If Kashi, Mathura Freed, Hindus Won’t Seek Other Mosques: Ayodhya Trust Treasurer

New Age Islam News Bureau

05 February 2024

 

Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj (ANI photo)

-----

·         If Kashi, Mathura Freed, Hindus Won’t Seek Other Mosques: Ayodhya Trust Treasurer

·         Gyanvapi Idols Were Planted, Says Varanasi's Mufti-e-Sheher

·         US Police In Michigan City Put On Alert After ‘Islamophobic’ Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

·         Jeddah Historic District Program Announced Discovery of 25.000 Fragments of Artifacts That Dates to the Early Islamic Era

·         Pro-Palestine Protesters Could Face Jail In UK Under A New Public Order Offence

----

India

·         Maintain Status Quo On Land Where 600-Year-Old Mosque Was Bulldozed, Delhi High Court Tells DDA

·         IUML leader Thangal says Ram temple, mosque at Ayodhya will strengthen secularism, gets criticised

·         Gujarat Police arrest Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari from Mumbai in hate speech case

·         Supreme Court To Take Up Plea Seeking Survey Of Gyanvapi Mosque 'Wazukhana' Today

-----

North America

·         Biden Condemns Anti-Arab Hate After WSJ Opinion Piece Calls Dearborn ‘Jihad Capital’

·         Wider War Will End US Hegemony In Region, Warns Yemen

·         US, UK carry out more airstrikes on Yemen’s Hudaydah, Sa’ada

·         US Senate releases $118 billion border security and wartime aid deal; Biden urges House support

·         Blinken heads back to Middle East to press hostage deal

----

Arab World

·         Yemen Says Won’t Backtrack On Gaza, Calls US 'Biggest Threat' To Intl. Shipping In Red Sea

·         Saudi Arabia Celebrates Milestone of Being among the First Countries to Build Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka

·         Saudi FM, UK counterpart discuss developments in Gaza

·         Saudi defence minister meets Pakistani counterpart

·         KSrelief distributes food aid to displaced families in Sudan

----

Europe

·         "Islamophobia": Europe’s Schools Now Bow In Prayer Toward Mecca

·         Italy to become target if it joins attacks against Yemen, threatens Houthi leader

·         Britain First falsely claims Mike Freer MP was attacked by ‘Islamist extremists’

·         Defunding UN agency for Palestinians could pose threat to regional stability, warns Borrell

·         Massive demonstrations in several European cities, capitals calling for ending aggression against Gaza

·         Euro-Med: Israeli genocide leaves 110,000 Gazans killed, injured or missing

·         ‘Hallowed out’: UK left red-faced after faulty warship pulls out of historic NATO drill

-----

Africa

·         Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria Asks EFCC To Name Religious Sect Sponsoring Terrorism

·         Plateau Killings: Shariah Council Protests Muslims’ Exclusion From Probe Panel

·         Order Miyetti Allah leader’s release, Fulani youths beg Tinubu

·         About 40 killed in violence near disputed Sudan-South Sudan border

----

Pakistan

·         10 Cops Martyred, Six Injured In Terrorist Attack On Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan

·         Difficult to back ‘un-Islamic’ marriage case verdict, says Bilawal

·         Haq Do Tehreek leaders warn rivals of defeat in Makran

·         Pakistan sends 5th tranche of humanitarian aid to Gaza

·         Siraj points gun at PML-N, PPP

·         Pakistan’s Interim PM denies Afghanistan threat amid contradictory statements

·         Pakistan Markazi Muslim League coverts election offices to relief centres

----

South Asia

·         The ‘Afghanistan Choice’: Cooperate with Taliban to Counter Terrorism or Risk a Taliban–Islamic State Collaboration

·         Bangladesh Asked China’s Help As Myanmar Conflict Reached Border: Quader

·         Myanmar wants to take back troops who fled to Bangladesh: Hasan Mahmud

·         Afghanistan’s weak economy causes deflation and poverty: World Bank Report

·         Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade Chamber proposes special passes for truck drivers

·         Kabul, Tehran Have Good Ties Despite Lack of Recognition: Dep. Ambassador

·         Pakistan Extends Afghan Refugees' Stay Until March: Media

·         Thru Biden's Letter To PM, Bangladesh-US Ties Will Advance Further: FM

·         Islamic Emirate Addresses Issues in All Regions: Hanafi

·         Islamic Emirate Political Commission Convenes Meeting to Discuss Regional Cooperation

----

Mideast

·         Israeli PM Netanyahu Hits Back At Far-Right Minister’s Criticism Of Us War Backing Israel’s War Against Hamas In Gaza

·         127 Palestinians killed in Gaza in last 24 hours, death toll climbs to 27,365

·         Leader Urges Elites In Muslim World To Create Public Demand To Cut Ties With Israel

·         Al-Qassam: 43 Israeli vehicles destroyed, volley of rockets fired at Tel Aviv

·         Hamas, Islamic Jihad slam US-UK aggression against Yemen

·         Hamas weighs Gaza truce as deadly fighting nears fifth month

·         Hezbollah launches fresh missile attacks on Israeli targets

------

Southeast Asia

·         Rein In Your Members Who Speak Out Against Pardons Board Decision, Zahid Tells Pakatan

·         Penang Mufti: 'Take Action Against Podcast Organiser For Inviting Hot Daddy'

·         Philippines’ wellness resort taps into the Muslim market

·         Penang Mufti: No rush in issuing fatwa on cultured meat

·         Japan’s Itochu to end cooperation with Israel’s Elbit over Gaza war

·         Qoumas stresses public involvement in religious programs

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL:   https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/kashi-mathura-hindus-mosques-ayodhya/d/131659

-----

If Kashi, Mathura Freed, Hindus Won’t Seek Other Mosques: Ayodhya Trust Treasurer

 

Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj (ANI photo)

-----

 Feb 5, 2024

PUNE: Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Tirtha Kshetra treasurer Govind Dev Giri Maharaj on Sunday said that After Ayodhya, the Hindu community will forget issues related to all other temples destroyed by foreign invaders once Kashi and Mathura are freed peacefully. He said that there are 3,500 Hindu temples demolished in foreign attacks.

He was speaking at a press conference in Alandi on the outskirts of Pune where various religious programmes are being held between Feb 4 and 11 as part of his 75th birthday celebrations. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Sri Sri Ravishankar, among the others, will attend these programmes.

“We do not even desire to look at the others if these three temples are freed because we have to live in the future and not in the past. The country’s future should be good, hence if we get the other two temples (Kashi and Mathura) peacefully, with love, we will forget about all other things,” he said.

Maharaj also urged the Muslim community to support this demand for a peaceful solution. He said that the issue is only about removing signs of the attacks and it should not be considered as a problem between the two communities.

“We found a peaceful solution (for Ram Mandir) and since such an era has begun, we are hopeful that the other issues will also be resolved peacefully,” he added.

Maharaj said people in the Muslim community are ready for a peaceful solution for the remaining two temples but some oppose it. “We will take a stand as per the situation and try to convince them. We will ensure that no non-peaceful environment is created, ” he said.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/if-kashi-mathura-freed-hindus-wont-seek-other-mosques-ayodhya-trust-treasurer/articleshowprint/107410049.cms

------

Gyanvapi Idols Were Planted, Says Varanasi's Mufti-e-Sheher

 

The Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi.(File picture)

-----

05.02.24

Piyush Srivastava

Varanasi city’s topmost Muslim cleric has alleged there were no idols in the basement of the Gyanvapi Mosque when the district court on January 31 allowed Hindus to worship there.

"They planted the idols in the southern part of the basement the same night with the help of the local administration and started worshipping them," Mufti-e-Sheher Maulana Abdul Batim Nomani, who is also secretary of the mosque management committee, told reporters on Sunday.

"We can understand what is going on against the Muslim community but we shall fight for the Gyanvapi till the end. I call on members of the community to pray for our success."

The Hindu side said there were four idols already in the basement when it was opened for worship.

Allahabad High Court is expected to hear on February 6 the mosque committee’s petition against the district court’s order.

A.K. Vishvesha, who retired as district judge after passing Wednesday’s Gyanvapi order, said on Saturday: “The order to open the basement is based on evidence.”

The district court had asked the administration to make arrangements for Hindus to worship at the basement within a week after consulting the authorities of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and Gyanvapi Mosque, which abut each other.

But the district administration handed the basement over to Hindus late in the same night, with mosque authorities saying they were not consulted.

Vishvesha’s order came on a petition that said the mosque’s basement, called Vyasji Ka Tahkhana, belonged to a certain Vyas family and Hindus worshipped there regularly till the Mulayam Singh Yadav government barricaded the place off in December 1993.

“There were four idols in the basement when we went there after the court order,” said Jitendra Vyas, a member of the Vyas family.

“We cleaned the place and started aarti and puja. While the puja is going on round the clock, we are doing aarti four times a day.”

The administration has not allowed ordinary devotees to enter the basement but set up a grille window on the temple side for them to watch the puja from about 18 feet away.

Vyas said about 2 lakh devotees had paid obeisance from the window.

On Friday, senior clerics and Muslim leaders had gathered in Delhi to express the community’s anguish at recent legal and administrative developments over the Gyanvapi, suggesting the judiciary and bureaucracy were “grossly compromised” but saying they still had faith in justice and democracy.

Mosque committee members had pointed to a six-fold increase in the number of Namazis on Friday to claim “simmering discontent in the community”.

Source: telegraphindia.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/gyanvapi-idols-were-planted-says-varanasis-topmost-muslim-cleric/cid/1998338

----

US Police In Michigan City Put On Alert After ‘Islamophobic’ Wall Street Journal Op-Ed

 

A 2020 Ford Explorer hybrid police vehicle is unveiled in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S., May 15, 2019. Picture taken May 15, 2019. REUTERS/Joe White Acquire Licensing Rights

-----

05 February 2024

The mayor of Dearborn in the US state of Michigan has ordered police in the city to go on alert after the Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece,  which has been slammed as “bigoted” and “Islamophobic".

The WSJ on Friday published the op-ed titled “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital”.

The piece was decried by the city’s mayor and rights advocates from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee as anti-Arab and racist.

“Reckless. Bigoted. Islamophobic,” Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud said about the WSJ piece written by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

“Effective immediately - Dearborn police will ramp up its presence across all places of worship and major infrastructure points. This is a direct result of the inflammatory WSJ opinion piece that has led to an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn,” the mayor noted.

About 54% of the residents of Dearborn are Arab Americans, according to census figures.

Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian bias in the US since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip in October.

A 71-year-old white man in the US state of Illinois motivated by anti-Palestinian rhetoric has stabbed a 6-year-old Muslim boy 26 times and seriously injured his mother.

Among the hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs that raised alarm was the November shooting of three Palestinian college students in the US state of Vermont.

Earlier, a 71-year-old white man in the state of Illinois stabbed to death a 6-year-old Muslim boy 26 times and seriously injured his mother in October.

CAIR, the US largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, reported receiving 1,283 requests for help and reports of bias from the beginning of October to early November, an increase of 216 percent compared to 2022.

Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime’s decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 27,365 Palestinians and injured 66,630 others.

Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble in Gaza, which is under “complete siege” by Israel.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/05/719517/US-Police-Dearborn-on-alert-Islamophobic-WSJ-op-ed

----

Jeddah Historic District Program Announced Discovery of 25.000 Fragments of Artifacts That Dates to the Early Islamic Era

 

Tombstones made of Mangabi stone, marble, and granite were found at different locations within Jeddah.

------

FEBRUARY 05, 2024

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeddah Historic District Program in cooperation with the Heritage Commission announced the discovery of 25.000 fragments of artifacts, the oldest of which dates from the first two centuries AH (from the 7th to the 8th centuries AD). The fieldwork was conducted on 4 different sites: Othman bin Affan Mosque (may Allah be pleased with him), Al-Shona, the Eastern Moat, and a segment of the Northern Wall, under the framework of the Archaeology Project which is supervised by Jeddah Historic District Program.

The announcement of the archaeological discoveries is part of the efforts the Historic Jeddah Revival Project had made, and which was launched by His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. The Archaeology Project aims to preserve national antiquities and archaeological sites, unveil the history embedded in the Kingdom's lands, and support Historic Jeddah as a cultural and touristic centre to further achieve the Saudi Vision (2030).

Archaeological survey and excavations, conducted in November 2020, resulted in the discovery of 11.405 pottery sherds which weigh 293 kg, 11.360 animal bones of 107 kg, 1.730 shells of 32 kg. In addition to 685 building materials which weigh 87 kg, as well as 187 glass artifacts which weigh 5kg and 71 metal artifacts of 7kg. The total weight of the archaeological materials found is 531kg which constitute a valuable addition to the Saudi archaeological discoveries.

Archaeological investigations in Othman bin Affan Mosque—may Allah be pleased with him—revealed the archeological discoveries. The oldest of which dates back to the first two centuries AH (from the 7th to the 8th centuries AD), passing through the early Islamic era, the Umayyad era, the Abbasid era, then the Mamluk era, and onto the modern times (i.e., the early 15th century AH / the 21st century AD). Further, analyses conducted on ebony pillars found on the sides of the Mihrab revealed that these pillars likely date back to the first two centuries AH (the 7th to the 8th centuries AD). The wood's origin has been identified to be Ceylon Island in the Indian Ocean which highlights the far-reaching trade connections of Historic Jeddah.

In addition, the fragments of artifacts discovered in Othman bin Affan Mosque contain a variety of ceramic vessels and pieces of high-quality porcelain, among of which are some pieces made in the Chinese province of Jiangxi, that potentially date back to the 10th and 13th centuries AH (the 16th to 19th centuries AD), as well as some older pottery fragments dating back as far as the Abbasid era.

Meanwhile, at Al-Shona, the chronology of the site dates back at least to the 13th century AH (19th century AD) with indications of archaeological remains that could be as old as the 10th century AH (16th century AD). Numerous pottery sherds have been found at the site, comprising porcelain and other ceramics from Europe, Japan, and China, dating back to the 13th and the 14th centuries AH (the 19th to 20th centuries AD).

Also, excavations at Al-Kidwah ("Bab Makkah" - Makkah gate) revealed parts of the Eastern Moat which most likely date back to the late 12th century AH (late 18th century AD).

Moreover, several tombstones of Mangabi stone, marble, and granite were also found in different locations in Historic Jeddah. The tombstones have inscriptions of names, epitaphs, and verses of the Quran which likely date back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AH (8th  and 9th centuries AD), and are still under thorough study by specialists.

Archaeological studies of the four historical sites included excavations, radiocarbon analysis, soil analyses, geophysical surveys, and scientific studies of the discovered artifacts. Additionally, more than 250 wood samples were taken from 52 buildings and transferred to be studied in specialized international laboratories for identification and dating. Furthermore, the international archival research resulted in the collection of more than 984 historical documents on Historic Jeddah, including historical maps and drawings of the Jeddah City Wall, Al-Shona, and other parts of Historic Jeddah, which are being studied thoroughly and attentively.

Jeddah Historic District Program in cooperation with the Heritage Commission supervised the documentation, registration, and preservation of archaeological artifacts discovered in Historic Jeddah, and listed the finds in the National Archaeological Register. Also, scientific databases were created to protect and preserve the information about the discovered artifacts. It is noteworthy that archaeological documentation and photography for the archive were conducted by a group of national competencies specialized in the conservation and registration of archaeological fragments.

The work of the Historic Jeddah project began in Jumada Al-Awwal, January 2020, with the preparation of exploratory studies and a geophysical survey to reveal the history embedded in the four locations, including the Othman bin Affan mosque, Al-Shona, a segment of the Northern Wall, and Al-Kidwah.

Source: asiaone.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.asiaone.com/business/jeddah-historic-district-program-discovery-25000-fragments-artifacts-dates-early-islamic

----

Pro-Palestine Protesters Could Face Jail In UK Under A New Public Order Offence

 

British Home Secretary James Cleverly walks outside 10 Downing Street in London, Britain, December 19, 2023. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights

------

04 February 2024

UK Interior Minister James Cleverly has unveiled a new public order offence under which pro-Palestine protesters could face jail in the country following some incidents during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration.

Cleverly made the announcement in a statement on Sunday, saying protesters who climb Britain’s war memorials could face three months in prison and a 1,000 pound ($1,260) fine under the new plan.

The British minister went on to say that recent protests “have seen a small minority dedicated to causing damage and insulting those who paid the ultimate price for their freedom to protest,”

“Peaceful protest is fundamental in our county, but climbing on our war memorials is an insult to these monuments of remembrance and cannot continue,” he added.

Pro-Palestine protests continue in London as activists stage UK-wide “day of action” demos demanding a stop to Gaza genocide.

Cleverly further noted that the measure would be part of a plan to ensure Britain’s police have the tools to keep order and peace on the streets.

Pro-Palestine demonstrations have continued in the UK since Israel launched its genocidal war on Gaza in early October, drawing hundreds of thousands onto British streets.

The latest development came a day after thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through the streets of London to “condemn UK government actions” in the war on Gaza and call for an immediate ceasefire.

Ben Jamal, director of the UK-based Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, said the protesters marched to Whitehall on Friday to send a message to Downing Street that “the UK must end its complicity in Israel’s genocide” and demand a permanent ceasefire.

Tens of thousands of people across the UK held protests against the resumption of Israel’s renewed attack on Gaza following the seven-day truce.

The national march was organized by a coalition including the Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Muslim Association of Britain.

London’s Metropolitan Police said that the “events passed peacefully with disruption kept to a minimum” and would “always seek to work with protest organizers” to ensure disorder is prevented.

The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s atrocities against Palestinians.

Since the start of the aggression, Israel has killed more than  27,300 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the Gaza Health Ministry.

The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/04/719485/Palestine-Israel-Gaza-war--UK-James-Cleverly-pro-Palestinian-protesters-face-jail-fine

----

 India

Maintain status quo on land where 600-year-old mosque was bulldozed, Delhi High Court tells DDA

05.02.24

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Delhi Development Authority to maintain status quo on the land where the 600-year-old Akhondji mosque was demolished, reported Live Law.

On January 30, the mosque in the national capital’s Mehrauli neighbourhood was bulldozed along with the Behrul Uloom madrasa by the Delhi Development Authority.

The authority is a statutory body that reports to the Union government. It is responsible for planning and constructing urban projects in the national capital territory.

Following the demolition, the managing committee of the Delhi Waqf Board filed an urgent application before the High Court, contending that the mosque’s Imam Zakir Hussain and his family were left without a shelter as his home was also razed.

Hearing the case on Monday, Justice Sachin Datta ordered that the status quo should remain in force till February 12.

Datta, however, clarified that the status quo applies only to the particular parcel of land where the mosque stood and will not prohibit the Delhi Development Authority from carrying out its actions in adjoining areas.

Source: scroll.in

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://scroll.in/latest/1063217/maintain-status-quo-on-land-where-600-year-old-mosque-was-bulldozed-delhi-high-court-tells-dda

------

 

IUML leader Thangal says Ram temple, mosque at Ayodhya will strengthen secularism, gets criticised

04.02.24

Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) state President Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal on Sunday landed in a controversy over his recent statement that there is no need to protest against the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya as both the new temple and the proposed mosque would strengthen secularism in the country.

IUML is a major ally of the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala and an influential political party among the Muslim community.

Thangal made the statement during an event on January 24 at Manjeri near here, but a video of it went viral today.

While the Indian National League (INL), a coalition partner of the ruling CPI(M) led-LDF government in Kerala lashed out at the IUML leader, the Congress party and the IUML defended Thangal and said he was trying to prevent any campaign of hatred and attempts to divide society.

Addressing the event at Manjeri, Thangal had said that the Ram temple which is "worshipped and revered by the majority of the people" in the country "is a reality".

"We cannot go back from that. There is no need for us to protest against it. The temple came up based on a court order and the Babri Masjid is about to be constructed. These two are now part of India. The Ram temple and the proposed Babri Masjid are two best examples that strengthen secularism of our country," Thangal was seen saying in the video.

"We know that it (Babri Masjid) was destroyed by the karsevaks and we had protested against it at that time," he said, adding that Indian Muslims dealt with it in a mature manner.

Indian National League (INL) Kerala State Secretariat Member N K Abdul Azeez in a Facebook post said that political leaders are not ignorant of the fact that Gandhi's Ram Rajya is different from the Ram Rajya of the RSS.

"The spiritual Hindu religion of a believer is different from the political Hindutva of the RSS and the political leaders are not ignorant of this fact. Yet they are making a fool of its ranks. It's not possible to believe that the ordinary party workers of IUML will accept this position," Azeez said.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan and senior IUML leader P K Kunhalikutty came out in support of Thangal and said his words were misinterpreted.

Kunhalikutty said BJP is trying to politicise the Ayodhya issue and Thangal was trying to warn people not to fall into that trap. "But it was misinterpreted," he said.

Satheesan said while many were trying to ignite tensions needlessly, Thangal was trying to douse it.

"One should understand why he said so. When some are trying to set fire to water, Thangal is trying to douse it. He was speaking against the campaign of hatred and division," Satheesan said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

Source: telegraphindia.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/indian-union-muslim-league-leader-thangal-says-ram-temple-mosque-at-ayodhya-will-strengthen-secularism-gets-criticised/cid/1998328

----

 

Gujarat Police Arrest Islamic Preacher Mufti Salman Azhari From Mumbai In Hate Speech Case

05.02.24

The Gujarat Police have arrested Islamic preacher Mufti Salman Azhari from Mumbai in connection with an FIR registered against him for allegedly delivering a hate speech and are bringing him back to the state, an official said on Monday.

The speech was delivered at an event held on an open ground near the 'B' division police station in Gujarat's Junagadh city on the night of January 31.

After a video of it went viral, an FIR was registered against Azhari and local organisers Mohammad Yousuf Malek and Azim Habib Odedara under Indian Penal Code sections 153B (promoting enmity between different religious groups) and 505 (2) (making statements conducive to public mischief), police said.

Malek and Habib were arrested on Saturday, while the police were searching for Azhari.

The Gujarat Police traced Azhari to Mumbai and arrested him on Sunday.

He was being brought back to Junagadh after securing a transit remand from a court in Mumbai, Junagadh crime branch police inspector J J Patel said.

The Junagadh police carried out the operation with the help of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad, Patel said.

The accused was being brought to Junagadh where he will be produced before a court on Tuesday, he said.

As per officials, the arrested men had taken permission from police for the gathering stating that Azhari will speak about religion and spread awareness about de-addiction, but he allegedly delivered an inflammatory speech.

The Junagadh local crime branch is investigating the case.

After the Gujarat cops detained Azhari in Mumbai, police resorted to mild lath charge as hundreds of supporters of the preacher gathered outside Ghatkopar police station in the Maharashtra capital demanding his immediate release, bringing traffic to a standstill in the area, an official earlier said.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.

Source: telegraphindia.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/gujarat-police-arrest-islamic-preacher-mufti-salman-azhari-from-mumbai-in-hate-speech-case/cid/1998432

----

 

Supreme Court To Take Up Plea Seeking Survey Of Gyanvapi Mosque 'Wazukhana' Today

FEBRUARY 05, 2024

The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition demanding the scientific survey of the ‘wazukhana’ and the surrounding sealed areas of the disputed Gyanvapi complex in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi today (Monday, February 5).

The wazukhana (an ablution pond where worshippers wash themselves before praying at the mosque) was sealed in 2022 after a Supreme Court order. The Hindu side has claimed that the fountain-like structure in the wazukhana is a ‘Shivling’.

“Direct the Director General of Archaeological Survey of India to conduct the necessary investigation/ survey of the Shivlingam for determining the nature of Shivlingam and associated features without causing any damage to the Shivlingam situated within the sealed area,” the plea stated, adding that the ASI should undertake survey of the entire sealed area by excavation and using other scientific methods and submit its report before the court.

The plea also demands another survey by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in the 10 cellars inside the complex.

Last Wednesday, the Allahabad High Court issued a notice to the Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Committee, which manages the Gyanvapi mosque, on a plea challenging a Varanasi court’s refusal to direct the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a survey of the ‘wazukhana’ area in the mosque complex.

The order was passed by Justice Rohit Ranjan Agrawal on a revision petition filed by Rakhi Singh, who is one of the plaintiffs in the Shringar Gauri worshipping suit, which is presently pending before the Varanasi district court.

In the application she had filed before the Varanasi court, Singh’s primary contention was that the survey of the ‘wazukhana’, excluding its portion where a ‘Shivling’ was claimed to be found, is necessary to ascertain the religious character of the property in question.

The district judge court had rejected Singh’s application on October 21, 2023. The judge had observed that in an order passed on May 17, 2022, the apex court had directed to protect the area where the ‘Shivling’ is stated to have been found and therefore, it is not proper to direct the ASI to survey the area.

Source: news18.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.news18.com/india/supreme-court-to-take-up-plea-seeking-survey-of-gyanvapi-mosque-wazukhana-today-8766549.html

----

 

North America

 

Biden condemns anti-Arab hate after WSJ opinion piece calls Dearborn ‘jihad capital’

February 04, 2024

DEARBORN: President Joe Biden on Sunday denounced anti-Arab rhetoric in response to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece targeting Dearborn, Michigan, that the mayor called “bigoted” and “Islamophobic.”

The WSJ published the piece on Friday headlined as “Welcome to Dearborn, America’s Jihad Capital,” suggesting the city’s residents, including religious leaders and politicians, supported Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and extremism.

The column drew outrage from Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, as well as several US lawmakers and rights advocates from the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee.

The mayor said on Saturday he had ramped up the city’s police presence at houses of worship and other public places after “an alarming increase in bigoted and Islamophobic rhetoric online targeting the city of Dearborn.”

As of Sunday afternoon, there were no reports of any unrest in Dearborn, a suburb of about 110,000 people that borders Detroit.

Biden, while not referring directly to the WSJ or the article’s author, said on social media platform X it was wrong to blame “a group of people based on the words of a small few.”

“That’s exactly what can lead to Islamophobia and anti-Arab hate, and it shouldn’t happen to the residents of Dearborn – or any American town,” Biden said on the platform formerly called Twitter.

The city has one of the highest percentages of Arab Americans among US cities, with census figures showing it is about 54 percent Arab American.

“Reckless. Bigoted. Islamophobic,” Hammoud said on Saturday about the WSJ piece written by Steven Stalinsky, executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Biden, who is running for re-election, has himself faced criticism and protests from Dearborn and from anti-war voices around the country for his administration’s support for Israel in its operations in Gaza.

The WSJ did not respond to a request for comment. Stalinsky said he stood by his piece and added that videos compiled by his institute showed that “shocking anti-US and pro-jihad sermons and marches” had taken place in the city. Reuters was not able to independently verify the location or the date of when the videos were filmed.

Rights advocates have noted a rise in Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bias and antisemitism in the US since the eruption of war in the Middle East in October.

Among anti-Palestinian incidents that raised alarm were a November shooting in Vermont of three students of Palestinian descent and the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American in Illinois in October.

Some Democratic members of the US Congress like Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Ro Khanna, and Senators Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, also condemned the WSJ opinion piece, with Jayapal demanding an apology from the newspaper.

The latest eruption of war in the Middle East began on Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200. Israel has since assaulted Hamas-governed Gaza, killing over 27,000, according to the local health ministry. Nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is displaced. The densely populated enclave also faces starvation.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2453991/world

-----

 

Wider war will end US hegemony in region, warns Yemen

Feb 5, 2024

TEHRAN, Feb. 05 (MNA) – Yemen’s Foreign Ministry condemned the latest wave of US and UK airstrikes against the country, stressing that such attacks will not ever make the Yemeni nation and government backtrack on their pro-Palestinian stances.

The ministry deplored the most recent assaults on multiple targets in the strategic western province of Hudaydah as well as Sa’ada in the country’s northwest, stating that continuing US-British aggression clearly points to the UN Security Council’s failure to take on its responsibilities.

“The US and British airstrikes are meant to obscure the Zionists’ defeats as they perpetrate atrocities against ordinary people and civilians in Gaza.

“These assaults won’t ever make the Republic of Yemen do a volte-face on its humanitarian and ethical duties concerning Palestinians and their cause,” a statement released by the foreign ministry read.

Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network reported late on Sunday that US and British forces had struck 11 targets in Hudaydah province, with most of the aerial raids aimed at the port of Ras Isa and al-Zaydiya city.

Baqim district in Sa’ada province was bombed four times, while the eastern flank of Sa’ada city, located 240 kilometers (149 miles) north of the capital Sana’a, was hit once.

A high-profile member of Yemen’s Ansarullah Resistance movement has also denounced the latest US and British strikes on positions in Yemen, emphasizing that such attacks are ineffectual.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah's political bureau, stated that the anti-Yemen strikes have so far been carried out only by the United States and the United Kingdom, signifying differences within members of the US-formed coalition in the Red Sea and its imminent breakup.

“Rules of engagement imposed by the United States, the Zionist entity, and Britain have now been rewritten. The spillover of the [Gaza] will inevitably result in an end to US hegemony across the region,” Bukhaiti noted.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian Resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

The United States and United Kingdom have been carrying out strikes against Yemen after the Biden administration and its allies offered the Tel Aviv regime unqualified support and said that Yemeni forces bear the consequences of their attacks against Israeli-owned ships or merchant vessels heading to the occupied territories.

Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 27,365 people and wounded another 66,630 individuals, come to an end.

Leader of the Ansarullah Resistance movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has said that it is “a great honor and blessing to be confronting America directly.”

The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes. Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.

Source: mehrnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/211700/Wider-war-will-end-US-hegemony-in-region-warns-Yemen

----

 

US, UK carry out more airstrikes on Yemen’s Hudaydah, Sa’ada

05 February 2024

The United States and the UK have continued their acts of aggression against Yemen, conducting more airstrikes on Hudaydah and Sa’ada provinces.

According to a Yemeni military source, American and British aircraft carried out as many as 15 strikes against the western province of Hudaydah as well as Sa'ada province in the country's northwest, Yemen's al-Masirah television network reported Sunday evening.

According to the military source, the attacks included eight raids on Ras Issa district and three strikes on al-Zaydiyah district in al-Hudaydah province.

Four more raids were also conducted by American and British aircraft in the eastern part of Sa’ada province.

Over the past several weeks, the US and the UK have conducted scores of aerial assaults against various parts of Yemen in response to the country's missile and drone strikes on vessels owned by Israel or heading to ports in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The Yemeni Armed Forces have announced that they are staging the strikes in support of the Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip, who have been under Israel's US- and UK-backed war of genocide for four months now. The Israeli military aggression has so far claimed the lives of over 27,300 people, mostly women and children, while injuring more than 66,600 others.

The new strikes came after spokesman of the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree said earlier on Sunday that the aggressor countries had conducted 48 air raids on the Yemeni provinces of Sana’a, Hudaydah, Sa’ada, al-Bayda, Ta’izz and Lahij.

“Such attacks will not deter the Yemeni forces and nation from keeping up their support for Palestinians in the face of the Zionists’ occupation and crimes,” he said, warning, “The raids by the aggressors will not go unanswered.”

The Yemeni Armed Forces have vowed to keep up their strikes in support of Gaza as long as the Israeli regime continues its genocidal war and a concomitant siege on the Palestinian territory.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/05/719502/Yemen-United-States-UK-airstrikes-Israel-war-Gaza

----

 

US Senate releases $118 billion border security and wartime aid deal; Biden urges House support

February 05, 2024

WASHINGTON: Senators on Sunday released a highly anticipated $118 billion package that pairs border enforcement policy with wartime aid for Ukraine, Israel and other US allies, setting off a long-shot effort to push the bill through heavy skepticism from Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The proposal could be the best chance for President Joe Biden to resupply Ukraine with wartime aid — a major foreign policy goal that is shared with both the Senate’s top Democrat, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and top Republican, Sen. Mitch McConnell. The Senate was expected this week to hold a key test vote on the legislation, but it faces a wall of opposition from conservatives.

With Congress stalled on approving $60 billion in Ukraine aid, the US has halted shipments of ammunition and missiles to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian soldiers outgunned as they try to beat back Russia’s invasion.

Biden said he “strongly” supports the bipartisan deal that also tightens US asylum laws. “We’ve reached an agreement on a bipartisan national security deal that includes the toughest and fairest set of border reforms in decades. I strongly support it,” he said in a statement.

He urged Congress to “swiftly pass” the deal and “get it to my desk so I can sign it into law immediately.”

He said the Senate proposal “allows the United States to continue our vital work, together with partners all around the world, to stand up for Ukraine’s freedom and support its ability to defend itself against Russia’s aggression.”

And on the border, Biden said that the immigration system has been broken for too long, and it’s time to fix it. “It will make our country safer, make our border more secure, treat people fairly and humanely while preserving legal immigration, consistent with our values as a nation,” Biden said.

The new bill would also invest in US defense manufacturing, send $14 billion in military aid to Israel, steer nearly $5 billion to allies in the Asia-Pacific, and provide humanitarian assistance to civilians caught in conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

“The United States and our allies are facing multiple, complex and, in places, coordinated challenges from adversaries who seek to disrupt democracy and expand authoritarian influence around the globe,” Schumer said in a statement.

In a bid to overcome opposition from House Republicans, McConnell had insisted last year that border policy changes be included in the national security funding package. The bill would overhaul the asylum system at the border with faster and tougher enforcement, as well as give presidents new powers to immediately expel migrants if authorities become overwhelmed with the number of people applying for asylum.

However, in an election-year shift on immigration, Biden and many Democrats have embraced the idea of strict border enforcement, while Donald Trump and his allies have criticized the proposed measures as insufficient.

Republicans have also been reluctant to give Biden a political win on an issue they see as one of his biggest vulnerabilities. They have argued that presidents already have enough authority to curb illegal border crossings — a stance that would ensure immigration remains a major issue in the presidential election. But at the same time, House Republicans have also pushed for their own, stricter version of border security legislation.

Johnson, a Republican of Louisiana, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he had tried to involve House Republicans directly in the Senate’s negotiation, but was rebuffed. He added he was unaware of the bill’s details, but thought the solution to border problems should be a House proposal of hard-line immigration measures.

“What we’re saying is you have to stem the flow,” Johnson said. He also made it clear that he — not Trump — would decide whether to bring the bill to the floor if it passes the Senate.

But in a further sign that Johnson is resistant to the Senate package, he indicated Saturday that the House will vote on a separate package of $17.6 billion of military aid for Israel — a move that allows House Republicans to show support for Israel apart from the Senate deal.

Still, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who negotiated the border proposal, told CBS’ “Face the Nation” that the legislation would be “realistic, pragmatic, and the strongest solution to our border crisis in my lifetime.”

“I feel confident that when our bill passes the Senate and gets to the House, members of the House, including Speaker Johnson, will have had ample opportunity to read, understand the bill and ask questions,” Sinema said.

The border proposal, which took months to negotiate, is aimed at gaining control of an asylum system that has been overwhelmed by historic numbers of migrants coming to the border. The bill proposes an overhaul to the system with tougher and quicker enforcement measures.

If the number of illegal border crossings reaches above 5,000 daily for a five-day average, an expulsion authority would automatically kick in so that migrants are sent back to Mexico without an opportunity to make an asylum claim. If the number reaches 4,000, presidential administrations would have the option of using the expulsion authority.

Biden, referencing the authority, has said he would use it to “shut down the border” as soon as the bill is signed into law.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said Sunday that Johnson has “continued to tie himself in knots to delay border security, delay crucial investments in the fight against fentanyl, and delay Border Patrol hiring — as a host of his House Republican colleagues openly state that they only oppose the bipartisan border deal because of former President Donald Trump.”

At the state level, Republican governors have considered sending National Guard troops to the border. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who again led a group of more than a dozen other GOP governors to the southern border near Eagle Pass on Sunday, has been cheered on by those in his party over his extraordinary showdown with the Biden administration regarding immigration enforcement.

The bill would allot $20 billion to immigration enforcement, including the hiring of thousands of new officers to evaluate asylum claims, as well as hundreds of Border Patrol agents. Some of that money would go to shelters and services in cities across the US that have struggled to keep up with the influx of migrants in recent months.

Migrants who seek asylum, which provides protection for people facing persecution in their home countries, would face a tougher and faster process to having their claim evaluated. The standard in initial interviews, known as credible fear screenings, would be raised, and many would receive those interviews within days of arriving at the border. Final decisions on their asylum claims would happen within months, rather than the often years-long wait that happens now.

Among Democrats, the tougher asylum standards have raised concern, especially from progressive and Hispanic lawmakers. While the wings of both parties have been openly critical of the policies under discussion, many have withheld final judgment until they can review the text of the bill, which was a closely guarded secret in the Capitol.

The $14 billion in the package intended for military support for Israel could also splinter Democratic votes. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent of Vermont, is pushing to strip $10 billion for offensive weaponry for Israel from the package while maintaining money for defensive systems.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries suggested in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” that he would be supportive if it gets to the House.

“It should not be dead on arrival,” he said. “We need more common sense in Washington, D.C., less conflict and less chaos. We’re in a period of divided government. That means we should be trying to find bipartisan common ground.”

Senators completed the border proposal on Friday, but other portions of the package, including aid for US allies, investments in defense manufacturing capabilities and humanitarian assistance for people caught up in conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, were still being negotiated by Senate appropriators.

However, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, suggested during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” that GOP senators would push to slow the Senate from advancing the bill quickly.

“We’re not going to deal with this next week,” he said. “It’s too important.”

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454101/world

------

 

Blinken heads back to Middle East to press hostage deal

February 05, 2024

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken headed Sunday on a new crisis tour of the Middle East as he seeks to push forward a proposal to halt the devastating conflict in return for the release of hostages.

Blinken’s fifth trip to the region since the October 7 Hamas attack inside Israel comes days after the United States carried out retaliatory strikes against Iranian-linked targets in Iraq and Syria, the latest escalation of the conflict that President Joe Biden had initially sought to avoid.

The trip also comes as the Biden administration gradually shows more frustration with Israel, with sanctions imposed Thursday on extremist settlers, although the United States has brushed aside international calls on Israel to end its military campaign.

The proposal under discussion — drafted during talks a week ago in Paris involving the CIA chief and Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials — would pause fighting for an initial six weeks as Hamas frees hostages seized on October 7 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, according to a Hamas source.

Blinken on his trip will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar, the key go-between with Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip and maintains an office in Doha.

Blinken, speaking Monday after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said there was “real hope” for success of the “good, strong proposal.”

Qatar has also voiced optimism, although Hamas has said that there is no agreement and there is also division in Israel with hawks opposing perceived concessions to Hamas.

Hundreds rallied Saturday night in Tel Aviv to demand swift action to free the hostages as well as early elections as they denounced the inability of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government to win their freedom.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, acknowledged on Sunday the debate within Israel but said, in reference to the deal, that the “ball is in Hamas’s court at this time.”

Sullivan, speaking to “Face the Nation” on CBS, said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.

“This will be a top priority of his when he sees the Israeli government — that the needs of the Palestinian people are something that are going to be front and center in the US approach,” said Sullivan.

Nations and aid groups have warned of a risk of famine in Gaza with severe shortages of food and drinking water due to the Israeli campaign.

Blinken is expected to begin his trip on Monday in Saudi Arabia, which before the October 7 attack had been mulling steps to establish relations with Israel, a potentially historic step for the country that is the guardian of Islam’s two holiest sites.

After talks during his last trip in January with the de facto Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Blinken said he still saw a “clear interest” in pursuing normalization.

But criticism against Israel has been rising in the Arab world over the offensive in Gaza which has killed 27,200 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel launched the campaign after Hamas fighters infiltrated Israel on October 7 and killed around 1,160 people, mostly civilians, in the deadliest attack in the country’s history.

Militants also seized 250 hostages. A November truce that broke down over a week saw the release of 105 of the hostages. Israel says around 132 remain, including the bodies of at least 28 dead hostages.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454071/middle-east

---

 

Arab World

 

Yemen says won’t backtrack on Gaza, calls US 'biggest threat' to intl. shipping in Red Sea

05 February 2024

A Yemeni deputy foreign minister has censured the latest spate of US and British airstrikes against positions across the country, emphasizing that the United States is the first and foremost threat to international shipping in the Red Sea.

Speaking at a press briefing in the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a on Monday, Hussein al-Ezzi stated that maritime navigation in the strategic water body is of paramount significance, noting that the Yemeni Armed Forces have time and again declared that international shipping companies are safe to sail their vessels in the area if they are neither Israeli-owned nor destined to ports in the occupied Palestinian territories.

“The United States is the first and foremost threat to shipping in the Red Sea, and it was the first party that militarized the region,” Ezzi said.

The senior Yemeni official added that his country’s military forces will not hesitate to respond to any act of aggression against their homeland, stressing that US and UK strikes won’t make the Republic of Yemen backtrack on its pro-Palestine stances and solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

He also praised Saudi Arabia for its “courageous” position in light of the airstrikes launched by the United States and Britain against several sites in Yemen, stating that Sana’a and Riyadh are on the path towards reconciliation.

Ezzi finally called for protest rallies in the US and Britain in condemnation of attacks against Yemen, extending his gratitude to all parties that have supported Yemeni retaliatory strikes in the Red Sea.

The US and Britain carried out dozens of air raids on the provinces of Sana’a, Hudaydah and Sa’ada, among several others.

Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network reported late on Sunday that US and British forces had struck 11 targets in the western Yemeni province of Hudaydah, with most of the aerial raids aimed at the port of Ras Isa and al-Zaydiya city.

Baqim district in the northwestern Sa’ada province was bombed four times, while the eastern flank of Sa’ada city, located 240 kilometers (149 miles) north of the capital Sana’a, was hit once.

The United States and the United Kingdom have been carrying out strikes against Yemen after declaring that Yemeni forces bear the consequences of their attacks against Israeli-owned ships or merchant vessels heading to the occupied territories.

Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Yemeni Armed Forces have said that they won’t stop their attacks until unrelenting Israeli ground and aerial offensives in Gaza, which have killed at least 27,365 people and wounded another 66,630 individuals, come to an end.

Leader of the Ansarullah resistance movement, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has said that it is “a great honor and blessing to be confronting America directly.”

The attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes. Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/05/719524/US-is-first-and-foremost-threat-to-intl--shipping-in-Red-Sea--Deputy-Yemeni-FM

----

 

Saudi Arabia Celebrates Milestone of Being among the First Countries to Build Pavilion at Expo 2025 in Osaka

04 Feb, 2024

Saudi Arabia celebrated the milestone of being among the first countries to complete the construction of its pavilion for Expo 2025 in Osaka. Eng. Othman Al-Muzaiad, accompanied by the Saudi Pavilion delegation, participated in the event held at Expo 2025 Osaka's official exhibition site on Yumeshima Island. Firas Al-Turki, the Chief Construction Officer overseeing the Kingdom's pavilion, was also present at the celebration.

 The Saudi pavilion, designed to showcase heritage, traditions, and values, serves as a reflection of the Saudi identity and its historical significance as a nurturing ground for ancient civilizations spanning thousands of years.

 Moreover, the pavilion emphasizes the ongoing transformation aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, aiming to achieve economic and social objectives while unlocking future capabilities. The construction of the pavilion symbolizes the Kingdom's commitment to the environment, emphasizing its dedication to sustainable design and a better future.

 In its design, the Kingdom's pavilion draws inspiration from traditional urban formations, presenting a representation of Saudi Arabia's history, culture, and heritage.

 The design is both distinctive and sustainable, showcasing the Kingdom's commitment to a shared future and incorporating cutting-edge sustainability technologies. These features include the use of renewable materials and a reconfigurable structure to minimize environmental impact. The Saudi Pavilion achieved zero operational emissions by following Japan's highest level of urban environmental efficiency standards. Low-carbon materials, energy-saving technology, rainwater recycling, and solar power enabled this achievement. Moreover, the design can be easily dismantled and reassembled in the future. Following the Saudi Cultural Dinner in Osaka, a celebration took place attended by government delegations from Saudi Arabia and Japan, along with officials from other participating countries in Expo 2025 in Osaka.

Source: alriyadhdaily.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

http://alriyadhdaily.com/article/dd0cbe007af24b3183de814915627486

-----

 

 

Saudi FM, UK counterpart discuss developments in Gaza

February 05, 2024

RIYADH: Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan had a telephone conversation on Monday with his British counterpart, David Cameron.

The two ministers discussed a range of regional and international topics of mutual concern, with a focus on the evolving situation in the Gaza Strip and surrounding areas.

Prince Faisal and Cameron shared perspectives on developments, highlighting the collaborative efforts undertaken to address challenges in the region.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454356/saudi-arabia

----

 

Saudi defense minister meets Pakistani counterpart

February 05, 2024

RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman met Pakistani Minister of Defense Anwar Ali Hyder on the sidelines of the World Defense Show in Riyadh on Monday.

The ministers reviewed relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, explored opportunities for collaboration in the military and defense sectors, and discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern.

They presided over the signing of two memoranda of understanding between their respective ministries.

Saudi Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Abdulrahman bin Mohammed bin Ayyaf and several senior officials from the Saudi and Pakistani defense ministries attended the events.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454306/saudi-arabia

----

 

KSrelief distributes food aid to displaced families in Sudan

February 05, 2024

RIYADH: Workers for Saudi aid agency KSrelief on Sunday distributed 1,646 food parcels to displaced families in the Sudanese state of Kassala.

More than 9,450 people are estimated to have benefitted from the handouts, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The initiative was part of the center’s food security support project in Sudan alongside other humanitarian and relief programs being provided by the Kingdom around the world.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454236/saudi-arabia

----

 

Europe

 

"Islamophobia": Europe’s Schools Now Bow In Prayer Toward Mecca

Feb 4, 2024

Giulio Meotti

Katharine Birbalsingh, known as "Britain's Strictest Head Teacher", has just been forced to ban Muslim prayers at her school after teachers were attacked. This time we are in London.

The head teacher ended up in the High Court in a lawsuit brought by Muslim students at Michaela School. Birbalsingh decided to stop the prayer rituals after "violence, intimidation and appalling harassment of our teachers".

In this state school in Brent, north-west of London, the Telegraph informs us that "half the pupils are Muslim". Last year the school was ranked first in the country for 'Progress 8', which measures how much a secondary school has helped pupils improve compared to primary school.

Death threats to staff for preventing Muslim pupils from praying, a girl forced to leave the choir because “her religion forbids her to sing” and another forced to wear the hijab.

The school received a bomb threat via email.

Meanwhile, a second school in London was accused of "Islamophobia" and may be forced to close due to the head teacher’s decision to ban children from wearing pro-Palestinian badges. Barclay Primary School in Leyton, east London, has sent a letter to parents warning that it may need to "return to online learning" if the safety of children and staff cannot be guaranteed after receiving bomb threats.

Imagine that poor headmaster in Odensee, Denmark's third largest city, who advised Jewish students not to enroll in his immigrant-heavy school.

Balwant Bains was a school principal in Birmingham. A second-generation Indian Sikh, Bains explained that when a Muslim student threatened his classmates with a knife, the principal expelled him. The board revoked the suspension accusing the principal of being "Islamophobic and racist." Bains resigned and was replaced by a friend of the head of the school board.

The principal of a high school in Drammen did not want Muslim students to leave class to pray. She apologized when several of them reacted violently and now she is facing death threats. Hanne Merete Hagby is the principal of the high school, which has 30 percent Muslim students. “It's not okay to leave class or be late for this reason,” she wrote. She deleted the post after two hours.

An appointment to "lynch" the principal was published on social media. The police had to be there to protect her.

In Germany, a principal has banned Islamic prayers in a school in Wuppertal. In Belgium, however, private Catholic schools, which now have more Muslim students than Catholics, have allowed them.

Frédéric Mortier ended up in court as a teacher at the Wresinski high school in Angers, France, for "racist comments against students". “This is a man who spreads hatred,” attacks SOS Racisme. What did Mortier do that was so bad? During a lesson at his Catholic school, the teacher said that "France is a Catholic country".

The director of the children's organization “Arche”, Wolfgang Büscher, who looks after 7,000 young people every day in 33 facilities across Germany, many of them with a migrant background, reveals to BILD: “We are facing a catastrophe”. It emerges clearly from the declaration of the young Arabs cited by Büscher: "First let's cut the throats of the Jews, then the gays and finally the Christians!". Says Büscher: “I have never experienced anything like this. A 12-year-old boy came to me and said, 'I hate you. We will take back the country'. They reject our culture, our values. Their hatred is unimaginable."

Muslim students gathered in prayer on the premises of the Free University of Brussels, founded by Freemasons in the 19th century. It all started with the complaint of a secular activist, Nadia Geerts, who in an opinion published in the newspaper La Libre revealed the existence of a prayer room. "It is in complete tranquility that, for eight years, students have met every day to pray. First the men, then the women." The activist then said that inside the room there are "clothes for women, carpets, plastic cards" together with "invocations to recite", including the one which reminds us that "There is no god but Allah".

The principal of a school in Florence, Italy, the Marco Polo Technical Institute, offered Islamic students a classroom to gather in prayer.

We posit that Europeans - who no longer take anything seriously - are like the Pompeians who have forgotten wisdom, ignored the dangers and have moved ever closer to the slopes of Vesuvius.

Source: israelnationalnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/384645

----

 

Italy to become target if it joins attacks against Yemen, threatens Houthi leader

February 05, 2024

ROME: Italy will become a target if it takes part in attacks against Yemen, a senior official from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said in an interview published on Monday.

Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, head of the Houthi’s supreme revolutionary committee, told daily La Repubblica that Italy must be neutral in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and put pressure on Israel to stop attacks on Gaza, adding that would be the only way to achieve peace in the region.

Italy said on Friday it would provide the admiral in command of a European Union Red Sea naval mission it has joined to protect ships from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia.

The mandate of the mission, which will be launched in mid-February, will be to protect commercial ships and intercept attacks, but not take part in strikes against the Houthis, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454206/middle-east

----

 

Britain First falsely claims Mike Freer MP was attacked by ‘Islamist extremists’

4th February 2024

The far-right Britain First organisation has told its supporters that “jihadists” burnt the officers of pro-Israel Tory MP Mike Freer in north London even though the police have already ruled out any hate crime motive.

Two non-Muslim homeless people were charged with arson last month over the attack on Freer’s office in Finchley, but that didn’t stop Britain First inciting its supporters against Muslims by trying to pin the blame on “radical Islamists.”

In a newsletter yesterday with the title “RADICAL ISLAM ON THE RISE,” Britain First told their subscribers: “It has emerged that a sitting Member of Parliament has been forced to step away from politics due to attacks and threats from Islamist extremists. Mike Freer, representing a seat in London, had his office burnt out by jihadists.

“Mr Freer said he – and his staff – would wear a stab vest, and carry a panic alarm, when meeting the public on the advice of police.

‘Mr Freer has received endless death threats, going back as far as 2011, from groups including ‘Muslims Against Crusades’, which was later classified as a terrorist organisation by the government and banned.”

The rest of the newsletter explained how “radical Islamists” are dominating the country before concluding that: “If things carry on the way they are, it will probably end in civil war.”

Yet last month police made it clear that the incident was not being treated as a hate crime.

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!

Paul Harwood, 42, and Zara Kasory, 32, both of no fixed address, were arrested on January 3 and have been charged with arson with intent.

Police were called at 19:06hrs on December 24 by the London Fire Brigade following a fire at the office in North Finchley. The fire was put out.

The Met commented: “Police are aware of widespread reporting and concern in the community and can confirm the incident involving Mr Freer’s office is not being treated as a hate crime. Mr Freer has been informed.”

Earlier this week Freer, Conservative MP for the north London constituency of Finchley and Golders Green, announced he would not seek re-election and said the “final straw” was the arson attack on his constituency office.

In a letter to his local Conservative association, he said it would “be an enormous wrench to step down”, but the attacks had “weighed heavily on me and my husband, Angelo.”

He said he and his staff had started wearing stab vests after learning he had narrowly avoided being attacked by Ali Harbi Ali, who went on to murder Southend West MP Sir David Amess in 2021 after watching for Mr Freer at his Finchley office.

Source: 5pillarsuk.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://5pillarsuk.com/2024/02/04/britain-first-falsely-claims-mike-freer-mp-was-attacked-by-islamist-extremists/

----

 

Defunding UN agency for Palestinians could pose threat to regional stability, warns Borrell

Nur Asena Erturk 

05.02.2024

The EU's foreign policy chief has warned against defunding the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), calling it "dangerous" and threatening regional stability.

Josep Borrell wrote a blog post on the EU's official website late Sunday, saying that "allegations against UNRWA staff are serious, and no one responsible should go unpunished."

However, he stressed political responsibility over emotional reactions, warning that "Defunding UNRWA would be both disproportionate and dangerous."

Borrell recalled UNRWA's significant role in the Gaza Strip, such as "distributing food, water, and medicine to 1.1 million people suffering from catastrophic hunger and the outbreak of diseases," and noted that the other UN agencies could not operate without UNRWA's assistance.

"Currently, the suspended funds amount to more than USD 440 million, almost half of the agency's expected income in 2024, putting its very existence at risk. Should UNRWA cease or limit services, which may be the case as early as the end of February, it would significantly aggravate the ongoing dramatic humanitarian crisis," Borrell warned.

UNRWA's "demise" would also threaten regional stability, he added.

Several countries have suspended UNRWA funding after Tel Aviv alleged that some of the agency's employees were involved in the cross-border attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

UNRWA said it terminated contracts with several employees following the Israeli allegations.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on Gaza following an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, killing at least 27,365 Palestinians and injuring 66,630 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Source: aa.com.tr

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/world/defunding-un-agency-for-palestinians-could-pose-threat-to-regional-stability-warns-borrell-/3128187

----

 

Massive demonstrations in several European cities, capitals calling for ending aggression against Gaza

[05/February/2024]

CAPITALS February 05. 2024 (Saba) - Thousands have participated in massive demonstrations in several European cities and capitals in support of Gaza, demanding an end to the Zionist massacres against the Palestinian people in the Strip 121 days after the start of the war.

In the British capital, London, thousands of demonstrators came out to streets demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, while a silent march was launched in the Austrian capital, Vienna, in support of the Gaza Strip.

In Strasbourg, France, demonstrators carried torches in a march in solidarity with Gaza.

They also carried banners demanding an end to the war and denouncing Zionist crimes.

Several German cities also witnessed large demonstrations in support of Gaza, denouncing Germany's official, unconditional support for the Zionist government.

In the city of Cologne, demonstrators gathered in front of the historic cathedral under the slogan “Freedom for Palestine.

The demonstrators denounced the Zionist attacks on the Gaza Strip, carrying Palestinian flags. The speeches delivered at the event pointed to the injustice committed by the Zionist enemy against the Palestinian people, and condemned the silence of Western countries regarding what is happening. in Gaza.

Turkish and German citizens and nationals of other countries also participated in the demonstration, coinciding with security measures taken by the police forces.

The German Foreign Minister had previously called for a humanitarian truce in Gaza and for the Zionist entity to respect the recent decisions of the International Court of Justice.

Dozens of demonstrators participated in a march in Istanbul, Turkey, to protest the Zionist attacks on the Gaza Strip. The march began from Siraj Khana Park, in the Fatih area, with the participation of women, children, and men carrying Palestinian and Turkish flags in their hands.

The demonstrators marched towards Beyazit Square, chanting slogans denouncing the Zionist attacks, and demanding that the children of Gaza be protected from attacks.

In Beyazit Square, some participants recited verses from the Qur’an, and the march ended with prayers for the victims of Gaza.

Mass marches also took place in the cities of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Italy, demanding that the war be stopped, calling for the Zionist entity be held accountable for its crimes as well as the siege on the Gaza Strip be lifted, and the humanitarian aid be delivered to the Palestinians.

Source: saba.ye

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.saba.ye/en/news3302129.htm

----

 

Euro-Med: Israeli genocide leaves 110,000 Gazans killed, injured or missing

 05 February 2024

A Geneva-based human rights organization has provided a gruesome report on the vast trail of death and destruction left by four months of Israel's genocidal war on the besieged Gaza Strip.

"Approximately 110,000 Palestinians are reported killed, missing and injured, leaving many suffering long-term disabilities four months into Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip," Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said in a statement issued on Sunday.

According to Euro-Med's report, the figure includes a total of 35,096 fatalities -- 32,220 of whom civilians -- including 12,345 children, 7,656 women, 309 health personnel, 41 civil defense personnel, and 121 journalists.

The death toll provided by the rights organization encompasses those who have been trapped beneath the debris of buildings hit by Israeli air and artillery strikes for more than 14 consecutive days and are, therefore, presumed dead.

Euro-Med said the number of those wounded throughout the Israeli war of aggression stands at 67,240, including hundreds who have suffered critical injuries.

Israel not heeding ICJ's ruling

Euro-Med's report added that the Israeli atrocities continue unabated despite an interim ruling that was issued by the International Court of Justice last week, obliging the regime to take all possible measures to prevent genocide against Gaza's population.

"Within a week of the International Court of Justice’s ruling, the Israeli army killed over 1,048 Palestinians—most of them civilians—and injured over 1,800 others, and carried out 108 massacres," the rights organization said.

It added that continuation of the regime's crimes is "against international humanitarian law, [and] the 1949 Geneva Convention, and amounts to war crimes according to the Rome Statute, which governs the International Criminal Court."

The rights organization also urged the international community to act swiftly "to impose a binding executive decision on the International Court of Justice’s ruling, establish an immediate ceasefire [in Gaza], [and] guarantee the safety of civilians and their return to their homes."

The UN says the ongoing Israeli war has left the Gaza Strip “uninhabitable” and that the destruction will take “decades” to reverse.

Mass displacements

Throughout its unrelenting aggression, the Israeli military has uprooted about two million Palestinians, approximately 90 percent of the total population of Gaza, from their homes and residential areas amid a lack of safe shelters, the Euro-Med said.

It added that the regime's displacement spree has led to complete destruction of 79,200 housing units and partial damage to 207,000 units.

"...Israel has targeted more than 245 square kilometers, [which accounts for] 67 percent of the entire Gaza Strip. This includes all of Gaza City and the Strip’s northern regions, where residents have been ordered to evacuate since late October. The majority of them have not yet been able to return; neither have residents of large areas in the central and southern sections of the Strip that Israel had designated as safe areas," the report said.

Elsewhere in its report, the rights organization warned that the Israeli military aggression is apparently aimed at re-occupying Gaza -- from which the regime withdrew in 2005.

A number of rights experts have warned that Israel is working to create a buffer zone along the borders of the Gaza Strip, warning that the move would amount to war crime.

"Israel continues to escalate its military assaults against Palestinian civilians in an apparent attempt to expand its territory to include the entire Gaza Strip [by] uprooting the vast majority of the Strip’s population in violation of international law. This likely amounts to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide," the rights group said.

It also emphasized that the regime is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in order to cause as many casualties, material losses, and as much general destruction as possible as a form of retaliation and collective punishment.

According to Euro-Med Monitor’s team, the facilities targeted by Israel during its ongoing attacks include 334 schools, 1,720 industrial facilities, 183 health facilities, 478 mosques, three churches, 171 press offices, and 199 archaeological sites.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/04/719499/Palestine-Israel-Euro-Med-statement-war-Gaza

----

 

‘Hallowed out’: UK left red-faced after faulty warship pulls out of historic NATO drill

04 February 2024

A faulty British Navy flagship has pulled out of NATO military drills at the last minute due to a mechanical fault, as lawmakers warn the UK’s "hollowed out army is unfit for war."

British media reports said on Sunday that the UK’s £3.5 billion HMS Queen Elizabeth was stopped from taking part in a major NATO operation due to a mechanical fault.

The vessel broke down as it was heading to carry out exercises with the US Navy, Royal Canadian Navy and the US Marine Corps.

The Royal Navy is now sending the recently repaired HMS Prince of Wales to join up with other states’ vessels for a drill in Middle Eastern waters.

The departure of the aircraft carrier to lead the largest NATO exercise since the Cold War was canceled after an “issue” with a propeller shaft was spotted during final checks.

Announcing the latest problem, the Royal Navy posted on X: “Routine pre-sailing checks yesterday identified an issue with a coupling on HMS Queen Elizabeth starboard propeller shaft. As such, the ship will not sail on Sunday.

“HMS Prince of Wales will take her place on NATO duties and will set sail for exercise Steadfast Defender as soon as possible.”

UK’s ‘hollowed out army unfit for war’

The setback came as ministers were warned Britain is not sufficiently prepared to fight an all-out war due to stockpile shortages and an armed forces recruitment crisis

The House of Commons defense committee said the military is “consistently overstretched”, with the “unrelenting pressure” on personnel exacerbating the crisis in recruitment and retention which is seeing more people leaving the armed forces than joining.

The cross-party group of MPs said the UK’s military has been “hollowed out”, leaving Britain unprepared for war at a time of worsening global instability.

The US and Britain conducted new strikes on Yemen as the country continues its maritime campaign in support of Gaza amid an Israeli genocide.

Readiness “is essential to effective deterrence to our adversaries” at a time of heightened geopolitical instability, they said.

The latest developments could affect the ability of the Royal Navy to deploy an anti-Yemen aircraft carrier to the Red Sea.

The Daily Telegraph quoted an unnamed defense source as saying that HMS Diamond lacks “the capability to fire to land targets.”

Yemeni armed forces have vowed a response to the US and British airstrikes on the country, saying it will continue to target Israeli-linked ships in solidarity with the Palestinians.

The latest round of American and British airstrikes on Yemen has drawn strong condemnations in the region.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani noted that the attacks aim to give Israel some breathing space amid its war crimes against Palestinians. Kan’ani added that the international community has a responsibility to hold the US and the UK to account.

Israeli shipping companies have already decided to reroute their vessels in fear of attacks by Yemeni forces.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, warned that the attacks would plunge the region into further turmoil. And the Islamic Jihad movement holds the US responsible for the repercussions of its attacks on Yemen.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/04/719490/UK--British-Navy-NATO-US-Israel

---

 

Africa

 

Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria Asks EFCC To Name Religious Sect Sponsoring Terrorism

Sodiq Omolaoye, Abuja

05 February 2024

Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria (SCSN) has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to disclose the name of the religious organisation sponsoring terrorism in the country.

The council said the call became necessary following the recent claim by the Chairman of EFCC, Ola Olukoyede, that the anti-graft agency uncovered how a religious sect in Nigeria was laundering money for terrorists.

Speaking at a youth dialogue programme in Abuja, Olukoyede also said another religious body was found protecting a money launderer after some money suspected to have been laundered was traced to the organisation’s bank account.

President of SCSN, Abdularasheed Hadiyatullah, and Secretary-General, Nafiu Ahmad, stated, yesterday, that the disclosure by EFCC sent shockwaves across the nation.

The council, while demanding full disclosure of the identity of the religious body allegedly sponsoring terrorism with N7 billion out of N13 billion traced to its account, raised concerns about potential fund misuse for activities threatening the country’s peace and security.

“Gravity of the situation calls for immediate public clarification of the group and decisive action to address the disturbing nexus between religious groups and insurgency. Accordingly, we urgently call upon the EFCC to publish the list of all sponsors of criminal activities,” the council stated.

Calling on the commission to expedite the release of the list of sponsors and collaborate with relevant authorities to ensure prompt legal action, the council described terrorism as a matter of grave concern, it challenged citizens to demand proper legal action against sponsors and those found complicit in financing activities undermining the country’s security.

The statement added: “The composition of the committee has raised serious questions about fairness and inclusivity since all members of the committee are Christians, expected to superintend over a lingering religious crisis. This is a textbook antithesis of the principles of equality and transparency.

“The total exclusion of Muslims in the security committee not only disregards the diverse fabric of the state (with at least 40 per cent Muslims), but also jeopardises the effectiveness of the committee in addressing the root of the ongoing conflicts.”

It called for the re-evaluation of the committee’s composition to ensure it is truly representative of the entire population.

Source: guardian.ng

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://guardian.ng/news/sharia-council-asks-efcc-to-name-religious-sect-sponsoring-terrorism/

------

 

Plateau killings: Shariah council protests Muslims’ exclusion from probe panel

5th February 2024

Abdulrahman Zakariyau

The Supreme Council for Shariah in Nigeria has protested the alleged exclusion of Muslims from the committee set up to probe and proffer solutions to the endless killings in Plateau State.

This was as the council also challenged the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Ola Olukoyede, to name the particular religious group he claimed to be sponsoring insurgency and laundering money for terrorists.

The Shariah council raised the issues in a statement on Sunday jointly signed by its President, Sheikh AbdulRasheed Hadiyahtullah, and Secretary, Mallam Nafi’u Ahmed.

Plateau had witnessed perennial crises and continued killings. One of the latest was the Christmas Eve attack on 15 villages in which over 150 persons were killed and about 221 houses razed, leading to the displacement of over 10,000 residents.

Ojú Kálé: Àwọn Ọmọ Naijiria Korò Ojú Sí Mímẹ́hẹ Ètò Ààbò, Ìjínigbé Àti Gbígbowó Ìtúsílẹ̀ | Punch0:00 / 1:01

The Shariah council, in its statement on Sunday, contended that the alleged exclusion of Muslims from the committee set up to probe the killings smacked of discrimination and undermined the principles of justice.

The council said, “The total exclusion of Muslim representation from the security committee not only disregards the diverse fabric of the state (with at least 40 per cent Muslims) but also jeopardises the effectiveness of the committee in addressing the root causes of the ongoing conflicts.

“We urgently call for a reevaluation of the committee’s composition to ensure that it is truly representative of the entire population.

“The current imbalance not only undermines the principles of justice but also hinders the development of a united front against the challenges faced by the state.

“We, therefore, demand, as a right and in the interest of equity, the governor to heed this call for justice and equitable representation, as his action is sending a disturbing message to the world and creating a recipe for compounding the crisis.”

Meanwhile, the Shariah council also called on the EFCC to unveil a religious group it claimed was laundering money for terrorists.

The EFCC Chairman had last week said the anti-graft agency traced N7bn into the bank account of a religious sect and it had commenced a legal process to seize the money.

After the disclosure was reported by the media, the EFCC fumed that its chairman did not mention any particular religion, saying the religious organisation referred to by Olukoyede was neither a church nor a mosque.

However, the SCSN challenged the EFCC to name the said religious organisation.

“Regarding the recent disclosure by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission about religious groups sponsoring insurgency in Nigeria, the council demands of the commission to disclose the identity of the religious body allegedly sponsoring terrorism/insurgency with N7bn out of N13bn traced to its account.

“This revelation has sent shockwaves across the nation, raising concerns about potential fund misuse for activities threatening Nigeria’s peace and security. The gravity of the situation calls for immediate public clarification of the group and decisive action to address the disturbing nexus between religious groups and insurgency.

“Accordingly, we urgently call upon the EFCC to publish the list of all sponsors involved in criminal activities. The alleged disclosure of N7bn linked to a religious group’s account is a matter of grave concern, and citizens demand proper legal action against sponsors and those found complicit in financing activities undermining the nation’s security.

“We further call on the EFCC to expedite the release of the list of sponsors and collaborate with relevant authorities to ensure prompt legal actions are taken.”

Regarding the insecurity situation in Plateau State, the SCSN demanded a comprehensive and impartial approach.

Source: punchng.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://punchng.com/plateau-killings-shariah-council-protests-muslims-exclusion-from-probe-panel/

-------

 

Order Miyetti Allah leader’s release, Fulani youths beg Tinubu

4th February 2024

Collins Sunday

A socio-cultural group under the aegis of the Fulani Youth Association of Nigeria has decried the continuous detention of the President of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, Abdullahi Bello Bodejo, by the Nigerian Army.

The group, therefore, called on President Bola Tinubu to urgently intervene in the matter in the interest of equity and fairness for all citizens of the country.

This was contained in a statement signed by the Convener of the Fulani Youths Association of Nigeria, Mohammed Suleiman, and made available to journalists in Lafia on Saturday.

The statement read, “We are aware that Bodejo was picked in his office for some days now and he is being held at the facility of the Nigerian Army in Asokoro without charge.

Baby Evangelists: Inside the word of 7-Year-Old And 4-Year-Old Content Creators | Punch0:01 / 1:01

“The Nigerian Army is not empowered by our laws to detain any citizen. The Police and the Department of State Services are the only ones with the power to detain a citizen. Keeping Alhaji Bodejo for this long period is illegal.

“By this illegal act, the Army is going outside its constitutional duty. They should hand over our leader to the Police or the DSS and grant them records of whatever they are investigating.

“We call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency order the immediate release of the Lamido Fulbe, Bello Bodejo.”

The group also described Bodejo’s continuous detention without trial as “unconstitutional” and “smacks of impunity of the highest order.”

“If the Army has evidence against Bello Bodejo committing any offence known to the law, he should be arraigned before a competent court. Subjecting him to illegal detention is an infringement on his fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitution,” the statement added.

Sunday PUNCH gathered that Bodejo’s arrests may not be unconnected to his recent establishment and inauguration of a 1,144-man nomad vigilante team saddled with the responsibility of fighting against banditry, cattle rustling, and all forms of insecurity in Nasarawa State.

Source: punchng.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://punchng.com/order-miyetti-allah-leaders-release-fulani-youths-beg-tinubu/

------

 

About 40 killed in violence near disputed Sudan-South Sudan border

February 05, 2024

JUBA: About 40 people, many of them civilians, have been killed in violence in a disputed area on South Sudan’s border with Sudan over the weekend and hundreds have sought refuge in a UN peacekeepers’ compound, a government official said on Monday.

Frequent clashes have taken place in Abyei region between rival factions of the Dinka ethnic group because of a dispute over the location of an administrative boundary where significant tax revenue is collected from cross-border trade.

Abyei is an oil-rich area that is jointly administered by South Sudan and Sudan, which have both staked claims to it.

The region’s information minister, Bulis Koch, said: “In the attacks that took place on Feb. 2 and 3, several markets were set on fire, property looted and altogether 19 civilians got killed and 18 others were wounded.”

A further 18 people were killed in separate attacks on Sunday, he said. Among those killed were three children and a local staff member working for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The clashes also displaced hundreds of people, who sought refuge in the compound of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) peacekeeping force.

Koch said young men from neighboring Warrap state and from a militia linked to rebel and spiritual leader Gai Machiek had taken part in the violence.

Warrap State’s information minister Willima Wol, MSF South Sudan and UNISFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In late January at least 54 people including women, children and two UN peacekeepers were killed in attacks in the same area.

More than 2,000 people were now sheltering at UNISFA’s compound due to the fighting in January and this past weekend, Koch said.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2454301/middle-east

------

 

Pakistan

 

10 Cops Martyred, Six Injured In Terrorist Attack On Police Station in Dera Ismail Khan February 05, 2024

Saeedullah Marwat

DI KHAN: Terrorists in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district attacked a police station in the wee hours of Monday, leaving at least 10 cops martyred and six others injured.

Police said terrorists attacked the police station with heavy weapons at 3am in Tehsil Daraban of the district.

The injured have been shifted to DHQ Hospital, they added.

The terrorists attacked the police station from all sides with grenades and heavy gunfire.

The police also retaliated, but the terrorists escaped in the darkness of the night, the law enforcement agency added.

The forces have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to hunt down the fleeing militants, while the quick response force has reached with additional force, according to the police.

Funeral prayers of martyred police personnel will be offered in the police line, they added.

Last month, three cops and two soldiers were martyred in two different terror incidents in Kohat, Miranshah and Lakki Marwat on Wednesday, while an independent candidate for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and his two other colleagues were killed by unidentified assailants during the election campaign in Waziristan.

Pakistani districts along the border with Afghanistan have seen a dramatic spike in attacks since the Taliban returned to power there in 2021.

Islamabad claims Kabul is sheltering allied militants such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) allowing them to strike on its soil with impunity.

According to the statistics issued by the Department of Interior and Tribal Affairs KP, the areas most affected by terrorism include Peshawar, Khyber, Bajaur, and Tank while Dera Ismail Khan and North Waziristan and South Waziristan are included in the terror-affected areas.

The documents of the Home and Tribal areas revealed that a total of 1,050 incidents of terrorism took place in KP last year while 419 incidents of terrorism took place in the arranged districts, and 631 incidents in the merged districts.

Source: thenews.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1154777-10-cops-martyred-six-injured-in-terrorist-attack-on-police-station-in-di-khan

-----

 

Difficult to back ‘un-Islamic’ marriage case verdict, says Bilawal

February 04, 2024

Z Ali

Steering clear of the victory lap over his political rival PTI founder Imran Khan’s punishment in an ‘un-Islamic’ marriage case, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday said that backing such a ruling was difficult.

While opting for caution, he feared that the court's decision might cast a dark shadow on the hard-won gains in the battle for women's rights.

In an interview with a private channel, Bilawal said his reluctance to join the media's jubilation comes from concerns about potential repercussions on women's rights. Bilawal stated that supporting the verdict was challenging for him.

His statements come with Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, facing a seven-year punishment in the Iddat case. However, the legal knockout didn't sit well with the legal eagles and the watchdogs of civil society, who criticised the ruling on both moral and legal grounds.

It is pertinent to note that this was not the first time Bilawal chose to withhold applause in the face of Imran Khan's legal woes. Last week, during a rally in Malakand, the Bhutto scion opted for a similar approach, avoiding celebrating Imran's predicament.

He explicitly stated that his party did not subscribe to the politics of revenge and negativity.

'Politics of hate'

Separately addressing an election rally in Hyderabad, Bilawal condemned a political party for engaging in "politics of hatred and division" in Hyderabad.

Urging the audience to reject such politics with the power of their votes, he emphasised that the people should counter divisive narratives. Bilawal took a swipe at political opponents, stating that their origin and history are well-known, especially their involvement in divisive politics in the 90s.

Addressing the crowd, Bilawal revealed his 10-point public economic agreement, pledging to double the income of Pakistan's citizens if elected prime minister. He also promised interest-free loans to women, emphasising his commitment to improving the economic well-being of the people.

Taking a dig at the PML-N, Bilawal accused them of prioritising their political ambitions over the welfare of the people. He pledged to provide a youth card to unemployed youth and ensure their support until they secure employment.

Additionally, he promised a university in every district, free and quality medical treatment facilities, and the redirection of subsidies from the elite to benefit women.

Bilawal urged the voters to reject divisive symbols and alleged affiliations with external elements, referring to Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). He encouraged the public to make an informed choice on election day, emphasising that their vote is powerful and should not be wasted.

The PPP chairman urged the masses to stamp the "arrow", the electoral symbol of the PPP, on February 8 to counter conspiracies and promote positive politics.

In his speech which lasted for less than 20 minutes and which also repeated his 10 pledges, Bilawal told the people what answers they can give to refuse to give vote to MQM-P’s candidates.

“If you’re asked to put stamps on kite, you should reply to them that you can’t vote for those who clapped hands on the slogan Pakistan murdabad … that you won’t vote for a party doing politics in Pakistan from RAW’s funds.”

The PPP is facing a tough electoral contest in Hyderabad, which consists of nine constituencies, from MQM-P. The tug of war is expected to be nail-biting between candidates of the two parties on six of these seats which are based in City and Latifabad talukas.

Bilawal said Hyderabad is one such city whose people have witnessed the politics of hatred, divide and terror.

He added that the people also suffered losses and gave sacrifices for which he wanted to salute them. He appealed to the people to elect his candidates from all the nine seats of Hyderabad, adding that he would be able to undertake the city’s development more effectively with such a mandate.

“Some parties want to divide you in the name of religion and others for sect or ethnicity,” he warned. “PPP is the only party which wants to serve you without discrimination.”

Thank you Hyderabad! The people will no longer allow the agents of old politics to divide them. The Pakistan Peoples Party is the only political party that stands for all Pakistanis, regardless of ethnicity, religion, caste, or belief. Stand with us and vote Teer on 8th February… pic.twitter.com/clUJcJwvGq

The PPP leader said his party only wanted to tackle the problems of poverty, inflation, and unemployment. He then repeated the 10 pledges contained in his charter of the economy and once again made commitments to abolishing 17 federal ministries to save Rs300 billion in public funds and ending R1,500 billion subsidies given to the elite.

Reiterating criticism over PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, he said his opponent is only fixated on becoming the country’s premier for a fourth time. “They neither feel about the problems and difficulties of Hyderabad’s people nor do they want to do anything about resolving them.”

Referring to the Grand Democratic Alliance, he advised the people against voting for that party’s candidates.

He told the workers and supporters to convey to the residents of Hyderabad that the contest on February 8 is going to be between PPP and PML-N. He added that the people should be sensitized that the votes cast to the independent candidates, mainly those contesting with the support of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, will be a waste.

Briefly elaborating his 10 promises, Bilawal said his mother Benazir Bhutto was not alive and added that he wanted to serve other mothers as his own mother. He assured that women would be made owners of the three million homes which he had planned to construct in the country.

They will also be provided interest-free loans to start their small business. If elected the PPP’s government will also enhance the grants under the Benazir Income Support Program.

The PPP chairman concluded his speech by taking oaths from the ticket holders in Hyderabad that they will immediately return to their constituencies after winning the elections to serve the people.

 

He also sought a promise from the people that they would vote for Arrow on February 8.

Source: tribune.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2455468/difficult-to-back-un-islamic-marriage-case-verdict-says-bilawal

-----

 

Haq Do Tehreek leaders warn rivals of defeat in Makran

February 5, 2024

QUETTA: The leaders of Haq Do Tehreek (HDT) have warned candidates from various political parties contesting elections in Makran to withdraw their candidates, or the people will give them a shameful defeat against HDT on February 8.

Speaking at a large public meeting on Sunday at Shahada Jeweni Chowk in Gwadar, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch expressed that HDT is facing challenges from land mafias, drug barons, and trawler mafias who are fielding candidates against HDT nominees in the elections.

Maulana Hidayat is contesting the Provincial Assembly seat PB-24 (Gwadar), while Hussain Wadila is running for NA-259 (Turbat-Awaran-Lasbela). Large numbers of people from Turbat, Panjgur, Jeweni, Ormara, and other areas of Makran attended the public meeting.

HDT Chief Maulana Hidayat said that the mafia’s attempts to purchase votes failed. The people support HDT, which has been struggling for their due rights for the past 70 years against representatives of these mafias, he added.

He said that the people are disappointed with these representatives as they have done nothing to resolve issues, instead, they have looted funds in the name of development projects.

“We haven’t brought thousands of people in buses to show our power. They came to express solidarity with HDT, which never compromised on its struggle despite pressures,” Maulana Hidayat said, adding that today’s gathering is a referendum against parties and candidates, with the people of Gwadar giving their mandate to HDT before the election.

Hussain Wadila, Fida Akram, Imtanan Sajid, and Shahzed Babar also addressed the audience at the public meeting.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2024

To find your constituency and location of your polling booth, SMS your NIC number (no spaces) to 8300. Once you know your constituency, visit the ECP website here for candidates.

Source: dawn.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.dawn.com/news/1811225/haq-do-tehreek-leaders-warn-rivals-of-defeat-in-makran

----

 

Pakistan sends 5th tranche of humanitarian aid to Gaza

February 04, 2024

Pakistan on Sunday sent a fifth tranche of humanitarian assistance, consisting of winterised tents, tarpaulins, and blankets, to Gaza.

The consignment containing humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza was dispatched through a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) C-130, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a post on its official X handle, the ministry said: “The flight will land in Al-Arish, Egypt, where the Pakistani ambassador will receive the aid for onward delivery.”

This ongoing support underscored Pakistan’s continued commitment to addressing the urgent humanitarian needs of the people of Gaza, said the ministry.

During the Israeli aggression, over 27,000 people, most of them women and children, have been martyred and over 66,000 have been wounded in the besieged territory since October 7.

In a statement, the Gaza health ministry said today that a total of 27,365 Palestinians have been killed and 66,630 have been injured in Israeli strikes.

Qatar said this week that Hamas had given its "initial" approval to a planned humanitarian pause in its war with Israel and an exchange of hostage-prisoner exchange.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said: "The meeting in Paris succeeded in consolidating the proposals."

The meeting was attended by Qatari, US, Israeli, and Egyptian officials.

"That proposal has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas' side."

Ansari said there were hopes of "good news" about a new pause in the fighting "in the next couple of weeks".

Source: thenews.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1154570-pakistan-sends-5th-tranche-of-humanitarian-aid-to-gaza

------

 

Siraj points gun at PML-N, PPP

February 05, 2024

RAWALPINDI:

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq has urged people to bury the politics of traditional parties—the PML-N and the PPP—forever in the upcoming general elections, vowing to struggle for the freedom of Kashmiris, Palestinians, and Dr Aafia Siddiqui if his party is elected to power.

"On February 8th, vote for Tarazu—the JI’s election symbol—if you want education and employment for your children, a corruption-free Pakistan, and an interest-free financial system," Haq said during an election rally on Sunday at Rawalpindi’s historic Liaqat Bagh.

During the speech, the JI chief criticized both the PML-N and the PPP for their alleged failure to deliver significant progress to the people despite ruling the country multiple times.

According to Haq, the PML-N leaders—Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif—always keep praising each other whenever it comes to presenting their past performance, while PPP Chairman Bilalwal Bhutto Zardari tells people that he should now be elected as the prime minister as both his mother and grandfather have already served as the country’s PMs.

Referring to the ongoing verbal duel between the former ruling parties ahead of the general elections, the JI chief claimed that this apparent confrontation was staged for public consumption, likening it to scripted wrestling.

He said, "February 8 will bring an end to corruption; it will bring an end to ignorance, poverty, and lawlessness."

Haq noted that after Makkah and Medina, Pakistan is the most sacred state in the world. "Pakistan possesses all resources, including gold, silver, and fertile land. Pakistan is abundant with talented youth, so why are we in such a miserable state?" he asked.

He noted that both the PPP and the PML-N had ruled the country four times each but failed to deliver.

"If they could not deliver in the last 35 years, then how could they deliver anything now? The president, prime minister, and establishment were with them. What have they done? They have given the country inflation, unemployment, and lawlessness.

"It is because of the PPP and the PML-N that the country is burdened with trillions of rupees in debt. The people do not have access to clean water, they do not receive justice, and there is no education system for the poor. And then they say, 'One more chance'," he added.

He said the economic policy of these parties is to borrow loans and spend them. Voting for the PPP and PML-N, he said, means voting for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"Every year, Rs5,000 billion is lost due to corruption. However, if they are elected to power this time, corruption will increase to Rs10,000 billion per year," he claimed.

The JI chief reminded the people that it was during the rule of Nawaz Sharif that Pakistan handed over Aimal Kansi to America and executed Mumtaz Hussain Qadri.

Kansi was a Pakistani national who was convicted of the 1993 shootings at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and subsequently executed in the US in November 2002.

Qadri was a police constable who assassinated Punjab former governor Salman Taseer in January 2011 after the latter publicly supported a blasphemy accused Aasia Masih.

Source: tribune.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2455535/siraj-points-gun-at-pml-n-ppp

----

 

Pakistan’s Interim PM denies Afghanistan threat amid contradictory statements

Fidel Rahmati

February 5, 2024

Anwar ul Haq Kakar, the interim Prime Minister of Pakistan, recently stated in an interview with a Pakistani media outlet that there is no threat from Afghanistan towards Pakistan, and Afghans have never posed any danger to Pakistan. These remarks are contrary to his previous claims and those of other Pakistani authorities who have often spoken on the fear of Afghan threats emanating from Afghanistan soil.

The interim Prime Minister of Pakistan raised this issue during his conversation with Geo News Pakistan and added that the Taliban has gained control over Afghanistan but has not yet reached the central government.

Kakar emphasized that it would take more time to achieve central government control. He stated, “Two trillion dollars have been spent, but the Ashraf Ghani government failed to establish central control. Expecting the Taliban to do it in seven or eight months would be an exaggeration. They will gradually increase their control over their territory over time.”

In a recent UN Security Council report, it was disclosed that the Taliban maintains its connections with Al-Qaeda and has established eight new training camps in Afghanistan. These camps are spread across provinces such as Ghazni, Laghman, Parwan, and Uruzgan, and they include four Al-Qaeda training facilities along with a weapons depot located in Panjshir.

In a part of his statement, he emphasized that ensuring that Afghan soil is not used against neighboring countries is crucial for Afghanistan’s relations with the international community. The interim Prime Minister of Pakistan also added that recognizing the Taliban depends on the global community’s decision.

However, Kakar regards the type of government in Afghanistan as an internal matter of Afghanistan. He made these statements in an exclusive interview on the eve of Pakistan’s elections. After assuming power in Pakistan, Kakar has voiced strong rhetoric and allegations against the Taliban regime.

The forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees from Pakistan is among the decisions made during Kakar’s interim rule in Pakistan.

Source: khaama.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.khaama.com/pakistans-interim-pm-denies-afghanistan-threat-amid-contradictory-statements/

-----

 

Pakistan Markazi Muslim League coverts election offices to relief centres

February 05, 2024

KARACHI:

Heavy rainfall in Karachi has exposed the inefficiencies of the administration and municipal authorities, said Pakistan Markazi Muslim League President Ahmed Nadeem Awan.

Speaking at the rescue operation site, Awan said PMML has converted its election offices into rescue centres in the city. Workers of the PMML rescued citizens stranded in floodwaters at various locations in the city.

On self-help basis, PMML workers responded to the call to help people in distress as a religious obligation and a service in the way of Allah Almighty. They pushed stranded vehicles out of flooded roads, and helped people reach safe places. Moreover, mechanics in PMML fold braved cold and wet weather to start stranded vehicles free of cost, a service which may cost thousands of rupees in emergency situations.

Read: PPP faces backlash amidst Karachi's heavy rain woes

Along with extracting submerged vehicles, the blocked water supply lines were also opened. The process of pumping out the accumulated water through suction pumps is ongoing. Inhabitants of low-lying areas were also provided with cooked meals during the rescue operation.

Awan stated that the authorities are engaged in a power struggle, and Karachi is sinking. Besides a limited area, the administration failed to take any noteworthy action. Mayor Karachi should know that Karachi is inundated not only on Shahra-e-Faisal but also in other areas.

The party that has held control over Sindh for the past 15 years remains unable to provide a proper drainage system to the people of Karachi. Those asking for votes from the public with the threat of drowning Karachi should be questioned. Now is the time for the public to reject the incompetent ones and use the power of their vote for a cleansing of the incapable.

Source: tribune.com.pk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2455509/pakistan-markazi-muslim-league-coverts-election-offices-to-relief-centres

----

 

South Asia

 

The ‘Afghanistan Choice’: Cooperate with Taliban to Counter Terrorism or Risk a Taliban–Islamic State Collaboration

February 5th, 2024

Lakshmi Venugopal Menon

Based on interviews with Taliban officials, this post by Lakshmi Venugopal Menon argues that while the international community remains reluctant to engage with the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, the threat of the more extreme Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) within Afghanistan poses a serious dilemma: to support the Taliban to defeat the ISKP, or to look away as a new extremist alliance festers.

In efforts to show the world that the interim government in Afghanistan has established security in the war-torn nation, the Taliban regime has time and again emphasised that they do not view the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP) as a threat. The deadly suicide bombings near and around the foreign ministry in Kabul in March 2023 that have claimed the lives of many including diplomats say otherwise.

Irrespective of the rhetoric, ISKP is a reality and has been the Taliban-led government’s key rival since August 2021. Those in power in Kabul must realise that overlooking the capabilities of ISKP is a mistake. A more pragmatic and sensible approach is needed. While the war has more or less ended and fighting substantially reduced, attacks by the ISKP continue.

The question is: Can the Taliban defeat the ISKP independently? If not, will the international community help the Taliban defeat them?

The Taliban’s hunting down of ISKP, which started prior to them (re)gaining power in 2021, has seen many ISKP fighters perish. In 2018, the Taliban was successful in defeating the ‘self-proclaimed ISKP’ from the isolated districts of Darzab and Qush Tepa in Jawzjan province. In February 2023, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced the killing of key Islamic State commanders which included ‘the intelligence and operations chief of Daesh’ Qari Fateh, the Indian subcontinent’s IS-K chief Ijaz Amin Ahangar, and their accomplices. Although the Taliban claims to have destroyed ISKP in the latter’s strongholds — Nangarhar and Kunar in eastern Afghanistan — they remain a major threat.

Bringing attention to the Hanafi–Salafi strife that plays out between Taliban and ISKP, a Talib in Kabul who wished to remain anonymous and call himself a ‘peace activist’, is convinced that if Daesh is not backed by foreign players, then Taliban can successfully eliminate the Daesh in a matter of few days. Speaking to me, he blamed Western powers for bringing Daesh to Afghanistan with funding from certain regional players, and accused the West of rescuing and evacuating ‘self-proclaimed IS-K fighters’ with helicopters when cornered by the Taliban’s onslaught. Today there are internationally backed factions of Daesh and regional players posing as Daesh for vested interests, he asserted.

While one can argue that the Taliban is now stronger and more capable of eliminating Daesh from Afghanistan, the IS-K has also grown in power perhaps owing to the support it receives from some international players as the Talib ‘peace activist’ argues.

A former advisor to the Health Minister of the interim Taliban government, in an interview with me, articulated the expectation of engagement with the international community to destroy Daesh. Could this signal a shift from the October 2021 Taliban stance, when their political spokesman Suhail Shaheen had said they would not cooperate with Washington to contain the Islamic State? One wonders. If the Taliban government is isolated, there would be a repetition of the 2001 scenario, the former adviser fears, when the Taliban was forced to befriend the Al-Qaeda due to complete international isolation.

Among the highest international peacemaking echelons, there are voices that believe that unlike what former US President Donald Trump claimed, Daesh was not defeated in Syria and Iraq, rather they were merely undermined, and later proliferated to 17 countries (including Afghanistan) where they formed the ISKP. Having killed many diplomats and Afghans, ISKP is arguably becoming the region’s number one enemy today. Fears that if the Taliban are not helped in putting down the IS-K, the latter would become a larger problem for regional peace is legitimate as the ISKP poses direct and indirect threats to South and Central Asia’s security apparatus. Different country reports on terrorism have calculated ISKP fighters in Afghanistan to be between (approx.) 2000–3000, and as high as 6000. The question that is facing the international community is whether they should overlook this, or intervene?

To defeat ISKP, other nation-states will have to engage, and coordinate, with the Taliban. Although it is not a question of recognition but of common interests, the degree to which countries are willing to coordinate efforts with the Taliban and engage in intelligence-sharing and logistical support is doubtful.

In this regional Taliban–ISKP dilemma, two aspects must not be overlooked. First, is the Taliban-led government backtracking from the promises they made in the Doha Accord of 2020 (particularly on female education) because they fear losing their hardline fighters to non-state actors like ISKP? Arguing that the Daesh has no room in Afghanistan as they do not belong to Afghan soil, the former adviser to the Health Minister thinks that the ISKP lack a convincible association to secure safe havens in rural areas in Afghanistan.

What is driving the young Afghans to ISKP is the dire state of Afghanistan’s economic affairs. Youngsters are turning to terrorism because for some that is the only option to earn a living/ income to support their families. As seen in other conflict zones, terror factions tend to have better economic prospects than the impoverished economic sectors; a danger that the global community must pay heed to. Second, are regional players making matters worse by pursuing vested interests through proxies? The interviewed persons agree that intelligence agencies of certain regional and international players have furthered their interests in Afghanistan, fashioning themselves as terror factions. Even today, there are attacks such as the one in late March 2023 near the foreign ministry for which no group has claimed responsibility.

To conclude, the Taliban cannot defeat the ISKP by themselves. Considering that this task will require cooperation with neighbours, security coalitions and intelligence-sharing, could the Taliban become an unacknowledged strategic ally for counter terrorism efforts in Afghanistan?

Source: blogs.lse.ac.uk

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2024/02/05/the-afghanistan-choice-cooperate-with-taliban-to-counter-terrorism-or-risk-a-taliban-islamic-state-collaboration/

---

 

Bangladesh Asked China’s Help As Myanmar Conflict Reached Border: Quader

Feb 4, 2024

Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader today sought China's intervention saying the internal conflict in Myanmar has reached the Bangladesh border.

"Regular gunshots on the other side of the border are spreading panic in our people. The fighting [between the Arakan Army and Myanmar Army] is within their country. But the heavy fighting across the border is scaring people here. That is why I have sought China's intervention," he said.

Quader, also Awami League general secretary, made the remarks while replying to a query about tension on the Myanmar border while exchanging views with journalists at his secretariat office in Dhaka this afternoon.

Earlier in the morning, Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen paid a courtesy call on Obaidul Quader.

Responding to a question about the outcome of the meeting, Quader said China can play a key role in the repatriation of Rohingya people from Bangladesh as it is an extra burden for the country.

"Amid global crises, the flow of aid to the Rohingyas has also decreased. Feeding so many people is a big burden for Bangladesh," he added.

The Chinese envoy promised that the Asian powerhouse would try and strengthen its efforts to this end.

Quader said the US talked about free and fair polls in the past but it did not say the election was flawed.

"The United States did not say that the 12th national election was a flawed one. They will continue relations with the current government as both countries have mutual interests to this end," he said.

Quader said the election was a peaceful one.

"We do not know what else would be a free and fair election," he said adding that BNP's refusal to participate in the election didn't mean that the election was not acceptable.

Source: thedailystar.net

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/diplomacy/news/asked-chinas-help-myanmar-conflict-reached-border-quader-3536101

----

 

Myanmar wants to take back troops who fled to Bangladesh: Hasan Mahmud

 Feb 5, 2024

Myanmar has communicated with Bangladesh about taking back around 100 Border Guard Police (BGP) members who have been crossing the border into Bangladesh since yesterday to escape the Arakan Army's attacks, Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud said today.

He said the Myanmar ambassador to Bangladesh and the country's deputy foreign minister have told the Bangladesh foreign ministry that they would take back the BGP members.

"How they will be taken back -- whether by air or road -- is now being discussed. You know that the members of Myanmar security forces also entered Indian territory earlier but they were sent back by air. We will also send them back," Hasan Mahmud told reporters at the foreign ministry.

"Ninety-five BGP members have fled to Bangladesh so far. Maybe a few more came in this morning. A few of them were also injured."

The incident took place amid intense fighting between the Myanmar military and the ethnic rebel groups of Myanmar.

The incident took place amid intense fighting between the Myanmar military and the ethnic rebel groups of Myanmar.

Source: thedailystar.net

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/myanmar-wants-take-back-troops-who-fled-bangladesh-hasan-mahmud-3536721

------

 

Afghanistan’s weak economy causes deflation and poverty: World Bank Report

Fidel Rahmati

February 4, 2024

The World Bank has released a report highlighting Afghanistan’s struggling economy, which has led to deflation and poverty. This deflationary trend has persisted from April 2023 to December 2023.

The report attributes the economic challenges to reduced aggregate demand, including factors like the stronger local currency, dwindling household savings, reduced public spending, and the ban on opium cultivation causing farmers to lose income.

Afghanistan saw a significant decrease in headline inflation, with a negative 9.7 per cent year-on-year rate in December 2023. Food inflation fell to negative 14.5 per cent, and non-food inflation dropped to negative 4.2 per cent, indicating weak demand.

Core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, also fell to -6.0 per cent year-on-year. These economic struggles have increased unemployment and pushed half of the population into poverty, with 15 million people facing food insecurity.

Coal exports, a major contributor in 2022 with $476 million in earnings, plummeted by 46 per cent in 2023 to $257 million, while food exports grew by 13 per cent, reaching $1.3 billion.

Textile exports surged by 46 per cent in 2023, reaching $281 million, with Pakistan and India remaining primary export destinations.

Imports in Afghanistan grew by 23 per cent in 2023, reaching $7.8 billion, with food, minerals, and textiles making up a significant portion.

Chemicals, machinery, and transportation products experienced notable import growth, contributing to a merchandise trade deficit of $5.9 billion in 2023.

The Afghani currency appreciated against major currencies in 2023, but a trend reversal occurred in January 2024 as it depreciated against all major currencies.

The report mentions the difficulty in assessing the monetary policy of the Afghanistan Central Bank due to a lack of monetary statistics but suggests that the central bank supports the local currency through forex auctions.

Revenue collection for the first ten months of the fiscal year 2023-24 reached AFN 171 billion, a 5.7 per cent increase compared to the previous year, but it still fell short of targets.

The report notes that rigorous tax collection measures in a depressed economy could hinder growth, worsen poverty, and lead to business closures, affecting future revenue collection prospects.

Source: khaama.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.khaama.com/afghanistans-weak-economy-causes-deflation-and-poverty-world-bank-report/

-----

 

Afghanistan-Pakistan Trade Chamber proposes special passes for truck drivers

Fidel Rahmati

February 4, 2024

The Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Trade Chamber has recently proposed issuing special permits for truck drivers as a solution to the issues between the two countries.

Express Tribune reported on Sunday, February 4th, citing Zia-ul-Haq Sarhadi, the coordinator of the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Trade and Industries Chamber, as saying that the suggestion is to issue special passes for truck drivers transporting goods between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Mr. Sarhadi made these remarks in a press statement that was published on Friday. He added that this proposal is based on the facilitation and streamlining of trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Recently, due to visa conditions, truck drivers faced a ten-day halt.

He mentioned that approximately 1,000 truck drivers would be issued special passes instead of visas to facilitate the transportation of their goods between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

However, Mr. Sarhadi emphasized that these trucks should still be registered with customs and transport offices in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There would also be a nominal fee for issuing these special permits for the owners of heavy vehicles.

This proposal for issuing special travel permits comes in light of Pakistan closing all its transit gates to Afghan trucks on January 12 and reopening them on January 23 after bilateral negotiations.

Source: khaama.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.khaama.com/afghanistan-pakistan-trade-chamber-proposes-special-passes-for-truck-drivers/

------

 

Kabul,Tehran Have Good Ties Despite Lack of Recognition: Dep. Ambassador

Nazir Shinwari

February 4, 2024

The deputy Ambassador of Iran in Kabul, Ghulam Riza Najari, said that despite the lack of formal recognition of the Islamic Emirate, the relations between Kabul and Tehran are good and are "improving day by day.”

Najari meanwhile stressed the formation of an inclusive government with the participation of all tribes, saying that their wish is not aiming at interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.

“However, we have not yet recognized the interim government, we don’t have any restrictions in our engagement with Afghanistan. The engagement exists as the two neighboring countries at all levels,” he said.

Najari also urged the Islamic Emirate’s officials to take concrete steps for recognition by the international community.

“The internal issues of Afghanistan should be given to the Afghans because we don’t interfere in the internal affairs of other countries and we expect this from other countries,” said

However, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said Afghanistan expects others to respect Afghanistan’s internal affairs.

“We want good relations with Iran because we don’t interfere in the internal issues of other countries and we expect the same from other countries,” he said.

“We have good relations with Iran because Afghanistan and Iran are neighboring countries, so the Islamic Emirate wants to have good relations with all neighbors including Iran,” said Abdul Jamil Shirani, a political analyst.

It has been more than two years since the Islamic Emirate came to power but no world country has yet recognized it.

Source: tolonews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-187275

-----

 

Pakistan Extends Afghan Refugees' Stay Until March: Media

Sodaba Nazhand

The caretaker government of Pakistan has granted approval for the extension of the residency of 1.3 million undocumented Afghan refugees, Pakistani media reported. 

The extension allows these refugees to stay in Pakistan until March 2024, Khyber News reported, adding that the cabinet division had raised objections to the initial summary submitted by the Safran ministry.

Meanwhile, the consulate of the Islamic Emirate in Karachi, Abdul Jabar Takhari, also told TOLOnews that the Pakistani government gave a two-month deadline for the 1.4 million undocumented Afghan refugees.

“According to the interim government of Pakistan, 1.4 million undocumented Afghan refugees still exist in Pakistan who have a deadline until the end of March to live in Pakistan and after that either leave Pakistan or there will be a new plan for them,” he said.

The refugees rights activists called on the Islamic Emirate to pay attention to the challenges of the Afghan refugees in Pakistan.

“Extension of residency of Afghan refugees in Pakistan is a good step but there is need for an organized plan for the Afghan refugees,” said Mohammd Khan Talibi Mohammadzai, a refugee rights activist.

Meanwhile, the Afghan refugees in Pakistan complained about facing severe challenges in the country.

“They should not deport us, we will extend our visa and we will stay here,” said Nikzai, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan.

“The Afghan refugees are facing a lot of challenges in Afghanistan. They also face economic problems,” said Shaheen, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan.

Based on the statistics of the consulate of the Islamic Emirate in Pakistan, nearly 600,000 Afghan refugees have been either deported or have returned to Afghanistan within the last three months.

Source: tolonews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-187276

-----

 

Thru Biden's letter to PM, Bangladesh-US ties will advance further: FM

Feb 5, 2024

US President Joe Biden has written to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina expressing his willingness to work together to achieve Bangladesh's economic goals, as well as to cooperate on regional and global security and humanitarian support, especially for Rohingya refugees.

He also expressed willingness to partnering with Bangladesh on their shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, says Bangladesh Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement yesterday.

The US embassy in Dhaka shared the letter with the foreign ministry yesterday.

"The United States is committed to supporting Bangladesh's ambitious economic goals and partnering with Bangladesh on our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific," President Biden said in the letter.

Biden said as the two countries embark on the "next chapter" of the US-Bangladesh partnership, he wants to convey the sincere desire of his administration to continue their work together, including on regional and global security, economic development, climate change and energy, global health and humanitarian support.

"We have a long and successful history of working together to solve problems, and our strong people-to-people ties are the foundation of this relationship," the letter says.

The Biden Administration has been critical of Bangladesh's democracy and human rights records, especially in the last three national elections. It also announced a visa policy in May last year, saying that it would deny visas to those who undermine Bangladesh's democracy and elections.

Global leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on her winning the polls and becoming prime minister for the fourth straight time.

The US issued a statement saying that it shares the view with other observers that these elections were not free or fair and it regrets that not all parties participated in the polls boycotted by BNP and its allies.

However, the statement on January 8 also had said that the US supports the people of Bangladesh and their aspirations for democracy, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of expression.

The US also condemned the violence that took place during elections and in the months leading up to it and encouraged the Bangladesh government to credibly investigate reports of violence and to hold perpetrators accountable.

In a regular briefing, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller last Thursday said the US expressing concerns over the election or crackdowns on political activists does not mean it does not have the responsibility to work with the Bangladesh government.

Source: thedailystar.net

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/diplomacy/news/us-work-bangladesh-shared-vision-3536321

----

 

Islamic Emirate Addresses Issues in All Regions: Hanafi

2024-02-05

KABUL (BNA): Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi, the Deputy Prime Minister for Administrative Affairs, met with a group of scholars, mujahideen, and district governors from the eighteen districts of Ghazni province.

During the meeting, they discussed social, security, and local government activities in the mentioned districts.

The group recognized the sacrifices, valor, and efforts of the Islamic Emirate’s mujahideen to implement the guidance of the leadership and maintain security and well-being for the people.

They also urged the officials to strengthen local administrations, address health issues, and initiate developmental projects in the province.

Deputy Prime Minister Hanafi acknowledged the efforts of the Islamic Emirate are a result of the struggles, sacrifices, and martyrdom of thousands of scholars, youth, women and children in the region. He emphasized the commitment of the Islamic Emirate officials to identify and address the needs of the people within their capabilities.

Finally, he assured that the Islamic Emirate will take action to address the issues and undertake developmental projects in all districts with available resources.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/islamic-emirate-addresses-issues-in-all-regions-hanafi/

-----

 

Islamic Emirate Political Commission Convenes Meeting to Discuss Regional Cooperation

2024-02-04

KABUL (BNA): The Political Commission of the Islamic Emirate Afghanistan convened a meeting today at Sepidar Palace. The meeting, led by the Political Deputy Prime Minister Mawlavi Abdul Kabir, focused on regional cooperation.

The commission reviewed the outcome of the Afghanistan Regional Cooperation Initiative meeting, which took place last week in Kabul. After thorough evaluations, the meeting was deemed important and successful for the development and strengthening of regional cooperation.

Participants also held a comprehensive discussion about the upcoming United Nations meeting on Afghanistan in Doha. The situation in Afghanistan and the region was also discussed, and necessary decisions were made according to the agenda.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.bakhtarnews.af/en/islamic-emirate-political-commission-convenes-meeting-to-discuss-regional-cooperation/

-----

 

Mideast

 

Israeli Pm Netanyahu Hits Back At Far-Right Minister’s Criticism Of Us War Backing Israel’s War Against Hamas In Gaza

 04 Feb 2024

TEL AVIV, Feb 4 — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hit back today at a powerful far-right minister in his cabinet who said Washington has not fully backed Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told the Wall Street Journal that US President Joe Biden had not given Israel sufficient support.

“Instead of giving us his full backing, Biden is busy with giving humanitarian aid and fuel (to Gaza), which goes to Hamas,” Ben-Gvir told the newspaper in an article published today.

“If (former US president Donald) Trump was in power, the US conduct would be completely different.”

Netanyahu appeared to respond to the interview ahead of a cabinet meeting today, saying: “We greatly appreciate the support that we have received from the Biden administration since the outbreak of the war.”

“I don’t need help to know how to navigate our relations with the US and the international community, while standing firm on our national interests,” he said.

“We make our own decisions, even in those cases where there is no agreement with our American friends.”

The United States is Israel’s main international ally, providing billions of dollars each year in military support.

But in recent weeks it has insisted on greater protection of civilians in the Gaza Strop as well as the eventual creation of a Palestinian state.

Ben-Gvir’s outburst against Biden came after Washington took the rare move of imposing sanctions on four settlers following rising violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank.

Ben-Gvir himself lives in a settlement.

Biden said the violence there had “reached intolerable levels” as he signed off on sanctions last week.

Around 490,000 settlers live among approximately three million Palestinians in the West Bank, in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.

Since the October 7 attacks triggered war between Israel and Hamas, more than 370 people have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Ramallah.

The latest diplomatic wrangle comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected in Israel in the coming days as part of his fifth trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began.

Blinken will press for the adoption of a new proposal involving the release of Israeli hostages in return for a pause in the fighting, the State Department said.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also seized around 250 hostages, and Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including at least 27 of whom are believed to have been killed.

Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed at least 27,365 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry. — AFP

Source: malaymail.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2024/02/04/israeli-pm-hits-back-at-ministers-criticism-of-us-war-backing/116362

----

 

127 Palestinians killed in Gaza in last 24 hours, death toll climbs to 27,365

Ikram Kouachi

04.02.2024

At least 127 Palestinians were killed and 178 others were injured in the last 24 hours as Israel continues its onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, the territory's Health Ministry said on Sunday.

“The Israeli occupation committed 14 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 127 martyrs and 178 injured during the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” the statement said.

Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 27,365 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 66,630 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Source: aa.com.tr

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/127-palestinians-killed-in-gaza-in-last-24-hours-death-toll-climbs-to-27-365-/3127389

------

 

Leader urges elites in Muslim world to create public demand to cut ties with Israel

05 February 2024

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says the elites of the Muslim world shoulder a heavy responsibility vis-à-vis the ongoing developments in Gaza and should create a public demand to cut relations with the Israeli regime.

Speaking at a meeting with a group of commanders and personnel of the Iranian Air Force and Army’s Air Defense Force in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei cautioned against “humanitarian catastrophes” unfolding in Gaza following US support for the Israeli regime.

He stated that nations are capable of pressing their governments to end their support for the Israeli regime.

Although this “cruel and wolflike” regime has taken the lives of women, children and the sick and killed more than 20,000 people, some Muslim countries still provide it with economic aid and even weapons, the Leader noted.

“A decisive blow does not mean going to war with the Zionist regime (Israel), but it means cutting off the economic relations with it,” he said.

The meeting was held on the anniversary of a historic development that came days before the 1979 victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution that overthrew the former US-backed Pahlavi regime.

The event saw Homafaran, Pahlavi’s air force officers, breaking away from the monarchical regime and pledging allegiance to the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader warned of the enemy’s “specific plot” against the Iranian elites inside and outside the country, saying the enemy primarily seeks to prevent the elites’ growing role in the country and raise doubts among them.

He urged the Iranian elites to thwart the enemy’s plots aimed at raising doubts in the country.

Ayatollah Khamenei asserted that national power boosts national security, saying that the enemy’s plots will be neutralized when it witnesses the Iranian people’s presence and preparedness as well as the Islamic establishment’s power.

He added that the elites can play a major role in high-turnout parliamentary elections on March 1, whose outcomes, he contended, would boost national might.

He further said the elites’ negligence toward their duties would lead to a devastating blow to the Iranian nation.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader noted that before the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the air force’s military equipment and heads were under US control.

However, after the 1979 victory of the Islamic Revolution, the air force’s pious elements managed to change its US-controlled nature into an Iranian force, Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He added that although the force’s weapons and equipment were US-made in the immediate aftermath of the revolution, Iranian commanders and staff were the ones making decisions about the country.

The Leader also commended the Iranian people’s massive participation in rallies marking the victory of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Pahlavi regime.

He said the Iranian people have taken to the streets in all cities and villages over the past 45 years without even a single pause and chanted slogans in defense of the Islamic Revolution while pledging their allegiance to Imam Khomeini.

Ayatollah Khamenei hoped that Iranians would largely participate also in this year's rallies on February 11, which indicate national strength.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/05/719514/Iran-Ayatollah-Khamenei-Air-Force-commanders-personnel-Homafaran-allegiance-

------

 

Al-Qassam: 43 Israeli vehicles destroyed, volley of rockets fired at Tel Aviv

 04 February 2024

The military wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas says it has destroyed dozens of Israeli military vehicles while firing a volley of rockets at Tel Aviv in the past few days.

Al-Qassam Brigades made the announcement through a statement by its spokesman, Abu Obaida, on Sunday.

The Brigades said its fighters have destroyed as many as 43 Israeli military vehicles, including tanks, partially or completely over the course of the last few days.

According to Abu Obaida, the Palestinian fighters also killed dozens of Israeli forces during 17 military operations across the besieged territory.

The regime's fatalities included 15 troops, who were killed at point-blank range, and an officer and a soldier, who were taken out by Palestinians' sniper fire.

A number of Israeli forces were also killed in an explosion targeting the entrance of a tunnel.

As part of their achievements, the brigades managed to seize four Israeli unmanned aerial vehicles and fire a volley of rockets at the city of Tel Aviv and areas surrounding it in the occupied territories.

Abu Obaida listed mortar shells, rockets, explosive devices, as well as anti-armor and anti-personnel projectiles as some of the weapons used by Palestinian fighters during their anti-Israeli operations.

The Israeli regime launched its genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the territory's resistance groups staged Operation al-Aqsa Storm against the occupied territories.

The Israeli attacks have so far claimed the lives of over 27,300 people, mostly women and children, while injuring more than 66,600 others.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original storyc

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/04/719497/Palestine-Israel-Hamas-battleground-gains-war-Gaza

-----

 

Hamas, Islamic Jihad slam US-UK aggression against Yemen

04 February 2024

Palestinian resistance movements based in the Gaza Strip have condemned the recent US and British airstrikes on Yemen, saying the aggression is a violation of the Yemeni sovereignty and fuels tensions across West Asia.

The United States and Britain carried out dozens of air raids on the provinces of Sana’a, Hudaydah and Sa’ada, among several others  late on Saturday.

The Pentagon claimed the strikes targeted 13 locations across Yemen and hit weapons storage facilities, missile systems, and launchers the Yemeni Armed Forces and the popular Ansarullah movement used to attack Israeli-tied shipping in the Red Sea in support of the Palestinians in Gaza.

“We strongly condemn the American-British bombing of Yemen, and we consider it a blatant attack on the sovereignty of a sister Arab country,” Hamas said in a press statement cited by Palestine's Safa News Agency on Sunday.

“The aggression is an escalation that will drag the region into more turmoil and instability, for the repercussions of which Washington and the Israeli occupation bear full responsibility,” the resistance movement said.

Praising the Yemeni position on supporting the Palestinians, Hamas called on the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to take a decisive stance against the US and British aggression that violates the sovereignty of Arab countries.

Hamas also demanded “practical measures” aimed at stopping more than 120 days of brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza.

Yemen’s Army says the latest wave of airstrikes by the United States and Britain on the Arab country will not go unanswered.

Arab states urged to follow Yemen's example

In a separate statement on Sunday, the Islamic Jihad resistance movement condemned the continuation of the US-British aggression against Yemen.

“These attacks seek to ignite the region and expand the circle of fire, contrary to what the American administration is promoting, and therefore it bears full responsibility for the repercussions of this ongoing piracy,” the Islamic Jihad said.

"Washington and Western capitals are still managing the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, and providing it with political and economic cover and military and intelligence support, and therefore they are involved in genocidal crimes targeting the Palestinian presence."

The resistance movement also commended the Yemeni stance on supporting Gaza. “We hope that all the free people of our Arab and Islamic nation will follow this authentic position.”

Yemeni Army spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said on Sunday the aggressor countries conducted 48 airstrikes across the Arab country, warning that their assault will not go unanswered.

In solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza, Yemeni forces have targeted ships going to and coming from ports in the occupied territories, or those vessels whose owners are linked to Israel, in the southern Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Gulf of Aden, and even in the Arabian Sea.

In response to the pro-Palestine maritime campaign, the US and its allies have on several occasions bombed Yemen in violation of international law.

The Israeli regime launched its hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups launched surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupiers.

Israel has killed more than 27,300 people, most of them children and women, in Gaza since early October.

Source: presstv.ir

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/02/04/719484/Palestinian-resistance-movements-aerial-strikes-Yemen

-----

 

Hamas weighs Gaza truce as deadly fighting nears fifth month

February 04, 2024

GAZA: Battles raged in Gaza’s south Sunday ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region in a bid to secure a new truce in the nearly four-month war.

Washington has not yet specified any destinations or dates, but it will be Blinken’s fifth trip to the region since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

The health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said at least 127 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the previous 24 hours in the territory.

The Hamas government media office said a kindergarten where families were sheltering was hit in the southern border city of Rafah, which is teeming with Palestinians displaced by the war.

“There is no safe place in the Gaza Strip, from north to south,” displaced man Mohammed Kloub told AFP in Rafah, which according to UN figures now hosts more than half of Gaza’s population.

Israel has warned its ground forces could advance on Rafah as part of its campaign to eliminate Hamas.

An AFP journalist reported strikes and tank fire on Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city, with some air raids also hitting nearby Rafah.

Israel’s army said its forces had raided a Hamas training facility in Khan Yunis where militants prepared for the October 7 attack.

The Al-Qadisiya compound contained models of Israeli military bases, armored vehicles, as well as entry points to kibbutzim, the army said in a statement.

During the raid, the army “neutralized” several militants, it said.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society said that at the nearby Al-Amal hospital there were “alarming signs (of) a humanitarian disaster... after 14 days of continuous siege.”

Displaced Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis due to the Israeli ground operation, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, sit on a vehicle as they move towards Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, January 31, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army had “destroyed 17 of 24 (Hamas) battalions. Most of the remaining battalions are in the southern Strip and in Rafah, and we will deal with them.”

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant meanwhile said: “The pressure on Hamas is working, they are in a very difficult situation and we are hitting them hard.”

With the war set to enter a fifth month on Wednesday, international mediators were pressing to seal a proposed truce deal thrashed out in a Paris meeting of top US, Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials.

French foreign minister Stephane Sejourne, on his first Middle East tour, met his counterparts in Egypt and Jordan, with Amman’s foreign minister Ayman Safadi saying “immediate international action” was needed “to stop the war in Gaza.”

Sejourne said he had told Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of France’s desire “for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza and restarting talks for a... two-state solution.”

A top Hamas official in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, said Saturday the group needed more time to “announce our position” on the truce deal.

Hamdan added that Hamas wanted “to put an end as quickly as possible to the aggression that our people suffer.”

A Hamas source has said the proposal involves an initial six-week pause that would see more aid delivered into Gaza and the phased release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Militants also seized around 250 hostages, and Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including at least 27 believed to have been killed.

Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive that has killed at least 27,365 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.

Gazans have faced dire humanitarian conditions, and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said on social media platform X that “there is very limited access to clean water and sanitation amid relentless bombardment.”

Experts and rights groups told AFP that Israeli forces have destroyed buildings near the border in an attempt to create a buffer zone inside the Palestinian territory.

Israel has not publicly confirmed the plan, which Nadia Hardman, an expert on refugees at Human Rights Watch, said “may amount to a war crime.”

“We are seeing mounting evidence that Israel appears to be rendering large parts of Gaza unlivable,” she said.

Sejourne told his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry that he understood Cairo’s concerns over “forced displacement” of Palestinians into Egypt from the Gaza Strip.

Concern for hostages still in Gaza and security failures surrounding the October 7 attack — the deadliest in Israel’s 75-year history — have led to criticism of Netanyahu and rallies against the government.

Michal Hadas, protesting in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, told AFP she feared Israel’s leaders were dragging out the conflict for political reasons, “because as long as the war continues there will be no election.”

The war has also sent regional tensions soaring, with a surge in attacks by Iran-backed groups in solidarity with Gaza triggering counterattacks by key Israel ally the United States.

The United States and its partner Britain said they struck dozens of targets in Yemen late Saturday in response to repeated attacks on shipping by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

A Houthi spokesman said the latest wave of air strikes “will not pass without response and punishment.”

Iran said the attacks “contradicted” US and UK statements on preventing regional escalation, and Hamas warned the strikes would bring “further turmoil” to the Middle East.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2453611/middle-east

-----

 

Hezbollah launches fresh missile attacks on Israeli targets

Feb 5, 2024

TEHRAN, Feb. 05 (MNA) – Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has launched fresh missile attacks on targets controlled by the Israeli regime in north of the occupied Palestine.

Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV network reported on Monday that Hezbollah fighters had hit Israeli military bases in the Al-Jalil Al-Alaa region located in the north of occupied Palestine.

It said at least five missiles had been fired from southern Lebanon at Israeli targets in the north of occupied Palestine.

That comes as the Israeli regime’s media outlets said that sirens had sounded 18 times in Israeli settlements located near Lebanon’s border as a result of attacks conducted by the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah on Sunday.

According to Lebanese news website Elnashra, sources affiliated with the Israeli regime have pointed to the escalation of tension between Hezbollah and the regime’s forces in recent days.

On Sunday, the resistance fighters carried out around 15 strikes on Israeli-occupied territories, Israeli media reported, adding that it cannot be described as a normal day of confrontations on the regime's northern front.

The cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces over the past four months have forced tens of thousands of settlers to leave their settlements near Lebanon’s border.

Source: mehrnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://en.mehrnews.com/news/211701/Hezbollah-launches-fresh-missile-attacks-on-Israeli-targets

-----

 

Southeast Asia

 

Rein in your members who speak out against Pardons Board decision, Zahid tells Pakatan

 05 Feb 2024

 ZAKIAH KOYA

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakatan Harapan leaders have been told to reprimand their members for making “antagonistic” comments on the Pardons Board's decision regarding former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Pakatan leaders should also urge them to apologise to his party, Umno.

Speaking to the media after a function at the Rural and Regional Development Ministry here on Monday (Feb 5), Ahmad Zahid said he believed that the comments by these individuals did not represent their parties.

This was because such statements were not made by the top leadership of those parties, he added.

Umno leaders had accused former DAP leader and MP Tony Pua of going overboard with his remarks on the Pardons Board's decision to reduce Najib's jail term in the SRC International case to six years from 12, and his fine to RM50mil from RM210mil.

However, he said he would not stop other Umno leaders from lodging police reports against those who criticised the Pardons Board decision.

“We have studied the antagonistic opinions of certain individuals in certain parties. Even in Umno there are some of these 'kacang hantu' (little ghosts).

“As long as these comments were not made by the party’s main leaders, we do not regard them as coming officially from the parties.

“However, I ask the party leaders to reprimand those who have written such comments (and get them) to delete them and apologise. This will stop the animosity and calm the situation.

“The relationship between Umno and DAP has not been affected after the decision by the Pardons Board but as a coalition in the Madani government, we have to respect each other’s opinions.

“That said, we must respect the main leadership of the parties as they are the ones who voice the official stand of their parties,” he added.

Following the reduction of his sentence, Najib will be released on Aug 23, 2028.

"However, if the fine is not paid, a year will be added to the jail term, and the release date will then be on Aug 23, 2029," the Pardons Board secretariat said on Friday (Feb 2).

Soon after, Pua put up three Facebook posts expressing his dissatisfaction with the decision, raising the ire of Umno leaders.

Pua even asked that he be sent to prison in exchange for being paid RM50mil.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said an investigation was launched as the former Damansara MP’s comments allegedly insulted the royal institution.

Pua was summoned to Bukit Aman to give his statement on Monday.

Source: thestar.com.my

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/02/05/rein-in-your-members-who-speak-out-against-pardons-board-decision-zahid-tells-pakatan

------

 

Penang Mufti: 'Take action against podcast organiser for inviting Hot Daddy'

 Zuhainy Zulkiffli

 February 5, 2024

GEORGETOWN: Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Dr Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor has expressed dismay over the action of a streaming website that invited 'Hot Daddy' as a podcast guest.

He said it was truly disappointing and can be considered a way of promoting and normalising promiscuity.

"If this situation is not restrained or prevented, it is feared that it will influence teenagers and lead them towards (the path of) moral decay," he said when contacted today.

Wan said this in response over a streaming website's action in organising a talk with Hasli Ikhwan Arif Zul Hasli, 32, who is allegedly facing court charges for advertising sexual services on X.

The invitation to Hasli, known as Hot Daddy, as a podcast guest has garnered various reactions from netizens, with some considering it as a promotion of adulterous behaviour.

Wan Salim also said the government should take the incident seriously and take stern action against those promoting such immorality as it can damage the moral values of society.

"In this regard, we urge the authorities to take immediate action to charge the organisers of the podcast according to the existing laws.

"Hopefully, this serves as a lesson to all parties and as a step to prevent the normalisation of sinful actions in the country," he said.

Source: nst.com.my

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2024/02/1010065/penang-mufti-take-action-against-podcast-organiser-inviting-hot-daddy

----

 

Philippines’ wellness resort taps into the Muslim market

 5 February, 2024

 Rosa Ocampo

Luxury wellness resort The Farm at San Benito in Lipa, Batangas is fast gaining inroads in capitalising on the Muslim market while diversifying into multi-generational families.

“We are known in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council countries) and we want to develop new markets in Asia such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei,” said Jennifer Sanvictores, The Farm’s global head of sales, marketing and communications.

The resort has also added facilities and services targeted at multi-generation families. “Previously, wellness was just for adults but now, even kids, teens, seniors need us,” she explained.

To raise the number not just of individual travellers but also of families, the wellness resort has added more facilities for families including Muslim-friendly family pool villas, holistic healing, as well as wellness and activities for multi-generations, and a kids menu in its Alive Vegan restaurant.

The Farm at San Benito recently received a globally-accepted halal certification from the Islamic Da’wah Council of the Philippines and is the Department of Tourism’s Muslim-friendly accommodation destination after attending workshops and fitting at least five per cent of its facilities for Muslim travellers’ requirements.

“We saw the need for it…. wellness should be for everyone. We should be more diverse and inclusive,” Sanvictores shared.

She noted an increase in the number of Muslim tourists from Malaysia and Dubai, particularly those looking for new wellness destinations, a niche clientele who travel for a purpose, solely for healing.

The increase in Muslim travellers was noteworthy last year when The Farm at San Benito tapped the Miss Universe beauty pageant contestants from Pakistan, Bahrain and Egypt to promote wellness tourism in the Philippines.

Sanvictores shared that the wellness resort has “an affluent market” where guests stay 21 days on average and spend US$800 to US$1,000 a night. It has natural and holistic wellness programmes, the shortest at seven days and the longest 21 days, although resort guests can stay for a shorter period.

Source: ttgasia.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.ttgasia.com/2024/02/05/philippines-wellness-resort-taps-into-the-muslim-market/

-----

 

Penang Mufti: No rush in issuing fatwa on cultured meat

04 Feb 2024

GEORGE TOWN, Feb 4 — The Penang State Fatwa Committee believes there is no need to rush in issuing a fatwa regarding cultured meat until the source of the stem cells or the growth medium for the meat is clearly known.

Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor said the committee also wanted to first ensure the substances added to its production and their effects on human health.

He believed that in the context of Malaysia, there was still no urgent need to issue a definitive fatwa on the issue of cultured meat for the time being.

“Fatwas in such issues need to be based on several jurisprudential methods.

“We also need to wait for fatwas or views from authoritative fatwa institutions at the global level on this issue,” he said in a statement today.

Wan Salim made these comments in response to media reports regarding the Fatwa Committee of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) finding that cultured meat was generally halal or permissible for Muslims to consume if it met certain conditions.

According to Berita Harian Singapura, the statement issued by MUIS on the fatwa yesterday is in line with the increased global emphasis on sustainable food production, while also aiming to address concerns among the Muslim community about consuming new food products such as cultured meat.

Cultured meat, according to MUIS, refers to meat produced using cell cultivation techniques, either through tissue culture or stem cells taken from animals.

It serves as an alternative source of meat to conventionally farmed animal meat, and to ensure informed decision-making among Muslims, the MUIS Fatwa Committee outlines three important conditions for cultured meat to be considered halal.

These include that the cells must come from halal animals, any substances used to shape the texture and composition of cultured meat must be halal, and the product must be non-toxic and clean. — Bernama

Source: malaymail.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2024/02/04/penang-mufti-no-rush-in-issuing-fatwa-on-cultured-meat/116348

-----

 

Japan’s Itochu to end cooperation with Israel’s Elbit over Gaza war

05 Feb 2024

TOKYO, Feb 5 — Itochu Corp’s aviation unit will end its strategic cooperation with Israeli defence company Elbit Systems Ltd by the end of February over the war in Gaza, the Japanese trading house’s executive said today.

Itochu Aviation, Elbit Systems and Nippon Aircraft Supply (NAS) signed the strategic cooperation memorandum of understanding (MoU) in March 2023.

Itochu plans to end the collaboration after the World Court ordered Israel last month to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians, Itochu Chief Financial Officer Tsuyoshi Hachimura said.

“The partnership is based on a request from the Japan’s defence ministry for the purpose of importing defence equipment for the Self-Defence Forces necessary for Japan’s security, and is not in any way related to the current conflict between Israel and Palestine,” Hachimura told an earnings news conference.

“Taking into consideration the International Court of Justice’s order on January 26, and that the Japanese government supports the role of the Court, we have already suspended new activities related to the MOU, and plan to end the MOU by the end of February,” he said.

Itochu reported a 10.3 per cent drop in April-December net profit due to lower prices of coal and pulp as well as smaller gains from energy trading.

It posted a profit of ¥611.7 billion ($4.1 billion) in the nine months through December 31 compared with ¥682.2 billion a year earlier.

The trading company stuck to its full-year profit forecast through end-March of ¥800 billion, below the ¥821 billion mean estimate in a poll of 9 analysts compiled by LSEG. — Reuters

Source: malaymail.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2024/02/05/japans-itochu-to-end-cooperation-with-israels-elbit-over-gaza-war/116485

-------

 

Qoumas stresses public involvement in religious programs

February 5, 2024

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, has asked officials at his ministry to involve communities more broadly in implementing government programs aimed at developing religious affairs.

"The implementation of programs in 2024 should not merely involve certain working units. The Ministry of Religious Affairs should strengthen the involvement of various stakeholders," he said in Semarang, Central Java, according to a statement received from the ministry in Jakarta on Monday.

He made the statement while delivering the opening speech at the Religious Affairs Ministry’s National Working Meeting 2024, which carried the theme of "The Transformation of the Religious Affairs Ministry for Golden Indonesia 2045."

Qoumas emphasized the importance of involving communities in the government's programs to achieve effective, beneficial, and accurate results.

The minister said he believes that development in the field of religion requires not only efforts from the government, but also the people, especially in terms of augmenting the quality of religious education services.

In that context, Qoumas urged his ranks to invite the management of private religious universities to take part in formulating measures and strategic programs that are expected to help Indonesia advance its education sector.

"Collaboration with both public and private religious universities is crucial so that we can jointly devise workable measures for bolstering the quality of education services," he added.

He also suggested that the Religious Affairs Ministry solidify its relations with religious institutions to strengthen concord among religious communities in Indonesia.

The minister then drew attention to Indonesia's religious harmony index score, saying that the country has been recording increases in the score over the past three years. He explained that the index assesses tolerance, equality, and cooperation fostered among religious communities.

"I believe that we will be able to achieve faster improvements in the quality of religious harmony by involving more parties," he added.

Source: antaranews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story

https://en.antaranews.com/news/305100/qoumas-stresses-public-involvement-in-religious-

programs?utm_

-----

URL:   https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/kashi-mathura-hindus-mosques-ayodhya/d/131659

New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism