“So-Called Minorities” Face No Danger And Hindutva Organisations Will Continue To Reach Out To Them To Assuage Their Fears: Mohan Bhagwat
New Age Islam News Bureau
06 October 2022
RSS Chief Mohan
Bhagwat
----
• Social Media Storm, Lies From India Fuelled
Hindu-Muslim Unrest In Central England
• Anti-Muslim Attitudes Widespread, 29% Suggest
Restricting Practice Of Islam In Germany: Expert Council on Integration and
Migration Study
• Selangor Sultan: Rights Of Non-Muslims Must Be
Considered In Religious Decisions
• Sana'a Govt.: Yemen Ready For War If Saudi Arabia
Continues To Violate Sovereignty
India
• Amit Shah Halts Speech For 'Azaan' At Mosque In
J&K, Draws Huge Cheers, Applause
• Islamic Federation of Tamil Nadu under scanner of
Central agencies
• RSS’ Muslim Wing For Uniform Civil Code In Karnataka
• No talks with Pakistan; Modi govt won't tolerate
terrorism, says Amit Shah
• Three families made J&K 'terrorist spot' we made
it 'tourist spot': Amit Shah
--------
Europe
• Germany Repatriates 12 Citizens From Syrian
Extremist Camp
• Turkish, Swedish Delegations Gather For Talks On
Terrorists Extradition
• Mosque in Germany suffers Islamophobic attack
• Türkiye and Denmark reach final stage of strategic
energy sector cooperation
--------
Southeast
Asia
• Sultan Nazrin: Increase awareness to make Malaysia
Islamic finance arbitration hub
• Free from syndicates, but broke Malaysian victims
still stranded overseas
• Scramble to stop snap polls won’t work, says source
• Najib never issued cheques to himself, bank manager
tells court
--------
Mideast
• Yemen To Target Saudi, UAE Oil Facilities If
People’s Demands Not Met: Ansarullah Official
• 35 journalists arrested in Iran amid protests: CPJ
• Israel’s former PM Netanyahu released from hospital
• Palestinian shot dead by Israeli army in West Bank:
Ministry
• Iran judiciary launches investigation into death of
teenage girl during protests
• Iran summons UK ambassador over intrusive statements
• Turkey summons Sweden envoy over TV satire
‘insulting’ Erdogan amid tense ties
--------
Arab
World
• Dozens of Muqtada al-Sadr Supporters Break Into
Baghdad TV Channel HQ
• Saudi football fan treks from Jeddah to Doha for
World Cup
• Lebanese lawmaker demands frozen assets in bank
deposit
• Sheikh Ahmad Reappointed As Kuwait’s Prime Minister
• Israeli ministers to meet on Lebanon maritime deal,
but approval pending
• Yemen Warns Foreign Investors In Saudi Arabia, UAE
To Leave As Truce Ends
--------
South
Asia
• Deputy Prime Minister: Islamic Emirate Committed to
Improving Education
• Blast hits Kabul mosque in vicinity of interior
ministry, killing 4
• No One Including Taliban Was Expecting Flee Of Ghani
That Resulted In The Failure Of Peace Talks: US
• ‘StopHazaraGenocide’ Twitter Campaign Surpasses 4
Million Tweets
• Family of US citizen missing in Afghanistan claims
he is in Taliban custody: Report
--------
Pakistan
• Pakistan Government Issues Nationwide Alert Amid
Heightened Risk Of Terror Attacks By TTP
• Speakers At A Seminar Ask Muslims To Follow
Prophet’s Lifestyle
• Federal Minister Challenges Jurisdiction Of ‘Hate
Speech’ FIRs Registered Against Him
• Pakistan a 1% republic, says former finance minister
Miftah Ismail
• Political disputes must be resolved in parliament,
IHC chief justice says
• Focus on long-term Pak-US defence partnership: Lloyd
Austin
• Centre fears TTP attacks amid stalemate in talks
• IHC orders opening of roads near Lal Masjid
--------
Africa
• Uganda’s President Fires Son From Military Over
Threat On Twitter To Invade Kenya
• WHO issues warning on Indian cough syrup linked to
66 Gambian child deaths
• Trapped UN aid workers safely exit Ethiopia’s Tigray
region
--------
North
America
• US Envoy Condemns Houthi Threats, Vows Continued
Defence Support For Gulf Allies
• Iranian-American, 85, held in Tehran on spying
charges for six years arrives in Oman
• Turkish institute launches face-to-face language
courses in Mexico
• US ‘concerned’ by collapse of truce in Yemen;
uncertain whether Iran is to blame
• US operation using helicopters in Syria kills one:
State TV
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/minorities-hindutva-bhagwat-/d/128119
--------
“So-Called Minorities” Face No Danger And Hindutva
Organisations Will Continue To Reach Out To Them To Assuage Their Fears: Mohan
Bhagwat
RSS Chief Mohan
Bhagwat
----
Oct 6, 2022
NAGPUR: The “so-called minorities” face no danger and
Hindutva organisations will continue to reach out to them to assuage their
fears, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said in his first public statement
on the Sangh’s attempt to extend its outreach after his meeting with several
clerics and visit to a mosque and a madrasa in Delhi this September. “There is
scare-mongering among so-called minorities that there is a danger to them
because Hindus are organised. This has not happened in the past nor will it
happen in future. This is neither the nature of Sangh nor of Hindus,” he said
at a Vijaya Dashami event to mark the RSS foundation day.
“With some such worries among the so-called
minorities, some gentlemen have been meeting us. They have had meetings with
Sangh office-bearers and this will continue,” he said in his hour-long address
in which he covered a range of topics, notably women’s empowerment, “Hindu
Rashtra”, education, casteism, and the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Bhagwat stressed the need for a comprehensive
population policy applicable to all social groups equally, which should ensure
India’s ethnic profile remains undisturbed. Flagging the issue of demographic
“imbalance”, he said it “can lead to creation of new nations”. “Even India
suffered 75 years ago,” he said, alluding to the Partition.
“In the 21st century, three new countries came into
existence — East Timor, South Sudan and Kosovo. These were results of
population imbalance. Apart from differences in birth rates, conversion by
force and lure, and cross-border infiltration were the reasons for ther
creation.”
The RSS chief underscored the Sangh’s use of the word
“Hindu”. “The concept of Hindu Rashtra is being discussed all over. Many agree
with the concept, but are opposed to the word ‘Hindu’ and prefer to use other
words. We don’t have any issue with that. For the clarity of concept, we will
keep emphasising the word Hindu for ourselves,” he said.
Referring to the beheading of a tailor in Rajasthan’s
Udaipur and a pharmacist in Maharashtra’s Amravati for alleged insults to the
Prophet, Bhagwat said a section of the minority community condemned the crimes,
but more people from the religious group should have done it.
He emphasised the use of one’s mother tongue, saying:
“English language is not important for building a career.” Bhagwat also batted
for women’s equality at the function, where mountaineer Santosh Yadav was the
first woman to be invited for the RSS foundation day event as its chief guest.
“We have had Anusuyabai Kale and Princess Amrit Kaur at RSS functions. During
the Emergency a lady was invited for an event at Akola.” Kale was Nagpur MP in
the second Lok Sabha, while Kaur was a freedom fighter and member of the
Constituent Assembly.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Social Media Storm, Lies From India Fuelled
Hindu-Muslim Unrest In Central England
04 October, 2022
Rumour had it that a Muslim girl had been kidnapped
and a Hindu temple had sent masked thugs into combat. Add in local fury over an
India-Pakistan cricket match, and Hindu and Muslim men were soon fighting on
the streets of central England.
It was a social media storm - mostly cooked up a
continent away - that materialized in real life in Leicester, where police made
almost 50 arrests and a community was left in tatters.
“It is a powerful illustration of how hashtag dynamics
on Twitter can use dubious inflammatory claims to ... escalate tensions on the
ground,” said a spokesperson at fact-checking site Logically, which analyzed
the posts’ veracity.
Experts say most of the incendiary tweets, rumors and
lies came from India, showing the power of unchecked social media to spread
disinformation and stir unrest a full continent away.
“I’ve seen quite a selection of the social media stuff
which is very, very, very distorting now and some of it just completely lying
about what had been happening between different communities,” Peter Soulsby,
Leicester’s mayor, told BBC radio.
Rob Nixon, who runs Leicestershire Police, concurred,
telling the BBC that misinformation on social media had played a “huge role” in
last month’s unrest.
To counter some of these claims, police took to social
media themselves, saying they had fully investigated reports of three men
approaching a teenaged girl in an attempted kidnap, and found no truth whatsoever
to the online story.
“We urge you to only share information on social media
you know to be true,” they said.
Fact-checkers also found no truth to claims that gangs
of masked thugs were bussed into Leicester.
Many of the misleading posts alleging that Hindus and
Hindu sites were being attacked came from India, analysis showed.
Some 80 percent of tweets with geographic coordinates,
or geo-tagged information, were connected to India, Logically said.
“The ratio of tweets geo-tagged to the UK versus those
geo-tagged to India was remarkably high for what, ostensibly, was a domestic
incident,” a spokesperson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“The involvement of high-profile figures in India
setting the discourse was a key element.”
BBC Monitoring said that more than half of the 200,000
tweets it investigated came from accounts geo-tagged to India, with hashtags
such as #Leicester, #HindusUnderAttack and #HindusUnderattackinUK.
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Horrific’ hashtags
The fact-checks confirmed what several Leicester
residents had suspected for years: online disinformation and abuse aimed at
religious minorities came increasingly from users in India, and platforms were
doing little or nothing to check it.
“The events in Leicester did not happen out of the
blue,” said Keval Bharadia at the South Asia Solidarity Group, a British
community non-profit.
“Friends and family have been sending fake news and
misinformation for years. It is a never-ending stream of propaganda from troll
armies,” he said.
A spokesman for India’s ministry of home affairs did
not respond to a request for comment.
The Indian High Commission in London, in a statement,
said it “strongly” condemned the violence against the Indian community in
Leicester, and the vandalism of “premises and symbols of Hindu religion.”
Some commentators and rights groups say India’s ruling
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has a hand in the social-media warfare
that targets religious and ethnic minorities.
The BJP swept into power in India in 2014 and won by
an even bigger margin in 2019, its victories in part credited to its savvy tech
cell and social-media prowess, fueled by thousands of supporters it calls
digital “yodhas” or warriors.
BJP’s tech cell, as well as government appointed cyber
volunteers, often abuse religious minorities and spread disinformation about
them on social media, rights groups say.
In a recent report, Dalit rights group Equality Labs
said “nationalistic, Islamophobic, and casteist disinformation” was spreading
among expatriate Indians via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and thousands of
Whatsapp and Telegram chat groups.
“Hindu nationalism is one of the largest
disinformation networks in the global South Asian diaspora, with bigoted and
often terrifying attacks against caste and religious minorities,” said
Thenmozhi Soundararajan of Equality Labs.
“Just think about the horrific hashtags that are now
normal,” said Soundararajan, citing “presstitute” - a derogatory term for
journalists - and “lovejihad,” an Islamophobic conspiracy theory popular in
India.
“Narratives spread on WhatsApp have led to offline
violence,” she added.
Mute witness
While expatriates have long absorbed content from
India, and commented on events, disinformation has mushroomed with the rise of
social media platforms, said Pratik Sinha, co-founder of Indian fact checking
site AltNews.
“We are so polarized now, and this is particularly
true of non-resident Indians who can’t check the reality on the ground,” he
said.
“A lot of hate speech and misinformation, particularly
in regional languages, goes unchecked on social media platforms.”
Much of the noise emanates from Meta, formerly
Facebook, which in 2019 commissioned an independent assessment of its role in
spreading hate speech and incitement to violence on its platforms in India,
following criticism by civil society groups.
But Meta has since said it would not release the full
report, only saying that it had “significantly increased” its content
moderation workforce and language support for India.
Twitter - which has about 24 million users in India -
has asked an Indian court to overturn some government orders to remove posts
which Delhi said spread misinformation.
Last month, in a rare rebuke, India’s Supreme Court
said television was the “chief medium of hate speech” and asked why the
government was “standing by as a mute witness.”
The government has not responded to the charge.
Meanwhile, hate speech and disinformation on social
media platforms goes largely unchecked in one of their largest markets, said
Sinha.
“Misinformation leads to radicalization, no matter
where you are,” he said. “We are already seeing the consequences on the
ground.”
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Anti-Muslim Attitudes Widespread, 29% Suggest
Restricting Practice Of Islam In Germany: Expert Council on Integration and
Migration Study
Photo: aa.com
----
05.10.2022
BERLIN
Anti-Muslim attitudes are widespread in Germany,
according to a recent study conducted by the Expert Council on Integration and
Migration (SVR).
Nearly 48% of respondents said they believe “Islam is
not compatible with the German society,” while 29% suggested restricting
practice of Islam in the country.
“Negative attitudes towards Islam are widespread in
all groups examined – people with and without a migration background,” the
researchers said in their report.
Nearly 44% of Germans surveyed argued that Muslim
organizations should be monitored by the state’s security agencies, while only
16% opposed such a move.
Anti-Islamic attitudes were slightly more common among
migrants who arrived in Germany from non-Muslim countries. People who had
social contacts with Muslims, however, were less inclined to hold anti-Islamic
attitudes, according to the report.
The SVR’s study also analyzed anti-Semitic attitudes
in Germany and concluded that anti-Semitism was widespread both among Germans
and migrant communities in the country.
“Negative attitudes towards people of the Muslim and
Jewish faiths are divisive and undermine social cohesion. However, attitudes of
this kind are not only held by people without a migration background, but also
by people with a history of migration,” the report said.
The SVR called for stronger action to counter
anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic attitudes in all population groups, by promoting
intercultural contacts and anti-discrimination work.
Among other things, religious communities need to be
more closely involved, interfaith dialogue and related forms of interaction can
also contribute to reducing prejudice, the group said.
A country of over 84 million people, Germany has the
second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. It is home to
around 4.7 million Muslims, according to the official figures.
The country has witnessed growing racism and
Islamophobia in recent years, fueled by the propaganda of far-right groups and
parties, which have exploited the refugee crisis and attempted to stoke fear of
immigrants.
German authorities registered at least 662
Islamophobic hate crimes in 2021. More than 46 mosques were attacked between
January and December last year, and at least 17 people suffered injuries due to
the anti-Muslim violence.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/anti-muslim-attitudes-widespread-in-germany-study/2703573
--------
Selangor Sultan: Rights Of Non-Muslims Must Be
Considered In Religious Decisions
Photo: The Star
----
06 Oct 2022
PETALING JAYA: Any muzakarah (religious discussion of
an issue) decision must take into account the rights and interests of
non-Muslims, as legally guaranteed under the Federal Constitution, says
Selangor Ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.
Sultan Sharafuddin emphasised that Malaysia is a
multiracial country and that the teachings of Islam that showed mercy to all,
including those of different faiths, must always be highlighted.
The Selangor Sultan, who is also the National Council
of Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) chairman, said the MKI muzakarah committee
played a very important role and function in the Muslim community in Malaysia
and is a tower of legal reference at the national and international levels.
However, since each state had its own fatwa committee,
there is bound to be conflicts between state fatwas and muzakarah decisions at
the national level as well as between one state and another.
"This conflict and non-uniformity creates
confusion and problems for the Muslim community and has implications for the
economic development of the country.
"Therefore, one of the important functions and
tasks of the MKI muzakarah committee is to coordinate the issuing of laws and
fatwas for the states in Malaysia.
"This legal ruling by the muzakarah committee is
a collective ijtihad (ijtihad jama'i) of all the muftis of the states assisted
by experts in certain fields," said Sultan Sharafuddin in his speech
during the 121st MKI muzakarah committee meeting at Masjid Sultan Salahuddin
Abdul Aziz Shah, Shah Alam, Selangor on Wednesday (Oct 6).
Sultan Sharafuddin added that the coordination and
standardisation of fatwas by the muzakarah committee do not touch or affect the
authority of the Sultan and Rulers in the states as the Head of Religion, as
stated by Regulation 9 (1) of the MKI Regulations 2022.
According to procedure, the decisions and views of the
muzakarah committee would be informed to the MKI, which was chaired by Sultan
Sharafuddin.
The decisions and views would then be submitted
together with its recommendations to the Council of Rulers before they were
adopted by the state fatwa committee and applied in the state government
gazette.
"Any statement regarding the decision made by the
MKI muzakarah committee can only be made by the muzakarah chairman.
"No other party including the Minister in the
Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) or the Islamic Development
Department (Jakim) can make the statement.
"This is important to ensure that muzakarah decisions
at the national level and fatwas at the state level are not influenced by
elements of party politics," said Sultan Sharafuddin.
He added that Jakim only acts as the secretariat of
the MKI muzakarah committee.
Sultan Sharafuddin also advised muftis to refrain from
religious disputes in the public space, especially if the issue had been
decided on together in the muzakarah space.
The Sultan added that disputes between muftis and
religious experts should not become a public spectacle, as it will only lower
their authorities.
"Appropriately, the differences of opinion of
these scholars should only be discussed in the muzakarah and are not brought
out of the muzakarah court," said Sultan Sharafuddin.
He also decreed the muzakarah committee to draft rules
and manners for differences of opinion between the committee members, adding
that there also needs to be civility in differing opinions.
Recently, a top hotel in Petaling Jaya had come under
fire after placing a "non-halal" sign on one of its lifts, which it used
to transport non-halal items.
Lawyer and social activist Siti Kassim had first
posted a picture of the non-halal lift on social media and questioned the
rationale behind it.
The hotel said it was part of the halal certification
requirements by local authorities and that they had since changed the signage
on the lift.
Source: The Star
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Sana'a Govt.: Yemen Ready For War If Saudi Arabia Continues
To Violate Sovereignty
Photo: Press TV
----
06 October 2022
Yusef Mawry
The war drums are beating again in the Yemeni capital
after a UN-brokered ceasefire ended on Sunday.
For people who have suffered for eight years from the
Saudi bombings and inhumane blockade, the expiration of the ceasefire comes as
bad news for many. This is particularly true for college students concerned
about their futures after graduation.
With the ceasefire expiring, the Yemenis are bracing
for what could be a resumption of Saudi aerial bombardment accompanied by a
heavily concentrated siege from land, air, and sea. However, Ansarullah's
Spokesperson says the movement is prepared to break the siege and liberate the
country from all foreign presence.
Yemen’s armed forces have put oil companies working in
Saudi Arabia and UAE on alert. It warns that these facilities could be targeted
if Saudi Arabia and its allies fail to commit and carry out a ceasefire.
Army spokesman Yahya Saree says Yemeni people have the
right to use their own resources, including oil. Saree also called for the
immediate removal of the Saudi-led blockade. He said that as long as aggressors
fail to agree to a comprehensive and sustainable truce, Yemeni forces will push
back.
Political analyst Sameer al-Masani believes hitting
these oil-rich countries where it hurts is perhaps the only way to end the war.
The UN Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg is urging both
sides to refrain from any provocations that can lead to all-out war so that a
political agreement can be reached. However, Tofeak al-Himyari from Yemen's
Ministry of Information believes all efforts to reach a peaceful solution have
failed.
Although aerial warfare has not commenced, fighting on
the ground has reignited in a number of battlefronts between Saudi mercenaries
and Yemeni fighters who are vowing to make Saudi Arabia pay a hefty price for
their aggression on Yemen.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
India
Amit Shah Halts Speech For 'Azaan' At Mosque In J&K, Draws Huge Cheers, Applause
06 OCT 2022
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a three-day
visit to Jammu and Kashmir, halted his speech for azaan (a prayer call) from a
nearby mosque in Baramulla. Shah was addressing a public rally on Wednesday
When the home minister heard the 'azaan' from the
mosque, he asked if anything was going on in the mosque.
After confirming with people, he took a brief pause
before restarting the speech with permission from the audience. His gesture
attracted huge applause and people cheered for him.
In the same rally, Shah ruled out holding talks with
Pakistan and vowed to wipe out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir.
He asked whether terrorism has ever benefited anyone
as the menace has claimed 42,000 lives since the 1990s in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Those who ruled for 70 years are saying talk to
Pakistan. Why should we talk to Pakistan? We will not talk. We will talk to the
people of Baramulla, we will talk to the people of Kashmir,” Amit Shah said.
Prior to this chaired a high-level meeting to review
the security situation in the Union territory, officials said.
Source: Outlook India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.outlookindia.com/national/amit-shah-pauses-j-k-rally-for-azaan-at-mosque-news-227866
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Islamic Federation of Tamil Nadu under scanner of
Central agencies
5th October 2022
Chennai: The Central intelligence agencies have upped
the ante on a newly floated Islamic outfit, the Islamic Federation of Tamil
Nadu, which was launched at Coimbatore on October 1.
The outfit which has representatives drawn from the
Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political arm of the banned
Popular Front of India, the Islamic Law Research Council and a few other
like-minded organization has M. Rahmatullah as the interim coordinator.
The organization which is registered as an NGO has
five objectives that include, making education facilities available to all,
recovery of properties that belonged to the Wakf board and are illegally
occupied, arbitration and mediation centres for Muslims who face issues in
marriage, creating of a bank that provides loans without interest and a law
university.
While Rahmathulla has categorically denied any
connection with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and that the intelligence
agencies are part of the WhatsApp group of the organization, sources in the
agencies told IANS that they have kept a tab on the new movement.
It may be noted that Coimbatore has been the hub of
Islamic terror movements with 58 people being killed in a series of bomb
explosions on February 14, 1998.
The serial bomb blast was aimed at the then Deputy
Prime Minister of the country, L K Advani. Several Islamic leaders including
Abdul Nasser Madani and S A Basha of Al Umma were arrested and remanded in
prison after the blasts.
Sources in the central agencies told IANS that even if
the new organization has no connection with PFI or other banned outfits, the
organization would definitely be under the scanner of the central agencies.
Source: Siasat Daily
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/islamic-federation-of-tamil-nadu-under-scanner-of-central-agencies-2428124/
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RSS’ Muslim wing for Uniform Civil code in Karnataka
06th October 2022
BENGALURU: The much discussed Uniform Civil Code,
which has the backing of pro-Hindu groups, has got support from Muslim leaders
affiliated with the RSS wing ‘Bharat First’ and Rashtriya Muslim Manch. The
development comes after many BJP-ruled states and pro-Hindu groups started
pitching for the UCC. ‘Bharat First’ Karnataka chapter was launched in
Bengaluru on Tuesday.
Speaking to TNIE after its launch, Iqbal Ahmed,
All-India co-convener, Bharat First, and long-time associate of RSS said,
“There is a majoritarian government. Simply raising objections to Uniform Civic
Code will create unnecessary problems. It is all about ‘One Nation’ and ‘One
Law’.
Source: New Indian Express
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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No talks with Pakistan; Modi govt won't tolerate
terrorism, says Amit Shah
Oct 5, 2022
BARAMULLA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday
ruled out holding any dialogue with Pakistan and asserted that the Modi
government will wipe out terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir and make it the most
peaceful place in the country.
Addressing a rally here, Shah asked whether terrorism
has ever benefited anyone as the menace has claimed 42,000 lives since the
1990s in J and K.
He also blamed the families of the Abdullahs (National
Conference), Muftis (PDP) and Nehru-Gandhi (Congress) for the alleged
underdevelopment of Jammu and Kashmir as they ruled the erstwhile state most of
the time since the country's independence in 1947.
“Some people say we should talk to Pakistan. Why
should we talk to Pakistan? We will not talk. We will talk to the people of
Baramulla, we will talk to the people of Kashmir,” Shah said.
He said the Modi government does not tolerate
terrorism and it wants to end and wipe it out.
“We want to make Jammu and Kashmir the most peaceful
place in the country,” he said.
Shah said some people often talk about Pakistan but he
wanted to know how many villages in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) have
electricity connections.
“We have ensured, in the last three years, that all
villages in Kashmir have electricity connection,” he added.
Coming down heavily on three political families for
the second consecutive day, even taking their names, the home minister alleged
that their rules were full of misgovernance, corruption and lack of
development.
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Three families made J&K 'terrorist spot' we made
it 'tourist spot': Amit Shah
Oct 5, 2022
SRINAGAR: Taking a dig at that the previous
governments who governed Jammu and Kashmir in the past, Union home minister
Amit Shah said on Wednesday said that the Valley was ran by three families who
had made Kashmir a 'terrorist spot' while Modiji has made it a 'tourist
hotspot'.
Shah was addressing a large public rally in Baramulla
town, his first public meeting in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370,
where he started his speech with a glowing tribute to the son of the soil,
Maqbool Sherwani who was martyred fighting the tribal invaders in 1947.
Shah interrupted his speech when he heard the 'Azan'
(Call for Namaz) coming from a local mosque. He restarted his speech after the
Azan was over.
He said before his visit to J&K, former chief
minister Mehbooba Mufti had asked him through a tweet comment that he should
give an account of what he has done for J&K.
"Mehboobaji see with eyes wide open and also
Farooq Sahib, see what we have done and what you had done.
"In your rule, there were 87 Assembly members,
six Parliament members and three families.
"Modiji took democracy to Panchayat, block and
district levels. Today there are more than 30,000 public representatives in
these institutions", he asserted.
He questioned both Mehbooba Mufti and Farooq Abdullah
about the investments they had brought into J&K during their rule.
"In 70 years since 1947, Just Rs 15,000 crore
worth investment came to J&K and from 2019 till date, Rs 56,000 crore worth
investments has come which will give employment to five lakh locals.
"You people made Kashmir a 'terrorist spot' while
Modiji has made Kashmir a 'tourist spot'.
"Till October this year, 22 lakh tourists came
here. You gave stones and guns in the hands of the local youth and Modiji gave
them laptops and mobile phones," he said.
He asked the people whether terrorism has ever helped
anybody in the World.
"42000 people died in militancy related incidents
in J&K, but no son of any leader died during this period. It was always the
poor man who had to carry the heaviest weight in the World -- the dead body of
his son", Shah said.
He said till 2014, J&K had just four medical
colleges and now there are nine in J&K.
"Gujjars, Bakarwals and Paharis could not get any
reservation till Article 370 was here. Modiji removed Article 370 and now
Gujjars, Bakarwals and Paharis will get reservations.
"Modiji formed the Sharma commission and through
the recommendations of this commission, our Gujjar, Bakarwal and Pahari
brothers and sisters will now get reservations.
"Some people say we must talk to Pakistan, but we
say we must talk to the people of J&K. Those who advocate talks with
Pakistan should go and see PoK and find out how many villages have electricity
there.
Source: Times Of India
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Europe
Germany repatriates 12 citizens from Syrian extremist
camp
06 October, 2022
Germany on Wednesday said it had resolved “almost all
known cases” of its citizens stuck in Syrian extremist camps, after announcing
the repatriation of 12 people.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock released a
statement announcing that seven children and four women returned to Germany on
Wednesday night from the Roj camp in northeastern Syria.
A teenage boy who had been taken to Syria aged 11 was
also part of the group.
“I am relieved that this action has allowed us to
close almost all the known cases,” Baerbock said.
“I am especially relieved because the children are not
responsible for their parents’ fateful choices,” she added, deeming it
impossible to leave them “without a future in the camps of northeast Syria.”
The German foreign ministry said the women and the
teenager will have to “answer for their acts” and were detained upon their
arrival in the country.
It added that there was only one instance where an
agreed repatriation had not been carried out yet, and that the mothers did not
wish to return in the other cases.
The ministry said six operations have led to 76 minors
and 26 women being repatriated from northeastern Syria to Germany to date.
The return of relatives of captured or killed
extremist fighters from Syria and Iraq has been a thorny issue for European
countries since the fall of ISIS’ so-called “caliphate” in 2019.
The debate on welcoming back citizens from extremist
prison camps has been particularly heated in France.
The government previously opted for returns on a
case-by-case basis, a policy denounced by the prisoners’ relatives, before
carrying out a first major repatriation earlier this year.
French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti on
Wednesday said a total of 77 minors had been repatriated in seven operations
from the Rojava camp in northeastern Syria.
Another six had returned to France from Iraq, he
added.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Turkish, Swedish delegations gather for talks on
terrorists extradition
Ismet Karakas
05.10.2022
The technical talks between Turkish and Swedish
delegations on the extradition of terrorists under the NATO agreement kicked
off Wednesday.
The Turkish side is being led by Kasim Cicek, the
director general of Foreign Relations and European Union at the Justice
Ministry.
The two-day talks are being held in the Turkish
capital Ankara.
Last week, Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said:
"We expect Sweden and Finland to extradite FETO and PKK (terror group)
members to Türkiye within the scope of the NATO agreement.”
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in
June, a decision spurred by Russia's war on Ukraine.
However, Türkiye, a member of NATO for over 70 years,
voiced objections to the membership bids, criticizing the countries for
tolerating and even supporting terrorist groups.
A trilateral memorandum at the NATO summit signed
among the countries in June stipulates that Finland and Sweden will not provide
support to the YPG/PYD, the PKK's Syrian offshoot, or to the Fetullah Terrorist
Organization (FETO) – the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Türkiye.
Finland and Sweden also agreed to address Türkiye's
pending deportation or extradition requests of terror suspects.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Mosque in Germany suffers Islamophobic attack
Mesut Zeyrek
05.10.2022
COLOGNE, Germany
A mosque in Germany was subjected to an Islamophobic
attack.
Last Saturday, Islamophobic slurs and derogatory words
about Prophet Muhammad were written on the wall of the mosque affiliated with
the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) in the western city of
Offenbach.
In a statement, police urged eyewitnesses to identify
the perpetrators, adding that an investigation has been launched on the attack.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Türkiye and Denmark reach final stage of strategic
energy sector cooperation
Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
05.10.2022
COPENHAGEN, Denmark
Türkiye and Denmark have entered into the third and
final stage of an energy cooperation agreement to improve trade ties and
climate cooperation, an energy advisor at the Centre for Global Cooperation of
the Danish Energy Agency (DEA) said Tuesday.
Speaking during a study visit of Turkish officials and
entrepreneurs to Denmark as part of the BEST For Energy (Boosting Effective and
Sustainable Transformation for Energy) project, Susana Paardekooper, the
program manager for the Strategic Sector Cooperation with Türkiye, said the
application process for the third phase of the program for the next four years
had been opened.
The program, which was initiated in 2017, aims to
support the long-term development of the energy system from a regulatory
perspective in Türkiye through both government-to-government and
business-to-business development.
The program has allowed for cooperation on district
heating and cooling, primarily from the legislation point of view in the past,
she explained.
A heating act in Denmark in place since the early 80s
was a starting point in which the most useful legislative elements were
considered for better heat planning. These were then debated for application in
the Turkish context with a particular focus on the development of geothermal
energy for district heating, a resource that is plentiful in Türkiye.
Paardekooper explained that the third phase
incorporates the application process, methods of supporting project
development, and financing for different district heating energy projects.
“A geothermal and heat law is somewhere in the
legislative process that may hopefully materialize. We are working with the
(Turkish) ministry (of industry and technology) to see how we can also support
secondary legislation with the explicit purpose of developing district
energy," she said.
"We are quite optimistic that in this third phase
it will be possible to round it off and come to a kind of consolidation and
conclusion of what we have done and open the pathways for future
cooperation," Paardekooper said, adding that although the program needs to
end at the third phase, the idea is to move on for further commercial and
climate cooperation.
Study visit to Denmark
A study visit this week of Turkish clean energy
companies and government officials to Denmark, as part of the BEST For Energy
Project, is seeing the exploration of opportunities for new bilateral
partnerships in clean energy and technologies.
The delegation consists of 20 representatives from
clean energy companies and institutions in Türkiye, officials from the Izmir
Development Agency (IZKA), the Association of Energy Industrialists and
Businessmen (ENSIA), Turkish Offshore Wind Energy Association and the Izmir
Metropolitan Municipality and Izenerji.
The European Commission, within the scope of the
Competitive Sectors Program of Türkiye's Ministry of Industry and Technology,
supports the BEST For Energy Project.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Southeast
Asia
Sultan Nazrin: Increase awareness to make Malaysia
Islamic finance arbitration hub
By Zahratulhayat Mat Arif
October 6, 2022
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia could become the preferred
Islamic finance arbitration hub if efforts to increase awareness of the dispute
resolution mechanism were made, Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah
said.
Sultan Nazrin said it was good to see dispute
resolution mechanisms evolving from conventional mechanisms, particularly from
conventional arbitration to Islamic arbitration.
"As a leading centre for Islamic finance,
Malaysia should continue to focus on this area of dispute resolution within the
general framework of Islam," he said.
"The Asian International Arbitration Centre
(AIAC) would do well to gather a pool of experts in this area to become the
preferred hub in Asia, specialising in Islamic finance arbitration, as well as
in disputes within halal industries."
Sultan Nazrin said this during his keynote address at
the AIAC's Asia Alternative Dispute Resolution Week 2022 here today.
Sultan Nazrin said two challenges should be
highlighted in this regard, which are the low uptake of Islamic arbitration and
lack of awareness.
"Despite Malaysia having a comprehensive and
up-to-date legal framework for Islamic arbitration in place through the AIAC,
arbitration of Islamic finance disputes is not a popular option.
"Rather, litigation is still preferred. One
reason for this, according to the ICC Task Force on Financial Institutions and
International Arbitration in its 2018 report, is that Islamic financial
institutions are reluctant to have their disputes decided by arbitrators in
accordance with shariah because of the greater uncertainty of the
outcome."
Sultan Nazrin added that a lack of awareness of the
various products and services that deliver Islamic forms of arbitration could
be another reason for the limited uptake.
"So, increasing understanding of Islamic
arbitration and its benefits among stakeholders is another important task.
"Islamic arbitration provides a unique path to
amicable dispute resolution for businesses in this space. By providing a
confidential means of settling disputes and maintaining the mutual goodwill of
the parties, it helps to promote more stable business relationships."
He added that a distinctive feature of Islamic
arbitration is the need for an additional layer of consultation with either the
Shariah Council or a shariah expert.
"According to Rule 29 of the i-Arbitration Rules
2021, the Shariah Council has a maximum of 90 days to make its ruling. After
this, the arbitrator may decide on the issue on their own. This pre-arbitration
tier increases the time taken to resolve any case.
"To address this issue, steps could be taken to
train those with specialisation in shariah, fiqh (jurisprudence) and muamalat
(finance) as Islamic arbitrators.
"This would enable disputes to be resolved
without the need to involve a Shariah Council or an expert," he said,
adding that this would make Islamic arbitration more attractive and
"easier" than litigation.
To enable this, Sultan Nazrin added that incentives
and career paths must be formulated so that shariah graduates could pursue a
career as an Islamic arbitrator.
"In other words, talent and human resources
should be developed in the field of Islamic arbitration."
Source: NST
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Free from syndicates, but broke Malaysian victims
still stranded overseas
Zeanaaima Mohd Yusof, Yasmin Abdul Latif and Chia Wan
Rou
October 6, 2022
SEPANG: A number of Malaysian job scam victims remain
stranded in foreign countries despite escaping from syndicates in Laos,
Cambodia, and Myanmar as they have been slapped with fines they cannot pay for
immigration offences.
Malaysian International Humanitarian Organisation
(MHO) secretary-general Hishamuddin Hashim said these victims had to pay
compounds for “overstaying” despite having nothing but the clothes on their
backs.
He said this was why MHO and Malaysia Community Crime
Care (MCCC) president Musa Hassan had agreed to set up the “Selamatkan Rakyat
Malaysia” humanitarian fund to help bring back these stranded scam victims.
Hishamuddin said the families of some victims could
afford the compounds but there were those who could not.
He said most of the victims who had been rescued had
no money and could not afford a place to stay or food.
“When the victims are rescued, they are placed in a
police station but they are not allowed to stay there for long, just a day or
two. Then they need to be moved to a hotel for their safety, but they don’t
have money.
“Once they are safe, they are taken to the immigration
authorities who will then calculate how long they have overstayed in that
country. If they entered the country illegally, they would also be slapped with
a fine,” he said.
He said MHO had asked Putrajaya to provide funds for
logistical matters to bring the Malaysians home but there had been little
progress.
“The government (should) provide funds. This is a
different situation compared to those who overstay (in another country on
purpose). These are trafficking victims.”
Meanwhile, Musa, who is also a former
inspector-general of police, said MHO and MCCC had to launch the “Selamatkan
Rakyat Malaysia” fund to help the victims.
“As a person who runs an NGO, I’ve never asked for
money from anyone, not even the government. But we want to help people who have
been victimised, so we had to set up the fund,” he told FMT.
“The money can also help those working in Malaysian
embassies in certain countries as they also lack the funds (to help save the
victims).”
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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Scramble to stop snap polls won’t work, says source
October 6, 2022
PETALING JAYA: Last-ditch efforts to prevent the next
general election (GE15) from being called this year are unlikely to succeed,
says a high-level Umno source.
These efforts, among others, include letters from
Perikatan Nasional (PN) ministers to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, as confirmed by
Bersatu vice-president Radzi Jidin.
This is on top of growing calls from Pakatan Harapan
and PN leaders, as well as civil society organisations asking for GE15 to be
held at a later date, citing the monsoon season, the economic situation, the
effects of the pandemic and year-end festivities.
“There are ministers who are seeking audiences with
the palace in a bid to prevent the polls from happening this year.
“Of course, people are also trying to pile on the
pressure on Ismail to dissuade him from seeking a dissolution of Parliament,”
said the source, alluding to various media statements.
But the source said Ismail, who will be granted an
audience by the King this evening for a pre-Cabinet meeting briefing, will not
budge.
“Umno members have very high expectations that Ismail
will seek a dissolution of Parliament so that we can have GE15 this year.
“I don’t believe that Ismail will want to let them
down.”
The source said this was especially the case after
Tuesday’s Umno gathering which was attended by Umno’s top brass and leaders
from all 191 divisions.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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Najib never issued cheques to himself, bank manager
tells court
Ho Kit Yen
October 5, 2022
KUALA LUMPUR: A bank officer told the High Court
hearing Najib Razak’s 1MDB trial that the former prime minister did not make
any cash withdrawal from his AmBank accounts.
AmBank’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch manager R Uma Devi
confirmed this during cross-examination by defence counsel Shafee Abdullah.
“Do you agree that for someone like him, cash would be
more convenient since it is typical for Malaysians to use cash when spending?”
Shafee asked.
In response, Uma Devi said it was up to the account
holder whether to use cheques or withdraw cash.
She also confirmed that all cheques issued by Najib
from his accounts were made out in favour of organisations and political
parties.
Uma Devi added that the former prime minister had not
issued cheques from his AmBank accounts to himself.
The hearing continues before justice Collin Lawrence
Sequerah on Thursday when former AmBank managing director Cheah Tek Kuang will
continue his testimony.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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Mideast
Yemen to target Saudi, UAE oil facilities if people’s
demands not met: Ansarullah official
06 October 2022
A senior member of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah
resistance movement says the country’s armed forces will target oil facilities
deep inside Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in case the Yemeni
people’s rights are not fulfilled.
Speaking at an interview with Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen
television network on Wednesday, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah’s
political bureau, said Yemeni people have rightful demands, warning that
Yemen’s army forces “have the ability to target Saudi Arabia and UAE’s oil
installations if those demands are not met."
Earlier in the day, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed
Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree also warned the foreign companies with
operations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to immediately leave
the two Persian Gulf countries as the six-month UN-brokered truce ended without
any further extension.
In a post on his Twitter account, Saree renewed the
warning for the foreign firms stationed in the two aggressor countries to move
their operations to other "less risky" countries in order to prevent
"further losses."
“You must transfer your investment from an aggressor
country to a less risky one in order to prevent further losses. Examples of
such countries include the #UAE and #Saudi Arabia,” he wrote.
Earlier, Sare’e had said the warning will stay in
place “as long as the American-Saudi aggression countries are not committed to
a truce that gives the Yemeni people the right to exploit their oil wealth in
favor of the salary of the Yemeni state employees.”
The initial two-month ceasefire, the first since 2016,
began on April 2 and was renewed twice.
In a statement, United Nations Envoy for Yemen Hans
Grundberg called on all Yemeni sides to refrain from acts of provocation as
negotiations are continuing, after an October 2 deadline for extending the
UN-brokered truce expired.
Saudi-led coalition strikes Yemen's Hudaydah port
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition has carried out
fresh airstrikes in Yemen’s western coastal province of Hudaydah, military
sources say.
According to Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah
television network, Saudi reconnaissance drones entered the skies of the port
city on Thursday and targeted the Hays district several times.
The Saudi-led collation’s missiles have also continued
pounding different parts of Hudaydah over the past 24 hours, it added.
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in
March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics
support from the US and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly
regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance
movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional
government in Yemen.
Source: Press TV
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35 journalists arrested in Iran amid protests: CPJ
Mohammed Rajwa
05.10.2022
TEHRAN, Iran
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said 35
journalists have been arrested in Iran amid protests over the death of a
22-year-old woman in police custody.
“At least 35 journalists have been arrested since the
start of the #IranProtests; there is only one known release so far,” CPJ said
on Twitter.
The New York-based organization said the number of
detained journalists is based on their own sources inside Iran.
“Details of those arrested are sparse amid an internet
blackout and major disruptions to phone & social media networks,” it said.
The CPJ said Nilufer Hamdi, a correspondent for
Tehran-based Daily Sharq newspaper, was among those detained by Iranian
authorities.
Hamdi was among the first journalists to report about
Mahsa Amini’s hospitalization before her death, according to the CPJ.
Amini died on Sept. 16 in mysterious circumstances
after being detained by the morality police in Tehran.
While authorities maintain that she died of cardiac
arrest, her family claims she was beaten in police custody, which has fueled
angry protests across Iran in recent days and drawn condemnation from across
the world, including the UK.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/35-journalists-arrested-in-iran-amid-protests-cpj/2703220
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Israel’s former PM Netanyahu released from hospital
06 October, 2022
Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
seeking a return to power in elections next month, left hospital Thursday
following a night of observation after feeling ill while fasting for Yom
Kippur.
Netanyahu “was released from the Shaare Zedek medical
center after the results of all the tests he underwent were totally normal,” a
statement from the ex-premier’s office said.
“Netanyahu is back to full activity and already
getting ready for his morning walk.”
On Wednesday evening, Netanyahu, who turns 73 this
month, “felt unwell” while taking part in prayers at a Jerusalem synagogue for
Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, his office said, noting he
had been fasting.
Israel’s November 1 election will be its fifth vote in
less than four years.
It could oust the centrist Yair Lapid and see the
return of the hawkish Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, who is on
trial over corruption charges which he denies.
Lapid was the architect of a motley alliance that
ended Netanyahu’s record 12 consecutive years in power in 2021.
The latest opinion polls put Netanyahu’s Likud party
in front and set to take more than 30 seats in the 120-member Knesset, or
parliament, at the ballot.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Palestinian shot dead by Israeli army in West Bank:
Ministry
05 October, 2022
A Palestinian was shot dead and at least two others
injured Wednesday by Israeli forces during an operation near Nablus in the
occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said.
Alaa Zaghal, 21 “died of a bullet wound to the head
fired by the occupation (Israeli) army,” a statement read.
The Israeli army confirmed that an operation in the
village of Deir al-Hatab was ongoing.
Local residents told AFP that the army had surrounded
a house inside the village, which lies east of Nablus.
The violence was the latest to hit the north of the
Israeli-occupied West Bank, an area that has seen near daily clashes between
Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen since an escalation that began in March.
Nablus has increasingly become a target for Israeli
operations following the emergence of a new armed faction, a loose coalition of
fighters called “The Lions Den.”
The arrest of one of the group’s members by the
Palestinian Authority security forces last month sparked clashes in the city
between security forces and local militants, killing one.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six Day
War of 1967.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran judiciary launches investigation into death of
teenage girl during protests
05 October, 2022
Iran’s judiciary has opened an investigation into the
death of a teenage girl, who was reportedly killed during protests over the
death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.
A wave of unrest has rocked Iran since Amini died on September
16 after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly failing to
observe the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
The street violence has led to the deaths of dozens of
people - mostly protesters but also members of the security forces.
“A case has been filed in the criminal court to
investigate the cause of Nika Shakrami’s death,” Tehran prosecutor Ali Salehi
was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency late Tuesday.
“An order to investigate the case has been issued and
necessary measures are being taken in this regard,” he added.
Earlier, the prosecutor said 400 protesters were
released from prison “on condition of not repeating their actions.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran summons UK ambassador over intrusive statements
October 06, 2022
ANKARA (AA) - Iran summoned UK Ambassador to Tehran
Simon Shercliff on Wednesday to protest Britain’s statements regarding the
unrest that started after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, in
police custody last month.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry stated that the UK is
"interfering in Iran's internal affairs by issuing meddlesome and
provocative comments.”
Iran accused the UK of "siding with terrorist
organizations against the Iranian government.”
According to the ministry’s statement, Tehran will
"consider possible responses to the actions of the United Kingdom.”
Mahsa Amini died on Sept. 16 in mysterious
circumstances after being detained and taken to the headquarters of the
"morality police" in Tehran.
While authorities maintain that she died of cardiac
arrest, her family claims she was beaten in police custody, which has fueled
angry protests across Iran in recent days and drawn condemnation from across
the world, including the UK.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Turkey summons Sweden envoy over TV satire ‘insulting’
Erdogan amid tense ties
06 October 2022
Turkey has summoned Swedish Ambassador Staffan
Herrstrom over “insulting content” about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
aired on Swedish public service television, as relations between the two sides
remain tense over Stockholm’s bid to join NATO.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday called in the
Swedish diplomat to lodge a formal complaint over an “unacceptable” broadcast
on Swedish television (SVT) that included “impertinent and ugly expression and
images” about Erdogan and Turkey, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson downplayed
the importance of the satirical TV show, saying she did not think it would harm
Sweden’s chances to join NATO.
“I think what is important for Turkey is, of course,
that we live up to the agreement that we have made,” the premier told a news
conference.
The weekly TV satire “Swedish News” mocked the Turkish
president over alleged human rights abuses.
Finland and Sweden scrambled to become NATO members in
May in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine.
In June, NATO formally invited Stockholm and Helsinki
to join the US-led military alliance, in a historic expansion of the bloc.
The pair’s accession needs the approval of all NATO
members. So far, 28 of the current 30 member states’ parliaments have approved
the application, but Turkey has raised objectives and is seeking concessions.
Turkey wants the extradition of individuals that it
regards as terrorists as a condition to approve Sweden and Finland’s bids to
join NATO.
Erdogan on Saturday once again repeated his threat to
block their application until they kept the promises they made to Ankara.
The Turkish president has numerously said the two
countries have turned into havens for Kurdish militants, specifically
highlighting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), and for promoting
“terrorism.”
Source: Press TV
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Arab
World
Dozens of Muqtada al-Sadr supporters break into
Baghdad TV channel HQ
05 October, 2022
Dozens of supporters of Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr broke into the building of the Baghdad-based al-Rabiaa TV channel on
Tuesday night, over allegations the channel had insulted al-Sadr’s former
militia.
Al-Sadr is a populist cleric who emerged as a symbol
of resistance against the US occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
He formed the Mahdi Army militia that he eventually
disbanded and renamed it Saraya Salam — the Peace Brigades.
His supporters allege that al-Rabiaa insulted the
Mahdi Army militia during a recent talk show.
Security forces and anti-riot police were deployed to
the channel’s office after the mob broke in.
Videos shared by the channel showed its equipment and
furniture destroyed, while al-Sadr followers were shouting pro-Mahdi Army
slogans.
Al-Rabiaa is an Iraqi TV channel that was founded in
2021.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Saudi football fan treks from Jeddah to Doha for World
Cup
06 October, 2022
The idea hit Abdullah Alsulmi earlier this year, while
he was watching a television show in which a senior Qatari official promised an
“exceptional” experience at the upcoming World Cup.
His excitement building, the 33-year-old Saudi recalls
thinking: “I will go to Doha no matter what, even if I have to walk!”
It was an unlikely beginning to what has become an
audacious adventure dismissed by some of Alsulmi’s own relatives as “crazy:” A
two-month, 1,600-kilometer (1,000-mile) solo trek from his native Jeddah to the
Qatari capital.
Alsulmi says the journey, faithfully documented for
his thousands of Snapchat followers, is meant to highlight regional enthusiasm
for the first World Cup in the Middle East –- which Saudi officials have
pitched as a milestone “for all Arabs.”
“We want to support the World Cup,” Alsulmi told AFP
one day last week as he sheltered from the midday sun near roadside shrubs in
the town of al-Khasrah, 340 kilometers southwest of Riyadh.
Wearing a wide-brim hat and a backpack to which he’d
affixed Saudi and Qatari flags, he said: “I consider myself like a Qatari who
is very interested in this World Cup and its success.”
Sun and scorpions
Alsulmi has experience with extended treks in Canada
and Australia, where he used to live, yet those pale in comparison to the
rigors of traversing the Arabian Peninsula.
He typically sets out at sunrise and walks until 10:00
a.m. or 10:30 a.m., but then the heat forces him to break for a few hours
before resuming in the afternoon and continuing until sundown.
Occasionally he walks at night to maintain his goal of
around 35 kilometers per day.
To keep his load light, Alsulmi subsists on food he
can buy at petrol stations, often chicken and rice, while showering and washing
his clothes at mosques.
His social media posts capture details of life on the
trail, from the mundane to the menacing: His nightly search for a spot to
sleep, and the time he eyed a scorpion dozing dangerously close to his tent.
He also records conversations with Saudis he meets
along the way, many of whom offer snacks and juice to keep him going.
“There are moments of ups and downs, but when I meet people
and hear these sweet words –- ‘We will follow you on your account and support
you’ –- this encourages me to finish,” he said.
Straying from the main roads as often as he can, he
says he has been rewarded with a taste of the varied scenery on offer in the
Kingdom -- something he didn’t fully appreciate before.
“Walking from Jeddah to Doha, every 100 kilometers is
different. I mean, the first 100 kilometers there are sand dunes, then
mountains, and then comes empty land, then farms,” he said.
“I am going through all terrains in one country in two
months. This is a beautiful thing.”
A ‘simple’ sport
Alsulmi hopes that by posting about his experience, he
can inspire other Saudis to consider trekking through their homeland.
“When I do this, I want to convey to people that
hiking and walking is a beautiful sport, even if the weather is difficult here
in Saudi Arabia, even if the terrain is difficult. We can do it,” he said.
“It is a sport for simple people. You only need a bag
and a few simple things, and a tent and nature.”
If all goes according to plan, Alsulmi will arrive in
Doha in time for Saudi Arabia’s opening showdown against Argentina on November
22.
It will be a moment of divided loyalty, since
Argentina is his favorite team.
Four days later, he has a ticket for the Green
Falcons’ match against Poland.
His hopes are high for a Saudi squad that has now
qualified for six World Cups but advanced to the knockout stage just once,
during its 1994 debut.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Lebanese lawmaker demands frozen assets in bank
deposit
Idiris Okuduci
05.10.2022
BEIRUT
A Lebanese lawmaker on Wednesday entered a private
bank in the capital Beirut to demand a portion of her deposit, according to
local media.
Bank officials, however, denied the demands of Cynthia
Zarazir to withdraw $8,500 of her funds that she said she needed for surgery,
reported the Al Jadeed TV channel.
As Zarazir continued to negotiate with bank officials,
many others whose accounts had similarly been frozen gathered in front of the
branch in support of the member of parliament representing Beirut.
At least eight attempts -- including some armed -- at
storming banks were reported in Lebanon last month during which depositors
managed to recover some of their frozen funds.
The incidents have pushed banks to close their doors
for several days to protest the holdups.
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/lebanese-lawmaker-demands-frozen-assets-in-bank-deposit/2703274
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Sheikh Ahmad reappointed as Kuwait’s prime minister
Ibrahim al-Khazen
05.10.2022
Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was reappointed
on Wednesday as Kuwait’s prime minister, according to the state news agency
KUNA.
Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued a
decree tasking Sheikh Ahmad of forming a new government, KUNA said.
On Sunday, the crown prince accepted the resignation
of the government led by Sheikh Ahmad after two months of its formation.
On July 24, Sheikh Ahmad was appointed as prime
minister four months after the resignation of the previous government amid
severe disputes with lawmakers.
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/sheikh-ahmad-reappointed-as-kuwait-s-prime-minister/2703259
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Israeli ministers to meet on Lebanon maritime deal,
but approval pending
October 06, 2022
JERUSALEM: Israel’s top cabinet ministers on Thursday
will discuss a prospective US-mediated border demarcation deal with Lebanon
addressing a disputed Mediterranean gas field, but were unlikely to take a final
vote, Israeli officials said.
The draft deal, which has not been made public, has
had a mostly warm preliminary reception by the Israeli and Lebanese
governments. But there has also been domestic opposition in both countries,
which are technically at war.
Deputy Foreign Minister Idan Roll said Israel’s
security cabinet would meet at 4 p.m. (1300 GMT) to discuss the draft.
“The main points of the deal, and the matters we
support, will be presented to it,” Roll told Ynet TV, adding that a discussion
in the full cabinet, and a parliamentary review at an as-yet undecided level of
the Knesset assembly, would follow.
With centrist Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid
serving in a caretaker capacity ahead of a Nov. 1 election, the political
opposition has demanded Knesset ratification for the deal.
Lapid’s main rival, conservative ex-Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, argues that the deal could surrender Israeli maritime
rights and benefit the enemy Lebanese Hezbollah movement. The Lapid government
insists Israel’s security will be safeguarded.
Beirut, meanwhile, has balked at Lapid’s assertion
that Israel will be paid partial royalties from future Lebanese exploration in
the Qana gas prospect. A Lebanese ex-negotiator and some opposition lawmakers
have argued that the proposed border demarcation skews too far north, thus
favoring Israel.
Israeli security cabinet minister Hili Tropper said
Thursday’s forum would receive Lebanese caveats and revision requests through
US mediator Amos Hochstein.
“We will discuss them, and if they are significant, I
am convinced that we will not accept this deal,” Tropper told Ynet.
Asked if the deal might go through before Israel’s
election — a likely boon for Lapid’s campaign — Tropper said: “I can’t answer
that. Our goal is to get it done as quickly as possible.”
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2176181/middle-east
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Yemen Warns Foreign Investors In Saudi Arabia, UAE To
Leave As Truce Ends
05 October 2022
The Yemeni army has warned the foreign companies with
operations in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to immediately leave
the two Persian Gulf countries as the six-month UN-brokered truce ended without
any further extension.
In a Twitter post early on Wednesday, a spokesman for
the Yemeni armed forces urged the foreign firms stationed in the two
"aggressor" countries who are involved in the devastating war in Yemen
to move their operations to other "less risky" countries in order to
prevent "further losses".
“You must transfer your investment from an aggressor
country to a less risky one in order to prevent further losses. Examples of
such countries include the #UAE and #Saudi Arabia,” Brigadier General Yahya
Sare’e wrote.
Earlier, Sare’e had warned oil companies operating in
Saudi Arabia and the UAE to pack up and leave as the warring sides in Yemen
failed to reach an agreement to extend the UN-brokered truce.
The initial two-month ceasefire, the first since 2016,
began on April 2 and was renewed twice.
“As long as the American-Saudi aggression countries
are not committed to a truce that gives the Yemeni people the right to exploit
their oil wealth in favor of the salary of the Yemeni state employees, the
armed forces give oil companies operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia an
opportunity to organize their situation and leave,” he tweeted on Sunday
evening, adding “forewarned is forearmed.”
“If the Saudi and Emirati coalition continue to
deprive our Yemeni people [of] access to their resources, our military forces
can, with God's help, deprive them of their resources,” the Yemeni military
spokesman added.
In a statement, United Nations Envoy for Yemen Hans
Grundberg called on all Yemeni sides to refrain from acts of provocation as
negotiations are continuing, after an October 2 deadline for extending the
UN-brokered truce expired.
Grundberg said efforts to extend and expand the
ceasefire for a further six months had not been successful.
“The UN special envoy regrets that an agreement has
not been reached today, as an extended and expanded truce would provide
additional critical benefits to the population,” the statement read.
“I urge (the warring parties) to fulfill their
obligation to the Yemeni people to pursue every avenue for peace,” the Swedish
diplomat was quoted as saying.
Yemen’s popular Ansarullah resistance movement said in
a statement on Saturday that the ceasefire was at “a dead end.”
“Over the past six months, we haven't seen any serious
willingness to address humanitarian issues as a top priority,” the statement
said, denouncing the Saudi-led coalition of failing to agree measures to
“alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.”
Saudi Arabia launched the devastating war on Yemen in
March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms and logistics
support from the US and other Western states.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly
regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and crush the popular Ansarullah resistance
movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional
government in Yemen.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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South
Asia
Deputy
Prime Minister: Islamic Emirate Committed to Improving Education
By
Mohammad Farshad Daryosh
October
6, 2022
At
an event for World Teachers' Day, 2nd Deputy Prime Minister Hanafi said that
the acting government is committed to the improvement of quality and quantity
in the education sector.
Mullah
Abdul Salam Hanafi criticized the freezing of Afghanistan's foreign assets and
said that more than 800,000 government employees' salaries have been paid from
the national budget.
"More
than 800,000 government employees have been paid from our national
budget,"said Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi, 2nd Deputy PM.
According
to the Ministry of Education statistics, more than 247,000 teachers are
teaching right now.
The
head of the Quality Management of Human Resources at the Ministry of Education
said 20,000 vacancies have been created for teachers across the country.
"We
have 247,000 teachers and we are responsible for their spiritual advancement
and paying their salaries." said Mawlawi Abdulkhaliq Sadiq, Head of
Quality Management of Human Resources of the Ministry of Education.
"In
the current conditions, if we are under pressure, the reason is that we did not
work as much as needed in the education sector," said Shaikh Nurulhaq
Anwari, head of the Administrative Office.
Meanwhile,
some teachers called on the Islamic Emirate to create facilities for girls to
learn.
"We
hope that schools will open for girls and educational facilities will be
created for all of our citizens to get an education," said Mohammad Asif,
principal of Habibia high school.
"Women
are half of society and they have a basic role in the education of the new
generation,"said Abdul Ghafar, a teacher.
At
the event, the acting minister of education did not participate but said in a
message that education is the only way for progress.
Source:
Tolo News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-180160
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Blast
hits Kabul mosque in vicinity of interior ministry, killing 4
OCTOBER
5, 2022
KABUL
(Reuters) -An explosion hit a mosque in Afghanistan’s capital near the heavily
fortified interior ministry compound on Wednesday, killing four people and
wounding 25, a ministry spokesman said.
The
government did not immediately say what caused the blast in Kabul, where
Islamist militants have carried out a number of attacks in recent months.
“The
mosque was used by visitors and sometimes by interior ministry employees,” said
interior ministry spokesman Abdul Nafi Takor, who confirmed the casualty toll.
Italian
NGO aid group Emergency, which runs a hospital in Kabul, said on Twitter that
it had received 20 patients from the blast, two of whom were dead on arrival.
The
interior ministry compound is in a secure area next to Kabul international
airport.
The
ruling Taliban have said they have secured the country since taking over in
2021 after a two-decade insurgency. But although widespread fighting has ended,
a series of blasts have hit urban centres in recent months.
Source:
Reuters
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
No
one including Taliban was expecting flee of Ghani that resulted in the failure
of peace talks: US
05
Oct 2022
The
United States of America, as one of the parties in the US-Taliban agreement
signed in Doha, still believes that the main reason for the failure of the intra-Afghan
peace negotiations in Doha was the flee of Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the former
president of Afghanistan.
The
Afghan peace process failed as Ghani, who was representing one side of the
talks in the Doha Inra-Afghan negotiations fled and left the country which no
one including the Taliban was expecting it, said Karen Decker, the newly
appointed Charge d’Affaires for the US Embassy for Afghanistan in an
on-the-record roundtable with the Afghan media representatives on Wednesday.
According
to the Ms Decker, the United States under no condition is willing to get
engaged militarily in Afghanistan, but will continue its diplomatic and
political efforts to help the situation.
This
is a reality, we have to get engaged with the Taliban, Decker said.
The
US Department of State and USAID are jointly working from Doha in Qatar with a
focus on humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people, she said.
This
comes as the United States of America and mostly all other countries closed
their embassies and diplomatic missions in Afghanistan as the Taliban forces
took the control of Afghanistan last year.
The
Taliban’s administration has not yet been recognized by any countries of the
world, however, there are few countries that are directly into engagements with
the Taliban.
China,
Russia, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan are the countries that have close ties with
the Taliban, but none o them have yet indicated any signs of recognizing the
Taliban’s government.
Regional
and international players are putting efforts together to force Taliban in
formation of an inclusive government to bring diversity in its administration
and distribute power among other active political, ethnic and religious groups.
Despite
the Taliban’s presence throughout Afghanistan, the group does not have the total
control on parts of Panjshir, Nuristan and Baghlan provinces as different armed
groups under the name of National Resistance Forces (NRF) are attacking Taliban
forces using a guerrilla war methodology.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
‘StopHazaraGenocide’
Twitter Campaign Surpasses 4 Million Tweets
By
Saqalain Eqbal
05
Oct 2022
In
just a few days, the Twitter campaign against the alleged systematic killing,
“genocide” of the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan, has received more than 4
million tweets and is still going strong.
The
total number of tweets using the hashtag “#StopHazaraGenocide” surpassed 4
million a few hours ago, and it has been tweeted more than 1.18 million times
in the last 24 hours alone.
After
a terrorist attack on the Kaaj education center in the west of Kabul, the
Afghan capital, resulted in the deaths of over 54 students, mostly girls, the
hashtag campaign quickly gained prominence on Twitter and soon became a hot
trend.
The
issue of the systematic killing of Hazaras has been brought up again by this
deadly attack on Hazara children, and in the past five days, it has also
dominated domestic media coverage.
Genocide
is defined as an act in which a person or group deliberately targets a group of
people for physical destruction because they belong to a specific race,
religion, or ethnicity.
The
fact that the Hazara community in Afghanistan has fallen victim to major
organized terrorist attacks, the Kaaj tragedy to hit the community at the
latest, manifests the systematic attacks and genocide against the ethnic
minority.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/stophazaragenocide-twitter-campaign-surpasses-4-million-tweets-23454/
--------
Family
of US citizen missing in Afghanistan claims he is in Taliban custody: Report
6
October, 2022
Kabul
[Afghanistan], October 6 (ANI): An Afghan-American national, who had travelled
to Afghanistan for working purpose, has been missing for the past eight weeks,
media reports said citing his family member.
Mahmood
Shah Habibi, the former Afghan Aviation Authority Chief had recently travelled
to Afghanistan is missing since August 10, Khaama Press reported.
“He
has been working as an advisor with a telecom company in Shash-Darak of Kabul
for the last 3 years and he did not have any issues being in Afghanistan after
the fall of the country in the hands of Taliban”, Ahmad Shah said, Habibi’s
brother told Khaama Press.
“Not
only Habibi, but 29 other employees of the same company were also arrested on
the same day, many of whom were later released”, Ahmad Shah said.
According
to the media outlet, the US side confirmed that they are aware of its citizens
being detained in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile,
Afghanistan continues to face an increase in bomb attacks.
At
least four people were killed and 25 others were wounded in a blast in the
Kabul mosque, the latest in the series of targeted explosions in Taliban-ruled
Afghanistan.
The
blast reportedly took place at a mosque of the Taliban’s Interior Ministry,
TOLOnews reported. A Taliban spokesperson said that an investigation is
underway and further details will be shared soon, the agency added.
“After
a bomb attack in a mosque at the Interior Ministry, EMERGENCY NGO Surgical
Centre has received 20 patients – 2 were already dead on arrival,” Kabul’s
Emergency Hospital tweeted.
The
hospital said this is the 2nd mass casualty the hospital has handled in recent
days, and the 23rd of the year so far.
On
Saturday, dozens of women from the minority Hazara community protested in Kabul
against the terror attack at the Kaaj Educational Centre. The women protestors
dressed in black chanted slogans against the genocide of minorities and
demanded their rights, Pajhwok Afghan News reported.
Source:
The Print
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan
government issues nationwide alert amid heightened risk of terror attacks by
TTP
Sajjad
Hussain
06.10.22
The
Pakistan government has issued a nationwide alert to authorities to maintain
"extreme vigilance" amid a heightened risk of terrorist attacks by
the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) after peace talks with the dreaded terror
group have stalled, a media report said on Thursday.
The
federal government said it had learnt that the TTP high command met recently in
Paktika, Afghanistan, to discuss the deadlock in peace talks and the fate of
the negotiations with the Pakistani government after the killing of TTP
commanders Omar Khalid Khorasani and Aftab Parkay.
The
letter urged all authorities in four provinces to heighten security and
exercise enhanced vigilance to avoid any untoward incident, the Ministry of
Interior said in a statement, instructing forces that targeted search and
strike missions be carried out wherever militant activity is reported.
In
a letter circulated last month, the Ministry of Interior warned that more than
year-long peace negotiations between the TTP and the government of Pakistan had
come to a standstill , which has led to unease within the TTP's ranks, the Dawn
newspaper reported.
It
noted that the TTP accuses the Pakistani government of failing to fulfil its
main demand the reversal of the merger of former Federally Administered Tribal
Area (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as continuing to detain TTP members
while a truce was still being negotiated.
The
letter was addressed to the home and chief secretaries of the four provinces as
well as the Islamabad chief commissioner, the report said.
The
ministry warned that the terror group or its splinter factions might also seek
to escalate terrorist activities in the coming days to avenge the killing of
their commanders and to show strength in case there is no further progress in
peace negotiations.
The
notice said the TTP top brass, fearing a complete breakdown of the talks,
decided to move their families to secure places as they feared Pakistani
security forces would launch a kinetic operation in case of failure of talks.
Some
of the militants' families may be moved to Karachi and its adjoining areas, the
notice warned.
The
interior ministry also took grave notice of reports that TTP mil itants are
attempting to mig rate to North and South Waziris tan from Afghanistan to set
up camp for future attacks. It desc r ibed reports of the arrival of TTP
militants in areas neighbouring the Pak-Afghan border as well as deeper within
Khyber Pakhtun khwa as a worrisome phenomenon .
It
said that known militant commanders based in Waziristan Abu Yaha, Molvi Munawar
and Matoob Ali Jan alias Sailab have been in contact with the TTP high command
in Afghanistan for further directions regarding moving to the area to intensify
terrorist activities.
The
government also highlighted the risk of TTP sub-groups defecting to the
militant Islamic State (ISKP) or joining hands with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group
to resume terrorist activities.
The
interior ministry said targeted strike operations might be launched in areas
where militants' presence is reported and that law enforcement officials should
ensure heightened security measures in their respective jurisdictions to avoid
any untoward incident, according to the Dawn report.
Pakistan
last year launched talks with TTP with the facilitation of an interim Afghan
government but no headway has been made.
In
2012, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai was attacked by TTP. She suffered bullet
injuries and was admitted to the Military Hospital (CMH) Peshawar and then
taken to London for further treatment. The TTP claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying that Yousafzai was a "Western-minded girl".
Source:
Telegraph India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Speakers
At A Seminar Ask Muslims To Follow Prophet’s Lifestyle
October
06, 2022
Islamabad
: Speakers at a seminar stressed the need of character building in the light of
teachings of Holy Prophet (PBUH), stating that Allah Almighty has declared the
life of the Holy Prophet as an example for Muslims.
They
were addressing a seminar held at Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) on the
theme of ‘Building personality in the light of Prophet Muhammad SAWW.’
Seerat-ul-Nabi
Chair, Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has decided to hold seminars on
various topics on account of Rabi-ul-Awwal, the month of blessings.
Prof.
Fateh Muhammad Malik presided over the event while the Chairman, Council of
Islamic Ideology, Dr. Qibla Ayaz was the special guest.
Sahibzada
Sajdul Rehman Head, Seerat Chair, and senior advisor PMU, Mohammad Rafiq Tahir,
hosted the event.
Apart
from faculty members, scholars of Islamic University and students of Kahuta Law
College also attended the ceremony.
In
his address, Dr. Qibla Ayaz said that the Prophet Muhammad PBUH continued to
work for the welfare of humanity, and this is still needed today.
He
brought the young people with him and taught them to establish justice.
He
said that the trend of these kinds of events is emerging in Allama Iqbal Open
University through Sirat-ul-Nabi Chair, which is commendable.
Allama
Sahibzada Syed Arshad Saeed Kazmi, while giving a lecture on the topic of
character building in the light of Prophet Muhammad SAWW, said that Allah
Almighty has declared the life of the Holy Prophet as an example for Muslims.
He
said that the religion of Islam revolves around the Holy Prophet and his life
is a practical interpretation of the Holy Quran.
Saeed
Kazmi narrated in detail various incidents of justice and fairness,
trustworthiness, honesty, and good behaviour of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon
Him).
He
added that the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) educated and trained the people
of Jahiliyyah and taught them such principles of life that immediately their
condition changed completely.
Sahibzada
Sajdul Rehman said that to celebrate the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal with full
religious energy, Seerat Chair has organized seminars on various topics, the
first seminar of this series was presented today.
He
thanked the print and electronic media for covering the event and said that
with the support of the media, this event will be spread across the country.
Source:
The News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/997527-speakers-ask-muslims-to-follow-prophet-s-lifestyle
--------
Federal
Minister Challenges Jurisdiction Of ‘Hate Speech’ FIRs Registered Against Him
Malik
Asad
October
6, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Federal Minister Mian Javed Latif of PML-N on Wednesday filed a petition
before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging the FIRs registered against
him at various police stations in Punjab.
Mr
Latif said the FIRs had been registered in Punjab over his utterances during a
TV programme broadcast from Islamabad and contended that such cases could not
be registered anywhere other than the federal capital since the incident had
taken place there.
He
further said that it was the exclusive domain of the Pakistan Electronic Media
Regulatory Authority to take action if his utterances were indecent and
offensive. He requested the court to declare these FIRs as illegal.
The
FIRs against the minister were lodged under Section 9 (punishment for acts
intended or likely to stir up sectarian hatred) and 11X-3 (responsibility for
creating civil commotion).
In
one FIR, the complainant said he came across a press conference addressed by Mr
Latif on Sept 14 (broadcast by TV) during which he hurled “disturbing
accusations” at PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the name of religion.
Mr
Latif had accused Mr Khan of “attacking the basic principles of Islam” by
supporting the Ahmadiyya community during his tenure as prime minister.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1713720
--------
Pakistan
a 1% republic, says former finance minister Miftah Ismail
Oct
5, 2022
NEW
DELHI: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail has termed Pakistan a “1%
republic” that offers no upward social mobility to an overwhelming majority of
its citizens, according to a report in Dawn.
“The
1% elite controls this country,” said Ismail who held the portfolio for six
months. He claimed that while US billionaires Bill Gates and Steve Jobs
"came from nothing and yet built a fortune by dint of their talent",
almost all the rich Pakistanis are beneficiaries of "generational wealth".
"When
the economy heats up, it is the lower-and middle-income groups that face the
brunt as companies lay off employees," the former minister noted.
“(The
last government) distributed Rs. 580 billion among the richest 1% Pakistanis
under the Temporary Economic Refinance Facility. The government gave the
loans to import machinery, however, the elites also ordered consumables for
themselves and their families from abroad, thus inflating the import bill. The
government itself is borrowing at 15% but the rich people got money at 1%
only,” he said, adding that liquidity injection increased imports of machinery
and widened the current account deficit because local business groups
produced goods for domestic consumption only.
Without
naming anyone, Ismail said a conglomerate requested his support for setting up
a 500,000-tonne factory of polypropylene while he was finance minister. They
demanded a 20% duty protection for 20 years because "the corporation
couldn’t compete against its Chinese counterparts", said Ismail.
He
also criticised the auto sector for its inward-looking approach that’s been
draining foreign exchange on imports for decades without generating any dollar
earnings through exports, reported Dawn.
Financial
crisis
Ismail,
who has been replaced by Ishaq Dar, was the fifth finance minister to be take
the seat in less than four years as Pakistan's economy has witnessed persistent
turbulence while its current account deficit has widened starkly and rising
inflation has put pressure on both families and businesses.
Ismail
has said the government headed by PM Shehbaz Sharif was suffering because of
the economic policies taken by the erstwhile Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
regime led by ousted PM Imran Khan.
IMF
bailout
Pakistan
reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) late
July following months of deeply unpopular belt-tightening by the government,
which took power in April and has effectively eliminated fuel and power
subsidies and introduced new measures to broaden the tax base.
The
new government has slashed a raft of subsidies to meet the demands of global
financial institutions but risks the wrath of an electorate already struggling
under the weight of double-digit inflation. Pakistan had hoped for a quick
revival of the bailout, but the IMF has so far not released the much-needed
installment.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
Political
disputes must be resolved in parliament, IHC chief justice says
Tahir
Naseer
October
6, 2022
Islamabad
High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah on Thursday observed that the matter
pertaining to the acceptance of resignations of a few National Assembly members
— belonging to the PTI — was a political dispute while observing that the
“place to resolve such disputes is parliament”.
The
IHC chief justice issued these remarks while hearing a petition filed by the
PTI on Wednesday against National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf
accepting only 11 of their resignations instead of those of all 123 party
members of the lower house of parliament.
PTI
lawyer Senator Ali Zafar appeared in court today.
In
their fresh plea before the high court, the PTI members argued that after the
change of their government through a “foreign conspiracy”, the leadership took
a policy decision to protest against the party’s ouster from office.
“To
seek a fresh mandate from… people, the party decided to get all its elected
members resigned en bloc from the National Assembly,” the petition said.
The
party is of the view that the speaker was under obligation to accept the
resignations of all 123 MNAs who had quit the lower house of parliament to
protest the ouster of their party’s government “through a conspiracy”.
Taking
up the plea for a hearing, Justice Minallah said the court could not issue
directives to the NA speaker, adding that people trust their representatives
and send them to parliament.
He
addressed the PTI counsel, saying: “You must hold a dialogue with other
political parties to resolve such disputes.”
Barrister
Zafar contended that the speaker did not fulfil his constitutional duty.
He
told the court that 123 MNAs tendered their resignations on the condition that
all lawmakers would quit the parliament en masse.
“If
the resignations of all MNA haven’t been accepted then our condition stands
unmet,” he said.
Justice
Minallah asked the PTI counsel to rethink their strategy and then file an
affidavit with the court.
He
said the members were accepting that their resignations were “genuine”.
However,
the PTI counsel insisted that the resignations were genuine yet conditional.
The
IHC chief justice observed that members whose resignations hadn’t been accepted
must rejoin the parliament, saying “ the parliament has been greatly
disrespected, hence democracy should not be made a joke.“
He
said the court shouldn’t be used for “political point scoring”.
“Go
and fight your political battle outside the court,” Justice Minallah told the
PTI counsel.
The
petition
The
petition filed by the 10 lawmakers on Wednesday stated: “The speaker of the
National Assembly vide decision dated July 28, 2022 without any due [inquiry]
nor any verification from the petitioners, treated the letters from the
petitioners as “resignation”, final and binding” and forwarded these to the ECP
who de-notified 11 members on the next date.
The
petition stated that these lawmakers “acted upon the directions of the party
and for the political objective only of arriving at an agreement with the
opposition parties for holding of fresh elections… the resignations was subject
to all the 123 members of the National Assembly belonging to PTI resigning and
being de-seated jointly and as a whole.”
According
to the petition, the resignations were “conditional upon and subject to all the
123 members, who had sent letters of resignation being de-seated as a whole and
jointly.”
The
petition said that the speaker was under obligation to verify the resignation
to ascertain whether these were “voluntary and genuine and whether the same was
intended to act as a resignation” alleging that the speaker had, in connivance
with government functionaries, unilaterally approved these resignations.
“Hence,
the impugned orders accepting the resignations of the petitioners and
de-seating [them] and ordering holding of elections are all contrary to the
Constitution and illegal and liable to be set aside,” the petition went on to
say.
The
PTI lawmakers insisted that their “letters were not resignations… the
petitioners were not willing to proceed with the resignation which is not final
and binding but conditional.”
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Focus
on long-term Pak-US defence partnership: Lloyd Austin
Anwar
Iqbal
October
6, 2022
WASHINGTON:
US Defence Secretary Lloyd J. Austin said on Wednesday that his talks with
visiting Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa focused on the long-standing
partnership between the two defence establishments and on areas of mutual
interest.
Underlining
the importance of this partnership in a tweet he posted on his official site,
Secretary Austin noted that this year marks the 75th anniversary of relations
between the United States and Pakistan.
In
a separate statement, his office said that on Oct 4, Secretary Austin hosted
Gen Bajwa at the Pentagon during the 75th anniversary of relations between the
United States and Pakistan.
“This
long-standing partnership continues today with discussions focused on
opportunities to address key mutual defence interests,” the Pentagon said.
ISPR
says Gen Bajwa, defence secretary discussed cooperation in various fields
The
military’s media department, ISPR, also highlighted this point in its
statement, saying that the two leaders also discussed the “regional security
situation and bilateral cooperation in various fields”.
Additional
points in the ISPR statement included the need for continued assistance from
Pakistan’s global partner for the rehabilitation of flood victims in Pakistan
and enhancing trade and economic ties between the two allies.
“Both
sides had convergence on major international issues, including Afghanistan,”
and also on the “need for cooperation to avoid humanitarian crisis and
improving peace and stability in the region”.
Diplomatic
sources in Washington, however, say that the talks with US officials focused on
renewing the strong defence partnership that once existed between the two
allies.
Diplomatic
observers view this effort against the backdrop of a recent announcement by the
US State Department that it has asked Congress to release $450 million for
the sustenance of Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 aircraft.
After
the announcement, the US rejected India’s criticism that those planes would be
used against New Delhi.
“Pakistan’s
programme bolsters its capability to deal with terrorist threats emanating from
Pakistan or from the region. It’s in no one’s interests that those threats be
able to go forward with impunity,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said
last week.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1713675/focus-on-long-term-pak-us-defence-partnership-lloyd-austin
--------
Centre
fears TTP attacks amid stalemate in talks
Mohammad
Asghar
October
6, 2022
RAWALPINDI:
Responding to a heightened risk of terrorist attacks by the Tehreek-i-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP), the Ministry of Interior has issued a nationwide alert asking
for ‘extreme vigilance’, instructing that targeted search and strike missions
be carried out wherever militant activity is reported.
The
missive was addressed to the home and chief secretaries of the four provinces,
Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as the Islamabad chief
commissioner. It urged all authorities to heighten security and exercise
enhanced vigilance to avoid any untoward incident.
In
a letter circulated last month, the Ministry of Interior warned that more than
year-long peace negotiations between the TTP and the government of Pakistan
“had come to a standstill”, which has led to unease within the TTP’s ranks.
It
noted that the TTP accuses the Pakistani government of failing to fulfil its
main demand — the reversal of the merger of former Fata with KP — as well as
continuing to detain TTP members while a truce was still being negotiated.
Provinces
asked to carry out ‘search and strike’ in areas where militant activity is
reported
The
ministry warned that the group or its splinter factions might also seek to
escalate terrorist activities in the coming days to avenge the killing of their
commanders and to show strength in case there is no further progress in peace
negotiations.
The
federal government said it had learnt that the TTP high command met recently in
Paktika, Afghanistan, to discuss the deadlock in peace talks and the fate of
the negotiations with the Pakistani government after the killing of TTP
commanders Omer Khalid Khorasani and Aftab Parkay.
The
notice said the TTP top brass, fearing a complete breakdown of the talks,
decided to move their families to secure places as they feared Pakistani
security forces would launch a kinetic operation in case of failure of talks.
Some of the militants’ families may be moved to Karachi and its adjoining
areas, the notice warned.
The
interior ministry also took grave notice of reports that TTP militants are
attempting to migrate to North and South Waziristan from Afghanistan to set
up camp for future attacks. It described reports of the arrival of TTP
militants in areas neighbouring the Pak-Afghan border as well as deeper within
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as “a worrisome phenomenon”.
It
said that known militant commanders based in Waziristan — Abu Yaha, Molvi
Munawar and Matoob Ali Jan alias Sailab — have been in contact with the TTP
high command in Afghanistan for further directions regarding moving to the area
to intensify terrorist activities.
The
government also highlighted the risk of TTP sub-groups defecting to the
militant Islamic State (ISKP) or joining hands with the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group
to resume terrorist activities.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1713697/centre-fears-ttp-attacks-amid-stalemate-in-talks
--------
IHC
orders opening of roads near Lal Masjid
Bakhtawar
Mian | Malik Asad
October
6, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
In a bid to provide relief to the residents of the surrounding areas, the
Islamabad High Court (IHC) has directed the deputy commissioner to open Masjid
Road and Municipal Road for traffic which had been closed by the capital
administration owing to security concerns.
The
order to open the roads came in response to a petition filed by the citizens of
the area who had to use alternative routes to reach workplaces and schools.
Justice
Mohsin Kayani who was hearing the plea had summoned the deputy commissioner
last month to explain the reasons for permanently closing the road in front of
the Regional Directorate of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Masjid
Road.
As
he appeared before the high court on Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz
Memon apprised the bench of the reasons behind closing the roads.
Justice
Kayani says issues should be resolved through dialogue and not by blocking main
roads
He
said since the students of Lal Masjid seminary would frequently protest on this
road, the district administration decided to close this route to avert such
demonstrations.
At
this, Justice Kayani said that instead of making the lives of common citizens
difficult by closing the main roads, the administration should resolve such
issues through dialogue. On every other road, protests take place, so will the
administration shut down all the roads in the capital, he asked.
It
is pertinent to note that about 200 people, including teenagers and minors and
some gunmen, under the leadership of former khateeb of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul
Aziz occupied the worship place last month. The police had cordoned off Lal
Masjid with a well-equipped contingent and barbed wire while the cleric along
with the gathering was inside.
Khayaban-i-Suhrwardi
A
lawyer present at the hearing also complained about the closure of
Khayaban-i-Suhrwardi by a state institution. A government official responded
that the road was currently closed due to construction work.
The
IHC judge also said that the road was opened through an order of the said court
a few years ago and asked the lawyer to get his facts straight.
A
road in G-9 sector that had been closed to traffic due to apparent security
reasons was cleared for traffic in a voluntary move by the intelligence agency.
According
to a resident of the area, road blockades had spelled misery for people
residing in the areas. The biggest problem was faced by students and
professionals who had to take detours to reach their destination, causing them
distress. The IHC’s decision has put an end to our difficulties, the resident
told Dawn.
“This
blockade had troubled us for more than four years. It cost us time and money
because we had to take longer routes to get to the school,” said Rashid, a
student who lives in G-6/4.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1713690/ihc-orders-opening-of-roads-near-lal-masjid
--------
Africa
Uganda’s
president fires son from military over threat on Twitter to invade Kenya
Godfrey
Olukya
05.10.2022
KAMPALA,
Uganda
Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni fired his son as commander of the country’s land
forces after he threatened on Twitter to seize neighboring Kenya’s capital,
Nairobi.
The
Ugandan government also distanced itself from the spate of tweets posted Monday
by Lt. General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, with the Foreign Ministry issuing a
statement Tuesday stressing that the government and people of Uganda treasure
the country’s strong bilateral relations with Kenya based on the two nations’
“shared history, common values, mutual respect, trust and the desire to build a
unified East African Community.”
"The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has noted the debate on social media in respect to
the relationship between Uganda and Kenya. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
wishes to clarify that the government of the Republic of Uganda does not
conduct its foreign policy and other official business through social media,”
it added.
In
the unprovoked tweets, Kainerugaba claimed his army could seize Nairobi in a
very short time.
“It
wouldn’t take us, my army and me, 2 weeks to capture Nairobi,” he said.
Kainerugaba,
dubbed “the tweeting general” of Uganda, has made controversial remarks on
Twitter in the past.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
WHO
issues warning on Indian cough syrup linked to 66 Gambian child deaths
06
October, 2022
The
World Health Organization has warned that a deadly batch of cough mixture
connected to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia may have been
distributed to other countries.
The
agency on Wednesday placed a medical product alert on cough and cold syrups
made by India’s Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd., which have been potentially linked
to acute kidney injuries and 66 deaths among children in the tiny West African
nation, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a media
briefing.
Four
contaminated Maiden products were found in a laboratory analysis to contain
“unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol,” the WHO said.
Tedros added that the global health body is conducting further investigations
with the company and Indian regulators, while recommending countries remove the
treatments from circulation.
Calls
to the drugmaker’s corporate office in New Delhi weren’t answered and the
company, along with India’s medical regulator -- the Central Drugs Standard
Control Organization -- didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The
deaths shine a spotlight on India’s $42 billion drugmaking industry, which has
been heavily promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “pharmacy of the
world.
India
supplies many of the cheap, generic drugs sold in American pharmacies and
hundreds of countries globally. But treatments produced in the South Asian
nation have been the source of multiple manufacturing scandals in recent years,
including the export of tainted heart pills.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Trapped
UN aid workers safely exit Ethiopia’s Tigray region
Hassan
Isilow
05.10.2022
UN
humanitarian workers, who had been trapped in Ethiopia’s Tigray region due to
ongoing conflict, have safely exited the region, a top UN official said.
“So
relieved that humanitarian colleagues were able to rotate safely out of
#Tigray, #Ethiopia, today after several weeks of suspension,’’ UN humanitarian
chief Martin Griffiths wrote on Twitter late Tuesday.
He
said it is encouraging news and hopes further movements will go on smoothly.
According
to reports, the Tigray region has been cut off from the outside world, with no
communication, electricity, or financial services. Movement between Tigray and
other regions has also been largely impossible.
Last
month, the UN suspended aid delivery to Tigray as fighting resumed.
The
war between the Ethiopian government forces and Tigray rebels erupted in
November 2020 after the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) attacked
federal army bases stationed across Tigray, including in the regional capital
of Mekele.
Griffiths
appealed to the Ethiopian government and the TPLF rebels to resume
negotiations, saying: “Dialogue is the only way to end this deadly conflict.’’
He
also appealed to the conflicting parties to protect all civilians, and ensure
the safety and security of humanitarian staff and their safe access to people
in need.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/trapped-un-aid-workers-safely-exit-ethiopia-s-tigray-region/2703256
--------
North
America
US
Envoy Condemns Houthi Threats, Vows Continued Defence Support For Gulf Allies
05
October, 2022
US
Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking on Wednesday called on the Iran-backed
Houthis to show more flexibility over an extended and expanded truce deal
proposed by the United Nations to build on a previous pact that expired on
Sunday.
An
initial truce first agreed in April had brought the longest stretch of relative
calm in the seven-year-old conflict between the Arab Coalition and the Houthis.
Lenderking
said in a news briefing that the Houthis, de facto authorities in North Yemen,
had “imposed maximalist and impossible demands” over a proposed mechanism to
pay public sector wages, but that he was confident agreement could be reached
if the group showed flexibility.
A
member of the Houthi negotiating committee had in a Twitter post criticized the
proposed payment scheme for not including members of police, security and military
forces.
UN-led
negotiations and US diplomacy “continue unabated”, Lenderking said, adding that
key elements of the initial truce were still holding -- relatively low
violence, fuel shipments to Hodeidah port and continuity of commercial flights
from the capital Sanaa, both held by the Houthis.
UN
envoy Hans Grundberg had told Reuters the two sides failed to renew the truce
because they were still far away on proposals to pay civil service wages,
increase fuel shipments, add air flights and open roads.
“I’m
confident...that we can get there if the Houthis move away from the very high
demands that they have levied,” Lenderking said.
He
also criticized recent Houthi statements threatening commercial shipping and
oil companies and said the United States would continue to help its Gulf
partners defend themselves.
The
truce has seen a halt to major military operations between the warring sides in
Yemen, including coalition air strikes and Houthi cross-border drone and
missile attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
Iranian-American,
85, held in Tehran on spying charges for six years arrives in Oman
05
October, 2022
Baquer
Namazi, an 85-year-old Iranian American who was jailed in Iran on spying
charges that the United States called baseless, arrived in Muscat on Wednesday
after Iran allowed him to leave for medical treatment, an Omani government
office said on Twitter.
Earlier,
a lawyer for the Namazi family, Jared Genser, said Namazi was on his way to
Muscat “after more than 6.5 years of illegal detention in Iran,” referring to
the time Namazi was jailed as well as when he was out of prison but effectively
barred from leaving Iran.
“After
a brief transit, he will travel on to Abu Dhabi and then undergo a carotid
endarterectomy at the Cleveland Clinic (there) to clear out a severe blockage
to his left internal carotid artery (ICA), which puts him at very high risk for
a stroke,” Genser added in a statement.
His
departure from Iran was first reported by Iran’s state media, publishing a
video showing him boarding a private plane accompanied by a man in Omani
national dress, but it did not say where he was headed.
The
video showed him struggling to climb the stairs to board the plane, on which
the light blue insignia of the Royal Air Force of Oman could be seen.
Namazi,
a former official with the UN children’s agency UNICEF, holds US and Iranian
citizenship and was one of four Iranian Americans, including his son Siamak,
detained in Iran in recent years or barred from leaving the country.
Namazi
was convicted in 2016 of “collaboration with a hostile government” and jailed
for 10 years. Iranian authorities released him on medical grounds in 2018 and
closed his case in 2020, commuting his sentence to time served.
However,
they had effectively barred him from leaving until Saturday, when the United
Nations said he would be allowed to leave for medical treatment.
His
son Siamak, 51, who was also convicted of “collaboration with a hostile
government” in 2016, was released from Tehran’s Evin prison Saturday on a
one-week, renewable furlough after nearly seven years in detention.
The
US government has described the charges against both as baseless.
In
the statement released by the family’s lawyer, Babak Namazi, Baquer Namazi’s
son, voiced gratitude for his father’s departure from Iran but sorrow at his
brother Siamak’s inability to leave the country.
“While
getting my father out of Iran is incredibly important, today is also
bittersweet. My brother Siamak as well as Americans Emad (Shargi) and Morad
Tahbaz remain detained in Iran and our nightmare will not be over until our
entire family (and) the other Americans are reunited with their families,” he
said.
The
other US citizens detained in Iran include environmentalist Tahbaz, 67, who
also has British nationality, and businessman Shargi, 58.
“Today
is a good day for the Namazi family, but the work is far from over. We now need
the United States and Iran to act expeditiously to reach an agreement that will
finally bring all of the American hostages home,” Genser, the family’s lawyer,
said, adding that Baquer Namazi will immediately go to the hospital upon his
arrival in Abu Dhabi.
It
was not immediately clear why Iran had allowed Baquer Namazi to leave the
country and Siamak Namazi to be furloughed from prison.
Iranian
Americans, whose US citizenship is not recognized by Tehran, are often pawns
between the two nations, now at odds over whether to revive a fraying 2015 pact
under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Turkish
institute launches face-to-face language courses in Mexico
Muhammed
Emin Canik
05.10.2022
The
Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) on Wednesday began offering face-to-face Turkish
language courses in Mexico city, Türkiye's ambassador to the Latin American country
announced.
The
nonprofit organization, which seeks to spread the Turkish language and culture
worldwide, has become a bearer of culture, according to Ilhan Kemal Tug, who
was speaking at a ceremony in the Mexican capital marking the courses' launch.
Cultural
interaction between Türkiye and Mexico will henceforth continue to deepen in
cinema, music, literature, and other areas, Tug underlined, expressing his
pleasure at the opening of the institute's Turkish cultural center in the
Mexican capital.
Also
attending the event, the Yunus Emre Institute's Mexico coordinator, Salih
Gultekin, said there was a great interest in the Turkish language and that this
demand needed to be satisfied.
Gultekin
highlighted that the institute would strengthen the bridges of friendship
between Türkiye and Mexico and that the face-to-face courses would be a great
step towards intercultural solidarity.
About
2,500 Mexican students are currently enrolled in the Yunus Emre Institute's
online Turkish language lessons.
One
prospective student at the center, Fernando Aguilar, expressed his eagerness to
learn Turkish as soon as possible, pointing to his interest in Turkish history
and the etymological diversity of the Turkish language.
Police
officer Francisco Javier Mendoza, who became a Muslim eight years ago after a
visit to Türkiye, said he was fascinated by Turkish culture and would like to
visit the country again soon.
Carolina
Hernandez, one of the institute's online students, said her interest in Turkish
cinema and literature were among the main reasons that prompted her to learn
Turkish.
The
institute's namesake, Yunus Emre, is a Turkish folk poet and Sufi who lived in
Anatolia from the mid-13th century to the first quarter of the 14th century.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
US
‘concerned’ by collapse of truce in Yemen; uncertain whether Iran is to blame
RAY
HANANIA
October
05, 2022
CHICAGO:
Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, described the failure to renew
the truce with the Houthis, which expired on Oct. 2, as “concerning” but
refused to speculate about whether Iran had played a role in preventing an
extension.
Speaking
during a briefing attended by Arab News on Wednesday, Lenderking said the
Houthis made “last-minute” demands that meant they were “essentially
backtracking from commitments they had made earlier in the process.”
Asked
whether the regime in Iran, which backs the Houthis, might be responsible for
this, Lenderking said: “We don’t know.” Tehran supported the UN-backed,
two-month truce when it was agreed on April 2, he said, and also when it was
renewed without issue on June 2 and Aug. 2.
He
attributed the failure this month to agree a third extension to “maximalist and
impossible demands” made by Houthi negotiators regarding the payment of
salaries to their “military and security personnel.”
Until
the truce is renewed, the threat of a resumption of major violence will remain,
Lenderking said, and without a return to a “more positive approach,” Iran’s
involvement in the process will continue to be viewed as being “quite
negative.”
“It
remains in our national interest to help our Gulf partners defend themselves
from any external aggression and we would do so in the case of aggression
coming from Yemen,” Lenderking said.
“The
president and the secretary (of state) have been clear that the United States
will continue to support our Gulf partners and their legitimate defense needs,
in order to meet existing and emerging threats. And that includes the cross-border
attacks from Yemen and elsewhere against targets inside Saudi Arabia and the
UAE.
“After
all, there are more than 120,000 US citizens living and working in the
countries of the Gulf region. I know that the president and the secretary have
no higher objective than ensuring the security of Americans wherever they live
abroad.”
Lenderking
reiterated that the door remains open to the resumption of peace talks, which
he said would bring benefits to the Houthis and all the people of Yemen, but
condemned recent threats by the militia.
“Houthi
rhetoric that threatened commercial shipping and oil companies, this is
completely unacceptable,” he added.
The
envoy said the Biden administration had, with support in Congress, approved the
“future transfer” of defensive weaponry to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including
“additional Patriot missiles to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Terminal
High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, to the UAE.”
He
added: “These munitions have played a key role in defending both countries from
cross-border UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone) and missile attacks
originating from Yemen.
“Let
me stress the key point here: We, and the international community, are calling
for restraint from all parties. At this particularly sensitive time when there
is no truce officially on the books that has been agreed and welcomed and
adhered to by the parties, we must insist that there be maximum restraint
exerted by all sides.”
The
truce agreed in April resulted in many benefits for the people of Yemen,
Lenderking said, including: A dramatic reduction of about 60 percent in
civilian casualties; more than 25,000 Yemeni citizens were able to travel
abroad on commercial flights for the first time since 2016; and a five-fold
increase in the amount of fuel shipments passing through Hodeidah Port compared
with the previous year, which helped to reduce fuel prices.
The
ceasefire also allowed humanitarian organizations to operate more easily in the
country.
“We
are extremely concerned about the humanitarian situation in Yemen,” Lenderking
said, as he warned that the needs of civilians “are great and the funding is
not adequate.”
He
continued: “The US has contributed $5 billion over the course of the conflict;
$1 billion to humanitarian coffers this very year.”
The
US will continue to designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization
until a final peace agreement is reached, Lenderking said.
“We
are also relying on commitments that the Saudis and the Yemeni government have
made to maintain the terms of the truce,” he added.
“So,
indeed, let’s look at what commitments the Houthis are willing to make. Pull
down the maximalist demands. Get back into the productive conversation that has
taken place during the last six months on reaching an expanded truce and
driving towards the durable ceasefire and the Yemeni-to-Yemeni political
process that we all want to see.”
In
an effort to view the latest developments in as positive a light as possible in
the circumstances, Lenderking said: “We do see that key elements of the truce
continue to hold and that intensive, UN-led negotiations and US diplomacy
continue unabated.
“When
I talk about key elements of the truce holding, let me be clear what I mean. I
mean there is still relatively low levels of violence in the country. Fuel
ships continue to off-load into the Hodeidah Port. There will be more
continuity in civilian, commercial flights from Sanaa airport. These particular
elements of the truce have been extremely effective and have delivered tangible
results to the Yemeni people over the last six months.
“In
our view, there is a stark choice that lies ahead: On the one hand, there is a
return to war, which will bring nothing but casualties and destruction on Yemen
and will bring further confusion as to where this conflict is headed.”
If
a renewal of the ceasefire can be agreed, however, “there is the opportunity to
not only extend but expand the truce. That is, to bring more positive elements
of the truce, the likes of which would include flights, as I have mentioned.
There have been ongoing and very energetic discussions with numerous countries
on additional flight destinations.
“We
would anticipate the processing of fuel into Hodeidah would be streamlined even
further. We expect to be able to reach agreement on salary payments. This has
been a core demand of both parties: To have the ability to pay Yemeni civil
servants who have not been paid for many years: teachers, nurses, civil
servants — to provide salaries for them.
“These
are the kind of benefits that stand in the balance should the parties,
particularly the Houthis, choose the path of peace. It is a very clear choice,
as viewed by the international community and as viewed by the United States.”
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2175766/middle-east
--------
US
operation using helicopters in Syria kills one: State TV
October
06, 2022
BEIRUT:
A US airborne operation involving multiple helicopters in Syria’s northeastern
Hassakeh province has killed one person, Syrian state TV reported Thursday.
“US
occupation forces carried out a landing operation using several helicopters
in... the southern countryside of Qamishli and killed one person,” Syrian TV
said, without elaborating.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2176221/middle-east
--------
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