Women’s Ministry in Malaysia Says No Plans to Ban Child Marriages, Better to Change Society’s Attitudes
New Age Islam News Bureau
22 March 2022
Women,
Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun attends a
programme by the Chean Ai Disabled Welfare Association in Kelana Jaya January
29, 2022. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
-----
• 'Kill More': Facebook Fails To Detect Hate
Determining the Genocide against Rohingya Muslims
• Muslim Family Donates Land worth Rs.2.5 crores To
Build World's Largest Hindu Temple In Bihar
• Pakistan PM Imran Khan to Trumpet Islamic
Credentials as Home Fires Burn
• Myanmar Army Committed Genocide against Rohingya
Muslims: US
Southeast
Asia
• ‘Muslim Stewardesses Should Be Allowed To Wear Tudung
(Veil or Headscarf)’: PAS MP
• China Attending OIC Moot to Bolster Relations with
Muslim World: Wang Yi
• Despite birth of new parties, pundits remain
sceptical that Malaysia will move past race and religion-based politics by GE15
• Implement compulsory voting, the sooner the better,
says ex-EC chairman
--------
South
Asia
• Turkmenistan Becomes First Central Asian Country to
Recognise Taliban Envoy to Afghan Embassy in Ashgabat
• OIC, Islamic bank sign Humanitarian Trust Fund for
Afghanistan pact
• UNICEF asks Afghan parents to send children to
schools
• Ashraf Ghani: Lasting government in Afghanistan
needs national legitimization
• ‘Taliban rule’: Pakistanis fume after police
violently disrupt Pashtun singer’s concert
--------
India
• Mathura Vigilantes Beat Up Muslim Driver Over
Suspicion He Was Transporting Cow Remains
• Uttar Pradesh: Aligarh Muslim University students
protest against Karnataka HC ruling on 'hijab' ban
• Danish Siddiqui's Parents To Take Taliban To Court
Over Photojournalist's Killing In Kandahar
• Hijab Row: Teachers from Various Parts of India
Stand with Muslim Students
• Urdu journalism is dying in its crucible Lucknow
--------
Pakistan
• Islamabad Hosting 48th Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation FMs Moot Today At Parliament House, Islamabad
• Media bodies demand PM Imran prove ‘anti-govt drive
is funded’
• PM Imran’s statement on India’s foreign policy ‘most
bizarre’: Shehbaz
• Pakistan Chief Justice not yet convinced about interfering
in National Assembly proceedings
--------
North
America
• Hatchet-Wielding Attacker at Canada Mosque Charged
For Possible Hate-Motivated Attack, Police Say
• Democratic Pakistan critical to America’s interests:
US official
• US says it is ready to make ‘difficult decisions’ to
reach nuclear deal with Iran
--------
Europe
• Russian Court Bans Facebook, Instagram Over
'Extremist Activity'
• Erdogan Seeks To Rally Turks In Europe Behind
Political Islam - Report
• Freed British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe seeks
release of ‘unjustly detained’ in Iran
• US-UK national Morad Tahbaz moved back to Iranian
prison, daughter says
--------
Arab
World
• New Round Of Talks On Constitution For Syria Begins
In Geneva
• 'Persian Gulf Cooperation Council's talks meant to
get Saudi Arabia out of Yemen quagmire'
• Presence of Israeli operatives in Kurdistan region
will drag Iraq into war: Kata’ib Hezbollah spokesman
• Houthi attacks on oil facilities should be of global
concern: Saudi Aramco chief
• Pressure must be put on Houthis to stop threat to
international navigation: Saudi FM
• Saudi King, Crown Prince welcome Sudan’s Burhan on
official visit
• Lebanese president meets with Pope Francis during
his visit to Italy
• Egypt’s Sisi hosts Israel’s Bennett, UAE’s Sheikh
Mohammed
• Saudi Arabia not responsible for oil shortages in
light of Houthi attacks: Official
--------
Mideast
• Iranian President Seeks Hard Work to Build Powerful,
Advanced Iran in Persian New Year
• Iranian People Vote to Leader's Remarks about Martyr
Soleimani as Chosen Sentence of Year
• AEOI Head: Iran to Continue Development of Peaceful
N. Technology
• Iranian President Offers Greetings to Countries
Celebrating Nowruz
• Gaza commemorates anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu
• Turkish, Emirati foreign ministers discuss Ukraine
in Abu Dhabi
• 94% of Palestinians in occupied territories subject
to racist labelling: Opinion poll
• Yemen to continue retaliatory attacks until
Saudi-led coalition stops war: Army spokesman
• US sends Patriot missile interceptors to Saudi
Arabia amid Yemen retaliation
--------
Africa
• Mali’s Former Prime Minister Dies In Detention:
Media
• Jordan's King Abdullah to visit Ramallah in bid to
ease tensions ahead of Ramadan
• Jordan eases COVID-19 restrictions ahead of Ramadan
• Tunisia train collision injures 95: Emergency
services
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/malaysia-child-marriages-attitudes/d/126629
--------
Women’s Ministry in Malaysia Says No Plans to Ban
Child Marriages, Better to Change Society’s Attitudes
Women,
Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Mohd Harun attends a
programme by the Chean Ai Disabled Welfare Association in Kelana Jaya January
29, 2022. — Picture by Shafwan Zaidon
-----
22 Mar 2022
BY KEERTAN AYAMANY
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — The government has no plans
to ban underage marriage, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry
said in a parliamentary reply this week.
Instead, the ministry helmed by Datuk Seri Rina Harun,
who is from Bersatu, said that the government remains committed to curb the
practice in the country by implementing programmes under the National Strategic
Plan for Addressing the Causes of Underage Marriage.
“This is because the causes of underage marriage need
to be addressed not only through
legislative change, but also through education,
advocacy, health, the strengthening of family institutions, as well as
socioeconomic support for the public.
“At the same time, the Steering Committee that has
been established will continue to monitor implementation and development of the
designed programme,” the ministry said in the written reply dated yesterday.
The reply was to Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar,
who had yesterday asked the government for the status of current plans to ban
minors in Malaysia from marrying.
Nurul Izzah also wanted to know when the ministry
would discuss the matter with the states Islamic Religious Councils since
setting the minimum age for Muslim marriages falls under the purview of the
respective states.
The ministry said the government agrees with Nurul
Izzah's suggestion to have a discussion with the state councils.
It added that talks would be set up with the help of
the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and the Department of
Syariah Judiciary Malaysia.
The ministry’s reply echoes the earlier statement
given last December by Islamic Affairs Minister Datuk Idris Ahmad.
He had said that Jakim will not raise the legal
marrying age for Muslims to 18 because it saw no “necessity” to do so as most
states rejected the proposition.
The practice of child marriages has been a global
concern in recent years and Malaysia has not been spared scrutiny.
In March last year, Unicef Malaysia noted an upwards
trend in child marriages here during the Covid-19 pandemic, and attributed the
increase to school closures, parental deaths and the families worsening
financial situations.
Government data last year showed an average of 1,500
children in the country from various religions, ethnicities, and communities
marry annually with girl brides making up 90 per cent.
Source: Malay Mail
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
'Kill More': Facebook Fails To Detect Hate Determining
the Genocide against Rohingya Muslims
Photo: Bloomberg
-----
March 22, 2022
A new report has found that Facebook failed to detect
blatant hate speech and calls to violence against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim
minority years after such behaviour was found to have played a determining role
in the genocide against them.
The report shared exclusively with The Associated
Press showed the rights group Global Witness submitted eight paid ads for approval
to Facebook, each including different versions of hate speech against Rohingya.
All eight ads were approved by Facebook to be published.
The group pulled the ads before they were posted or
paid for, but the results confirmed that despite its promises to do better,
Facebook's leaky controls still fail to detect hate speech and calls for
violence on its platform.
The army conducted what it called a clearance campaign
in western Myanmar's Rakhine state in 2017 after an attack by a Rohingya
insurgent group. More than 700,000 Rohingya fled into neighbouring Bangladesh
and security forces were accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands
of homes.
Also Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
announced that the US views the violence against Rohingya as genocide. The
declaration is intended to both generate international pressure and lay the
groundwork for potential legal action, Blinken said.
On Feb 1 of last year, Myanmar's military forcibly
took control of the country, jailing democratically elected government
officials. Rohingya refugees have condemned the military takeover and said it
makes them more afraid to return to Myanmar.
Experts say such ads have continued to appear and that
despite its promises to do better and assurances that it has taken its role in
the genocide seriously, Facebook still fails even the simplest of tests
ensuring that paid ads that run on its site do not contain hate speech calling
for the killing of Rohingya Muslims.
The current killing of the Kalar is not enough, we
need to kill more! read one proposed paid post from Global Witness, using a
slur often used in Myanmar to refer to people of east Indian or Muslim origin.
They are very dirty. The Bengali/Rohingya women have a
very low standard of living and poor hygiene. They are not attractive, read
another.
These posts are shocking in what they encourage and
are a clear sign that Facebook has not changed or done what they told the
public what they would do: properly regulate themselves, said Ronan Lee, a
research fellow at the Institute for Media and Creative Industries at
Loughborough University, London.
The eight ads from Global Witness all used hate speech
language taken directly from the United Nations Independent International
Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar in their report to the Human Rights Council.
Several examples were from past Facebook posts.
The fact that Facebook approved all eight ads is
especially concerning because the company claims to hold advertisements to an
even stricter standard than regular, unpaid posts, according to their help
centre page for paid advertisements.
I accept the point that eight isn't a very big number.
But I think the findings are really stark, that all eight of the ads were
accepted for publication, said Rosie Sharpe, a campaigner at Global Witness. I
think you can conclude from that that the overwhelming majority of hate speech
is likely to get through.
Facebook's parent company Meta Platforms Inc said it
has invested in improving its safety and security controls in Myanmar, including
banning military accounts after the Tatmadaw, as the armed forces are locally
known, seized power and imprisoned elected leaders in the 2021 coup.
We've built a dedicated team of Burmese speakers,
banned the Tatmadaw, disrupted networks manipulating public debate and taken
action on harmful misinformation to help keep people safe. We've also invested
in Burmese-language technology to reduce the prevalence of violating content,
Rafael Frankel, director of public policy for emerging markets at Meta Asia
Pacific wrote in an e-mailed statement to AP on March 17.
This work is guided by feedback from experts, civil
society organisations and independent reports, including the UN Fact-Finding
Mission on Myanmar's findings and the independent Human Rights Impact
Assessment we commissioned and released in 2018.
Facebook has been used to spread hate speech and
amplify military propaganda in Myanmar in the past.
Shortly after Myanmar became connected to the internet
in 2000, Facebook paired with its telecom providers to allow customers to use
the platform without having to pay for the data, which was still expensive at
the time. Use of the platform exploded. For many in Myanmar, Facebook became
the internet itself.
Local internet policy advocates repeatedly told Facebook
hate speech was spreading across the platform, often targeting the Muslim
minority Rohingya in the majority Buddhist nation.
For years Facebook failed to invest in content
moderators who spoke local languages or fact checkers with an understanding of
the political situation in Myanmar or to close specific accounts or delete
pages being used to propagate hatred of the Rohingya, said Tun Khin, president
of Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK, a London-based Rohingya advocacy
organisation.
In March 2018, less than six months after hundreds of
thousands of Rohingya fled violence in western Myanmar, Marzuki Darusman,
chairman of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar,
told reporters social media had substantively contributed to the level of
acrimony and dissension and conflict, if you will, within the public".
Hate speech is certainly of course a part of that. As
far as the Myanmar situation is concerned, social media is Facebook, and
Facebook is social media, Darusman said.
Asked about Myanmar a month later at a US Senate
hearing, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook planned to hire dozens of
Burmese speakers to moderate content and would work with civil society groups
to identify hate figures and develop new technologies to combat hate speech.
Hate speech is very language specific. It's hard to do
it without people who speak the local language and we need to ramp up our
effort there dramatically, Zuckerberg said.
Yet in internal files leaked by whistleblower Frances
Haugen last year, AP found that breaches persisted. The company stepped up
efforts to combat hate speech but never fully developed the tools and
strategies required to do so.
Rohingya refugees have sued Facebook for more than
$150 billion, accusing it of failing to stop hate speech that incited violence
against the Muslim ethnic group by military rulers and their supporters in
Myanmar.
Rohingya youth groups based in the Bangladesh refugee
camps have filed a separate complaint in Ireland with the 38-nation
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development calling for Facebook to
provide some remediation programs in the camps.
The company now called Meta has refused to say how
many of its content moderators read Burmese and can thus detect hate speech in
Myanmar.
Rohingya genocide survivors continue to live in camps
today and Facebook continue to fail them, said Tun Khin. Facebook needs to do
more.
Source: Business Standard
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Muslim Family Donates Land worth Rs.2.5 crores To
Build World's Largest Hindu Temple In Bihar
The trust has so far
obtained 125 acres of land for construction of the Virat Ramayan Mandir temple
(Photo: File)
-----
March 22, 2022
Patna: Setting an example of communal harmony in the
country, a Muslim family in Bihar has donated land worth Rs.2.5 crores for
construction of the world's largest Hindu temple--Virat Ramayan Mandir—in the
Kaithwalia area of East Champaran district in the state.
Talking to reporters here on Monday, Acharya Kishore
Kunal, chief of the Patna-based Mahavir Mandir Trust, that has undertaken the
project, said that Ishtiyaq Ahmad Khan, who has donated the land, is a
businessman from East Champaran based in Guwahati.
"He recently completed all formalities pertaining
to the donation of land belonging to his family for the construction of the
temple at the registrar office of the Kesharia sub-division (East
Chanmparan)," Kunal, a former Indian Police Service officer, told
reporters.
The Acharya said that this donation by Mr Khan and his
family is a great example of social harmony and brotherhood between two
communities. Without the help of Muslims, it would have been difficult to
realise this dream project, he added.
The Mahavir Mandir Trust has so far obtained 125 acres
of land for construction of this temple. The trust will soon obtain another 25
acres of land too in the area.
The Virat Ramayan Mandir is slated to be taller than
the world famous 12th century Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia, which is 215 feet
high. The complex in East Champaran will comprise 18 temples with high spires and
its Shiv temple will have the world's largest Shivling.
The total construction cost is estimated to be around
₹ 500 crore. The trust will soon take advice from the experts engaged in the
construction of new parliament building in New Delhi.
Source: ND TV
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Pakistan PM Imran Khan To Trumpet Islamic Credentials
As Home Fires Burn
Pakistan PM Imran Khan
------
Mar 22, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Foreign ministers of Muslim nations gather
in Pakistan Tuesday as the country's leader trumpets his achievement of getting
Islamophobia recognised at the United Nations while at the same time battling
the most serious challenge to his rule in four years.
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is
meeting in Islamabad with an ambitious agenda that seeks approval for over 100
declarations, including aid for financially strapped Afghanistan and support
for the Palestinians and Kashmir.
But as officials praise Prime Minister Imran Khan for
getting the UN last week to formally recognise Islamophobia as a global threat,
the cricket star-turned-politician faces a no-confidence vote in the National
Assembly.
In a hectic week on the political front, the country
on Wednesday also celebrates Pakistan Day, with a military parade and flypasts.
The theme for the OIC gathering is "Partnering
for Unity, Justice and Development", and Khan will deliver the keynote
speech that is sure to reference last week's UN resolution -- a personal
bugbear since he became premier in August 2018.
Khan won office through an electorate weary of the
two-party dynasties that have dominated Pakistan politics since independence --
periods of power punctuated by military coups -- but he seems to have lost that
support, and perhaps the army too.
"I think the army leadership must be extremely
concerned seeing what is happening on the political scene at the moment,"
said Talat Masood, a retired general-turned-political analyst.
Khan has called for a million of his supporters to
rally in the capital next week to put pressure on dozens of National Assembly
members who are reported to be considering voting against him.
The leaders of the two main opposition parties have
also called for their supporters to gather, prompting authorities to declare
most of this week a public holiday in the hope of avoiding conflict --
particularly during the OIC meeting.
"It is dragging the country to chaos,"
Masood said.
"It seems that the government and opposition
parties are on a collision course. They don't seem to solve the problems
politically, and rather try to show their street power."
The no-confidence motion is scheduled to be formally
introduced on Friday with a vote next week, but horse-trading is common in
Pakistan politics and the rebels could well return to the fold before then.
"He has managed his own and allied political
parties poorly," political analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi said of Khan.
"It was his failure to keep the party and allies
together that has brought him to this."
Although Pakistan escaped the worst of the Covid-19
epidemic, the economy is in the doldrums with soaring inflation, a feeble
rupee, and crippling debt.
The return of the Taliban to power in neighbouring
Afghanistan has also provoked a resurgence of militancy in Pakistan -- including
the bombing of a Shia mosque in Peshawar last month claimed by the local
chapter of Islamic State that killed more than 60 people.
With flaring domestic issues, Khan has tried to
position himself on the international stage, but his insistence on continuing
with a visit to Moscow last month as Russian troops invaded Ukraine perplexed
even his most ardent admirers.
He was also one of the few world leaders to attend the
opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics when others boycotted in protest at
China's human rights record.
There are several scenarios at play for Pakistan this
week.
Khan's PTI party is pursuing a court case against
rebellious members that could force them to follow the whip.
Another tactic is for parties to, quite literally,
hold lawmakers hostage and prevent them from voting or having a quorum.
And even if Khan does lose the vote, there will likely
be a series of challenges both inside and outside the assembly.
Most of that will be lost on today's OIC gathering,
which is largely a talking shop that will pass a series of political
resolutions.
Key among them is channelling aid to Afghanistan,
although any formal recognition of the country's new Taliban government remains
unlikely.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Myanmar Army Committed Genocide Against Rohingya
Muslims: US
Photo: The Quint
-----
March 22, 2022
WASHINGTON: The United States formally determined that
Myanmar’s army committed genocide and crimes against humanity in its violence
against the Rohingya minority, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on
Monday, warning that as long as the junta was in power nobody in the country
would be safe.
Announcing the decision, which was first reported by
Reuters on Sunday, Blinken said the attacks against Rohingya were “widespread
and systematic” and that evidence pointed to a clear intent to destroy the
mainly Muslim minority.
A clear statement by the United States saying genocide
was committed could bolster efforts to hold the Myanmar generals accountable
and help prevent further atrocities, activists and US officials believe.
In his speech at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in
Washington, the top American diplomat read out tragic and chilling accounts of
victims, who had been shot in the head, raped and tortured.
Myanmar’s armed forces launched a military operation
in 2017 that forced at least 730,000 of the mainly Muslim Rohingya from their
homes and into neighboring Bangladesh, where they recounted killings, mass rape
and arson. In 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup.
“Since the coup, we have seen the Burmese military use
many of the same tactics. Only now the military is targeting anyone in Burma it
sees as opposing or undermining its repressive rule,” Blinken said.
“For those who did not realise it before the coup, the
brutal violence unleashed by the military since February 2021 has made clear
that no one in Burma will be safe from atrocities so long as it is in power,” he
added.
Days after US President Joe Biden took office, Myanmar
generals led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power on Feb 1, 2021,
after complaining of fraud in a November 2020 general election won by democracy
champion Aung San Suu Kyi’s party. Election monitoring groups found no evidence
of mass fraud.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1681217/myanmar-army-committed-genocide-against-rohingya-muslims-us
--------
Southeast
Asia
‘Muslim Stewardesses Should Be Allowed To Wear Tudung
(Veil or Headscarf)’: PAS MP
22 Mar 2022
MUSLIM air stewardesses should be given the right and
choice to don the Tudung, said PAS MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari.
"I commend the move by the government to lessen
discrimination against pregnant women. But how about the right of Muslim women
to wear Tudung?
"As I have stated before (using) Malaysia
Airlines as an example, do their Muslim air stewardesses have a right to don
the Tudung?
"We are not asking that wearing the Tudung is
made mandatory but that Muslim women be allowed to choose to wear it," the
Pasir Mas MP said when debating amendments to the Employment (Amendment Bill)
Bill 2021 in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He noted that employers who refused to allow their
Muslim women workers the right to wear tudung, should be penalised.
Earlier, Ahmad Fadhli suggested that widows be given
30 days bereavement leave instead of the current three days.
Last December, Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala
Krai) raised in Parliament that the uniforms of Malaysian air stewardesses were
too revealing.
He urged the Family and Community Development Ministry
to state its stand on the matter.
However, Family and Community Development Minister
Datuk Seri Rina Harun said the issue of workers’ welfare came under the Human
Resources Ministry based on provisions under the Employment Act.
Source: The Star
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
China attending OIC moot to bolster relations with
Muslim world: Wang Yi
March 22, 2022
ISLAMABAD: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said
Monday said Beijing was attending the 48th meeting of OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers
— scheduled to take place March 22-23 — for developing a partnership with the
Muslim world besides promoting unity and cooperation for the multilateralism.
The Chinese foreign minister, after his bilateral
meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, told journalists that the
CFM’s theme of “Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice, and Development” had
great significance in the current scenario — and was also the main purpose of
Chinese participation.
In what FM Qureshi described as a “very comprehensive
and detailed meeting,” the two foreign ministers discussed bilateral
cooperation, regional situation as well as international issues including
Afghanistan and Ukraine.
The meeting between the two ministers included
discussions on diverse topics ranging from international issues like
Afghanistan and Ukraine to enhancing exports of Pakistan.
Qureshi, who addressed a press briefing alongside his
Chinese counterpart, told journalists that it was for the first time that the
Chinese foreign minister would attend and address the CFM moot.
Earlier, both the countries also signed documents for
enhancing cooperation in the fields of higher education and agriculture at a
ceremony also witnessed by the two foreign ministers.
Qureshi said they also discussed the extension of the
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan. The Chinese FM assured for a
review considering the changed situation in the war-torn country.
While discussing trade and investment cooperation,
Qureshi said, China expressed the desire for the export of Pakistani rice and
wheat in order to enhance the country’s exports.
The two foreign ministers discussed the
counter-terrorism cooperation and a coordinated approach to deal with the
terrorist outfits including ETIM and TTP.
Wang Yi spoke high of Pakistan’s steps for the
security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan and also lauded the strict action
against those involved in Dasu terrorist attack.
FM Qureshi thanked China for supporting Pakistan in
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and told journalists that his counterpart
had assured the country of its constant support till its removal from the Grey
List.
Source: Pakistan Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Despite birth of new parties, pundits remain sceptical
that Malaysia will move past race and religion-based politics by GE15
22 Mar 2022
BY KEERTAN AYAMANY
KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Parti Warisan Sabah and
Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) are among the newer parties that
have vowed to move on beyond ethno-religious issues, but political analysts
were sceptical that the playing field will change much.
Speaking to Malay Mail, the analysts polled said the
issues of race and religion will likely remain centrestage in the run up to the
15th general election (GE15) and may even stay in Malaysian politics beyond
then.
“If you trace back since the 1960s, race and religion
have always been the issue,” said senior fellow with the National Professors
Council, Jeniri Amir.
He pointed to legacy political parties that were
formed to represent a specific ethnic group or dominated by one, such as
Barisan Nasional components: Malay nationalist party Umno, ethnic
Chinese-majority MCA and ethnic Indian-majority MIC.
Even Umno’s on-off archrival PAS is an Islamist party
that remains largely Malay despite its non-Malay wing. Most recently, Parti
Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia that aimed to replace Umno also touted its Bumiputera
identity as its main cornerstone.
Jeniri also said that this perception has even carried
over to Opposition parties, despite them not being ethnic-based and offering
multi-ethnic election candidates, such as PKR that is perceived to be
Malay-majority, and DAP which cannot seem to shake off a Chinese perception.
“You need to bear in mind that the majority of
[Parliamentary] seats in Peninsular Malaysia have a majority Malay-Muslim
population.
“For any Malay-Muslim [based] party, it is impossible
for them to escape this [race-religion narrative]. This is their best bet to
win votes,” he said.
In December last year, Warisan president Datuk Seri
Mohd Shafie Apdal had touted the party’s ambition to transition from race or
religion-based politics for its expansion to Peninsular Malaysia.
A similar intention was announced a few months prior
by Muda president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman when launching the
youth-focused party.
Azmi Hassan, a senior fellow at Nusantara Academy for
Strategic Research, said that although many Malaysian voters may wish to see
political parties move away from race and religion, the issues still hold sway
over a majority of the public.
“If you look at how Pakatan Harapan (PH) era, race and
religion played a very important role in their downfall.
“In Sabah and Sarawak, a very similar line, which is
tribal issues or which part of the community you are from (is played up),” he
said.
During its short-lived administration, PH had faced
intense race and religion-baiting from then Opposition Umno and PAS, including
accusations that it was sidelining Malay rulers with its intention to ratify
the Rome Statute and anti-Islam allegations with the International Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd).
Bridget Welsh, an honorary research fellow of the
University of Nottingham Malaysia's Asia Research Institute, agreed with Azmi,
saying that surveys consistently showed that religion and race are less
important than other issues such as the economy, social security and
governance.
“Many voters in Malaysia are able to see through
identity politics and want a more sophisticated discourse,” she proposed.
“However, as race and religion have imprinted
political mobilisation for decades since the 1960s, it is difficult to move
away from these approaches, especially among older leaders.
“These will remain prominent as they are entrenched
patterns of mobilisation and political parties have yet been able to
fundamentally change narratives away from these issues,” she added.
Welsh also suggested that the “reform” narrative of
PKR has lost traction, saying that the narrative that may replace it among the
Opposition is still evolving and has yet to coalesce.
Azmi said that although it was possible for Malaysia’s
political scene to make the transition towards focusing on matters more
important than race and religion, there is still a long way to go.
“It all depends on the parties. We need more parties
to emerge that do not tie themselves to these two factors,” he said.
Yesterday, human rights group Pusat Komas reported
that Malaysia has seen a rise in publicised incidents of racial discrimination
with 51 such incidents reported on online news media last year.
In a separate survey last month, the group also found
that the topics of race and religion made up a huge percentage of the three
main coalition’s communication strategies during the Melaka polls last
November.
Source: Malay Mail
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Implement compulsory voting, the sooner the better,
says ex-EC chairman
Danial Azhar
March 21, 2022
KUALA LUMPUR: A former Election Commission (EC)
chairman has suggested compulsory voting to address low voter turnout.
Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said while the recently
implemented automatic voter registration was a positive move, the low voter
turnout at the Johor elections proved more must be done.
“Of course, further dialogue is needed to determine
exactly how this will be done, but the sooner it is implemented the better,” he
said at the launch of the book, ‘Pilihan Raya Demokrasi Malaysia: Tanding,
Pilih Menang Tadbir’ by the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah, today.
Rashid noted that it would require plenty of work to
amend the current laws on the electoral process, but said he was confident it
could be done.
He said it was especially important to encourage the
public to vote in general elections, as it ultimately determined how the
country would be governed for the next five years or until Parliament was
dissolved.
He said “any functioning democracy is built on its voters”.
Rashid also called for a better system to keep track
of where voters were located, and changes to their addresses to ensure no one
was left behind in the electoral process.
He said this should not only apply to those residing
in cities or rural areas, but also students or citizens living abroad,
highlighting that the current system was inadequate.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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South
Asia
Turkmenistan becomes first Central Asian country to
recognise Taliban envoy to Afghan embassy in Ashgabat
March 22, 2022
Turkmenistan becomes the first country in Central Asia
to accept a Taliban-appointed Afghanistan ambassador, since the Taliban regime
took over Kabul in August 2021.
Taking to Twitter, Farangis Najibullah, a
Tajik-American journalist for Radio Free Europe, wrote, “Turkmenistan becomes
1st country in Central Asia to accept Taliban-appointed Afghanistan
ambassador.”
The inauguration ceremony of the new Taliban-led
Afghan ambassador Fazil-Mohammad Saber took place in Ashgabat last Thursday,
Fergana news agency quoted. Turkmenistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Vepa Hajiyev
attended the ceremony to mark the inauguration of the new ambassador.
Following the Taliban takeover in August last year,
thousands of Afghans left the country fearing reprisal from the Islamic group.
The situation of human rights in Afghanistan has
worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s return
to power in August last year.
Although the fighting in the country has ended,
serious human rights violations continue unabated. The Taliban have committed
and continue to commit human rights violations including extrajudicial
executions, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary detentions, a massive
rollback of the rights of women and girls, censorship of and attacks against
the media.
Source: The Statesman
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OIC, Islamic bank sign Humanitarian Trust Fund for
Afghanistan pact
March 21, 2022
A charter to establish a Humanitarian Trust Fund for
Afghanistan was signed on Monday by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation
(OIC) and Islamic Development Bank.
The signing ceremony, held in Pakistan's capital
Islamabad, was also attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
The charter was signed by OIC Secretary General
Hissein Brahim Taha and Islamic Development Bank head Muhammad Sulaiman
Al-Jasser, according to a Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement.
"The Trust Fund has been launched under the aegis
of the Islamic Development Bank. Its establishment was one of the key outcomes
of the 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers, held
in Islamabad on 19 December 2021," said the statement.
The bank will serve as a vehicle to channel
humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, including in partnership with other international
actors.
Addressing the ceremony, Qureshi said the humanitarian
crisis in Afghanistan needs urgent action and requested that OIC member states
and other donors contribute to the fund.
"Humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people
would constitute an important facet of Pakistan’s forthcoming chairmanship of
the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers," he said.
The 48th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting is
scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Tuesday and Wednesday, and several top
diplomats of Muslim countries have already arrived.
"Pakistan has already announced an assistance
package of 5 billion Pak rupees (over $27.7 million) for Afghanistan. It
remains firmly committed to supporting the Afghan people, in the wake of
serious humanitarian challenges," said Pakistan’s top diplomat.
Earlier Qureshi also meet with Taha, who has arrived
in Islamabad, and reviewed the agenda of the meeting and issues facing the
Muslim world it will discuss.
Welcoming the UN General Assembly’s recent passage of
a resolution designating March 15 International Day to Combat Islamophobia,
Qureshi lauded the support of the OIC and its member states for his country's
initiative, according to the ministry.
Source: Yenisafak
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UNICEF asks Afghan parents to send children to schools
22 Mar 2022
As the new educational year begins tomorrow,
Wednesday, March 23 across 24 non-tropical provinces in Afghanistan, United
Nations International Children Emergency Fun asked people in Afghanistan to
send their minors to schools.
UNICEF Afghanistan in a Twitter post on Monday urged
all Afghan parents to prepare their eligible children for schools as new
educational years unfold.
“Before the reopening of schools that takes place on
Hamal 3rd (March 23rd), UNICEF Afghanistan asks all Afghan parents to prepare
their eligible children and send them to schools across Afghanistan.” Reads the
Tweet.
Ministry of Education of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan has announced that there is no limitation in place for admitting
new students to schools and the process has already begun.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/unicef-asks-afghan-parents-to-send-children-to-schools-75476576/
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Ashraf Ghani: Lasting government in Afghanistan needs
national legitimization
22 Mar 2022
Former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said that
conflicts have ended in Afghanistan but the country has not reached peace and
stability that needs internal dialogue and negotiations.
The former President who fled Afghanistan on August 15
added, Afghanistan will turn into a battlefield of other fights and a colony of
humanitarian assistance.
Speaking in a voice message on the occasion of Nowruz
(New Solar Year) Ashraf Ghani has offered five points as agenda for the start
of “national discussion.”
Afghanistan should not turn a colony of humanitarian
aid and the assistance should be arranged well.
Crisis in Europe has distracted the world from
Afghanistan so the Afghan people should do initiatives by themselves. Afghans
have natural assets based on which they can reach prosperity.
Afghans should accept each other for a dignified in
the country as conflicts have ended but peace has not been restored yet.
Containing another war will be difficult and a few people cannot rule a
country.
Through national consensus, the Afghans should choose
a government that is lasting and national legitimization is key for such a
government. Regional and global and legitimization cannot be achieved without
national one.
Afghanistan should assist and take part in large
regional economic projects but should remain impartial.
Source: Khaama Press
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‘Taliban rule’: Pakistanis fume after police violently
disrupt Pashtun singer’s concert
SIMRIN SIRUR
21 March, 2022
New Delhi: The violent disruption of a Pashtun
singer’s private concert has led to public outcry in Pakistan, with several
saying the attack threatened Pashtun identity and put the Peshawar police on an
equal footing with the Taliban.
On Friday night, Pashtun singer, poet and scholar Dr
Karan Khan was performing at a wedding in Nazirabad in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province, when the police stormed the venue claiming to act on complaints by
local clerics and residents.
According to the police, the local clerics and
residents of the neighbourhood were opposing the show because it was held on
Shab-i-Barat, which is celebrated on the 14th or 15th day of Sha’ban, the
eighth month of the Islamic calendar.
But if news reports and videos of the incident are
anything to go by, the police did much more than just stop the event. A video
of the event doing the rounds on social media shows an abandoned stage with
broken chairs and instruments.
Dilshad Afridi, in whose house the wedding took place,
was quoted by Dawn newspaper as saying, “We had gathered on the night of March
18 to celebrate the wedding of my friend with Karan Khan performing for some
100 guests,” adding, “The police suddenly raided the venue, manhandling the
guests and breaking the instruments.”
The Express Tribune reports that the Peshawar police
released a press note with the claim that they acted on the complaints of
“enraged” religious students. Khan and other musicians were taken to the police
station and later released, allegedly to protect them from the students and
clerics.
“A few armed men were also taken into custody by
police on the charges of displaying weapons. Musicians and the singer were
allowed to go from the police station,” the press release says.
Support from the public
Over the weekend, Pashtun activists and social media
users expressed outrage, saying the police’s crackdown was no less than an act
of terrorism and threat to Pashtun identity.
Pakistanis used the hashtag #WeStandWithKaranKhan in
solidarity with the Pashtun singer. Founder and head of Pashtun Tahafuz
Movement (PTM) Manzoor Pashteen tweeted: “Police brutal attack on event of
@karanpukhtoon in Peshawar is highly deplorable & dehumanizing. Human
dignity is inviolable which must be protected. Such state of exception must
ends.”
A lived reality
Karan Khan’s music is derived from his experiences and
lived identity as a Pashtun. Al Jazeera reported that he was one of the
millions of people who had to flee the Swat Valley in 2008 when the Pakistan
Army fought the Taliban in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Source: The Print
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India
Mathura Vigilantes Beat Up Muslim Driver Over
Suspicion He Was Transporting Cow Remains
March 22, 2022
New Delhi: Cow vigilantes in Raal village of Mathura
district of Uttar Pradesh brutally beat up a Muslim driver of a pick-up van on
the night of March 20, because they suspected he was transporting cow bones and
other cow remains.
Officials have said that the bones were not of cows
and were, in fact, being disposed off by a contractor as part of the village
cleanliness drive.
The Raal village is under the jurisdiction of the Jait
police station.
Times of India has reported that the victim,
35-year-old Mohammad Aamir, was thrashed repeatedly and verbally abused.
Several videos of the crime were shot and circulated. PTI has identified the
victim as ‘Hamid’ and noted that he is a resident of Hathras. He was headed
there from Mathura’s Govardhan, police told TOI, adding that he had a licence
to transport animal carcasses.
Police have arrested three villagers and registered a
case against several people, 14 of them identified, under sections of the IPC,
including 307, attempt to murder.
Cow vigilantes from Vrindavan – Vikas Pandit and
Balram Thakur of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad – reached the village and
intercepted Aamir’s vehicle, the latter said in the FIR. Claiming that the
vehicle was being used to transport cow remains, the two led began thrashing
him, he noted, as reported by TOI.
Pandit and Thakur have, in turn, alleged that
villagers mistook them as Aamir’ associates and also assaulted them, holding
all three captive.
Source: The Wire
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https://thewire.in/communalism/cow-vigilante-mathura-muslim-driver
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Uttar Pradesh: Aligarh Muslim University students
protest against Karnataka HC ruling on 'hijab' ban
Mar 21, 2022
AGRA: Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) students on
Monday took out a protest march in the varsity campus to oppose the Karnataka
government’s order and the high court judgment restraining Muslim girl students
from wearing a "hijab or headscarf" in educational institutions.
The protesting students submitted a memorandum to the
President of India through the local administration, demanding an ordinance to
"preserve the right to religious freedom prescribed under the Quran and
the Hadith" and protect citizens under constitutional principles.
In the memorandum, the students wrote, "It
creates a vague prohibition against clothes that disturb equality, integrity,
and public law and order. Unity in diversity is one of the distinguishable
features of India."
The memorandum further stated that covering the body
with clothes is a "dignified practice". "Wearing a hijab does
not create disharmony, oppose constitutional morality, or disturb public
tranquillity," it said.
The memorandum added, "The essential religious
practice doctrine shall be applied in the light of sacred scriptures and if
such a question arises before the hon’ble judiciary, the bench may take
assistance from the expert of Shariah for better appraisal of such
issues."
Urging the government through the president, students
said the proposed measures must be complied with for the "protection of
interests of the minority for their existence as an individual and as a
society." They requested that the government order be set aside.
The students said, "If people from other
religions are allowed to follow their customs then why are Muslim girls being
stopped from wearing a hijab in schools and colleges? Our hijab is our
protection and we feel safe while covering our body."
Source: Times Of India
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Danish Siddiqui's parents to take Taliban to court
over photojournalist's killing in Kandahar
Geeta Mohan
March 21, 2022
The parents of Indian photojouralist Danish Siddiqui
will move the International Criminal Court against the Taliban tomorrow over
Siddique’s death in Afghanistan last year. He was killed while covering a clash
between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak district of
Kandahar city last July.
“On Tuesday, 22nd March, 2022, Danish Siddiqui's
parents, Akhtar Siddiqui and Shahida Akhtar will initiate legal action to
investigate his killing and bring those responsible, including high level
commanders and leaders of the Taliban, to justice,” the family said in an
official statement.
Calling his killing “a crime against humanity” and a
“war crime”, the statement said: “On 16th July, 2021, Pulitzar award winning
Indian photojournalist Danish Siddique was illegally detained, tortured and
killed by the Taliban, and his body was mutilated. These acts and this killing
constitute not only a murder, but a crime against humanity and a war crime.
This was not an isolated incident. The Taliban's military code of conduct,
published as the Layha, has a policy of attacking civilians, including
journalists. The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented
over 70,000 civilian casualties attributed to the Taliban.”
Lawyer Avi Singh will represent the family in the
case.
The Taliban took over Afghanistan last August in a
stunning sweep to power, overthrowing a democratically elected government.
Source: India Today
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Hijab Row: Teachers from Various Parts of India Stand
with Muslim Students
Mar 22, 2022
BENGALURU: Teachers from various parts of India
expressed solidarity with Muslim girls over the hijab issue.
“As teachers working in different schools, colleges
and universities in different parts of India, and as Indian teachers working
abroad, we stand in solidarity with Muslim students’ right to wear a hijab in
the classroom if they wish to. It is a question of women’s autonomy and their
agency, and the hijab does not compromise with the integrity of education in
any way,” said a solidarity statement signed by teachers from premier
institutions including Jamia Millia Islamia, Miranda House, University of Delhi,
Ashoka University and NLSIU, among others.
“Our students come from different religions, castes,
genders and speak different mother tongues… In the course of their education,
students learn to reflect critically on the world around them and begin to interrogate
beliefs and practices they grew up with. In the process, students sometimes
reaffirm their beliefs, and sometimes discard them,” read their statement.
Source: Times Of India
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Urdu journalism is dying in its crucible Lucknow
Mar 21, 2022
Lucknow: Exactly 200 years ago in the month of March,
undivided India’s first Urdu newspaper — Jam-e-Jahan Numa — edited by Hari Har
Dutt and Sada Sukh Lal, rolled out of a printing press in Calcutta, mobilizing
opinion on social issues, freedom struggle and nation building.
Thirty-six years later, well-known Urdu litterateur
Munshi Nawal Kishor published — Awadh Akhbar — the first Urdu newspaper from
Lucknow, which was in the vanguard of Urdu journalism, just a year after the
first uprising against British.
It was the most popular newspaper of its time,
specialising in politics, social reform and literature and soon became the
fulcrum of Urdu journalism.
One-and-half centuries later, the crucible of Urdu
journalism, Lucknow, is struggling to keep the flame alive. Barring a couple of
newspapers, published by Hindi media groups, majority of Urdu publications from
Lucknow and its suburbs have little or no circulation and are mere statistics
in UP information department records. In sharp contrast, Urdu print and digital
media has managed to thrive in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Srinagar.
On Saturday, the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys
Association, Lucknow, organised a seminar at Islamic Centre of India in
Lucknow, to mark 200 years of Urdu journalism. The meet presided over by
Islamic Centre chairman Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali was attended by
Prof Shafey Kidwai, chairman department of journalism,AMU, and Urdu author
Masood Usmani. Syed Shoeb, secretary of AMU Old Boys Association told TOI that
“AMU has produced some of the finest Urdu journalists of the sub-continent and
one of the leading names include Maulana Abdul Majid Dariyabadi. On his 120th
birth anniversary, we organised this seminar. Maulana Hasrat Mohani, Asrar-ul
Haq Majaz, Josh Malihabadi, Rasheed Ahmad Siddiqui, Ali Sardar Jafri are other
prominent AMU alumni, who contributed to Urdu writing.”
Talking about the slow death of Urdu journalism in
Lucknow, a local scribe, Asad Rizvi said, “With no revenue model and dwindling
readership, Urdu newspapers are dying here. Also, the GenNext can hardly read
or write the language.”
Hyderabad, where Urdu has a distinct Deccani flavour,
has managed to keep the flag aloft and Urdu newspapers still shape opinion. And
these include Munsif, Siaisat, Etmaad, Rahmuma-e-Dakkan and Adab-e-Telangana.
In Mumbai, Urdu News and Urdu Times are prominent newspapers with a wide reach.
“The older generation in Lucknow, who were born 10-20
years after independence can read and write Urdu. Today, Muslim youths have
lost interest and given the language a miss. Urdu has also lost relevance in
government school syllabi ringing a death knell to the language,” said Nadir
Wahaab Khan, a senior Lucknow journalist. Notably, it was Hindu scholars and
writers, who took Urdu journalism to great heights in Lucknow.
Source: Times Of India
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Pakistan
Islamabad
Hosting 48th Organisation Of Islamic Cooperation FMs Moot Today At Parliament
House, Islamabad
Mar
22 2022
Mariana
Baabar
ISLAMABAD:
The Council of the Foreign Ministers (CFMs) of the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC) will meet today after the inaugural of the 48th OIC
conference, hosted by Pakistan at Parliament House, Islamabad.
The
theme of the 48th session is "Building Partnerships for Unity, Justice,
and Development". Over 100 resolutions will be considered during the
two-day session.
In
his keynote address at the inaugural, Prime Minister Imran Khan will spotlight
the role and contributions of Pakistan towards the OIC and reflect on the
challenges the Muslim world is facing.
Moreover,
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will also deliver a statement which will
be followed by the election of bureau members. Once the bureau members are
elected, the OIC chair will be handed to Pakistan.
The
session will be addressed by the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia Prince Faisal
bin Farhan Al Saud, OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, Islamic
Development Bank President Muhammad Suleiman Al-Jasser, Chinese State Councilor
and Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wangi Yi.
Meanwhile,
a video message by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be
shown on the occasion.
The
48th OIC session coincides with the celebrations of Pakistan Day.
On
March 23, the visiting foreign ministers will visit the Pakistan Day parade
venue and witness the professional capability of Pakistan’s armed forces and
the traditional floats of all the provinces, reflecting the national unity.
Later
in the day, Foreign Minister Qureshi along with OIC Secretary General Hissein
Brahim Taha will hold a joint press stakeout following the conclusion of the
session.
The
summit will also discuss developments in Afghanistan and its humanitarian
consequences for the Afghan people and the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, it
added.
Many
African issues will also be on the summit’s agenda, including the situation in
Mali, the Sahel region, and Lake Chad, and the situation in Central Africa and
the Republic of Guinea.
The
OIC foreign ministers will also discuss developments in Yemen, Libya, Sudan,
Somalia, Syria, and other regions during the summit.
Pakistan
has a proud history of hosting major OIC events including Summits and Council
of Foreign Minister (CFM) meetings.
The
country hosted the 2nd OIC Summit in Lahore, in February 1974. An Extraordinary
OIC Summit was held in Islamabad in 1997, on the occasion of Pakistan’s Golden
Jubilee.
Pakistan
also hosted the OIC CFMs on four occasions, 2nd Session in December 1970, 11th
Session in May 1980, 21st Session in April 1993 and the 34th Session in May
2007. The 1st and the 17th Extraordinary Sessions of the OIC CFM, were held in
Islamabad, in January 1980 and December 2021, respectively.
FM
Qureshi and OIC secretary-general review agenda of 48th session
Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha
reviewed the agenda of 48th Council of Foreign Ministers and exchanged views on
the main outcomes expected from the conference.
They
also discussed the issues confronting the Islamic Ummah and the role of the OIC
in that regard.
Whilst
highlighting the grim human rights and humanitarian situation in the Indian
Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the foreign minister expressed
appreciation for OIC’s principled position and consistent support for the just
struggle of Kashmiris for their right to self-determination.
Welcoming
the recent adoption of the resolution at the United Nations General Assembly
designating March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia, the
foreign minister lauded the support extended by the OIC and its member states
to Pakistan’s initiative.
He
commended the proposal to appoint OIC’s Special Envoy on Islamophobia to help
coordinate the work of the organisation and its member states for addressing
discrimination and stigmatisation of the Muslims all over the world.
Referring
to the humanitarian and economic crises being faced by the Afghan people,
Qureshi stressed the importance of the implementation of decisions taken at the
extraordinary session of the OIC-CFM held in Islamabad on December 19 last year
and welcomed the operationalisation of the Humanitarian Trust Fund for
Afghanistan.
The
OIC secretary-general assured the foreign minister of the OIC Secretariat’s
full support and cooperation during Pakistan’s chairmanship of CFM.
Meanwhile,
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib said that the
48th session of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers would play an important role
in promoting unity of the Islamic Ummah and resolution of the problems being
faced by the Muslims.
While
talking to media after receiving the OIC Secretary General Hussain Ibrahim Taha
here, he said that the session would also take up the recent achievement of the
Muslim Ummah against Islamophobia, when the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution to observe March 15 day against Islamophobia every year.
He
said that Pakistan had moved the resolution on behalf of the OIC.
He
said that secretary general of the OIC had also visited Pakistan three months
back when an emergency session of OIC Foreign Ministers was held on
Afghanistan.
Speaking
on the occasion, the OIC secretary-general said that he was very happy to be
back in Pakistan.
Source:
Geo TV
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Media
bodies demand PM Imran prove ‘anti-govt drive is funded’
March
22, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the media has challenged the prime minister
to prove his “scandalous allegations” that media houses have been bought by
political parties and some are being funded by foreign sources.
Prime
Minister Imran Khan made these allegations in his public address in Malakand on
Sunday.
In
a statement issued on Monday, the JAC said the PM’s statements amount to accusing
the media of corruption. If these allegations cannot be proved “within a
reasonable time”, the committee reserves the right to approach the judiciary
for relief, it warned.
It
requested PM Khan not to make such statements for “political point scoring”.
The
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) sought an apology from PM Khan
over the allegation that media houses were receiving funds for “anti-government
campaigns”.
In
a statement, PFUJ president Shahzada Zulfiqar and secretary general Nasir Zaidi
expressed outrage over the “baseless remarks”, saying “it is surprising the
head of the government is using a public forum for spreading unfounded
allegations against the media and the journalist fraternity instead of
ordering an investigation”.
Source:
Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1681245/media-bodies-demand-pm-imran-prove-anti-govt-drive-is-funded
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PM
Imran’s statement on India’s foreign policy ‘most bizarre’: Shehbaz
March
22, 2022
LAHORE:
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has termed
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement on India’s foreign policy the ‘most
bizarre’.
“Imran
Khan’s praise for the so-called ‘independent’ Indian foreign policy is the most
bizarre statement to date. India, particularly under [Narendra] Modi, has
accused Pakistan of terrorism, opposed CPEC & hurt our interests globally.
It has robbed Kashmiris of their statehood,” the PML-N president said in a
tweet on Monday.
Prime
Minister Khan had in his public address in Dargai area of Malakand on Sunday
lauded India for having an ‘independent foreign policy’ that was favourable to
people of India.
Source:
Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1681244/pm-imrans-statement-on-indias-foreign-policy-most-bizarre-shehbaz
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Pakistan
Chief Justice not yet convinced about interfering in National Assembly
proceedings
21
March, 2022
Islamabad
[Pakistan], March 21 (ANI): Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial said the
Supreme Court has not yet been convinced about interfering in the proceedings
of the National Assembly.
The
CJP said this while hearing a petition moved by the Supreme Court Bar
Association (SCBA) seeking the court’s intervention to prevent “anarchy” in the
country, The News International reported. A no-trust motion is being moved in
the assembly and the ruling party and the Opposition have announced rallies in
Islamabad.
After
hearing the arguments by the SCBA counsel, CJP said, “these are the internal
matters of the assembly,” adding that it would be better to fight these battles
in the National Assembly, The News International reported.
CJP
Bandial also said that the Supreme Court of Pakistan wants to protect everybody’s
voting rights regarding the Pakistani government’s decision that prevents the
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers to vote in the no-confidence motion.
Pakistan
Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief
Maulana Fazlur Rehman were also present during the hearing.
The
opposition leader has expressed frustration over the delay in conducting voting
on no-confidence against Khan and claimed that National Assembly Speaker Asad
Qaiser is biased.
Earlier,
on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
said that the right to bring about a no-confidence motion is democratic and a
constitutional right, adding that the votes cannot be bought this time,
reported Geo News.
“The
speaker was biased since day one, and is still showing his bias,” the senior
leader claimed.
Meanwhile,
Pakistani PM has to face the no-confidence motion on Friday as the National
Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Sunday summoned the session of the Lower House
at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Friday.
Source:
The Print
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North
America
Hatchet-wielding
attacker at Canada mosque charged for possible hate-motivated attack, police
say
By
Amir Vera and Jennifer Henderson
March
21, 2022
The
man who allegedly discharged bear spray while brandishing a hatchet at a mosque
in the Canadian city of Mississauga is now facing multiple charges for what is
"believed to be a hate-motivated incident," Peel Regional Police said
in a news release Monday.
The
charges against Mohammad Moiz Omar, a 24-year-old Mississauga resident, include
assault with a weapon; administering noxious substance with intent to endanger
life or cause bodily harm; possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose;
utter threat to cause death or bodily harm; carrying concealed weapon; and
mischief to religious property, according to the release.
The
attempted attack took place Saturday around 7 a.m. local time at Dar Al-Tawheed
Islamic Centre during the dawn prayer of Fajr, police said. The mosque said in
a Facebook post the suspect who walked in was also armed with "numerous
other sharp edged weapons."
Noonrani
Sairally, who's been attending the mosque for more than a decade, told CNN
Monday he heard a noise about seven to 10 minutes after the congregation
started morning prayers.
"I
heard a hissing noise over the sound system followed by a scream and when I
turned around, I saw this man with a can of bear spray and a hatchet in his
hand," he said.
Sairally
said that's when worshippers, who were lined up in the middle of the mosque,
immediately approached the attacker and pinned him to the ground.
"He
(the attacker) didn't realize the spray was making noise so that immediately
alerted people in the first row," Sairally said. "One of the young
fellows in that row saw the hatchet and acted very quickly to knock it out of
his hand. Then everyone quickly jumped on him and pushed him to the
floor."
The
attacker didn't say anything as worshippers waited for police to arrive because
he had inhaled bear spray and was having trouble breathing, Sairally said.
Worshippers
sustained minor injuries from the bear spray, police said.
Omar
had a bail hearing in front of the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton on
Saturday.
Source:
CNN
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/21/americas/mississauga-canada-mosque-attack-charges/index.html
--------
Democratic
Pakistan critical to America’s interests: US official
March
22, 2022
WASHINGTON:
The US State Department said on Monday that a prosperous and democratic
Pakistan was critical to US interests.
Responding
to queries about the current political situation in the country, a spokesperson
for the State Department also underlined America’s support for the
constitutional process in Pakistan.
“We
are closely following developments in Pakistan. We respect and support
Pakistan’s constitutional process and the rule of law,” the spokesperson told
Dawn.
“The
United States values our long-standing cooperation with Pakistan and has always
viewed a strong, prosperous, and democratic Pakistan as critical to US
interests.”
Some
circles in Pakistan blame the United States for stirring up troubles in the
country for supporting the elements that want to unseat the current government.
Official
and diplomatic circles in Washington, however, reject all such speculations as
incorrect, pointing out that there were internal causes for the ongoing
political crisis.
At
a Friday afternoon news briefing, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki
underlined the Biden administration’s desire to continue a careful engagement
with Pakistan without committing to either improving or degrading ties with a
country that was once a close ally.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1681240/democratic-pakistan-critical-to-americas-interests-us-official
--------
US
says it is ready to make ‘difficult decisions’ to reach nuclear deal with Iran
22
March ,2022
A
deal to restore the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear program is not imminent, but
Washington is prepared to take “difficult decisions” to make it happen, State Department
Spokesman Ned Price said Monday.
Price
told journalists he could not discuss the specifics of the final remaining
issues in the 11-month-old negotiations over restoring the 2015 Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which aims at preventing Tehran from
acquiring nuclear weapons.
“We
are not in the practice of negotiating in public,” Price said, amid reports
that a deal is close.
“We
are prepared to make difficult decisions to return Iran’s nuclear program to
its JCPOA limits,” he said.
For
the United States, he said the main issues remain Iran committing to verifiable
limits on its nuclear activities, in return for an easing of punishing
sanctions placed on the country.
According
to sources close to the talks, Iran is insisting on “economic guarantees” in
case a future US administration changes its stance and abrogates the agreement,
as President Donald Trump did in 2018; and that Washington remove its official
terror group designation on Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards.
“We’re
not going to respond to specific claims about what sanctions we may or may not
be prepared to lift as part of a potential mutual return to compliance with the
JCPOA,” Price said.
He
said the key US negotiator, Rob Malley, has not returned to Vienna to resume
the most recent round of negotiations.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Europe
Russian
court bans Facebook, Instagram over 'extremist activity'
Elena
Teslova
21.03.2022
MOSCOW
A
Moscow court on Monday banned Meta-owned social networks Facebook and Instagram
in Russia over "extremist activity."
The
Tverskoy district court said in a ruling that it agreed to "the claims of
the Prosecutor General's Office to ban the activities of Meta corporation"
and the decision "takes effect immediately."
The
ban, however, does not apply to WhatsApp messenger, which is also owned by the
US tech giant, it added.
Prosecutors
sued Meta for temporarily lifting the ban on posting calls for violence against
Russians in the context of Moscow’s war on Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24.
Meta
has also been prohibited from opening branches and conducting commercial
activities in Russia.
Separately,
the country's Investigative Committee had opened a criminal case over the
"illegal calls for murder and violence against citizens of the Russian
Federation."
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Erdogan
Seeks To Rally Turks In Europe Behind Political Islam - Report
Mar
21 2022
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is attempting to rally Turks across Europe
behind his political Islamist cause, according to a report by the
Stockholm-based Nordic Research & Monitoring Network.
Erdoğan
who clearly sees Turks living in Europe as his own citizens, rather than
nationals and/or residents of the countries where they live, work and retire,
called on all to unite under one nation and one flag, the network said on
Monday.
Last
month, Erdogan said that when Turkey properly mobilises this power, no
organisation, no evil structure, no hidden or open obstacles can stand in its
way. He spoke at a meeting organised by the Union of International Democrats
(UID), known as Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) proxy group
abroad.
Erdoğan’s
speech at the UID meeting was by far the most provocative to date, amounting to
overt political interference in European affairs and using Turks and Muslims as
trump cards against the nations, the network said.
Formerly
named as The Union of European Turkish Democrats (UETD), the group was
evaluated as incompatible with Germany’s constitutional order, according to a
report by the German domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the
Protection of the Constitution (BfV) in 2017.
BfV has confirmed that it was spying on the group in Germany as an
anti-sabotage measure.
The
UID has 253 branches with 38 regional organisations in 17 countries.
In
his speech, Erdoğan gave directions to UID members to work harder to achieve
their objectives, the network said.
“The
more you expand this umbrella as the UID, the more you increase your sphere of
activity and influence, the more successfully you can fulfil the mission of
delivering these messages to our citizens, organising them and preparing them
for the future,” it cited Erdoğan as saying.
“The
next pillar of the bridge we built from the past to the future should and will
be the places where we live in Europe,“ Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan
said hundreds of millions of Muslim friends and brothers stand behind the Turks
and that they all are committed to the advancement of the causes of Allah and
the truth.
Turkey,
backed by Turks and Muslims in Europe, “would derail any plans devised by
European governments”, Erdoğan said.
Source:
Ahval News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://ahvalnews.com/turks-europe/erdogan-seeks-rally-turks-europe-behind-political-islam-report
--------
Freed
British-Iranian Zaghari-Ratcliffe seeks release of ‘unjustly detained’ in Iran
21
March ,2022
A
British-Iranian charity worker held in Tehran for six years called on Monday
for all “unjustly detained” prisoners in Iran to be freed, speaking publicly
for the first time since her release.
Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe thanked everyone involved in the campaign to secure her
release but added: “What’s happened now should have happened six years ago... I
shouldn't have been in prison for six years.”
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe
and questioned why Britain had failed to get her home before her return last
week.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe
arrived in Britain from Iran in the early hours of Thursday following six years
when she was detained in Tehran and convicted by an Iranian court of plotting
to overthrow the clerical establishment.
She
returned to Britain after London resolved what it called a parallel issue --
repaying a historic 400 million-pound ($526 million) debt for the purchase of
military tanks to Tehran that dated back to 1979.
While
Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband Richard thanked the British government for getting
his wife home, she said she could not agree.
“What’s
happened now should have happened six years ago,” she told a news conference in
the House of Commons in Westminster. “It should have happened exactly six years
ago, I shouldn’t have been in prison for six years.”
Zaghari-Ratcliffe
was arrested by Revolutionary Guards at Tehran airport on April 3, 2016, while
trying to return to Britain with her then 22-month-old daughter Gabriella from
an Iranian new year’s trip to see her parents.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
US-UK
national Morad Tahbaz moved back to Iranian prison, daughter says
21
March ,2022
An
Iranian-American environmentalist who was recently released from an Iranian
prison has been taken back to jail, one of his daughters told a news conference
in London on Monday.
Britain
said last week that Morad Tahbaz, who also holds British citizenship and whose
family say he was born in Britain, had been released from prison on furlough on
the same day aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori left
Iran to return to Britain.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Britain’s
foreign ministry said on Friday it had been told by Iran that Tahbaz, 66, had
been taken back to Evin prison in order to fit an ankle bracelet. It said
earlier on Monday that Tahbaz had since been released to a residential
location.
“My
father was removed from his cell in prison yesterday, but we’ve only just found
out, before we started this afternoon, that he’s been returned to the prison,”
his daughter Roxanne told a news conference at the British parliament,
alongside Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
Tahbaz
was arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for “assembly and
collusion against Iran’s national security” and working for the United States
as a spy.
“It’s
been over four years now since my father was detained and my mother was put on
a travel ban within Iran,” his daughter said.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Arab
World
New
round of talks on constitution for Syria begins in Geneva
Peter
Kenny
21.03.2022
GENEVA
A
new round of talks involving the Constitutional Committee seeking a solution to
the ongoing 11-year war in Syria resumed in Geneva Monday.
The
five days of talks scheduled to end on Friday involve both the regime and the
opposition and are taking place at Geneva's Intercontinental Hotel instead of
at the Palais des Nations, the European headquarter of the UN.
UN
Special Envoy on Syria Geir Pedersen said at a news conference on Sunday he did
not want to predict the outcome of the seventh round of talks after the last
round in October ended in "disappointment."
"It
is now close to two and a half years since we had the first meeting. I will not
pre-judge the outcome of this session," Pedersen told journalists.
Jennifer
Fenton, Pedersen's spokesperson, told Anadolu Agency that the talks began on
time.
The
civil war began in March 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on
pro-democracy protesters.
According
to UN estimates, hundreds of thousands of people have since been killed and
millions more displaced.
During
the sixth-round meetings in Geneva, the co-chairman of the delegation
representing the Assad regime, the lawyer Ahmed Kuzbari, and the co-chairman of
the opposition, Hadi al-Bahra, had sat at the same table for the first time.
When
that round of talks ended on Oct. 22, Pedersen said: "Today's talks were a
huge disappointment."
"We
didn't achieve what we hoped to achieve. I think we lacked a proper
understanding of how to move that process forward. So, in the end, the
government delegation decided not to present any new text," he said in
criticism of the regime.
The
Syrian Constitutional Committee consists of two structures, large and small.
The
large structure includes all the committee members and consists of three
groups: the regime, the opposition delegation, and civil society
representatives.
The
small body consists of 15 people selected from each group and is responsible
for writing the constitution.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
'Persian
Gulf Cooperation Council's talks meant to get Saudi Arabia out of Yemen
quagmire'
22
March 2022
The
so-called intra-Yemeni talks, planned by the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) at the regional union’s headquarters in Riyadh, are meant to save Saudi
Arabia from the quagmire it is stuck in by leading the war on Yemen, according
to a report.
The
New Khalij news website reported on Tuesday that the negotiations, scheduled to
be held between March 29 and April 7, are set to address six issues, including
what is called the opening of humanitarian corridors to restore stability in
Yemen.
After
the talks, according to the report, specialized committees will be formed to
follow up on the implementation of the results of the discussions.
It
added that Saudi Arabia spends $175 million a month on air raids against Yemen.
British
daily The Times said the war costs Saudi Arabia $72 billion a year. Estimates
put the cost of Saudi fighter jets participating in the offensive at $230
million a month.
Yemeni
forces’ counterattacks on Saudi oil facilities have added to the kingdom’s
economic problems as its Patriot and THAAD systems have not been able to
counter the strikes, the report said.
“With
the increasing economic pressure on Riyadh caused by the coronavirus pandemic
and the Russia-Ukraine war, as well as declining US support, Saudi Arabia
appears to be seriously considering a way to rescue itself from the Yemeni
crisis in a way that saves its face,” it noted.
“Arab
and international circles are beating the drum of the ‘Ramadan ceasefire’ in
Yemen in order to increase the chances of success of the Riyadh talks on the
condition that Ansarullah participates in the negotiations. The absence of
Ansarullah will cause the failure of these negotiations.”
Yemen’s
popular Ansarullah resistance movement has turned down the GCC invitation for
the talks, saying Saudi Arabia cannot be a mediator as it is a perpetrator of
the bloody war.
The
group also stressed that it will welcome discussions on a peaceful settlement
to the ongoing conflict if the venue is a “neutral country,” and that the
priority is lifting “arbitrary” restrictions on Yemeni ports and Sana’a
airport.
Recently,
Mahdi al-Mashat, who heads Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, vowed to uphold
the rights of his nation against more Saudi aggression and siege.
“What
is being said about the Riyadh talks has the title of peace, but at its heart,
it means more aggression and siege,” he said, condemning Riyadh’s calls for
peace while at the same time killing the Yemeni people.
“How
stupid do they think the Yemeni people are? They are inviting them to peace
amid a siege,” he added.
Addressing
the Saudi-led military coalition, he further stressed that the invading
coalition “will eventually fail and all its schemes will fall short because the
Yemeni nation is treading the right path.”
Saudi
Arabia launched the devastating war against Yemen in March 2015 in
collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support
from the US and several Western states.
The
objective was to return to power the former Riyadh-backed regime and crush the
Ansarullah, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective
government in Yemen.
The
war has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands
of Yemenis and turning entire Yemen into the scene of the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Presence
of Israeli operatives in Kurdistan region will drag Iraq into war: Kata’ib
Hezbollah spokesman
22
March 2022
The
Iraqi anti-terror Kata'ib Hezbollah movement says the presence of operatives
affiliated to the Israeli spy agency Mossad in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan
region will drag the Arab country into a military confrontation.
Speaking
in an interview with Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news
network, spokesman Jafar al-Husseini warned against attempts aimed at turning
Iraq into a launchpad for attacks on regional countries and stated that such
bids will exacerbate the existing tensions.
He
noted there is substantial evidence that Israeli operatives are freely active
in the Kurdistan region, and that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
exports crude oil to the Israeli-occupied territories.
The
spokesman of Kata’ib Hezbollah, which is part of the Popular Mobilization Units
(PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, underscored that the Palestinian cause remains a
cornerstone of Iraqi resistance groups’ doctrine, stating that the forces are
coordinating with their Palestinian and Lebanese comrades.
Husseini
went on to say that Iraqi resistance forces are on the great march of progress
and are expanding their capabilities to defend the country’s airspace.
Last
week, the spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the
elite military force will not hesitate to strike other Israeli bases in the
Iraqi Kurdistan region if its officials do not dismantle them.
“It
is our natural right to destroy any base from which any attack is carried out
against the security of Iran and this is a red line” for us, Brigadier General
Ramezan Sharif told Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah television network on
March 17.
According
to Sharif, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq Iraj Masjedi had on several occasions
warned the Iraqi Kurdistan region about the presence of the Mossad base, which
was recently attacked by the IRGC, and two other similar bases.
“If
Iraqi officials do not take action to remove other bases of Zionists in this
country while our security continues to be threatened from this region, we will
respond without hesitation,” the IRGC’s spokesman added.
Days
earlier, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq had said the latest IRGC missile strike
on secret Mossad bases in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region was strictly
necessary, as operations against Iran’s security were being plotted and
orchestrated there.
Masjedi
said Israeli operatives used the Iraqi Kurdistan region to plot and launch
operations against Iran’s security, emphasizing that Iranian officials had time
and again warned the KRG authorities against their activities, but to no avail.
The
Iranian diplomat highlighted that the missile attack was carried out in order
to safeguard Iran’s security, “and was neither intended to violate Iraq’s
sovereignty nor was meant to insult the Arab country and its nation.”
In
the early hours of March 13, a dozen ballistic missiles hit secret Mossad bases
in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, reportedly leaving several Israeli
operatives dead.
In
a statement issued later in the day, the IRGC indicated that the operation was
in response to a recent Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital of Damascus, in
which two IRGC officers were killed.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Houthi
attacks on oil facilities should be of global concern: Saudi Aramco chief
21
March ,2022
Saudi
Arabia’s Aramco chief Amin Nasser said on Monday that escalating attacks by
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis against oil installations in the Kingdom should be
a global concern at a time when the oil market was tight.
“The
message that came out highlighted that these types of attacks and that type of
escalation during a time when the market is very tight is a real concern for
the world for it will have -- God forbid -- if more escalations happen over
time, it might have some impact on supply,” Nasser told an earnings webcast.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Pressure
must be put on Houthis to stop threat to international navigation: Saudi FM
22
March ,2022
Pressure
must be put on the Iran-backed Houthi militia to stop its threat to
international navigation, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said in a speech to
the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Tuesday.
“Houthi
escalation threatens the security and stability of the region,” Prince Faisal
bin Farhan said.
The
comments came days after the Yemen-based group launched a series of attacks on
logistics and energy facilities in the Kingdom.
An
explosive-laden boat targeting shipping was intercepted by the Arab Coalition
off the Yemeni port of Hodeidah on Sunday, according to Al Hadath television.
The
attack was one of many, including attempted drone and missile strikes targeting
energy facilities.
Saudi
state news agency (SPA) said one attack targeted a water desalination plant in
the city of al-Shaqeeq, an Aramco facility in Jizan, a power station in the
southern Dhahran al-Janub city, and a gas facility in Khamis Mushait.
State
television al-Ekhbariya later cited the coalition as saying it had intercepted
and destroyed three drones that targeted economic facilities. The coalition
also foiled an attack on an Aramco Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility in the
Saudi city of Yanbu, state television reported.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Saudi
King, Crown Prince welcome Sudan’s Burhan on official visit
22
March ,2022
Saudi
Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Monday met separately
with Sudan’s top military general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in Riyadh, according
to the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
Discussions
revolved around bilateral ties and ways to strengthen them in several areas.
Burhan
is the chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council.
His
visit to Saudi Arabia comes days after he met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed to discuss the political process in Sudan.
Burhan
led a military coup on October 25 that ended a partnership between the army and
civilian parties, which was meant to lead to democratic elections. This has led
to months of deadly protests, which have been condemned by much of the
international community.
In
February, Burhan said the armed forces were committed to handing over power to
an elected government or an arrangement decided through “national consensus,”
reiterating a commitment to hold elections in mid-2023.
On
Monday, the US imposed sanctions on Sudan’s Central Reserve Police for using
excessive force and live ammunition against peaceful protesters that have
demonstrated against the military coup.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Lebanese
president meets with Pope Francis during his visit to Italy
21
March ,2022
Lebanese
President Michel Aoun met with the Pope on Monday during his visit to Italy.
Aoun
arrived in Italy on Sunday and said upon arrival in Rome that he would invite
Francis to visit Lebanon, adding that the Pope’s spiritual and moral authority
can help his country during this difficult period.
The
Pope has said he intends to visit Lebanon soon.
The
two spoke on many subjects, including the investigation into the explosion of
Beirut’s port in August 2020 and the economic crisis.
Aoun,
a Maronite Catholic, added that his small country is passing through a severe
economic and social crisis that is the result of years of mismanagement made
worse by coronavirus and the destruction of the port.
The
Mediterranean nation of 6 million, including an estimated 1 million refugees,
has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East and is the only
Arab country with a Christian head of state.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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of the original story:
--------
Egypt’s
Sisi hosts Israel’s Bennett, UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed
21
March ,2022
Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett
and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday, two
Egyptian security sources said, as talks to revive a nuclear deal with Iran
remain in limbo.
Shared
concerns over Iran saw the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain forge ties with
Israel in 2020 to create a new regional axis at a time of uncertainty over the
commitment of key security ally the United States.
Gulf
states were excluded from talks to revive a 2015 nuclear pact with Iran that
they have criticized for not addressing Iran’s missiles program and regional
proxies, including in Yemen.
Egypt’s
presidency said Sisi and the UAE’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held
expanded bilateral talks on issues including economic investment, in the Red
Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Sisi
stressed Egypt’s commitment to security in the Gulf and “rejection of any
practices that seek to destabilize it,” the presidency said in a statement.
There
was no official comment on any talks involving Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali
Bennett, but the Egyptian sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the
three leaders were holding discussions that covered the consequences of the war
in Ukraine.
The
UAE along with Saudi Arabia has resisted Western calls to hike oil output and
contain a jump in crude prices caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
Egypt
faces new economic pressures due to the war that saw it devalue its currency by
14 percent on Monday. It has called on financial support from wealthy Gulf
states in the past.
Bennett
traveled to Abu Dhabi in December, the first official visit by an Israeli
leader following the normalization of relations between the two countries.
Israel
and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979 and last week announced an agreement on
direct flights between Tel Aviv and Sharm el-Sheikh.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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--------
Saudi
Arabia not responsible for oil shortages in light of Houthi attacks: Official
21
March ,2022
Saudi
Arabia said on Monday it would not bear responsibility for any global oil
supply shortages after attacks on its oil facilities by the Iran-aligned
Houthis.
The
Houthi movement fired missiles and drones at several facilities of Saudi state
oil firm Aramco over the weekend, causing a temporary drop in output at a
refinery and a fire at a petroleum products distribution terminal.
A
Saudi foreign ministry official said in remarks on state news agency SPA that
such attacks result in serious consequences for upstream and downstream sectors
affecting “the Kingdom’s production capacity and its ability to fulfil its
obligations.”
Aramco
CEO Amin Nasser, asked in an earnings webcast about the statement, said: “These
types of attacks and that type of escalation during a time when the market is
very tight is a real concern for the world ... If more escalations happen over
time, it might have some impact on supply.”
The
unidentified official urged the global community to “realize the gravity of
Iran’s continued behavior in equipping” the Houthis, who are fighting the Arab
coalition that intervened in Yemen seven years ago. Iran denies arming the
group.
The
source highlighted the danger of Iran’s continuing to provide Houthis with
ballistic missile and drone technology, which the Yemen-based group uses to
target oil and gas production sites in the Kingdom.
Recent
attacks will affect the Kingdom’s production capacity and its ability to meet
its supply obligations, threatening global energy supply, according to SPA.
The
source highlighted the importance of standing against the Houthis and deterring
them from further attacks.
Global
energy prices have skyrocketed in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and
sanctions on Russian oil and gas, prompting several Western leaders to urge
Gulf Arab states to increase production.
Sunday
saw several Houthi attacks on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia.
One
targeted an Aramco petroleum distribution plant in Jeddah, causing a fire but
no injuries or casualties, state television reported.
Earlier
on Sunday, the Arab Coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen reported the
destruction of an explosive-laden boat in Hodeidah, and the thwarting of an
imminent attack targeting the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.
State
television al-Ekhbariya cited the coalition as saying it had intercepted and
destroyed three drones that targeted economic facilities.
The
coalition also foiled an attack on an Aramco Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)
facility in the Saudi city of Yanbu, state television reported.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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--------
Mideast
Iranian
President Seeks Hard Work to Build Powerful, Advanced Iran in Persian New Year
2022-March-21
President
Rayeesi made the remarks on Sunday afternoon in his New Year message aired live
from the Grand Mosque of the southwestern Iranian port city of Khorramshahr.
“My
first Nowruz message as the servant of the public is the message of
round-the-clock and incessant work to build a powerful and advanced Iran,” he
said.
“No
nation and no country has achieved anything without intensive work and the
maximum use of human and natural resources. The New Year and the new century
should be the beginning of a new era of productive, useful, fruitful, and
progressive work for all of us,” the president added.
"During
the current year, God willing, the issue of employment will be our first and
foremost issue," Iran's president said, adding that unemployment is the
root cause of all economic and social plights. As a result, he noted,
supporting domestic production is at the top of his administration’s agenda.
Rayeesi
noted that during the seven month lapsed since his administration was
inaugurated, it has proven the it is determined to do what it says.
"We
said that with the help of God and people, we would contain the coronavirus
[pandemic], [and] thanks God, it was done," he said.
"We
said that the country and the economy would not be left in limbo pending [the
conclusion] of the JCPOA [Iran's deal with world powers]. Everybody saw that
while engaging in negotiations [with other parties to the JCPOA] and taking
advantage of political and legal means to dealing with the crime of sanctions,
we also put our focus on thwarting sanctions."
He
pointed to the emerging signs of economic growth and stability as well as a
significant increase in the volume of foreign trade and non-oil exports under
his administration, saying, “We increased trade with our neighbors for the
benefit of the people.”
“We
said that we will set the production wheel in motion, [and] official
statistics, released up to the end of the third quarter even show that economic
growth has reached above 5%,” Iran's chief executive said.
“We
said that we will not trade the interests and security of the people with
anything, [and] everyone saw that we gave priority to boosting the country’s
defense, missile, and space capabilities, because the country’s security is a
priority,” he added.
Rayeesi
also said the balance in the country’s foreign policy has been restored through
an active diplomacy pursued under his leadership.
According
to the president, the greatest foreign policy achievement of the country in
recent years has been the disgraceful failure of the United States’ maximum
pressure policy in the face of the Iranian people’s resistance.
Back
in 2018, the administration of the former US President Donald Trump
unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran deal, officially known as the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and re-imposed the anti-Iran
sanctions that were lifted under the accord while piling on with new ones. He
said he was adopting a “maximum pressure” policy to force Tehran to negotiate a
new deal.
In
spite of his fierce criticisms of the “failed maximum pressure” campaign
pursued by his predecessor, Biden has not only kept all the sanctions imposed
under Trump but has also added new ones as well.
“We
began running the country in the right direction. We do not see the fate of the
nation in the hands of foreigners,” Rayeesi stressed.
He
noted that his administration did away with polarization, which he said
undermines the nation’s strength, and instead demonstrated that the power of
the [operations in the military] field is in line and parallel to the power of
diplomacy.
“We
used foreign relations in the service of [the country’s] economy, and that is
the meaning of a transform-seeking and justice-oriented administration,” he
added.
Elsewhere
in his remarks, the Iranian president wished for the new Iranian year to be the
end of the coronavirus pandemic around the world and also an end to wars in
every corner of the world.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Iranian
People Vote to Leader's Remarks about Martyr Soleimani as Chosen Sentence of
Year
2022-March-21
The
Iranians participated in an online poll and chose a sentence by Ayatollah
Khamenei who said "Martyr Soleimani is more dangerous than General
Soleimani for enemies" as the Leader's selected sentence. The sentence
alludes to the fact that General Soleimani's friends across the region and the
world and the resistant front will take revenge for his martyrdom from the
enemies.
According
to Khamenei.ir website, over 97,000 Internet users took part in an online poll
survey since March 14, 2022 till March 19, 2022 and they voted to the
aforementioned sentence.
Former
Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Qods Force Lieutenant
General Qassem Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad
International Airport in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
The
airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The two were martyred in an
American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.
Five
Iranian and five Iraqi military men were martyred by the missiles fired by the
US drone at Baghdad International Airport.
On
January 8, 2020, and after the funeral ceremony of General Soleimani, the IRGC
Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad
airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated
airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of General Soleimani.
Ein
Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels,
which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the
radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and
intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central
radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The
second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in
Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani"
reprisal operation.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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AEOI
Head: Iran to Continue Development of Peaceful N. Technology
2022-March-21
The
AEOI will not stop continued peaceful nuclear activities in the country by no
means, Eslami said.
The
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has gone through a difficult and exhausting
path during the last four decades and the Iranian scientists in the nuclear
industry succeeded in acquiring the latest achievements despite the arrogant
powers' opposition, he added.
The
guidelines of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in the development of
application of nuclear technology in Iran completely changed the position of
the country in the level of science and technology, industry, environment and
health, Eslami said.
In
relevant remarks in November, Eslami said that his country is determined to use
peaceful nuclear program to improve the Iranian people’s lives, adding that the
UN nuclear watchdog is due to help Tehran to this end.
“The
important point between us and the Agency is that issues between the two sides
are technical and (the assurance) that the Agency does not pay attention to the
political issues and the enemies' plots to influence the path of progress of
Iran’s nuclear program and is not influenced by them,” Eslami told reporters in
a joint press conference with Director-General of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi in Tehran at the time.
“Mr.
Grossi said several times today that they have witnessed no deviation in Iran’s
nuclear programs and Iran continues its nuclear activities based on treaties
and regulations,” he added.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010101000408/AEOI-Head-Iran-Cnine-Develpmen-f-Peacefl-N-Technlgy
--------
Iranian
President Offers Greetings to Countries Celebrating Nowruz
2022-March-21
"Nowruz
is a symbol and crystallization of a value-oriented civilization, the
culmination of which is worshipping God, family-friendliness and peace,"
President Rayeesi said in his messages.
"Contemplating
the greatness of creation and paying attention to the transformation of nature
is the source of awakening of the heart and the means of remembering God and
the cause for the growth and excellence of humanity," he said.
"I
hope that in the new century, the movement towards the sublime divine and human
values will accelerate and, like Nowruz, a happier day would come for the
hearts and souls of all the people of that land and more empathy and peace for
all regional nations."
"The
Islamic Republic of Iran considers the strengthening and expansion of this
cultural solidarity as a promise of peace for all the countries of the region
and the world, and in this regard, extends a friendly hand to all
countries," President Rayeesi said.
Nowruz,
the start of the year according to the Persian calendar which marks arrival of
spring was celebrated across Iran.
Nowruz,
which coincides with the first day of spring on the solar calendar (this year
started on March 21), is mostly celebrated in 10 countries of Iran,
Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Turkey and
Uzbekistan.
The
International Day of Nowruz was registered on the UNESCO List of the Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity on February 23, 2010.
For
Iranians, Nowruz is a celebration of renewal and change, a time to visit
relatives and friends, and pay respect to senior family members.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Gaza
commemorates anti-apartheid icon Desmond Tutu
Nour
Abu Eisha
21.03.2022
GAZA
CITY, Palestine
A
ceremony was organized in the Gaza Strip on Monday to commemorate South
Africa's anti-apartheid icon and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu.
Organized
by the Council of International Relations, a Gaza-based NGO, the ceremony was
attended by a host of Palestinian and South African figures, including South
Africa’s Ambassador Shaun Edward Byneveldt.
Addressing
the event via video-conference, Byneveldt said South Africa will continue to
support the oppressed people living under occupation.
“Tutu
was a spiritual leader who stood up against oppression and who campaigned for
justice, equality and humanity,” he added.
Bassem
Naim, the head of the Council of International Relations, said Tutu was the
first figure to accuse Israel of pursuing a policy of apartheid against the
Palestinians in 2002.
A
meeting hall in Gaza was named after Tutu in recognition of his support to the
Palestinian people, according to the Gaza Municipality mayor Yahya el-Sarraj.
In
2009, Tutu joined a delegation of the international NGO "the Elders"
on a visit to Israel and occupied Palestinian territories to advocate for
peace.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-commemorates-anti-apartheid-icon-desmond-tutu/2541634
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Turkish,
Emirati foreign ministers discuss Ukraine in Abu Dhabi
Handan
Kazanci
21.03.2022
Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Monday met his Emirati counterpart
Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi and they discussed several issues
including the war in Ukraine.
“Discussed
bilateral relations & regional developments, especially in Ukraine,”
Cavusoglu said on Twitter, sharing a photo from the meeting.
Russia's
war against Ukraine, which began on Feb. 24, has drawn international
condemnation, led to financial sanctions on Moscow, and spurred an exodus of
global firms from Russia.
At
least 902 civilians have been killed and around 1,459 injured in Ukraine so
far, according to UN estimates. Over 3.38 million refugees have fled Ukraine
since the war began, while some 6.5 million are estimated to be internally
displaced in the country.
The
top Turkish diplomat is in the United Arab Emirates to address the 16th UAE
Ambassadors and Representatives of Diplomatic Missions Forum as a guest of
honor upon an invitation by Al Nahyan. Ties between Turkiye and the Arab world
are experiencing a major thaw after years of tense relations.
Last
month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Abu Dhabi and said
Turkiye and the UAE have a common goal of taking bilateral ties to higher
levels.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
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94%
of Palestinians in occupied territories subject to racist labelling: Opinion
poll
21
March 2022
More
than 90 percent of the Palestinians living in the occupied territories have
experienced racist labeling, a survey has found.
The
official Palestinian news agency WAFA on Monday cited the Israeli daily Maariv
that the result of the survey conducted by the Israeli Racism Crisis Center
(RCC) was published on the eve of the International Day for the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination observed annually on March 21.
According
to the results, 69 percent of the respondents believe they were subject to
racism and discrimination in public places, while 41 percent said they had a
similar experience in academic institutions.
The
survey found that the most cases of discrimination occurred at airports,
followed by academic institutions, workplaces, and malls and shopping centers.
More
than 65 percent of the respondents said their identification cards were checked
in public places; 59 percent were subject to security inspections and 58
percent were forced to answer unusual questions by the security guards.
The
director of the RCC, Samah Darwish, said in an interview that the results of
the survey illustrated the extent of racism in the occupied Palestinian
territories. “This should concern everyone.”
Last
year, more than 600 scholars, artists, and intellectuals from over 45 countries
across the world censured the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians, calling
for an immediate end to “Israel’s apartheid regime.”
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/03/21/678945/Palestinian-occupied-lands-racist-labeling
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Yemen
to continue retaliatory attacks until Saudi-led coalition stops war: Army
spokesman
21
March 2022
The
Yemeni army has released more details of its latest retaliatory operations against
Saudi Arabia dubbed ‘Breaking the Siege’, and other similar military actions,
emphasizing continuation of such operations until the Riyadh regime stops its
aggression against Yemen.
Army
spokesman Yahya Saree made the remarks in a press conference aired live from
the capital Sana’a on Monday.
Saree
said despite relentless aerial and artillery attacks by the Saudi-led coalition
and its mercenaries, Yemeni people have remained resilient over the past years
of war.
“The
Yemeni army will continue its reprisal attacks against Saudi Arabia until
Riyadh stops its war of aggression.”
“The
Saudi-led coalition says it wants peace but conducts further attacks on
civilians,” the Yemeni spokesman said, adding that the enemy “targets
residential areas in Yemen.”
On
the enemy’s casualty count, Saree said the Yemeni forces had killed and wounded
about “20,000 people fighting for the Saudi-led coalition, including more than
10,000 Saudi soldiers, and more than 1,200 Emirati soldiers.”
“The
Yemeni army has conducted a considerable number of missile strikes and drone
attacks against Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE),” he added.
Saree
said of the missile strikes, which totaled over 1,800, at least 1,200 targeted
enemy gatherings inside Yemen and nearly 600 had landed on the Saudi and
Emirati territory.
“We
succeeded in damaging more than 17,000 vehicles, armored vehicles, personnel
carriers, tanks, bulldozers and various weapons, most of which are documented
by video and audio,” he said.
“The
Yemeni army is prepared to face the enemies’ threats,” Saree stated.
“We
are not Yemen of surrender. We are Yemen of freedom.”
On
Sunday, the spokesman announced a new round of retaliatory attacks against
Saudi Arabia. He said the armed forces planned to carry out “special military
operations” against sensitive targets that “the criminal enemy [would] never
think of” in order to break the unjust siege.
The
statement of the armed forces regarding the 3rd Siege-Breaking operation.
pic.twitter.com/n6qGuxES4K
—
Yahya Sare'e (@Yahya_Saree) March 21, 2022
The
Saudi-led coalition has ramped up its airstrikes against various regions across
Yemen, tightening the siege and preventing the entry of fuel tankers. In
response, the Yemeni armed forces have concluded three ‘Yemen Storm’ operations
against the Saudi and Emirati territories with ballistic missiles and drones.
Saudi
Arabia and a number of its regional allies — including the UAE — launched the
war on Yemen in March 2015. It was meant to eliminate Yemen’s Ansarullah
movement and reinstall a former regime. The conflict, accompanied by a tight
siege, has failed to reach its goals, but has killed hundreds of thousands of
Yemeni people.
The
Saudi-led coalition has been preventing fuel shipments from reaching Yemen,
while looting the impoverished nation’s resources.
The
UN says more than 24 million Yemenis are in dire need of humanitarian aid,
including 10 million suffering from extreme levels of hunger. The world body
has also labeled the situation in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/03/21/678938/Yemen-retaliation-Saudi-war
--------
US
sends Patriot missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia amid Yemen retaliation
21
March 2022
The
United States has sent a significant number of Patriot antimissile interceptors
to Saudi Arabia upon an urgent request from Riyadh, reports say, amid
intensified Yemeni retaliatory attacks on the kingdom.
The
Wall Street Journal reported that Washington transferred the interceptors to
the kingdom within the past month.
The
report said the move was aimed to fortify Saudi Arabia’s defense capacity in
order to enable the kingdom to fend off drone and missile attacks conducted by
the Yemeni army and popular committees in retaliation of the years-long Saudi
aggression and siege.
A
senior official within the administration of President Joe Biden, who asked not
to be named, confirmed the news on Sunday night, telling the Associated Press
that the transfer of the interceptors was in line with Biden’s promise that
“America will have the backs of our friends in the region.”
Throughout
the course of the war, the United States has supported and armed Saudi Arabia.
Despite his promise to end “all American support for offensive operations in
the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales,” Biden last year approved the
sale of 280 air-to-air missiles valued at up to $650 million to Saudi Arabia.
Late
in 2021, the Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin, told a Middle East conference that
Washington was “significantly enhancing Saudi Arabia’s ability to defend itself.”
Saudi
Arabia launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, leading a military coalition
consisting of its regional allies, including the UAE, and supported by major
Western powers, especially the United States.
Although
the kingdom estimated at the beginning of the war that it would come out
victorious within just a few weeks, the war has continued for seven years,
leaving hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displacing millions more.
Yemeni
armed forces and allied Popular Committees, however, have grown steadily in
strength against the Saudi-led invaders, and left Riyadh and its allies bogged
down in the country.
Riyadh’s
intimate relationship with Washington has turned sour under the Biden
administration, which published an assessment by US intelligence agencies that
concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) personally ordered the
murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in
2018.
The
Biden administration, however, has neither punished the prince nor halted its
support for Saudi Arabia’s bloody war on Yemen.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Africa
Mali’s
former prime minister dies in detention: Media
James
Tasamba
21.03.2022
KIGALI,
Rwanda
Mali’s
former Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga died in detention on Monday,
local media reported. He was 68.
Maiga,
the president of the Alliance for Solidarity in Mali–Convergence of Patriotic
Forces party, (ASMA-CFP) died on Monday morning at a private clinic in Mali’s
capital Bamako, where he had been admitted for treatment, according to reports.
The
ex-premier, who served under ex-President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, was
imprisoned last year after allegedly being implicated in a $16.7 million
embezzlement case.
Last
August, Maiga was detained after being charged with “forgery, use of forgery
and favoritism” following an investigation into the purchase of military
equipment and the acquisition of a presidential plane in 2014 when he served as
a defense minister.
He
was believed to have been a close ally of Keita, who was overthrown by Col.
Assimi Goita in August 2020.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/mali-s-former-prime-minister-dies-in-detention-media/2541773
--------
Jordan's
King Abdullah to visit Ramallah in bid to ease tensions ahead of Ramadan
21
March 2022
Jordan's
King Abdullah plans to meet with Palestinian Authority (PA) head Mahmoud Abbas
in Ramallah next week in a bid to ease tensions in the occupied West Bank,
ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israel's Kan news channel reported
on Monday.
Kan
reported that King Abdullah will be making his first trip to the occupied
territories since 2017, before the anniversary of last year's tensions in
Jerusalem that later triggered Israel's 11-day offensive on Gaza.
Tensions
erupted last year when Israel tried to expel Palestinian families from the East
Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah to make way for Israeli settlers.
This
prompted widespread protests across the occupied West Bank and the Palestinian
community inside Israel, triggering Israel's large-scale military operation on
the besieged Gaza Strip.
According
to Axios, US officials have been working to maintain calm in Jerusalem ahead of
the anniversary of the May 2021 conflict where around 250 Palestinians were
killed in Gaza and 13 people were killed in Israel.
Still,
dozens of Israeli settlers flanked by Israeli police stormed al-Aqsa Mosque
compound last week to mark the Jewish holiday of Purim.
Israel
occupied East Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa Mosque is located, during the 1967
Middle East war. It annexed the entire city in 1980, in a move never recognised
by the international community.
Jordan
has been the custodian of Jerusalem's Muslim holy sites since the 1920s. The
compound, which sits on a tree-lined plateau in the Old City, is also revered
by Jews, who call it Temple Mount.
Source:
Middle East Eye
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Jordan
eases COVID-19 restrictions ahead of Ramadan
Laith
al-Juneidi
21.03.2022
AMMAN,
Jordan
Jordan
on Monday relaxed coronavirus restrictions ahead of the Muslim fasting month of
Ramadan, due to start early April.
Minister
of State for Media Affairs, Faisal Shboul, said the measures, which were in
place since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, will be eased
“in conjunction with the approaching month of Ramadan."
Social
distancing during congregation prayers in mosques have been removed and the
wearing of masks will be mandatory only in closed spaces, Shboul said.
The
minister added that capacity restrictions for public gatherings such as
weddings have also been removed, allowing for the establishment of Ramadan
iftar (fast-breaking) tents.
He
underlined that the decision to relax anti-virus measures was taken based on
the recommendations of the Jordanian National Committee for Epidemics.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/health/jordan-eases-covid-19-restrictions-ahead-of-ramadan/2541380
--------
Tunisia
train collision injures 95: Emergency services
21
March ,2022
A
collision between two passenger trains injured 95 people on Monday morning in
the south of the Tunisian capital, emergency services said.
“The
injured were taken to hospitals and there were no deaths,” civil defence
spokesman Moez Triaa told AFP, adding that one train contained passengers,
while the other was empty.
Most
of the injured were suffering from fractures, none of them life-threatening, he
said.
The
accident happened at 9:30am local time (0830 GMT) in the Jbel Jelloud area of
southern Tunis.
The
cause was not immediately clear.
Tunisia’s
ageing railway system has seen several deadly crashes in recent years.
At
least five people were killed and more than 50 injured in late 2016 when a
train slammed into a public bus before dawn near the site of Monday’s crash.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/malaysia-child-marriages-attitudes/d/126629