Dutch Former Anti-Muslim Islamophobic Politician Geert Wilders Recounts His Journey To Islam
New Age Islam News Bureau
21 February 2023
• Darul Uloom Deoband: Fatwa Warning College Students Towards ShavingAndTrimming
Of Beard
• Extortion Money Being Used For Terror Financing: Pakistan
Security Official
• Media Freedom In Bangladesh:Government Shuts Main
Opposition Newspaper, The DainikDinkal
• Malaysia Recognised As Best Example For Promoting
Culture Of Peaceful Living - Foreign Minister
Europe
• Muslim Minister, Humza Yousaf, Is A Front-Runner To
Become Scotland’s First Minister After Sturgeon’s Resignation
• EU imposes sanctions on 32 Iranian individuals, two
entities over alleged rights violation
• UK broadcaster Stephen Fry faces Islamophobia
allegation
• EU expansion crucial to ‘maintaining peace’ in
Bosnia, across the globe
• EU to hold donor conference on March 16 to help
quake-hit Türkiye, Syria
• Russian senator donates $1.3M to quake victims in Türkiye
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India
• Why Divorce Criminal For Muslims? Kerala Chief
Minister On Triple Talaq Ban
• Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Views Discussions With Sangh
Parivar, On Key Issues Faced By Indian Muslims, As Part Of Its Fight
• Muslim Genocide Inevitable For Hindu Rashtra:
Bajrang Muni, A Hindutva Leader
• In principle, Centre supports PILs for uniform
personal laws
• Bhiwani: India anger over charred bodies linked to
cow vigilantes
• BJP To Kick-start Muslim Outreach Programme Across India
Next Month
--------
Pakistan
• Not just economy: How Pakistan is also floundering
on terror
• ‘Kabul’s inaction on TTP due to mixed signals by
Pakistan’
• Army generals proposed to bring TTP back to
Pakistan: Minister
• IMF To Pakistan: Function Like A Country, Make The
Rich Pay Taxes & Poor Get Subsidies
• Imran Khan appears in court for first time after
assassination bid on him
• Imran’s indictment in Toshakhana reference deferred
yet again
• Guard injured as Pakistan, Afghan forces trade fire
at Torkham
• Pakistan no longer can get a free terror pass for
China in Afghanistan
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South Asia
• Taliban Detains Social Media Influencer, Ex Security
Force Member: Report
• 'Concerns Will be Addressed in a Better way':
Taliban Urges Countries to Recognise Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
• Iran, China Representatives discuss ways to improve
Afghanistan’s stability
• Saudi Arabia remains top destination for Bangladeshi
migrant workers
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Southeast Asia
• Sarawak Shares Its Wealth Among All Religions So
Everyone Can Pray In Comfort, Premier Says
• Indonesia's Haj fee up 70 per cent, Malaysian
pilgrims be prepared
• DAP MP accuses PAS MP of misleading Dewan Rakyat on
Menu Rahmah claims, seeks disciplinary action
--------
Arab World
• Israeli Strikes On Syrian Civilians Amount To Crime
Against Humanity: Top Hezbollah Official
• Expert At Saudi Media Forum Highlights Popularity Of
Korean Content In Middle East And Beyond
• Saudi Arabia signs $48.8 mln worth of projects for
quake-struck Syria and Turkey
• Dubai government redeems $750 mln Islamic bond
• Dubai’s DIFC has about 60 hedge fund firms waiting
to be licensed: Governor
• Lebanon heading to oblivion: Head of economic,
social advisory body
• Researcher warns Saudi Media Forum of potential
dangers of artificial intelligence
• First graduates from Saudia In-Flight Chef program
celebrate in Jeddah
• Qatar sends 3 additional planes of earthquake relief
to Türkiye
--------
Mideast
• Palestinian Imam, Sheikh Yousef Al-Baz, Who
Condemned Al-Aqsa Storming Hands Himself In For Israel Jail Sentence
• IAEA Finds Iran’s Uranium Enriched To Near
‘Bomb-Grade’, Say Diplomats
• Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu advances judicial
changes despite uproar
• Statement by UN Security Council keeps Israel
isolated, says Palestinian envoy to UN
• In rare admission, Yemen’s Houthis confirm they
released Al-Qaeda terrorists
• Palestinian president under fire for ‘backing down’
over contentious UN Security Council resolution
• Iran Blames MSC's Organizers for Inviting Deposed
Dictator's Son
• Netanyahu blasts UN settlements censure as denying
Jews’ ‘historic’ rights, slams US
• UNSC dismayed by Israel settlement plan, stresses
upholding al-Aqsa status quo
• Israel tells US it won’t authorize new settlements
in coming months
• Israel parliament gives initial approval to judicial
reform bill
--------
Africa
• At Least 51 Soldiers Killed In North Burkina Faso
• African Union organizing Libyan national
reconciliation conference: AU chief
• Hamas resistance movement hails African Union's
decision to suspend Israel's observer status
• APC Muslim-Muslim Ticket Doesn’t Matter, Tinubu
God’s Willl – Umahi
• Tunisia’s Ennahdha leader faces new police probe
--------
North America
• Blinken Reaffirms US Pledge To Deliver F-16 Fighters
To Turkiye
• US State Secretary Blinken Urges Speedy Nordics Accession
To NATO
• US says it will continue to extend its 'full
support' after 2 more quakes hit Türkiye
• Türkiye urges US to lift sanctions in defence
industry field
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
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Dutch Former Anti-Muslim Islamophobic Politician Geert
Wilders Recounts His Journey To Islam
Gulcin Kazan Doger
20.02.2023
A former Dutch far-right MP and right-hand man to
Islamophobic politician Geert Wilders recounted his somewhat unlikely journey
to converting to the Islamic faith.
Speaking to Anadolu, Joram Van Klaveren said that he
was born in 1979 in Amsterdam to a devout Calvinist family and has been
interested in different belief systems since his youth.
“As a youngster, I had some doubts about the Christian
theology, for example about the Trinity, because sometimes I was kind of
confused. If you were praying, are we praying to Jesus Christ? Are we praying
to God the father? Are we praying to the Holy Spirit? I didn't know in a way,” Klaveren
said.
Noting that he started university while seeking
answers to his questions about Christianity, Klaveren said it was then that the
Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks happened.
“So that confirmed my ideas and later on (2004) Theo
Van Gogh, the famous filmmaker here, he was killed by a guy who called himself
a jihadi. So I thought, okay, all these people are crazy, I have to do
something and that's why I joined the (Wilders’ Islamophobic) Freedom Party.”
He decided to write a book in 2014 to “warn people”
about Muslims, he explained.
“So I wanted to explain to the people who voted for us
but also other people, why we as the Freedom Party or me as a person. I thought
that Islam was the biggest danger in the Netherlands and also in Europe and
actually the whole wide world.”
But then he left the party, Klaveren said, due to
arguments about Moroccan people in the Netherlands. “Well, I did, I think
everything I could to fight Islam. But in 2014 I left the party because there
was this argument about Moroccan people.”
“He (Wilders) said during a rally that he wanted less
Moroccan people in the Netherlands. And he asked the crowds, do you want more
or less? And everybody starts screaming less, less, less, less.”
He and Wilder argued about that and he left the party,
he said, because “I was very anti-Islam back then still but I wasn't per se
anti-Belgium or anti-Congo or anti-Moroccan.”
The ‘real deal’ Islam
After leaving the party, while writing his anti-Islam
book in 2014, some questions about Christianity popped up again.
“I thought, well, I have to reread the things that I
thought I knew about Christianity as well, because I made a comparison between
the concept of God in Christianity and in Islam. And in the end I thought,
well, it's a little bit more logical what Muslims believe than what Christians
believe on this concept of God.”
While doing research on Islam, he asked for help from
English academic Abdal Hakim Murad, who was formerly known as Timothy John but
changed his name after converting to Islam.
Underlining that previously he only read Western
writers on Islam, Klaveren said that on the contrary Murad advised him to only
read Islamic sources, and there was a large contrast.
“Then in the end I got like almost 2 Islams. Of course
there’s just one Islam, but I got the Islam from the Orientalists, the
Westerners, the people who were not Muslim, and (then later) the ‘real deal’
Islam as it (really) is.”
Klaveren also said he realized after a while that
Islam was not a "lie" but he still had difficulty accepting it.
People around him did not respond well to his
conversion to Islam.
“They were really shocked. They said ‘I can't believe
it. It's unbelievable what happened.’ And some people thought I was sick and
some people really thought I became crazy,” he said.
On rising anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe in recent
years, Klaveren said one of the things that fuels Islamophobia is mass culture,
mentioning how Arabs and Muslims are constantly shown as terrorists, especially
in Hollywood movies.
“I think that's the biggest problem nowadays, you have
media. And the media portrays (this) because negative news sells.”
“So the negative things like terrorist attacks and
stuff like that, that's constantly repeating, repeating and that's of course
shapes the mind of a lot of people who are already biased.”
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Darul Uloom Deoband:
Fatwa Warning College Students Towards Shaving And Trimming Of Beard
21 February, 2023
On Monday, Darul Uloom Deoband, the most important
Islamic seminary in India issued a fatwa warning the scholars towards trimming
their beards. The seminary acknowledged that any scholar who would trim or
shave his beard can be ostracized from the establishment.
According to the stories, the discover was issued by
Maulana Hussain Ahmad Haridwari, who oversees Darul Uloom’s schooling division.
He talked about within the discover that shaving or trimming of beard is a
incorrect observe as per Islam and that the scholars on the school shall by no
means get their beards shaved.
The letter made it fairly clear that any present
scholar who shaves can be dismissed from the college. It added that any scholar
trying to enter the college for the subsequent semester by shaving off his
beard wouldn’t be admitted to the premises.
Reiterating that the scholars who shave beards can be
ostracized, the discover acknowledged that the college wouldn’t tolerate
scholar disobedience. The fatwa additional recalled that on February 6, 4 of
the Darul Uloom Deoband college students had been dismissed for trimming their
beards. Reports point out that the scholars had issued a letter of apology to
the seminary, however the latter didn’t heed.
The fatwa issued by the seminary has been welcomed by
the Ulema of Deoband, Maulana Mufti Asad Qasmi. Maulana Mufti Asad Qasmi of
Madrasa Jamia Sheikhul Hind, who can be a former scholar of Darul Uloom stated
that every part that Hazrat Mohammad Sahib has adopted is Sunnat. “Every Muslim
should spend his life by following Sunnat and Shariah principles. It is Sunnah
to keep a handful of beards in Islam. If the beard growing more than this is
cut, then there is no harm in it. But it should be maintained,” he stated.
Earlier, the Ulema had issued a fatwa towards Mulsim
girls and had barred them from taking “unnecessary photographs” and importing
them on social media. Also, Darul Uloom Deoband had issued a fatwa towards the
Mulsim girls from shaping eyebrows or donning a haircut. The seminary had
stated that any lady who shapes eyebrows or will get a haircut is indulging in
un-Islamic behaviour.
Source: ReportWire
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Extortion Money Being Used For Terror Financing:
Pakistan Security Official
Umer Farooq
February 21, 2023
PESHAWAR: A senior security official in the provincial
capital has revealed that the militants are spending the money extorted from
the people to carry out their activities in the country.
He told Dawn on condition of anonymity that the
extortion demands totalled around Rs1.06 billion as indicated by the complaints
lodged by the police.
The official said that the amount was much higher than
reported because many people didn’t lodge complaints with the police fearing
militant attacks and “silently” paid the extortion amount.
He revealed that the weapons, which had fallen into
the militants’ hands after the August 2021 withdrawal of the US and other
foreign troops from Afghanistan, were enough to fight a war for 15 years.
“Things worsened following the fall of Kabul,
especially due to the heaps of modern weapons left behind by foreign troops.
They’re enough for a 15-year-long insurgency,” he said.
The official said those weapons, which included sniper
guns, thermal weapon sights, and other modern gadgets, were being used in
attacks against law-enforcement agencies in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, official sources told Dawn that the
militant attacks against law-enforcement agencies intensified after Oct 2022.
Says complaints lodged with police reveal Rs1.06bn
extortion demands
They said that in Jan 2023 alone, a total of 80
attacks were carried out by militants with 62 targeting law-enforcement
agencies and killing over 100 personnel.
The sources said that the militants had changed their
strategy as they, unlike the past when they attacked civilians, were targeting
LEAs compelling the police to be on the defensive mode, which would reduce
street patrolling and ultimately increase the rate of street crimes.
On Friday, newly-appointed Inspector General of
Police, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Akhtar Hayat Gandapur on Friday said he would
ensure the reorganisation of the counter-terrorism department, the use of
technology and the enhancement of the police’s capability to fight terrorism.
“There is no point in being penny-wise but
pound-foolish. We are willing to pay Rs10 million to the heirs of the martyred
police but don’t spend enough to save lives,” the police chief told reporters
in a meeting at the Central Police Office here.
The IGP said the reorganisation of the CTD and Special
Branch would be his topmost priority through resource utilisation and induction
of more officers adding he had set up the police’s two new divisions and a
sub-division to improve supervision and efficiency.
“If we take the average monthly figure and multiply it
by 12, we are probably reaching the level of terrorism when it was at its peak
in 2008. The law and order situation has deteriorated,” he said adding the
semblance of peace and normalcy probably resulted in complacency.
The police chief said he was reaching out to the city
district government to get resources for the Safe City Project and was thinking
about ways to connect private and commercial CCTVs to the central monitoring
system.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1738252/extortion-money-being-used-for-terror-financing-security-official
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Media Freedom In Bangladesh: Government Shuts Main
Opposition Newspaper, The DainikDinkal
February 21, 2023
Journalists of Dainik Dinkal publication hold a rally
to protest against the government’s order to halt its production in Dhaka on
February 20, 2023. — AFP
----------
DHAKA: The only newspaper of Bangladesh’s main
opposition party halted printing on Monday after a government suspension order
was upheld, stoking fears about media freedom in the South Asian nation.
Campaigners and foreign governments, including the
United States, have long expressed worries about efforts by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina to silence criticism and what they see as creeping authoritarianism.
The DainikDinkal, a broadsheet Bengali-language
newspaper, has been a vital voice of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)
for more than three decades. It employs hundreds of journalists and press
workers.
It covers news stories that the mainstream newspapers,
most of which are controlled by pro-government businessmen, rarely do.
This includes the frequent arrests of BNP activists
and what the party says are thousands of fake cases against its supporters.
The newspaper said the Dhaka district authorities
ordered the shutdown on December 26, but it continued to publish after making
an appeal at the Press Council headed by a top high court judge.
“The council rejected our appeal yesterday (Sunday),
upholding the district magistrate’s order to stop our publication,” Shamsur
Rahman Shimul Biswas, managing editor of the newspaper, said.
The order, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, said
the printing permit of the newspaper was cancelled after it the newspaper
violated the country’s printing and publication laws.
The council said the paper’s publisher, Tarique Rahman
— the acting chief of BNP — was a convicted criminal and was living abroad
without handing over his job to another person.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1738305/bangladesh-shuts-main-opposition-newspaper
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Malaysia Recognised As Best Example For Promoting
Culture Of Peaceful Living - Foreign Minister
February 21, 2023
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said
Malaysia is recognised as the best example in the world in promoting the
culture of peaceful living among people of various races and religions. -
NSTP/MOHD FADLI HAMZAH
-----------
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is recognised as the best
example in the world in promoting the culture of peaceful living among people
of various races and religions, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.
Zambry, who is currently on an official visit to Saudi
Arabia until Feb 23, said this was shared with him by the Secretary General of
the Muslim World League (Rabitah al-Alam al-Islami), Sheikh Dr Mohammed Al-Issa
in a meeting held on the first day of his visit to the country, yesterday (Feb
19).
In the meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on
current issues involving Muslims in all corners of the world, especially
regarding the rise of anti-Islamic sentiments in some places lately, said
Zambry.
"He (Dr Issa) also considers Malaysia to be an
exemplary country in creating understanding between civilisations.
"We agree that the issue of Islamophobia should
be tackled together by using a dialogical approach, good communication and the
principle of co-existence.
"Wiser and more prudent measures will be carried
out via conferences and dialogues continuously," he said in a statement.
Zambry said a moderate Islamic approach, mutual
respect and ta'ayush (co-existence) will be worked on to deal with the
Islamophobic movement.
Malaysia and Rabitah will work together to correct the
notion of extremism and terrorism, that damage the image and destroy Muslim
countries, via joint efforts to promote a moderate, tolerant and peaceful
Islam, he said.
Meanwhile, Zambry also held a meeting with the
Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),
HisseinBrahim Taha. Both of them were of the view that member countries should
strive to help rebuild and reconstruct Muslim countries that have faced wars
such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya.
"America and Europe as well as other major powers
need to work together with the OIC for the reconstruction of the countries
involved through humanitarian aid without using the sanctions policy.
"But in the context of Afghanistan, Malaysia
insists that the policy of discrimination against women's education must be
immediately eliminated," said Zambry.
Zambry and Taha also discussed the position of the
Rohingya refugees with both sides emphasising the importance of this issue
being resolved in cooperation between ASEAN, the United Nations and relevant
countries.
"We also agree on the Palestinian issue to
continue fighting for. Collectively, we condemn Israel's apartheid policy that
continues to oppress the Palestinian people," he said.
In the meeting, Taha welcomed the appointment of Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia which he said would
help strengthen the OIC's role among member countries.
In the meantime, Zambry said Malaysia also suggested
that the socio-economic reconstruction approach of poor and post-war countries
through the Islamic economy and financial system could be implemented,
including using zakat and waqaf institutions to help rebuild the countries
involved.
"Malaysia's experience in the Islamic financial
system and microcredit can contribute to efforts for social mobilisation in
addition to enhancing their economic capabilities in the post-war period.
"The OIC agreed for Malaysia to lead these
efforts," said Zambry.
The OIC also suggested that a policy paper be
presented by Malaysia to be highlighted in a meeting with the OIC Foreign Ministers
in the future.
Zambry emphasised that the support of the OIC was very
important to find a holistic and sustainable solution for the universal
prosperity of Muslim countries. – Bernama
Source: NST
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Europe
Muslim Minister, Humza Yousaf, Is A Front-Runner To
Become Scotland’s First Minister After Sturgeon’s Resignation
February 21, 2023
LONDON: Scotland’s Health Minister Humza Yousaf has
emerged as a front-runner in the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader
of the Scottish National Party and the country’s first minister.
Sturgeon, 52, shocked many in British politics last
week when she announced she was resigning. She said she had become too divisive
a figure and, after more than eight years of leading the SNP and the Scottish
Parliament, was too tired to carry on.
Yousaf, the most prominent Muslim politician in
Scotland, was the first candidate to announce his intention to stand in the
leadership contest. He shares similar views with Sturgeon on many policies, and
his chances of becoming leader received a boost on Monday morning when Angus
Robertson, 53, the culture secretary, announced he would not be running.
John Swinney, 58, the deputy first minister and a
former leader of the SNP in the early 2000s, ruled himself out on Thursday,
saying his decision not to challenge for the leadership was intended to create
space for a “fresh perspective” on the aims of the governing party, including
its policy on pursuing Scotland’s independence from the UK.
As a result of those two announcements, the leadership
contest is shaping up to be a two-candidate race between 37-year-old Yousaf and
Kate Forbes, 32, the party’s more socially conservative finance secretary, who
confirmed in a message posted on Twitter that she wants to succeed Sturgeon.
Yousaf launched his campaign on Monday in Clydebank, a
town about eight miles west of Glasgow that was once renowned for its
shipbuilding history, because his grandfather, Mohammed Yousaf, got his first
job after emigrating to Scotland in 1962 at the massive Singer sewing machine
factory that was once a major employer for the town.
He praised Scotland’s inclusive, diverse ethos, saying
his candidacy was clear proof of this. He added that his grandfather “couldn’t
have imagined, not in his wildest dreams, that his grandson would be running to
be first minister of Scotland.”
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2255031/world
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EU imposes sanctions on 32 Iranian individuals, two
entities over alleged rights violation
20 February 2023
In a hostile move, Council of the European Union has
imposed sanctions on a number of Iranian individuals and entities over alleged
human rights violations.
In a press release issued on Monday, the EU Council
said it has decided to impose restrictive measures on additional 32 Iranian
individuals and two entities in a fifth round of sanctions over what the bloc
claimed to be Tehran's crackdown on the recent riots.
Foreign-backed riots broke out in Iran in
mid-September after the death of the 22-year-old Iranian woman, MahsaAmini, in
police custody. She fainted at a police station in Tehran and was pronounced
dead three days later at the hospital. An official report by Iran’s Legal
Medicine Organization concluded that Amini’s death was caused by illness rather
than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Iran’s intelligence community has said several
countries, including the United States and the UK, have used their spy and
propaganda apparatuses to provoke violent riots in the country.
Rioters went on a rampage, brutally attacking security
officers and causing massive damage to public property. Dozens of people and
security personnel were killed in the riots.
According to the EU press release, Iran's Minister of
Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Mehdi Esmaeili, Minister of Education
Yousef Nouri, the deputy commander and spokesperson of the Islamic Revolution
Guards Corps (IRGC), a number of MPs, members of the police and judiciary in
various parts of the country, as well as prison wardens are among the
individuals listed.
The 27-nation bloc also imposed sanctions on the
co-founders of EU-listed Ravin Academy, an Iran-based cyber security company.
The designations also targeted the Law Enforcement
Forces Cooperative Foundation and the Police Science and Social Studies
Institute.
The EU restrictive measures now apply to a total of
196 individuals and 33 entities, consisting of an asset freeze, a travel ban to
the EU and a prohibition to make funds or economic resources available to those
listed.
A ban on exports to Iran of equipment which might be
used for monitoring telecommunications is also in place.
In a telephone conversation with EU foreign policy
chief Josep Borrell on Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian said
the bloc is sticking to former US president Donald Trump’s “ineffectual” policy
of sanctions against Tehran.
Amir-Abdollahian slammed Brussels’ “overused and
obsolete” policy regarding Iran.
“The behavior of the European Union in recent months
is the continuation of Trump's ineffective Iran policy. It further proves the
continuation of dual and unrealistic standards combined with the exploitation
of human rights concepts,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
UK adds 8 new designations to its list of sanctions
against Iran
Also on Monday, Britain added eight new designations
to its sanctions list relating to Iran for what it claimed were human rights
violations.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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UK broadcaster Stephen Fry faces Islamophobia
allegation
February 20, 2023
LONDON: UK actor and broadcaster Stephen Fry has been
accused of making an Islamophobic remark at an event at Lord’s Cricket Ground
in London, The Times reported on Monday.
The 65-year-old, who is president of ground owners
Marylebone Cricket Club, was said to have linked Muslims with terrorism in a
joke at a cricketing dinner.
One member, Chris Waterman, described the comment as
“egregious” and deserving of disciplinary action.
He said in opening remarks, Fry referred to the
Allahakbarries cricket club, founded in 1890 by author J. M. Barrie.
The name of the amateur team, which was active until
1913, was based on the mistaken interpretation that “Allahu akbar” meant
“Heaven help us” in Arabic.
Fry reportedly said: “The term ‘Allahu akbar,’ when
used today, is usually followed by a loud bang.”
However, other members said they had not heard the
comment, with MCC CEO Guy Lavender describing Waterman’s account as “factually
incorrect.”
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2254666/world
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EU expansion crucial to ‘maintaining peace’ in Bosnia,
across the globe
Leila Nezirevic
20.02.2023
Bosnia and Herzegovina gained European Union candidacy
status last December, nearly two decades after the country stated its desire to
join the bloc, but the question of eventual EU membership remains.
Candidate status means the country joined other
countries that are also candidates – Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia,
Moldova, Ukraine and Türkiye.
Stjepan Mesic, a former president of Croatia and the
last serving president of Yugoslavia, told Anadolu that Bosnia and Herzegovina
must join the EU, as this would ensure that there will no longer be “a motive
for war.”
Allowing all the countries of the former Yugoslavia to
join the EU would enable the union to develop further, which in turn would
“enrich Europe,” said Mesic.
Despite promises of enlargement to the Western Balkans
bloc, the EU’s expansion was halted, with Croatia being the only country to
join the union in 2013.
In Mesic's opinion, Europe lacks leadership, as “real
leaders” would insist on quick inclusion and help those countries with less
potential.
He argued that further EU expansion is crucial to maintaining
peace across the globe.
For instance, “I have always been in favor of speeding
up Türkiye’s entry into the European Union, because it is partly a European
country, it is a big country, it is a strong country, and it should only be
welcomed by Europe and the world precisely because it is a link between
continents, a link between peoples, and these links can help peace in the
world,” he added.
New pro-EU government
Last month, Bosnia and Herzegovina appointed a new
pro-EU government which promised to return the country to the path towards EU
membership.
Normally it takes over a year for political parties in
Bosnia and Herzegovina to reach an agreement and compile a Cabinet, but this
time around, the appointment of the government came a lot sooner than expected,
around four months after the Oct. 2 general election.
Some 23 out of 42 lawmakers backed the new government
in the House of the Representatives, which is the country's state parliament.
Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of two autonomous
entities – the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska – with
each entity having its own parliament, government and president. There are also
state-level institutions and the neutral Brcko District.
The political divisions were created by the Dayton
Agreement, which ended the war in Bosnia in 1995.
In this complex structure, Bosnia and Herzegovina
enjoyed peace ever since.
However, Mesic argues that in recent years, the EU and
US have failed to press for reform in the country, which in turn led ultranationalist
political leaders to capture the state.
“On one side, you have those who fight for a civil
state, for a European state, and those who want on their own to profit from
nationalism. Some even want to separate parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina to join
other countries. That’s the problem,” he said.
The Dayton Agreement was initially believed to be a
temporary solution, but the agreement continues almost after a quarter of a
century, with many critics arguing that too many layers of government are preventing
the country from moving forward in its ambitions to join the EU institution.
The critics also say that the agreement focuses on the
rights of entities and not on the rights of individuals, where a small nation
of only 3.5 million people is expected to finance multi-governments and
parliaments, many presidents, and a large number of ministries.
All these factors contributed to many young people
leaving, which is an issue the country is currently grappling with.
According to Mesic, EU membership could potentially
end the departure of young people if the union changes its current political
environment and invests in the country.
War in Ukraine
Mesic warned that the war in Ukraine could have
negative consequences for the Balkans and elsewhere in Europe and that any
expansion of the bloc is not possible until peace is reached.
He pointed out that Russia made “a big mistake” when
it started military conflict in Ukraine, because it violated international law.
Moscow instead needed to resolve the issue of danger
to its borders through international forums and “get the international
community on their side,” Mesic advised.
“One can think that the problem can be solved in the
same way in another part of Europe,” he said.
This, he said, was evident when Serbian President
Aleksandar Vucic threatened to go in with the army and attack Kosovo.
But in the Kosovo conflict that started in 1998, “they
(Serbs) were there with the army and lost the war. So that's not the solution,”
said Mesic.
Now you have Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik in
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “who thinks that he can break up Bosnia and
Herzegovina,” he added.
Serbian and Croatian interference
Mesic also stressed that the Western Balkan country
will be unable to take a step in a positive direction since Serbia and Croatia
are interfering in its affairs and as long as Europe and the world “puts up
with it.”
The real problem is not “either in Mostar, in
Sarajevo, or in Banja Luka. The problem is in Zagreb and Belgrade,” he said.
This meddling in the country’s politics prevents
Bosnia from moving closer to becoming an EU member, Mesic said.
According to Mesic, politicians in Republika Srpska
and beyond must give up separatist unrealistic ideas and realize that “Bosnia
and Herzegovina is a fact, and that it is unchangeable. No Dodik and no Ursula
von der Leyen (the president of the European Commission) can change that.”
“Bosnia existed throughout history. Bosnia is today,
and Bosnia will be in the future,” he added.
Mesic pointed out that the European and American
decision-makers must give up on the belief that the people of Bosnia and
Herzegovina can’t get along and that the only way to solve the country’s
problems is through endless conflict mediation or more ethnic autonomy.
“In Bosnia and Herzegovina, people lived in that
country hundreds of years ago, and they always knew how to solve their
problems, and they solved them well,” he added.
Despite “divisive politics” and reckless governance,
the country has shown an outstanding societal resilience evident in great
achievements in arts, sports and entrepreneurship for instance.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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EU to hold donor conference on March 16 to help
quake-hit Türkiye, Syria
Agnes Szucs
20.02.2023
BRUSSELS
The EU donor conference to help earthquake victims in
Türkiye and Syria will take place on March 16, the Swedish foreign minister
announced on Monday.
Speaking to reporters before the meeting of EU foreign
ministers, Tobias Billstrom said the donor conference “is going to be held here
in Brussels on March 16.”
The event is organized by the European Commission and
the Swedish government that assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of
the European Union on Jan. 1.
“Our aim is to raise additional support for the people
in Türkiye and Syria and try to do as much as possible to alleviate the
terrible consequences of this earthquake,” Billstrom asserted.
He said they expect a “high-level turnout” at the
donor conference.
At their meeting, the EU foreign ministers will
discuss the latest developments of the war in Ukraine and the bloc’s support
for the country, the situation in Afghanistan, including humanitarian aid, and
energy and climate diplomacy.
For his part, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
confirmed that the ministers will assess the details of the 10th sanctions
package against Russia but said it was not certain that they “will have a final
agreement today.”
In a similar tone, Billstrom stressed that he was
“very optimistic” that the new restrictive measures would be adopted soon but
declined “to bind” himself if they can enter into force by Friday, the war’s
first anniversary, as the European Commission originally planned.
Borrell revealed that the ministers will discuss how
to “answer to the decision of the Taliban to ban women from participating in
the work of NGOs” because it challenges the bloc’s principles of cooperation
with Afghanistan.
He explained that the EU does not want to cut
humanitarian aid and cause more “pain for Afghan people” who depend on EU
support, especially on healthcare and education, but they want to “send a
message” to the Taliban regime.
Borrell also said the EU ministers will approve a new
sanctions package against Iranian individuals under the bloc’s Human Rights
Sanctions Regime for “what happened in past weeks, the crackdown on protesters
and the use of capital penalty.”
Asked about the possibility of Chinese military
support to Russia, he said it would be a “a red line in our relationships.”
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Russian senator donates $1.3M to quake victims in
Türkiye
Emre GurkanAbay
20.02.2023
MOSCOW
A Russian senator, Suleiman Kerimov, donated 100
million Russian rubles ($1.3 million) to earthquake victims in Türkiye, where
two powerful tremors jolted the southern Turkish regions on Feb. 6.
A written statement by the Spiritual Administration of
Muslims of the Russian Federation said that humanitarian aid was provided for
earthquake victims in Türkiye from many parts of the country.
The statement noted Senator Kerimov donated 100
million Russian rubles ($1.3 million) to the victims of the quakes in Türkiye,
adding that the same amount was also sent to victims in Syria.
It also added that Russia's Emergency Situations
Ministry has worked in the earthquake zones.
At least 41,020 people have been killed by two strong
earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, the country’s disaster
management agency said Sunday.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in
Kahramanmaras and struck 10 other provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir,
Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis, Osmaniye, Elazig and Sanliurfa. More than 13
million people have been affected by the devastating quakes.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/russian-senator-donates-13m-to-quake-victims-in-turkiye/2825243
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India
Why Divorce Criminal For Muslims? Kerala Chief
Minister On Triple Talaq Ban
Shibimol KG
Feb 20, 2023
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked why
triple talaq was criminalised when divorce happens in all religions.”The triple
talaq was criminalised. Divorce happens in all religions. Why is it a criminal
offence for the Muslims alone?" he asked.
The chief minister reiterated that the Citizenship
Amendment Act will not be implemented in Kerala at any cost. He also criticised
the country’s Vice-President and law minister for attacking the Supreme Court's
Collegium system.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan asked why
triple talaq was criminalised when divorce happens in all religions.”The triple
talaq was criminalised. Divorce happens in all religions. Why is it a criminal
offence for the Muslims alone?" he asked.
The chief minister reiterated that the Citizenship
Amendment Act will not be implemented in Kerala at any cost. He also criticised
the country’s Vice-President and law minister for attacking the Supreme Court's
Collegium system.
“The triple talaq was criminalised. Divorce happens in
all religions. All others are seen as civil cases. Why is it a criminal offence
for Muslims alone? So, in the case of a divorce, if it's a Muslim, then he can
be jailed. We are all Indians. Can we say that we got our citizenship because
we were born in a particular religion? Has religion ever been the basis for
citizenship?” he further asked.
The Centre used religion to decide citizenship through
the Citizenship Amendment Act, he alleged, adding, “We have already cleared our
stand on it. We won't implement it here at any cost.”
ON COLLEGIUM SYSTEM
“Our parliament cannot decide on the basic principles
of our Constitution,” Vijayan said.
Source: IndiaToday
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Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Views Discussions With Sangh
Parivar, On Key Issues Faced By Indian Muslims, As Part Of Its Fight
Feb 21, 2023
KOZHIKODE: Jamaat-e-Islami blamed CPM for the campaign
that the organization had held direct talks with RSS. Addressing the media on
Monday, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) state Assistant Amir P Mujeeb Rahman said
JIH had not held direct talks with RSS and had clarified that it was only a
part of various Muslim organizations that had discussions with RSS at the
latter's behest.
He said the decision to participate in the talks were
unanimously taken by Muslim organizations and added that JIH viewed discussions
with Sangh Parivar, on key issues faced by Indian Muslims, as part of its
fight. However, he maintained that the only point is that no selfish interests
should creep into such talks and added that no one raised any such interests
during talks.
Rahman added that CPM made a concerted effort to
portray the talks as direct parleys between Jamaat-e-Islami and RSS. He
reminded that CM shouldn't forget history and said Pinarayi Vijayan and late
CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had held talks with RSS in 2015-16 with Sri M
as the mediator.
Referring to the remarks made by Vijayan that the
logic of Jamaat-e-Islami that RSS can be reformed through dialogues is equal to
the belief that the spots of a leopard can be changed by giving it a bath,
Rahman asked whether CPM was able to change it (leopard's spots) after the
party held talks with the organization. "CPM is trying to create Islamophobia"
he alleged. Rahman said that the criticisms raised by Muslim organizations in
the state against these talks were understandable as it was part of their vigil
against the RSS.
Source: Times Of India
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Muslim Genocide Inevitable For Hindu Rashtra: Bajrang
Muni, A Hindutva Leader
20th February 2023
Bajrang Muni, a Hindutva leader, who has given many
hate speeches in the past has come out with another one, this time calling for
a full genocide of the Muslim community.
In a video posted on Twitter, Muni alleges that India
was a peaceful Hindu Rashtra before the invasion of the Mughals and others.
“If we want to become a Hindu Rashtra again, we should
use the same technique as what the Muslim leaders in the past did – murder all
Muslims in the country. As long as they survive, India can never attain total
Hindu Rashtra status,” he says in the video.
He further says, “In the past, Hindus were living
peacefully. But then we were attacked by ‘Muslim terrorists’. Hence, to bring
back our Hindus Rastra era, the genocide of Muslims is inevitable.”
This is not the first time Bajrang Muni has spit venom
against him. Last year on April 13 he urged people to kill and rape Muslim
women. He was seen supported by the Uttar Pradesh police officials. The video
went viral instantly gaining condemnation from Twitteratis and Opposition
parties.
Though Muni was booked for his rape remarks, he was
soon granted bail within ten days. While speaking to reporters, Muni said he
had no guilt.
Soon after Muni was criticised for his offensive
remarks against Muslim women, the seer went a step further by flashing his
private parts on camera.
In the video, one can see Muni speaking to a person
and suddenly flashing his private parts into the camera adding, “I (will) give
it in the mouth. I don’t feel ashamed.”
Source: Siasat Daily
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of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/muslim-genocide-inevitable-for-hindu-rashtra-bajrang-muni-2530800/
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In principle, Centre supports PILs for uniform
personal laws
Feb 21, 2023
NEW DELHI: The Centre on Monday lent its in-principle
support to a bunch of PILs in the Supreme Court in favour of gender-and
religion-neutral uniform personal laws even as the Muslim sides opposed a
judicial adjudication of the pleas, saying only the Centre and Parliament have
the jurisdiction to deal with them.
Appearing for Muslim organisations and individuals,
Kapil Sibal told a bench of CJI Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB
Pardiwala he had preliminary objections to the maintainability of these PILs
led by one filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay. "The issues squarely fall
within the domain of the government, Parliament or state legislature. How can
the SC deal with it? It has no jurisdiction to legislate. The SC shouldn't be
seen passing any order in these issues," Sibal said.
BJP committed to bring Uniform Civil Code once
democratic discussions are over: Home minister Amit Shah
SG Tushar Mehta said, "In principle, there cannot
be any objection to gender- and religion-neutral personal laws. It is for the
government to initiate the process for legislation and Parliament to decide.
But, the SC can examine what all it can do in these issues."
Interestingly, for decades, the SC has been mocking
the political class's frozen feet on the 'Uniform Civil Code', which was to be
envisaged by the government under Article 44 of the Constitution. And when some
states made attempts to frame the UCC, their moves were challenged in the SC.
Appearing for Upadhyay, senior advocate Gopal
Shankaranarayanan told the SC that the petitioners included women from the
Muslim community who want uniform marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption,
guardianship and succession laws as the personal laws for Christians, Muslims
and Parsis are not yet codified like those for Hindus. One of the petitioners,
through senior advocate Mahalaxmi Pavani, told the SC that it had been passing
judgment after judgment underlining the need for the UCC since 1985 (Shah Bano
case) and has ruled on the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.
Caught between contrasting arguments, the SC bailed itself out by asking the
petitioners to give a short synopsis of each petition and the reliefs sought.
On December 16, 2020, the SC had entertained with
trepidation two PILs seeking uniform divorce laws and uniformity in grant of
maintenance and alimony to women. On January 29, 2021, the SC entertained
another PIL seeking uniform adoption, succession, and guardianship laws.
Three decades after codification of Hindu personal
laws, the SC in the Shah Bano Begum judgment in 1985 had ruled that under
Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code, a divorced Muslim woman would have
to be paid maintenance by her husband after iddat period till she remarries.
The Muslim clergy prevailed upon the then Rajiv Gandhi
government to enact Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986,
rendering the SC verdict a paper decree. Undeterred, the SC continued to rule -
in Danial Latifi (2001), Iqbal Bano case (2007) and in Shabana Bano (2009) -
that Muslim women could not be deprived of the benefit of Section 125.
In Shah Bano case, the SC in 1985 had said, "A
common civil code will help the cause of national integration by removing
disparate loyalties to law which have conflicting ideologies."
Source: Times Of India
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Bhiwani: India anger over charred bodies linked to cow
vigilantes
The discovery of two charred bodies in a burnt vehicle
in India's Haryana state has led to anger and questions over police handling of
the case.
Police say the bodies belonged to two Muslim men from
neighbouring Rajasthan state who had been reported missing.
Their relatives say they were killed by right-wing
Hindus who reports say accused them of cow-smuggling.
Leaders of the Bajrang Dal group have denied the
claims as have police, who say they're investigating the killings.
What happened?
Police in Haryana said last week they began
investigating after locals found the vehicle and its two bodies in the village
of Barwas in the state's Bhiwani district.
Initially, police didn't confirm the identity of the
victims, but said that the burnt vehicle was a Mahindra Bolero, the SUV in
which the two men - later named as Junaid and Nasir - had been travelling
before they were reported missing in Rajasthan.
A senior Rajasthan police official then confirmed the
bodies were of Junaid and Nasir. Their relatives also identified them.
Why the two men were travelling remains unclear. A
family member told police they left their houses early on Wednesday morning in
the vehicle for some "personal work".
"At around 9am, some people at a shop said that
two men were badly beaten up by 8-10 people. They were then taken away in a
car," the relative's complaint to police says, adding that the attackers
had been identified as members of the Bajrang Dal.
The Indian Express reported a senior Rajasthan police
official as saying that after they received the complaint, they tried tracking
the victims' phones, which were switched off.
After they learnt that a burnt Bolero car had been
found in Haryana, a Rajasthan police team accompanied the men's relatives to
the spot.
The official said that the family members had named
some "suspects [who] are from Haryana".
He also added that the motive behind the alleged
murder wasn't clear yet. "Nasir doesn't have any criminal record. Junaid
has five previous cases of cow smuggling registered against him," he said.
Slaughtering cows - venerated by Hindus - is illegal
in a number of Indian states, including Rajasthan and Haryana. While buffaloes
are exempt from the rule, buffalo meat sellers and cattle traders - many of
them Muslim - have often been assaulted in recent years by Hindu vigilante
groups who have accused them of transporting beef.
After the two bodies were found in the Bolero, several
media reports said the men may have been attacked by cow vigilantes on
suspicion of transporting beef.
Ram Naresh, the investigating officer in the case,
told BBC Hindi that the police complaint does not mention cow smuggling.
"No cattle have been found with the deceased...
We are probing the case from every angle," he said.
Has anyone been arrested?
Yes, one man called Rinku Saini, who was named in the
complaint, is in custody under arrest. Police have said that Mr Saini, a taxi
driver from Haryana, belongs to cow vigilante groups. His family told BBC Hindi
he was just a driver, and had no involvement with this case.
Police have also said that they are searching for the
four other men named in the complaint, including Monu Manesar, a Bajrang Dal
member who was part of a local cow protection task force.
Mr Manesar has more than 200,000 followers on YouTube,
where he often posts videos of himself and others confronting alleged cow
smugglers and rescuing cows.
After the recent case sparked outrage, Mr Manesar
posted a video denying any involvement and saying he was not at the scene.
He has also received support from leaders of the
Bajrang Dal and another right-wing organisation called the Vishwa Hindu
Parishad, who held a press conference claiming that cow vigilantes were being
"falsely framed".
But family members of the victims have been
protesting, demanding that he and the other accused be arrested.
"Our protest will continue until Monu Manesar is
arrested," one of the relatives told The Hindustan Times newspaper.
What are the claims against police?
Police in Haryana have set up a committee to look into
allegations made by Mr Saini, the only person to be arrested so far.
According to media reports, Mr Saini has alleged that
he and the other accused tried to hand over the two victims to police in
Haryana's Nuh district.
They had been beaten badly, reports say, but were
still alive.
Quoting Rajasthan police sources, a report by NDTV
suggested the Haryana police could have intervened, but did not.
A relative of the victims also alleged that Haryana
police were "working in co-ordination" with Bajrang Dal members.
"The allegations against us aren't true. We have
no involvement in the deaths," said Varun Singla, police superintendent of
Nuh district, adding that the committee had been set up since the allegations
were "serious in nature".
Source: BBC
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of the original story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-64701344
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BJP To Kick-start Muslim Outreach Programme Across
India Next Month
20th February 2023
New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Minority
Morcha is going to start a Muslim outreach programme across the country from
March 10.
As part of the programme, 14 states have been
identified in the first phase in which there are 64 districts. These states
include Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi, Goa, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Bihar.
In the party’s National Executive meeting held last
month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for reaching out to the minority
community and especially Pasmanda Muslims.
For this programme, BJP already constituted a national
team and national in-charges. Now state-wise teams are being formed. These
teams will work following the advice given by the Prime Minister for reaching
out to the Muslim community.
Sources said the party has identified those places
where the Muslim population are considerably high. The party identified 60 such
Lok Sabha constituencies where the Muslim population is over 30 per cent.
As many as 5,000 people are being identified in each
of these Lok Sabha constituencies. These people do not belong to BJP but are
affected by the welfare policies of the Modi government. For example, these are
people who become doctors, an engineer, social workers, journalists, or
businessmen. In other words, these are the people who are important in society
and can be influencers. So efforts are being made to identify such people who
can communicate with the people around their lives and the society at large,
said BJP sources.
Sources further said BJP Muslim Morcha will reach out
to these people who could be a vendor, labourers, doctors or an engineer who
may not be associated with politics but play influential roles and can work for
the betterment of the community and society.
The party is in identifying such people in the Muslim
community who can be the best influences in society communicating messages of
the government.
At the BJP National Executive meeting, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi last month called upon party leaders to reach out to the
minorities, including Muslims, without expecting votes.
PM Modi spoke about areas where the party needs to be
strengthened ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“PM called upon BJP workers to meet Pasmanda Muslims,
Bohra community, Muslim professionals and educated Muslims without expecting
votes in return,” sources said.
Source:Siasat Daily
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https://www.siasat.com/bjp-to-kickstart-muslim-outreach-programme-across-india-next-month-2530930/
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Pakistan
Not just economy: How Pakistan is also floundering on
terror
Feb 20, 2023
NEW DELHI: As the Taliban stormed to power in
Afghanistan in the fall of 2021, cheers went up in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
Pakistan believed it has pulled off a huge strategic
coup, and Afghanistan's new rulers can be manipulated to protect its interests.
However, more than a year later, the scripts hasn't
quite gone the way Pakistan had hoped.
The Kabul regime has turned a deaf ear to Pakistan's requests
to act against Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) sanctuaries in Afghanistan.
The result- Pakistan's internal security is in a
turmoil, with a resurgent TTP carrying out attacks with impunity.
Less than two months into 2023, terror-related
incidents have already claimed 227 lives.
Pakistan's obfuscated approach in dealing with TTP
Pakistani forces were able to effectively dismantle
the TTP and kill most of its top leadership in a string of military operations
from 2014 onwards in the tribal areas, driving most of the fighters into
Afghanistan, where they regrouped.
They have been buoyed by the victory of the Taliban in
Afghanistan over the US-backed government after Western forces exited the
country in 2021.
A Pakistani minister on Sunday said that the former
ISI chief Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed wanted to bring the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan (TTP) members back to the country, but his plan “backfired.”
Human rights minister Riaz Pirzada claimed that an
in-camera briefing was held in which Army generals proposed to “resettle” TTP
members in Pakistan.
A minister in the now-deposed Imran Khan government
too claimed that they had tried to work on a consensus to initiate dialogue
with the TTP, but that did not materialise.
A ceasefire, and its unravelling
In June last year, the Pakistan government reached a
broad ceasefire agreement with the TTP.
By November though, it had gone up in smoke. As TTP
renewed its attacks, many targeted at government officials and security forces,
there were talks of recalibrating the approach.
With the Kabul regime unwilling to act against their
brethren, Pakistan has tried opening a channel with the Taliban supreme leader.
The volatile political atmosphere, the economic
crisis, strained relations with neighbouring countries and a scary internal
security scenario - the Shehbaz Sharif government has too much to deal with for
now.
Source: Times Of India
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‘Kabul’s inaction on TTP due to mixed signals by
Pakistan’
February 21, 2023
FOREIGN Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that
mixed signals from the Pakistan side were responsible for the Afghan Taliban’s
inaction against the outlawed TTP.
In an interview with German broadcaster DW Urdu, the
foreign minister said the previous government was asking the interim Afghan
government to facilitate reconciliation with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and
had plans to resettle the militants in Pakistan. But every Pakistani was
demanding that terrorists who were involved in heinous attacks such as the Army
Public School massacre could never be “our friends”, he added.
Earlier in an interview with CNBC, the foreign
minister blamed the PTI government for negotiating with terrorists without any
precondition. Calling it a “policy of appeasement,” the foreign minister said
it blew up in Pakistan’s face.
“Unfortunately, following the fall of Kabul, the
government that preceded ours started negotiating with these very same terrorist
groups and without preconditions such as disarming,” the foreign minister told
CNBC on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Bilawal says Imran’s ‘policy of appeasing’ terrorists
ended by PDM-led govt
However, he added that the new government and the
military leadership have “put a full stop to the policy of appeasement”.
“Those people who don’t accept Pakistan and don’t
accept the Constitution, I don’t think negotiating with them is in the interest
of Pakistan or its people,” he told DW Urdu.
The PPP chairman added that the withdrawal of western
forces has given space to various terrorist groups in Afghanistan which have
caused immense challenges for Pakistan.
“We have a very porous border [with Afghanistan] that
the new government doesn’t have the capacity to man,” he told CNBC.
“We are confident that we’ll be able to take on the
terrorist groups that are functioning within Pakistan.”
He added that till the terrorist threats emanating out
of Afghanistan are addressed, Pakistan will be in a high-risk security phase.
Pakistan still hopes some action would be taken
against the outlawed groups and Afghanistan has been told that this issue can
affect bilateral relations between the two countries, he told DW Urdu.
Imran’s political future
When asked about the political future of former prime
minister Imran Khan, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said he “never says never in politics”.
In his interview with CNBC, the foreign minister said
if Mr Khan strives to pursue a democratic path and commits to play a
constitutional role, he can have a future.
The foreign minister added that Mr Khan’s ouster
through a vote of no-confidence motion was the first time parliament removed a
prime minister in a democratic way.
However, since his ouster, Mr Khan has been asking the
army for help in getting back to power, the foreign minister said.
He added that the former army chief had said in a
speech that the military used to intervene in politics and now they want to
step away. “If the military says it wants to change its controversial conduct
constitutionally, it should be welcomed.”
The PPP chairman told CNBC that “our opposition thinks
that the military should play its role in politics. They want the military to
help them bring them back to power.”
Economy
Mr Bhutto-Zardari said widespread devastation of
standing crops due to flood, combined with the impacts of the coronavirus
pandemic and the war in Ukraine had impacted Pakistan’s economy.
On Pakistan’s ability to honour its debt repayments,
the foreign minister said there should be no doubt about Pakistan’s ability to
live up to its economic commitments even though recent events have thrown the
economy off track.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari told DW Urdu that Pakistan was
taking a number of steps to solve the economic crisis.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1738306
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Army generals proposed to bring TTP back to Pakistan:
Minister
21 February, 2023
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 21 (ANI): Pakistan
Human Rights Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada on Sunday countered PTI leader
Shireen Mazari’s claim that ex-army chief retired Gen Qamar JavedBajwa wanted
to “resettle” the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) members in the country,
saying ex-army generals were in favour of bringing TTP back to country,
Pakistan based Dawn newspaper reported.
Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader and Minister Pirzada
said that the former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general retired
Lt Gen Faiz Hameed wanted to bring TTP members back to the country.
According to Dawn, the minister’s statement came a day
after PTI leader Shireen Mazari claimed that ex-army chief retired Gen Qamar
JavedBajwa wanted to “resettle” the TTP members in the country.
Pirzada while talking to Nadir Guramani on Dawn
NewsTV, claimed that an in-camera briefing was held in which army generals had
proposed to bring TTP back to Pakistan. “However, (Foreign Minister) Bilawal
Bhutto-Zardari and (Prime Minister) Shehbaz Sharif talked on it … they said
that a number of popular leaders were killed by TTP, including Benazir Bhutto
sahiba,” he said.
The minister, in response to a question on who made
this proposition, said that: “At that time, General Faiz had suggested that
they [TTP] should be brought into the mainstream but it backfired.”
Pirzada’s predecessor, PTI leader Mazari had on
Saturday rejected the perception that the resettlement was the idea of former
prime minister Imran Khan, according to Dawn.
PTI chief Imran Khan recently blamed the negligence of
Pakistan’s security forces and intelligence agencies for the rising incidents
of terrorism in the country, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.
Khan, in an interview with Voice of America (VOA),
spoke about the criticism received by the PTI for its decision to negotiate
with the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) before the party was ousted.
To a question from VOA correspondent Sarah Zaman asked
on whether he stands by his decision to greenlight the dialogue with the TTP,
Khan was quoted in the Dawn report as saying,
“Well, firstly, what were the choices [the] Pakistani
government faced once the Taliban took over and they decided the TTP, and we’re
talking about 30, [30,000] to 40,000 people, you know, the families included,
once they decided to send them back to Pakistan? Should we have just lined them
up and shot them, or should we have tried to work with them to resettle them.”
Khan said his government had a meeting at that time
and the idea behind it was resettlement with the “concurrence of politicians
all along the border”.
“But that never happened because our government left
and once our government was removed, the new government took its eye off the
ball,” he said.
“But then where were the Pakistani security forces?
Where were the intelligence agencies? Could they not see them regrouping?” the
former PM asked.
Source: ThePrint
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https://theprint.in/world/army-generals-proposed-to-bring-ttp-back-to-pakistan-minister/1387211/
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IMF to Pakistan: Function like a country, make the
rich pay taxes & poor get subsidies
Feb 21, 2023
ISLAMABAD:: Cash-strapped Pakistan must take steps to
ensure that its high earners pay taxes and only the poor get the subsidies if
it wants to function as a country, the IMF has said, amid looming fears of a
default.
In an interview with Deutsche Welle on Friday, IMF
chief Kristalina Georgieva said Pakistan needs to take strong measures to avoid
getting into a "dangerous place" where its debt needs to be
restructured. She said IMF was clear it wanted the poor people of Pakistan to
be protected, Dawn reported, "It shouldn't be that the wealthy benefit
from subsidies. It should be the poor (who) benefit from them."
Source: Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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Imran Khan appears in court for first time after
assassination bid on him
OMER FAROOQ KHAN
Feb 21, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Amid high drama, former Pakistani prime
minister Imran Khan on Monday appeared before the Lahore high court in two
cases against him related to violent protests outside the Election Commission
of Pakistan (ECP) last year in the wake of his disqualification by the
electoral watchdog in the Toshakhana (state gift storehouse) case. While one
bench granted him protective bail, another bench disposed of the second case.
A large number of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
workers and supporters had gathered outside the court to welcome Imran after he
arrived at the court amid tight security.
Footage aired on television showed Imran’s convoy
being showered with rose petals as it made its way inside the high court
premises with a large number of PTI supporters chanting slogans in support of
the former prime minister.A two-member bench led by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi
granted protective bail to the PTI chief in the first case.
Taking the rostrum, Imran -- who was injured in
November last year after being fired at during a rally -- said that his leg had
recovered to an extent but the doctors had still advised him to rest for two
weeks. He said his medical checkup was scheduled for February 28. He further
said that he had waited outside the courtroom for an hour, adding that he
‘fully respects the courts’. “My party’s name is Tehreek-e-Insaf (movement for
justice) and I expect the same from courts,” he added.
The court, subsequently, granted Imran protective bail
till March 3 and directed him to approach the relevant court by then.
Earlier, Khan’s counsel had requested the court to
verify his client’s presence through the court staff as the PTI chief was
facing difficulty in entering the court due to security reasons and presence of
a large number of PTI workers.
However, the court rejected the request and ordered
the court’s security in charge to present Imran before the bench, prompting him
to walk to the courtroom.
The PTI chief has been recuperating at his residence
in Lahore ever since he was wounded in the assassination attempt in Wazirabad
city in Punjab province on November 3. This was the first time Imran appeared
before a court of law after the attack.
A terrorism case was filed against him in October 2022
after PTI workers took to the streets and held demonstrations outside ECP
offices across the country after it disqualified the former PM in the
Toshakhana case. The electoral body had disqualified Imran for “deliberately
concealing his assets” relating to the Toshakhana gifts retained by him,
including Rolex watches, a ring and a pair of cufflinks, which were given to
him by foreign dignitaries. Imran had failed to mention these in his
declaration of assets submitted to the commission.
Source: Times Of India
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Imran’s indictment in Toshakhana reference deferred yet again
Umer Burney
February 21, 2023
An Islamabad district and sessions court deferred —
for a second time — on Tuesday PTI chairman Imran Khan’s indictment in the
Toshakhana reference on medical grounds as the judge remarked that if this
delay continued, his trial would continue indefinitely.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zafar
Iqbal has instructed Imran to appear before the court in person on Feb 28.
On Jan 31, the court had announced that charges
against the PTI chief — who is recuperating after sustaining a gunshot wound following
an assassination attempt during a rally on Nov 3 — would take place in the
reference on Feb 7.
However, in the previous hearing, Imran’s lawyers
filed an exemption plea for a personal appearance in court, after which the
ex-premier’s indictment was delayed to today.
The reference, which alleges that Imran failed to
share details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana (during his time as
the prime minister) and proceeds from their reported sales, was filed by
lawmakers from the ruling coalition last year. On October 21, the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had concluded that the former premier had made
“false statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts.
The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet
Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of
other governments and foreign dignitaries. According to Toshakhana rules,
gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules
apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.
The watchdog’s order had said Imran stood disqualified
under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.
Subsequently, the ECP had approached the Islamabad
sessions court with a copy of the reference, seeking criminal proceedings
against Imran for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received
from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister.
Imran has engaged a team of senior lawyers comprising
Khawaja Haris Ahmed, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and
Advocate Ali Bukhari to contest the ECP complaint in the case.
The hearing
At the outset of the hearing today, the PTI chief’s
lawyer filed another exemption request in court. “An x-ray of Imran Khan will
be conducted on Feb 28,” Advocate Gohar said.
Here, the court pointed out that if this (Imran’s
absence) continued, the trial would never end.
The ECP lawyer also objected to the exemption request,
saying that a medical certificate was not attached to the plea.
“An order should be passed to [form] a medical board
for Imran,” he requested, adding that a medical examination of the PTI chief
should be conducted.
At that, the court asked Imran’s lawyer to produce a
medico-legal certificate of his client so it could learn about the extent of
his injuries.
At one point in the hearing, copies of the case
records were distributed.
“According to the law, copies of the case are given to
the accused in his presence [in court]. Imran Khan was summoned today for the
same reason,” ADSJ Iqbal said.
He also asked how the court could determine Imran’s
heath without a medico-legal certificate. “Why not conduct a medical
[examination] of Imran at the Pims hospital,” the judge added.
Source: Dawn
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of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1738339/imrans-indictment-in-toshakhana-reference-deferred-yet-again
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Guard injured as Pakistan, Afghan forces trade fire at
Torkham
Ibrahim Shinwari
February 21, 2023
KHYBER: Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged fire on the
Torkham border on Monday, leaving a border guard injured.
The Afghan Taliban on Sunday shut the border crossing,
accusing Pakistan of reneging on its commitments.
Irshad Momand, a district administration official in
LandiKotal told Dawn that Pakistan responded to “unprovoked” firing from the
Afghan side.
People living near the border crossing in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa confirmed that a heavy exchange of fire continued for over an hour.
Mr Momand said the injured Pakistani soldier was being
treated at a hospital and his condition was stable.
On Sunday, Afghan authorities accused Islamabad of
reneging on its commitments, without giving any further details.
The Afghan Taliban commissioner for Torkham said the
border has been closed down for travel and transit trade. “Pakistan has not
abided by its commitments and so the gateway has been shut down on the
directions of (our) leadership,” Maulavi Mohammad Siddique said in a tweet.
According to unconfirmed media reports, the interim
Afghan government was irked by an unannounced ban on the travel of Afghan
patients seeking treatment in Pakistan.
However, Mr Momand added that the issue was being
discussed at the diplomatic level between Islamabad and Kabul.
He said Pakistan was awaiting a “positive” response
from Afghan officials to reopen the border crossing as it was closed from their
side.
Distress for locals
Due to the precarious situation, the population around
the border area has been shifted to LandiKotal, Jamrud and Peshawar.
As the border crossing remained shut, locals
complained of a shortage of essential goods even though markets remained open.
Jamshed Khan, a local custom clearing agent, told Dawn
that trading activities have stopped, leaving at least 300 trucks stranded.
The trucks are loaded with perishable food items which
were at risk of being destroyed if the closure persisted, he added.
The daily wagers and porters whose livelihood was
linked with the trade held a protest in LandiKotal on Monday and demanded
immediate reopening of the border.
Farman Shinwari, who led the protest, said border
closure has hit daily wage workers.
In Dec 2022, Afghan Taliban forces fired mortar shells
across the Chaman border into Pakistan, killing one Pakistani civilian and
injuring at least 16 other citizens. This incident followed a similar
cross-border attack from the Afghan side on Dec 11 which claimed the lives of
six Pakistani civilians and left 17 others injured, according to the Pakistani
military.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1738310/guard-injured-as-pakistan-afghan-forces-trade-fire-at-torkham
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Pakistan no longer can get a free terror pass for
China in Afghanistan
Feb 21, 2023
By Shishir Gupta
On December 12, 2022 there was a terror attack on
Longan Hotel, also known as Chinese Hotel, in central Kabul that left three
terrorists dead and two foreigners injured. The attack was within days of the
terrorist attacking the Pakistani embassy in Kabul on December 2 with the
target apparently being the head of mission. The Islamic State of Khorasan
Province (ISKP) claimed credit for both the attacks.
The two incidents with common terror groups are
fraught with serious security ramifications both for Chinese interests in
Af-Pak region and for Pakistan as it shows that Rawalipindi GHQ and its chief
promoter China no longer get a free terror pass in Afghanistan.
The Longan Hotel attack is significant as there are
Uighur elements within the ISKP group who are totally opposed to Communist
Party of China (CPC) for oppression of Sunni Muslims in restive Sinkiang
(Xinjiang) province. The terror attack is ominous as this reveals that the hold
of Pakistani deep state on the ISKP group in pre-Taliban takeover days has
weakened and the Uighur elements within the Islamist group have gained control.
Add to this the April 26, 2022 suicide bombing at
Chinese propaganda Confucius Institute that left three Chinese dead by the
proscribed Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the big picture becomes more
deadly for Beijing’s interests in Af-Pak region. Simply put, the linkage
between the proscribed East Turkestan Islamic Movement, Tehreek-e-Taliban
Pakistan and Baluchistan insurgent groups cannot be ignored by Beijing or by
Pakistan.
As a biggest debtor of China, Islamabad in the past
has ensured that the entire Muslim world including Iran and Turkiye look the
other way towards oppression of Uighur Muslims in Sinkiang province while
totally ignoring the repression by CPC in Buddhist Tibet. The recent
developments, which run parallel to the present total political and economic
chaos in Pakistan, indicate a clear and present Uighur terror threat to Chinese
Belt Road Initiative in Af-Pak region and to the restive Sinkiang through the
Wakhan Corridor.
After targeting the world with terror since the 1990s
with home bred Islamist groups, Pakistan’s equally culpable military and
civilian leadership have got their comeuppance. Today, home bred TTP is
targeting the Pakistan Army and security police with spectacular attacks in
Peshawar and Karachi, the Baluch and Sindh insurgent groups are hyper-active
with Chinese BRI as a principal target and now compounded by the Pak deep state
bred ISKP’s attack both the “milk and honey” allies in Taliban ruled
Afghanistan. The Pakistani nightmare has become never ending as its once
protégé Taliban is at loggerheads with Rawalpindi over the Durand Line and
Kabul refuses to be “naukar (servant)” of the ISI despite the latter’s clout
over supreme leader Mullah HibatullahAkundzada.
Fact is that the only force that can take on the ISKP
in Afghanistan and prevent attacks against third country in Kabul be it China,
Pakistan, Russia, US or even India is the Taliban as they have the capacity and
capability to engage the hyper conservative Sunni Islamist force in so-called
Khorasan province on ground. It is the Taliban which has managed to neutralize
top terror leaders of ISKP in Afghanistan in the past and is the only force
that can currently stabilize the war wrecked Afghanistan. In fact, if the
Taliban leadership gives political and economic space to women, girls and other
minorities, then the world could have a re-look at the Islamic Emirate under
the Sunni Pashtun force.
Source: Hindustan Times
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South Asia
Taliban Detains Social Media Influencer, Ex Security
Force Member: Report
February 20, 2023
Taliban detained a social media influencer and former
member of security forces in the previous government in Kabul, Afghanistan's
vernacular media Reporterly reported.
The victim has been identified as Abdul Rahim and
originally is from the Dare Abdullah Khel area of Panjshir province. He was
detained on Thursday.
Meanwhile, according to local sources, Taliban members
also detained Imran Ahmadzai a social media influencer from his home in Kabul.
Reporterly citing local sources reported that Ahmadzai
was detained on February 12 for spreading anti-Taliban propaganda.
On Facebook, Ahmadzai has 23,327 followers and his
last video was about people running on Kabul Street with a caption of 'go
towards turkey' on February 8, according to Reporterly.
On February 8, hundreds of Afghan citizens rushed to
the Kabul airport, after there were rumours that the Taliban were sending
Afghans to Turkey. Taliban members had violently engaged with the people and
scattered them with aerial shots.
Meanwhile, on February 16, Abdul HaqHemad, director of
media oversight at the Taliban's ministry of information and culture confirmed
that the Taliban has arrested people who have been suspected of spreading
rumours about the transfer of Afghans to Turkiye.
While Hemad didn't provide details about the arrested
people, it seems that Ahmadzai might have been one of these people arrested by
the Taliban on charges of spreading rumours about Turkiye, reported Reporterly.
Taliban continue to arrest Afghan citizens who have
been active on social media, and those who happen to have worked in the
previous Afghan government. These arrests particularly from the security forces
have been mainly focused on Tajiks and Hazara ethnic groups.
After the fall of the republic order on August 15,
2021, hundreds of former soldiers who have been unable to leave the country
have been arrested, tortured, and even killed by the Taliban.
Source:NDTV
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'Concerns Will be Addressed in a Better way': Taliban
Urges Countries to Recognise Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
Feb 21, 2023
Kabul: Taliban has called on the international
community to recognise the "Islamic Emirate" of Afghanistan, claiming
that if recognised, the concerns and complaints of the world community will be
addressed in a better way, Afghanistan-based Tolo News reported. "The
Islamic Emirate will be paying more attention to its responsibilities and the
complaints we have among ourselves or from other countries will be addressed in
a good way. Because one side will feel itself responsible regarding the laws
and regulation," Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, as
quoted by Tolo News. According to Mujahid, if some powerful world countries
prevent Afghanistan`s recognition, the rest of the world countries should not
follow them.
This comes as the Taliban led Ministry of Economy said
that the lack of recognition of the "Islamic Emirate" by the
international community since last August has caused challenges in the country.
"If the Islamic Emirate is recognized, the engagement of Afghanistan with
the international community will increase and this will cause stabilization in
the region," said Abdul Latif Nazari, Afghan deputy Minister of Economy
under the caretaker Taliban regime.
According to analysts, forming an inclusive
government, countering terrorism, not allowing the use of Afghan soil against
other countries, and ensuring human rights, especially the rights of women and
girls, will pave the ground for recognition of the Islamic Emirate."To
earn recognition, the Taliban should refer to the people first. They should
observe law, politics and governance. They should recognize the rights of the
people," said Sayed Jawad Sijadi, a political analyst, according to Tolo
News.
"They (Islamic Emirate) should reach an agreement
with the international community and solve their problems via diplomatic
ways," said TorialaiZazai, another political analyst. As Afghanistan continues to face a humanitarian
crisis and grapples with the worst political turmoil, the European Union (EU)
special envoy for Afghanistan Tomas Niklasson, recently, said that they are not
in favour of isolating Afghanistan but recognising the Taliban regime is also
not an option, Khaama Press reported.
Source:ZeeNews
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Iran, China Representatives discuss ways to improve Afghanistan’s
stability
By Fidel Rahmati
February 20, 2023
On Sunday, the special representative of Iran to Kabul
met with his Chinese counterpart to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
Iran’s special envoy and ambassador to Afghanistan,
Hassan KazemiQomi, met with Yue Xiaoyong in Kabul and discussed how Beijing and
Tehran could work together to bring peace and stability.
Qomi tweeted that he had a “cordial and constructive”
discussion with the Chinese representative to implement recent decisions made
by the Iranian and Chinese presidents.
He also added that Iran and China had held the talks
to foster collaboration to ensure long-term peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Last week China and Iran called on Afghanistan to lift
its women’s education and work restrictions. The request was made in a joint
statement released last week at the close of the visit by Iranian President
Ebrahim Raisi to Beijing.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021,
the de facto authorities have issued several decrees restricting Afghan women
and girls from attending education and work and putting them in complete
isolation.
In addition, China and Iran also called on the Taliban
to form an inclusive government including all ethnic groups, political parties,
gender and other religions and minorities in the country.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/iran-china-representatives-discuss-ways-to-improve-afghanistans-stability/
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Saudi Arabia remains top destination for Bangladeshi
migrant workers
SHEHAB SUMON
February 20, 2023
DHAKA: Saudi Arabia continues to be the favorite
destination for Bangladeshi migrant workers, a central bank report has shown,
as the South Asian nation prepares to send more skilled workers to the Kingdom.
Nearly 100,000 Bangladeshis migrated to Saudi Arabia
in the last quarter of 2022 alone, according to a report published on Saturday
by the Bangladesh Bank. Saudi employers hired more than half of Bangladesh
migrant workers last year.
Saudi Arabia was the second-biggest source of
remittances to Bangladesh in the fourth quarter last year, just behind the US,
as workers brought in about $910 million from the Kingdom during the period,
the central bank report showed.
“The Bangladeshi migrants nurture a special feeling in
their heart for this country, which encourages many of them to find jobs in the
Kingdom,” Gazi Mohammed Shahed Anowar, deputy secretary at the Ministry of
Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment, told Arab News.
“For many years, Saudi Arabia has been considered the
first choice for Bangladeshi migrants,” he said. “Many of our migrants are
already working in the Kingdom. So, the existing migrants in the Kingdom
facilitate new jobs for their relatives in Bangladesh.”
Bangladesh has begun preparations to send skilled
workers to Saudi Arabia for the first time under the newly launched Skill
Verification Program, which aims to improve the professional competence of
employees in the Saudi labor market.
With the Kingdom set to recruit skilled workers from
the South Asian country, this too would help boost remittances.
“We are working on preparing the skilled workers for
this labor market. I think our remittance flow from the Kingdom will increase
more in the coming days if we can successfully meet the demands of skilled
workers in the Kingdom,” Anowar said.
Bangladesh is also reaping benefits from strong
diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, said Shariful Hasan, head of the
migration program at the country’s largest development organization, BRAC.
“The country is in growing need of migrant workers
also, as they have undertaken some mega projects,” Hasan told Arab News.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2254836/world
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Southeast Asia
Sarawak shares its wealth among all religions so
everyone can pray in comfort, premier says
By Sulok Tawie
20 Feb 2023
KUCHING, Feb 20 — Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari
Openg today said the state government does not hesitate to assist non-Muslim
faiths with funds so their followers can pray in peace and comfort.
He said the assistance is a form of compassion of the state
government to share the state’s wealth with the non-Muslim faiths.
“Those, particularly in the government, must share.
The GabunganParti Sarawak (GPS) state government is doing that,” he said at the
Malaysian Interfaith Harmony Forum 2023 organised by the Unit for Other
Religions (Unifor) in the Premier’s Department here.
He said that is why the state government has formed
Unifor to help the non-Muslims, mission schools and build houses of worship.
“How are you going to pray in peace when drops of water
fall from the leaking roofs? You cannot concentrate,” he said, adding that he
believes in the personal relationship between mankind and God.
He urged every follower of faith to pray for Sarawak’s
well-being and prosperity so he could share the wealth with all.
Abang Johari added the state government has shared
RM100 million with Unifor from the revenue of RM11.9 billion that was generated
last year, and much of the funds will be channelled towards helping mission and
Chinese schools in rural areas of the state.
“We can’t wait for funds to come from the federal
government. We have to help these schools financially, such as for repair works
and other facilities,” he added.
He called on the people to pray harder so more revenue
will be generated for Sarawak.
The forum, with the theme “Love of God, Love of the
neighbour, Love of the Good, and love of the neighbour”, featured seven
panellists sharing messages of goodwill, acceptance of religions and cultural
diversity.
The seven panellists are from Jabatan Agama Islam
Sarawak, Association of Churches in Sarawak, Malaysia Buddhist Association
Sarawak Branch, Malaysia Hindu Sangam Sarawak Branch, the Spiritual Assembly of
the Baha’i of Sarawak, the Federation of Chinese Association Sarawak and
Sarawak Sikh Temple Association.
Source: MalayMail
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Indonesia's Haj fee up 70 per cent, Malaysian pilgrims
be prepared
February 21, 2023
KUALA LUMPUR: The cost of performing the haj - one of
the five pillars of Islam – is set to increase this year, and prospective
pilgrims in Malaysia are advised to be prepared.
Indonesia has recently announced a 70 per cent
increase in Haj fee for prospective Muslim pilgrims performing the annual
pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah this year.
The rise is unavoidable, said Lembaga Tabung Haji
(TH), an Islamic institution responsible for managing and preparing haj
services for Malaysian pilgrims.
TH Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Datuk
Seri AmrinAwaluddin said in a statement earlier, the cost of the haj pilgrimage
is expected to increase this year to around RM31,000 compared to RM28,000 last
year.
However, Amrin said despite the likely increase, the
agency will continue to provide targeted Haj Financial Assistance funded by its
investment income to all prospective Muassasah pilgrims.
Besides Malaysia and Indonesia, prospective pilgrims
in Brunei and Thailand are also affected by the rising cost of performing the
haj.
TH has also said that the factors contributing to the
higher haj cost are beyond the agency's control.
Significant hike after pandemic
Sharing his thoughts, senior lecturer of the Faculty
of Major Language Studies, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) Associate
Professor Dr Azlan Shaiful Baharum said the issue is not new.
Based on his experience as a mutawif (haj guide) with
various private agencies since 2016, he said a significant rise in the cost of
performing the haj was seen after the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The impact has not only been felt by Muslims in
the country but prospective pilgrims from other nations as well.
"Perhaps the difference for Muslims in other
countries such as Indonesia is that the people are willing to pay more for the
haj pilgrimage as it is the only time for them to be in the holy land while for
Muslims in other nations, the fee hike will not be a problem given the higher
value of the foreign exchange rate.
Sharing similar sentiments, the Head of the
Department, of Language and General Studies, Faculty of Business and
Communication, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP), Associate Professor Dr
Shuhairimi Abdullah said Indonesian Muslims are being burdened by the higher
fees compared to the previous years.
However, he said there is a difference in the haj fees
between Malaysia and Indonesia based on the considerations and requirements
that have to be borne by haj pilgrims.
"The facilities provided by TH for haj pilgrims
in Malaysia are different than those given by Indonesia's haj management
agency, as TH offers free medical treatment services and various other services
such as books and haj handbooks that are given free.
"There is also a difference in logistic costs as
well as other facilities including accommodation provided by TH for pilgrims is
located nearer to Masjidil Haram (less than 1,000 metres)," he said.
Citing a news report from April last year, the
Indonesian government was expected to cut the haj subsidy for its people.
According to Suara.com, the government had to resort
to slashing the subsidy given the high cost incurred and it will be implemented
gradually.
Head of the Hajj Fund Management Agency (BPKH)
AnggitoAbimanyu was reported to support the move, noting that haj is for those
who have the physical and financial ability to undertake the journey.
The real cost of performing the haj in that country
for an individual is about 70 million rupiahs (RM20,000).
However, Indonesian pilgrims need only pay half of the
total, which is about 35 million rupiahs (RM10,000).
Indonesia's Religious Affairs Ministry's Haj and Umrah
Management director-general Hilman Latif said there is coordination in haj
travel cost (Bipih) paid by Muslims performing their haj this year.
In 2022, the Bipih for Haj pilgrimage amounted to 39.8
million rupiahs (RM12,958) per person out of total added.
He said one of the basic prerequisites for performing
the haj pilgrimage is that the individual must be financially capable or
istito'ah, and as such, haj pilgrims must be realistic and be open to accepting
the higher cost.
Shuhairimi also called on TH to review the Haj turn
selection by giving priority to senior citizens to perform the haj.
He said if TH continues to maintain the concept of a
'first-come, first-served basis' which was introduced in 1995, the elderly
citizens will not be able to perform the haj.
Source:NST
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DAP MP accuses PAS MP of misleading Dewan Rakyat on
Menu Rahmah claims, seeks disciplinary action
By Zarrah Morden
21 Feb 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 21 — Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii
wants Parliament’s Committee of Privileges to take action against Kapar MP Dr
Halimah Ali for allegedly misleading the lower House with her remarks on the
government’s Menu Rahmah initiative.
The DAP lawmaker claimed his PAS counterpart’s remarks
linking the affordable meals under the scheme to cancer were untrue,
irresponsible and create a stigma against the autistic and disabled
communities.
“I strongly believe she not only needs to retract and
clarify that statement, but make a clear and sincere apology to the different
communities that are affected and also the public,” he said in a statement
today.
He said he has written to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk
Seri Johari Abdul Ghani to table a motion under Standing Order 36(12), which
states that any member who represents statements to mislead the House is deemed
to be in contempt of the House and may be referred to the Committee of
Privileges for the offence.
The controversy first erupted last week when Dr
Halimah was debating the royal address.
“Do not let it come to the point that the B40 are
given food supplies of low quality that may expose them to cancer, autoimmune
disease and autism,” she said in the Dewan Rakyat on February 14.
B40 refers to the country’s bottom 40 per cent income
group.
Since then, Dr Halimah has claimed that her remarks
were misinterpreted but the storm has not yet abated, triggering another row in
the lower House between her and Hulu Langat MP MohdSanyHamzan from Amanah
yesterday.
Dr Yii also insisted that the Hansard and a video
recording of the House sitting that day clearly show Dr Halimah had made the
statement, adding that copies have been sent to the Speaker as evidence.
“Therefore, to ensure that each parliamentary is held
to the highest standard of accountability in our speech and deed, I urge the
Speaker to approve the motion that was submitted in the House to refer the
Member of Parliament Kapar to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges in
accordance with Parliamentary Standing Order 36(12),” he said.
Menu Rahmah was launched on January 31 by the Domestic
Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub.
Source:MalayMail
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Arab World
Israeli strikes on Syrian civilians amount to crime
against humanity: Top Hezbollah official
21 February 2023
The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement has
censured the latest Israel's deadly air strikes on earthquake-stricken Syria,
stating that the raids against civilian-populated neighborhoods in the capital
Damascus amount to a crime against humanity.
“The Israeli aggression against Syria and its
civilians is a crime against humanity; and deserves condemnation of the
international injustice and the American and European bias in favor of the
Zionist regime by covering up its crimes,” Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General
Sheikh NaimQassem wrote in a post published on his Twitter page.
The Israeli attack was launched from the occupied
Golan Heights early on Sunday days after a 7.8-magnitude deadly earthquake
struck Turkey and Syria, targeting several sites in Damascus, including the
southwestern residential neighborhood of KafarSousah.
At least five people, including a soldier, were killed
and 15 others wounded in the Israeli airstrikes. Many of the wounded are in
critical condition, and many residential homes in Damascus and its countryside
were damaged.
Syrian air defense units intercepted most missiles
before reaching the targets.
Meanwhile, Syria has urged the United Nations to take
necessary measures to deter Israel's attacks and hold it accountable for the
latest deadly missile attack on Damascus.
“When Syria was trying to heal its wounds, bury its
martyrs, and receive condolences, sympathy, and international humanitarian
support in the face of the devastating earthquake, the Israelis launched an air
aggression targeting civilian-populated neighborhoods,” the Syrian foreign
ministry said in a statement.
Israel frequently carries out missile attacks on
targets in Syria, mostly using the airspace of Lebanon or the occupied
territories.
The regime frequently violates Syrian sovereignty by
targeting military positions inside the country, especially those of the
Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement, which has played a key role in helping
the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.
Israel mostly keeps quiet about its attacks on the
Syrian territories, which many view as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian
government’s increasing success in confronting terrorism.
The Tel Aviv regime has been a main supporter of
terrorist groups that have battled the government of President Bashar al-Assad
since foreign-backed militancy erupted in Syria in early 2011.
Source: Press TV
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Expert at Saudi Media Forum highlights popularity of
Korean content in Middle East and beyond
February 21, 2023
RIYADH: South Korean media expert Si Hyang Lee
highlighted the global popularity of Korean content when he appeared at the
Saudi Media Forum on Monday, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Speaking during the opening day of the two-day event,
Lee, who is part of a policy-planning team for South Korean media channels,
said the industry in his country includes about 1,000 companies that produce
hundreds of films and TV series each year. While planning and making movies and
shows, Korean producers are thinking about how best to promote them around the
world, he added.
He also emphasized Korea’s successes in media
technology, noting for example that the country produces 60 percent of the
world’s video games.
“As we look at the future and Korean content, we focus
on the global market, particularly the Middle Eastern countries, where we are
widely popular,” Lee said.
“We also have a large market in the Gulf countries,
particularly Saudi Arabia, with whom we share very similar cultures.”
Source: Arab News
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Saudi Arabia signs $48.8 mln worth of projects for
quake-struck Syria and Turkey
20 February ,2023
Saudi Arabia has agreed on more than 183 million
riyals ($48.8 million) worth of projects to help Syria and Turkey after this
month’s devastating earthquakes, Saudi state TV reported on Monday.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Dubai government redeems $750 mln Islamic bond
20 February ,2023
The emirate of Dubai’s Public Debt Management Office
has redeemed $750 million worth of Islamic bonds, or sukuk, issued on Jan. 30,
2013, Dubai media office wrote on Twitter on Monday.
The government has also paid back early an additional
$300 million of sukuk due to mature in November 2026, the media office said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Dubai’s DIFC has about 60 hedge fund firms waiting to
be licensed: Governor
20 February ,2023
The Dubai International Financial center (DIFC) has
about 60 hedge fund firms, with north of a trillion dollars in assets under
management, waiting to be licensed, the governor of the emirate’s financial
freezone said on Monday.
The hedge fund industry is capitalizing on new rules
and regulations that have been developed to support the sector, which is one of
the sources of DIFC’s growth, Essa Kazim told reporters in a news conference.
“A few have already been licensed,” he added.
Millennium Management, ExodusPoint Capital Management
and BlueCrest established a presence in Dubai last year, just three of the many
funds attracted by lower licensing fees and capital requirements for the
industry.
The DIFC registered record breaking growth last year,
with the number of active companies in the Gulf’s financial hub up by a fifth
year on year to 4377, driven by fintech and innovation firms, Kazim said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Lebanon heading to oblivion: Head of economic, social
advisory body
NAJIA HOUSSARI
February 20, 2023
BEIRUT: Lebanon could be headed to oblivion, the head
of the country’s independent advisory body warned on Monday.
Charles Arbid, president of the Economic and Social
Council, told an emergency meeting at the headquarters of the General Labor
Union that with no savior on the horizon, the nation risked spiralling out of
control.
He said: “We fear that Lebanon as we know it is
changing under the leaders who could not care less about its fate.
“Many countries have been forgotten and left to their
fate. Poverty and violence prevailed after the world lost interest in them.”
The council, a product of the Taif Agreement, is
tasked with conveying the opinion of sectors involved in the formulation of
economic and social policies in Lebanon.
The meeting, titled “Save the homeland,” came as a
strike by Lebanese banks over judicial prosecutions against them and the
non-approval of the Capital Control Bill entered its third week.
Also, on Monday, the Lebanese pound dropped to 81,000
to the dollar. Central bank financial operations fell to $10 million per day as
the platform lost its influence on the currency market, specifically the black market.
A source in the Lebanese prime minister’s office told
Arab News: “Measures to resolve this impasse must be taken by the Ministry of
Justice and the Supreme Judicial Council. The prime minister cannot intervene,
even though he wishes he could since the issue is affecting Lebanon’s
stability.”
The Association of Banks in Lebanon said it would only
end its strike when judicial prosecutions carried out by Mount Lebanon Public
Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun stopped. And it urged the Supreme Judicial Council
to suspend prosecutions by some judges and block lawsuits against banks by
depositors.
The association has refused to be held fully
responsible for the country’s financial crisis.
Central bank governor, Riad Salameh, told Al-Qahera
News: “The black market in Lebanon is outside the control of the central bank,
which has become unable to solve crises because solutions require a concrete
national project.”
Meanwhile, The People Want to Reform the System — an
association to fight corruption — announced that judge Aoun had decided on
Monday to prosecute SocieteGenerale and its chairman, AntounSehnaoui, on
charges of money laundering, while freezing the bank’s funds. The judge was
acting based on a complaint submitted by the association.
The group said Aoun had referred the case to Nicolas
Mansour, the first investigative judge in the Mount Lebanon Court of Appeal,
requesting an inquiry and the issuance of necessary arrest warrants.
On Monday, the Parliamentary Bureau failed to set a
date for a legislative session to discuss and approve the Capital Control Bill.
Parliament’s Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said: “We
recognize the parliament’s right to legislate, as happened previously, but the
capital control draft, according to what was issued by the joint committees,
must be accompanied by a comprehensive plan.”
Dozens of MPs have refused to hold a legislative
session until a new president is elected.
MPs Melhem Khalaf and Najat Saliba have been staging a
parliament sit-in for more than a month in protest over the presidential
election stalemate.
Addressing their fellow MPs over Zoom, they urged them
to, “face those who are squabbling over the presidential election and delaying
it, in search for a president that serves their personal criteria.”
They said the situation violated the provisions of the
constitution and added: “It is a mass suicide; rather a deliberate killing and
extermination of an entire people.”
Tensions between the Free Patriotic Movement and
Hezbollah have intensified after FPM head GebranBassil on Sunday criticized
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah for his party’s support of Marada
Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency.
Source: Arab News
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Researcher warns Saudi Media Forum of potential
dangers of artificial intelligence
February 20, 2023
RIYADH: One of the greatest dangers posed by the
development and growing use of artificial intelligence in society is that it
diminishes the role of humans, according to Abdulrahman Al-Thabiti, a
researcher in public administration. To illustrate his point, he talked about
the detrimental effect AI could have on the job market.
His warning came at the Saudi Media Forum in Riyadh on
Monday, during a session titled “Media and the Ethical and Practical
Implications of Artificial Intelligence.” The discussion centered on the ways
in which AI might affect the ability of people to create and communicate.
Al-Thabiti, who is studying for a doctorate and is an
op-ed writer for the Jeddah-based Okaz newspaper, contrasted AI-generated
content with the creative and supervisory value that is provided by human
capabilities, arguing that AI systems lack transparency and accountability in
this regard.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2255006/saudi-arabia
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First graduates from Saudia In-Flight Chef program
celebrate in Jeddah
NADA HAMEED
February 20, 2023
JEDDAH: Saudia and the University of Prince Mugrin
celebrated the graduation of the first batch of students from the In-Flight
Chef program at the Saudia club hall in Jeddah.
The ceremony was attended by Bandar Hajjar, president
of Prince Mugrin University; Ibrahim Al-Omar, Saudia Group director general; as
well as elite Saudi chefs including Dareen Shaker, KhuloodOlaqi and Sama Jaad.
Media members, families and friends of the graduates were also present.
During the graduation ceremony, 35 qualified Saudi
in-flight chefs walked proudly toward the stage to cherish the momentum of
their achievement after succeeding in the one-year culinary journey.
Throughout the program, graduates were exposed to
international cuisines as they were instructed by a group of Saudi and global
professional chefs. Since they represent Saudi Airlines, they will have the
privilege to introduce Saudi passengers to many traditional dishes with a
twist.
The one-year program included six months of
theoretical training at UPM and two months of practical training at world
luxury hotels such as the Ritz Carlton and Hilton. The program concluded with
safety and security sessions at Prince Sultan Aviation Academy.
The 35 chefs officially graduated last December and
were immediately employed by Saudia as full-time in-flight chefs.
Prof. AbdulkareemAlalwani, vice president of UPM
Business Development, said in opening remarks: “This partnership aims to follow
the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, as the UPM aspires to achieve
excellence in qualitative applied education and innovative research as a
contribution to the advancement of society, and to meet the needs of the labor
market and to provide sustainable development.”
He added: “The university has provided this training
program that ends with employment in cooperation with Saudia Airlines and the
Human Resources Development Fund, which qualifies chefs who are passionate
learners.”
Ahmed Babtain, vice president of human resources at
Saudia, said: “The program is qualitatively designed, as it includes on-board
service methods, awareness of safety standards and protocols, and culinary and
hospitality industry skills.”
Babtain added that the aviation industry is witnessing
intense competition, and providing quality service on-board while maintaining
the highest standards has become a key point of difference between airlines.
“The program provides a competitive edge by delivering
an exceptional guest experience,” he added.
Saudi Flight Chef Supervisor Ihsan Khalawi told Arab
News that the first batch of graduates were carefully selected, and that they
“are a lot more than chefs.”
He added: “They are all very passionate about what
they do. It is what led them to this big step. Every one of them resamples a
talent as they have merged cooking with presenting, photography and social
media content creating.”
Chef Rawa Hanafi, one of four female graduates, said:
“I am speechless. I am so grateful to Saudia because they have given us a
chance to experience the true kitchen journey in the best and most professional
hotels.”
Becoming a chef requires patience, and tolerating and
accepting criticism is key, said graduate Turkey Badawi, 28, who holds a
bachelor’s degree in human resources management.
Badawi added: “It is my dream job to fly and cook.
This job combines what I love and wish for — my dream indeed came true.”
The graduates showed their support to family members
for supporting them during the program. Among the family members was Ayman
Najjar, a retired flight attendant who served in many positions with Saudia. He
said that it was time for his daughter to continue the path.
“It is an indescribable happiness to witness this day
where my daughter Mai had the chance to become a great chef and to work with
the same company I did.”
Mai said that the program helped her to become “very
creative” in culinary arts, adding that she was “very grateful” for her father
and husband for providing her with support.
Saudia employs more than 180 in-flight chefs. It has
also increased the percentage of Saudi employees from three to 22 percent.
Source: Arab News
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Qatar sends 3 additional planes of earthquake relief
to Türkiye
Hacer Baser
20.02.2023
Qatar has sent three additional aid planes to Türkiye
to help the victims of the twin powerful earthquakes two weeks ago, officials
said on Monday.
“To alleviate the sufferings of earthquake victims,
Qatar’s Emiri Air Force allocated additional 3 C-17 aircrafts to transfer 90
toilets and 25 generators,” the Turkish Embassy in Doha said on Twitter.
“We will never forget the solidarity of Qatar in this
challenging times,” it added.
In addition, humanitarian aid including emergency
supplies such as sleeping bags and winter tents, donated by Qatar Charity, was
also sent to Türkiye to be delivered to the earthquake victims, the embassy
also said.
Qatar has sent relief aid to Türkiye and Syria through
the air corridor created by Türkiye since the earthquakes hit the both
countries on Feb. 6.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on
Friday that Qatar's donations collected for Türkiye and Syria have reached
around 253 million Qatari riyals ($70 million).
Qatar also sent a search and rescue team to Türkiye
and delivered aid from other countries.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes were centered in
southern Türkiye's Kahramanmaras province on Feb. 6 and struck 10 other
provinces – Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Hatay, Gaziantep, Malatya, Kilis,
Osmaniye, Elazig, and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected
by the devastating quakes.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Mideast
Palestinian Imam, Sheikh Yousef Al-Baz, Who Condemned
Al-Aqsa Storming Hands Himself In For Israel Jail Sentence
20 February, 2023
A Palestinian imam convicted of attacking an Israeli
man in 2018 turned himself in Monday to serve a 16-month prison sentence at an
Israeli jail.
Sheikh Yousef Al-Baz, from Lod, a town within Israel's
1948 boundaries that has a significant Palestinian population, was convicted of
attacking an Israeli who blocked the entrance to his neighbourhood five years
ago.
Al-Baz and the Israeli filed police complaints against
each other; the Palestinian imam insists he was attacked first.
The town had seen violence between the town's Jewish
and Palestinian populations during a brutal Israeli assault on Gaza and
occupied Jerusalem in 2021.
The 64-year-old, who is the imam of the Al-Omari Grand
Mosque in Lod, spoke to The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site on his way
to a prison in the Negev (Naqab).
"This file is a continuation of the political
pursuit that was years before that file, the political prosecutions pursued by
Israel against any Palestinian activist who speaks about the Palestinian
cause," he told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Al-Baz was arrested in April 2022 for inciting
"disturbance of order" after he condemned the Israeli settler
stormings of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
He was placed under house arrest a few months later,
in September.
In December 2022, an Israeli court reduced his
sentence from 20 to 16 months and delayed the start of his jail sentence to 20
February.
Baz was a member of the Islamic Movement, part of
which was banned by Israel in 2015.
Source: The New Arab
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IAEA finds Iran’s uranium enriched to near ‘bomb-grade’,
say diplomats
February 21, 2023
VIENNA: The UN nuclear watchdog has found uranium
enriched to 84 per cent in Iran — very close to weapons grade — diplomats said
on Monday, while the watchdog said that it was in talks with Tehran about
recent findings there.
Iran has denied reports that it has enriched uranium
to 84pc purity. “So far, we have not made any attempt to enrich above 60pc. The
presence of particles above 60pc enrichment does not mean production with an
enrichment above 60pc,” the spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy
Organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, said, according to the official IRNA News
agency.
Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that UN nuclear
watchdog monitors had last week detected uranium enriched at 84pc.
Kamalvandi called the report “slanderous” and said it
distorted facts.
Tehran terms claim ‘slanderous, distortion of facts’
Iran has been enriching uranium to up to 60pc purity
since April 2021. Three months ago, it started enriching to 60pc at a second
site, Fordow, which is dug into a mountain. Weapons grade is around 90pc.
Two diplomats told Reuters that the International
Atomic Energy Agency, which inspects Iran’s nuclear facilities, had detected
uranium enriched to 84pc, confirming an initial report late on Sunday by Bloomberg
News.
“The issue is whether it was a blip in the
reconfigured cascades or deliberate. The agency has asked Iran for an
explanation,” one of the diplomats said.
Earlier this month, the IAEA criticised Iran for
failing to inform it of a “substantial” change to the interconnections between
the two cascades, or clusters, of centrifuges enriching uranium to up to 60pc
at Fordow. Several diplomats said the change meant Iran could quickly switch to
a higher enrichment level.
Those rearranged cascades are the ones the first
diplomat was referring to.
The United States in 2018 pulled out of the 2015
nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that had lifted sanctions against
Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities.
Iran responded to the re-imposition of US sanctions by
breaching those restrictions and going well beyond them, to the point that IAEA
chief Rafael Grossi has said the deal is now an “empty shell”.
Source: Dawn
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Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu advances judicial changes
despite uproar
February 20, 2023
TEL AVIV, Israel: Israel’s government on Monday was
pressing ahead with a contentious plan to overhaul the country’s legal system,
despite an unprecedented uproar that has included mass protests, warnings from
military and business leaders and calls for restraint by the United States.
Thousands of demonstrators were expected to gather
outside the parliament, or Knesset, for a second straight week to rally against
the plan as lawmakers prepared to hold an initial vote.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies, a
collection of ultra-religious and ultranationalist lawmakers, say the plan is
meant to fix a system that has given the courts and government legal advisers
too much say in how legislation is crafted and decisions are made. Critics say
it will upend the country’s system of checks and balances and concentrate power
in the hands of the prime minister. They also say that Netanyahu, who is on
trial for a series of corruption charges, has a conflict of interest.
The standoff has plunged Israel into one of its
greatest domestic crises, sharpening a divide between Israelis over the
character of their state and the values they believe should guide it.
Monday’s vote on part of the legislation is just the
first of three readings required for parliamentary approval. While that process
is expected to take months, the vote is a sign of the coalition’s determination
to barrel ahead and seen by many as an act of bad faith.
Israel’s figurehead president has urged the government
to freeze the legislation and seek a compromise with the opposition. Leaders in
the booming tech sector have warned that weakening the judiciary could drive
away investors. Tens of thousands of Israelis have been protesting in Tel Aviv
and other cities each week.
Last week, some 100,000 people demonstrated outside
the Knesset as a committee granted initial approval to the plan. It was the
largest protest in the city in years.
The overhaul has prompted otherwise stoic former
security chiefs to speak out, and even warn of civil war. In a sign of the
rising emotions, a group of army veterans in their 60s and 70s stole a
decommissioned tank from a war memorial site and draped it with Israel’s
declaration of independence before being stopped by police.
The plan has even sparked rare warnings from the US,
Israel’s chief international ally.
US Ambassador Tom Nides told a podcast over the
weekend that Israel should “pump the brakes” on the legislation and seek a
consensus on reform that would protect Israel’s democratic institutions.
His comments drew angry responses from Netanyahu
allies, telling Nides to stay out of Israel’s internal affairs.
Speaking to his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu dismissed
suggestions that Israel’s democracy was under threat. “Israel was and will
remain a strong and vibrant democracy,” he said.
While Israel has long boasted of its democratic
credentials, critics say that claim is tainted by the country’s West Bank
occupation and the treatment of its own Palestinian minority.
Israel’s Palestinian citizens — a minority that has
the most to lose by the legal overhaul — have largely sat out the protests, in
part because of discrimination they suffer at home and because of Israel’s
55-year military occupation over their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank.
Jewish settlers in the West Bank can vote in Israeli elections and are
generally protected by Israeli laws, while Palestinians in the same territory
are subject to military rule and cannot vote.
Monday’s parliamentary votes seek to grant the
government more power over who becomes a judge. Today, a selection committee is
made up of politicians, judges and lawyers — a system that proponents say
promotes consensus.
The new system would give coalition lawmakers control
over the appointments. Critics fear that judges will be appointed based on
their loyalty to the government or prime minister.
“This is dramatic,” said Yaniv Roznai, co-director of
the Rubinstein Center for Constitutional Challenges at Reichman University
north of Tel Aviv. “If you take control of the court, then it’s all over. You
can make any change you want.”
A second change would bar the Supreme Court from
overturning what are known as “basic laws,” pieces of legislation that stand in
for a constitution, which Israel does not have. Critics say that legislators
will be able to dub any law a basic law, removing judicial oversight over
controversial legislation.
Also planned are proposals that would give parliament
the power to overturn Supreme Court rulings and control the appointment of
government legal advisers. The advisers currently are professional civil
servants, and critics say the new system would politicize government
ministries.
Critics also fear the overhaul will grant Netanyahu an
escape route from his legal woes. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing and says he is
the victim of a biased judicial system on a witch hunt against him.
Israel’s attorney general has barred Netanyahu from
any involvement in the overhaul, saying his legal troubles create a conflict of
interest. Instead, his justice minister, a close confidant, is leading the
charge. On Sunday, Netanyahu called the restrictions on him “patently
ridiculous.”
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2254416/middle-east
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Statement by UN Security Council keeps Israel
isolated, says Palestinian envoy to UN
DAOUD KUTTAB
February 20, 2023
AMMAN: The permanent representative of the state of
Palestine at the UN, Riyad Mansour, told Arab News on Monday that his team has
been working for some time with members of the UN Security Council, and that
the council’s latest statement about the actions of Israeli authorities had
been made from a position of responsibility.
His comments came as the council issued a formal
statement denouncing Israeli plans to expand settlements on occupied
Palestinian territory. It is the first time in six years that the US, a
permanent member of the Security Council with the power of veto, has allowed
the body to adopt such a clear stance against Israel.
The UAE, which holds the presidency of the Security
Council this month, worked closely with the Palestinian delegation in drafting
the text of a resolution and the presidential statement.
“We agreed that a strong presidential statement that
has the approval of the US delegation to the Security Council, that will have
the same text as a resolution, will keep the international community, including
Americans, on our side and will help us to keep Israel in isolation,” said
Mansour.
As a result of its diplomatic efforts, the Palestinian
delegation has received assurances from the US that Israel has suspended its
settlement activities, along with demolitions and incursions into major
Palestinian cities, and will transfer funds to the Palestinian government from
the taxes Israel collects on its behalf.
The agreement to a statement avoided the prospect of
the US vetoing a strong resolution, submitted by the UAE, that was formulated
in cooperation with the Palestinian delegation.
In 2016, under the Obama/Biden administration, the US
refrained from vetoing Resolution 1344, which opposed Israeli settlement
activities but without any provisions for a mechanism that would allow punitive
sanctions to be imposed.
Source: Arab News
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In rare admission, Yemen’s Houthis confirm they
released Al-Qaeda terrorists
SAEED AL-BATATI
February 20, 2023
AL-MUKALLA: The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have
admitted trading Al-Qaeda prisoners for their own captured fighters. It was a rare
admission by the group, which has long denied freeing militants.
It came a day after Rashad Al-Alimi, the chairman of
Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, accused the Houthis of releasing
Al-Qaeda militants, arming them and sending them to attack Yemeni government
troops.
Abdulkader Al-Murtada, head of the Houthis’ prisoner
exchange committee, said on Sunday that they traded two Al-Qaeda terrorists,
purportedly captured on the battlefields of Al-Bayda province, for three of the
militia’s fighters.
The previous day, Al-Qaeda said it had exchanged two
Houthis for two of its militants, identified by their jihadist names Al-Qaqa
Al-Bayhani and Muwahid Al-Baydani, according to SITE Intelligence Group, an
American organization that monitors Al-Qaeda statements.
Observers of the conflict in Yemen believe that the
Houthis, who usually keep their prisoner exchanges with Al-Qaeda secret, were
compelled to acknowledge this one after a third party revealed the details.
Ali Al-Fakih, the editor of Al-Masdar Online, told
Arab News that the Houthis attempted to legitimize the exchange by claiming
that Al-Qaeda is a belligerent party supporting the Yemeni government.
“This is one of the most secret Houthi files,” said
Al-Fakih.
Similar deals have happened previously, he added, but
it seems a middleman disclosed information about this latest one. The Houthis
therefore reluctantly confirmed the prisoner swap but attempted to make it seem
like it was with with a recognized entity that supports “aggression,” he said.
President Al-Alimi, speaking at the Munich Security
Conference on Saturday, said the Houthis have not only released Al-Qaeda and
Daesh prisoners held by Yemeni security agencies on terrorism charges but have
armed them and sent them to attack military and security targets in
government-controlled areas. He added that the Yemeni government has informed
security forces in neighboring countries, and the wider international
community, about the Houthi collusion with Al-Qaeda.
“There is known collaboration between Houthi
terrorists, Al-Qaeda and Daesh,” Al-Alimi said. “They freed all Daesh and
Al-Qaeda inmates and convicts, provided them with weapons and equipment, and
sent them to regions controlled by the legitimate government to carry out
terrorist operations.”
The Houthi acknowledgment of the prisoner exchange
came days after Al-Qaeda in Yemen confirmed the deaths of Hussein Hadboul, also
known as Hassan Al-Hadrami, and his brother Muhed in a US drone attack in
Yemen’s central Marib province.
The group seemed to be referring to a US drone attack
on a vehicle on Jan. 30 that killed three Al-Qaeda terrorists.
Yemeni security officials and terrorist experts
identified Hadboul as an Al-Qaeda bomb-maker, responsible for the manufacture
of improvised explosive devices that had killed a number of Yemeni security and
military personnel.
A local security officer in the southeastern Hadramout
region told Arab News Hadboul came to their attention some years ago when a
woman was caught while attempting to plant an explosive device at a security
facility in the southern port city of Sheher.
After questioning the woman and tracking the
explosives used in the bomb, authorities determined that Hadboul assembled
devices in Marib and smuggled them into Hadramout using women, who are not
searched at security checkpoints.
“This is a key Al-Qaeda bomb-maker who manufactured
several explosive devices and smuggled them to Hadramout, using women, for use
in terrorist strikes,” said the security official, who asked not to be named.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2254936/middle-east
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Palestinian president under fire for ‘backing down’
over contentious UN Security Council resolution
MOHAMMED NAJIB
February 20, 2023
RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Authority has been
criticized after the US managed to forestall a contentious UN Security Council
resolution that would have condemned Israel for settlement expansion and
demanded a halt to future activity.
Palestinian political opposition parties accused the
authority and President Mahmoud Abbas of wasting an opportunity to embarrass
the Israelis for their occupation on the world stage.
Ahmed Guneim, a prominent Fatah leader from
Jerusalem, told Arab News:
“Unfortunately, we did not learn from our previous mistakes, and we still
believe the American promises.”
Palestinians have been pushing for a vote on a
resolution condemning the settlements after Israel announced the legalization
of nine outposts in the West Bank and approved the planning and construction of
10,000 new housing units in existing areas.
There is anger and frustration among Palestinians as
they believe the authority has bowed to US pressure and backed away from its
request for a vote in the Security Council against the settlements.
Some commentators accuse Abbas of being the victim of
American “political tricks in exchange for fake promises.”
They believe the Palestinian president has wasted an
opportunity to inflict global embarrassment on Israel.
Israeli and US officials said the Palestinian
Authority had agreed to suspend its efforts to press for a Security Council
vote on settlements in the occupied West Bank following US pressure and
mediation.
Nasser Al-Kidwa, former representative of the
Palestine Liberation Organization at the UN, told Arab News: “This step will
weaken Palestinian foreign diplomacy.
“Next time we will not find a country that votes on
our side because of the lack of clarity in our political strategy and the state
of confusion that governs individual Palestinian diplomatic work.”
Israel has said it will rein in the approval of new
West Bank settlement outposts, but Al-Kidwa said thousands of units that had
received prior approval were likely to be built.
Diplomats and observers said the US was concerned that
any confrontation at the UN — even if it ended in a veto — would have led to
further escalation in issues between Israelis and Palestinians ahead of the
sensitive Passover and Ramadan periods.
However, Palestinian officials said that the US would
support a presidential statement by the Security Council which condemned
Israeli settlements.
Palestinian political activist Amer Hamdan told Arab
News: “What the Palestinian Authority has done is a kind of bargaining over
Palestinian political interests in exchange for economic interests, bearing in
mind that Israel always promises the Palestinian people a lot and gives
nothing.”
He questioned whether the authority had the right to
decide the matter on behalf of the Palestinians, without consulting them first.
He added: “Has the Palestinian cause become a subject
of bargaining in exchange for economic facilities?”
Guneim claimed that the US “sells illusion to the
Palestinian Authority and gives Israel a cover for its aggressive policies
toward the Palestinians.”
BassimNaiem, a Hamas political department spokesperson
in Gaza, said in a statement that the Palestinian Authority’s leadership was
once again playing the same frivolous game of “selling the illusion” by
yielding to US pressure.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2254926/middle-east
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Iran Blames MSC's Organizers for Inviting Deposed Dictator's Son
2023-February-20
"This is a big scandal for a conference that
claims to support international order and security. Inviting such people is
interfering in the internal affairs of a country that has played an important
role in the security of the region and Europe," Kan'ani told reporters in
his weekly news briefing on Monday.
The diplomat noted that Tehran sees the MSC's action
in inviting notorious and discredited figures as an insult to the Iranian
people, underlining that the decision has also caused the event to lose its
international prestige.
"The Munich Security Conference was held in the
name of security but for warmongering. The security conference should, as a
rule, give an equal opportunity to all members of the international community
to express their assessments regarding security issues," he underscored.
"The fact that Iran and Russia were not invited
means that the opportunity to propose different and multilateral views on
international order and security is lost and the platform is given to one side
that seeks to consolidate unilateralism," the spokesman highlighted.
He criticized the organizers for making a grave
mistake that prevented others from expressing views that differed from the US
government.
"This year, the German government gave the
opportunity to warmongers and the US government as well as American hardliners
to express their opinions at the conference," the spokeperson said,
expressing hope that Berlin will make up for this mistake next year and restore
the lost prestige of the summit.
The reamrks came after Iran deplored French President
Emmanuel Macron for meeting an anti-Tehran individual at the SCO. Tehran has
decried the organizers of the MSC for ignoring the Iranian nation’s support for
the Islamic Revolution and inviting a number of anti-Iranian "clowns"
who have no identity to the summit.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Netanyahu blasts UN settlements censure as denying
Jews’ ‘historic’ rights, slams US
21 February ,2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decried on Monday
the UN Security Council statement which strongly opposed Israel’s continued
expansion of settlement activities, considering it equivalent to denying Jews’
“historic” rights, and faulting the US for supporting it.
The UNSC presidential statement, agreed by consensus
of all 15 member countries, strongly opposed all of Israel’s construction and
expansion of settlements on occupied Palestinian territories.
It also opposed “confiscation of Palestinians’ land,
and the ‘legalization’ of settlement outposts, demolition of Palestinians’
homes and displacement of Palestinian civilians.”
Netanyahu’s office issued a severe statement saying
that the UNSC statement was “one-sided” and that it “denies the rights of Jews
to live in our historic homeland.”
He went on to say the UNSC “fails to mention the
Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem in which 10 Israeli civilians were
murdered, ignores the Palestinian Authority’s grotesque pay-for-slay policy,
which subsidizes the murder of Jews, and belittles the evil of antisemitism,
which has resulted in the slaughter of millions.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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UNSC dismayed by Israel settlement plan, stresses
upholding al-Aqsa status quo
20 February ,2023
The United Nations Security Council expressed on
Monday “deep concern and dismay” with Israel’s last week announcement of
further construction and expansion of settlements on occupied Palestinian
territories.
“The Security Council reiterates that continuing
Israeli settlements activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the
two-state solution based on the 1967 lines,” said the UNSC presidential
statement agreed by consensus of all 15 members.
It added that the UNSC “strongly opposes all
unilateral measures that impede peace, including, inter alia, Israeli construction
and expansion of settlements, confiscation of Palestinians’ land, and the
‘legalization’ of settlement outposts, demolition of Palestinians’ homes and
displacement of Palestinian civilians.”
This comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
government recently authorized Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and
a week prior to that announced plans to construct new homes in already
established settlements. The settlement activities included evictions and
demolitions of Palestinians’ homes.
Holy site in Jerusalem
The UNSC also called for “upholding unchanged the
historic status quo at the holy sites in Jerusalem in word and in practice,”
and emphasized the special role of Jordan in this regard.
This is in light of last month’s controversial visit
of Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, to Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa
Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam and the most sacred site for Jews, who
refer to it as the Temple Mount.
The visit enraged Palestinians and caused an uproar
amongst Arab leaders who condemned the incursion and demanded Netanyahu’s
government respect the status quo of al-Aqasa Mosque and respect Jordan’s role
as the custodian of Muslin holy sites in Jerusalem.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Israel tells US it won’t authorize new settlements in
coming months
20 February ,2023
Israel will not authorize new settlements in the
occupied West Bank in the coming months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
office said on Monday, after behind-the-scenes talks to head off a planned UN
Security Council vote on the contested issue.
Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition on Feb. 12
granted retroactive authorization to nine settler outposts that had been
erected without government approval, angering the Palestinians, who want the
West Bank for a future state.
The move also drew condemnation from Western powers
and Israel’s Arab partners, who deem all the settlements illegal.
But the United Arab Emirates told the UN Security
Council it would not call a vote on Monday on a draft resolution against the
settlements. Citing “positive talks between the partners,” UAE said the council
would instead issue a unanimous statement.
A Security Council vote might have tested Washington’s
willingness to cast a veto on behalf of Israel after publicly warning its
Middle East ally not to authorize new settlements.
Israel has sponsored some 140 settlements in the West
Bank, which it sees as a historical birthright and a security bulwark, while
dismantling or turning a blind eye to dozens of outposts.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Israel parliament gives initial approval to judicial
reform bill
February 21, 2023
JERUSALEM: The Israeli parliament backed a key part of
a controversial judicial overhaul at first reading Tuesday despite protests
across the country against a bill critics see as a threat to democracy.
Lawmakers vote 63 to 47 to give more weight to the
government in the committee that selects judges, and to deny courts the right
to rule on legislation they deem in conflict with so-called Basic Laws,
Israel’s quasi constitution.
Tens of thousands had protested on the streets of
Jerusalem Monday against the anticipated vote. Inside parliament, opposition
lawmakers disrupted the debate with shouts of “shame,” and were temporarily
removed.
The bill will now return to the law committee for more
debate, ahead of its second and third readings in the plenum before it becomes
law.
“From now on, the court will belong to everyone,”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin said after the bill passed its first reading,
calling on members of the opposition to “come and talk.”
“We can reach understandings,” Levin said.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid accused the coalition of
pushing Israel toward civil war, saying if “you care about Israel and its
people” then “you’ll halt legislation today.”
President Isaac Herzog has been trying to bring the
sides together for talks on the reform with no success.
The sweeping judicial reform is a cornerstone of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration, an alliance with ultra-Orthodox
and extreme-right parties which took office in late December.
Another element of it would give parliament the power
to overrule Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority of 61 votes in the
120-member parliament.
The premier presents the overhaul as key to restoring
balance between the branches of government, arguing judges currently have too
much power over elected officials.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2255046/middle-east
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Africa
At least 51 soldiers killed in north Burkina Faso
Aurore Bonny
21.02.2023
DOUALA, Cameroon
The bodies of at least 51 soldiers who were killed
when their unit was ambushed last week in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso were
found Monday during combing operations, said the army.
"At the end of the day on Monday 20 February, 43
bodies were found, bringing the provisional toll to 51 fallen soldiers,"
the army's communication and public relations department said in a statement.
It was the second "provisional" death toll
announced during the same day by the security authorities of the West African
country and follows an ambush that targeted a military unit between Deou and
Oursi in Oudalan province in the Sahel region Friday.
The previous assessment of the sweep operations
published in the morning reported that eight soldiers were found dead, three
wounded, several missing and about 60 terrorists killed.
Subsequently, "an intensification of air actions
allowed the neutralization of a hundred terrorists," the source reported.
He said the military mobilization has led to
"important victories in recent weeks" against the terrorism that has
plagued the country since 2015.
Terrorist attacks that result in the deaths of dozens
of military personnel are not unheard of.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/at-least-51-soldiers-killed-in-north-burkina-faso/2826301
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African Union organizing Libyan national reconciliation
conference: AU chief
James Tasamba
20.02.2023
The African Union is organizing a national
reconciliation conference on Libya, the AU Commission chairperson said Sunday,
in the latest effort to break the political stalemate and restore stability in
the country.
Speaking after the closure of the two-day AU summit in
Ethiopia, Moussa Faki Mahamat said a preparatory meeting for the reconciliation
conference was recently held in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
“We have met the different parties and we are working
with them on the date and place of the national conference, which will be held
under the chairmanship of the high-level committee of the African Union chaired
by the Republic of Congo head of state Denis Sassou Nguesso,” Mahamat told
reporters.
Mahamat’s announcement followed a meeting of the
African Union High-Level Committee on Libya.
President Nguesso, who heads the committee, presented
his report to AU leaders, who adopted the idea of organizing an inclusive
national reconciliation conference. Nguesso said he is “optimistic about the
peace process.”
Oil-rich Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011 when
longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after four decades in power.
The situation has worsened since last year when the
Libyan parliament appointed a new government led by former Interior Minister
FathiBashagha. But the head of the Tripoli-based government, Abdul Hamid
Dbeibeh, said he will cede authority only to a government that comes through an
"elected parliament," raising fears that Libya could slip back into a
civil war.
Presidential and parliamentary elections initially
scheduled for December 2021 were postponed indefinitely due to disagreements on
candidates and the rules to be followed.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said
the absence of elections worsens economic insecurity, heightens political
instability, risks renewed conflict, and raises the specter of partition in
Libya.
The UN has “no agenda and no goal but one: to secure
the right of the Libyan people to live in peace, to vote in free and fair
elections, and to share in the prosperity of their country,” he told the
African Union High-Level Committee on Libya in Ethiopia.
“There is no alternative to elections. They remain the
only credible pathway to legitimate, unified governance.”
Guterres called for the complete withdrawal of foreign
fighters and mercenaries that intervened in Libya following the outbreak of
violence over power.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Hamas resistance movement hails African Union's
decision to suspend Israel's observer status
20 February 2023
The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has praised
a decision by the African Union to suspend Israel's observer status at the
55-nation bloc after the regime delegation was expelled from the opening
ceremony of the organization's summit in Ethiopia.
Hamas, in a statement released on Monday, highly
appreciated the AU member states’ stances, especially those of Algeria and
South Africa, calling for concerted efforts in order to push the occupying Tel
Aviv regime away from the continent.
“We urge the international community and the United
Nations to criminalize the Israeli crimes and recurrent violations against
Palestinian people, their territories and sacred places. We call on them to
support Palestinians’ freedom struggle until they enjoy their legitimate rights
and establish a fully sovereign Palestinian state with al-Quds as its capital,”
the statement also read.
The news about suspension of Israel’s observer status
at the AU came after Israeli ambassador Sharon Bar-li was removed from the
African Union’s annual summit in addisababa on Saturday as she attempted to
attend using a non-transferable invitation issued only to Israel’s ambassador
to the African Union, AleliAdmasu. Israel was therefore not invited to the AU's
weekend summit.
Video circulating on social media showed guards
escorting Bar-li out of the AU assembly hall in the Ethiopian capital city of
Addis Ababa.
Back in early February last year, the African Union
suspended a debate on whether to grant Israel an observer status at the
continental body, avoiding a vote that risked creating an unprecedented rift in
the regional bloc.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh at the
time urged African leaders to withdraw the accreditation, saying Israel should
“never be rewarded for its violation and for the apartheid regime it does
impose on Palestinian people.”
The AU’s chairman, MackySall, told reporters at the
end of the two-day summit back then that there was an agreement to postpone the
vote.
Israel was granted observer status in the African
Union in July 2021. The accreditation drew a sharp rebuke from powerful members
of the AU, including South Africa and Algeria, which argued that it
contradicted AU statements supporting the occupied Palestinian territories.
Source: Press TV
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APC Muslim-Muslim ticket doesn’t matter, Tinubu God’s
willl – Umahi
February 20, 2023
By Wale Odunsi
Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi has faulted
opponents of the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Former Lagos State Governor, Bola Tinubu and Senator
KashimShettima, the presidential and vice presidential candidates of the ruling
APC practice Islam.
Umahi advised Nigerians not to be deceived by the
Muslim/Muslim ticket because God is for Christians and Muslims.
“I don’t know what God wants to do with him but he is
set to answer the prayers of his people,” he noted.
The governor spoke to reporters on Monday while
inspecting the ongoing work at the Ebonyi International Airport, Onueke.
Umahi said there is a Christian/Christian ticket in
Ebonyi and in other states where there are Muslim/Christian, or
Christian/Muslim tickets.
On issues within the party, the Ebonyi helmsman
described them as normal, adding that the APC will win overwhelmingly in the
elections.
Source: DailyPost Nigeria
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https://dailypost.ng/2023/02/20/apc-muslim-muslim-ticket-doesnt-matter-tinubu-gods-willl-umahi/
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Tunisia’s Ennahdha leader faces new police probe
February 20, 2023
TUNIS: The head of Tunisia’s dissolved parliament is
facing a new police inquiry, his Ennahdha party said on Monday, days after a
string of arrests mainly targeting opposition political figures.
Rached Ghannouchi, President Kais Saied’s 81-year-old
rival, was ordered to appear at a police station in the capital on Tuesday,
Ennahdha spokesman ImedKhemiri told journalists, calling it “a new attack on
political leaders.”
Khemiri said the party “does not know the reasons for
this summons, but it is part of an enquiry after a complaint was lodged by an
unknown person.”
A party official said the complaint came from a member
of Tunisia’s powerful police unions, who “claimed to have a recording of a
telephone call” involving Ghannouchi.
The latest in a string of legal woes facing Ghannouchi
comes a year and a half after Saied launched dramatic measures, freezing and
later scrapping the legislature Ghannouchi headed.
Several prominent critics have since faced trial in
military courts.
Many of the enquiries have targeted Ennahdha, which
has been a major political force in Tunisia’s parliament and most governments
since the 2011 revolution.
Ghannouchi was questioned by an anti-terror judge in
November over alleged involvement in helping Tunisians traveling to fight for
terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria.
Prior to that he was interrogated over alleged money
laundering in relation to foreign donations for an Ennahdha-linked charity.
Zeineb Brahmi, the party’s legal chief, quipped that
“we don’t know whether the investigation this time will be over plotting
against state security, financial corruption or terrorism.”
Khemiri accused authorities of “harassing” Saied’s
rivals saying it had become “very easy” for authorities to prosecute
politicians.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2254956/middle-east
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North America
Blinken reaffirms US pledge to deliver F-16 fighters
to Turkiye
February 21, 2023
ANKARA: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday
underlined Washington’s commitment to delivering F-16 jets to Turkiye as he
wrapped up a visit during which he pledged solidarity with the earthquake-hit
country.
It was Blinken’s first visit to Turkiye as secretary
of state in a trip that was planned before a 7.8-magnitude earthquake on
February 6, which has now killed nearly 45,000 people in Turkiye and Syria.
Relations between the United States and Turkiye have
been strained in recent years, but Washington has found Ankara helpful for its
mediatory role between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow’s invasion last year.
On Monday, Blinken held talks with President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, during which they discussed Ukraine and “the need to work more
closely” on issues including defence, energy and collective security, State
Department spokesman Ned Price said.
One of the main issues on the agenda of the visit has
been Turkiye’s desire to buy modernised versions of F-16 fighter jets for its
ageing air force.
The US Congress is blocking the sale due to concerns
over Turkiye’s human rights record and threats to Greece.
“The Biden administration strongly supports the
package to both upgrade the existing F-16s and to provide new ones,” Blinken
told a press conference in Ankara. But he added that he could not provide a
“formal timeline” for approval and delivery.
Nato applications
The other main issue discussed during Blinken’s visit
is Turkiye’s refusal to ratify Sweden and Finland’s Nato membership
applications.
Finland and Sweden dropped decades of military
non-alignment and applied to join the US-led defence alliance last year in
response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ankara has criticised Sweden’s refusal to extradite
dozens of suspects that Turkiye links to outlawed Kurdish militants and a
failed 2016 coup.
On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
said no conditions should be applied to the F-16 jets approval.
“It would not be right to make Sweden and Finland’s
Nato membership a condition for the F-16s. They are two different issues,” he
said. “Our hands should not be tied.” Turkiye has signalled it is ready to
accept Finland into Nato, but Cavusoglu said Kurdish militants continued “all
kinds of activities including recruitment, terrorist propaganda” in Sweden.
But the Turkish minister said suspended talks on their
membership would resume in Brussels “in the near future”, in comments welcomed
by Stockholm.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told
journalists in Brussels that Sweden was ready for talks, adding “this is a
welcome and good announcement from Turkiye”.
Blinken said the United States “strongly” supported
Finland and Sweden’s admission into Nato “as quickly as possible”. “Finland and
Sweden have already taken concrete steps” to address Turkiye’s concerns, he
said.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1738303/blinken-reaffirms-us-pledge-to-deliver-f-16-fighters-to-turkiye
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US State Secretary Blinken urges speedy Nordics
accession to NATO
20 February ,2023
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday
Washington strongly supports Sweden and Finland’s quick NATO accession given
steps they have already taken, even as his Turkish counterpart stressed the
need for more concrete action.
The Nordic countries’ NATO bids have been stalled
because Turkey has refused to ratify them, saying Stockholm in particular has
harbored what it calls members of terrorist groups. Ankara recently indicated
it would approve only Finland.
“Finland and Sweden have already taken concrete steps
to fulfil the commitments that they met under the trilateral memorandum of
agreement that they signed," Blinken said, adding that the United States
strongly supported their accession into the alliance "as quickly as
possible."
He reiterated that NATO’s Nordic expansion issue is
not a bilateral one with Turkey.
But Cavusoglu, alongside Blinken, said all parties in
the alliance must convince Sweden in particular to take more action to address
Ankara’s concerns and win its support for the bid.
When asked if Ankara would approve their accession by
a NATO summit set to take place in Lithuania in July, a gathering by which the
Western countries are hoping the expansion can be completed, Cavusoglu said
Stockholm needed to do more.
“Sweden made a law change, but we see that every kind
of activity, including terrorism financing, recruitment and propaganda, is
continuing in Sweden,” he said.
“If they take steps that convince our parliament and
people, there could be a development in this direction,” he added.
Sweden and Finland applied last year to join the
trans-Atlantic defense pact after Russia invaded Ukraine but faced unexpected
objections from Turkey.
Ankara wants Helsinki and Stockholm in particular to
take a tougher line against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is
considered a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies, and another
group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
Source: Al Arabiya
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US says it will continue to extend its 'full support'
after 2 more quakes hit Türkiye
Rabia İclalTuran
21.02.2023
WASHINGTON
The US is “deeply concerned” after two more
earthquakes jolted Türkiye’s southernmost province of Hatay, the White House
said Monday, promising that it would continue to offer its full support.
“We are deeply concerned by the news of earthquakes
impacting areas already devastated in Türkiye and Syria,” National Security
Advisor Jake Sullivan wrote on Twitter.
“The U.S. will continue to extend our full support,”
he added.
Two earthquakes jolted Hatay province Monday, just two
weeks after major quakes hit the region, the country’s disaster management
agency said.
According to the Disaster and Emergency Management
Presidency (AFAD), one of the quakes took place around 8.04 p.m. local time
(1704GMT) in Defne district with a magnitude of 6.4, while the other one, with
a magnitude of 5.8, took place three minutes later, with the epicenter in
Samandag district.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Türkiye urges US to lift sanctions in defence industry
field
MerveAydogan
20.02.2023
The bilateral trade volume between Türkiye and the US
is increasingly continuing, the Turkish foreign minister said on Monday, urging
to lift sanctions against Ankara in the defense industry field.
In a joint news conference with US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Mevlut Cavusoglu said
finalizing the F-16 fighter jet sale deal is beneficial for both sides.
He noted that the fight against terrorism is a
priority item on the mutual agenda, and further urged to have more effective
cooperation and collaboration in the field of security.
Asked about Türkiye's position on the US support to
YPG/PKK terrorist organization in Syria, Cavusoglu said Türkiye believes that
cooperating with terror groups against another one is a "deadly
mistake" and that the PKK/YPG terror group is not fighting the Daesh/ISIS
terror group.
Cavusoglu called on his US counterpart to fight
against any kind of terrorism and terror group together.
Citing the October 2019 deal signed between Ankara and
Washington, Cavusoglu said the US must fulfill its responsibilities arising
from the deal.
Ankara and Washington reached a deal in October 2019
to pause Türkiye's Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria for 120 hours to
allow the withdrawal of YPG/PKK terrorists from a planned safe zone, but
Türkiye said the US did not fulfill its promises.
Asked about bilateral ties, Cavusoglu said the two
countries should not wait for another disaster to improve ties and urged to
take concrete and sincere steps to improve the Türkiye-US relations.
For his part, Blinken expressed his country's
commitment to providing support to earthquake-hit Türkiye.
"We stand side by side in confronting common
security challenges," Blinken said as he hailed Türkiye's role in
supporting Ukraine.
On the F-16 deal, Blinken said it is the
"national interest and security interest" for the Biden
administration to both upgrade existing F-16s and provide new ones to Türkiye.
Blinken also responded to the question on the US
support to the terrorist YPG/PKK in Syria and said his country "very much
recognizes" Türkiye's legitimate security concerns on its southern border.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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