Muslim Quota Part Of Agenda To Push Country Towards “Islamisation and Division”: UP CM
New Age Islam News Bureau
26 April 2024
UP CM Yogi Adityanath
-----
·
Muslim
Quota Part Of Agenda To Push Country Towards “Islamisation and Division”: UP CM
·
Terror
Commander Masood Azhar Resurfaces To Launch Celeb-Style ‘Ask Me Anything’
Online Service
·
Sudan’s Civil
War Is Rooted In Its Historical Favouritism Of Arab And Islamic Identity
·
Canadian
Lawmaker Banned From Provincial Legislature For Wearing Keffiyeh
·
Unique
‘Excalibur’ Sword Found Upright in Ground Unearthed in Spain Holds Islamic
Origins
-----
India
·
Pakistani
Hindus In Rajasthan Who Missed CAA Cut-Off Stare At Uncertain Future
·
BJP Intensifies
'Muslim Quota' Attack On Congress, Cites Manmohan Singh's 2019 Remarks
·
Congress Reminds
Narendra Modi Of Ally Deve Gowda Genesis To ‘Muslim Quota’ Row
·
Congress
wanting to give quota meant for SCs, OBCs to Muslims: BJP Prez Nadda
·
Polytechnic
College Student On Way To Offer Namaz Attacked In Telangana
·
Uttarakhand:
Muslim Vendor Harassed For Naming Shop ‘Lakshmi’
·
BJP will
end 4% Muslim reservation in Telangana, says Amit Shah
----
Pakistan
·
India
Denies Visas to 118 Pakistanis for Khusrau’s Urs
·
3
terrorists killed in intelligence-based operation in Khyber district: ISPR
·
Court
bars Imran, spouse from targeting state institutions
·
Received
not a single meddling complaint on my watch: CJP
·
Ex-PM
deliberately kept cypher copy, IHC told
·
Suicide
attacks increased by 500% in Pakistan: Durrani
·
Imran
Khan's interim bail extended in Jinnah House attack case
----
Africa
·
Boko
Haram Factional Violence Rattles Islamic State As Power Struggles Mount
·
Former
ICJ President clarifies court's ruling on South Africa's case against Israel -
report
·
Boko
Haram Attacks Military Camp In Niger State
·
Burkina
Faso suspends BBC, VOA radio broadcasts over killings coverage
·
South
Africa will mark 30 years of freedom amid inequality, poverty and a tense
election ahead
----
North
America
·
Columbia,
Yale Students Bent On Ending US Support For Israeli Genocide
·
US
dispatches military reinforcements to bases in areas of Syria under terrorist
YPG/PKK occupation
·
New York
conference discusses crimes against Uyghur Muslims
·
US
artificial island for Gaza aid to be running in early May, IDF sources say
·
CAIR
Condemns ADL for Slandering Jewish and Palestinian Students as ‘Iranian
Proxies,’ Calls on MSNBC to Ban Him
·
US troops
begin constructing Gaza pier, aiming to have it operational by early May
----
Europe
·
Students
Block Paris’ Sciences Po University Over Gaza War
·
French
President Hints At Possible New Sanctions Against Violent Settlers In West Bank
·
British Royal
Navy shoots down missile for first time since Gulf War in 1991 amid Houthi
attacks on shipping
·
French
Police Called In To Break Up US-Style Pro-Palestinian Student Demo
·
Iran's
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must be put on terror group list: EU Parliament
----
Mideast
·
Zionist
Suspicions In Stealing Palestinians' Organs In Khan Yunis Found
·
Hamas
Official Says Israel ‘Will Not Achieve’ Goals In Rafah
·
Israel
‘spoofs’ GPS signals, endangering flight safety amid Gaza war: Report
·
Hezbollah
strikes Israeli military positions near border with rockets, drones
·
Palestinians
released from Israeli jails recount horrible ordeal
·
Iran
urges UNSC to address 'belligerent' Israel's atrocities
·
Iran
calls on BRICS to play role in stopping Israeli crimes
·
Iran's
judiciary confirms death sentence of well-known Iranian rapper ToomajSalehi
----
South
Asia
·
Three
Neighbouring Countries Support Daesh: Acting Foreign Minister Does Not Name any
Country
·
Taliban
detains 6 Iranian border guards in Western Afghanistan
·
Exclusive
CNN Report: US forces fired towards civilians during chaotic exit from
Afghanistan
·
UNHRC to
Review Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan
·
PM joins
bilateral meeting with Thai premier Thavisin
·
288 more
Myanmar troops repatriated
----
Southeast
Asia
·
China Wants
‘Just, Lasting’ Solution To Palestine Issue
·
Waqf-based
forests: Harnessing Islamic philanthropy for climate financing in Indonesia
·
Indonesia,
UNICEF release integrated Regsosek design report
·
Malaysia
to explore collaborations with Islamic Development Bank, says Treasury sec-gen
----
Arab
World
·
Houthi: US
Complicit In All Israeli Crimes Against Palestinians In Gaza
·
Investigation
clears coalition on claims of rights violations at Yemen sites
·
Saudi
Vision 2030 Harmonizes Tradition, Modernity while Embracing Religious, National
Principles, Al-Sudais Says
·
OIC
Islamic Summit Conference to Be Held in Gambia Next Month
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-quota-islamisation-division/d/132207
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Muslim Quota Part Of Agenda To Push Country Towards
“Islamisation and Division”: UP CM
UP CM Yogi Adityanath
-----
Apr 26, 2024
Chief minister Adityanath on Thursday alleged that the
Congress’ attempt to give reservations to Muslims from the OBC quota in
Karnataka was part of its agenda to push the country towards “Islamisation and
division”.
Yogi claimed that the Congress wanted to deprive the
people belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward
classes of their constitutional rights. Follow full coverage of the Lok Sabha
elections here.
Yogi said this while talking to media persons in
Lucknow and when asked about the quota to Muslims issue, Adityanath said, “This
is very unfortunate and is part of its (Congress) agenda to push the country
towards Islamisation and division”.
He said that after the UPA government came to power,
Congress made such vile attempts at that time too.
“Previously, during the UPA government, a committee
headed by justice Ranganath Mishra was formed. The committee in its report
recommended that 6 per cent out of the 27 per cent reservation meant for the
OBC category should be given to Muslims. Additionally, the committee’s report
proposed that a specific segment of Muslims, those who have converted, should
be included in the Dalit category and provided with the same benefits as
Dalits,” he said.
He highlighted that the BJP had launched a massive
movement against the move at that time. “The reports of the Justice Ranganath
Mishra Committee or Sachar Committee smack of Congress’s evil intention to
encroach upon the rights of OBCs, SCs, and STs,” he alleged.
He urged the people to be vigilant against such moves.
“Judicious use of democratic rights is needed to foil the conspiracies of the
Congress and INDI alliance,” he said.
Adityanath also claimed that the Congress was
contemplating imposing an ‘Inheritance Tax’ to “forcibly seize the properties
of common people and then give it to infiltrators from across borders who have
no connection with India”.
“The party, which has looted the country’s resources
for 60-65 years, wants to rob the SC/ST, the OBC and the poor of their rights,”
he alleged.
Yogi pays tribute to Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, on Thursday, paid rich
tribute to freedom fighter and the erstwhile chief minister of Uttar Pradesh,
Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna on the occasion of his birth anniversary. CM Yogi garlanded
late Bahuguna’s statue at Yojana Bhawan during a formal ceremony. Notable
dignitaries who attended the ceremony, included mayor Sushma Kharkwal, MLA Dr
Neeraj Bora, and legislative council member Lal Ji Nirmal.
Before the commemoration, chief minister Yogi
Adityanath took to his social media platform X to express his heartfelt
remembrance for the late chief minister Bahuguna. He wrote: “Humble tribute to
the great freedom fighter and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Hemwati
Nandan Bahugunaji on his birth anniversary and salute to his memories!”
Source:
hindustantimes.com
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https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/lucknow-news/muslim-quota-part-of-agenda-to-push-country-towards-islamisation-yogi-101714074574750.html
----
Terror Commander Masood Azhar Resurfaces To Launch
Celeb-Style ‘Ask Me Anything’ Online Service
The announcement said
Maulana Masood Azhar would answer questions each day from 9-10 am, and again
from 3-4 pm | ANI file photo
------
Praveen Swami
26 April, 2024
New Delhi: Ten years after he last appeared in public,
delivering a speech to thousands of frenzied followers, fugitive jihadist
commander Maulana Masood Azhar Alvi is scheduled to begin directly answering
questions from his followers each morning and afternoon, social media channels
representing his internationally proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror
organisation announced Thursday.
The announcement of the celebrity-style
‘ask-me-anything’ service was made by the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s Maktab-ul-Rabita,
or office for communication, and comes two years after Pakistani officials
claimed Azhar was living under Taliban protection in Afghanistan.
Late Thursday evening, the Maktab-ul-Rabita provided
two Pakistani mobile phone numbers and said supporters of the organisation
could send questions using Telegram, WhatsApp, and text messaging, which Azhar
would answer each day between 9 am and 10 am, and again from 3 pm to 4 pm.
An Indian intelligence official told ThePrint the
timing of the announcement suggests the Jaish-e-Mohammed was testing to see if
the Government of Pakistan, which has been weakened by months of political
chaos, “will feel able to act to prevent the embarrassing public rehabilitation
of a notorious terrorist”.
The missing jihadist
The Ministry of Home Affairs designated Azhar a
fugitive terrorist in 2019, following a bombing in Pulwama that claimed the
lives of 40 central police personnel. The designation cites, among other
things, Azhar’s alleged role in organising a terrorist attack on the Jammu and
Kashmir Legislative Assembly in 2001, and the strike on Parliament House in New
Delhi.
Following the Pulwama bombing, Pakistani Foreign
Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Azhar “is in Pakistan, according to my
information”.
“He is unwell to the extent that he can’t leave his
house, because he’s really unwell,” the foreign minister said.
The remarks appeared to confirm claims by Punjab
provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah, who said that Azhar had been taken into
“protective custody” following the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s 2016 attack on the Indian
Air Force base in Pathankot.
Less than a year after Foreign Minister Qureshi’s
assertion, though, a Gujranwala anti-terrorism court declared Azhar a
proclaimed offender, after police said they were unable to find him to face
trial on charges of raising funds for terrorist operations and circulating jihadist
literature.
Two years ago, government sources had told Geo News
that the Foreign Ministry “had written a one-page letter to the Afghan Foreign
Ministry asking them to locate, report and arrest Masood Azhar, as we believe
that he is hiding somewhere in Afghanistan”.
Following the disclosure of the letter, a spokesperson
for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said “Pakistani authorities have formally
raised this issue with their relevant Taliban interlocutors on multiple
occasions”, adding, “we have also shared documentary evidence and offered
intelligence and operational assistance to locate the individual”.
The spokesperson described Azhar as a “United
Nations-designated individual who is a proclaimed offender and wanted in
Pakistan in numerous terrorism-related cases”. The Islamic Emirate, however,
dismissed claims that Azhar was hiding on its territory.
Financial Action Task Force officials who visited
Pakistan in August 2023, to monitor its compliance with counter-terrorism
actions necessary to escape international sanctions, were also told he was no
longer in the country. Islamabad flagged its prosecution of several lower-level
Jaish-e-Mohammed members as evidence of its commitment to ending jihadist
mobilisation on its soil.
Little detail has emerged on the circumstances in
which Azhar might have left for Pakistan but some accounts suggested he left
Bahawalpur for Kandahar in May 2022, on a visit to congratulate Taliban leaders
on their victory. The scholar Abdul Basit was one of several experts who contested
these claims, noting that Azhar suffered from serious renal problems, which
would have made it “hard for him to survive” in Afghanistan.
Terror operations continue
Even with Azhar missing, the Jaish-e-Mohammad has
continued its operations, conducting multiple terrorist attacks on Indian
troops in Kashmir’s Pir Panjal mountains. ThePrint had revealed, in 2022, that
the Jaish-e-Mohammed had held public events to mark the killing of its
jihadists in Kashmir, with its fighters firing shots in the air at a military-style
funeral near Rawalakot.
Less than a month after the FATF removed Pakistan from
a list of countries at risk of sanctions because of inadequate anti-terrorism
action, the Jaish-e-Mohammed also began large-scale construction work at the
seminary complex in Bahawalpur, ThePrint had reported.
Source:
theprint.in
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https://theprint.in/world/terror-commander-masood-azhar-resurfaces-to-launch-celeb-style-ask-me-anything-online-service/2057677/
----
Sudan’s Civil War Is Rooted In Its Historical
Favouritism Of Arab And Islamic Identity
Supporters of the Sudanese
armed popular resistance, which backs the army, raise weapons during a meeting
in January 2024. Ebrahim Hamid/AFP via Getty Images
------
April 25, 2024
The current civil war in Sudan goes beyond a simple
power struggle between two generals. It reflects a deep-rooted crisis within
the country’s governing structure that’s been present since it gained
independence from the British in 1956.
Since independence, the Sudanese have experienced 35
coups and attempted coups, more than any other African country. In the
country’s southern region a 56-year rebellion eventually led to the creation of
South Sudan in 2011. A Darfurian uprising in 2003 was sparked by accusations
that the central government was discriminating against the region’s non-Arab
population. It led to ethnic killings and continues to simmer.
Delving into the history of Sudan, which I have done
for more than three decades, reveals that the country suffers from a long-standing
identity crisis that has fuelled the numerous rebellions.
The inability, or perhaps unwillingness, of successive
governments to manage the country’s diversity and articulate a shared vision
has resulted in unfair distribution of wealth and resources.
Sudan has a population of 49 million. It comprises 19
major ethnic groups and about 597 ethnic sub-groups speaking hundreds of
languages and dialects. Sudanese Arabs make up the largest single ethnic group
at about 70% of the population.
Political and economic power and resources are
concentrated in the country’s centre (for example, Khartoum).
Achieving peace in Sudan requires a focus on the
concerns of marginalised populations in conflict zones and deprived regions.
These include Darfur, South Kordofan and the Nuba Mountains. It also requires
addressing the root causes of armed violence. Among them are issues of
marginalisation, the relationship between religion and state, governance,
resource sharing, land, social justice and equality at the national level.
The early years of independence
The Sudanese government that came to power in 1956
insisted on an Arab and Islamic identity. The state was based on the principles
of Mahdism, an Islamic Sufi order established in the 1880s. It wasn’t
representative of diverse communities and sought to subject them to the will of
the Mahdist state. It demanded a degree of compliance that many were unwilling
to provide. Resistance against Mahdism was widespread.
In 1989, a new government seized control of the state
under the rule of the National Islamic Front. This was an alliance between army
officers and the Muslim Brotherhood, a fringe outfit that grew into a powerful
political organisation.
This coup brought to power Omar al-Bashir, who was
supported by Islamist leader Hassan al-Turabi. Their government also
endeavoured to establish an Islamic state.
The government set up an internal security apparatus,
which arrested and tortured dissenters. In 1991, the regime introduced a new
penal code to impose an Islamisation agenda, and created the “People’s Police”.
Two further developments would create the conditions
for the war that continues to rage today.
The first was the al-Bashir regime’s decision in 2003
to enlist Janjaweed militias to quell an insurgency in Darfur. Second, the
Islamist regime used this new militia to keep the elite in the Sudanese army
away from conflict zones in the periphery.
In 2013, al-Bashir formally designated these tribal
militias as the Rapid Support Forces through a presidential decree. This affiliated
them with the national security and intelligence services.
In 2017, Sudan’s parliament ratified the Rapid Support
Forces Law. This formally incorporated the militias into the government’s
military apparatus under the direct command of the president. The minister of
defence was tasked with overseeing the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, alias Hemedti, was appointed by
al-Bashir to lead the Rapid Support Forces. This enabled his power and
influence to grow. It was to inform the dramatic and tragic events in Sudan in
the coming decade.
After protests in 2018 swept through Sudan’s major
cities – driven by grievances around poverty, corruption and unemployment – the
military intervened in April 2019. They removed al-Bashir from power and declared
a state of emergency.
Despite establishing a transitional military
government, demonstrations persisted demanding civilian leadership.
With mediation from the African Union, an agreement on
power-sharing was reached in August 2019. It resulted in a military-civilian
transitional administration. Still, challenges persisted, including a failed
coup attempt in September 2021. A month later, Sudan’s top general, Abdel
Fattah al-Burhan, led another coup, derailing the country’s democratic
transition.
The months leading up to the war in April 2023 were
marked by civilian protests that were violently repressed, and tensions between
army and Rapid Support Forces leaders.
Forging a militia-dominated state
The Rapid Support Forces emerged as a counterbalance to
the armed forces. It strategically deployed thousands of battle-hardened
fighters to the country’s biggest cities, volatile border regions and economic
hubs like gold mines.
Concurrently, Russia forged ties with the Rapid
Support Forces through the Wagner Group to secure access to Sudanese gold.
Three conditions coalesced to foster the emergence of
a militia-dominated state, with the Rapid Support Forces at its helm.
Civil strife in Darfur in 2003 presented an opportune
moment. While the army focused on quelling rebellion in south Sudan, the
suppression of the Darfurian uprising in the west was left to paramilitary
forces.
Support from the Sudanese government enabled the
self-styled militia to access financial resources and weaponry. It could then
develop commercial ventures to attain and sustain autonomy from the state.
Ideologically, Hemedti portrayed the Rapid Support
Forces as a militia representing marginalised Arabs from Sudan’s rural and
border regions.
The unravelling
In Sudan’s evolving democratic transition, Hemedti’s
rise to the vice presidency of the Sovereignty Council in 2021 was crucial,
overseeing the path to elections. Disbanding the Rapid Support Forces or
sideliningHemedti risked sparking unrest, given the outfit’s size and business
interests.
Militia dominance over the state can prompt belated
responses from the military, potentially making conflict worse.
Initially, Hemedti refrained from seizing power by
force. He aligned his troops as allies of the army, which also had substantial
economic ventures.
But the October 2021 military coup halted Sudan’s
democratic progress. Amid repression and economic decline, the Rapid Support
Forces expanded its influence through business ventures and engagements. The
army’s attempt to integrate these forces backfired, leading to armed
confrontations and the Rapid Support Forces’ seizure of critical areas.
Source:
theconversation.com
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https://theconversation.com/sudans-civil-war-is-rooted-in-its-historical-favouritism-of-arab-and-islamic-identity-228533
----
Canadian Lawmaker Banned From Provincial Legislature
For Wearing Keffiyeh
Independent Member of
Provincial Parliament Sarah Jama speaks with members of the press at Queen's
Park while she wears a keffiyeh, a traditional utilitarian scarf worn across
the Arabic-speaking world which also holds political significance for
Palestinian people, in Toronto, on April 25.
------
Barry Ellsworth
26.04.2024
A Canadian lawmaker in the province of Ontario was
banned Thursday from the legislative assembly for wearing a keffiyeh, a
traditional symbol of solidarity with Palestine among activists.
Sarah Jama, a member of the provincial parliament
(MPP), was told to leave the chamber by Speaker of the House Ted Arnott.
She refused to go and was named (sanctioned) by
Arnott, who runs the legislature. He banned the white-and-black scarf a week
ago because in his view, it made an “overt” political statement.
“As a result of being named, the member (Jama), for
the remainder of the day, is ineligible to vote on matters before the assembly,
attend and participate in any committee proceedings, use the media studio and
table notices of motion, written questions and petitions,” Arnott said, CTV
News reported.
Jama stayed for the proceedings and Arnott was asked
why he allowed her to remain.
He replied that the only way to remove Jama was by
physical force, and “I wasn’t prepared to do that,” he told reporters.
The National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), the
largest Muslim organization in Canada, condemned the speaker’s action against
Jama.
“This is a shameful day in Ontario’s history,” the
NCCM said on X. “This is anti-Palestinian racism. The keffiyeh is a symbol of
Palestinian cultural identity. The ban must be lifted by Speaker Ted Arnott.”
New Democratic Party Leader Marit Stiles was also
critical of the action against Jama, calling it “outrageous” and adding that
she was “appalled.”
In fact, the leaders of all four political parties,
including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, asked that the ban on the scarf be
removed.
Twice MPPs voted on the removal of the ban in the
course of a few days, and both times, the motion did not gain unanimous
support, so the ban remained in place. Some of the dissenters were from Ford’s
own Conservative Party.???????
Jama vowed to wear the keffiyeh again in the
legislative assembly when MPPs return from a 10-day break, CTV News reported.
Source:
aa.com.tr
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/canadian-lawmaker-banned-from-provincial-legislature-for-wearing-keffiyeh/3202663
----
Unique ‘Excalibur’ Sword Found Upright in Ground
Unearthed in Spain Holds Islamic Origins
An expert measuring the
Islamic-era sword that was found in Valencia in 1994. The sword, dubbed
Excalibur, has been dated to the 10th century. SERVICI D’ARQUEOLOGIA DE
L’AJUNTAMENT DE VALÈNCIA
------
26.04.2024
Researchers have finally unravelled the mysteries of
the historical sword discovered in Spain 30 years ago, which they named
‘Excalibur’ because of its location, which evokes similarities with the
legendary sword of King Arthur.
The iron sword was first discovered stuck in the
ground upright in 1994 at an archaeological site in Valencia’s old town, a city
on the eastern coast of Spain. This location, which is north of the old Roman
Forum, has seen the rise and fall of many cultures over Valencia’s turbulent
history.
For the past 30 years, the sword’s origin and age have
remained a point of confusion — until now.
Valencia’s archaeology department decided to catalog
and review the artifacts in its collection ahead of its 75th anniversary, the
City Council of Valencia said in an April 22 news release. One of those
artifacts was the Excalibur sword.
Since its unearthing, the sword’s true age has eluded
scholars. However, recent efforts by the Archaeology Service (SIAM) of the
Valencia City Council have shed light on its origins, reports HortaNoticias.
Through meticulous dating techniques, they have determined that the sword hails
from the 10th century, firmly establishing its antiquity at over a millennium
old.
SIAM’s analysis indicates that this sword represents
the first discovery of its kind from the Islamic era in Valencia. Swords from
this period are generally scarce in Spain, particularly in Valencia, where the
soil’s composition poses challenges to preservation efforts.
Archeologist José Miguel Osuna, who led the research
project on “Excalibur” earlier this year, found that the 18 inch-blade was from
the Islamic period because of its hilt, decorated with bronze plates and
notches for handling. The sword’s curved metal tip caused confusion among
researchers, who thought it might have belonged to the Visigoths, but Osuna
later disproved this idea.
The sword’s size and the fact that it doesn’t have a
hand guard suggest that a mounted warrior may have used it in the Andalusian
caliphal era. Municipal technicians are clear that its origins are in the
Islamic era of Balansiya, even though it may display evolutionary traits from
Visigothic models. Only one comparable specimen has surfaced thus far,
unearthed amidst the excavations of Medina Azahara, the illustrious caliphal
city commissioned by Abderramán III in Córdoba. The Islamic period in Spain
began in A.D. 711 and ended in A.D. 1492.
“Thanks to the archaeology scholarship convened by the
Valencia City Council, the archaeologist José Miguel Osuna is carrying out a
detailed study of analysis of metallic objects that go from Roman times to the
late medieval period and where a new and exceptional find has come to light,
which we have called the Excalibur de Roc Chabàs to be very similar to the
legendary sword of King Arthur.” José Luis Moreno, Valencia councilor for
cultural action, heritage, and cultural resources, said in a press release.
City council cultural representative José Luis Moreno
noted in the release that the sword was just one of many artifacts — from the
Roman era to the late medieval period — being studied in the city’s archaeological
collection for the department’s 75th anniversary.
Source:
arkeonews.net
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https://arkeonews.net/unique-excalibur-sword-found-upright-in-ground-unearthed-in-spain-holds-islamic-origins/
---
India
Pakistani Hindus in Rajasthan who missed CAA cut-off
stare at uncertain future
April 25, 2024
Ishita Mishra
Amid the euphoria created around the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act (CAA) in the ongoing general elections, a legislation which has
brought respite for some, but those who came to India after December 31, 2014,
have many unanswered questions. The latter now have to apply under the primary
Citizenship Act, 1955, which has in the past seen the applicants waiting for
years to get the same. The Pakistani Hindu families which have migrated to
Barmer — bordering Pakistan — years ago feel that the CAA or citizenship law is
waste until their life conditions are uplifted as many of them, even after becoming
Indian citizens, continue to live in poor conditions and social stigma.
Hare Singh Lodha, 55, had come to India with nine
other family members from Pakistan’s Sindh in 2017. He is living in a rented
accommodation in Barmer’s Dan Ji Ki Hodi locality, where over 800 Pakistani
Hindu families live. Mr. Lodha cannot apply under the CAA and he doesn’t want
to go back to Pakistan where his life is in ‘danger’. But even living in India
didn’t turn out to be ‘as expected’, he says.
The CAA, Muslim
exclusion and the lens of the right
“My family came to India with just four suitcases. We
couldn’t carry much cash and gold due to custom issues. I took loan from my
relative and started a confectionery shop in which my daily earnings are ₹1,000-1,200. In an annual income of ₹4
lakh, in which I have to run family and send children to school, I also have to
save over ₹1.2 lakh to get the visa renewal of my family which is
₹7,000 per head,”
says Mr. Lodha. He spends around ₹40,000-50,000 in travelling to Delhi from
Barmer, with nine other family members, for visa renewal formality.
According to the Citizenship Act 1955, Mr. Lodha will
be eligible for citizenship after 12 years of his stay in India as his parents
were not born in undivided India.
“But the challenge will not end here,” says Jaswant
Singh, another Pakistani Hindu, who moved to Barmer from Pakistan in early 2015
and is eligible to apply for citizenship after 7 years of his stay here, as per
rules. He initially stayed at his brother’s place in Barmer but after a few
months, he got a house on rent, little far away.
Not much has
changed for Pakistan Hindu migrants in Rajasthan even after five years since
2018 poll promises
Negative report
“I had applied for citizenship under the 1955 Act but
when the police came for verification for my credentials at my brother’s place,
they didn’t wait for 10 minutes for my brother to call me, and left. I got to
know that a negative report was filed for my citizenship application,” he says,
adding that he has no idea how long it will take for him to get citizenship.
Jaswant’s 20-year-old son had completed his school
from India and even managed to crack the medical entrance exam but he couldn’t
take admission in a government medical college as he had no domicile
certificate and local identity proof.
“They asked me to get my son admitted under foreign
student category but it had two issues. First was that the fee was many times
higher and second is that if we would have admitted him under foreign student category,
he will have to go back after studies but we want to stay in India,” he says.
For several Pakistani Hindu families living in Daan Ji
Ki Hodi, apart from citizenship, basic facilities such as proper roads,
sewerage lines, clean drinking water, too are a distant dream.
Pakistani Hindu
refugees at Delhi's MajnukaTila remain devoid of basic facilities
“You had visited this colony where we are living. Have
you seen any street lights? We don’t have sewage system in this side of the
town. Most of us, the Pakistani Hindus, do menial jobs in India to survive. Its
not just that our present is bad but we don’t have much hopes from future too
as for how long I will work for my son or grandson to become at least a
middle-class citizen of India,” says Darbar Singh, who came to India in 2017.
Ram Singh Lodha, who came to India in 2006, got the
Indian citizenship under the CAA but is waiting for the same for his mother who
migrated here in 2019.
“Why cant they relax some rules for people whose
family members are already Indians” he asks the government.
The claims made by the successive governments at the
Centre for upliftment of persecuted communities are “much said than done”,
believes Hindu Singh Sodha, president of the Seemant Lok Sangathan (SLS), an
organisation working for the welfare of families of Hindu migrants displaced
from Pakistan.
“There are 35,000 non-resident Indians — mostly
Pakistani Hindus — living in Rajasthan’s Barmer, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Jalore
Jaipur. Around 75% of citizenship applications here are pending since 2019. In
most cases, these Hindus live in ghettos or in rented accommodations, who can
afford. No government has provided any land to them apart from the development
of ‘VinobaBhave Nagar’ in Jodhpur, but the reserve price is so high that very
few can afford to purchase them”, he said.
Criticising the visa renewal procedure of the Ministry
of Home Affairs, Mr. Sodha said that the Indian government was not even
realising that a family which was already struggling to earn was giving so much
to Pakistan in the form of passport renewal and renunciation of Pakistan
citizenship fees.
Integrated policy
“The government must prepare an integrated policy for
rehabilitation, employment, education and healthcare of such people,” adds SLS
president.
For Junjar Singh Lodha, who got Indian citizenship
long ago, has a wish from the Indian government which is to re-start the Thar
Express — an international passenger train which used to run between Jodhpur in
Rajasthan and Karachi Cantonment of Karachi in the Pakistani Province of Sindh,
which was suspended in 2019.
“Mujelagtahaisirf Modi ji hi is baatkoSamjhengeki agar
yaharehnekogharnai de saktehai to ghar jane ko train hi chaladein...” “(I think
only Modi ji will understand this thing that if he cannot provide a house to
live here, then he should get us a train to go back where we belong to…)”, says
Junjar who works as a driver in Barmer to run the family.
Source:
thehindu.com
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https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pakistani-hindus-in-rajasthan-who-missed-caa-cut-off-stare-at-uncertain-future/article68105671.ece
----
BJP intensifies 'Muslim quota' attack on Congress,
cites Manmohan Singh's 2019 remarks
TIMESOFINDIA.COM | Apr 26, 2024
NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday
launched another attack on Congress, asserting its earlier claim that
'preferential treatment to Muslims is a clear policy of the opposition party.'
Tweeting a video of Manmohan Singh, BJP wrote at the
start of Phase two of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections that in 2009, the former
Prime Minister said that minorities should get priority when it comes to the
nation's resources.
"April 2009: In the run up to Lok Sabha election,
Dr Manmohan Singh, reiterated his statement that minorities, especially poor
Muslims, should get priority when it comes to the nation’s resources. He
categorically stated that he stood by his earlier assertion that Muslims should
have first right when it comes to resources," BJP wrote on X.
"This unequivocal assertion by Dr Manmohan Singh
demolishes the Congress’ canards and clarifications on his previous statement.
It supports our assertion that preferential treatment to Muslims is a clear policy
of the Congress Party.
"This is further proof of the Congress mindset to
give preference to Muslims in everything, from reservation to resources,"
they added.
This comes after PM Modi fired the 'Muslim quota'
salvo while addressing a rally at Tonk-SawaiMadhopur in Rajasthan - his last
engagement in the state for Lok Sabha polls - and said Congress has for long
made separate efforts to implement Muslim quota despite the prohibition laid
down on 'Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution' on religion-based reservations.
The attack came even as Congress was still angrily
protesting against PM's remark at Banswara, also in Rajasthan, on Sunday that
Congress's pitch for "redistribution of assets" was part of a plan to
take away assets from people and distribute among people who, going by his
predecessor Manmohan Singh's 2006 speech at the National Development Council,
can only be Muslims.
While Election Commission has started an inquiry into
Congress's complaint that that Banswara speech was communal and, therefore,
violative of the 'model code of conduct', PM Modi repeated the charge and
rebutted Congress's protest about Singh's statement having been distorted,
saying, "I was present at the meeting of the NDC."
Source:
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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----
Congress reminds Narendra Modi of ally Deve Gowda
genesis to ‘Muslim quota’ row
26.04.24
K.M. Rakesh
The Muslim quota row triggered by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka had moved
the entire minority community into the OBC list, was a decision taken in 1995
by then chief minister H.D. Deve Gowda, who is now a BJP ally.
It was Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular) government that
implemented the Justice O. Chinnappa Reddy Commission report, submitted in
1990. The report recommended the reservation for a wide spectrum of castes in
the state, apart from Muslim minorities who were classed under several
categories.
The 32 per cent OBC reservation is distributed across
four categories — Category 1 (4 per cent), Category 2A (15 per cent), Category
2C (6 per cent), and Category 2D (7 per cent).
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, in a statement,
countered Modi’s reservation swipe as a “blatant lie”.
“Prime Minister @narendramodi’s claim that the
Congress has transferred the reservation quota from backward classes and Dalits
to Muslims is a blatant lie. It stems from ignorance but also indicative of his
desperation born from a fear of defeat,” he wrote on X.
Source:
telegraphindia.com
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https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/congress-reminds-narendra-modi-of-ally-deve-gowda-genesis-to-muslim-quota-row/cid/2015816
----
Congress wanting to give quota meant for SCs, OBCs to
Muslims: BJP Prez Nadda
April 26, 2024
Bharatiya Janata Party president J.P. Nadda on Friday
accused the Congress of seeking to snatch the rights of SCs, STs and OBCs to
benefit Muslims, alleging that it is the hidden agenda of the opposition party.
Continuing with the BJP's attempts to project the
Congress as a party championing interests of Muslims at the cost of
traditionally deprived Hindu groups, Nadda said the opposition party has long
been making the grounds for the minority community to be declared as SCs and
give them reservation.
He issued a video statement as the second phase of the
Lok Sabha polls got underway. Nadda cited the then prime minister Manmohan
Singh's 2006 statement of minorities, especially Muslims, having the first
rights on the country's resources and added that he made similar comments in
April 2009.
The Congress has accused the BJP of selectively
quoting Singh and claimed that the ruling party has resorted to spreading
falsehoods and communal division for polarisation during the elections due to a
lack of public support for it in the ongoing polls.
Nadda, however, noted that the Congress has in some
states tried to provide reservation to Muslims, including in Karnataka where
the BJP government, he said, had ended the quota but it was brought back by the
Siddaramaiah government. “It had attempted to give reservations to Muslims in
Andhra Pradesh too but could not due to the Supreme Court's orders,” he said.
He said the Congress in its 2009 election manifesto
had promised reservation for Muslims in educational institutions and jobs
through a sub-quota in the Other Backward Classes category.
He claimed that the Congress' stand against
majoritarianism in its 2024 poll manifesto underscores its "hate" for
the SCs, STs and the OBCs as they make up for a majority in the society.
"False claims were made through the Sachar committee
report and it was said that Muslims are worse off than Dalits. It means that
the Congress had been making the ground for Muslims to be declared as SCs so
that they can given the reservation due to Dalits," Nadda said.
The party has this old habit of robbing the SCs, STs
and OBCs of their rights, he said, citing B.R. Ambedkar's criticism of Jawahar
Lal Nehru for not speaking about the welfare of Dalits in speeches. “Nehru was
always in support of Muslims,” he claimed.
Nadda said he never wanted Muslims to be neglected but
that they should not get undue benefits at the cost of other communities.
“Those who need more protection should get these benefits,” he said, accusing
the opposition party of giving the impression that there are Dalits among Muslims
too so that the minority community gets the SC quota benefits.
The Congress brought laws to overturn court judgements
to end reservation for deprived Hindu communities in institutions like Aligarh
Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia, he added.
Source:
theweek.in
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https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2024/04/26/congress-wanting-to-give-quota-meant-for-scs-obcs-to-muslims-bjp-prez-nadda.html
------
Polytechnic college student on way to offer namaz
attacked in Telangana
25th April 2024
In yet another incident of hate crime, Mohammed Masum,
a 19-year-old student of KDR Govt Polytechnic College in Wanaparthy district of
Telangana, was brutally beaten by his fellow student Lokesh and five others
when he headed out from his hostel room to offering Isha prayers.
The incident took place around 7.50 on Wednesday. The
attackers reportedly called him out, threw his skull cap on the floor, and
trampled it. They then slapped Masum multiple times, leaving him injured and
traumatised.
According to the victim, the miscreants fled the scene
when he shouted out for help from other students. The imam of a masjid later
admitted him to the hospital.
The incident has sparked widespread outrage and
condemnation on social media, with many expressing their solidarity with Masum
and calling for strict action against the perpetrators.
Meanwhile, the Wanaparthy police have launched a probe
into the matter and arrested one person involved in the case.
“We apprehended one person and further investigations
are underway. We urge the public to remain calm and have faith in our team,”
said a senior police official.
Source:
siasat.com
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https://www.siasat.com/polytechnic-college-student-on-way-to-offer-namaz-attacked-in-telangana-3014909/
----
Uttarakhand: Muslim vendor harassed for naming shop
‘Lakshmi’
25th April 2024
A Muslim fruit vendor in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, was
recently harassed by members of a right-wing group, led by its leader, Radha
SemwalDhoni, for naming his shop ‘Lakshmi’.
The incident took place on Thursday, April 25, at
Dharampur Chowk, where the group created a ruckus outside the shop.
A video of the incident is doing rounds on social media
platforms, showing the vendor being heckled by a group of right-wing men. A
female voice can be heard in the background, asking questions to the distraught
fruit seller about the banner reading ‘Lakshmi’.
In the video, right-wing Hindu members are seen
forcibly removing the banner from the shop and telling the Muslim shopkeeper
not to display Hindu names again.
“Apne naam bure lagtehaikya jo Hindu kanaamrakhahai.
(Do you dislike your name that you have kept a Hindu name,” the vendor is
asked.
She then went on to add, “Hindu kedevi,
devtaoaurbagwankenaam se rozi roti chalrahihaitumahri. Apne Allah
pehbarsanahihaitumhetohhamaredharam main ajaphir (You are getting your
livelihood in the name of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. If you don’t trust your
Allah, then come to our religion)”.
However, in response, the Muslim fruit seller said
that the shop did not belong to him. He had rented it from a Hindu owner.
Earlier incidents
This incident is not an isolated one, as Muslim
vendors across India have been facing discrimination and harassment for years.
In 2020, activists condemned the discrimination
against Muslim vendors, who were being stopped from selling fruits and
vegetables in some non-Muslim localities in many states.
Similarly, Kashmiri dry fruit vendors in Lucknow were
harassed and humiliated, with many facing an uncertain future.
In another incident in 2023, three Muslim fruit
sellers in Telangana were thrashed and allegedly forced to drink alcohol by a
group of miscreants.
The harassment and discrimination faced by Muslim
vendors not only affect their livelihoods but also create a climate of fear and
uncertainty for the entire community.
Source:
siasat.com
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https://www.siasat.com/uttarakhand-muslim-vendor-harassed-for-naming-shop-lakshmi-3014807/
---
BJP will end 4% Muslim reservation in Telangana, says
Amit Shah
25th April 2024
Hyderabad: Union home minster Amit Shah said that the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will end the 4% job reservations for Muslims in
Telangana if his party comes to power again at the Centre after winning the
ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Shah added that the reservation will be given to
Backward Classes (BC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (S) communities
instead.
However, it may be noted that the reservations for
Muslims in Telangana is not separate, but part only part of the BC reservation
quota. Amit Shah’s words can easily let anyone think that Muslims have a
separate religious reservation when that is not the case in Telangana.
Addressing a public meeting in Siddipet in support of
BJP Medak candidate M Raghunandan Rao on Thursday, Amit Shah accused the
Congress of making Telangana the “ATM” of Delhi, indirectly stating that the
grand old party’s leadership was using the state for its electioneering.
BJP’s Raghunandan Rao, who had won the Dubbaka
Assembly seat in a by-election earlier, lost his seat to the Bharat Rashtra
Samithi (BRS) by over 50,000 votes. He is one of the party’s known faces,
including others like Karimnagar MP Bandi Sanjay and Secunderabad MP (current
BJP Telangana chief) Kishan Reddy, who is contesting as a candidate in the
upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the state that will be held next month.
During his rally at Siddipet, Amit Shah alleged that
the current Congress government in Telangana is not investigating into alleged
corruption charges against the BRS in the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme.
He also went into the usual BJP rhetoric linking the BRS and Congress to the
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
“Congress and BRS are scared of the Majlis (AIMIM),
but we aren’t. We will officially celebrate September 17 as Telangana
Liberation Day. All-round development of Telangana is only possible if BJP is
in power at the Centre,” stated Amit Shah. In the past, he had accused the BRS
government of being controlled or run (indirectly) by the BRS, given that both
the parties had always maintained they were friendly” with each other.
Source:
siasat.com
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https://www.siasat.com/will-end-4-muslim-reservation-in-telangana-union-min-amit-shah-3014923/
----
Pakistan
India Denies Visas To 118 Pakistanis For Khusrau’s Urs
April 25, 2024
LAHORE: India has turned down the visa applications of
118 Pakistanis who wanted to participate in the upcoming annual Urs
celebrations of Hazrat Amir Khusrau and only 80 others on Thursday were allowed
to enter the neighbouring country to attend the event.
The federal religious affairs ministry had submitted a
total of 198 visa applications to India for this purpose.
Pilgrims from different cities of the country had
reached Lahore and waited for two days in the city to receive their visas.
However, only 80 of them were permitted to cross the
Wagah border near Lahore to depart for New Delhi.
The rest of them returned to their native cities and
towns feeling disappointed that their visa application was rejected.
The Urs celebrations are taking place from April 23 to
April 30 in Delhi.
Hazrat Khusrau was a spiritual disciple of Sufi saint
Hazrat Khawaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya.
Read also: Pakistani pilgrims in limbo amid visa
hassles
Born in 1253 AD in Patiyali in modern-day Uttar
Pradesh, Hazrat Khusrau is an iconic figure in the cultural history of South
Asia. He was a Persian poet and scholar of the medieval Delhi Sultanate.
He wrote several Sufi poems on divine love and
mysticism. Hazrat Khusrau’s ideas about love and mysticism deeply influenced
other Sufi thinkers, shaping how they approached spirituality, art, and
literature.
He was also a scholar of history and philosophy. He
was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Sanskrit and Hindi.
He is regarded as the creator of Qawwali by fusing the
Persian, Turkic, Arabic, and Indian singing styles together in the 13th
century. He also introduced the ghazal style of singing in the Subcontinent.
He is credited as the investor of the musical
instrument Sitar.
Hazrat Khusrau wrote poetry primarily in Persian but
also in Hindavi, and credited with the creation of Haliq Bari, a poetry
vocabulary combining Arabic, Persian, and Hindavi words. He also invented
Tarana and Trivat.
Source:
tribune.com.pk
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----
3 terrorists killed in intelligence-based operation in
Khyber district: ISPR
April 25, 2024
Security forces killed three terrorists during an
intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber district, the
military’s media wing said on Thursday.
In a statement, the Inter Services Public Relations
(ISPR) said an IBO was carried out in the area on the night of April 24/25
based on the “reported presence of terrorists”.
“During the conduct of operation, intense fire
exchange took place between own troops and terrorists, as a result of which
three terrorists were sent to hell, including terrorist ringleader Sohail
Azmato and terrorist ringleader Haji Gul Zarkavi. Terrorists’ hideout was also
busted during the operation,” the ISPR said.
It added that arms and ammunition were recovered from
the slain militants who had remained “actively involved in numerous terrorist
activities in the area”.
The ISPR said locals “appreciated” the operation,
adding that a sanitisation operation was under way to “eliminate any other
terrorist found in the area as security forces are determined to wipe out the
menace of terrorism from the country”.
Eleven alleged terrorists were killed in two IBOs in
Dera Ismail Khan and North Waziristan on Monday and Tuesday.
Earlier this month, two militants were gunned down by
security forces in an exchange of fire in North Waziristan district.
Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities
in the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan after the banned militant
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan ended its ceasefire with the government in November
2022.
According to an annual security report issued by the
Centre for Research and Security Studies, Pakistan witnessed 1,524
violence-related fatalities and 1,463 injuries from 789 terror attacks and
counter-terror operations in 2023 — marking a record six-year high.
KP and Balochistan were the primary centres of
violence, accounting for over 90 per cent of all fatalities and 84pc of
attacks, including incidents of terrorism and security forces operations.
Source:
dawn.com
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1829586/3-terrorists-killed-in-intelligence-based-operation-in-khyber-district-ispr
----
Court bars Imran, spouse from targeting state
institutions
April 26, 2024
Khalid Iqbal
ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court Thursday barred
former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi from making statements
in the courtroom against the state institutions and authorities.
The court issued a comprehensive order on a petition
filed by Imran Khan for a fair trial.
Judge Nasir Javed Rana ordered Imran and his spouse to
avoid speaking against the state institutions in the courtroom.
According to the order, the PTI chief made provocative
political statements against the senior officials of state institutions,
including the army, judiciary and the army chief.
The order added that such statements disrupt judicial decorum
and also obstruct judicial functions such as the dispensation of justice. The
order further stated that during the jail trial of PTI founder, the media will
limit its reporting on the court proceedings and not report statements of the
accused.
The court also instructed the prosecution, the accused
and their defence counsel not to make political or inflammatory statements
which may disrupt the decorum of the court.
The media was also ordered to refrain from publishing
political and inflammatory narratives targeting the state institutions and
officials and was asked to adhere to the Pemra guidelines that prohibit
discussing ongoing cases.
Earlier, the former prime minister asserted that
premeditated rigging had marred the by-polls in Punjab, accusing the police of
involvement in rigging. “Democracy hinges on the supremacy of law and the
conduct of free and fair elections, yet what we witnessed was jungle law. The
interference of police in the Punjab by-elections is deeply concerning,” he
remarked during a media interaction at the Adiala jail.
Imran highlighted that by-polls were also conducted in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the PTI-backed Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) was
ruling, affirming that no instances of rigging transpired in the province.
“There exists no semblance of democracy in the nation presently. The rigging
was a preemptive move, driven by fear of the events that unfolded on February
8. The postponement of general elections from October to February was a
deliberate tactic to suppress the PTI. Even our petition in the Supreme Court
remained unheard as it awaited the demise of PTI,” he elaborated.
Imran lamented that many tactics were deployed ahead
of the general elections to hurt the reputation of PTI, resulting in the
conversion of majority vote into a minority.
Source:
thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1182376-court-bars-imran-spouse-from-targeting-state-institutions
---
Received not a single meddling complaint on my watch:
CJP
April 26, 2024
Jamal Khurshid
KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa
on Thursday said he did not receive any note of grievance from any high court
judge on meddling of other institutions in judicial process.
“Since I have been chief justice [of Supreme Court of
Pakistan], I have not received a single complaint from any high court judge
that there has been any interference in their work,” Justice Isa said while
speaking at the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA).
“Now, if there has been any interference in their
work, it has not been reported to me, and all the incidents that were mentioned
were before my watch… before I took the oath as the CJP.
“So, this is a thing to bear in mind that interference
is not acceptable but at the same time nothing has been reported to me during…
my watch.”
He said a mention was made of the support that the
SHCBA extended to the six judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC), who had
written to him as well. “I thank them on their behalf,” the CJP added.
Last month, six judges of the IHC — Justice Mohsin
Akhtar Kiyani, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, Justice Babar Sattar, Justice
Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir, and Justice Saman Rafat
Imtiaz — wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), seeking its
guidance on alleged “interference” of intelligence agencies in the court
affairs.
Later, the apex court initiated suomotu proceedings on
the letter and sought a proposal from the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Supreme
Court Bar Association (SCBA), high courts and the federal government in this
regard.
Taking a strong stance against the alleged meddling, a
full court meeting of the IHC on Tuesday “unanimously decided” to give an
“institutional response” to any external interference, well-placed sources
said. The IHC full court meeting was held with Chief Justice Aamer Farooq in
the chair to finalise proposals before submission to the Supreme Court in
connection with the matter related to alleged interference.
Meanwhile, hearing multiple cases at the SC Karachi
Registry, the Supreme Court directed the authorities to remove the barriers
placed outside various buildings, including Sindh Rangers headquarters, Chief
Minister’s House and Governor’s House, and present the report within three
days. “No one is allowed to obstruct the free movement of people [...] Blocking
roads and creating obstacles is illegal,” CJP Isa said, leading a three-member
bench comprising Justice Naeem Akhtar Afgan and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail.
At the onset of the hearing, the chief justice
underscored that the federal and provincial governments themselves are
encroaching the lands and directed the authorities to “clear” the roads.
Ordering the attorney general to inform the federal government, the apex court
directed the authorities to send a copy of the court order to all the
institutions concerned, including those relating to security. “The expenses
related to the removal of encroachments should also be collected from the
encroachers,” CJP Isa said.
Responding to the argument that barricades are raised
due to security concerns, the top judge said: “The public continues to be
attacked [but] you get to remain safe? What kind of law is this? If you feel
too scared, go and sit in a remote area.”
Directing the authorities to abstain from blocking the
roads under the pretext of security, he said, “Why don’t you remove
encroachments in front of [Sindh] Rangers headquarters?”, questioning the law
under which Jinnah Court premises were handed over to the Rangers. “Place the
[security] containers inside the Governor’s House. Why do you put it outside?”
He stressed that encroachments should be removed even
if they are within the premises of the SC itself.
Juctice Isa said that he had told the Sindh IGP not to
place ‘route’ for him and if the ‘route’ was placed, the court would take
contempt notice. “Life is short, should we keep saving it.” The case was then
adjourned till Friday (today).
Source:
thenews.com.pk
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/1182348-interference-in-judicial-affairs-not-acceptable-cjp
----
Ex-PM deliberately kept cypher copy, IHC told
April 26, 2024
Fiaz Mahmood
ISLAMABAD:The Islamabad High Court was informed on
Thursday that the cipher copy was returned by all the recipients except the
then-prime minister Imran Khan, who lost the document therefore the case was
lodged against him.
During the hearing of appeals of Imran and then
foreign minister Shah Muhammad Qureshi in the cipher case, the prosecutor urged
the two-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul
Hasan Aurangzeb to see whether or not the cipher copy had reached the accused.
The cipher case originated from Imran Khan's public
display of a paper during a rally in Islamabad on March 27, 2022, claiming it
as evidence of an "international conspiracy" before a vote of
no-confidence led to his government's ouster.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) initiated its
probe into the so-called “cipher-gate” on July 19, 2023, after the previous
coalition government announced an official inquiry against Imran and his close
associates for violating the Official Secrets Act (OSA).
Imran was arrested on August 5, following his
conviction in the Toshakhana case by a local court of Islamabad. Later, he was
also arrested in the cipher case on August 29. On January 30, a special court
convicted Imran and Qureshi and sentenced each of them to 10 years in prison
under the OSA.
During the hearing of the appeals in the IHC, the
bench raised the question that when the cipher case was registered, many other
people also did not return the copies. Federal Investigation Agency (FIA)
Special Prosecutor Hamid Ali Shah replied the rest of the officials had
returned the cipher copies.
Regarding the former prime minister, the prosecutor
said that the authorities knew that he had lost the cipher copy. The former
prime minister deliberately kept the cipher copy and negligently did not return
it, the prosecutor argued.
The chief justice pointed out that the charges of not
returning the cipher copy wilfully and its negligent loss could not be made
simultaneously. Special Prosecutor Shah said that when the cipher came to the
then-prime minister, he deliberately kept it to himself and showed negligence
by not returning it.
About the prosecution’s charge that said that Imran
made the cipher public, the chief justice inquired as to what was made public,
saying that the cipher was not on the court record. Justice Miangul Hasan
Aurangzeb asked as to where the recipient of the cipher document was.
The FIA prosecutor said that he would assist the court
on this point later. However, he stressed that the cipher was a classified
document, entailing accountability. He added that the cipher copy was sent so
that he read this document and instructed about necessary action.
he FIA prosecutor told the court that he would
complete his arguments in three to four hearings. After which the hearing was
adjourned till April 30.
Source:
tribune.com.pk
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2464015/ex-pm-deliberately-kept-cypher-copy-ihc-told
----
Suicide attacks increased by 500% in Pakistan: Durrani
Fidel Rahmati
April 25, 2024
Pakistani Special Representative for Afghanistan
Affairs has stated that attacks by the Taliban in Pakistan have increased by
65%, with suicide attacks rising by 500%.
The Pakistani Special Representative for Afghanistan
Affairs noted that the assumption of enhanced security in the region post-NATO
withdrawal from Afghanistan is incorrect.
According to Dawn newspaper, Durrani described the
escalation of Taliban attacks in Pakistan from Afghan soil as a severe concern
for Pakistan. He stated, “Another concerning point is the involvement of Afghan
nationals in these attacks.”
Mr. Durrani spoke at a one-day international
conference titled “Pakistan in Emerging Geo-Political Paradigm,” organized by
the Islamabad Policy Research Institute and the German Friedrich Ebert
Foundation.
He mentioned that Pakistan has been suffering from the
developments in Afghanistan since the Soviet invasion.
The Special Representative for Pakistan added that
Afghanistan has turned into a determinant factor in Pakistan’s regional
paradigm for over four decades.
He discussed Pakistan’s future outlook regionally,
saying, “While our eastern neighbour (India) is likely to continue its
anti-Pakistan policies, the western borders are an unavoidable provocation in
the short to medium term.”
He stated that Pakistan has suffered more than three
wars with India due to Afghanistan.
However, Mr Durrani stated that with skilful
diplomacy, Pakistan could overcome its challenges with Afghanistan, including
the Taliban Pakistan insurgency.
Pakistan’s backing of the Taliban during the
two-decade presence of international forces in Afghanistan was pivotal.
Islamabad expected reduced violence from the Pakistani Taliban upon the Afghan
Taliban’s return to power. However, recent years revealed flawed cooperation
perceptions.
Source:
khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/suicide-attacks-increased-by-500-in-pakistan-durrani/
----
Imran Khan's interim bail extended in Jinnah House
attack case
April 26, 2024
An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Friday extended the
interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime
minister Imran Khan in three cases including Jinnah House attack case till May
3.
As per details, the ATC duty judge Arshad Javed heard
the interim bail pleas pertaining to attack on Jinnah House and three others.
The court also ordered to mark the attendance of
former prime minister Imran Khan in the three cases via video link from Adiala
jail.
Its worth mentioning here that LHC was informed
earlier, Punjab government allocated seven cells for convicted PTI founder
Imran Khan in Adiala Jail, while 14 security personnel have been appointed for
his security.
“An accommodation of six cells had been made for Imran
Khan in addition to his cell to ensure proper security for him,” AGP Punjab
Khalid Ishaq told the court.
“One personnel is deployed on security of 10 inmates
in Adiala jail, however, 14 police personnel have been deployed for Imran
Khan’s security in Adiala Jail, the report added.
May 9 events
Violent clashes broke out across Pakistan after the
former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan were
arrested at the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
The protests were held in remote and major cities as
the party workers were agitated due to their chairman’s arrest, with
Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Islamabad summoning the armed
forces to ensure law and order.
Army installations and Corps Commander’s house in
Lahore, also known as Jinnah House, came under attack during a protest by ‘PTI
workers’.
Source:
nation.com.pk
Please
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https://www.nation.com.pk/26-Apr-2024/pti-founder-s-interim-bail-extended-in-jinnah-house-attack-case
---
Africa
Boko Haram factional violence rattles Islamic State as
power struggles mount
25 Apr 2024
Malik Samuel
In October 2023, Boko Haram’s JAS faction
(Jama’atuAhlis-Sunna Lidda’AwatiWal-Jihad) launched major offensives against
the group’s other faction — Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap). This
forced Iswap fighters to evacuate many of their island territories in the Lake
Chad area, according to ongoing Institute for Security Studies (ISS) research.
JAS should have been on the back foot following
several defeats in the past three years, a loss of territory, and the death of
its leader AbubakarShekau, which caused a mass exodus of its fighters. Instead,
the group sacked Iswap from some of its long-held territories. Those familiar
with the clashes say JAS now occupies as much as 40% of the islands previously
controlled by Iswap. But Iswap maintains control over the mainland in these
areas.
JAS’ gains are linked to a crucial alliance with an
influential former Iswap commander, Mikhail Usman, AKA Kaila. Kaila, from the
Buduma ethnic group, defected to JAS in early 2023 with some commanders and
fighters. Among their grievances was the perceived marginalisation of the
Buduma from Iswap leadership positions.
As a predominant tribe in the Lake Chad islands, the
Buduma are dissatisfied with being ‘lorded over by strangers’ — a reference to
the Kanuri-dominated Iswap leadership. They also object to Iswap raising taxes
on civilians living under its control. Riding on this dissatisfaction and his
ambition for power, Kaila crossed over to JAS.
He masterminded the October attack and sold the idea
to JAS. As a former senior commander, he knew Iswap’s Achilles’ heel — without
its Buduma fighters for whom the lake water is home, the group would struggle
at water-based battles.
After Boko Haram split into two factions in 2016,
Islamic State recognised Iswap as an affiliate under the leadership of Abu
Musab al-Barnawi. Since then, JAS has had some success against Iswap. In August
2021, an Iswap attack on a JAS base on the Barwa islands in Niger failed after
12 of the former group’s 20 vehicles were destroyed by improvised explosive
devices (IEDs).
JAS retaliated five days later, wounding al-Barnawi in
the ensuing battle. Around 25 November 2021, JAS attacked another Iswap
location at Shuwaram, killing about 180 fighters — Iswap’s biggest casualty.
JAS’ capture of key Iswap territories is arguably its
most important success against its rival in recent years. Former fighters with
knowledge of the dynamics within and between the groups told the ISS that while
Iswap isn’t panicking, it is preparing for major counter-offensives to reclaim
ground. In April, two territories were reclaimed — TumbunAllura and
Falkima-Hakariya.
ISS sources say Iswap doesn’t want to create the
impression that it is weak. And given Kaila’s role in Iswap’s defeat, the group
intends to send a strong message to potential defectors.
While Islamic State hasn’t stopped Iswap’s
preparations, it has asked for a pause in attacks while it tries to persuade
Kaila to return to Iswap. But Kaila will be reluctant to return, given his role
in spearheading the JAS attacks and the fact that his fighters took many of
Iswap’s weapons when they defected. Insiders told the ISS that Kaila reiterated
this fear over the phone to Abu Rumaisa, al-Barnawi’s brother and Iswap media
head, a few weeks ago.
Power struggle
Why is Islamic State keen to reconcile Kaila with
Iswap? It may be concerned that JAS shouldn’t be taken lightly. But it also
recognises the damage that defections caused to the group, and reconciling
defectors with Iswap could again weaken JAS.
Having already moved hundreds of fighters to Nigeria’s
North West and North Central as part of its expansion efforts, Islamic State
also knows Iswap cannot afford a lengthy, distracting and deadly confrontation
with JAS.
Islamic State may also not want to risk reputational
damage to its major affiliate in West Africa. Especially since Islamic State’s
other franchise in the region — Islamic State Sahel Province (still referred to
as Islamic State in the Greater Sahara or ISGS) — is being overshadowed by the
al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusratul Islam Wal Muslimin (Jnim).
Since separating from Iswap in 2022, ISGS has been
locked in a struggle for supremacy against Jnim. This rivalry affects ISGS operations,
with Jnim emerging as its primary security threat. Between January and February
2024, Islamic State media outlet Al-Naba showed that ISGS carried out only
eight attacks in the Sahel, with 57 casualties. Jnim claimed 145 attacks with
581 casualties in the same period, says al-Qaeda media outlet Az-Zallaqa.
Jnim also created more insecurity than Iswap in the
same period. According to Islamic State, Iswap carried out 96 attacks in
January and February, resulting in 205 casualties. Although fewer attacks
occurred in February than in January, the casualty rate increased because IEDs
were used in 41% of the assaults.
The proxy war between Islamic State and al-Qaeda
across the Sahel and West Africa — manifested in the clashes between their
affiliates ISGS and Jnim — along with the Iswap-JAS rivalry in the Lake Chad
Basin, should be good for counter-terrorism. The more these violent extremist
groups fight each other, the more likely they are to be depleted.
Ongoing military operations across Lake Chad Basin by
the Multinational Joint Task Force and national armies try to limit JAS and
Iswap’s operational spaces, forcing fighters to surrender. This could explain
Islamic State’s reluctance to see Iswap fight JAS, and its push to expand
beyond North East Nigeria in search of more operational space.
What this means for governments is that they shouldn’t
rely on these groups to self-implode. Instead, they should ramp up military
pressure to complement the damage the groups inflict on each other.
Cutting their supplies and preventing recruitment in
the Lake Chad Basin and beyond is also important. This can be achieved through
tighter border control measures informed by cross-border intelligence gathering
and sharing.
Conflict is a major conveyor of terrorism, with more
than 90% of attacks in 2023 occurring in conflict-affected areas. That makes it
vital to develop socially embedded conflict prevention tools focused on
banditry, farmer-herder clashes and inter-communal violence. These measures
would prevent terrorists from taking advantage of conflicts, as is currently
the case. DM
Source:
dailymaverick.co.za
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-04-25-boko-haram-factional-violence-rattles-islamic-state-as-power-struggles-mount/
----
Former ICJ President clarifies court's ruling on South
Africa's case against Israel - report
APRIL 26, 2024
Former International Court of Justice President Joan
Donoghue told BBC's HARDtalk on Thursday that there had been a general
misunderstanding of the meaning of the ICJ's ruling on the case.
Donoghue served as the ICJ's president from 2021 until
2024 and served on the court from 2010.
She presided over South Africa's case against Israel,
representing the court.
When she was asked about the court's ruling on the
case, she clarified a general misunderstanding of its meaning.
The court decided that "the Palestinians had a
plausible right to be protected from genocide" and that "South Africa
had a right to present that in the court."
"It did not decide, and this is something where
I'm correcting something that's often said in the media. It did not decide that
the claim of genocide was plausible."
Clarifying further, she said that the order emphasized
there was a risk to the Palestinian right to be protected from genocide.
"The shorthand that often appears, which is that
there's a plausible case of genocide, isn't what the court decided."
Disappointment with events following the order
In another part of the interview, she expresses
disappointment at what has happened since the order. However, she said she
couldn't comment on whether Israel had complied with the court order as that is
currently being put to the court.
She added that she was unable to comment on Israel's
report to the court on its compliance with the order because it had not been
made public.
Donoghue also said that the lawyers "in the
room" in Israel were in the best place to make sure that Israel was
complying with the order.
When asked how the planned invasion of Rafah fits into
Israel's compliance with the court order, she told HARDtalk that the court had
made no explicit ruling on the military operations in Gaza.
"It can't be said that continuing the operation
itself violates the order," she said. "But quite clearly, the threats
about going into Rafah are why South Africa went back to the court and why the
court imposed additional, more precise measures."
Donoghue was asked about whether Israel's lack of
compliance with the order challenged the ICJ's credibility.
She said that if one only looked at this case, then
someone might believe that but that, in general, the international law
community tended to have a broader, more long-term view of the issue.
She also said that there was more of an appreciation
that "courts don't really solve these kinds of problems."
"They can contribute," she said, "but
they are just a piece of a broader international infrastructure."
Source:
jpost.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-798766
----
Boko Haram Attacks Military Camp In Niger State
26 April 2024
Boko Haram insurgents, on Thursday, sacked a military
base located at Allawa town in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.
Naija News learned that the insurgents, numbering
about 200, invaded the town on motorcycles with not less than three on each
bike fully armed and attacked the camp at about 1:30 am.
According to Vanguard, the terrorists were said to
have embarked on a reprisal mission after the military neutralized about fifty
of them in a fierce battle in the area last week.
An eyewitness in the area who pleaded for anonymity
also told the newspaper that the insurgents stormed the military camp and
sacked those on duty, while others invaded Allawa town and rained bullets on
houses.
The resident stated that cash, foodstuffs and other
handy valuables were carted away from the residents of the town and other
adjourning villages.
He said: “Around 1:30 a.m., There was a fierce battle
between the insurgents and the military that lasted for some hours.
“Because it was midnight, the number of casualties
could not be ascertained.”
The military camp, it was also gathered, had been
deserted by the military personnel deployed to the area.
It is
understood that the number of casualties recorded in the village and on the
side of the military and the terrorists could not be ascertained.
Source:
naijanews.com
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https://www.naijanews.com/2024/04/26/boko-haram-attacks-military-camp-in-niger-state/
----
Burkina Faso suspends BBC, VOA radio broadcasts over
killings coverage
Apr 26, 2024
April 26 - Burkina Faso has suspended the radio
broadcasts of BBC Africa and the U.S-funded Voice of America for two weeks over
their coverage of a Human Rights Watch report accusing the army of
extrajudicial killings, authorities said late on Thursday.
In the report based on its own investigation, the
watchdog said that the West African country's military summarily executed about
223 villagers, including at least 56 children, in February as part of a
campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with jihadist militants.
The Burkinabe army has repeatedly committed mass
atrocities against civilians in the name of fighting terrorism, HRW said,
calling on authorities to investigate the massacres.
However, the country's communication council said
HRW's report contains "peremptory and tendentious" declarations
against the army likely to create public disorder and it would suspend the
programmes of the broadcasters over their coverage of the story.
Authorities also said in a statement they had ordered
internet service providers to suspend access to the websites and other digital
platforms of the BBC, VOA and Human Rights Watch from Burkina Faso.
HRW conducted its investigation after a regional
prosecutor said in March that about 170 people were executed by unidentified
assailants during attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soro.
Burkina Faso is one of several Sahel nations that have
been struggling to contain Islamist insurgencies linked to al Qaeda and Islamic
State that have spread from neighbouring Mali since 2012, killing thousands and
displacing millions.
Frustrations over authorities' failure to protect
civilians have contributed to two coups in Mali, two in Burkina Faso and one in
Niger since 2020.
Source:
hindustantimes.com
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https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/burkina-faso-suspends-bbc-voa-radio-broadcasts-over-killings-coverage-101714125391547.html
---
South Africa will mark 30 years of freedom amid
inequality, poverty and a tense election ahead
26 Apr 2024
JOHANNESBURG: As 72-year-old Nonki Kunene walks
through the corridors of Thabisang Primary School in Soweto, South Africa, she
recalls the joy she and many others felt 30 years ago when they voted for the
first time.
It was at this school on April 27, 1994, that Kunene
joined millions of South Africans to brave long queues and take part in the
country's first democratic elections after decades of white minority rule which
denied Black people the right to vote.
The country is gearing up for celebrations Saturday to
mark 30 years of freedom and democracy. But much of the enthusiasm and optimism
of that period has subsided as Africa’s most developed economy faces a myriad
of challenges.
Like many things in South Africa, the school that
Kunene remembers has changed, and what used to be a school hall has now been
turned into several classrooms.
“I somehow wish we could go back to that day, because
of how excited I was and the things that happened thereafter,” said Kunene,
referring to Nelson Mandela becoming the country's first Black president and
the introduction of a new constitution that afforded all South Africans equal
rights, abolishing the racially discriminative system of apartheid.
For many who experienced apartheid, those years remain
etched in their collective memory.
“I cannot forget how we suffered at the hands of
whites. In the city at night, there were white bikers with hair like this
(describing a mohawk-like hairstyle) who would brutally assault a Black person
if they saw them walking on a pavement. Those white boys were cruel," said
87-year-old Lily Makhanya, whose late husband died while working in the
anti-apartheid movement’s underground structures.
"If they saw you walking on the pavement, you
would be assaulted so badly and left for dead."
For Makhanya and many others who stood in those queues
to vote in 1994, it represented a turning point from a brutal past to the
promise of a prosperous future.
But 30 years later, much of that optimism has
evaporated amid the country's pressing challenges. They include widening
inequality as the country's Black majority continues to live in poverty with an
unemployment rate of more than 32%, the highest in the world.
According to official statistics, more than 16 million
South Africans rely on monthly welfare grants for survival.
Public demonstrations have become common as
communities protest against the ruling African National Congress' failure to
deliver job opportunities and basic services like water and electricity.
An electricity crisis that has resulted in power
blackouts that are devastating the country's economy added to the party's woes
as businesses and homes are sometimes forced to go without electricity for up
to 12 hours a day.
Areas like the affluent Johannesburg suburb of
Sandton, which hosts beautiful skyscrapers and luxurious homes, are an example
of the economic success enjoyed by a minority of the country's 60 million
people.
But the township of Alexandra, which lies a few
kilometers (miles) from Sandton, is a stark reflection of the living conditions
of the country's poor Black majority, where sewage from burst pipes flows on
the streets and uncollected rubbish piles up on pavements.
Such contradictions are common across the major
cities, including the capital Pretoria and the city of Cape Town, and they
remain at the center of what is expected to be one of the country's most
fiercely contested elections in May.
For the first time since the ANC came to power in
1994, polls are indicating that the party might receive less than 50% of the
national vote, which would see it lose power unless it manages to form a
coalition with some smaller parties.
For some younger voters like 24-year-old Donald
Mkhwanazi, the nostalgia does not resonate.
Mkhwanazi will be voting for the first time in the May
29 election and is now actively involved in campaigning for a new political
party, Rise Mzansi, which will be contesting a national election for the first
time.
“I had an opportunity to vote in 2019, and in local
elections in 2021, but I did not because I was not persuaded enough by any of
these old parties about why I should vote,” he said.
“I didn't see the need to vote because of what has
been happening over the past 30 years. We talk about freedom, but are we free
from crime, are we free from poverty? What freedom is this that we are talking
about?"
Political analyst Pearl Mncube said South Africans are
justified in feeling failed by their leaders.
“More and more South Africans have grown skeptical of
pronouncements from government due to its history of continuously announcing
grand plans without prioritizing the swift execution of said plans,” Mncube
said.
She said while Freedom Day is meant to signify the
country’s transition from an oppressive past, it was important to highlight
current problems and plans to overcome them.
“We cannot use the past, and any nostalgia attached to
it, to avoid accounting for the present,” she said.
Source:
newindianexpress.com
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2024/Apr/26/south-africa-will-mark-30-years-of-freedom-amid-inequality-poverty-and-a-tense-election-ahead
----
North
America
Columbia, Yale students bent on ending US support for
Israeli genocide
25 April 2024
American students at Colombia and Yale have vowed to
press on with their pro-Palestinian activism at the universities as long as the
United States sustained its all-out support for the Israeli regime’s ongoing
genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
The students made the announcement in a joint
statement on Thursday from the heart of their Gaza Solidarity Encampments that
they have set up on the universities’ campuses.
“The future belongs to the daring…Bold actions win
support,” asserted the statement that was addressed to “everyone currently
taking action in solidarity with Gaza on campuses” throughout North America.
“This is only the beginning,” it said, asserting,
“Pushing the university struggle to its limit might contribute in a similar way
to producing a constellation of revolutionary forces in the city today.”
The statement advised that buildings be occupied “on
campus, throughout the city, and across the country” in favor of spreading the
campaign.
The statement pledged that the students would keep up
their relevant campaigns “to pull the emergency brake on the war machine.”
Pro-Palestinian academic activism has grown
significantly across the US since the onset of the US-backed war on Gaza.
More than 34,300 Palestinians have been killed and
over 77,200 others wounded in the war that the regime began on October 7, 2023
following a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory’s resistance
movements.
The brutal military onslaught enjoys unreserved
military and intelligence support on the part of the US. Washington has also
vetoed several United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a
ceasefire in the war.
American authorities have come down hard on the
student protests.
In the latest crackdown, some 108 arrests were made at
Emerson College in Boston.
Earlier, 93 people at the University of Southern
California (USC) in Los Angeles were taken into custody on trespassing charges.
Protesters and police also clashed at the University
of Texas in Austin. Authorities said 34 people were arrested there too.
Source:
presstv.ir
Please
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/04/25/724377/United-States-Israel-war-Gaza-Columbia-Yale-universities
----
US dispatches military reinforcements to bases in
areas of Syria under terrorist YPG/PKK occupation
Esref Musa
25.04.2024
In a move likely to draw Turkish opposition, the US
military has dispatched 40 vehicles of military reinforcement to its bases in
areas occupied by the PKK/YPG terror group in northeastern Syria .
A convoy of US forces entered Syria’s Hasakah province
from the al-Waleed border crossing between Iraq and Syria at night, local
sources said Thursday.
The convoy, including Bradley-type armored vehicles
carrying American soldiers, first reached a military base in the town of
Rumaylan in Hasakah.
Including military vehicles laden with fuel, medical
supplies, and ammunition, it then moved to the Tal Baydar base in the
province's northwest.
Since 2015, US forces in Syria have trained thousands
of YPG/PKK terrorists in their military bases in the region under the pretext
of combating terrorism.
The US has also provided YPG/PKK terrorists with huge
amounts of weapons and combat equipment.
Türkiye has long objected to the US allying itself
with the YPG/PKK in the name of fighting Daesh/ISIS, saying that using one
terrorist group to fight another makes no sense.
Ankara has also strenuously objected to the US
providing supplies and training to the terrorist group, which is based in
opposition-held areas of northern Syria.
In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye,
the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and the EU –
has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women,
children, and infants. The terrorist YPG is the PKK’s Syrian branch.
Source:
aa.com.tr
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-dispatches-military-reinforcements-to-bases-in-areas-of-syria-under-terrorist-ypg-pkk-occupation/3202455
---
New York conference discusses crimes against Uyghur Muslims
LEON KRAIEM
APRIL 26, 2024
NEW YORK – A two-day conference was held in New York
last week to call further attention to human rights violations in Xinjiang, an
autonomous region in northwestern China inhabited by Uyghur Muslims.
The Chinese government’s campaign of repression in
Xinjiang – billed as a security measure – was declared a genocide by the United
States in 2021, a designation reaffirmed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken
earlier this month.
The conference began with a brief message from
NatanSharansky via video: The Chinese government, Sharansky said, “is keeping
millions and millions of Uyghur people in concentration camps. It’s probably
the most massive crime against humanity in the modern world.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres of the Bronx also addressed the
conference via video, on the second day of the event.
He recalled testimony heard in Congress of
“unspeakable horrors: the deprivation of [Uyghurs’ Muslim] faith, the agony of
starvation, the brutality of shackles, the abomination of sexual assault,” and
told the audience that “the courage of Uyghur Muslims in speaking out serves as
a beacon of resilience in the face of genocide.”
The event was held by the World Uyghur Congress and
the Uyghur Human Rights Project, long at the forefront of advocacy for the
Turkic minority group, in collaboration with the Elie Wiesel Foundation for
Humanity, the organization founded by the late Holocaust survivor “to combat
indifference, intolerance, and injustice.”
Elisha Wiesel, the late author’s son, has made
opposition to China’s Xinjiang policies a focus of his human rights advocacy
since he read a harrowing account of the region’s so-called “re-education
camps” in 2021.
The crowd at the conference reflected the involvement
of Jews in the cause, with a number of yarmulkes visible on people’s heads,
while other members of the audience wore dopas, the traditional Uyghur
skullcap.
Reflecting on the conference’s origins, an early panel
on Wednesday morning was titled “‘Never Again’: The Uyghur Genocide and Learning
from the Holocaust.” On stage were Ellen Germain, the US State Department’s
special envoy for Holocaust issues, and Danica Damplo, policy manager at the
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.
They spoke alongside NuryTurkel, a Uyghur-American
lawyer who chairs the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom and who has represented more than 150 Uyghur refugees in asylum cases.
Of all the trips Turkel has made to New York over the years to address this
issue, this conference was the most meaningful, he said.
The panel discussed the slamming-shut of America’s
doors to Jewish refugees in the years of the crematoria; when the panel went to
questions, one member of the audience addressed the State Department’s Germain,
asking whether enough was being done for Uyghur refugees who are currently
detained in Thailand, who face atrocities if deported back to Xinjiang.
The audience member also asked Damplo about the
possibility of an exhibit on the Uyghurs’ plight at the Holocaust Museum in
Washington. The museum’s Simon-SkjodtCenter for the Prevention of Genocide has
determined that “there is a reasonable basis to believe the Chinese government
is committing crimes against humanity against the Uyghurs.”
Another panel of Uyghurs and Jews discussed the
importance of preserving a culture in exile, and what it means to live freely
in America while one’s fellows are suffering abroad.
The catastrophe in Xinjiang is not merely a threat to
be prevented; it is a currently unfolding destruction, and the question for
Uyghurs abroad is not only how to stop it, but how to live with the loss of
what it has already destroyed, and to prepare for revival in the future.
“Children understand,” said IradeKashgary, who founded
a Sunday school for Uyghur children in Virginia to teach the language and
culture to the next generation. “They see their parents crying because they
can’t communicate with their family members back home. They understand that
while everybody else goes to see their grandparents and cousins and uncles and
aunts, that they’re unable to do that. And that impacts how they view their
Uyghur identity, vastly.”
The Uyghur diaspora must be ready to pass the torch,
Kashgary said.
“This fight will be going on for a while, and we will
eventually have to have kids who are educated in the language and the culture
enough to go back to East Turkestan”— an Uyghur term for what the Chinese call
Xinjiang— “and be able to teach those kids that are currently being prevented
from learning anything.”
Other panels addressed more urgent questions of the
here and now. One discussion about forced labor and supply chain ethics was
conducted off-the-record, so that potential failings of both governments and
corporations could be discussed freely by those in the room.
That discussion came on the heels of a recent report
by Human Rights Watch in February, which found that virtually the entire auto
industry is implicated in Uyghur forced labor, including companies like Tesla,
which boasts a showroom in Xinjiang itself, and Volkswagen, a company with its
origins in the Third Reich which maintains a factory in the Chinese province.
A panel on the conference’s second day titled
“Revealing the Unseen: China’s Surveillance Tech and the Long Arm of Repression
Across Borders,” focused on the mammoth surveillance apparatus in Xinjiang, and
on the spread of products designed for that effort to other countries,
including in the West.
The United States must build more surveillance tech,
said one panelist, a researcher at a surveillance industry research group. He
acknowledged that this proposal may strike listeners as counterproductive, but
insisted: Countries will use surveillance systems, and right now, they have no
choice but to use China’s.
If liberal democracies don’t want surveillance
technology to be used for totalitarianism, they must enter the game and deprive
totalitarians of their monopoly.
in one of the final panels of the conference, a
financial correspondent, a professor of constitutional law, and a commissioner
of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission discussed “TikTok,
Social Media, and the [Chinese Communist Party]’s Agenda to Control
Information” with Omar Qudrat of the Muslim Coalition of America and
EsmaMemtimim of the Uyghur Youth Initiative.
That discussion came as debate raged about the
so-called “TikTok ban,” a law signed by US President Joe Biden this week
demanding the divestment of ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese owner, within the next
nine months, out of concerns that the Chinese government is using TikTok to
manipulate Americans.
Indeed, data revealed by The New York Times this week
showed that for every 100 Instagram posts about Uyghurs, there were only nine
on TikTok, suggesting that the algorithm was intentionally suppressing the
information, as it appeared to also be suppressing content about Tibet and Hong
Kong, as well as pro-Israel and pro-Ukraine content.
Closing the conference with an interfaith panel –
“Campaigning to Disrupt Complicity and Support Survivors,”– Ruth Messinger,
global ambassador of the American Jewish World Service, lamented that even in a
world consumed by social justice issues, “this vast population, suffering
unbelievable oppression and fear, is not seen and heard.”
Rabbi Joseph Potasnik of the New York Board of Rabbis,
gesturing to a stage of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim clergy, insisted that “in
all our faiths, there is no such thing as an innocent bystander.
“The tragedy of the Holocaust,” he said, quoting Rabbi
Joachim Prinz, “is that people were silent.”
The event concluded with a candlelight vigil.
Source:
jpost.com
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https://www.jpost.com/international/article-798728
-----
US artificial island for Gaza aid to be running in
early May, IDF sources say
YONAH JEREMY BOB
APRIL 25, 2024
The US’s artificial island is expected to be completed
and operating by early May, according to IDF sources.
The artificial island, or Joint Logistics Over the
Shore (JLOTS) pier, has been in the works since it was announced by US
President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address on March 7.
At the time, the announcement caught many Israeli
officials by surprise and it was the start of a series of moves of Washington
injecting itself more forcefully into the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Late Sunday, the IDF provided the following statement
regarding security over the construction and operation of the island:
"The IDF, through the coordination of COGAT, has
approved collaborative efforts for the new Joint Logistics Over-the-Shore
(JLOTS) initiative led by the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). The
initiative will create an enhanced ship-to-shore distribution system to
increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The IDF will operate to provide security and logistics
support for the JLOTS initiative, which includes the establishment of a
temporary floating pier to deliver humanitarian aid from the sea into Gaza.
Senior US officials confirmed on Thursday night that
Israel would dedicate a brigade to protecting US forces.
The IDF's involvement in the JLOTS initiative is one
of many humanitarian aid efforts, further demonstrating the IDF's commitment to
working with the international community to ensure the continuous entry of
humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip."
It was expected that the new aid would speed up
toppling Hamas
But shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
noted he had offered the possibility back in October 2023 (though at the time
he was trying to use it to stave off having to open land aid crossings), and
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on March 10 that the new US maritime Gaza
humanitarian aid program would speed up toppling Hamas.
The challenge of getting the JLOTS going connects to
why it may also get up and running relatively quickly.
A series of large US naval vessels have been making
their way slowly across the Atlantic, but when they arrive, in the upcoming
days, they have essentially all of the equipment and materials needed to
establish the temporary island off Gaza.
The island is expected to be an addition to land aid
efforts
Now that Gaza is bringing in over 500 trucks of aid
per day from around four land crossings according to Israeli officials, the
island will not replace, but complement the land aid efforts.
It will also help connect Gaza to the world in ways
that it has been cut off since Israel imposed a blockade on Hamas when the
group routed Fatah from the Strip in 2007.
The pier is expected to be around 550 meters long and
wide enough to carry two lanes of trucks.
Given the Gazan coast’s shallow waters, the US Navy
will facilitate the operation by running short ferry rounds bringing the trucks
from roll-on/roll-off ships to the pier, with around 1,000 US military
personnel expected to be involved.
IDF sources said there are special efforts to try to
protect the pier and the US soldiers from Hamas.
Cyprus will also play a critical role in ferrying aid
between the pier and Israel.
The artificial island will be going up just as a new
flotilla may arrive from Turkey seeking to bring aid directly to Gazans without
Israeli inspections.
Prior flotilla attempts have led to arrests and even
altercations, with around 10 flotilla passengers dying in fights with IDF
soldiers in 2010 (several soldiers were wounded, but none were killed.)
Source:
jpost.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-798690
---
CAIR Condemns ADL for Slandering Jewish and
Palestinian Students as ‘Iranian Proxies,’ Calls on MSNBC to Ban Him
Ismail Allison
April 25, 2024
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the
nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on
MSNBC to condemn and ban Anti-Defamation League (ADL) CEO Jonathan Greenblatt
for the latest defamatory remarks he made on air, falsely slandering Jewish and
Palestinian college student groups as “Iranian proxies” equivalent to
Hezbollah.
During an appearance on MSNBC, Greenblatt said, “Iran
has their military proxies like Hezbollah, and Iran has their campus proxies
like these groups like SJP and JVP.” [NOTE: SJP is Students for Justice in
Palestine. JVP is Jewish Voice for Peace.]
WATCH THE CLIP
This is at least the third time that Greenblatt has
made inflammatory remarks without being challenged on MSNBC.
More than 60 Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and allied
organizations recently called or Greenblatt to be fired after he analogized the
Palestinian keffiyeh scarf with the Nazi swastika.
In October, Greenblatt also criticized MSNBC’s
coverage of the Middle East crisis and questioned whether MSNBC’s scripts were
written by Hamas sympathizers.
In a statement, CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward
Ahmed Mitchell said:
“Falsely claiming that Jewish and Palestinian student
organizations are literal proxies of the Iranian government is a dangerous and
defamatory slander that has no place on MSNBC or any other television network.
“No civil rights leader would ever equate Jewish and
Palestinian college students with Hezbollah, analogize the Nazi swastika to the
Palestinian keffiyeh or question whether Hamas sympathizers were writing MSNBC
scripts.
“Mr. Greenblatt’s increasingly unhinged and outrageous
comments must be condemned, and MSNBC should no longer give him a platform to
peddle his hate speech.”
Source:
cair.com
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https://www.cair.com/press_releases/cair-condemns-adl-for-slandering-jewish-and-palestinian-students-as-iranian-proxies-calls-on-msnbc-to-ban-him/
-----
US troops begin constructing Gaza pier, aiming to have
it operational by early May
26.04.2024
US troops have begun constructing a maritime pier off
the coast of Gaza with the aim of speeding up the flow of humanitarian aid into
the enclave when it becomes operational in May, the Pentagon said on Thursday.
US President Joe Biden announced the construction of
the pier in March as aid officials implored Israel to ease access for relief
supplies into Gaza’s overland routes. Whether the pier will ultimately succeed
in boosting humanitarian aid is unclear, as international officials warn of a
risk of famine in northern Gaza.
The port sits just southwest of Gaza City, a little
north of a road bisecting Gaza that the Israeli military built during the
fighting. The area was the territory’s most populous region before the Israeli
ground offensive pushed over 1 million people south toward the town of Rafah on
the Egyptian border.
Israel’s six-month-long military campaign against
Hamas, which began after the terror group’s October 7 massacre in southern
communities, has devastated the Gaza Strip and plunged its 2.3 million people
into a humanitarian crisis.
A senior Biden administration official, speaking to
reporters on condition of anonymity, said humanitarian aid coming off the pier
will need to pass through Israeli checkpoints on land. That is despite the aid
having already been inspected by Israel in Cyprus prior to being shipped to
Gaza. Israel wants to prevent any aid from getting to Hamas terrorists and
boosting their war effort.
The prospect of checkpoints raised questions about
possible delays even after aid reaches shore. The United Nations has long
complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza.
“I can confirm that US military vessels, including the
USNS Benavidez, have begun to construct the initial stages of the temporary
pier and causeway at sea,” Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder
told reporters.
This is how the sea route will work:
Pallets of aid will be inspected and loaded onto
mainly commercial ships in Cyprus, which then will sail about 200 miles to the
large floating platform being built by the US military.
The pallets will be transferred onto trucks, driven
onto smaller army vessels, and then taken several miles to the causeway, which
will be roughly 1,800 feet (550 meters) long and anchored to the shoreline by
the Israeli military.
The trucks will then go down the causeway to a secure
drop-off area, where pallets will be distributed to aid agencies. That mission
could last several months, a US military official told the Associated Press.
A UN official said the port will likely have three
zones — one controlled by the Israelis where aid from the pier is dropped off,
another where the aid will be transferred, and a third where Palestinian
drivers contracted by the UN will wait to pick up the aid before bringing it to
distribution points.
The pier will initially handle 90 trucks a day, but
that number could increase to 150 trucks daily when it is fully operational.
The United Nations said this week that the daily average number of trucks
entering Gaza during April was 200 and that there had been a peak on Monday of
316.
The northern Gaza Strip is still heading toward a
famine, the deputy UN food chief said on Thursday, appealing for a greater
volume of aid and for Israel to allow direct access from its southern Ashdod
port to the Erez crossing.
Concerns about the risk of American troops getting
caught up in the Israel-Hamas war were underscored on Thursday as news emerged
of a mortar attack near the area where the pier will eventually touch the
ground. No US forces were present, however, and Biden has ordered US forces to
not set foot on the Gaza shore.
UN officials were touring the site with Israeli troops
at the time of the attack, the Israel Defense Forces said in response to a
query on the incident. The IDF said the UN officials were rushed to a shelter
by troops amid the attack.
UN officials also confirmed the mortar attack to AP, saying
there were no injuries.
“The terrorist organizations continue to
systematically harm humanitarian efforts while risking the lives of UN workers,
while Israel allows the supply of aid to the residents of the Gaza Strip,” the
IDF added.
No group claimed responsibility for the mortar fire,
but a Hamas official told AP Wednesday that the terror group will resist any
foreign military presence involved with the port project.
In a statement, the IDF said a military brigade,
including thousands of soldiers, along with Israeli Navy ships and the Air
Force, would work to protect US troops who are setting up the pier.
The IDF said in a statement Thursday that it had
approved “collaborative efforts” for the Joint Logistics Over The Shore
project, known as JLOTS.
“The IDF will operate to provide security and
logistics support for the JLOTS initiative, which includes the establishment of
a temporary floating pier to deliver humanitarian aid from the sea into Gaza,”
the military said.
“The IDF’s involvement in the JLOTS initiative is one
of many humanitarian aid efforts, further demonstrating the IDF’s commitment to
working with the international community to ensure the continuous entry of
humanitarian aid to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip,” it added.
While the port is expected to come into use by May, a
senior US military official acknowledged that the final installation of the
US-built causeway onto the beach at the port will be governed by the security
situation, which is assessed daily.
Asked about the recent mortar attack, the military
official said the US assessed that it had nothing to do with the humanitarian
mission, adding that security around the port will be “far more robust” when
the deliveries start.
In addition, the US has rehearsed offensive and
defensive measures to ensure US troops working at the pier and those on the
floating platform several miles offshore are all protected.
While satellite photos showed major port construction
along the shore near Gaza City, aid groups made it clear that they have broad
concerns about their safety and reservations about how Israeli forces will
handle security.
Aid groups were shaken after an Israeli strike earlier
this month killed seven World Central Kitchen volunteers during a mission
coordinated with the IDF. The military has dismissed two officers and formally
reprimanded senior commanders over the bombing, which it called a tragic
mistake.
SonaliKorde, an official with the US Agency for
International Development, said key agreements for security and handling the
aid deliveries are still being negotiated. Those include how Israeli forces
will operate in Gaza to ensure that aid workers are not harmed.
“We need to see steps implemented. And the
humanitarian community and IDF continue to talk and engage and iterate and
improve the system so that everyone feels safe and secure in this very
difficult operating environment,” Korde said.
The UN’s World Food Program has agreed to lead the aid
delivery effort. Carl Skau, WFP’s deputy executive director, speaking Thursday
at the UN, said it’s “necessary for us to be able to operate, reach
communities, have access to needs, and to do so in a safe and secure way.” He
also said the port mission must be just one part of a broader Israeli effort to
improve sustainable land-based deliveries of aid to avert a famine.
A UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity to
discuss behind-the-scenes deliberations, said several sticking points remain
around how the Israelis would handle the port’s security. The military is
reportedly seeking to install remote-controlled gun positions, which the UN
opposes, said the official, although it was not clear what weapons were being
described.
Amid difficulties in bringing aid into Gaza, countries
have even tried airdropping aid — a tactic that aid groups say is a last-ditch
resort because it can’t deliver aid in large quantities and also has led to
deaths.
“The more time we spend talking about JLOTS,” said Bob
Kitchen, vice president for emergencies with the International Rescue
Committee, “the more we talk about airdrops — all of this is massively
expensive, comparatively low-scale and is a side-show. It’s a distraction.”
Source:
timesofisrael.com
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https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-troops-begin-constructing-gaza-pier-aiming-to-have-it-operational-by-early-may/
----
Europe
Students Block Paris’ Sciences Po University Over Gaza
War
26 April 2024
Students blocked access to Paris' prestigious Sciences
Po university over the war in Gaza on Friday, demanding the institution condemn
Israel's actions, in a protest that echoed similar demonstrations on US
campuses.
Chanting their support for the Palestinians, the
students displayed Palestinian flags at windows and over the building's
entrance. Several wore the black-and-white keffiyeh head scarf that has become
an emblem of solidarity with Gaza.
"When we see what is happening in the United
States, and now in Australia, we're really hoping it will catch on here in
France, the academic world has a role to play," said 22-year-old Hicham, a
masters student in human rights and humanitarian studies at Sciences Po.
The students, he said, want Sciences Po to condemn
Israel's actions.
"We're very happy that (students at) more and more
universities are getting mobilized," said 20-year-old Zoe, a masters
student in public administration at Sciences Po.
"We hope that will spread to all universities and
beyond ... we won't give in until the genocide in Gaza ends."
Science Po officials did not reply to a request for
comment.
On Wednesday night, police removed a first group of
students that had blocked Sciences Po, French media said, which was condemned
by left-wing politicians.
Renewed clashes between police and students opposed to
Israel's war in Gaza broke out on US campuses Thursday, raising questions about
forceful methods being used to shut down protests that have intensified since
mass arrests at Columbia University last week.
Israel has killed at least 34,305 Palestinians in its
assault on Gaza, health authorities in the enclave said on Thursday. Israel is
retaliating against an Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed 1,200 people and led to
253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
Source:
english.aawsat.com
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://english.aawsat.com/world/4986211-shoigu-says-russia-and-allies-should-step-military-exercises-asia%C2%A0
----
French president hints at possible new sanctions
against violent settlers in West Bank
Nur AsenaErturk
26.04.2024
The French president has hinted at possible new
sanctions against violent settlers in the West Bank, according to an official
statement.
Emmanuel Macron and Jordan's King Abdullah II in a
phone call expressed their deep concern over a possible Israeli military attack
on Rafah, and discussed the critical humanitarian situation in Gaza, the French
presidency statement said on Thursday.
“Regarding the West Bank, the two leaders firmly
condemned Israel’s recent announcements in terms of settlements, which are
against the international law.
"The head of state recalled that first measures
were taken against settlers guilty of violence against Palestinian civilians,
and that France was foreseeing other measures, in cooperation with its partners,”
the statement noted.
Macron and King Abdullah II also vowed to continue
working for de-escalation in the region.
Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip
since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year,
which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
More than 34,300 Palestinians have since been killed,
mostly women and children, and nearly 77,300 others injured amid mass
destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast
swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into
internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and
medicine, according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International
Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop
genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is
provided to civilians in Gaza.
Source:
aa.com.tr
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click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/french-president-hints-at-possible-new-sanctions-against-violent-settlers-in-west-bank/3202746
----
British Royal Navy shoots down missile for first time
since Gulf War in 1991 amid Houthi attacks on shipping
April 25, 2024
LONDON: A British Royal Navy destroyer shot down a
ballistic missile on Wednesday for the first time since the first Gulf War in
1991, the UK’s defense secretary told The Times newspaper.
In a report published Thursday, Grant Shapps told the
newspaper that HMS Diamond used its “Sea Viper” missile system to target the
weapon, which Yemen’s Houthi militia said they used to target two American
ships in the Gulf of Aden and an Israeli vessel in the Indian Ocean.
The Iran-backed group said its missiles targeted US
ship Maersk Yorktown, an American destroyer in the Gulf of Aden and Israeli
ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean, its military spokesman Yahya Sarea
confirmed.
It is the first such attack from the Yemeni militia in
two weeks in the region, where Royal Navy Type 45 destroyers have been deployed
to protect commercial ships since the Houthis initiated strikes on global
shipping in November last year in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
“The Yemeni armed forces confirm they will continue to
prevent Israeli navigation or any navigation heading to the ports of occupied
Palestine in the Red and Arabian Seas, as well as in the Indian Ocean,” Sarea
said on Wednesday.
Shapps said the latest Houthi attack was an example of
how dangerous the world was becoming and how “non-state actors were now being
supplied with very sophisticated weapons” from states such as Iran.
His comments came after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
this week pledged to increase spending on British defense to 2.5 percent of
national income, something Shapps said was “so vital” given continued tensions
in the Middle East.
Source:
arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2499371/middle-east
----
French police called in to break up US-style
pro-Palestinian student demo
26 April 2024
Authorities at a prestigious Paris university have
called in the police to end pro-Palestinian students’ occupation of part of the
campus, a protest method that is under way at dozens of American universities.
The law enforcement confronted the protesters, who
numbered around 60, and had occupied the Sciences Po university’s Saint Thomas
campus in the French capital’s Saint Germain des Pres neighborhood on
Wednesday.
The protesters demanded that the university "cut
its ties with universities and companies that are complicit in the [ongoing
Israeli] genocide in Gaza" and "end the repression of pro-Palestinian
voices on campus."
Undaunted by the authorities, as many as 150 students
gathered again on Thursday.
"The director has crossed a red line by deciding
to send in the police," said Ines Fontenelle, a member of the Student
Union at Sciences Po.
Union spokeswoman Eleonore Schmitt also said the
students would continue to mobilize "despite repression."
The developments came amid the Israeli regime’s
October 7-present genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
More than 34,300 Palestinians have been killed and
over 77,200 others wounded in the war that the regime began following a
retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory’s resistance movements.
The brutal military onslaught enjoys unreserved
military and political support on the part of the Israeli regime’s Western
allies, including the United States and France.
The Paris student protest came amid underway tent
protests on campuses from coast to coast across the United States, including
Columbia University, Yale University, Brown University in Providence, Rhode
Island, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology in Cambridge, and California State Polytechnic in Humboldt.
The American students are similarly asking their
universities to cut ties with the Israeli regime, while pressing Washington to
drop its support for the war.
Source:
presstv.ir
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/04/26/724380/Europe-France-Paris-student-protest-Israel-Gaza-war-United-States
---
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must be put
on terror group list: EU Parliament
Nur AsenaErturk
25.04.2024
Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps must be
put on the official EU list of terrorist groups, the European Parliament said
on Thursday.
EP members passed a resolution to reiterate their
“long-standing call to include Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the
EU list of terrorist organisations, stressing that such a decision is long
overdue due to malign Iranian activities,” said an official statement.
It also called on the European Council and EU foreign policy
chief JosepBorrell to add the Lebanese group Hezbollah to the same list.
The MEPs called on all parties to avoid further
escalation in the region, and expressed “deep concerns over the destabilising
role that the Iranian regime and its network of non-state actors play in the
Middle East.”
“MEPs welcome the EU’s decision to expand its current
sanctions regime against Iran, including by sanctioning the country’s supply
and production of unmanned drones and missiles to Russia and the wider Middle
East,” the statement said.
Iran on April 13 launched an airborne attack on Israel
in retaliation for an earlier airstrike on its diplomatic compound in the
Syrian capital. It fired some 300 drones and missiles, with almost all
intercepted by the air defense systems of Israel and its allies – the US,
France, and the UK.
World leaders and international observers have voiced
fears about hostilities between Iran and Israel, long-standing archenemies,
escalating and spreading the current conflict in Gaza into a wider regional
war.
Source:
aa.com.tr
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/irans-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-must-be-put-on-terror-group-list-eu-parliament/3202410
-----
Mideast
Zionist Suspicions in stealing Palestinians' organs in
Khan Yunis found
[26/April/2024]
GAZA April 26. 2024 (Saba) - The ambulance and rescue
crews participated in recovering the bodies of Palestinian martyrs from the
mass graves discovered in Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis city in the
southern Gaza Strip has revealed that there were suspicions that some of the
victims had been subjected to organ theft.
The Palestinian Wafa News Agency reported that at
least 392 bodies were recovered from three mass graves discovered in Nasser
Medical Complex after enemy forces withdrew from the city. Among the bodies
were 165 unidentified and could not be identified due to the occupation
changing the appearance of special signs to identify and mutilate the bodies.
Documented videos and photos showed some of the bodies
of victims in mass graves, showing signs of torture and being shackled with
plastic restraints.
The crews said “They found some bodies with their
hands tied, the abdomen open and stitched in a way that contradicts the usual
methods of suturing wounds in the Gaza Strip, which raises suspicions about the
theft of some human organs.”
They added "A body of a citizen was also spotted
wearing operational clothing, which raises doubts about his burial alive."
In the same regard, They pointed out that “a body of a
girl with her arms and legs amputated was spotted, and she was wearing
operating room clothes, which raises doubts about her being buried alive.”
The crews observed that some of the martyrs were
handcuffed with plastic ties, and that they were wearing a white robe that the
enemy used as clothing for detainees in Nasser Medical Complex, and there were
signs of a gunshot wound to the head which raises suspicions about their field
execution and liquidation.
They also observed many bodies whose shrouds were
changed and placed in new black and blue shrouds, which are plastic nylon bags
that differ from the colors used in Gaza. What raises suspicions is that the
occupation’s goal in doing so was to raise the temperature of the bodies in
order to speed up the process of decomposition and hide evidence.
Burials to depths exceeding three meters were
observed, in addition to bodies being piled on top of each other.
The crews considered that all previous evidence
indicates that the enemy committed crimes against humanity and carried out
field executions at the campus of Nasser Medical Complex, as part of the
genocidal war it has been waging against Gazans since Oct, 7, 2023.
On April 7, the enemy forces withdrew from Khan Yunis
four months after their invasion, including storming the Nasser Medical
Complex.
The United Nations, the European Union, the United
States of America, and France called for an independent investigation into the
mass graves in Gaza.
In addition to the mass graves of the Nasser Medical
Complex, dozens of bodies were previously found in mass graves discovered after
enemy forces withdrew from al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City and Martyr
Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip
continues despite the issuance of an immediate ceasefire resolution by the
Security Council, as well as its appearance before the International Court of
Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”
In an infinite toll, the number of martyrs rose to
34,305, the majority of whom were children and women, and injuries to 77,293
since the start of the aggression.
Source:
saba.ye
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original Story
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3324140.htm
----
Hamas official says Israel ‘will not achieve’ goals in
Rafah
April 25, 2024
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: A senior Hamas
official told AFP on Thursday that Israel would fail to meet its stated goals
of defeating the Palestinian militant group and freeing hostages by invading
the southern Gaza city Rafah.
“Even if (Israel) enters and invades Rafah, it will
not achieve what it wants,” Ghazi Hamad said in an interview over the phone
from Qatar, where a number of senior figures from Hamas’s political bureau are
based.
Hamad said Israel had “spent nearly seven months in
Gaza and invaded all areas and destroyed a lot, but so far has not been able to
achieve anything of its main goals, whether eliminating Hamas or returning the
captives.”
Israel has vowed to move on with the planned military
operation in Rafah, despite international outcry and concern for about 1.5
million Palestinians sheltering in the city.
There are fears of huge civilian casualties and
countries including Israel’s top ally and weapons supplier the United States
have warned Israel against sending troops into Rafah.
“We have spoken with all parties involved in the
conflict... about the seriousness of invading Rafah and that Israel is heading
toward committing additional massacres and additional genocide,” Hamad said.
“This will undoubtedly threaten the negotiations
because it is clear from this declared position that Israel is interested in
continuing the war and aggression and has no intention of continuing
negotiations and reaching an agreement,” he said.
Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have been
mediating talks to secure a truce and the release of hostages, but those have
stalled for days.
An Egyptian delegation is however set to travel to Israel
on Friday to kickstart a new round of talks, Israeli media reported citing
unnamed officials.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said
Israel’s war cabinet was meeting Thursday “to discuss how to destroy the last
battalions of Hamas.”
On Wednesday, Mencer said that since Israel began its
ground invasion of Gaza on October 27, the army has destroyed “at least 18 or
19 of Hamas’s 24 battalions.”
Officials say the remaining battalions are in Rafah —
the main target of the impending assault.
Most Gazans taking refuge in Rafah are sheltering in
makeshift camps, and even before the start of the expected ground invasion, the
city near the Egyptian border has been suffering regular Israeli bombings.
Hamad argued the planned invasion was exposing
contradictions in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stance on Gaza.
“Netanyahu is stumbling because, on the one hand, he
wants to return the captives to their families, as he says, but at the same
time, he puts them in great danger, as his army deliberately killed many
hostages.”
Israel’s army has admitted to mistakenly killing some
hostages in Gaza.
Hamad accused Netanyahu of “manipulating and
procrastinating” in a bid to “deceive the Israeli public that there are
negotiations and deceive the international community as well that there are
negotiations.”
He said the Israeli prime minister was “trying to
twist the truth” and claim that “Hamas is the obstacle in these negotiations.”
Hamad said Qatar and Egypt were “making great efforts
to reach an agreement,” but argued “the Israeli side unfortunately deals with
the matter foolishly and is very confused.”
Hamad also told AFP that Hamas, which took power in
Gaza in 2007, was already working on plans for the territory after the war.
He said the group was “working on the post-war phase
to ensure that there is a great effort to rebuild the Gaza Strip and provide
the necessities for a decent life.”
Palestinian militants took around 250 hostages to Gaza
during Hamas’s October 7 attack that triggered the war.
Israeli officials say 129 hostages are still held in
Gaza, including 34 the military says are dead.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths
of 1,170 people, Israelis and foreigners, according to an AFP tally based on
official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive against Hamas in Gaza
has killed 34,305 people, most of them women and children, according to the
territory’s health ministry.
Source:
arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2499436/middle-east
----
Israel ‘spoofs’ GPS signals, endangering flight safety
amid Gaza war: Report
26 April 2024
Israel has reportedly been manipulating the signals of
the US-based Global Positioning System (GPS) to deceive navigation systems,
endangering civil aviation since the beginning of a genocidal war on the Gaza
Strip.
The GPS spoofing, which sends false location signals
to satellites, has resulted in the listing of planes, people and even ships
that are hundreds of miles from Lebanon in Beirut's international airport, the
National Public Radio (NPR) reported.
The GPS spoofing acts “are intended to deter rockets
and missiles but are at the same time increasing risks for airline passengers
while forcing pilots and ship captains to abandon automated safety systems
developed over decades.”
Todd Humphreys, a professor of aerospace engineering
at the University of Texas at Austin, said he and his students have traced the
false signals to “a particular air base run by the Israeli military” in the
occupied territories.
"I like to say that spoofing is the new jamming.
Instead of just jamming the signals and breaking the links with GPS satellites,
they're spoon-feeding them false signals,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Aziz, a consultant to Lebanon's
Middle East Airlines and a retired airline captain, said unlike jamming, pilots
can easily mistake spoofed signals for real ones.
"You don't have a warning on the aircraft that
the signal is spoofed," he asserted.
Aziz further noted that the loss of reliably accurate
GPS signals has prompted pilots to return to practices half a century old, such
as reporting location points on the ground.
Earlier, the Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari
acknowledged that the regime is disrupting GPS signals.
Lebanon also announced that it will lodge a complaint
with the United Nations Security Council against Israel for disrupting its
navigation systems in violation of the country’s sovereignty.
Israel waged its brutal aggression against Gaza on
October 7 after the Palestinian Hamas resistance group carried out Operation
Al-Aqsa Storm against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified
atrocities against the Palestinian people.
The Tel Aviv regime has so far killed at least 34,305
Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 77,293 others.
Israel has also been exchanging deadly fire with
Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement.
Source:
presstv.ir
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-----
Hezbollah strikes Israeli military positions near
border with rockets, drones
26 April 2024
Fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance
movement have conducted a series of operations, targeting several Israeli
military positions in the northern part of the 1948 occupied territories with
various munitions, including explosive-laden combat drones.
Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television news channel reported
that the report struck a gathering of Israeli troopers close to the al-Dhairah
military site on Thursday afternoon with a salvo of rockets. The projectiles
hit the designated targets precisely and left casualties among the forces, the
report said.
Later in the day, Hezbollah fighters carried out a
drone strike against the EinMargaliot military base in response to Israeli
crimes against civilians in the southern regions of Lebanon.
Hezbollah artillery units also shelled a group of
Israeli soldiers as they were entering the al-Malikiyah post.
Moreover, the resistance fighters launched guided
missiles, artillery shells and rockets at an Israeli military convoy near
Ruwaisat al-Alam outpost on KfarShuba Hills. Two armored vehicles were
destroyed as a result.
The Israeli military had to create a smoke screen in
order to withdraw the casualties.
The Israeli regime has repeatedly attacked southern
Lebanon since October 7, when it launched a genocidal war on Gaza that has
killed at least 34,305 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
In retaliation, Hezbollah has launched near-daily
rocket attacks on Israeli positions.
At least 380 people have been killed on the Lebanese
border, including 72 civilians.
Hezbollah has already fought off two Israeli wars
against Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. The resistance forced the regime to retreat
in both conflicts.
Source:
presstv.ir
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----
Palestinians released from Israeli jails recount
horrible ordeal
25 April 2024
Some of the Palestinians released from Israeli jails
have recounted their suffering due to inhuman treatment, beatings, insults and
abuse at the hands of the regime’s jailers.
Israel has released some Palestinians from several
jails. They had been taken away in the wake of the aggression against the
besieged Gaza Strip since early October.
The Palestinians were held without any charge. Arbitrary
detention is used by Israel as a tool to persecute the Palestinians.
Severely damaged skin, signs of fatigue, unkempt hair
and long beards was the state in which a number of Palestinians emerged from
Israeli prisons.
Community activist Omar Assaf, 74, who was kidnapped
on October 24 after his house in central Ramallah was stormed by the Israeli
military, was among those released from OferPrison in recent days. “They
constantly assaulted the prisoners with severe beatings, using batons, rifles,
and heavy shoes," he said.
"There were prisoners with broken ribs and limbs
without providing them with any treatment."
In January, while imprisoned, Assaf felt dizzy and
fell to the ground, cutting his head and bleeding. He remained bedridden for
two weeks without receiving any treatment. In March, he appeared in court and
told the judge that he had been subjected to deliberate medical negligence.
"The judge tried to deny this, so he asked me:
'What could the jailers do for you?'" he said.
"I replied: 'I am not a doctor, but I know that
the simplest first aid is to try to stop the bleeding by shaving the hair,
applying bandages and medicine, then stitching the wound if necessary.'"
This was the 10th time Assaf had been arrested, but he
says that it was the cruelest detention of all.
United Nations and human rights groups have documented
widespread mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.
Last week, the United Nations agency for Palestinian
refugees (UNRWA) released a report detailing detainees being urinated on and
made to act like animals, and children being attacked by dogs.
A researcher at the Palestine Center for Prisoner
Studies, Amina Al-Tawil, shared with media outlets some of the testimonies she
had gathered from prisoners. She explained that the overwhelming majority of
prisoners were beaten, humiliated and assaulted.
Some appeared to confirm an incident involving
far-right extremist Israeli minister Itamar Ben Gvir, during a visit to Megiddo
prison earlier this year.
During the visit, prisoners were taken out to the yard
in front of him and beaten mercilessly. Then they were tied and forced to
kneel, and he passed them one by one to confirm that they had been beaten. Some
of them were bleeding.
“One of the prisoners looked up at Ben Gvir’s face, so
a prison guard put out his cigarette in his eye, causing him to lose it,” she
said.
Palestinian prisoner groups say the Israeli army has
arrested more than 8,000 Palestinians from the West Bank alone since October 7,
including 280 women and at least 540 children.
There has been a complete blackout on the treatment of
Palestinian prisoners. The testimonies of Palestinian prisoners have horrified
their families, and perhaps even more so the families of those with relatives
still in jail.
Source:
presstv.ir
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2024/04/25/724357/palestinian-testimonies-israel
----
Iran urges UNSC to address 'belligerent' Israel's
atrocities
Apr 26, 2024
TEHRAN, Apr. 26 (MNA) – Iran's permanent ambassador to
the United Nations has denounced Israel’s destabilizing activities in West
Asia, urging the UN Security Council to hold the Israeli regime accountable for
its atrocities in Gaza and elsewhere.
“Israel's ongoing destabilized and irresponsible
actions and atrocities against the nations in the region are a real threat to
regional and international peace and security,” Amir SaeidIravani said as he
addressed a UN Security Council session in New York on Thursday.
He noted that Israeli prime minister Benjamin
Netanyahu seeks to expand and escalate the conflict in the region to stay in
power, emphasizing that the members of the Security Council must not allow the
body to be held hostage to the ambitions of such a "belligerent regime."
“It is time for the Security Council to shoulder its
responsibility and address the real threat to international peace and security.
The Security Council must promptly fulfill its duty under Chapter 7 of the
Charter in response to Israel's reckless defiance.
“It must take urgent and punitive measures to compel
this regime to stop its genocide and massacre against the people of Gaza and
uphold its obligations especially fully implement the UNSC resolutions and
legally binding orders of the International Court of Justice,” the Iranian
diplomat pointed out.
Iravani underscored that Iran’s retaliatory missile
and drone strikes against the occupied territories were in response to the
Israeli regime’s terrorist attack of April 1 against the Islamic Republic’s
diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital Damascus.
“Iran's operation was entirely in the exercise of
Iran’s inherent right to self-defense as outlined in Article 51 of the Charter
of the United Nations and recognized by international law.
"This concluded action was necessary and
proportionate. It was precise and only targeted military objectives, and
carried out carefully to minimize the potential for escalation and prevent
civilian harm,” he stated.
The Iranian UN envoy went on to condemn the tendency
of certain Security Council members, including the United States, Britain and
France, to once again turn a blind eye to reality and overlook the root causes
of the current crisis.
“In hypocritical behavior, these three countries
falsely blamed and accused Iran without considering their own failures to
uphold their international commitments to peace and security in the region.
They made unsuccessful attempts to use lies, manipulate the narrative, spread
disinformation, and engage in a destructive blame game.
“All the while, they deliberately disregarded Iran's
inherent right to respond to the violation of a fundamental principle of
international law: the inviolability of diplomatic representatives and
premises. Moreover, they ignored the underlying root causes of the current
situation in the region,” Iravani stated.
The Iranian UN ambassador finally stated that the
Islamic Republic has no intention of engaging in conflict with the US in the
region; however, it will use its inherent right to respond proportionately if
Washington initiates military operations against Iran, its citizens, or its
security and interests.
Source:
mehrnews.com
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---
Iran calls on BRICS to play role in stopping Israeli
crimes
Apr 26, 2024
TEHRAN, Apr. 26 (MNA) – Iran has called on the BRICS
group of emerging economies to play a role in putting an immediate stop to
Israeli crimes against the Palestinians.
The call by Iran's deputy foreign minister Ali
BagheriKani in Moscow on Thursday came as his counterparts and special
representatives of BRICs nations met to discuss the latest developments in the
West Asia and North Africa region.
"The manner and quality of role-playing of
individual countries and international organizations in relation to the Israeli
regime's crisis mongering and the position they adopt in this regard is
effective and will be recorded in history," he said.
"Therefore, the members of the BRICS organization
should show their political and practical will to completely stop attacks on
people and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip," he said.
BagheriKani called on the BRICS nations to help with
the quick sending of humanitarian aid, especially food, medical equipment and
medicine to the Gaza Strip and the complete withdrawal of the occupying forces
and the reconstruction of the besieged territory.
"At the moment, our focus should be on achieving
a complete and permanent halt to the attacks of the Zionist regime in order to
reduce the humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip, expand the sending of
international humanitarian aid to Gaza, and provide firm support to the
activities of humanitarian organizations, especially UNRWA," he said.
"Only taking a position and making a statement is
not enough, and effective and decisive operational measures must be put on the
agenda for the Zionist regime to comply with the wishes of the international
community."
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has seen many of its top donor countries announce
funding freezes after Israeli accusations without evidence that its members had
participated in the October 7 operation against the occupying regime.
The senior Iranian diplomat thanked South Africa for
taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for genocide in the Gaza
Strip. He asked BRICS members to strongly support the case and provide
necessary legal solutions to deal with the crimes.
"The experience of the past 200 days of crime and
aggression by the Zionist regime has shown that the Palestinian nation cannot
be destroyed and the people of Gaza have proven that it is the Palestinian
child who wins against the Israeli bomb," he said.
BagheriKani said the "key to establishing
stability and peace in the region from Lebanon to Iraq and the Red Sea is to
stop the crimes of the Zionist regime against the defenseless and homeless
people of Gaza".
He touched on the West's attempt to justify the
Israeli crimes against humanity under the principle of the right of legitimate
defense, saying "this justification of the supporters of the Zionist
regime is completely invalid from a legal and international point of
view".
BagheriKani also touched on the Israeli attack on
Iran's consular building in Damascus and its assassination of some military
commanders and staff in the premises.
"After the unprecedented and illegal crime, the
Islamic Republic of Iran reserved the right of legitimate defense and the
occupying regime received the response to its crime in Damascus in the occupied
Palestinian territories."
Source:
mehrnews.com
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https://en.mehrnews.com/news/214375/Iran-calls-on-BRICS-to-play-role-in-stopping-Israeli-crimes
----
Iran's judiciary confirms death sentence of well-known
Iranian rapper ToomajSalehi
26.04.24
Iran's judiciary confirmed the death sentence of
well-known Iranian rapper ToomajSalehi but added that he is entitled to a sentence
reduction, state media reported on Thursday.
Salehi's lawyer Amir Raisian told Sharq newspaper on
Wednesday that an Iranian Revolutionary Court had sentenced his client to death
for charges linked to Iran's 2022-2023 unrest.
Salehi was arrested in October 2022 after making
public statements in support of the nationwide protests, sparked by the death
in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman arrested
over wearing an "improper" hijab.
On Thursday the judiciary's media department confirmed
Salehi's death sentence based on charges of "corruption on earth",
adding that the verdict entitled the defendant to a sentence reduction due to
"his expression of remorse and cooperation with authorities".
Salehi has 20 days to appeal his sentence with the
Supreme Court. If the sentence is upheld, the judiciary's amnesty commission
would review his case to potentially commute his sentence, the judiciary
media's department added.
In 2023, Iran's Supreme Court had rejected Salehi's
charges of "corruption on earth", a capital offence under Iran's
Islamic laws. The ruling has not been enforced, however, in what Salehi's
lawyer called "an unprecedented move" by the judiciary.
The hashtag #FreeToomaj has been trending on social
media platforms such as X, with users calling for Salehi's immediate release.
Source:
telegraphindia.com
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----
South
Asia
Three Neighbouring Countries Support Daesh: Acting
Foreign Minister Does Not Name any Country
Bibi Amina Hakimi
April 25, 2024
Amir Khan Muttaqi, the acting Foreign Minister, during
the opening ceremony of the Afghan-Kazakh exhibition said that three
neighbouring countries are supporting Daesh.
The acting Foreign Minister did not name any
countries; however, he reiterated that Daesh does not exist in Afghanistan.
Muttaqi said, "There is no safe haven for Daesh
in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, in these three neighbouring countries, one
provides manpower, another is a route for destructive individuals to pass through,
and a third has provided them with financing and planning centers on its soil.
If these three countries fulfil their responsibilities, there will be no
problems in Afghanistan or the region."
The political deputy of the Prime Minister, Mawlawi
Abdul Kabir, said: "As you can witness, thank God, Afghanistan has
positive relations with countries in the region and its neighbors, and these
relations are flowing smoothly."
Amir Khan Muttaqi added that the Islamic Emirate has
consistently endeavored over the past three years to expand its relations with
the world. He emphasized that Kabul has recently hosted high-level delegations
from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Russia, Malaysia, the European
Union, and Kazakhstan.
The acting Foreign Minister said: "In recent
days, Kabul has hosted high-ranking delegations from other countries including
Russia, Malaysia, the European Union, Kazakhstan, and the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation."
Speaking at the opening of the Afghan-Kazakh
exhibition, this acting government official announced his support for the
people of Palestine and accused the United States of America of violating human
rights in Gaza. He added, "The USA accuses the Islamic Emirate of
violating human rights in their declarations, we tell them to look at what they
have done in Palestine and in Gaza?"
According to information from officials of the Islamic
Emirate, diplomatic representation of the Islamic Emirate is currently active
in 38 countries and these representations continue their work normally.
Source:
tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-188491
----
Taliban detains 6 Iranian border guards in Western
Afghanistan
Fidel Rahmati
April 25, 2024
According to a report the Taliban have detained six
Iranian border guards after they entered Afghan territory in the Farah
province.
The Iranian border guards, claiming to have mistakenly
entered Afghanistan, are now under the custody of Taliban intelligence.
The report said that a Taliban letter addressed to
Hafiz Elias, the head of the military commission in Kandahar, states that these
six Iranian border guards were arrested for entering Afghan soil.
Initial investigations indicate that these Iranian
soldiers told the Taliban they had mistakenly crossed into Afghanistan.
However, Taliban officials wrote in the letter to the Kandahar military
commission that based on information, Iran intends to carry out operations
against the “Baloch Mujahideen” in Afghanistan without coordination with the
Taliban government.
The letter also states that the Strategic Intelligence
Directorate of the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense is aware of this matter.
According to sources, Iranian officials are currently
in talks with the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense for the release of the border
guards.
Neither Iran nor the Taliban has officially commented
on the matter so far.
Source:
khaama.com
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https://www.khaama.com/taliban-detains-6-iranian-border-guards-in-western-afghanistan/
----
Exclusive CNN Report: US forces fired towards
civilians during chaotic exit from Afghanistan
Fidel Rahmati
April 25, 2024
CNN has revealed new details of the deadly ISIS attack
at Kabul airport in August 2021, showing that after the ISIS attack, US forces
engaged in gunfire, resulting in “numerous” casualties not from the suicide
blast but from US soldiers’ shooting.
The television network, in an exclusive report
released Wednesday, April 24th, has questioned at least two official reports
from the US Department of Defense on the deadly explosion during the withdrawal
of US forces from Afghanistan.
According to official reports from the US Department
of Defense, in the deadly ISIS attack at Kabul airport in August 2021, where
thousands had gathered to leave Afghanistan, 13 US soldiers and around 170
Afghans were killed, but CNN’s findings have questioned this claim and reported
on the deaths of many Afghan citizens as a result of US forces’ gunfire.
CNN reporters Mick Kreve and Nick Paton Walsh examined
GoPro footage recorded by Marine riflemen, previously prevented from being
released, showing that the number of shootings is much higher than the Pentagon
has admitted so far.
American soldiers present during the deadly ISIS
attack at Kabul airport have also spoken, confirming gunfire after the suicide
attack, stating that it was not one or two individuals but a large number of
soldiers who began shooting.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post has reported, citing
its sources, that US forces transferred the perpetrator of the deadly ISIS
attack at Kabul airport from India to a prison in Afghanistan. According to
this report, Abdul Rahman al-Logari, identified as the perpetrator of the
deadly attack at Kabul airport, was transferred from India to Bagram prison in
Afghanistan in January 2021.
US forces vacated Bagram Air Base, where Bagram prison
was located, on July 2, 2021, without coordination, and Abdul Rahman al-Logari
was released on August 15, 2021, eleven days before the attack on Kabul
airport.
Source:
khaama.com
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---
UNHRC to Review Human Rights Situation in Afghanistan
April 25, 2024
The United Nations Human Rights Council's Universal
Periodic Review Working Group is set to review human rights reports from
Afghanistan in less than four days.
According to the United Nations Human Rights Council,
Afghanistan is one of 14 countries whose human rights situation is being
reviewed by this working group.
The United Nations Human Rights Council session will
be held on April 29.
"The Islamic Emirate must strive as soon as
possible to open the gates of schools and universities to our sisters so that
we can have a bright and good future," Zakiullah Mohammadi, a university
scholar, told TOLOnews.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International also reported a dire
human rights situation in Afghanistan, particularly the rights of women and
girls, and called for the urgent abolition of restrictions imposed on women in
the country.
"In current Afghanistan, we are witnessing a
culture of impunity under Taliban rule, and within this culture of impunity, we
are witnessing widespread human rights violations," Zaman Sultani, a South
Asia researcher at Amnesty International, told TOLOnews.
This is while the Islamic Emirate once again
emphasized that the rights of women in Afghanistan are secured within the
framework of Islamic laws.
HamdullahFetrat, the deputy spokesperson for the
Islamic Emirate, told TOLOnews: "The Islamic Emirate, as a regime, is
committed to providing the Islamic and Sharia rights to the citizens of the
country. The Western world wants to ensure Western rights in the country, which
in reality is an attempt to impose Western culture."
Earlier, a number of countries including the United
States called for the lifting of bans against women in Afghanistan and stated
that if women's rights are not observed, “the Taliban” will not be recognized.
Source:
tolonews.com
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https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-188494
----
PM joins bilateral meeting with Thai premier Thavisin
Apr 26, 2024
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today arrived at
Government House, the Thailand Prime Minister's Office, to join a bilateral
meeting with her Thai counterpart SretthaThavisin.
The two sides are expected to discuss bilateral and
regional issues of mutual interest, according to Bangladesh officials.
After the talks, a number of bilateral documents are
set to be signed in presence of the two prime ministers, aimed at strengthening
cooperation between the two countries in some areas.
The two leaders will also have a one-on-one meeting
for around 15 minutes there.
On her arrival at the Government House at 10:30am,
Hasina was received by the Thai premier.
She was accorded a warm welcome at the front lawn of
Thai Kooh Fah Building there.
The Bangladesh PM inspected the guard of honour given
by a smartly turned out contingent of the Thai armed forces.
Thavisin introduced his cabinet members to Hasina
before she signed the guest book of the Government House.
Hasina will also join an official luncheon before
leaving the Government House.
The Bangladesh PM arrived in Bangkok on Wednesday on a
six-day official visit to Thailand at the invitation of her Thai counterpart.
Source:
thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/diplomacy/news/pm-joins-
-----
288 more Myanmar troops repatriated
Apr 26, 2024
Bangladesh yesterday sent back 288 Myanmar troops who
had crossed the border to flee the war between Myanmar's military junta and the
Arakan Army.
They were repatriated around 7:00am by a tugboat,
which on Wednesday ferried 173 Bangladeshi nationals who were imprisoned in
Myanmar jails on various charges, including trespassing.
At 4:30am, 10 buses carrying 288 Myanmar nationals
left from BGB School in Naikhonchhari in Bandarban for Cox's Bazar and reached
the Bangladesh Inland Water Transportation Authority's jetty around 5:30am,
sources at district administration said.
Later, they boarded the tugboat and left for the
Myanmar ship Chin Dwin, which was waiting for them in the Bay of Bengal near St
Martin Island in their water territory, sources said.
During the handover, a delegation of nine members,
including four officials from the Myanmar Embassy in Dhaka, were present in
addition to the delegation that came from Myanmar on Wednesday.
On behalf of Bangladesh, senior officials of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, District Administration, BGB,
Police, and Coast Guard were present.
Source:
thedailystar.net
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https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/288-more-myanmar-troops-repatriated-3595586
----
Southeast
Asia
China wants ‘just, lasting’ solution to Palestine
issue
Anadolu Staff
26.04.2024
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Thursday for
an “early and lasting” solution to the ongoing Palestine issue.
Wang spoke during a meeting in Beijing with his
Malaysian counterpart Mohamad Hasan, saying his country wants to work with
Kuala Lumpur to promote an “early, comprehensive, just and lasting” solution to
the simmering issue, the South China Morning Post reported.
Hasan, who wrapped up a three-day visit to China which
started on Tuesday, said that Kuala Lumpur highly appreciates Beijing’s stance
on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Israel has launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza
Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last
year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.
More than 34,300 Palestinians, mostly women and
children, have since been killed, and nearly 77,300 others injured amid mass
destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast areas
of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal
displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine,
according to the UN.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International
Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop
genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is
provided to civilians in Gaza.
South China Sea
Malaysia’s top diplomat said his country opposes the
meddling of “external forces” in the disputed South China Sea, adding the
foreign interference is not welcomed in the region.
Malaysia is one of several countries with overlapping
territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Wang praised Malaysia as “an important member” of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a “representative of emerging
economies, and a positive and stable force in the Muslim world.”
He added that China would improve coordination with Malaysia
and stand up and speak for the interests of the Global South on the
international stage.
The two sides also discussed strengthening economic
cooperation and exchanged views on international issues.
Hasan’s visit came as the US and the Philippines continue
Balikatan 2024, an annual, two-week joint military exercise in the South China
Sea, until May 8.
China has been Malaysia’s largest trade partner for
the last 15 years. The annual trade volume between the two countries is over
$98 billion.
Source:
aa.com.tr
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----
Waqf-based forests: Harnessing Islamic philanthropy
for climate financing in Indonesia
26 Apr 2024
Domestic funding for climate resilience has been one
of Indonesia’s top priorities. Going “bigger” and “better” are essential to
Indonesia’s future prosperity, given the Asian Development Bank has warned
climate change could cost the country 3.5% of national GDP by the year 2100.
Indonesia contributes to the sixth-highest proportion of global greenhouse
emissions, making climate action more pertinent than ever.
In this context, the concept of waqf-based forests
emerges as a unique and promising approach, drawing upon the principles of
Islamic tradition to finance climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
Waqf, rooted in Islamic jurisprudence, refers to
permanently dedicating assets, including land, for charitable purposes. Waqf
assets are considered perpetual endowments, with their benefits directed
towards fulfilling social, economic, or religious objectives. Waqf-based
forests, therefore, are areas of land designated for conservation, with the
revenue generated from these forests through eco-tourism and other initiatives
allocated towards climate change initiatives. These forests can also
potentially count in any carbon credit scheme. They contribute not only by
collecting endowments to buy lands that will be converted into forests but also
deliver value beyond monetary assistance through Sharia-based socio-economic
justice.
According to the Fiscal Policy Agency of the Ministry
of Finance, for Indonesia to achieve its nationally determined contribution
target for reducing emissions by 2030, it will need financing of IDR 4,299
trillion (US$281 billion). While waqf funding from Indonesia in total is
estimated by the National Waqf Agency (BWI) to be approaching IDR 180 trillion
(US$11 billion), and obviously is not dedicated solely to climate matters, this
cash figure excludes other forms of waqf from the calculation.
In addition to financial benefits, waqf-based forests
create social and economic opportunities for local communities. Sustainable
forestry practices generate employment, promote skills development, and
stimulate local economies. Furthermore, waqf-based forests can serve as
educational and research hubs, fostering awareness about environmental
conservation and sustainable land management practices.
Muslims for Shared Action on Climate Impact (MOSAIC)
has advocated the waqf-based forest project since 2022 as a recommendation of
the Muslim Congress for a Sustainable Indonesia (KongresUmat Islam untuk
Indonesia Lestari). MOSAIC is an Islamic-driven collaborative movement to
mobilise Muslims nationwide to participate actively in climate initiatives.
This movement is in line with a notion of “Green Islam” in the country, which
recently featured in The New York Times. As Nur Hasan Murtiaji, a member of the
MOSAIC steering committee, explained, the origin of the movement started from a
2019 study that identified Indonesia as one of the countries with the lowest
confidence in climate change:
In 2020, with a more precise context, the results are
quite surprising: 9 out of 10 Indonesians are worried about climate change but
also believe God has supreme power. This underscores the potential to discuss
climate change in an Islamic context, considering that Indonesian society
trusts religious leaders more than political figures.
Persuading Muslim communities that waqf-based forests
can grant them divine rewards by helping to safeguard nature through donations
will be the key to helping unlock the capital required to decarbonise economies
and make them more resilient to harsher weather conditions.
Establishing and managing waqf-based forests will
require collaboration between governments, religious institutions, non-profit
organisations, local communities, and private investors. Governments can
provide policy support, land tenure security, and regulatory frameworks
conducive to waqf-based forest development.
A waqf forest in Bogor District, West Java Province,
is a case in point.
This year, Bogor Waqf Forests Foundation, in
collaboration with MOSAIC and Republika, kick-started a campaign titled “For
the sake of eternal rewards” (pahalasepanjang masa) on KitaBisa.com digital
fundraising platform. This campaign aimed to pilot a waqf-based forest to
assist rural communities affected by landslides by restoring degraded land,
conserving biodiversity, and mitigating carbon emissions. Before this campaign,
Bogor Waqf Forests Foundation already managed three waqf-based forests.
The idea of waqf-based forests has great potential,
which can continue to be developed through the social capital of the Indonesian
people. Indonesia has been ranked top for generosity across six consecutive
years by the World Giving Index, which shows the strong influence of religious
values and cultural traditions in society. This generosity can be seen from the
collection of zakat, infaq, and alms in addition to waqf, which consistently
increases every year.
Waqf is often still associated with contributions to
religious rituals, such as mosques (masjid), madrasas (madrasah), and
cemeteries (makam), abbreviated as “3M”. Waqf also has the potential to be
leveraged as a public effort to support environmental conservation. In a future
where social, natural, and economic justice are needed to reduce the impact of
climate change, the traditional methods of giving and caring within Islamic
cultures provide a promising path forward.
Source:
lowyinstitute.org
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Indonesia, UNICEF release integrated Regsosek design
report
April 26, 2024
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government and the
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) released the Integrated Socio-Economic
Registration System (Regsosek) Design report that underscores data's role in
strengthening social assistance programs' planning for the poor and vulnerable
families.
"The program should be based on updated reliable
data to ensure the social protection program runs successfully," Deputy
for Population and Employment of the Ministry of National Development
Planning/National Development Planning Agency (PPN/Bappenas) Maliki noted in an
official statement from the office, Friday.
He elaborated that the report also describes the use
of Regsosek to increase the disbursal of social protection assistance to
families and children included in the poor group as well as distribution in
emergencies.
Moreover, the report recommends the use of Regsosek to
provide social security support more effectively by ensuring continual update
of data, Maliki stated.
“This is a very significant step to improve our
accuracy in planning, budgeting, and service delivery for the most vulnerable
members of society. Regsosek is the latest part of a series of progressive
social protection reforms in Indonesia," he remarked.
Related news: Ministry highlights importance of
Regsosek for inclusive data
UNICEF Indonesia representative Maniza Zaman stated
that results of the report could serve as a blueprint for identifying families
included in vulnerable groups.
According to Zaman, the distribution of social services
to these groups is considered to be part of the efforts to realize the Golden
Indonesia Vision 2045, as families and children are an important state
investment.
"Indonesia is one of the few exemplary countries
with its ability to take decisions in order to establish a socio-economic
registry to improve social protection management and reduce poverty
quickly," Zaman noted.
Regsosek data collection has been completed since 2023
using the Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS) and data for Targeting the Acceleration
of Elimination of Extreme Poverty (P3KE).
Currently, Regsosek data covers almost 271 residents,
or 95 percent of Indonesia's total population.
"The Indonesian government continues to strive to
align Regsosek with other national data, such as population data, social
security data, and education data," she stated.
Source:
antaranews.com
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https://en.antaranews.com/news/311868/indonesia-unicef-release-integrated-regsosek-design-report
----
Malaysia to explore collaborations with Islamic
Development Bank, says Treasury sec-gen
25 Apr 2024
PUTRAJAYA, April 25 — Malaysia will explore collaborations
with the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) in line with the country’s
interest to drive Islamic finance innovation, said Treasury Secretary-General
Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican.
He said Malaysia plays a significant role as a
founding member.
Malaysia joined the IsDB on August 12, 1974. The
bank’s current membership comprises 57 countries.
“This year is the IsDB jubilee celebrations and in
line with the Prime Minister’s keen interest for Malaysia to drive Islamic
finance innovation, Malaysia will explore potential collaborations with IsDB,”
he told Bernama.
Johan will represent the Finance Ministry at this
year’s IsDB annual meetings and IsDB golden jubilee in Riyadh from April 27-30,
under the Royal Patronage of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Bin
Abdulaziz Al-Saud.
At last year’s IsDB meeting, Malaysia and the bank
discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties as it looked into potential
strategic cooperation in the halal economy, Islamic finance, and
digitalisation. It also looked at ways to strengthen the role of IsDB’s Centre
of Excellence in Kuala Lumpur.
This year’s meeting will be participated by Ministers
of Economy, Planning, and Finance from IsDB’s 57 member countries and will
provide an opportunity to explore ways to consolidate economic relations among
IsDB member countries.
It will also maximise cooperation with participating
financing institutions, according to an IsDB press release.
Representatives of international and regional
financial institutions, Islamic banks, private sector companies, national and
international development finance institutions, global and regional
organisations, NGOs, chambers of commerce and Industry, and business councils
will also be there.
“The 2024 annual meetings will be held under the theme
of ‘Cherishing our Past, Charting our Future: Originality, Solidarity and
Prosperity’. It marks IsDB’s 50 years of fostering socio-economic development
among member countries.
“As the premier south-south multilateral development
bank, the annual meetings and golden jubilee are expected to attract
international and regional attention. It will also feature side events with
top-level panellists from government, international and regional organisations,
the private sector, academia, and civil society,” it said.
The IsDB will also celebrate its golden jubilee to
commemorate five decades of unwavering collaboration, steadfast partnerships,
and transformative change.
The event will mark the IsDB’s journey that began 50
years ago in Riyadh with the inaugural meeting of its board of governors,
graced by the Emir of Riyadh at that time HRH Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz
Al-Saud.
There will be several forums, seminars, and meetings
including the Governors Roundtable Meeting, the 18th IsDB Global Forum on
Islamic Finance, IsDB Group 2024 Private Sector Forum, the Role of SMEs in
Saudi Vision 2030, Charting a Course for Augmenting SDGs Financing and
Leveraging Islamic Finance for Developing Sustainable and Resilient
Infrastructure.
Last November, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
called on Muslim countries to boost collaboration among themselves in business,
investment and economics.
He said Muslim countries should free themselves from
isolation and seize opportunities to work together, especially if they are
neighbours, instead of competing.
Saudi Arabia is Malaysia’s largest trading partner
among West Asian countries, with total bilateral trade amounting to US$10.26
billion (RM49 billion) in 2022, a 159.2 per cent increase from 2021. — Bernama
Source:
malaymail.com
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----
Arab
World
Houthi: US complicit in all Israeli crimes against
Palestinians in Gaza
25 April 2024
The leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement
has held the US accountable for aiding and abetting the Zionist regime in the
atrocities against Gaza, saying Washington is managing the crimes ranging from
siege and starvation to killing and destruction.
Speaking during a televised speech broadcast live from
the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a on Thursday, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi stated
that the occupying Israeli regime continues to perpetrate all kinds of crimes
against the Palestinian population of Gaza, and has no reservation about
kidnapping and murder of Palestinians.
“The Zionist enemy is employing new techniques to slay
the Palestinian nation, including emitting cries and requests for help through
the speakers installed on their drones. Once people rush to the source of the
sound for help, Israeli aircraft target and kill them in cold blood.
“Exhumation and theft of body parts of patients, and
murder of medical staff are also among other crimes of the Zionist army during
the ongoing war against Gaza,” Houthi stated.
The Ansarullah chief stated that Israel has turned
hospitals in Gaza into mass graves, emphasizing whatever the Zionist enemy does
is under the full financial and military support of Americans.
“Americans are putting pressure on Qatar as a
mediating country to adopt a view aligned with the United States and Israel
against the Hamas movement. The US does not respect international law, human
rights or any subjects it brags about, such as democracy and freedom of opinion
and expression,” he pointed out.
Houthi underscored that the US and its Western allies
don’t want formation of a sovereign independent Palestinian state.
He also abhorred the US police’s violent clampdown on
university students and professors attending demonstrations in support of
Palestine, asserting that US officials only accept voices that call for
extermination of Gazans.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Ansarullah leader
referred to rocket and missile attacks by Palestinian resistance forces against
the Israeli-occupied territories, stating that the Zionist enemy has suffered
huge losses in terms of hardware and military personnel in Gaza.
“Israel's planned attacks against Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip are actually a war against the entire community living in the
region. The enemy targets the Palestinian nation every day through all the
means of mass killing, starvation and spread of infectious diseases. We have
not heard of such a significant level of heinous crimes anywhere in the world,”
Houthi highlighted.
He also pointed to the mass evacuation of Israeli
settlers from areas along the border with the Gaza Strip, stating that the fact
that half of settler are thinking about migration and departure from the
occupied territories indicates an existential crisis and that they view
themselves as usurpers and occupiers.
“The reverse migration of Zionists is among the
strategic outcomes of the steadfastness and resilience of Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip,” the Ansarullah chief said.
Houthi also pointed to extensive operations by the
Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement against Israeli military positions in
the northern side of the 1948 occupied territories, stressing that the strikes
are precise and effective and have prompted Israeli military figures to
acknowledge the difficulty in confronting Hezbollah.
Commenting on maritime operations by Yemeni naval
forces against Israeli-affiliated merchant vessels, the Ansarullah leader
stated that the forces are looking to expand offensives in the Indian Ocean in
such a way that it would catch Americans, Britons and Israelis by surprise.
“Over the 202 days of the Gaza war, we have targeted
102 ships. On average, we have targeted an Israeli-linked ship every two days.”
US and British militaries have failed to deal with
Yemeni missile and drone strikes despite continuous and strict monitoring as to
movement of ships, Houthi said.
Yemeni attacks, he added, have rendered the Israeli
Port of Eilat on the Red Sea out of service, and incurred substantial losses on
the regime.
“Yemeni attacks have to 40% decrease in Israeli
imports, and reduced the Zionist regime’s exports by at least 22%. The maritime
operations have also lowered the traffic of US ships though the Red Sea by 80%.
“As long as the siege and aggression against Gaza
continues, our operations in the Red Sea will continue. We won’t downgrade our
naval operations, but rather intend to expand our operations in the Indian
Ocean,” Houthi stated.
Source:
presstv.ir
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----
Investigation clears coalition on claims of rights
violations at Yemen sites
April 25, 2024
RIYADH: The Joint Incident Assessment Team held a
conference in Riyadh on Wednesday to announce the results of investigations
into allegations against coalition forces in Yemen.
The report details three incidents, including claims
that coalition forces targeted two houses in the Sha’aban area, a civilian
house in Al-Hudaydah governorate, and Al-Ghail Health Center in Al-Ghail.
Team spokesman Mansour Al-Mansour said that “with
regards to what was stated in the ninth periodic report on the works of the
National Commission to Investigate Alleged violations to Human Rights in Yemen
(NCIAVHR) on Dec 11, 2017, the Coalition Forces targeted G.J house and M.J.
house in Sha’aban area in Razih directorate of Sa’ada governorate, the
targeting resulted in the destruction of the two houses, killing and injuring
number of people, and the destruction of two cars.”
Al-Mansour, said that the investigation had concluded
that the coalition forces carried out an air mission on a military target, 4.5
km away from the coordinates of the claimed two houses, using one guided bomb
that hit its target.
Regarding the allegation that the coalition targeted a
civilian house in Al-Jirahi directorate of Al-Hudaydah governorate on Dec. 1,
2021, and that one man and two children were injured in the strike, JIAT found
that the coalition did not carry out any air missions in the whole of the
governorate.
JIAT also exonerated the coalition over a report
issued by Physicians for Human Rights which stated that on Feb. 24, 2016, coalition
forces aircraft dropped three munitions on Al-Ghail Health Center in Al-Ghail
directorate of Al-Jawf governorate.
At the time, Houthi militia were occupying the site
and using it as a military center. The building was partially destroyed in the
attack.
In response to the allegation, JIAT found that
coalition forces carried out an air mission on a military target, consisting of
a gathering of fighter elements belonging to the Houthi militia, in a vacant
area, 2.9 km away from Al-Ghail Health Center, using one guided bomb that hit
its target.
Source:
arabnews.com
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2499401/saudi-arabia
----
Saudi Vision 2030 Harmonizes Tradition, Modernity
while Embracing Religious, National Principles, Al-Sudais Says
25 Apr, 2024
President of Religious Affairs of the Grand Mosque and
the Prophet's Mosque Sheikh Dr. Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz Al-Sudais, said that
Saudi Vision 2030 combines tradition and modernity while firmly upholding the
principles of moderate religious values.
Sheikh Al-Sudais stated that Vision 2030 -- launched
by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, the
Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia -- maintains a
key pillar represented by the Kingdom serving as the depth of the Arab and
Islamic worlds.
He underscored the Kingdom's esteemed religious
status, bestowed by Allah; its rich cultural heritage, which is deeply rooted
in history; and its economic leadership.
The blessed vision of His Royal Highness the Crown
Prince, Vision 2030, blends tradition and modernity while firmly establishing
the principles of moderate religious values and promoting tolerance and
moderation,” Sheikh Al-Sudais affirmed.
He further emphasized the vision's objective of
enhancing the strategic Islamic depth of the Kingdom, serving the Two Holy
Mosques and their visitors, and enriching their religious experience through a
comprehensive range of specialized religious development initiatives.
These endeavors, Sheikh Al-Sudais noted, solidify the
Kingdom's pioneering role in religious, Islamic, global, and civilizational
domains.
Saudi Arabia has witnessed a historic surge in the
number of foreign Umrah performers, according to the report released on the
eighth anniversary of the launch of Vision 2030.
The number of Umrah performers from abroad has reached
13.56 million pilgrims, exceeding the estimated target of 10 million for 2023,
and surpassing the baseline of 6.2 million pilgrims.
The overall goal of Vision 2030 is to accommodate 30
million pilgrims.
Furthermore, the number of volunteers assisting Umrah
performers has exceeded 131,000, surpassing the annual target of 110,000
volunteers.
Source:
alriyadhdaily.com
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https://alriyadhdaily.com/article/9a40c619bee2475d882e1ccc3926991c
----
OIC Islamic Summit Conference to Be Held in Gambia
Next Month
26 April 2024
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will
hold the 15th annual Islamic Summit Conference on May 4-5 in the Gambian
capital, Banjul.
The session will be held under the slogan,
"Enhancing Unity and Solidarity through Dialogue for Sustainable
Development," the Saudi Press Agency said.
The Conference will be preceded by a preparatory
meeting that will take place on April 30 and May 1.
Leaders of OIC member states will discuss the
political issues of the Islamic world, most notably the Palestinian cause,
economic, humanitarian, social and cultural issues, youth, women, family,
science and technology, information, Muslim communities and minorities in non-
OIC member states, Islamophobia, hate speech, climate change, food security,
and legal matters.
The OIC secretary-general will present a report at the
summit reviewing the most prominent activities, programs, and projects
undertaken by the organization since the previous session of the Islamic Summit
Conference.
The 15th conference will issue a final communique that
includes the organization's positions on the issues submitted to the summit, a
resolution on Palestine and Al-Quds Al-Sharif, and the Banjul Declaration.
Source:
english.aawsat.com
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https://english.aawsat.com/gulf/4985891-oic-islamic-summit-conference-be-held-gambia-next-month
----
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-quota-islamisation-division/d/132207