After five years without a single Muslim MP,
Myanmar is in need of someone to help fight for the rights of oppressed
minorities, says Sithu Maung as he celebrates his election to parliament.
The 33-year-old was one of just two Muslims out of
more than 1,100 candidates for Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for
Democracy (NLD) party – up from zero in the last election in 2015.
Muslims number about 4% of the national population and
suffer particularly high levels of discrimination.
Sithu Maung sensed victory was on the cards after
seeing voters’ reactions to him at the polling station, but was overwhelmed to
scoop up a decisive 80% of the vote in his downtown Yangon constituency.
“People applauded me, shouting my name from their
apartments when I passed,” the 33-year-old told AFP at his modest studio flat
in a crumbling colonial-era building.
Official overall results are not expected until later
in the week, but the NLD is confident it has won by a landslide, prompting
street celebrations from thousands of supporters despite coronavirus fears.
Sithu Maung’s constituency is one of the most
ethnically diverse in the country with around 30,000 residents almost evenly
divided between Buddhists and Muslims as well as Rakhine, Chinese and
Indian-origin minorities.
“I’ll work for people of all religions, particularly
those who are discriminated against and oppressed or deprived of human rights,”
he promised.
‘Mixed blood’
But Sithu Maung refused to be drawn publicly on the
issue of the stateless Rohingya, whose persecution in Myanmar has cast a pall
over his party leader Suu Kyi in the international community’s eyes.
Military operations forced out hundreds of thousands
of Rohingya Muslims in 2017 in violence that now sees the country facing
genocide charges; 600,000 more remain inside Myanmar living in what rights
groups brand as apartheid conditions.
But Muslims of other ethnic heritage, officially
accepted as citizens, also commonly face discrimination.
Like many, Sithu Maung had to wait years to obtain an
ID card that labelled him as “mixed blood” ethnicity, demoting him to different
queues in government offices that make people particularly vulnerable to
corruption.
“People who haven’t experienced it just can’t
understand what it’s like,” he said.
With hardline Buddhist nationalist sentiment running
high, he was then passed over as a potential NLD candidate for the 2015
election.
No Muslims at all were elected to parliament then.
Thick skin
Even in this year’s election, 23% of Muslim candidates
were rejected, compared with just 0.3% for other religious groups, according to
International Crisis Group watchdog.
Sithu Maung described how he was attacked from all
sides when his nomination was announced.
“People spread disinformation, calling me a terrorist
and saying I wanted Arabic to be taught in schools,” the MP-elect added.
“Even some Muslims criticised me, accusing me of not
praying enough and of being atheist, or non-conformist.”
He said years of building up thick skin has prepared
him well for his time as an MP — and he will not be the only Muslim in
parliament.
NLD party stalwart Win Mya Mya, 71, comfortably won
her seat in Mandalay too.
Yangon-based analyst David Mathieson said he was
encouraged to see the pair’s victory but said the NLD needed to address “deeply
rooted discrimination against Muslims and other scapegoated minorities”.
He predicted, however, that the party’s fear this
would “dilute the NLD’s support” would likely deter any attempts.
Sithu Maung is determined not just to be seen to be
representing Muslims.
“If any of my constituents are ever degraded or face
injustice, I’ll defend them.”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2020/11/10/myanmars-first-muslim-mp-elect-in-5-years-vows-to-champion-rights/
--------
Unfortunately ‘Comprehensive’ Ceasefire Has Not Been
Realized: Ghani
By Mohammad Haroon Alim
10 Nov 2020
At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit
through a virtual conference on Tuesday, President Ashraf Ghani highlighted
Afghanistan’s peace and stressed high violence by the Taliban.
“Unfortunately, not only the promised reduction of
violence and comprehensive ceasefire has not been realized, but the violence by
the Taliban has increased substantially,” Ghani said.
He added, state to state cooperation with the global
and regional framework is the key to deal with all the terrorist networks, that
disrupts peace, development, and cooperation.
“As respect for sovereignty is a cardinal principle of
SCO, we ask all of you to support a sustainable peace process within the
framework of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan,” The Afghan president said,
Afghanistan is faced with numerous forms of turmoil, as peace becomes the most
important and urgent priority. The President referred to the released prisoners
and hinted, “As a state and society, we have demonstrated the commitment,
compassion, and courage to make hard decisions to start direct peace
negotiations with the Taliban,”.
Kabul university attack that killed more than 22
people was marked inhumane by the president, the attack on students “is a
symptom of cult of violence and reliance on drug production and smuggling of our
natural capital and cultural heritage as sources of funding that requires a
reality check.” He said.
He indicated that Afghanistan is located in the center
of untapped potential, Afghanistan provides a platform for regional and global
cooperation, by connecting “Central, South and West Asia to and from East Asia
by land”.
According to Ghani, Afghanistan signed an MoU with the
Australian Fortescue Metal Group to transform the country into a center of
green industry through the production of 20,000 megawatts of electrical energy
from hydro, with zero-emission steel and other products from an estimated $1
trillion mineral resources.
President Ghani remarked, “We are in a truly open
historic moment. Our four decades of suffering, particularly for our women and
children, can end. Please harness the Shanghai spirit to overcome the tragic
past and create the future of cooperation together”.
https://www.khaama.com/unfortunately-comprehensive-ceasefire-has-not-been-realized-ghani-87987987/
--------
ANA Defused 3 IEDs in Western Province of Herat
By Mohammad Arif Sheva
10 Nov 2020
HERAT, Afghanistan – Afghan National Army defused at
least three Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) following a search in western
province of Herat, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement Tuesday.
According to the statement, the explosive devices were
planted by the Taliban militant in Chesht district of the province.
“3 IEDs which were placed by Taliban in Chesht
district of Herat were discovered and defused by #ANA, yesterday,” said MoD in
a tweet.
Authorities did not provide further details but said
by defusing these IEDs the national police saved “Lives of tens of civilians”
in the province.
https://www.khaama.com/ana-defused-3-ieds-in-western-province-of-herat-34333/
--------
Taliban Offensive Claims 4 ANP in Logar Province
By Mohammad Haroon Alim
10 Nov 2020
Local officials in Logar province say four local
policemen have been killed in a Taliban attack against security checkpoint in
the provincial capital Pul-e-Alam.
Deedar Lawang, a spokesman for the Logar governor,
told media that the Taliban had launched an offensive attack on Monday night in
the village of Alozay in the Pul-e-Alam.
Lawang reported that another local policeman was
wounded during the clashes in the Taliban’s attack.
He emphasized that five Taliban fighters had been
killed and three others wounded in the clashes.
Meanwhile, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid
tweeted that 15 government forces had been killed and wounded in the attack.
Logar province in south Kabul is one of the most
insecure provinces where the Taliban are active in various parts of the
province, including Pul-e-Alam.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-offensive-claims-4-anp-in-logar-province-987987/
--------
Key ‘Alqaeda Commander’ Killed in Farah Province
By Mohammad Haroon Alim
11 Nov 2020
Mohammad Hanif Alias Abdullah, a leader of Al-Qaeda
for the Indian sub-continent was killed in a special operation by the National
Directorate of Security (NDS).
According to the released statement, the militant
leader was killed in the Bakwa district of Farah province.
Hanif was a Pakistani national and a very close aide
to Asim Omer, He was reportedly given shelter and protection by the Taliban.
The statement noted, Hanif had also remained a deputy
to so-called Amir AQIS for a period of time, he had a membership of the Taliban
group after 2010 Hanif joined the Al-Qaeda network.He had entered Helmand
province with the direct support of the Taliban, furthermore, he was moved with
the ‘group’s cooperation to Farah province’, the statement reads.
As he had close ties with the Taliban, it is reported
that he trained and assisted the Taliban militants in creating explosives, car
bombs, and IEDs.
Two female Pakistani nationals were also detained
during the operation.
https://www.khaama.com/key-alqaeda-commander-killed-in-farah-province-8979879/
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Southeast Asia
Thousands Welcome Back Rizieq Shihab, A Firebrand
Cleric And Islamist Indonesian Cleric In Jakarta
November 10, 2020
JAKARTA: Thousands of supporters gathered at Jakarta’s
airport on Tuesday to welcome back Rizieq Shihab, a firebrand cleric and
Islamist leader, who went into exile in Saudi Arabia after facing charges over
sending pornographic messages and insulting state ideology.
There were chaotic scenes at the airport as his
supporters, dressed in white, paralysed the toll road, scrambling to get a
glimpse of the cleric and trying to kiss his hand.
Some airlines were forced to reschedule flights.
“We really miss him because we know he really fights
for Islam and the Indonesian nation,” said Abdul Sobur, 42, who was among the
crowd.
“I hope Muslims can unite.”
Rizieq, who was jailed in 2008 on charges of inciting
violence and who is head of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), became
a figurehead for conservative Islam and a politically influential movement that
helped bring down Jakarta’s former Christian governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama,
popularly known as “Ahok”, who in 2017 was jailed for insulting Islam.
That year, police filed a case against Rizieq over
insulting Indonesia’s secular state ideology, Pancasila, and breaching
pornography laws, after a purported steamy exchange with a supporter that
included naked images of a woman was circulated online.
The cleric left Indonesia in 2017 and police dropped
both cases a year later, but he had remained in self-exile in Saudi Arabia
until Tuesday.
Another supporter, Ima Sari Kartika, 39, said she was
jubilant the cleric had returned home to the world’s largest Muslim-majority
nation.
“I have been waiting for his presence among Indonesian
Muslims for a long time because Indonesia is the largest Islamic country, so
there should be an imam who leads the people here,” she said.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2020/11/10/thousands-welcome-back-hothead-indonesian-cleric-in-jakarta/
--------
Thailand: Yellow-Clad Muslims Express Support for
Monarchy
2020-11-10
About 6,000 members of Thailand’s Muslim minority –
many clad in royalist yellow – turned out in Bangkok on Tuesday to show their
support for and loyalty to the monarchy at an event hosted by the kingdom’s top
Islamic leader.
Critics on social media had blasted the assembly
organized by the office of the Sheikhul Islam, saying it was mixing religion
with politics. But organizers insisted it was not about politics, even though a
student-led pro-democracy protest movement has been calling in recent months
for a change in government and reforms of the royal institution.
“Event organizers see that there are disagreements in
democracy. Religious organizations must maintain political neutrality,” the
Sheikhul Islam said in a statement issued on Nov. 8 about the “Muslim Power to
Protect the Nation, Religion and Monarchy” assembly. “Muslims have a duty to
protect the nation, religion and the monarchy.”
On Tuesday, Sheikhul Islam director Aziz Pitakkumpol
told attendees that the royals were a pillar of the nation.
“This institution has helped Thais of all ethnicities
and religions to live in harmony,” said Aziz, the leader of the nation’s top
Islamic organization. “Anyone can practice their religion, especially Muslims
who have benefited from the monarchy.”
While Buddhism is not the official religion of
Thailand, King Maha Vajiralongkorn and all royals are Buddhist as are about 64
million of the nation’s 69.4 million people. Muslims, by comparison, number 2.9
million and many live in a border region known as the Deep South, which has
been gripped for decades by an armed separatist insurgency.
Police Maj. Gen. Surin Palarae, the secretary-general
of the Central Islamic Council of Thailand, said Tuesday’s assembly was not
political – but he and other Muslims were indebted to the royals because they
had ensured fairness.
“All Thai kings have performed the role of faith
defender. Islam is about showing gratitude, especially to religious
supporters,” Surin said. “Muslims should pray for peace, for society and the
country.”
Anan Wanaeloh, the Central Islamic Council’s deputy
secretary, compared Muslims in Thailand, who live freely despite being a minority
group, to Rohingya Muslims who have been forced from their homes in Myanmar and
have ended up in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
“If not for the monarchy, we might not have a place to
live,” Anan said.
Prasan Sricharoen, a deputy director of the Sheikhul
Islam’s senior staff, noted that King Vajiralongkorn’s father, the late King
Bhumibol Adulyadej, had strongly supported Thai Muslims by appointing directors
to Islamic organizations and judges to Islamic courts.
“He also initiated the translation of the Quran into
the Thai language. He was the first king in the world who saw the importance of
the Quran,” Prasan said.
Open letter
The assembly occurred a few days after more than 100
Muslims released an open letter to Sheikhul Islam calling for the organization
to cancel the event and stay free from politics.
“We should not use the name of the Sheikhul Islam,”
said the letter posted Friday on Facebook.
“The plan to hold this event should be reviewed to protect Islam.”
After the assembly, Saromon Rondin, a Muslim
researcher who lives in Bangkok, questioned the Sheikhul Islam’s effort to
protect the monarchy.
“One of the missions of the Sheikhul Islam is to be a
representative of Muslims in Thailand and to be responsible for something
intangible such as faith. Therefore, the work of sustaining the Muslim faith
must be made clear,” he told BenarNews. “They should not act as a leader to
dishonor the faith.”
Imron Sarowat, a Muslim who lives in Bangkok, had
similar concerns about the assembly.
“Political views of Muslims are as diverse as Muslims
in Thailand. If the leader is doing this, it means that he is taking a side and
abandoning a group with a different view,” he told BenarNews.
Also on Tuesday, King Vajiralongkorn wrote messages of
national unity and love during a visit to the northeast of the country,
according to Reuters news service.
“We all love and care for each other. Take care of the
country, help each other protect our country with goodness for prosperity and
protect Thainess,” the monarch wrote in a message to the governor of Udon Thani
province.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/thai/muslims-monarch-11102020163508.html
--------
Arab world
Iraqi Army, Int’l Coalition Launch Anti-ISIS Operation
9 November, 2020
The Iraqi army, backed by the international coalition
air force, launched a major offensive to pursue ISIS militants in Makhoul
Mountains, ISIS's most dangerous hideout in the northern regions.
The Deputy Commander of Joint Operations, Lieutenant
General Abdul Amir al-Shammari, said in a statement Sunday, that the operation
was launched following directives of Prime Minister and Commander in chief,
Mustafa al-Kadhimi.
Shammari stated that the wide-range offensive will
cover Khanuka and Makhoul mountain ranges and will continue for several days.
He named the units participating in the operation,
including the 9th division of the army, the Special Forces Command, Nineveh
Operations Command, the leadership of the Federal Police forces, rapid response
brigade, units of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and units of the
Counter-Terrorism Service, with the support of the army and international
coalition air forces.
For his part, the Joint Operations Command spokesman
Tahsin al-Khafaji confirmed that the operation was launched, indicating that
the Iraqi forces "pursued a new tactic.”
The Security Media Cell announced that the operation
achieved its first objectives, uncovering 14 explosive devices, two tunnels, a
missile platform, and various kinds of weapons and missiles.
The Popular Mobilization Forces announced that its
units found and destroyed a number of tunnels used by ISIS terrorists in the
mountains, adding that the forces will continue to cleanse the area in the
north of Saladin governorate.
Meanwhile, the Director of the Center of the Republic
for Strategic Studies, Moataz Mohiuddin, told Asharq al-Awsat that the
operation was launched after Iraqi forces discovered important confidential
ISIS documents in Kanous island, south of Mosul.
He explained that the units found very important names
and locations of bases that were the focus of the previous operations, noting
that there was a shift in the nature of the attacks, especially with ISIS
officially announcing that the attacks were in response to the assassination of
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
Mohiuddin confirmed that a number of Iraqi military
teams that participated in the operations against the terrorist organization
had cleansed these areas, noting that the documents found on Kanous island
revealed the presence of numbers of ISIS terrorists, especially in the Hamrin
and Makhoul mountains.
He explained that the Iraqi and international
coalition forces were unable to cleanse the island for about six years, but the
Iraqi forces recently achieved victory in Kanous.
Mohiuddin cautioned that Makhoul Mountains are still
important locations for the terrorists as they contain caves that were used by
the former regime.
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2614336/iraqi-army-int%E2%80%99l-coalition-launch-anti-isis-operation?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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Iran, Syria Discuss Repatriation of Refugees,
Bilateral Ties
2020-November-10
During the meeting on Tuesday, Khaji and Mikdad
discussed the latest developments in Syria, specially the conference for the
repatriation of refugees and the constitution committee’s activities, as well
as bilateral ties between Tehran and Damascus.
They also underlined support for the activities of the
constitution committee to resolve the political crisis in Syria and strengthen
peace and stability in the country.
Khaji has traveled to Syria to participate in the
international conference on the return of refugees and hold talks with the
high-ranking Syrian officials.
In relevant remarks early November, Khaji said various
parties should converge to tackle the challenges facing Syria, insisting the
dire need for international participation to this end.
Khaji made the remarks in a phone call with UN Special
Envoy for Syria Geir Otto Pedersen.
The Iranian diplomat underlined the need for
collective efforts to help resolve Syria’s challenges as a humanitarian and
positive move.
Pedersen, for his part, elaborated on the results of
his negotiations with the representatives of several regional countries over
the Syrian issue.
The two sides also exchanged views on the political
process and activities of the Syrian Constitutional Committee.
They also addressed the issue of the Syrian refugees
which will be discussed during a conference in Damascus in the coming weeks.
Back in late September, also, Khaji and Pedersen had
underlined political means as the way to reach a final solution to the Syrian
crisis.
Khaji and Pederson discussed the latest Syrian
developments during a phone call on September 26.
They emphasized on achieving a final solution through
respecting Syria’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Both diplomats voiced their support for strengthening
of the political trend and the continuation of cooperation with the Syrian
Constitutional Committee.
Pederson and Khaji urged the international community
to help the Syrian people given the tough humanitarian conditions in the
country.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13990820000305/Iran-Syria-Discss-Repariain-f-Refgees-Bilaeral-Ties
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Hariri prosecutors seek life sentence for Hezbollah
member Salim Ayyash
10 November 2020
The Hezbollah member convicted of the 2005
assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafic Hariri should receive a life
sentence, even though he remains at large, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Salim Ayyash was found guilty in absentia of murder by
a UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the Netherlands on August 18, but
three other alleged members of the Shiite movement were acquitted.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has refused to hand
over the defendants in the trial over the suicide bombing that killed the Sunni
billionaire politician and 21 other people.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Judges were on Tuesday hearing evidence from the
prosecution, victims and the defense about what sentence 56-year-old Ayyash
should receive. The sentencing itself will happen at a later date.
“The severest penalty available to the tribunal for
the offences is life imprisonment, and in the submission of the prosecution
that is the only just and proportionate sentence,” prosecutor Nigel Povoas told
the court.
“Why life imprisonment? These were offences of extreme
gravity, it’s hard to imagine offences of this type more serious than this.
This is considered to be the most serious terrorist attack that has occurred on
Lebanese soil.”
Prosecutors are also arguing for a seizure of Ayyash’s
assets.
In their long-awaited ruling in August, judges said
there was sufficient evidence to show that Ayyash was at the center of a
network of mobile phone users who scoped out Hariri’s movements for months
before his assassination.
But there was not enough evidence to convict Ayyash’s
co-defendants Assad Sabra, Hussein Oneissi and Hassan Habib Merhi, they said.
The judges added that there was no proof to tie
Hezbollah’s leadership or its allies in Damascus to the attack.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/11/10/Hariri-prosecutors-seek-life-sentence-for-Hezbollah-member-Salim-Ayyash
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Turkey withdraws from another base in northwest Syria:
Report
10 November 2020
Turkish troops have reportedly withdrawn from a second
military base in northwestern Syria, as territory held by Turkish-backed
militants further shrinks in the Arab country.
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that Turkish
soldiers had completed a pullout from an observation post in Sher Mogher in
northern Hama region.
Syrian military forces had surrounded the area before
the Turkish withdrawal.
A Turkish official, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, said the evacuation had not been a “withdrawal” but a “redeployment
in line with necessities on the ground.”
The reported pullout comes nearly a month after Turkey
evacuated its largest military base in the area. Turkish troops withdrew from
the military post in Morek in Hama back in mid-October. The area had previously
been held by anti-government militants, who are backed by Turkey. But the
Syrian military gradually retook control of the region.
AP cited anti-government media outlets as saying that
Turkish troops had also begun evacuating a third post in rural Aleppo.
Turkey manned 12 observation posts in Syria’s Idlib
Province built as part of a September 2018 agreement with Russia in a bid to
stop fighting between Syrian army troops and Turkish-backed militants
controlling northern Syria.
Under the deal, all militants in a demilitarized zone
that surrounds Idlib and also parts of the provinces of Aleppo and Hama were
supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17, 2018, and Takfiri groups had to
withdraw two days earlier. Foreign-sponsored terrorists, however, refused to
comply.
Ankara has been providing support to militants
operating to topple the Damascus government since early 2011.
Last year, Turkey seized control of the border town of
Ra’s al-Ayn after it launched a cross-border invasion of northeastern Syria
with the help of its allied armed groups to push Kurdish militants affiliated
with the so-called People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from Syrian territory
bordering Turkey.
Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist organization tied
to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638330/Turkey-withdraws-from-another-base-in-northwest-Syria-Report
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Pakistan
PM Imran continues fight against Islamophobia at
SCO-CHS conference
BY MIAN ABRAR
11 Nov 2020
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, during his
address at the 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – Council of Heads of
State (SCO-CHS), spoke against the rise of Islamophobia in the world.
“It is critical to address terrorism in all its
forms,” the premier said. “We must also continue to steadfastly oppose
extremist and xenophobic tendencies — including racist ideologies inspired by
neo-Nazis — and Islamophobia.”
In his remarks during the Summit meeting, Prime
Minister Imran Khan shared Pakistan’s perspective on a range of global and
regional issues – including Covid-19, multilateralism and United Nations’ (UN)
role, need for implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
resolutions for peaceful settlement of outstanding disputes, Afghan peace
process, countering terrorism, combating Islamophobia, stemming illicit
financial flows, addressing climate change, poverty alleviation and role of
youth.
PM Imran, while stressing on the need for “mutual
respect for all religions and beliefs”, urged the SCO member countries to work
together to put an end to the discriminatory policies and to improve
inter-faith relations across the globe.
The premier spoke on Pakistan’s efforts against
terrorism while highlighting its role in the organisation’s multi-sectoral
agenda for regional peace and security.
Last month, PM Imran had posted a letter on Twitter
against the French President Macron’s actions in the face of blasphemous
caricatures of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) being shared.
“In Europe, mosques are being closed, Muslim women are
being denied their right to wear clothing of their choice in the public domain
even as nuns and priests continue to display their religious clothing, and
covert and overt discrimination is widespread against Muslims living in those
countries,” he had written while urging leaders of Muslim states to
“collectively take the lead in breaking this cycle of hate and extremism”.
In September, PM Imran called on the UN to declare an
international day to combat Islamophobia in his United Nations General Assembly
(UNGA) address.
He stressed the importance of providing relief to the
poor segments of society. In this context, he thanked all members for
supporting Pakistan’s initiative for the establishment of an SCO Special
Working Group on Poverty Alleviation.
“We are thankful to all the SCO members for helping us
in this regard,” he said.
PM Imran also highlighted that Pakistan stands with
the SCO’s commitment towards climate change, noting that the South-Asian
country has been “mitigating the adverse effects of climate change” through
different initiatives.
“We have launched an ecosystem restoration initiative
under which we plan to plant 10 billion trees in the country,” he said.
Furthermore, the premier highlighted the importance of
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in SCO’s vision of regional
connectivity and economic integration, saying that CPEC is complementing SCO’s
pivotal role in the emerging confluence between the Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI) and the Eurasian Economic Union.
The prime minister underscored the imperative of
common approaches to limit the spread of infectious diseases, ameliorate their
effects, and develop potential remedies.
He emphasised the central role of WHO in addressing
the Covid-19 pandemic and offered to share Pakistan’s experience in combating
the pandemic in an effective manner.
He appreciated China’s effective handling of the
pandemic and thanked China for extending material and technical support to
other countries, including Pakistan, in their efforts to contain the virus. The
prime minister also highlighted China-Pakistan collaboration in vaccine
development.
He highlighted his “Global Initiative for Debt Relief”
for developing countries to mitigate adverse economic effects of the pandemic.
Welcoming measures taken by G20, the prime minister stressed the need for
further steps to help improve liquidity in developing countries and restore
growth.
PM Imran reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the
central role of the UN in maintaining international peace and security and
advancing global sustainable development.
He particularly stressed the importance of faithful
implementation of the UNSC resolutions as a pre-requisite for creating an
environment of stability and cooperation. PM Imran called for strong
condemnation and resolute opposition of unilateral and illegal measures to
change the status of disputed territories in violation of UNSC resolutions.
On the occasion, he reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast
support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and warned against the
role of “spoilers” both within and outside Afghanistan. He stressed that the
return of Afghan refugees to their homeland with dignity and honour should be
an essential part of the peace negotiations.
PM Imran had been invited to attend the conference via
video link by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The other countries in
attendance included China, Russia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan.
The SCO’s major objectives include promoting mutual
confidence and strong, neighbourly relations among member states, strengthening
regional peace, security and stability, and creating a framework for effective
cooperation in political, cultural, trade and economy, science and technology,
education, energy, transportation, tourism, environmental protection and other
fields.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/11/10/pm-imran-continues-fight-against-islamophobia-at-sco-chs-conference/
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Sarina Isa, wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa of SC
Against Exclusion Of Three Judges From Review Bench
Nasir Iqbal
11 Nov 2020
ISLAMABAD: Sarina Isa, the wife of Justice Qazi Faez
Isa of the Supreme Court, on Tuesday personally submitted an application to the
SC registrar with a request to include all the judges in the full court who had
earlier decided her husband’s petition against the filing of a presidential
reference and issued a short order on June 19.
“I am confident when this injustice is brought to the
attention of the Honourable Chief Justice, for whom I have great respect and
regard, he will direct you [registrar] not to exclude Justice Maqbool Baqar,
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi [who wrote dissenting
notes in the judgement] from the bench hearing my review,” she said in the
one-page application.
Ms Isa, who was walking with a stick when she entered
the court premises from the public entrance, however, avoided talking to the
media.
Justices Maqbool Baqar, Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and
Yahya Afridi dissented from SC judgement in Isa reference
“My children and I were not parties in any of the
cases [constitution petitions against the filing of the presidential
reference], yet are mentioned a total of 194 times in the judgements authored
by Justice Umar Ata Bandial (81 times), Justice Maqbool Baqar (39 times),
Justice Faisal Arab (seven times), Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah (54 times) and
Justice Yahya Afridi (13 times),” she said in the application.
On Oct 28, a seven-judge full court consisting of
Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Faisal Arab,
Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar
and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin had postponed the hearing to Nov 16 after
accepting a joint one-page application moved on behalf of the Supreme Court Bar
Association, Quetta Bar Association president Muhammad Asif Reki, Punjab Bar
Council vice chairman Shahnawaz Ismail and the Balochistan Bar Council vice
chairman.
They had requested the bench to postpone the Oct 28
proceedings and place the matter before Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed
to form a larger bench consisting of all the judges who had earlier heard and
decided the constitutional petitions against the filing of the presidential
reference against Justice Isa.
In her application, Ms Isa highlighted that she was
not heard by the judges [bench] which made it all the more necessary that her
review petition was heard by all of them. “I believe this right the
Constitution grants to me (Article 188) and the Supreme Court rules confirm
it,” she said.
The application said that if three judges were
excluded, her rights would be violated, adding that the chief justice, through
the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), was a party and oath of office and the code
of conduct required complete impartiality.
The application recalled that the SJC was a respondent
in the petitions in which review application by her had been filed, adding that
the chief justice was a member of the SJC and now by virtue of his office was
its chairman.
The review petitions, including of Justice Isa and his
wife, sought to revisit paragraphs 3 to 11, arguing that the
directives/observations or contents of these paragraphs in the June 19 short
order were unnecessary, superfluous, contradictory, excessive and unlawful and
thus liable to be reviewed and deleted since they constituted mistake and error
apparent on the face of the record.
The seven judges through paragraphs 3 to 11 in the
short order had quashed the reference but ordered the Federal Board of Revenue
(FBR) chairman to furnish a report to the SJC secretary containing details of
the proceedings conducted by the Inland Revenue commissioner after seeking
explanation from the wife and children of Justice Isa about the nature and
source of the funds for the three properties in the United Kingdom.
On the receipt of the report, the SJC may determine to
initiate any action/proceedings for the purposes of Article 209 of the
Constitution in its suo motu jurisdiction, the judgement had explained.
In her review petition, Ms Isa had contended that her
tax affairs or of any private citizen were confidential, adding that the tax
affairs of a private citizen neither impinged on the fundamental rights of
other citizens nor were a matter of public importance. The order essentially
directed investigation into the tax liability of private citizens under the
garb of public importance, the petition argued, adding that this did not
satisfy the requisite preconditions of breach of the fundamental rights and
public importance that triggered Article 184(3) powers vested in the Supreme
Court.
The review petition argued that the terms offshore
assets and offshore evader were introduced for the first time by the Finance
Act, 2019, published on June 30, 2019.
The petitioner said she had declared the three
offshore properties in her tax returns for the years 2018 and 2019 after the
change of law requiring them to be so declared and had till date not received a
single notice in respect of either tax year or in respect of her returns, let
alone that she did not declare or under-declare or provided inaccurate
particulars.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1589732/sarina-isa-against-exclusion-of-three-judges-from-review-bench
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Jang Group chief asked to furnish Rs10m bond, surrender
passport
11 Nov 2020
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued the
bail granting order for Editor-in-Chief of Jang Group of Newspapers Mir
Shakil-ur-Rehman in a 34-year-old plots reference with certain conditions.
A three-page order authored by Justice Mushir Alam,
who headed the SC bench which heard Mr Rehman’s post-arrest bail application,
directed him to furnish a bond of Rs10 million with two sureties.
Mr Rehman will also have to surrender his passport to
the trial court and the competent authority may place his name on the Exit
Control List (ECL) to ensure he regularly attends the proceedings and face the
trial in the reference.
Supreme Court issues bail order
The order stated that Mr Rehman was arrested on March
12 — almost three months before initiation of the reference. It is the case of
the petitioner that the reference was filed against four persons, including the
then chief minister of Punjab Nawaz Sharif who was a co-accused, against whom
proceedings under Sections 87 and 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code are in
progress. Two other co-accused — then director general of the Lahore
Development Authority (LDA) Humayun Faiz Rasool and then director land
development of the LDA Mian Bashir Ahmed — are still at large and no action has
been taken against them.
The order said the petitioner’s counsel Mohammad Amjad
Pervez argued that Mr Rehman had not conceded any concession against the law as
many other persons were given similar treatment and the amount of excess land
was already recovered in 1987 and no dues were outstanding.
The claim that was being pressed was based on a
subsequent change in the policy effected in 1992, the order said.
Additional Prosecutor General of the National
Accountability Bureau Haider Ali stated that Mr Rehman should be asked to
surrender his passport and his name might be placed on the ECL to ensure that
he continued to face the trial.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1589739/jang-group-chief-asked-to-furnish-rs10m-bond-surrender-passport
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PM should hold talks with opposition to take country
forward, says Kamal
Azfar-ul-Ashfaque
11 Nov 2020
KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party chairman Syed Mustafa
Kamal on Tuesday asked state institutions to convince Prime Minister Imran Khan
to hold a “grand national dialogue” with the opposition parties so that the
country could move forward.
He also appealed to Chief of the Army Staff General
Qamar Javed Bajwa that people of Karachi had pinned great hopes on him and that
despite his visit to the city after recent rains, the situation of the metropolis
had not improved.
Mr Kamal said this while speaking at a press
conference held at the PSP’s Pakistan House headquarters to announce former
Karachi administrator Rauf Akhtar Farooqi and some others joining the PSP.
He repeated that the country could not move forward
under the prevailing conditions and there was a dire need that “politicians and
institutions” sit together and take principled decisions for making a plan for
the next 20 years.
He claimed that the 11-party opposition alliance
Pakistan Democratic Movement had held a public meeting in Karachi on Oct 18 in
which the host Pakistan Peoples Party “misused” state resources and brought
people from the interior of Sindh to increase the number of participants in the
rally.
“Whereas we organised a historic public meeting on Nov
8 without any government resources at the same place.
“The PSP cannot leave Karachi like this. We will
prefer to die for the sake of the city. We will soon announce our future course
of action,” he said, warning the government to pay immediate attention to the
people’s plight or get ready to face people’s wrath in their own
neighbourhoods.
About the prime minister’s Rs1.1 trillion development
plan for the metropolis, he said that Karachi did not need any package but its
rights.
He said that the PPP got Rs8.3tr as part of the
National Finance Commission (NFC) Award during the past decade, but the
situation of Sindh, including Karachi, was in front of everyone. “PPP is
responsible for the problems from Karachi to Kashmore,” he added.
He once again reiterated that the solution of the
problems of Karachi lay in a transparent and correct population census,
devolution of powers at the grassroots level in accordance with the 18th
Amendment, formation of a provincial finance commission on the pattern of the
National Finance Commission and restoration of Karachi as one district.
He said that due to the prevailing situation people
belonging to the ruling parties got disappointed with them. “The PSP has
emerged as the best and only political alternative for the people. For those
who want to have reforms and improve the situation of the country, PSP is the
only option,” he claimed.
PSP president Anis Kaimkhani and other leaders, as
well as those that had joined the party, including Mr Farooqi, were also
present.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1589747/pm-should-hold-talks-with-opposition-to-take-country-forward-says-kamal
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Pakistan, Russia joint ‘friendship’ exercise underway:
ISPR
11 Nov 2020
RAWALPINDI: Pakistani and Russian troops, around 70
from each country, were engaged in a joint military exercise codenamed Dhruzba
(friendship) 5 in Tarbela, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on
Tuesday.
Pakistan and Russia, in an effort to improve bilateral
military cooperation, inked an agreement in 2018 that allows for the training
of Pakistan troops at Russian military institutes.
“The participating troops busy in practicing Counter
Terrorism drills and procedures, rappelling and preparations for sky diving,”
the military’s media wing said.
“Sports activities are also part of [the] exercise,”
it added.
The Russian defense ministry had earlier said the
exercise was aimed at strengthening military cooperation between the two
countries.
“Opening ceremony of DRUZHBA — V held at Tarbela today.
Pak-Russian Federation Special Forces are participating in two weeks long
counter terrorism exercise,” the ISPR had said last week.
“The ceremony was attended by Russian ambassador to
Pakistan, Mr. Danila Ganich. Senior officials from both the armies were present
on the occasion,” it had said.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/11/10/pakistan-russia-joint-friendship-exercise-underway-ispr/
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Counter-terror court sends PML-N leader to jail on
judicial remand
11 Nov 2020
LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on
Tuesday sent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Imran Nazir to
jail on judicial remand in the case related to the violence at the National
Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Lahore office during party’s Vice President
Maryam Nawaz’s arrival there in August.
The investigation officer in the case said the custody
of the MPA was required for a photogrammetric test.
In August, violence had erupted outside the agency’s
office as heavy police contingents and workers of the PML-N confronted each
other shortly after the arrival of Maryam there in a land acquisition
investigation.
Many people, including some officials, were injured
and around 50 men were rounded up after police fired tear gas besides hurling
stones at the activists, with each side blaming the other for triggering the
clash.
Nazir was arrested by police on November 7 when
authorities stopped his vehicle on Model Town Link Road and told him that the
car was wanted by police in the case.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/11/10/counter-terror-court-sends-pml-n-leader-to-jail-on-judicial-remand/
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Mideast
OIC: Israel demolition of Palestinian village act of
ethnic cleansing
10 November 2020
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has
condemned Israel’s demolition of dozens of homes and buildings at a Palestinian
village in the occupied West Bank, which displaced about 80 people, including
children.
“The action falls within the framework of the policies
of ethnic cleansing, annexation and colonial settlement plans implemented by
the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories,” the OIC said in a
statement.
The 57-member international organization noted that
the move constitutes a violation of international law and relevant UN
resolutions.
The OIC then called on the international community to
shoulder its responsibilities and exert more pressure on the Israeli regime to
stop its violations and crimes throughout the occupied Palestinian territory,
and to provide international protection for Palestinians in accordance with the
Geneva Conventions.
“What happened does not serve the comprehensive and
just peace process, called for by the Arab initiative based on the [so-called]
two-state solution and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East
Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital, and runs counter to the relevant UN
resolutions,” it pointed out.
Last week, Israeli bulldozers razed Humsa al-Baqai’a
village near the city of Tubas in the strategic Jordan Valley.
The United Nations has censured the Israeli regime for
carrying out what it described as the biggest demolition of Palestinian homes
in the West Bank for a decade.
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 76 structures - including homes, animal shelters,
toilets and solar panels - were destroyed when Israeli bulldozers rolled into
Humsa al-Baqai’a.
OCHA said the Bedouin village is one of 38 communities
fully or partially located within Israeli-designated “firing zones” and which
constitute “some of the most vulnerable communities in the West Bank.”
Israeli authorities demolish Palestinian homes in the
occupied West Bank, usually claiming that the structures have been built
without permits.
They also sometimes order Palestinians to tear down
their own homes or pay demolition costs to the municipality.
OCHA recently warned that there has been a sharp
increase in the number of Palestinian houses being demolished by Israel in the
occupied West Bank during the coronavirus pandemic.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian
territories Jamie McGoldrick has also said that the trend would make the
Palestinians more susceptible to health risks.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638311/OIC-rebukes-Israel-for-demolition-of-Palestinian-homes-in-occupied-West-Bank
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Erdogan congratulates Joe Biden, urges closer
US-Turkish relations
10 November 2020
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday
congratulated Joe Biden on his victory over Donald Trump in the US presidential
election, urging closer ties between the two NATO allies.
“I congratulate you on your election success and
convey my sincere wishes for the peace and welfare of the US people,” Erdogan
said in a statement published by his office, urging “strong cooperation”
between the sides.
Earlier on Monday, a senior Turkish official said that
Turkey is waiting for the “final results” of the US presidential election
before congratulating Joe Biden for winning, out of respect for “the US people
and democracy.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/10/Erdogan-congratulates-Joe-Biden-urges-closer-US-Turkish-relations
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Iran Welcomes Russian-Mediated Agreement between
Azerbaijan, Armenia
2020-November-10
“The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes the agreement
between the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia and the Russian
Federation, which led to a ceasefire and a cessation of hostilities, and hopes
that this agreement, the principles of which were set out in the proposed plan
of the Islamic Republic of Iran, will lead to final arrangements to establish
sustainable peace in the Caucasus region in a way that it contains peace and
prosperity for the people in all countries of the region and remove the
existing concerns,” the statement said.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasizes the need for
respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, no change to the official
international borders, liberation of occupied territories, return of the
refugees, respect for the security and rights of minorities, and withdrawal of
all Takfiri forces and foreign fighters from the region,” it added.
The statement again underlined its preparedness to
help to the materialization of sustainable peace and security in the region and
partnership in the regional initiatives.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran also declares its
readiness to help to the establishment of the Russian Federation’s peacekeeping
forces along with the contact lines based on the paragraphs 3 and 4 of the
ceasefire agreement,” it added.
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed an agreement on
Tuesday to end six weeks of fierce fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh in a deal
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described as “unspeakably painful” in
an emotional Facebook post.
The post was the first indication of a deal, with
Pashinyan saying the agreement would take effect from 1am on Tuesday (21:00 GMT
on Monday) to end a conflict that has left at least 1,000 people dead.
The deal was later confirmed by Azerbaijan and the
Kremlin.
“The signed trilateral statement will become a
(crucial) point in the settlement of the conflict,” Azerbaijan’s President
Ilham Aliyev said in a televised online meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin.
The agreement came hours after ethnic Armenian
officials in the disputed region confirmed that the key city of Shusha (known
as Shushi in Armenia), the second-biggest city in the enclave, had been taken
by Azeri forces. Azerbaijan also said on Monday it had taken dozens more
settlements.
Describing the decision as “unspeakably painful for me
personally and for our people”, Pashinyan said the agreement followed “an
in-depth analysis of the military situation” that has seen Azeri forces closing
in on Stepanakert, the region’s main city.
He said the agreement was “the best possible solution
to the current situation”.
In Azerbaijan, meanwhile, Aliyev said the agreement
was “historic” and that Armenia had been forced to negotiate because of
Azerbaijan’s military successes.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13990820000923/Iran-Welcmes-Rssian-Mediaed-Agreemen-beween-Azerbaijan-Armenia
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Thousands of Yemenis Develop Cancer Due to Saudi
Coalition's Use of Banned Weapons
2020-November-10
“The medical centers in Yemen have witnessed 100%
increase in the number of cancer patients since the start of the Saudi
coalition’s aggression,” al-Mutawakel was quoted by the Arabic-language
al-Masirah news channel on Tuesday.
He criticized the WHO for weak performance in
supplying Yemen with necessary medicine to treat cancer patients, and said
medical centers receive 7,000 cancer patients in different provinces annually.
Al-Mutawakel said that the number of patients with
cancer and other dangerous diseases in regions which have been bombed by the
Saudi coalition’s fighter jets is more than other areas.
Earlier reports said that the Saudi-led coalition
warplanes used phosphorus bombs and banned weapons during their air strikes in
the capital city of Sana’a.
Saudi regime and a number of its regional allies
launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the
government of former fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power
and crush the popular Ansarullah movement.
The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data
Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the
war has claimed more than 100,000 lives for over the past five years; although
the facts on the ground and eye witness accounts put the number of the dead far
more than this figure.
Ansarullah movement, backed by armed forces, has been
defending Yemen against the Saudi-led alliance, preventing the aggressors from
fulfilling the objectives of the devastating war.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13990820000858/Thsands-f-Yemenis-Develp-Cancer-De-Sadi-Caliin's-Use-f-Banned-Weapns
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Iran frees 157 detained during protests as more US
sanctions loom under Trump admin.
10 November 2020
Iran has freed 157 people arrested during
anti-government demonstrations, the country's judiciary said on Tuesday, as the
United States appeared poised to impose sanctions on Iranians involved in a
violent crackdown on the protesters.
Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on
Monday the United States was expected to launch the sanctions as early as next
week, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of what may have been the bloodiest
repression of protesters in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said
the 157 "security detainees" were among 2,301 people freed under a
pardon by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as part of events marking the anniversary
of the birth of the Prophet Mohammad, state media reported.
The 157 detainees had been convicted of
"propaganda against the system, (illegal) assembly and collusion, and
taking part in riots" after being arrested in anti-government protests in
recent years, the judiciary spokesman said.
Human rights groups estimate that thousands were
arrested in the 2019 protests, which broke out over gasoline price hikes and
quickly turned political, with protesters demanding that top officials step
down.
Meanwhile, government spokesman Ali Rabiei said
Iranians would stand firm against any sanctions by US President Donald Trump
and expressed hope President-elect Joe Biden would change US foreign policy.
"We closely follow the future US administration's
activities and know that Mr. Biden has promised the American people that he
will restore multilateralism and legitimacy," state media quoted Rabiei as
saying.
The sources said the new US sanctions had been in the
works for months and were the latest in a long series of penalties imposed on
Tehran by Trump after he pulled Washington out of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with
world powers in 2018.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/11/10/Iran-frees-157-detained-during-protests-as-more-US-sanctions-loom-under-Trump-admin-
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Israeli parliament approves deal establishing ties
with Bahrain
10 November 2020
Israel’s parliament on Tuesday approved a US-brokered deal
establishing formal relations with Bahrain, by a vote of 62 lawmakers in favor
and 14 opposed.
The Middle East countries signed a joint communique on
Oct. 18 to formalize their nascent ties. Bahrain is one of three Arab countries
- along with the United Arab Emirates and Sudan - to set aside hostilities with
Israel in recent months.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Israel’s deals with Gulf Arab states Bahrain and the
UAE were forged in part over shared fears of Iran. But they angered the
Palestinians, who have long demanded statehood before any such regional
rapprochement.
“The Knesset (parliament) plenum approved the joint
announcement regarding the establishment of diplomatic relations, peace and
friendship between the State of Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain,” a Knesset
spokesman said in a statement.
Speaking at parliament ahead of the vote, Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted more regional countries would move to
open relations with Israel.
“(The) buds of normalization are already out there,
waiting to blossom. If we pursue the policy I crafted, I am convinced that the
flowering will be witnessed in the open,” Netanyahu said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/11/10/Israeli-parliament-approves-deal-establishing-ties-with-Bahrain
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Ankara says it expects issues poisoning ties with
Washington to be addressed
10 November 2020
Turkey expects issues poisoning ties with the United
States to be addressed, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday,
adding the search for solutions to conflicts in Syria and Libya were presenting
new opportunities to improve ties.
Ankara has been at odds with its NATO ally Washington
over issues including policy differences in Syria and its purchase of Russian
missile defenses. As a result, the United States removed Turkey from its F-35
fighter jet program, saying the Russian systems put the jets in jeopardy.
Speaking to Turkish ambassadors in Ankara, Cavusoglu
said the purchase of the Russian S-400 systems was “done,” adding that Turkey’s
removal from the F-35 program would negatively impact NATO’s defense strategy.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/11/10/Ankara-says-it-expects-issues-poisoning-ties-with-Washington-to-be-addressed
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World leaders remember Saeb Erakat as passionate
representative of Palestinian cause
Emily Judd
10 November 2020
Officials around the world paid tribute to Palestinian
diplomat Saeb Erakat on Tuesday, after Erakat lost his battle with coronavirus
disease at age 65.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II expressed his condolences
over the passing of Erakat in a phone call to Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas, according to the Royal Hashemite Court.
Former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri called the
passing of Erakat “a big loss for the Palestinian presence in Arab and
international forums,” in a post on Twitter.
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell
said the passing of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Secretary General
was a “great loss for the Palestinian people and for the Middle East Peace
Process.”
“During his life Saeb Erakat tirelessly sought to
fulfill the legitimate aspirations of his people… he always advocated a just
and lasting negotiated two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,”
Borrell said in a statement.
Former US ambassador Dennis Ross said he was
“saddened” to hear the news about Erakat, whom he first met in 1989.
“He was a devoted husband, father and passionate
representative of the Palestinian cause. We might disagree, but I always knew
Saeb believed in peace, non-violence, and coexistence with Israel,” Ross said
in a tweet.
Erakat’s PLO colleague, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, said that
his passing marked “a significant transition in Palestinian history &
reality,” in a post on Twitter.
“He was firmly committed to his people’s rights,
unwavering in his pursuit of a just peace, & totally undaunted in his quest
for freedom & rights. Rest in peace & power my friend,” she said.
Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk said
Erakat’s “commitment to pursuing freedom” for Palestinians through peaceful
means “will shine forever as a beacon.”
“Rest In Peace my peace brother,” Indyk said in a post
on Twitter.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab lauded Erakat as a
“champion of dialogue and Palestinian rights.”
“I am saddened to hear the news of his tragic
passing,” Raab said in a post on Twitter.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/11/10/World-leaders-remember-Saeb-Erakat-as-passionate-representative-of-Palestinian-cause
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India
Gujarat High Court Has Lifted The Stay On Offering
Prayers At A Newly Constructed Mosque On A Graveyard
Nov 11, 2020
Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court has lifted the stay
on offering prayers at a newly constructed mosque on a graveyard. The Gujarat
State Waqf Tribunal had earlier stopped religious activities on the objection
raised by a Muslim group against the construction of the mosque by erasing old
graves.
On Monday, Justice Vaibhavi Nanavati stayed the
tribunal’s order passed last month by which it had restrained further
construction at the mosque and offering of namaz in it. The place is a
graveyard in Badarpur village near Palanpur town of north Gujarat. The dispute
is regarding the control over the graveyard land between the members of
Tablighi Jamaat and those following the Sufi school of ideology. The
petitioner, Masjid Madrasa Kabrastan Balapir Waqf Trust, went to the HC against
the tribunal’s order with an argument that the tribunal’s decision to stop
prayers in the mosque amounted to denying religious rights to the villagers.
While staying the tribunal’s order, the HC has asked
the parties to maintain the status quo, but permitted religious activity with
strict observation of social distancing.
As the other group was anxious about the status of a
shrine, Balapir Dargah, in the graveyard and their rights of practising
rituals, the petitioner assured the high court that they would not be
restrained from any religious observances.
As the dispute about the property and the construction
of a mosque was pending in a civil court in Palanpur, the trust has alleged
that approaching the Waqf tribunal by the other side was forum shopping.
The high court has ordered the tribunal to take the
final decision on the dispute within six months and posted further hearing on
the trust’s petition on December 8.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/graveyard-mosque-stay-on-namaz-lifted/articleshow/79158464.cms
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Failure To Protect Muslim Graveyards: Telangana HC
Summons Waqf Board CEO
Nov 10, 2020
HYDERABAD: Wondering why the Waqf Board is failing to
protect its properties and even its burial grounds, the Telangana high court on
Tuesday directed its chief executive officer to appear before the court on
November 16 to explain the reasons for his failure.
The bench of chief justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan
and justice B Vijaysen Reddy gave this interim direction while hearing pleas
that challenged the inaction of the authorities in protecting the Muslim
graveyards and other Wakf properties.
The bench earlier sought report from the Wakf board on
the status of graveyards. The report furnished by the board says that scores of
graveyards of Muslims were encroached. However the board could ensure FIRs in
only five cases despite the fact that nearly 86 graveyards were encroached.
The action initiated by the board is also not being
properly recorded and hence no records were available to show how many notices
were issued to the encroachers. There are as many as 723 graveyards in GHMC
area, the report says.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/failure-to-protect-muslim-graveyards-telangana-hc-summons-wakf-board-ceo/articleshow/79155712.cms
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Pakistan shells 3 sectors along LoC in Poonch
Nov 11, 2020
JAMMU: The Pakistan Army heavily shelled forward posts
and hamlets on Wednesday in three sectors along the LoC in Poonch districts of
Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.
The Indian Army effectively retaliated.
"At about 0915 hours, Pakistan Army initiated
unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing with small arms & shelling with
mortars along LoC in Kirni, Shahpur and Qasba sectors in district Poonch",
a defence spokesman said.
The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire 13 times
this month.
On October 1, an Army jawan was killed and another
injured, when Pakistan shelled areas along the LoC in Krishnagati area of
Poonch district, officials said
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pakistan-shells-3-sectors-along-loc-in-poonch/articleshow/79165227.cms
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Two terrorists killed in Shopian encounter
Nov 10, 2020
SRINAGAR: Two local terrorists were killed in an
anti-terror operation in Katpura area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district on
Tuesday. Their identities and affiliation were yet to be ascertained while the
fire exchange continued intermittently till the time of going to press.
Based on intelligence inputs about the presence of
terrorists in Katpura, a joint team of Army’s 34RR, CRPF’s 178Bn and J&K
Police launched a cordon-and-search operation in the morning. The holed-up
ultras were given a chance to surrender but they opened fire at the search
party instead, triggering an encounter in which the two terrorists were slain,
an official said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/two-terrorists-killed-in-shopian-encounter/articleshow/79157070.cms
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Indian Army gifts 20 fully-trained military horses, 10
mine-detection dogs to Bangladesh
Nov 10, 2020
DHAKA: The Indian Army on Tuesday gifted 20
fully-trained military horses and 10 mine-detection dogs to Bangladesh as part
of the country's efforts to further strengthen bilateral ties.
The equines and canines were trained by the Remount
and Veterinary Corps of the Indian Army, according to a statement.
The Bangladesh Army personnel were trained by the
Indian Army for handling these specialist dogs and horses.
The Indian Army delegation was led by Major General
Narinder Singh Khroud, Chief of Staff of Brahmastra Corps whereas the
Bangladesh Army delegation was led by Major General Mohammad Humayun Kabir, who
is Commanding the Jessore based Division.
The presentation ceremony was held at
Petrapole-Benapole Integrated Check Post (ICP) on the India-Bangladesh border.
Brigadier JS Cheema from the Indian High Commission in Dhaka was also present
at the event.
“The performance of military dogs in the Indian Army
has been commendable. We are always ready to extend our assistance to a
friendly country like Bangladesh in issues concerning security. When it comes
to security, the dogs have proven their mettle. The dogs which have been handed
over, are extremely effective in mine detection and contraband items,” a senior
Army officer said.
India's partnership with Peoples Republic of
Bangladesh stands out as a role model in the region for good neighbourly
relations. With this gesture, the bond which two countries share is expected to
grow even stronger, the officer said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indian-army-gifts-20-fully-trained-military-horses-10-mine-detection-dogs-to-bangladesh/articleshow/79155259.cms
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PM Modi takes dig at Pakistan during virtual SCO meeting
Nov 11, 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a swipe at Pakistan
at the virtual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on
Tuesday, saying it is unfortunate that repeated attempts were being made to
violate the grouping’s charter by raising bilateral issues.
Modi also said connectivity initiatives should be
built around respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries,
and reiterated that India stood ready to help all nations fight the Covid-19
crisis with its vaccine production and distribution capabilities.
The SCO heads of state summit, chaired by Russian
President Vladimir Putin, was held virtually owing to the pandemic. It was the
first time that Modi and President Xi Jinping shared the same platform since
the India-China standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) emerged in the
open in May.
Modi, who spoke in Hindi, said India believes in
peace, security and prosperity, and has always opposed terrorism, illegal arms
smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering, he added. Without naming
Pakistan, he said: “It is unfortunate that repeated attempts are being made to
unnecessarily bring bilateral issues to the SCO agenda, which violate the SCO
Charter and Shanghai Spirit. Such efforts are contrary to the spirit of
consensus and cooperation that defines SCO.”
India has reacted sharply to Pakistan’s repeated
efforts, often with support from its traditional ally China, to raise the
Kashmir issue at multilateral bodies such as SCO and the UN Security Council
since the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was scrapped in August last year.
In September, India walked out of a virtual meeting of
national security advisers of SCO after the Pakistani representative projected
a map that inaccurately depicted the borders of the two countries. Russia,
which chaired that meeting, subsequently informed India that the Pakistani
representative had gone ahead with the action despite being asked not to do so.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, who spoke after
Modi, criticised India without naming the country. Khan praised China,
including for its assistance for tackling the pandemic and its support for the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is opposed by India as it passes
through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Noting that SCO was established to ensure security
across Eurasia, Khan said, in an apparent reference to Kashmir: “SCO stands for
strict observance of this principle and the principles of the UN charter such
as equality and sovereignty of states, respect for territory integrity,
sanctity of borders, non-aggression, non-use of threat of force and people’s
right for self-determination.”
Khan further said “unilateral and illegal measures to
change the status of disputed territories in violation of the UN Security
Council resolutions run counter” to SCO’s objectives, and such steps must be
opposed.
Modi said the International North South Transport
Corridor and Iran’s Chabahar port reflect “India’s strong resolve towards
connectivity”. He added, “India believes that to further deepen connectivity,
it is necessary to move forward with the core principles of respecting each
other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-takes-dig-at-pakistan-during-virtual-sco-meeting/story-zlgfG0WUup4DkKwu736cpM.html
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North America
Prosecutors: Man’s hatred was behind Minnesota mosque
attack
By Mohamed Ibrahim
November 10, 2020
ST. PAUL, Minn. — The leader of an anti-government
group in Illinois and alleged mastermind behind a 2017 attack on a Minnesota
mosque was acting on his hatred of Muslims when he came up with a plan to pipe
bomb the building during morning prayers, prosecutors said Monday.
Follow the latest on Election 2020
But defense attorneys for Michael Hari, 49, said
during opening statements in his trial that there is no forensic evidence
showing Hari was even at the mosque during the early morning bombing, which
didn’t cause any injuries but frightened community members.
“This case is about hatred. It’s about prejudice,”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Allison Ethen said. “It’s about how Michael Hari used
his hatred to justify physical violence against his victims.”
Hari has pleaded not guilty to multiple civil rights
and hate crimes, including damaging property because of its religious
character, forcibly obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs,
conspiracy to commit felonies with fire and explosives, using a destructive
device in a crime of violence, and possessing an unregistered destructive
device.
Several men were gathered at Dar al-Farooq Islamic
Center for early morning prayers on Aug. 5, 2017, when a pipe bomb was thrown
through the window of an imam’s office. A seven-month investigation led
authorities to Clarence, Illinois, a rural community about 120 miles (190
kilometers) south of Chicago, where Hari and his co-defendants lived.
Prosecutors said Hari — the leader of an
anti-government group called the White Rabbits — came up with the plan for the
attack. It’s not clear how the White Rabbits became aware of Dar al-Farooq, but
the mosque in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington was in headlines in the
years before the attack: Some young people from Minnesota who traveled to Syria
to join the Islamic State group had worshipped there. Mosque leaders were never
accused of any wrongdoing.
Hari allegedly picked Dar al-Farooq because it was far
enough away from the White Rabbits’ central Illinois hometown that he thought
they wouldn’t be suspected.
Mohamed Omar, executive director of the mosque, was in
the building during the explosion. He testified Monday through an interpreter
that he felt a heavy feeling on his skin, before realizing what had occurred.
“I thought I was having a nightmare,” Omar said.
Hari’s attorney, James Becker, told jurors that
prosecutors have no meaningful forensic evidence that points to Hari’s
involvement in the attack. He also said there are inconsistencies in the
testimony of his co-defendants, Joe Morris and Michael McWhorter, who are
cooperating with investigators. Becker urged the jury to keep an “open ear and
independent mind” as the government attempts to prove Hari’s guilt without a
reasonable doubt.
“Your solemn duty, as I believe you understand, is to
put them to the test,” he said to the jury.
Ethen, the prosecutor, told jurors how FBI
investigators tracked Hari back to Illinois. Ethen also described the fear that
permeated the community that worships at the mosque, and said the attack led
many to stop worshipping there.
“The detonation of that bomb shattered the Dar
Al-Farooq community,” Ethen said. “That bomb forever and irrevocably changed
their right to freely exercise their religion in America.”
Hari, McWhorter and Morris were also charged in a
failed November 2017 attack on an abortion clinic in Champaign, Illinois; and
plea agreements for McWhorter and Morris say the men participated in an armed
home invasion in Indiana and the armed robberies or attempted armed robberies
of two Walmart stores in Illinois.
Hari, a former sheriff’s deputy and self-described
entrepreneur and watermelon farmer, gained attention on the “Dr. Phil” talk
show after he fled to the Central American nation of Belize in the early 2000s
during a custody dispute. He was convicted of child abduction and sentenced to
probation.
Before his 2018 arrest in the mosque bombing, he used
the screen name “Illinois Patriot” to post more than a dozen videos to YouTube,
most of them anti-government monologues. In one video just days before his
arrest, Hari said FBI and local law enforcement were terrorizing Clarence, and
he asked “freedom-loving people everywhere to come and help us.”
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called on law enforcement
and elected officials to do more to combat white supremacy and acts of
terrorism against Muslims, saying they are ongoing threats.
“We believe that this situation and this case has
opened the door for these types of acts to continue to happen,” he told
reporters at the courthouse. He said more work must be done to address the
threat, particularly in creating legislation that would define these groups as
terrorists.
Hussein said the bombers’ attempt to make the mosque’s
worshippers flee the U.S. did the opposite and instead galvanized the community
to come together.
___
Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated
Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a
nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms
to report on undercovered issues.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/prosecutors-mans-hatred-was-behind-minnesota-mosque-attack/2020/11/09/a4c5b5f8-22be-11eb-9c4a-0dc6242c4814_story.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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Top US diplomat Pompeo says he will travel to UAE,
Saudi Arabia, Israel this week
Joseph Haboush
10 November 2020
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will make what may
be one of his last overseas trips this week when he visits France, Turkey,
Israel and three Gulf countries, he announced Tuesday.
“I’ll be heading out again on Friday of this week,
this time to France, to Turkey, to Georgia, Israel, Qatar, the UAE, and to
Saudi Arabia,” Pompeo said during a press briefing.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Although he said there would be “many different things
to cover,” the top US diplomat was “sure many [talks] will focus on this
administration’s historic efforts to forge peace and cooperation throughout the
Middle East.”
The Trump administration will be remembered - among
other policies - its success in brokering peace deals between the United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Israel. Pompeo and Trump administration officials
have repeatedly said that several other Arab countries will follow suit.
Pompeo’s remarks came shortly after he announced a
deal to sell more than $20 billion worth of advanced defense equipment to the
UAE, including F-35 fighter jets.
He voiced confidence that such a deal would ensure the
UAE’s security and to work “collectively to counter the threat from the Islamic
Republic of Iran.”
Pompeo on his trip is expected to discuss raising
further pressure on Iran in the remaining two months of the Trump
administration, which in 2018 bolted from a multinational denuclearization
accord with Tehran and imposed punishing unilateral sanctions.
Pompeo’s visit to the Middle East will be the second
by a senior US official over the last week.
Special Representative for Iran Elliott Abrams is
currently on travel to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
A statement from the State Department said his trip
was “for consultations on Iran.”
Asked for further details on the trip, a State
Department official referred Al Arabiya to the statement, which only specified
the line mentioned above.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/11/11/Top-US-diplomat-Pompeo-says-he-will-travel-to-UAE-Saudi-Arabia-Israel-this-week
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Outgoing Trump administration imposes new Iran-related
sanctions
10 November 2020
The outgoing administration of US President Donald
Trump has imposed Iran-related sanctions on several individuals and entities.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement on
Tuesday that the new sanctions had been slapped on a network of six companies
and four individuals.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control
(OFAC) accused the network of
facilitating the procurement of sensitive goods for an Iranian
military firm.
Iran-based Hoda Trading and Artin Sana’at Tabaan
Company, as well as China-based Naz Technology Company, Hong Kong-based Proma
Industry Company, UAE-based DES International Company and Brunei-based Soltech
Industry Company were the six companies, and Mohammad Soltanmohammadi, Shih Mei
Sun, Chin-Hua Huang and Mohammad Banihashemi were the four individuals
subjected to the new US sanctions.
As a result of the US Treasury’s sanctions, all
property and interests in the property of these targets that were in the United
States or in the possession or control of US citizens, who are prohibited from
engaging in transactions with the targets, must be blocked and reported to
OFAC.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin accused the
above-mentioned network of international companies run by individuals from
different countries of facilitating efforts by the Iranian government to
advance its communication systems, avionics and missile launchers.
"The Iranian regime utilizes a global network of
companies ... who help to support the
regime’s militarization and proliferation efforts," he said.
Last month, the
US Treasury slapped sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and entities
affiliated with the Islamic Republic’s oil sector.
US President Donald Trump unleashed his so-called
maximum pressure campaign against Iran in 2018, after he unilaterally left the
2015 multilateral nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and major world
powers.
The “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic
Republic targeted the Iranian nation with draconian restrictive measures in
order to bring it to its knees.
However, Iran's economy remains resilient despite US
hostilities.
Iran's Minister of Petroleum, Bijan Zangeneh, is one
of the individuals targeted by the US sanctions.
Zanganeh has assured "Iran's oil industry will
not be hamstrung" by US sanctions.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638341/US-Treasury-Sanctions-Mnuchin-
--------
Europe
France’s Macron says terrorism threat requires
re-think of open-border Schengen
10 November 2020
The threat of terrorism is a European reality that
needs a coordinated and quick answer, French President Emmanuel Macron said on
Tuesday.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Macron also told reporters that Europe must work on a
re-think of its open-border Schengen area.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/10/France-s-Macron-says-terrorism-threat-requires-re-think-of-open-border-Schengen
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Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict: Nagorno-Karabakh deal is
right step, Erdogan tells Putin
10 November 2020
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian
President Vladimir Putin in a phone call that the Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire
agreement was the right step towards a lasting solution, the Turkish presidency
said on Tuesday.
Russian peacekeeping troops deployed to Nagorno-Karabakh
on Tuesday under a deal that halted six weeks of fighting between Azeri and
ethnic Armenian forces and froze territorial gains by Azerbaijan.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Turkey is a close ally of Azerbaijan.
Erdogan told Putin that Turkey would set up a center
to observe the ceasefire along with Russia, in a location "in the lands
liberated from Armenian occupation", determined by Azerbaijan.
He also expressed the importance of opening a corridor
between Azerbaijan and Azeri exclave of Nakhchivan for Azeris to return to
Karabakh. Nakhchivan is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenia.
Azerbaijan, which had been trying to regain land lost
during a war in the 1990s, hailed the deal as a victory.
Turkish arms supplies and diplomatic support helped
give Azerbaijan the upper hand in the conflict. Russia, which has a defense
pact with Armenia and a military base there, is likely to hail the deal as a
sign it is still the main arbiter in the energy-producing South Caucasus.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/10/Armenia-Azerbaijan-conflict-Nagorno-Karabakh-deal-is-right-step-Erdogan-tells-Putin
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Germany’s Merkel urges European Schengen area border
reform after terrorist attacks
10 November 2020
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was urgently
necessary for Europe to reform the open-border Schengen area in light of recent
terrorist attacks.
“I want to mention the entry-exit system in the
Schengen area, which should be ready in 2022,” she said after a meeting with
other European leaders on Tuesday.
“It is vitally necessary to know who comes in and who
leaves the Schengen area.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/10/Germany-s-Merkel-urges-European-Schengen-area-border-reform-after-terrorist-attacks
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EU refuses to attend international conference on
Syrian refugees
10 November 2020
The European Union (EU) has refused to attend an
international conference aimed at putting an end to the suffering of Syrian refugees
and facilitating their return to their homeland.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell announced on
Tuesday that the EU representatives would not take part in the International
Conference on the Return of Syrian Refugees, which is set to commence with the
participation of several countries in the Syrian capital of Damascus on
Wednesday.
“A number of EU member states’ foreign ministers and
the High Representative have received an invitation to a conference on the
theme of refugee returns, on 11-12 November, in Damascus. The EU and its member
states will not attend this conference,” Borrell said in a statement.
Syria's official news agency SANA reported that the
two-day conference is to address the current situation in Syria, review
conditions for the return of refugees and the obstacles hindering their return,
and also aims to set the appropriate conditions for their return.
The conference will also discuss the humanitarian aid,
rebuilding the infrastructure, and the cooperation between the scientific and
educational organizations in Syria in the post-war stage.
In his statement, Borrell censured the conference as
“premature” and said the first priority should be to make it safe for the
Syrian refugees to go back to the conflict-ravaged country.
The EU official said the 27-member bloc believes that
“the priority at present is real action to create conditions for safe,
voluntary, dignified and sustainable return of refugees and internally
displaced persons to their areas of origin.”
Insisting that no Syrian refugee should be forced to
go back, Borrell said, “Conditions inside Syria at present do not lend
themselves to the promotion of large-scale voluntary return.”
China, Russia, Iran, Lebanon, the United Arab
Emirates, Pakistan and Oman are among the countries that will participate. The
United Nations will participate as an observer.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a video
conference with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday that the
return of Syrian refugees is a priority.
Assad underlined that “the largest part of the
refugees” is willing to return to their homeland after the Syrian government
set things right for their return.
The Syrian leader also stated that the biggest
obstacle facing the return of refugees is the Western sanctions imposed on
Syria, both on its government and people.
Putin, for his part, said Moscow would continue
efforts to encourage a political solution to the crisis in Syria and that it
preserves the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab country.
Some 5.6 million Syrians have been forced to flee
abroad as refugees, mostly to the neighboring countries of Turkey, Lebanon,
Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.
Moreover, one million Syrian children have been born
as refugees ever since the foreign-backed militancy began in their country back
in March 2011.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638343/EU-conference-Syrian-refugees
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Russia deploys peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh as war
draws to close
10 November 2020
Russia's President Vladimir Putin says Russian
peacekeepers are being deployed to the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh,
following a new ceasefire agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
"A Russian peacekeeping contingent is being
deployed along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh and along the corridor
connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with the Republic of Armenia," Putin said in a
televised statement on Tuesday.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had begun
dispatching 1,960 servicemen, along with their equipment and vehicles.
"The fifth Il-76 military transport aircraft with
Russian peacekeepers on board took off from the Ulyanovsk-Vostochny airfield.
Personnel from the peacekeeping unit, armored personnel carriers, and materiel
are on board," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the leaders of Azerbaijan,
Armenia, and Russia signed a statement on ending the war in the disputed
Nagorno-Karabakh. The ceasefire agreement came into effect overnight.
Azerbaijan and Armenia had been fighting over
Nagorno-Karabakh since September. Russia was attempting to mediate an end to
the war.
Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of
Azerbaijan, but it is held by ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Armenia
since 1992, when they broke from Azerbaijan in a war that killed some 30,000
people.
According to Putin, the two warring sides would
exchange prisoners of war and the war dead, and all economic and transport
links in the area would be reopened.
Under the deal, Azerbaijan will reportedly get to keep
all of its territorial gains, and ethnic Armenian forces must hand over control
of a number of other territories between now and December 1.
Putin expressed hope that the deal would pave the way
for a lasting political settlement of the conflict in the region.
"We are operating on the premise that the
agreements will create the necessary conditions for a long-term and
fully-fledged settlement of the crisis around Nagorno-Karabakh on a fair basis
and in the interests of the Armenian and Azeri peoples,” the Russian president
said.
Azerbaijan, Turkey discuss Russo-Turkish peacekeeping
force
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said Turkey —
which is an ally of Azerbaijan — would also be involved in the peacekeeping
efforts.
Earlier on Tuesday, Aliyev and his Turkish
counterpart, Tayyip Erdogan, discussed creating a joint Russian-Turkish
peacekeeping center to monitor the truce.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara
was continuing discussions on how to observe and monitor the ceasefire.
Cavusoglu told reporters that the deal would ensure
that the seven regions around Karabakh are handed to Azerbaijan.
Russia denies agreement on Turkish peacekeepers
Separately, the Kremlin said on Tuesday that there was
no agreement about the deployment of Turkish peacekeepers in Nagorno-Karabakh.
"I will comment on it like this: there is not a
[single] word about it in the text of the joint statement, the three sides
never negotiated it, and the presence of Turkish troops in Karabakh was not
coordinated," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Peskov said that a center to monitor the ceasefire,
located outside Nagorno-Karabakh, was subject to a separate agreement.
'Ceasefire was unavoidable'
Nagorno-Karabakh's leader Arayik Harutyunyan said the
ceasefire was unavoidable.
"We lost Fizuli, Dzhabrail, Qubadli, Zangilan,
and the Hadrut district, parts of the Martuni and Askeran districts, and, most
importantly, Shushi. The fighting was already on the outskirts of Stepanakert,
at a distance of 2-3 kilometers. At this pace, within days, we would have lost
all Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh]," Harutyunyan wrote on Facebook.
The deal followed three failed ceasefire attempts and
relentless advances by Azeri troops.
'The army said it was necessary to stop'
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said,
"The decision was made based on a deep analysis of the combat situation
and in conjunction with the best experts."
"This is not a victory, but there is no defeat
until you consider yourself defeated. We will never consider ourselves
defeated, and this shall become a new start of an era of our national unity and
rebirth,” Pashinyan wrote on social media.
He said that Yerevan had agreed to the deal after
"the army, in fact, insisted on doing it."
"You can imagine the situation when the army says
that it is necessary to stop, " he said.
"Military resources were not completely
efficient," he added, noting that some fighters on the front-line had not
taken any rest in a month.
The defense ministry of the disputed region said on
Tuesday its total military death toll had risen to 1,302 since the latest wave
of fighting erupted.
Military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh ceased
Armenia’s Defense Ministry confirmed that military
actions in Nagorno-Karabakh had ceased completely.
Ministry spokeswoman Shushan Stepanyan said the situation
in the conflict zone had been calm since early morning.
Protesters storm Armenia parliament
Following Pashinyan's statement, hundreds of
protesters angry at the deal stormed Armenia's parliament in the early hours of
Tuesday and seized control of its chamber to decry the country's leadership.
Taking the seats of parliamentarians, the protesters
shouted "Resign!" or "Out!"
Earlier, thousands of protesters had gathered outside
the government headquarters in Yerevan and stormed the building to protest against
the deal, shouting "We will not give it up." They also vandalized
offices.
According to local media outlets, Parliament Speaker
Ararat Mirzoyan was physically assaulted.
Pashinyan said Mirzoyan had suffered injuries after
being beaten up by protesters, adding that his wounds were not
life-threatening.
As the night wore on, the number of protesters got
smaller, but some of them remained inside the parliament.
Pashinyan urged demonstrators to go home. "At
this difficult time, we must stand shoulder to shoulder," he wrote on
Facebook.
In a joint statement on Tuesday, Armenia's Defense
Ministry and General Staff urged the people to refrain from taking actions that
could undermine the statehood, stressing the significance of strengthening the
army.
Armenian opposition also began gathering signatures to
call a parliament meeting on the deal.
"We are collecting signatures to convene an
extraordinary meeting in order to cancel this decision," Iveta Tonoyan, a
member of the National Assembly for Prosperous Armenia, told Sputnik.
Amid the mounting anger in Armenia, President Armen
Sarkissian said he had learned about the deal from the press.
"From the press I also learned about the
conditions. I did not take part in any negotiations," the Armenian
president said.
Sarkissian added that he had started consultations to
address people's concerns.
Meanwhile, the agreement was welcomed by Azerbaijanis,
who took to the streets of the capital, Baku, to celebrate in the early hours
of Tuesday. They carried flags of Azerbaijan and Turkey, Baku’s main military
ally.
‘30 years of pain coming to end’
The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement on
Twitter, "The pain experienced 30 years ago is coming to an end
today."
"Our heroic brothers showed their strength in the
battlefield and won a victory by fighting bravely. The bad days are over. Today
is victory day," the ministry said.
In a post on Twitter, Cavusoglu also hailed the
"significant gains" achieved by Azerbaijan in the field and at the
negotiating table. "I wholeheartedly congratulate this blessed
success," he said.
Senior Nagorno-Karabakh official quits
The secretary of Nagorno-Karabakh’s security council
quit in protest at the ceasefire agreement.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/10/638297/Russia-deploying-peacekeepers-to-Nagorno-Karabakh-after-truce-deal
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Macron to host Austria's Kurz ahead of EU talks on
terror response
09/11/2020
French President Emmanuel Macron will host the Austrian
chancellor for talks on Tuesday before a video summit with other EU leaders to
discuss a joint response to recent terrorist attacks carried out by radical
Islamists.
Macron and Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will be joined in
a phone call by the leaders of Germany and the European Commission among
others, the French presidency said.
The meeting comes a week after a gunman killed four
people in a shooting rampage in the heart of Vienna, an attack claimed by the
Islamic State (IS) group.
The bloodshed in the Austrian capital followed last
month's attack on a church in Nice and the beheading of a teacher near Paris.
Some of the participants in Tuesday's video call will
take questions during an online news conference afterwards, Macron's office
said.
Last week, the French president called for a rethink
of Europe's open-border Schengen area, including a more robust protection of
the zone's external frontiers.
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20201109-macron-to-host-austria-s-kurz-ahead-of-eu-talks-on-terror-response?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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Austria stopped trailing Vienna attacker in summer,
report says
NOVEMBER 9, 2020
VIENNA (Reuters) - Austrian authorities watched a
meeting in Vienna this summer between foreign Islamists and the jihadist who
killed four people last week, and trailed him for days but then stopped, news
agency APA reported on Monday.
Austria has acknowledged that “intolerable mistakes
were made” in the handling of intelligence on the attacker, a convicted jihadist,
who killed four people in a shooting rampage in the centre of Vienna last
Monday. He was shot dead by police.
First Vienna said it had mishandled information from
Slovakia that the gunman had tried to buy ammunition there in July. Then it admitted
he had met people from Germany who were under observation there and who
travelled to Austria, and that could have led it to see him as a greater
threat.
On Monday it confirmed a report by Swiss newspaper NZZ
am Sonntag that he had also met two Islamists arrested in Switzerland in
connection with the attack who had travelled to Vienna between July 16 and July
20.
“A meeting took place in Vienna among the people (you)
addressed from Germany and Switzerland but there were also people present at
the meeting with the later assailant who were arrested in the context of the
investigation,” Director General for Public Security Franz Ruf told a news
conference when asked about the reported July meeting.
“It was a larger circle of people that met. Some spent
the night, the rest then left,” he added.
Austrian domestic intelligence monitored the meeting
and the attacker for days, observing how he and acquaintances picked up the
four visitors from Germany and Switzerland at Vienna airport and showed them
around the city. But it broke off the tailing operation just as he travelled to
Slovakia, APA reported.
Why that operation was halted is unclear, APA said.
The Interior Ministry was not immediately available for comment.
“New disturbing failures come in almost by the hour,”
Stephanie Krisper, a senior lawmaker from the liberal Neos opposition party
said on Twitter, referring to the tail.
The head of Austria’s main domestic intelligence
agency for Vienna has stepped down temporarily pending an investigation into
what went wrong.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-attack-idUSKBN27P1KG?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1703038_
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