Muslim women can resort to extrajudicial divorce under Islamic law unilaterally: Kerala High Court
New
Age Islam News Bureau
02
November 2022
Kerala
High Court cited the Holy Quran and said that a Muslim wife has the right to
terminate her marriage. (File photo)
--------------
• US Islamophobia Bill
remains inactive; fails to curb anti-Muslim violence and hatred
•
UN chief appeals for Arab unity as antidote to foreign interference and
terrorism
•
Former Minister of Justice to Visit Europe Discussing Human Rights Violations
•
Indonesian extremists are climbing the political ladder
•
Imam of Al Azhar, Pope Francis co-chair Muslim Elders Council meeting in
Bahrain
•
FM: Enemies Seeking to Pave Ground for Terror Attacks in Iran
•
US Targets Smugglers Supplying Islamic State in Somalia
India
•
Visakhapatnam: Muslims serve food to Ayyappa devotees
•
Uniform Civil Code raked up before polls to hide governance failures, says
Muslim body
•
Centre To Grant Citizenship To Non-Muslim Minorities Of Pakistan, Afghanistan
And Bangladesh Staying In India; Seeks Application
•
J&K: 4 terrorists killed in two separate encounters
•
Our funds, our curriculum: Darul Uloom sees no need for affiliation with UP
madrasa board
•
Meet the angels of Morbi bridge tragedy who saved more than 50 lives
--------
North America
•
US Marine who entered to blow up Indiana mosque embraces Islam
•
Iran plotting imminent attack on Saudi Arabia; puts US-Saudis on elevated
alert: Report
•
US Treasury imposes sanctions on Somali arms network
•
American Rescue Plan funded writing fellowship for ‘non-binary’ 13-year-olds,
Muslim jazz series in NYC
•
US concerned about Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia: White House
•
US ‘concerned’ about possible Iran missiles for Russia
--------
Europe
•
Vladimir Putin’s jihad against the West
•
Shortage of mosques in France: The everyday consequences for French Muslims
•
Does The Qur’an Support Attacks On Christianity And Judaism?
•
UK counter-terrorism police take over migrant center firebombing probe
•
Muslim students urged to boycott NUS after Shaima Dallali sacked as President
•
Abuse after Muslim hikers' Countryfile appearance
•
Russia recruiting US-trained Afghan commandos, vets say
•
Ukraine will ask FIFA to ban Iran from Qatar World Cup over “human rights
violations”
•
French media demand Iran release reporter covering protest
•
German chancellor praises Türkiye's efforts to keep Ukraine grain deal in force
•
YPG/PKK terror group kidnaps Syrian minor in Aleppo
•
Turkish FM reiterates support for Crimean Tatars in meeting with leader
•
Türkiye's Maarif Foundation providing critical support to Turkish students in
Belgium
•
Umrah agents to explore itinerary opportunities at London event
•
Putin tells Erdogan he wants ‘real guarantees’ from Kyiv on grain deal: Kremlin
--------
South Asia
•
Afghanistan’s mainstream media shaken by Taliban takeover
•
Muttaqi Calls on World to Engage with Islamic Emirate
•
Bangladesh pledges to boost trade, relations with Türkiye
•
Opium Production Rises by 32% in Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan
•
Former Afghan VP’s Party Calls for Referendum on Federal System in Afghanistan
•
Blast hits bus carrying Taliban admin. employees in Kabul, injures seven
•
HRW calls on ICC to investigate all sides in Afghanistan
--------
Southeast Asia
•
Ahead of GE15, CIJ launches site monitoring hate speech
•
Malaysia’s MAPIM President Urges Bringing Perpetrates of Shiraz Terrorist
Attack to Justice
•
Muslim preacher Kazim Elias withdraws hours after named BN hopeful for Larut
•
Indonesia seeks UAE, Saudi aid in fighting tuberculosis, meningitis
•
Maybank Islamic wins top accolades in The Asset awards 2022
•
After Halloween raid in KL, human rights groups call for Suhakam to review
joint ops involving religious depts
•
In court, Zahid's aide says boss donated RM10m to build mosque for in-laws,
over RM38m sponsored for mosque named after his parents
•
3 seats offered to ‘friends of BN’ may have irked MIC, say sources
•
Snubbed by BN, Shahidan says will contest Arau but undecided on party
•
Malaysia election: Ahmad Zahid says he did not ask UMNO candidates to back him
as PM
--------
Arab World
•
Qatari UN ambassador demands end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab
territories
•
Netherlands to repatriate 40 ISIS-linked women and children from Syrian camps
•
Damascus will sooner or later respond to recurrent Israeli aggression, Syrian
FM pledges
•
US military convoy forced to retreat after civilians block road in Syria’s Dayr
al-Zawr
•
Bahrain's jailed dissidents urge Pope to raise issue of crackdown, repression
during visit
•
Sharjah museum showcases rare Quran manuscripts, Islamic calligraphy
•
Iraq's new premier sacks senior officials
•
Egypt invites Brazil’s Lula to COP27
•
Egypt’s prominent activist starts ‘full hunger strike’ in prison
•
Lebanon raises cost of electricity for first time since 1990s
•
Russia ready to boost ties with Arab League to strengthen regional, global
security
•
Syrian 'crisis' must end: Head of Arab League
•
Arab League urges Lebanon to agree on new president
--------
Mideast
•
Iran prepares to send 1,000 weapons including missiles, drones to Russia:
Report
•
Benjamin Netanyahu poised for comeback in Israeli election, exit polls show
•
Tehran Imposes Sanctions on CIA, US National Guard over Interfering in Iran's
Affairs
•
Minister: Russian Investors Keen to Invest $4.5bln in Iran's Energy Fields
•
‘We are close to big victory,’ Netanyahu says after Israeli election vote
•
Iran Urges Iraq to Proceed with Trial of Accomplices in General Soleimani's
Assassination
•
President Rayeesi: Iran-Armenia Trade Volume Posts 43% Growth
•
Envoy Describes UN Meeting on Iran's Unrest as Dangerous Precedence
•
Palestinians in West Bank on course for deadliest year on record, UN says
•
Israeli election results foreshadow rise in extremism: PA
•
Israeli forces clash with Palestinians protesting Nablus' siege
•
Rights group: Eight-year-old Yemeni boy killed by sniper with Saudi-led
coalition
•
Hamas: Israel cannot legitimize occupation of Palestine via elections
•
Iranian War Veterans Condemn German Hostile Policy Towards Tehran
•
Iran dissident told Dutch police of threats seven times before being killed:
Report
•
A nuclear deal would help Iran ‘fund proxy groups, repress its people,’ warns
Iranian Kurdish leader Mustafa Hijri
•
Students on strike as Iranian protests spread
--------
Africa
•
Benue govt demands arrest of Miyetti Allah leaders over allegation against
Ortom
•
Jordan air force agrees to buy 10 helicopters from US manufacturer
--------
Pakistan
•
PM Shehbaz, Xi agree to strengthen cooperation on CPEC, other areas
•
Federal Sharia Court takes notice of five-year-old’s marriage in Balochistan
•
Imran wants martial law imposed if army chief of his choice not appointed: Fazl
•
Pakistan seeks explanation from Russia over senator's remarks on Ukraine nukes
•
Imran Khan accuses political opponents of conspiring for clash between his
party and Pakistan army
•
PTI chief trained by ‘spy masters’, says Maryam
•
Punjab IGP Faisal Shahkar picked by UN for prestigious post
•
‘Stubborn child’ talking about bloodshed for face-saving: Haideri
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
--------
Muslim
women can resort to extrajudicial divorce under Islamic law unilaterally:
Kerala High Court
NOVEMBER
01, 2022
Kerala
High Court cited the Holy Quran and said that a Muslim wife has the right to
terminate her marriage. (File photo)
--------------
Court
says a wife’s resolve so expressed is independent of the will of the husband
Reiterating
its declaration that Muslim women have the right to resort to the
extra-judicial divorce of ‘khula’ unilaterally, a Division Bench of the Kerala
High Court has held that the will of the Muslim wife so expressed cannot be
related to the will of the husband, who has not expressed his choice to termination
of the marriage.
The
Bench led by Justice A. Muhamed Mustaque, while dismissing a review petition
filed by a man against the declaration, observed that “the nature of khula is
in the form of a ‘permissible’ action to the Muslim wife who seeks to exercise
the option of terminating her marriage. This reflects the autonomy of choice
exercised by the wife.”
The
review petitioner contended that though a Muslim woman had the right to demand
divorce on her own will, she had no absolute right to pronounce ‘khula’ like
the right of her counterpart to pronounce ‘talaq’. It was subject to the
acceptance or the will of her husband.
The
court observed that it was acknowledged by Islamic law that the Muslim wife had
the right to demand termination of the marriage. “The argument that if the
husband refuses, she had to move the court stares at us.”
Dismissing
the contention of the petitioner, the court also pointed out that Islamic
clergy who had no legal training or knowledge in legal sciences could not be
relied upon by the court to decide on a point of law involved, relating to the
personal law applicable to the Muslim community. The courts were manned by
trained legal minds. The court shall not surrender to the opinions of the
Islamic clergy who had no legal training on the point of law.
The
court said that it was a typical review portraying that Muslim women were
subordinate to the will of their male counterparts. “This review does not look
innocuous at the instance of the appellant, but rather appears to have been fashioned
and supported by clergies and the hegemonic masculinity of the Muslim community
who are unable to digest the declaration of the right of Muslim women to resort
to the extra-judicial divorce of ‘khula’ unilaterally,” the court added.
Source:TheHindu
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
US
Islamophobia Bill remains inactive; fails to curb anti-Muslim violence and
hatred
JS
Ifthekhar
1st
November 2022
US
lawmaker Ilhan Omar
----------
Hyderabad:
It is more than a year since the US House of Representatives passed a bill to
create a special envoy to combat Islamophobia worldwide. But this piece of
legislation appears to have had no effect if the growing anti-Muslim violence
and discrimination is any indication.
As
Islamophobia is global in scope, the US thinks it has to lead the global effort
to address it. Interestingly the bill has not generated much of a debate. There
is no reaction to it either – positive or otherwise. It is also not clear
whether the US has followed up on this bill at all or it has put the whole
thing on the back burner.
This
important bill was mooted by Democratic Representative, Ilhan Omar, and it was
passed by the US House with members voting 219-212 in October 2021. The trigger
for the Bill is said to be the racist remark made by the Republican lawmaker,
Lauren Boebert, against Omar, the Somalian-born Muslim Congresswoman, by
dubbing her a member of the ‘jihad squad’.
The
bill is considered an important step toward addressing questions of equity,
bias and justice. It seeks to establish an office headed by a special envoy in
the State Department to record instances of Islamophobia, including violence
against and harassment of Muslims and vandalism of their mosques, schools and
cemeteries worldwide. The envoy is also expected to record efforts by foreign
governments to address harassment and violence against Muslims and to enact
laws to protect religious freedom.
Ever
since the bill was passed the anti-Muslim hatred has reached ‘epidemic
proportions.’ As per the UN Special Rapporteur on religious freedom, 30 percent
of Americans view Muslims in a ‘negative light’ while surveys conducted in
Europe during 2018-2019 said four out of ten people held ‘unfavourable views of
Muslims’. Since 9/11 more and more American Muslims are experiencing bigotry or
discrimination. There are also rising instances of hate, killing and other
forms of violence against the Uyghurs in China, the Rohingya in Myanmar and
Muslims in India and Sri Lanka.
While
the Myanmar military leaders and the Chinese government have defended their
actions the Indian and Sri Lankan governments have denied state-sponsored
repression of Muslims in their countries.
Statistics
show that there is a clear uptick of anti-Muslim sentiments worldwide.
Would
this bill have helped curb the growing anti-minority sentiments in India if the
US had pursued it vigorously? The answer will be negative going by the zero
tolerance shown by India towards interference in its internal affairs. In fact,
from different fora the Modi government has strongly condemned and denied
harassment of its minorities or curbing of their religious freedom although the
facts may speak otherwise.
In
the recent past, the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom (USCIRF) has rapped the Government of India for adopting discriminatory
policies and fostering bias in independent institutions and the justice system.
The government, however, has called these observations as ‘biased and
inaccurate’ and strongly denied targeting minority communities. The government
was equally vociferous in rebutting criticism from Opposition parties and a
group of retired bureaucrats who expressed concern at the ‘politics of hate.’
The government termed the USCIRF observations as ‘biased and inaccurate’ and
strongly denied stifling voices of dissent, especially of those belonging to
minority communities.
The
fact, however, remains that the situation of religious minorities in the
country has seen a steady decline over the years. Muslims in India have been at the receiving
end in the last few years in the name of ‘love jihad’, cow slaughter, hijab
ban, halal food, azan, bulldozer justice and madrasa survey. Lynching and
economic boycotts have now become passé. The Delhi riots following months of
protest against the citizenship law saw Muslims being arrested and booked under
draconian laws. The Christian community is also under the radar with stringent
anti-conversion laws being slapped against it.
Thanks to majoritarian politics more and more horrors appear to be in
store in the name of ‘righting historical wrongs’.
As
the situation worsens by the day, there is a deafening silence at the top
echelons of the government. When it was
passed last year, the US Islamophobia bill raised hopes that it would bring a
turnaround in the lives of minorities. But there are no signs of that
happening.
Source:Siasat
Daily
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
UN
chief appeals for Arab unity as antidote to foreign interference and terrorism
EPHREM
KOSSAIFY
November
01, 2022
NEW
YORK CITY: The unity of the Arab world is “the raison d’etre of the Arab
League” and the organization has “never been more essential” than in this time
of ever-widening geopolitical divides, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
said on Tuesday.
“Division
opens the door to foreign interference, terrorism, manipulation and sectarian
strife,” he said.
“But
united, your leadership can shape a region that makes the most of its enormous
potential. A region centered on solving differences through dialogue, rooted in
respect and mutual interest.”
In
a world that is facing “great trials and tests,” including ever-greater
inequality, he said, cooperation is the only way forward and regional
organizations such as the League of Arab States have a vital role to play.
He
added that he is pushing the G20 to adopt a stimulus program to boost
investment in developing countries and speed up debt relief.
Speaking
in Algeria at the opening of the two-day Arab League summit, Guterres began by
addressing “the ongoing suffering in Palestine.” He called for an end to the
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and for peace talks to resume.
“Our
shared goal remains two states: Israel and Palestine, living side by side in
peace and security with Jerusalem as the capital of both states,” he said.
The
UN chief urged leaders to “generously” support the UN Relief and Works Agency
for Palestine Refugees. Describing the agency as a “vital pillar of regional
stability,” he lamented the financial crisis that is affecting it and
“undermining the rights and well-being of Palestine refugees.”
He
stressed the importance of further strengthening “the strong partnership”
between the UN and the League, and vowed to continue their collaborative
efforts to address challenges, including the crises in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen,
Libya, Somalia and Sudan.
“Conflicts
persist and humanitarian needs keep growing,” he said. “Let us keep up our common
efforts toward multilateral solutions that meet people’s legitimate aspirations
for peace, freedom and justice.”
While
injustices persist all around the world, it is the countries of the global
South that are suffering the most, said Guterres.
“Across
the Arab world, Africa and beyond, (developing nations) are being hit from all
sides: Weakened by conflicts, battered by the COVID-19 pandemic and pummeled by
the climate crisis,” he said.
The
war in Ukraine and the resultant soaring food and energy prices, spiraling
inflation and crushing debt burdens have compounded existing crises for
governments “in roughly half the world, including across the Arab region and
Africa” who, Guterres said, are not receiving the financing they need.
“I
am pushing for a (Sustainable Development Goals) stimulus, led by the G20, to
boost investment in sustainable development for emerging economies, increase
liquidity and speed up debt relief and restructure debt comprehensively,
effectively and fairly,” he said.
Just
a few days after Russia suspended its participation in the UN-brokered Black
Sea Grain Initiative, a deal designed to restore exports of grains from
Ukrainian ports that had been halted by the war, Guterres said work is
continuing “non-stop” in an effort to preserve and extend the agreement and
also to remove all remaining obstacles to the export of Russian crops and
fertilizers.
“After
all, every fraction of a food price increase pushes more people and communities
further toward poverty and hunger,” Guterres said.
“We
must do all we can to ensure the continued success of the Black Sea Grain
Initiative, to provide relief to those in need, including countries in the
Middle East and North Africa relying on accessible and affordable food and
fertilizers, both from Ukraine and the Russian Federation.”
The
UN Climate Change Conference, COP27, which begins on Sunday in the Egyptian
city of Sharm El-Sheikh, offers a further opportunity for restoring trust
between developed and developing countries, Guterres said.
“Wealthier
countries must lead” by example by reducing their emissions during this decade
to help ensure global temperatures do not rise by more than 1.5 C above
pre-industrial levels, he said, fully pivot toward renewable energy, and
mobilize $100 billion annually to support the efforts of developing countries
to build climate resilience.
“Half
of climate finance must flow to adaptation,” Guterres said, and “we must
urgently address the climate impacts that are beyond countries’ abilities to
adapt.”
He
added: “Action on loss and damage is a moral imperative that must be front and
center of COP27. It is immoral and unreasonable to expect communities that did
nothing to cause global heating to pay the price for climate impacts.”
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2192131/world
--------
Former
Minister of Justice to Visit Europe Discussing Human Rights Violations
By
Saqalain Eqbal
01
Nov 2022
The
former government’s Minister of Justice, Fazal Ahmad Manawi, said that he will
visit Europe to meet with human rights organizations and discuss genocide, war
crimes, and human rights violations.
Manawi
made his visit to Europe public on Monday night, October 31, and stated that he
will be meeting with human rights organizations as well as other relevant
European institutions.
The
former official also said that he will discuss his research and documents
regarding the war crimes committed by the Taliban government and their
genocide-related activities.
He
also invited all those who are in possession of documents and other materials
which may indicate or detail the Taliban war crimes and human rights violations
to send them to him so that he reflects it with the rights organizations.
According
to human rights organizations, international human rights advocates have
frequently brought up the Taliban as people responsible for war crimes in
Afghanistan and other serious human rights violations.
While
the Taliban are accused of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and
other blatant violations of human rights, especially against Afghan women, the
group denies the claims maintaining that they are propaganda.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Indonesian
extremists are climbing the political ladder
By
Siktus Harson
November
01, 2022
People
gather for prayers at a memorial for victims killed in the 2002 Bali bombings
during the 20th anniversary of the blasts that killed more than 200 people, in
Kuta on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Oct. 12. (Photo: AFP)
-----------
Indonesians
have just marked twenty years since the Bali bombings that killed more than 200
people, mostly foreign travelers who were on the island for holidays.
The
attacks by the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah jihadists became Indonesia’s,
even Southeast Asia’s, worst in two decades. It happened on Oct.12, 2002, not
long after the world commemorated the first anniversary of the September 11
attacks in the United States.
Although
mass terror attacks have decreased significantly in the last several years, it
does not mean that terrorism is dead. It remains the biggest threat to the
Muslim-majority country. Terrorism is alive and kicking in this country of 270
million people. Extremists are finding ways to penetrate the government
system.
Some
might be asking about the number of Indonesians who are involved or sympathize
with terror groups.
It’s
hard to tell. But in the last several years, arresting alleged terrorists has
become routine for Indonesia's anti-terror police. The latest was the arrest of
a woman, believed to be a member of the disbanded Hizb ut-Tahrir group, who
pointed a gun at presidential palace guards on Oct.26. Police later found out
that her husband has links with the Islamic State group.
Ten
days earlier, police arrested a public school teacher in East Java, who, police
said, was a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, the group responsible for deadly
attacks in the early 2000s, including the Bali bombings.
Extremism
remains the biggest threat to the country since its foundation 77 years ago,
despite the Muslim-majority nation, adopting a secular ideology, rather than
Islamic Sharia.
The
decision of the founding fathers under President Sukarno to adopt the secular
ideology Pancasila or Five Principles was not without challenges.
Over
time, individuals and groups have wanted to establish an Islamic caliphate.
Soekarmadji
Maridjan Kartosuwiryo, the founder of Darul Islam in West Java, fought to
replace the secular ideology in the 1940s and his influence remains strong
among radical movements in the country. During elections, West Java becomes a
battlefield for any presidential candidate, considering it’s the biggest
province with a 50 million population.
In
the 1980s, Abu Bakar Baasyir emerged as the leader of the Indonesian Mujaheddin
Council which was responsible for new waves of terror attacks. He was later
arrested and jailed for 15 years and freed last year.
Islamic
militants live in many parts of the country, particularly in West, Central, and
East Java, Sulawesi, Sumatra, and also in Jakarta.
Bombings
have decreased drastically in the last several years not only because it’s less
effective, but also because terror groups such as Jemaah Islamiyah have shifted
strategy. They have moved from using bombs to seeking to influence the
government through the democratic process.
Together
with members of banned groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and Islamic Defenders
Front (FPI), they want to change the national ideology with Islamic Sharia by
participating actively in politics. They realize it is impossible to establish
a caliphate without gaining political power first.
That’s
the reason why radical groups rally behind a candidate whom they think will
support their cause.
In
June, they declared support for former Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan to run
for president in early 2024. He’s seen as someone who can make their Islamic
caliphate aspirations come true.
Early
this month, the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) officially nominated
Baswedan. The Islamic-based Justice Prosperous Party and Democratic Party
founded by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were expected to join the
coalition to support him.
Some
observers claimed that radicalism grew significantly during Yudhoyono’s
presidency (2009-2014).
What
does it mean for Indonesia? It means that nominating Baswedan, who has close
ties with radical groups and clerics such as former Islamic Defenders Front
leader Muhammad Rizieq Shihab, opens the door for radical groups to potentially
influence the highest-ranking and most powerful official in the land.
This
would be disastrous. Many fear that if Baswedan, who is in the top three of
preferred candidates in national surveys, wins the election, he will be more
responsive to radical groups and could easily be dictated to by extremists.
President
Joko Widodo recently warned party leaders to be careful when nominating a
presidential candidate. He didn’t mean to intervene in their affairs but he
knew exactly the implication of nominating the former Jakarta governor and the
people behind him.
Widodo’s
biggest fear is that if Baswedan becomes president, his hard work to establish
peace and harmony would be destroyed. He fears that all the radical groups he
banned during his leadership will return.
Hizb
ut-Tahrir and the FPI have a combined membership of over 7.2 million. Experts
estimate that about 2 million of this number backed the Islamic State group
when it started to expand its influence in the country back in 2014.
During
the last presidential race, they rallied behind Prabowo Subianto's unsuccessful
bid to defeat Widodo, whom they consider anti-Islam.
This
time, they are trying their best to jump on Baswedan’s wagon. If he wins, he
will likely be lenient towards radical groups and under pressure to pay them
back for their support.
Many
feared his inability to denounce radicalism will lead to chaos. The worst-case
scenario is that it could see Indonesia going in the same direction as
Afghanistan which has been in turmoil since the Taliban appeared The Taliban,
somehow, have inspired Indonesian jihadists.
Indonesians
don’t want such a situation to happen. The only way to keep Indonesia’s secular
ideology intact is by voting for someone who would continue what Widodo has
started, and who will continue to keep radical groups in check.
Source:
UCANews
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesian-extremists-are-climbing-the-political-ladder/99246
--------
Imam
of Al Azhar, Pope Francis co-chair Muslim Elders Council meeting in Bahrain
01
Nov 2022
Imam
of Al Azhar, Pope Francis co-chair Muslim Elders Council meeting in Bahrain
----------
Manama,
Nov. 1 (BNA): Bahrain hosts on November 4 the 16th meeting of Muslim Council of
Elders coinciding with the historical official visit of His Holiness Pope
Francis visit to Bahrain at the invitation of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al
Khalifa.
The
meeting will be chaired by His Eminence Grand Imam Sheikh of Al Azhar Dr. Ahmed
Al Tayyib in the presence of His Holiness Pope Francis.
The
meeting will review global challenges, including climate changes, lack of food
and water, and other humanitarian catastrophes, and the role of religious
leaders in addressing them through an Islamic-Christian dialogue.
The
Secretary-General of the Council of Muslim Elders and the Higher Committee for
Human Fraternity Counselor Mohammed Abdulsalam stressed that the meeting
symbolizes the relationship between leaders and followers of different
religions by providing practical steps and solutions to these challenges from
religious and legal perspectives.
Source:BNA
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.bna.bh/en/news?cms=q8FmFJgiscL2fwIzON1%2bDtNhXqBqTT7QDAjSCFHhPEs%3d
--------
FM:
Enemies Seeking to Pave Ground for Terror Attacks in Iran
2022-November-1
Amir
Abdollahian made the reamrks in a telephone conversation with his Turkish
counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Monday.
Iran's
foreign minister stated that some enemies have tried in recent weeks to abuse
events in Iran in order to create instability and insecurity in the country.
"The
enemies made effort to prepare the ground for the Daesh (ISIS or ISIL)
terrorist attack," he added.
"The
Islamic Republic of Iran has witnessed such conspiracies against the country
many times and has always overcome them proudly," he stressed.
For
his part, the Turkish foreign minister said Ankara has stood and will stand by
Tehran in the fight against terrorism.
He
made the remarks after condemning the bloody attack on a holy shrine in the
Southern Iranian city of Shiraz which led to the martyrdom and injury of
several Iranian people.
"Ankara
and Tehran are two brother countries that have supported each other in good and
bad days," Çavuşoğlu added.
At
least 15 people, including a woman and two children, were martyred and 19
others wounded in the terrorist attack on the famous shrine. Daesh terror group
has claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on their telegram
channel.
Iranian
officials have strongly condemned the terror attack on the holy shrine of Shah
Cheragh, pledging that Tehran will deliver a decisive and crushing response to
the masterminds of the bloodshed.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010810000241/FM-Enemies-Seeking-Pave-Grnd-fr-Terrr-Aacks-in-Iran
--------
US
Targets Smugglers Supplying Islamic State in Somalia
November
01, 2022
Jeff
Seldin
Harun
Maruf
WASHINGTON
—
The
United States is trying to curb the flow of weapons to the Islamic State terror
group’s affiliate in Somalia, taking aim at a smuggling operation that is also
helping to arm its al-Qaida-linked rival, al-Shabab, with weapons from Iran.
The
U.S. Treasury Department Tuesday announced sanctions against eight individuals
and one company all involved in the yearslong effort to smuggle millions of
dollars of weapons between Yemen and Somalia.
Among
those targeted are Abdirahman Fahiye, believed to lead IS-Somalia's day-to-day
operations, Mohamed Ahmed Qahiye, who heads IS-Somalia’s intelligence wing, and
Isse Mohamoud Yusuf, a former pirate who continues to run weapons on behalf of
IS.
The
sanctions "take direct aim at the networks funding and supplying both
ISIS-Somalia and al-Shabab," Brian Nelson, the undersecretary for
terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement, using another
acronym for the IS affiliate.
"The
involvement of those designated [Tuesday] in other criminal activity, including
piracy and illegal fishing, demonstrates the extent of ISIS-Somalia's
integration with illicit networks and other terrorist organizations operating
in the region," Nelson added.
Tuesday's
move by the Treasury Department follows an earlier round of sanctions,
introduced last month, aimed at crippling al-Shabab’s ability to raise money.
The
new sanctions, though, focus on smugglers and terror leaders said to be
enmeshed in IS-Somalia, despite current or past ties to al-Shabab, links to
al-Qaida’s affiliate in Yemen or links to Iran.
"I
don't think it's anything ideological," Caleb Weiss, a senior analyst with
the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Bridgeway Foundation, told
VOA via email.
"They're
using the same basic smuggling networks and smugglers that are happy to do
business with the highest bidder," Weiss said. "I am sure Iran is
also looking at this as an angle to make extra cash, as well."
According
to U.S. Treasury officials, it has been big business.
Abdirahman
Mohamed Omar, an IS-Somalia member and weapons smuggler, is said to have
completed more than $2 million in transactions over the past four years,
procuring weapons like AK-47 machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, for
his own group and for al-Shabab.
Another
sanctioned smuggler, Mahad Isse Aden, is alleged to have transferred almost
$800,000 to arms suppliers in Yemen between 2015 and 2020.
Even
the senior IS-Somalia officials have not been above doing business with Iran.
The
Treasury Department said in early 2020, IS-Somalia’s intelligence chief,
Qahiye, was part of a senior delegation that got a $10,000 payment from Iranian
businessmen.
But
there are questions as to where all the weapons and money are going as some
recent intelligence estimates have questioned the group's capabilities.
Information
gathered by United Nations member states and published in a report this past
July, indicated the group has fewer than 300 fighters in Puntland, with "a
small footprint that lacks the capacity to undertake major operations as a
result of attacks from [al-Qaida linked] al-Shabab."
Even
the information issued by the U.S. noted that despite efforts to raise funds
and the movement of hundreds of thousands of dollars, IS-Somalia members
receive low wages.
Some
former counterterrorism officials think that may have to do with IS-Somalia’s
focus, which is not on Somalia itself.
IS-Somalia
"is much more invested in its ability to support ISIS networks
elsewhere," Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former top U.N. official who is now a
senior adviser to the New York and Berlin-based Counter Extremism Project
(CEP), told VOA.
The
notion is supported by intelligence that indicates that despite its small size,
IS-Somalia is home to one of the Islamic State’s key regional hubs.
U.N.
member state intelligence published earlier this year suggests the so-called
al-Karrar office based in Somalia serves as a key financial hub for IS, moving
money from Yemen to Afghanistan to help buy weapons and pay the salaries of IS
fighters in Somalia, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source:
VOANews
Please
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https://www.voanews.com/a/us-targets-smugglers-supplying-islamic-state-in-somalia/6816246.html
--------
India
Visakhapatnam:
Muslims serve food to Ayyappa devotees
Nov
1, 2022
VISAKHAPATNAM:
Setting an example of religious harmony, a few Muslims served bhiksha (food) to
Ayyappa Swamys at Gajuwaka in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday.
Muslim
under the Youth Welfare AP organization served food in Ramalayam in
Sitaramanagar.
Youth
Welfare and Minorities Rights Protection Council state president Sharukh
Shibli, members Zaheer and Abu Nasar arranged food for the Ayyappa devotees who
are observing Ayyappa Deeksha.
Source: Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Uniform
Civil Code raked up before polls to hide governance failures, says Muslim body
ABANTIKA
GHOSH
1
November, 2022
New
Delhi: The Uniform Civil Code was not only unacceptable to Muslims but also to
other minorities and diverse groups among the majority community including
tribals, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board has said in a statement,
decrying recent moves by Uttarakhand and poll-bound Gujarat to impose
uniformity in personal laws.
In
the statement issued Monday, AIMPLB general secretary Khalid Saifullah Rehmani
said issues like the UCC come up during elections “to hide the failures of
governance”.
He
added that fundamental rights embodied the spirit of the Constitution and
guaranteed the right to individuals to follow their chosen religion, worship
accordingly and also to make efforts for its spread. That is why personal laws
are protected in law, he said.
He
compared the efforts to implement UCC to prohibition, which, he pointed out,
was also a part of the directive principles of state policy but not made into a
law in the country.
“Social
and family laws define the identity of various groups. If their very identity
is called into question that cannot be tolerated. Various groups following
their personal laws in this country predates the coming of the English. The
English too allowed that situation to continue and after independence for years
there was no impediment in that. If people of the country wanted a common civil
code then the Special Marriage Act would have been the chosen personal law of
the country. But that has not happened. On the other hand, even now, citizens
have the right to choose between their own personal laws and the Special
Marriage Act,” Rehmani said in his statement.
Rehmani’s
remarks come days after the Gujarat government announced that it had formed a
committee to look into the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code in the
state. The state goes into Assembly elections later this year.
The
UCC was also promised earlier in the year, just before Uttarakhand went to
polls. Following the elections, a committee was formed to look into it
“UCC
was aimed at practices such as polyandry”
Rehmani
said that a forceful implementation of UCC would affect the unity and
brotherhood of the country. He claimed the inclusion of UCC in the directive
principles of state policy was principally aimed at tribal practices that have
implications for culture and health. He cited the example of polyandry as one
of the practices that UCC aimed to end.
“All
India Muslim Personal Law Board has already through people and religious
organisations in Uttarakhand, made it known to the government there that UCC is
not acceptable and the board along with other minority organisations would
oppose it at the national level. We are already in touch with various Sikh,
Christian and Buddhist bodies,” he said.
Source:
ThePrint
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Centre
To Grant Citizenship To Non-Muslim Minorities Of Pakistan, Afghanistan And Bangladesh
Staying In India; Seeks Application
01
NOV 2022
While
the Supreme Court yesterday fixed the date of the hearing of petitions
challenging the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 on December 6; the centre
decided to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis,
and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and currently
living in two districts of Gujarat under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
The
move of the centre is not according to the CAA as the rules for the act have
not yet been framed; rather it follows the Citizenship Act of 1955 provision of
Citizenship rule, 2009 bears significance.
Notably,
the CAA also provides for granting Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh
and Pakistan.
The
notification of the Union Home Ministry mentioned that the Hindus, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians residing in the districts of Anand and
Mehsana in Gujarat will be allowed registration as a citizen of India under
section 5 or will be granted certificate of naturalisation under section 6 of
the Citizenship Act, 1955 and in accordance with the provisions of the
Citizenship Rules, 2009.
How
to proceed to get Indian citizenship?
Such
people living in the two districts of Gujarat have to submit their applications
online which will then be verified by the collector at the district level. The
application for the citizenship and the reports reflecting the observation of
the collector will then be made accessible to the central government.
The
collector may make such inquiry as he considers necessary for ascertaining the
suitability of the applicant. He may forward the application online to such
agencies for verification and comments as may be required for completing such
an inquiry, the notification said.
The
notification also added that after completing the entire process, the
collector, being satisfied with the suitability of the applicant, grants him or
her the citizenship of India by registration or naturalisation and issues a
certificate of registration or naturalisation.
Proposition
of CAA and the ensuing debate
In
2019 Modi government passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act that
pledged to give citizenship to the Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and
Christians -- from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India
till December 31, 2014.
There
were nationwide protests against the amendment and sometimes it led to violent
actions killing more than 100 people across the country. The protesters citing
the preamble of the Indian constitution claimed that the government was trying
to change the secular character of the country by using religion as a tool to
provide citizenship.
Government
notably couldn’t sufficiently provide reason for choosing the neighbouring
countries from where the presumably persecuted people belonging to above
mentioned religions could seek the citizenship of India if they had entered
before the new cut off. The question of not including Myanmar where the UN
recognised refugees Rohingya Muslims have been persecuted now for years further
questioned the intention of the government.
Some
of the dissenters even categorically showed that in Pakistan, Shias and
Ahmedias are regularly persecuted and should be given refuge, if the government
is so much intended to lend hands to the affected refugees. The whole debate
took a shift to alleged Islamophobia of the current government and resulted
into long term sit-in protests by Muslim women across the country.
What
are the progresses made in CAA notification?
However,
the CAA has not been implemented so far as rules under it are yet to be framed.
According
to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should have
been framed within six months of presidential assent or seek extension from the
Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
In
January 2020, the home ministry notified that the Act would come into force
from January 10, 2020, but it later requested the parliamentary committees in
the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha to give it some more time to implement rules
as the country was going through its worst ever health crisis due to the Covid
pandemic.
Last
fortnight, the Union home ministry had been granted yet another extension by
the Parliamentary Committees on Subordinate Legislation in the Rajya Sabha and
the Lok Sabha to frame the rules of the CAA.
Source:OutlookIndia
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--------
J&K:
4 terrorists killed in two separate encounters
Nov
1, 2022
SRINAGAR:
Four terrorists, including one Pakistani were killed in two separate encounters
in the Kashmir Valley on Tuesday.
An
unidentified terrorist was killed in an encounter at Semthan village of
Bijbehra in Anantnag district, police said.
A
joint team of police, Army and CRPF launched a search operation after receiving
information about the presence of terrorists in the area.
Police
said that as the joint team of forces intensified searches near the suspected
spot, the hiding terrorists opened fire, which was retaliated to, triggering an
encounter.
Another
encounter broke out in Khandipora village of Awantipora in South Kashmir’s
Pulwama district on Tuesday evening.
ADGP
Kashmir Vijay Kumar in a tweet said that three terrorists have been killed in
Pulwama and their identity is being ascertained.
One
of the slain terrorists is believed to be a Pakistani and the other a local,
both with links to Lashkar-e-Taiba.
The
local was identified as Mukhtar Bhat, involved in several terror crimes
including killing of an ASI of CRPF and two RPF personnel.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Our
funds, our curriculum: Darul Uloom sees no need for affiliation with UP madrasa
board
by
Esha Roy
November
2, 2022
While
underlining that the Darul Uloom, Deoband, has faced no issues from the Uttar
Pradesh government, the president of the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind (Madani faction),
Maulana Arshad Madani, has said that the Islamic seminary does not require
affiliation with the state madrasa board.
The
fact that the Darul Uloom is not affiliated with the Uttar Pradesh Board of
Madrasa Education came up during an ongoing survey of madrasas in the state by
the Yogi Adityanath government. The country’s biggest Islamic university, the
Deoband institution, which was set up in 1866, has over 4,000 madrasas
affiliated to it.
Speaking
to The Indian Express, Madani, who is also the spokesperson of the Darul Uloom,
said: “The Uloom is registered under the Societies Registration Act and does
not need to be affiliated to the madarsa board. An unnecessary controversy is
being created. The Uloom is a 150-year-old institution and we have our own
regulations and rules.”
On
apprehensions regarding affiliation with the board, he said: “We raise funds
through the community and don’t need government funding of any sort. It has
been our experience that whenever a madrasa gets grants or aid from the
government, the government starts interfering, changes the entire syllabus and
eventually stops the religious teachings that we impart. This is what happened
in madrasas across Assam. Do you think the BJP-led UP government will not do
this too?’’
At
a recent meeting in Saharanpur of madrasa operators, Madani emphasised the same
and said it was unfortunate that madrasas were being linked to terrorism “by
certain sections’’.
The
UP government has said that the madrasa survey is being conducted for data
collection and issues of affiliation were not being looked at. Without accurate
data, Minority Welfare Minister Danish Azad Ansari has said, improvement of
madrasas vis-a-vis infrastructure is simply not possible.
The
government started the survey on September 10 and has been gathering details on
11 points, including sources of funding, infrastructure, the number of students
and teachers etc. The respective district magistrates are expected to send in their
reports to the government by November 15.
Madani
said the Uloom was unambiguously against introduction of modern subjects in
madrasas such as the sciences, as it was not their brief, and that they would
not be changing the curriculum currently being taught.
“There
are other schools where students can learn these subjects. These madrasas were
set up by our community, on land belonging to us, to impart our religious
thoughts and teachings. Government aid is dangerous because then the government
introduces other subjects like engineering or the sciences. This is not what
madrasas are meant for. They are meant for religious teachings and nothing
else. And no, modern subjects and religious thought cannot go hand in hand and
cannot be taught at the same school,’’ Madani says.
Pointing
out that many students graduating from madrasas go on to study at universities
such as Jamia Millia Islamia and AMU, he adds: “Some students do pursue
medicine or engineering after they complete their madrasa education. We do not
oppose this or prevent it from happening.”
Madrasa
teaching was of vital importance for the Muslim community to preseve its faith
and culture, the Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind leader says. “There is a need in the
community for imams. Where will the imams come from if madrasas suddenly start
teaching modern subjects? Doesn’t the Hindu community need pandits too for
rituals and important occasions such as marriage or birth or death? India is a
big country and there are lakhs of masjids across the country. We need clerics
to run the masjids and conduct azaan (call for prayer). There is already a
shortage of Muslim clerics in India. Who will meet the needs of our
religion?’’he says.
On
those who link madrasa education to terrorism, Madani says: “The Uloom is over
a 100 years old, and if extremism was being taught here, imagine what the
condition of the country would have been. Ignorant people are spreading such
misinformation. The madrasas’ doors are open for anyone who wants to visit and
see what is being taught there, how they operate. Come and see for yourselves
if there is any radicalism.”
Source:
IndianExpress
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Meet
the angels of Morbi bridge tragedy who saved more than 50 lives
1st
November 2022
On
October 30, Vadodara, Gujarat celebrated Chatt puja, when the British-era
bridge – Morbi bridge -with 500 men, women, and children collapsed taking down
more than 140 lives.
These
lives, mostly women and children, who had come to celebrate their loved ones
were lost to a devastating tragedy.
In
this chaos, a few men and women came as good samaritans and saved more than 50
lives by swimming to and fro each time and bringing people to safety.
These
men – Taufeeq Bhai, Naeem Sheikh, and Hussain Pathan – and many others whose
names are unknown did not care if the people whose lives they were saving
belonged to different religions. All they cared about was they were saving
precious lives, human lives.
Naeem
Sheikh swam, along with five of his friends to save lives. Speaking to the
media, he said that one of his friends lost his life as he had drunk too much
water while swimming back and fro to save lives.
“We
(his friends) just had one thing in our mind – to save as many as possible,”
said Naeem.
As
the 150-year-old bridge cables collapsed, Taufeeq Bhai and Hussain Pathan saw
many hanging onto the suspension while others were crying for help as they
struggled to float.
While
Hussain Pathan rescued 35 lives to the hospital, Taufiq, an expert swimmer,
swam 50 lives to safety.
According
to The Quint, ambulance driver Hussain helped carry several people to the civil
hospital, despite his own cousin perishing in the tragedy. Milan Prakashbhai, a
local helped carry the injured and dead to the hospital all night. Haseena, a
social worker at the civic hospital helped identified bodies by cleaning the
blood stains. Ravi and his friends provided food and water to the injured.
Twitter
reacts
The
Twitter world has not stopped praising the efforts of these brave men and women
while questioning those who have always spoken against the Muslim community.
Police
on Monday arrested nine persons, including four from the Oreva group that was
managing the suspension bridge, and filed a case against firms tasked with the
maintenance and operation of the British-era structure.
Source:Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/meet-the-angels-of-morbi-bridge-tragedy-who-saved-more-than-50-lives-2447077/
--------
North America
US Marine who entered to blow up Indiana mosque embraces Islam
Sakina
Fatima
1st
November 2022
Richard
McKinney, a former US Marine who was raised to hate Islam during the war in
Iraq and Afghanistan, was enraged on seeing Muslim localities in his hometown,
when he returned to Muncie, Indiana.
He
was angry that their children would sit next to his daughter in her elementary
school, local media reported.
Last
mission
Unable
to contain his anger toward Muslims, McKinney went to the Muncie Islamic Center
in 2009, which he considered his last assignment.
He
was on his way to plant a bomb in the mosque in the hope of killing or wounding
hundreds of Muslims, but before that, he had made an exploratory visit to
choose a location to hide his bomb and to gather intelligence that would
validate his assumption that Islam was a “killer ideology”.
He
said that day, “I told people that Islam is cancer. I was the surgeon to cure
it.”
But
when McKinney entered the mosque, he encountered a form of resistance he had
not planned, and something happened that day, which he had never expected, that
would have changed his course to the opposite.
He
wanted to kill them instead they saved his life
McKinney
recently spoke to CNN about his unexpected transformation, after he walked out
of his house to the mosque, which he thought would end up killing him.
He
entered the mosque armed but faced resistance of a different kind that he had
never expected.
Instead
of the scenario of killing him that he had drawn in his imagination, a number
of worshipers came to him and took his weapon away with which he wanted to kill
them. Then an Afghan citizen named Muhammad Bahrami, one of the founders of the
Islamic Center, came forward and hugged him and burst into tears.
“To
this day, it still doesn’t make sense to me!” McKinney says of that moment.
Shifting
from one extreme to the other
McKinney
met in the Islamic centre in his city and then in the Muslim community a number
of people who helped him dispel his anger until he felt guilty for what he
intended to do.
One
of them was Jomo Williams, an African-American who lived in a McKinney-like
state of hostility after the “white occupiers” executed and castrated his
great-grandfather and he held hostility towards whites until he converted to
Islam.
He
then met a woman he called “Mother Teresa”, from the Muslim community in
Muncie, the wife of the Afghani Muhammad Bahrami, who greeted McKinney with a
hug for the first time.
Mother
Teresa also knew the damage war can cause. Her family was displaced in
Afghanistan when the Soviet Union invaded it in 1979, she fled her country and
lived six years in a refugee camp in Pakistan before she married and made her
way to the United States.
McKinney
continued to visit Bahrami and others at the Islamic Center, read the Holy
Quran and made friends with Muslims through whom he learned about Islam and its
teachings.
Eight
months after McKinney’s first visit to the mosque, he converted to Islam. After
the ceremony, he was greeted with what he called a “big hug pit” from people he
once intended to harm.
Eventually,
McKinney served as president of the Islamic Center in Muncie for two years and
became an advocate of Islam.
Stranger
at the gate
Richard
McKinney’s story has become the subject of a short documentary, Stranger at the
Gate. The film, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 2022 Tribeca Film
Festival, tells how McKinney abandoned his plan and ended up converting to
Islam and even taking a surprising role in the mosque.
The
film recounts the astonishing behaviour of Muhammad Bahrami, an Afghani and
co-founder of the centre, who hugged Richard and then burst into tears.
Source:Siasat
Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/us-marine-who-entered-to-blow-up-indiana-mosque-embraces-islam-2446668/
--------
Iran
plotting imminent attack on Saudi Arabia; puts US-Saudis on elevated alert:
Report
Darren
Lyn
01.11.2022
HOUSTON,
United States
US
and Saudi Arabian officials are on high alert after learning of an impending
attack on the kingdom by Iran, according to intelligence sources.
The
Wall Street Journal reported that officials from both countries have shared
concerns about Iran's imminent threat, which includes information that Tehran
is also looking to strike US troops in Erbil, Iraq as a distraction from
protests against Iran's leadership.
“We
are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact
through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,” the National
Security Council said in a statement. “We will not hesitate to act in the
defense of our interests and partners in the region.”
Iran
has already carried out a barrage of attacks in northern Iraq, where US troops
have been stationed, since late September.
The
urgent threat level has put the American military and other allied forces in
the Middle East on elevated alert status.
"We
will reserve the right to protect and defend ourselves no matter where our
forces are serving, whether in Iraq or elsewhere," said Pentagon spokesman
Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder on Tuesday.
Tehran
has publicly blamed what it calls Iranian Kurdish separatist groups for
carrying out attacks and has accused Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US of
instigating demonstrations against the Iranian government through news coverage
in the region.
Iran
has warned Saudi Arabia against covering the protests on Farsi news stations.
"This
is our last warning, because you are interfering in our internal affairs
through these media," Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said in remarks reported by
Iranian state media. "You are involved in this matter and know that you
are vulnerable."
The
threat level from Iran comes at a critical time in US-Saudi relations, as there
are strained ties between President Joe Biden's administration and Riyadh
concerning Saudi Arabia's move to cut oil production last month, despite pleas
by the US to hold off on the decision.
The
Saudi-led OPEC+ move raised oil prices during a period of high inflation and
took place right before the US midterm elections on Nov. 8.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US Treasury imposes sanctions on Somali arms network
01
November 2022
The
United States has imposed sanctions on a Somali weapons trafficking network
saying they are supplying arms to Daesh-Somalia and the al-Shabab militant
group after twin bombings killed at least 100 in Mogadishu on Saturday.
The
US Department of Treasury said it blacklisted eight individuals and one company
involved in the multi-million dollar arms network, allegedly contributing to
the violence by al-Shabab and the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Somalia, AFP
reported.
"The
individuals and entity designated today are critical nodes for a weapons
trafficking network that is closely integrated with ISIS-Somalia," the
Treasury said, using its acronym for the terrorist group.
"These
networks operate primarily between Yemen and Somalia and have strong ties to
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and al-Shabab," it said.
Al
Shabab claimed responsibility and said the attack was in response to Somali
children being taught from a Christian-led education syllabus. Al-Shabab often
targets high-profile locations with large numbers of civilians killed.
The
US Treasury said networks are partly centered on Puntland on the eastern tip of
Somalia, where it said Abdirahman Mohamed Omar has handled more than $2 million
in arms deals over the past four years.
"Omar
has been involved in weapons facilitation to ISIS-Somalia and al-Shabab since
at least early 2017," working with an AQAP arms facilitator, the Treasury
claimed.
The
Treasury said Omar and other Puntland arms traders mentioned in the sanctions
were also involved in illegal fishing using dynamite and piracy.
At
least 100 people were killed in two car bombings outside the education ministry
in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, on Saturday.
At
least 300 others were wounded, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said on
Sunday. The attack was the deadliest since October 2017, when a vehicle bomb at
the same market intersection killed more than 500 people.
The
attack occurred when the president, prime minister and other senior officials
were meeting to discuss combating violent extremism, especially by the
al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab group that often targets the capital.
Al-Shabab
has been fighting Somalia’s central government for more than 15 years in an
attempt to establish its own rule in the African country. Recently, the group
has launched strikes on the Ethiopian border.
An
African Union force pushed the al-Shabab militants out of the capital in 2011,
but the group still controls swathes of countryside and frequently carries out
gun and bomb attacks against both civilian and military targets. Its targets
include busy traffic intersections, hotels, and military bases.
Source:
Press TV
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
American
Rescue Plan funded writing fellowship for ‘non-binary’ 13-year-olds, Muslim
jazz series in NYC
November
1, 2022
Thousands
of dollars from President Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act funded a
writing fellowship targeting "non-binary" 13-year-olds and a Muslim
jazz music series, among dozens of other humanities projects in New York that
are seemingly unrelated to COVID-19 pandemic recovery.
The
ARP Act, which Democrats passed in March 2021 without any Republican support,
was billed by the Democratic Party as an economic necessity for getting the
country through the pandemic. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH),
which received $135 million from the plan, announced in June 2021 that it had
allocated $51.6 million in ARP funding for "state and jurisdictional
humanities councils and interim partners to support recovery and reopening of
humanities organizations and programs across the country."
Months
later, Humanities New York distributed more than $360,000 ARP funds to dozens
of organizations, including a $10,000 grant for Urban Word NYC to launch three
literary arts fellowships for marginalized youth. One of the taxpayer-funded
fellowships, the Black Girl Magic Fellowship, is a series "for
NYC/NJ-based girls and non-binary youth ages 13-19 centered on their
development as writers, building their self-esteem, and addressing issues that
matter most to them," according to Urban Word’s website.
Humanities
New York awarded another $10,000 ARP grant to the National Jazz Museum in
Harlem to create a five-part music series about the influence of Islam and
Muslims in jazz.
"This
ongoing series highlights the contributions of Islam and Muslims in the birth
and continued growth of jazz," the National Jazz Museum website states.
"These discussions and concerts are fundamental to changing conversations
and attitudes about ‘belonging’ in the history of jazz for Muslims and for
other marginalized groups."
Humanities
New York awarded another $10,000 ARP grant for Roots Wounds Words to create a
talk series aimed to provide Black, Indigenous, and people of color
storytellers "with opportunities to deepen their literary craft across
genres such as creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, screenwriting, and
more."
Humanities
New York awarded another $10,000 ARP grant for the Pan Am Museum Foundation to
"explore how racial diversity changed the airline industry."
Another
nearly $10,000 went toward creating a "cultural sensitivity training"
program at the Seneca-Iroquois National Museum, and another $9,425 went to
Seven Generations of Stewards to host a festival about "Native American
culture, history, foods and social issues," to name only a few.
Fox
News Digital has extensively reported on the millions in ARP funds that have
funded social and climate justice programs all over the country that have
virtually nothing to do with pandemic relief.
For
example, the NEH awarded the Oral History Association $825,000 in ARP funds for
a grant-making project titled, "Diversifying Oral History Practice: A
Fellowship Program for Under/Unemployed Oral Historians," which provided
11 year-long fellowships of $60,000 each for oral historians "from
communities which have been historically marginalized in the field," such
as "Indigenous peoples, people of color, people with disabilities, and
working class people."
The
NEH awarded another $499,023 to the University of Montana for multiple programs
on racial justice, including a public lecture series on "racial justice,
death and Indigenous knowledge."
The
Science History Institute in Philadelphia was awarded $359,097 by the NEH to
create a "multiplatform project exploring the historical roots and
persistent legacies of racism in American science and medicine." The same
institute previously received a $1,230,100 Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
loan on April 14, 2020.
Another
$200,000 in ARP funds went to the Chicago Humanities Festival to create
"six humanities programs on racial justice, gender equality, and building
an inclusive society." The group was previously awarded a total of
$778,236 from two PPP loans between April 2020 and January 2021.
Many
economists have blamed the ARP for overheating the economy and contributing to
the current inflation crisis, which hit a whopping 8.2% last month.
The
NEH and Humanities New York did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s
requests for comment.
Source:
FoxNews
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
concerned about Iranian attacks on Saudi Arabia: White House
02
November, 2022
The
US is concerned about potential Iranian threats to Saudi Arabia, a White House
official said Tuesday.
“We
are concerned about the threat picture, and we remain in constant contact
through military and intelligence channels with the Saudis,” a National
Security Council official said in an email to Al Arabiya English.
The
official added that the US would not hesitate to defend “our interests and
partners in the region.”
The
Wall Street Journal first reported news of the Iranian threats.
Citing
Saudi and US officials, the WSJ reported that Saudi Arabia, the US and other
countries in the Middle East had elevated the level of alert for their
military forces.
The
Associated Press later quoted a US official as saying an attack could take
place “soon or within 48 hours."
Al
Arabiya English has contacted the Saudi Embassy in Washington for comment.
Last
month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps head, Hossein Salami, threatened Saudi
Arabia and said the Kingdom should “be careful.” Salami claimed that Riyadh was
provoking the anti-government protests that have rocked Iran and its regime for
over a month.
While
tensions between Washington and Riyadh have been rocky since the Biden
administration took office, current and former US officials have expressed the
need to maintain a steady relationship. The military relationship has been a
critical part of the strategic alliance between the two countries. An estimated
70,000 US citizens live or work in the Kingdom.
After
reports emerged of the Iranian threats on Tuesday, Republican Senator Joni
Ernst criticized the Biden administration.
Noting
the approximately 3,000 US servicemembers stationed in Saudi Arabia, Ernst
accused Democrats of advocating to remove air and missile defense units,
“risking the lives of US citizens & our troops alike.”
Ernst
went on: “Saudi Arabia is a longstanding Gulf security partner and that has not
changed. The Biden admin kneecapped U.S. energy production and has blamed OPEC+
for high gas prices. The American people don’t buy it.”
She
was referring to the recent criticism of Biden administration officials who
have repeatedly accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia in the aftermath of
the OPEC+ decision to cut oil output.
Following
the OPEC+ move last month, the Biden administration postponed a US-GCC
integrated air and missile defense working group meeting.
And
US officials have said they would review the relationship with Riyadh because
of the decision reached by OPEC+.
Saudi
Arabia has rejected accusations of siding with Russia, pointing to UN votes
where it condemned the Russian invasion and purported annexation and pledged
$400 million in aid for Ukraine.
Saudi
officials hit back at US criticism, saying they were asked to delay the OPEC+ decision
until after the US’s midterm elections.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
‘concerned’ about possible Iran missiles for Russia
01
November, 2022
The
White House said Tuesday Iran was willingly taking part in killing Ukrainians
by providing drones to Russia for the war, and voiced concern it would also
ship missiles to Moscow.
By
arming the Russians, the Iranian regime “is involved in killing innocent
Ukrainians,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
“At
its core, this is a regime in Tehran that is openly and willingly making
themselves an accomplice to the murder of innocent Ukrainian people on
Ukrainian soil.”
Kirby
noted Iran's provision of attack drones to Russia, which have been deployed in
recent weeks to damage Ukraine infrastructure.
But
he would not confirm reports that Tehran could also send short-range ballistic
missiles to Russia.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
Vladimir
Putin’s jihad against the West
BY
MARK TOTH AND JONATHAN SWEET
11/01/22
Russian
President Vladimir Putin declared jihad against the West in a recent speech
delivered at the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow. In demagoguing his twisted
modern-day version of the Atlantic Charter — a “Black Sea Charter,” if you will
— Putin laid out his global call for jihad. Its crusade? Simply put, the
destruction of “the so-called West,” its cultural and religious values, and
what Putin perceives to be Washington’s global unipolar hegemony.
That’s
a far cry from where we were in February, when Putin was justifying his
“special military operation” in Ukraine. Then, Putin’s primary obsession was
Kievan Rus — and the Donbass’ place in it alongside Crimea. The Kremlin, additionally,
was also aiming to turn the Black Sea into a Russian lake. Getting battered in
Ukraine changed the equation and the excuses.
Jihad,
in effect, is Putin’s desperate attempt to change the playing board. He needs
to find a new battlefield other than in Ukraine in search of a victory, lest he
finds himself falling out a window. Overturning the global world order, in
place since the end of World War II, would be one bold way of doing it.
Putin
launched his jihad for a new multipolar order during his speech by accusing the
West — namely, Washington, London, NATO and the European Union — of playing a
“dangerous, bloody and, I would say, dirty [game].” Never mind that it was
Russia who invaded Ukraine and it was Kyiv who valiantly fought off a superpower
to live and fight another day. Putin’s overarching argument is that “the West
made me do it” and that’s why he must continue doing it to save the world.
Yet,
in the wake of Russian defeats, first in Kyiv, later in the Donbass and beyond,
Putin’s justifications have been ever-changing. Initially, Putin claimed it was
solely to rescue the Russian-speaking people of the Donbass. Then, it was to
reverse a U.S.-orchestrated coup forcing former Ukrainian President Viktor
Yanukovych from power in 2014.
Next,
lacking a victory on Victory Day, Putin resorted to claiming the war was about
fighting Nazis in Ukraine. That excuse imploded when Putin’s forces were
revealed not to be self-proclaimed “Nazi-hunters” but reincarnated Nazis
committing war crimes and crimes against humanity at will in Bucha, Kharkiv and
even in Azov. Then the excuse was that Ukraine lost the right to sovereignty
because, ostensibly, Kyiv fought to defend its sovereignty.
Now
it is Satanism.
Pivoting
to this latest justification closely ties into Putin’s need to maintain the
unwavering support of the Russian Orthodox Church. Not only is its leader,
Patriarch Kirill I, providing “spiritual cover” for his war in Ukraine, the
church itself is arguably the “core” of Putin’s domestic support.
Satanism
is also Putin’s means to an end of simultaneously declaring jihad throughout
Christendom and among Islamic extremists.
During
his speech, Putin kept hammering on the theme of a decadent, immoral West and
pitted it as a collective culture undermining the values of the Muslim world.
Indeed, he claimed, it is one that is intent on destroying the Muslim world —
and its values — as evidenced by U.S. military actions in Syria, Afghanistan,
and Iraq.
Putin’s
pairing of Russian Christendom and extremist Islam in this new jihad against
the West is not without precedent. It is rooted in his earliest interactions
with Syria and its president, Bashar al-Assad. The Russian Orthodox Church, “a
key unifier” in Russia and “central to his grip on power” has fully embraced Putin
as “the savior of the Christian world.” Two holy sites significant to the
church and Russian history are located in Syria: Maaloula, one of the remaining
few cities that still speaks Aramaic — the language of Jesus — and Palmyra.
Palmyra
is noteworthy because Catherine the Great idolized Zenobia, the “3rd-century
queen of Palmyra,” and Catherine modeled her 18th-century court in St.
Petersburg after the Syrian city. Notably, St. Petersburg is still referred to
as “the Palmyra of the North.” Czarist history matters to Putin. He uses it to
justify wars and land grabs.
Assad
helped seal the arranged marriage between the Russian Orthodox Church and
fundamentalist Islam, declaring in 2015 that Putin was “the only defender of
Christian civilization one could rely on.” The seeds of Putin’s future jihad
were planted — and cultivated with the blood of Russian soldiers dying in
Syria. Assad’s payoff? Russian intervention on his behalf — and salvation — in
the ongoing Syrian civil war.
Putin’s
jihad and fight against Satanism is also directly aimed at Iran’s
arch-conservative religious regime, as well as Afghanistan where Moscow is
actively “recruiting Afghan commandos” to fight in Ukraine. But Putin’s jihad
against the West is far broader than just the Middle East.
The
Russian dictator is also aiming at Asian and African countries to peel them off
from supporting Western sanctions. During his speech, he played all kinds of
cards: colonialism, imperialism, racism, religious discrimination; the U.S.
nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in WWII. He ignored, of course,
Russia’s historical sins and the mortal sins that Putin’s soldiers commit daily
in Ukraine.
Strikingly,
in a direct threat to U.S. national security, Putin is targeting factions in
the West to join in global jihad against Washington. He argues that the West
has lost its way and Russia is now the only true standard-bearer for classical
liberalism that is being lost to “Western cancel culture.”
Delusional?
Yes. But also, revealing. Putin is out of ideas on how to win. First, he
weaponized energy and winter. Then he went about weaponizing WMD and nuclear
bluffing, including dangerously using the nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia
as a “Nuclear Force Z.” Now, with this speech at Valdai, Putin is attempting to
weaponize the entire global order as we know it by calling for jihad.
Putin’s
“Mother Russia” of all jihads will not work. Chinese President Xi Jinping isn’t
interested in a Mussolini-type sideshow. Nor is NATO intimidated. Ukraine is on
the offensive — and rarely do countries sign on to a losing cause. Even an
attack from Belarus on Kyiv to start the jihad wouldn’t change the ultimate
outcome. Putin is likely finished in Ukraine and in Moscow — as is Putinism.
Russia just isn’t willing to admit it yet or see it through. Putin’s call for
jihad will soon devolve into Putin’s final lament.
Mark
Toth is a retired economist, historian and entrepreneur who has worked in
banking, insurance, publishing and global commerce. He is a former board member
of the World Trade Center, St. Louis, and has lived in U.S. diplomatic and
military communities around the world, including London, Tel Aviv, Augsburg and
Nagoya. Follow him on Twitter @MCTothSTL.
Source:
TheHill
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/3709926-vladimir-putins-jihad-against-the-west/
--------
Shortage
of mosques in France: The everyday consequences for French Muslims
01/11/2022
The
Great Mosque of Paris or Paris Central Mosque is the most visited mosque in
France. Its construction began in 1922, with the aim of thanking Muslim
soldiers who fought for France in World War I. Back then, the state financed
the building of the edifice. But a century later, the context is quite
different. Financing the construction of a mosque in France today can prove a
challenge. We take a closer look.
The
Great Mosque of Paris is not only the oldest, but also one of the largest
mosques in mainland France. The Hispano-Moresque building has a 33-metre-high
minaret, prayer rooms with intricate decoration, not to mention spectacular
gardens. We look back at how this impressive European project came to fruition.
Source:France24
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Does
The Qur’an Support Attacks On Christianity And Judaism?
November
1, 2022
By
Rabbi Allen S. Maller
In
no way is the Qur’an anti-Christianity, or anti-Judaism. However, there are
people now, and there were people in the past; who have willfully misused
verses in the Qur’an for the purpose of vilifying and attacking Christians,
Jews and other people of the book.
Just
as some Muslims have misused verses in the Qur’an to attack and vilify Suni,
Shi’a or Sufi Muslims; some Muslims, as well as some Christians and some Jews,
have misused some verses from their own Sacred Scriptures for unholy purposes
of disrespect, disparagement and even destruction.
One
has only to read about the Inquisition, and the expulsion of Jews, and then
Muslims from Spain, to realize how easily the teaching of religious contempt
can lead people to violence and persecution. The thirty year was between
Catholics and Protestants in Germany killed one third of the German population.
And
we can still see examples of the religious misuse of verses of Sacred Scripture
to promote hatred and violence in many places in the world today: all done with
the excuse of speaking the truth in the name of God.
With
the Muslim expansion into Syria and Egypt, Muslims encountered large numbers of
Eastern Orthodox priests, many of whom, as they learned about Islam, began to
attack it. Most of these attacks were verbal but some were in writings that
have survived to the present.
For
Example, Saint John of Damascus (c. 676–749 C.E.), who was familiar with Islam
and Arabic wrote in the second chapter of his book, The Fount of Wisdom, titled
‘Concerning Heresies’, that “Muslims accuse us of being idolaters, because we
venerate the cross, which they abominate. And we answer them: ‘How is it, then,
that you rub yourselves against a stone in your Ka’ba and kiss and embrace it?’
Then some of them say that Abraham had relations with Hagar upon it, and others
say that he tied the camel to it, when he was going to sacrifice Isaac.
Then
we say: ‘Then, just because Abraham had relations with a woman on it, or tied a
camel to it, you are not ashamed to kiss it, yet you blame us for venerating
the cross of Christ by which the power of the demons and the deceit of the
Devil was destroyed.’ This stone that they talk about is a head of that
Aphrodite (idol) whom they used to worship and whom they called Khabár. Even to
the present day, traces of the carving are visible on it to careful observers.”
Saint
John continues later: “In the chapter The Table, Mohammed says that the Christ
asked God for a table and that it was given Him. For God, he says, said to Him:
‘I have given to you and yours an incorruptible table.’ And, while he ordered
them to eat some things forbidden by the Law, he ordered them to abstain from
others. And he absolutely forbade the drinking of wine.
And
in the chapter The Heifer, he (Muhammad) says some other stupid and ridiculous
things, which, because of their great number, I think must be passed over. He
made it a law that they be circumcised, the women too, and ordered them not to
keep the Sabbath, and not to be baptized.”
These
Christian anti-Islam polemics grew stronger and stronger over the next three
and a half centuries until Crusaders in Spain and the Middle East turned them
into violence and war. It is not surprising that Muslims answered the polemics
with increasingly harsh words; and began to interpret the Qur’an message of
religious toleration in a narrow minded, exclusionist manner.
Thus,
some people who prefer to hate and vilify their rivals rather than love and
respect them, misunderstood verses in their own Sacred Scriptures in order to
justify their own hateful feelings and negative thoughts. An excellent example
of misguidance by Satan is the frequent misuse of verses from the Qur’an that
apply to some Christians and Jews, as if they applied to all Christians and
Jews.
For
example, defining Christians and Jews in general as “the descendants of apes
and pigs” is widespread today in religious, educational and public discourse in
the Arab world. In a weekly sermon (April 2002) the Sheikh of Al-Azhar,
Muhammad Sayyid Al-Tantawi, a senior authority in the Sunni Muslim world,
described Jews as “the enemies of Allah, sons of pigs and apes.”
In
truth, the Qur’an never states all Jews were turned into apes or pigs; but
clearly states that only some Jews were: “…They are those whom Allah has cast
aside and on whom His wrath has fallen and of whom He has made some as apes and
swine…” (5:60); “…You have surely known the end of those from amongst you who
transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath, in consequence of which We condemned
them: Be ye like apes, despised” (2:65).
That
in every generation there were some Jews who failed to live according to the
covenant that God had made with B’nai Israel- the Jewish People is correct;
just as in every generation some Muslims within the Muslim Umma have failed to
live according to Islamic teachings. In every religious community of human
beings there are many individuals who act like apes and pigs, and then fail to
repent and amend their behavior. To them the Qur’an states: “When, instead of
amending, they became more persistent in the pursuit of that which they were
forbidden, We condemned them: Be ye as apes, despised” (7:166).
The
Qur’an states specifically: “They are not all alike. Some of the People of the
Book are firmly committed to the truth. They recite the Verses of Allah during
the hours of night, and remain in the state of [prayer] prostration before
their Lord.” (3:113 – Qadri) Again we see the explicit declaration that the
People of the Book (Christians and Jews) are not all alike. Some “…are firmly committed
to the truth. They recite the Verses of Allah during the hours of night, and
remain in the state of [prayer] prostration before their Lord.” and some do
not; just as some Muslims pray everyday and are committed to the truth, and
some Muslims do not.
This
misuse of Sacred Scripture was used against both internal sectarians and
external rival religions; and was always done with the excuse of speaking the
truth in the name of God. Indeed, there is a Hadith that Prophet Muhammad
himself predicted Muslims themselves who sin will be turned into pigs, apes and
monkeys.
Narrated
Abu ‘Amir or Abu Malik Al-Ash’ari: that he heard the Prophet say: “From among
my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual
intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use
of musical instruments, as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay
near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them
with their sheep and ask them for something (in Payment), but they will say to
him, ‘Return to us tomorrow.’ Allah will destroy them during the night and will
let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into
monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection.” (Sahih
Al-Bukhari Book #69, Hadith #494)
The
Qur’an wisely warns us that every messenger’s recitations are subject to
Satan’s tampering in order to test those whose hearts are diseased and
hardened: “We did not send before you any messenger or prophet except that when
he spoke [recited], Satan threw in it [misunderstandings]. But Allah abolishes
that which Satan throws in; then Allah makes precise His verses. And Allah is
Knowing and Wise so He may make what Satan throws in, a trial for those within
whose hearts is disease and those hard of heart. Indeed, the wrongdoers are in
extreme dissension.” (Qur’an 22:52-3)
Allah
does not prevent Satan from throwing in hateful, narrow minded, sectarian
understandings of Qur’anic verses as “a trial for those within whose hearts is
disease and those hard of heart”. It is up to those who pursue virtue to oppose
and defeat extreme wrongdoers whose hearts are hard and diseased.
Anyone
who uses the words of Torah, Gospel or Qur’an to vilify and hurt others is
causing extreme dissension; and thus his or her words are Satan’s
misunderstanding. Anyone who uses the words of Torah, Gospel or Qur’an to
advocate or defend terrorism and oppression is an agent of Satan’s
misunderstanding.
The
Qur’an refers to Prophet Abraham as a community or a nation: “Abraham was a
nation-community [Ummah]; dutiful to God, a monotheist [hanif], not one of the
polytheists.” (16:120) If Prophet Abraham is an Ummah then fighting between the
descendants of Prophets Ishmael and Isaac is a civil war and should always be
avoided.
Source:
Eurasia Review
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UK counter-terrorism police take over migrant center firebombing probe
Karim
El-Bar
01.11.2022
LONDON
As
counter-terrorism police took over the investigation on Tuesday, the deceased
man who firebombed a migrant center in the coastal town of Dover, England was
named by police as Andrew Leak.
The
attack took place on Sunday, and it was previously reported that two or three
firebombs were thrown at the migrant processing center. Leak was later found
dead inside his car at a nearby petrol station, suspected to have killed
himself.
The
66-year-old was from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, southeastern England. Two
people suffered minor injuries as a result of the attack.
Olly
Wright, who heads the Counter Terrorism Policing South East, said: "What
appears clear is that this despicable offense was targeted and likely to be
driven by some form of hate-filled grievance, though this may not necessarily
meet the threshold of terrorism.
"At
this point, the incident itself has not been declared a terrorist incident, but
this is being kept under review as the investigation progresses."
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Muslim students urged to boycott NUS after Shaima Dallali sacked as President
01
November 2022
The
Federation of Student Islamic Societies has called on Muslim students to
boycott the National Union of Students after it sacked its president, Shaima
Dallali, following an investigation into antisemitism allegations against her.
The
pro-Israel Jewish Chronicle broke the story earlier today before an official
announcement had been made and before Dallali had been informed.
It
said an NUS disciplinary panel has concluded that Dallali, who is an outspoken
defender of Palestinian rights, should be removed from her post after reviewing
the recommendations of KC Rebecca Tuck’s report into the allegations.
FOSIS
issued the following statement after Dallali’s sacking:
Meanwhile,
Dallali, who is expected to come out with a full statement through her
solicitors tomorrow, tweeted:
On
the other hand, the Union of Jewish Students said it “respects the decision of
the NUS to dismiss their president.”
They
added:”Antisemitism in the student movement goes beyond the actions of any one
individual and this case is a symptom of wider problem. Jewish students across
the country will be asking how an individual deemed unfit for office by NUS was
elected in the first place. We await the findings of the substantive inquiry
into NUS’s treatment of Jewish students.”
In
March this year the National Union of Students elected Shaima Dallali as its
new president at its annual conference in Liverpool.
Dallali,
who is of Sudanese-Tunisian heritage, was elected for a two-year term.
At
the time she said: “I am immensely proud and humbled to have been elected NUS
National President. Access to Education is a right that should be available to
everyone regardless of who they are and where they’re from.
“Fighting
to challenge injustices is central to our vision as students and with the
support of grassroots organisations, we have the opportunity to challenge
institutional frameworks that seek to limit the accessibility and experience of
students and staff in education.”
Source:
5pillarsuk
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Abuse
after Muslim hikers' Countryfile appearance
01
November 2022
The
Coventry founder of a Muslim hikers' group says it has been the subject of
"shocking" online abuse since appearing on Countryfile.
Haroon
Mota took part in an outdoor arts event filmed on Scafell Pike in September for
the BBC special which was shown on Sunday.
He
recruited more than 200 volunteers to take part.
"If
we ever needed any validation for why we exist and why we do what we do, this
is why," said Mr Mota.
The
Muslim hikers were amongst a group of several hundred who gathered at England's
highest mountain for the filming of the Green Space Dark Skies project.
"Unfortunately
we have received an overwhelming amount of abuse online, a lot of racism,"
Mr Mota said. "It's something we have had before in the past and its
unfortunate that it's happening again.
"The
reason why we set up Muslim hikers was so we can create a community where
people feel safe, a community where people can thrive ....and hike confidently.
"It's
a shame that we receive abuse occasionally but this type of abuse only gives us
the reasoning and the justifications for why we existed in the first place."
Muslim
Hikers group, set up by Mr Mota during the pandemic, has attracted a large
community of outdoor enthusiasts and has almost 24,000 Instagram followers, he
said.
The
group, which arranges walks every month, previously received online abuse after
posting pictures of a hike online.
Speaking
on Countryfile, Mr Mota said: "Twenty years ago, when I started hiking,
this seemed so strange that there a lack of people looking like me. People of
colour, black people, ethnic minorities, we just didn't see them in the
outdoors.
Source:
BBC
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-63475927
--------
Russia
recruiting US-trained Afghan commandos, vets say
Nov
1, 2022
Afghan
special forces soldiers who fought alongside American troops and then fled to
Iran after the chaotic US withdrawal last year are now being recruited by the
Russian military to fight in Ukraine, three former Afghan generals told The
Associated Press.
They
said the Russians want to attract thousands of the former elite Afghan
commandos into a “foreign legion” with offers of steady, $1,500-a-month
payments and promises of safe havens for themselves and their families so they
can avoid deportation home to what many assume would be death at the hands of
the Taliban.
“They
don’t want to go fight — but they have no choice,” said one of the generals,
Abdul Raof Arghandiwal, adding that the dozen or so commandos in Iran with whom
he has texted fear deportation most. “They ask me, ‘Give me a solution. What
should we do? If we go back to Afghanistan, the Taliban will kill us.’”
Arghandiwal
said the recruiting is led by the Russian mercenary force Wagner Group. Another
general, Hibatullah Alizai, the last Afghan army chief before the Taliban took
over, said the effort is also being helped by a former Afghan special forces
commander who lived in Russia and speaks the language.
The
Russian recruitment follows months of warnings from US soldiers who fought with
Afghan special forces that the Taliban was intent on killing them and that they
might join with US enemies to stay alive or out of anger with their former
ally.
A
GOP congressional report in August specifically warned of the danger that the
Afghan commandos — trained by US Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets — could end
up giving up information about US tactics to the Islamic State group, Iran or
Russia — or fight for them.
“We
didn’t get these individuals out as we promised, and now it’s coming home to
roost,” said Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer who served in Afghanistan,
adding that the Afghan commandos are highly skilled, fierce fighters. “I don’t
want to see them in any battlefield, frankly, but certainly not fighting the
Ukrainians.”
Mulroy
was skeptical, however, that Russians would be able to persuade many Afghan
commandos to join because most he knew were driven by the desire to make
democracy work in their country rather than being guns for hire.
AP
was investigating the Afghan recruiting when details of the effort were first
reported by Foreign Policy magazine last week based on unnamed Afghan military
and security sources. The recruitment comes as Russian forces reel from Ukrainian
military advances and Russian President Vladimir Putin pursues a sputtering
mobilization effort, which has prompted nearly 200,000 Russian men to flee the
country to escape service.
Russia's
defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for
Yevgeny Prigozhin, who recently acknowledged being the founder of the Wagner
Group, dismissed the idea of an ongoing effort to recruit former Afghan
soldiers as “crazy nonsense.”
The
US defense department also didn’t reply to a request for comment, but a senior
official suggested the recruiting is not surprising given that Wagner has been
trying to sign up soldiers in several other countries.
It’s
unclear how many Afghan special forces members who fled to Iran have been
courted by the Russians, but one told the AP he is communicating through the
WhatsApp chat service with about 400 other commandos who are considering
offers.
He
said many like him fear deportation and are angry at the US for abandoning
them.
“We
thought they might create a special program for us, but no one even thought
about us,” said the former commando, who requested anonymity because he fears
for himself and his family. “They just left us all in the hands of the
Taliban.”
The
commando said his offer included Russian visas for himself as well as his three
children and wife who are still in Afghanistan. Others have been offered
extensions of their visas in Iran. He said he is waiting to see what others in
the WhatsApp groups decide but thinks many will take the deal.
U.S.
veterans who fought with Afghan special forces have described to the AP nearly
a dozen cases, none confirmed independently, of the Taliban going house to
house looking for commandos still in the country, torturing or killing them, or
doing the same to family members if they are nowhere to be found.
Human
Rights Watch has said more than 100 former Afghan soldiers, intelligence
officers and police were killed or forcibly “disappeared” just three months
after the Taliban took over despite promises of amnesty. The United Nations in
a report in mid-October documented 160 extrajudicial killings and 178 arrests
of former government and military officials.
The
brother of an Afghan commando in Iran who has accepted the Russian offer said
Taliban threats make it difficult to refuse. He said his brother had to hide
for three months after the fall of Kabul, shuttling between relatives’ houses
while the Taliban searched his home.
“My
brother had no other choice other than accepting the offer,” said the
commando’s brother, Murad, who would only give his first name because of fear
the Taliban might track him down. “This was not an easy decision for him.”
Former
Afghan army chief Alizai said much of the Russian recruiting effort is focused
on Tehran and Mashhad, a city near the Afghan border where many have fled. None
of the generals who spoke to the AP, including a third, Abdul Jabar Wafa, said
their contacts in Iran know how many have taken up the offer.
“You
get military training in Russia for two months, and then you go to the battle
lines,” read one text message a former Afghan soldier in Iran sent to
Arghandiwal. “A number of personnel have gone, but they have lost contact with
their families and friends altogether. The exact statistics are unclear.”
An
estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Afghan special forces fought with the Americans
during the two-decade war, and only a few hundred senior officers were
airlifted out when the US military withdrew from Afghanistan. Since many of the
Afghan commandos did not work directly for the US military, they were not
eligible for special USvisas.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Ukraine
will ask FIFA to ban Iran from Qatar World Cup over “human rights violations”
02
November, 2022
Ukraine’s
national football association is to submit a request for the international
governing body FIFA to ban Iran from participating in the Qatar World Cup 2022.
Citing
“systematic human rights violations in Iran,” the executive committee of the
Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) said it will request the exclusion of
the Islamic Republic from the global football event in Doha, which kicks off
later this month.
The
Ukrainian sporting body said that Iran’s participation “may violate the
principles and norms of the FIFA Statutes,” in line with the sanctions on Iran
and “the possible involvement of Iran in the military aggression of Russia
against Ukraine.”
On
Tuesday, CNN reported that Iran is preparing to deliver more weapons to Russia
to be used in its war against Ukraine.
It
is estimated that Iran will send around 1,000 weapons, including
surface-to-surface short-range ballistic missiles and attack drones.
Iran’s
drones have become a key weapon in Russia’s arsenal during its war in Ukraine
and have often been used to target crucial energy infrastructure.
Earlier
this month Iranian football and sports personalities and human rights group,
Open Stadiums, also requested FIFA to ban the Iranian national team, the BBC
reported on Monday.
FIFA
has not commented on the request.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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French
media demand Iran release reporter covering protest
01
November, 2022
French
media organizations have called for the release of a reporter on assignment to
cover protests in Iran for French-German TV channel Arte which reported his
arrest.
Vahid
Shamsoddinnezhad, an Iranian national and resident in France, was arrested a
month ago in Iranian Kurdistan, Arte said at the weekend.
He
travelled there on assignment for the Keyi production company and Arte’s
newsroom to cover protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, it
said.
Amini
died in custody on September 16 after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged
breach of Iran’s strict dress rules for women.
Arte
said Shamsoddinnezhad had handed a letter of accreditation issued by Arte and
the details of his French press card to the Iranian authorities on September
24.
He
then conducted two telephone interviews and a television report for Arte’s news
program.
“He
is now being held in Tehran and under investigation,” Arte said.
Journalists’
union SNJ called on the French government to obtain the release of the young
reporter, who this year graduated from a journalism school in Lille, northern
France.
“He
was just doing his job,” the union said.
Press
freedom organization Reporters Sans Frontieres said it was “fully mobilized” to
obtain his release, as well as that of 43 other reporters it said were being
held in Iran.
Iranian
authorities said earlier Tuesday they had released eight journalists detained
during the protests.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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German
chancellor praises Türkiye's efforts to keep Ukraine grain deal in force
Erbil
Basay
02.11.2022
BERLIN
Germany’s
chancellor appreciates Türkiye's efforts to maintain grain exports from Ukraine
through the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
Steffen
Hebestreit said Olaf Scholz exchanged views with Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan on the latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.
He
said the two leaders criticized “Russia's nuclear rhetoric” and Scholz flatly
rejected Moscow’s accusation that Ukraine is preparing to use a "dirty
bomb," saying it was unfounded.
He
also noted that Scholz and Erdogan agreed to stay in close contact over the
current security situation.
Russia
announced Saturday that it would suspend its participation in the UN-brokered
Black Sea grain export deal due to Ukrainian attacks on its Black Sea Fleet’s
ships.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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YPG/PKK
terror group kidnaps Syrian minor in Aleppo
Esref
Musa and Omer Koparan
01.11.2022
The
terrorist group YPG/PKK kidnapped a minor in northern Syria to force him to
join its militant ranks, according to local sources.
YPG/PKK
terrorists abducted S.M.A. age 15, in the Aleppo city center on Oct. 10, Redor
Al Ahmet, spokesperson of the Independent Syrian Kurds Association, told
Anadolu Agency.
Underlining
that PKK/YPG terrorists have intensified child abduction cases in recent months
to get more fighters, Al Ahmet said the terror group kidnapped some six
children in October.
The
YPG/PKK continues to recruit child fighters despite signing an agreement with
the UN for their release.
The
terrorist group usually takes young people and children it kidnaps or detains
to terror camps for armed training, barring them from communicating with their
families.
Images
and news about child fighters are also featured in the so-called media outlets
of the terrorist group.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/ypg-pkk-terror-group-kidnaps-syrian-minor-in-aleppo/2726860
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Turkish
FM reiterates support for Crimean Tatars in meeting with leader
Gozde
Bayar
01.11.2022
Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Tuesday met the leader of Crimean Tatars Mustafa
Abdulcemil Kirimoglu, and reiterated support for the Turkic ethnic group.
"We
will continue to support Ukraine's independence and territorial integrity and
defend the rights of Crimean Tatar Turks,” Cavusoglu said on Twitter after the
meeting in Ankara.
Ukraine
has been wracked by conflict since March 2014 following Russia’s annexation of
Crimea after an illegal independence vote.
The
UN General Assembly voted to proclaim the Russian annexation illegal. Along
with many UN countries, the US, EU and Türkiye also do not recognize Crimea as
Russian territory.
Since
the annexation, the region’s Tatar minority has complained of repression,
including arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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Türkiye's
Maarif Foundation providing critical support to Turkish students in Belgium
Selen
Temizer
01.11.2022
BRUSSELS
Türkiye's
Maarif Foundation is helping Turkish children and their parents overcome the
language barrier by studying in Belgium, where three official languages are
spoken.
Maarif
Foundation, which has been operating for two years in the Flemish-speaking city
of Ghent in Belgium, where the Turkish population is densely populated, has
also started its operations in the capital Brussels, after the completion of
the necessary permit processes.
Many
Turkish students studying in Brussels show interest in the foundation's activities.
The
foundation provides four main services which are supplementary group lessons
and private lessons, language support, extracurricular activities, as well as
guidance and psychological counseling, TMF Belgium Representative Zeynep Bilgin
Eraslan told Anadolu Agency.
"We
create a special, individual program for children in areas where they have
difficulties. We focus on it. We are in contact with their teachers,"
Eraslan said.
"We
had a very intelligent student in Ghent. He was directed to a special school
for children with mental deficiency because he could not express himself well
in the psychological tests in Flemish at school,” she said.
“We
intervened and gave the child the necessary education in three months and had
transferred him to his old school. This achievement was very important to me.
We have supported more than 30 children in similar situations who are in danger
of being expelled from school," Eraslan said.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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Umrah
agents to explore itinerary opportunities at London event
ZAYNAB
KHOJJI
November
01, 2022
LONDON:
UK travel agents and businesses at an event on Sunday will discuss ways to
develop exciting itineraries for the Umrah pilgrimage market and improve the
experiences of British pilgrims.
The
Umrah+ Connect business to business event in London will be held in association
with Nusuk, the first-ever official planning, booking and experience platform
to create Umrah itineraries for Makkah, Madinah and beyond.
Travel
agents offering Umrah packages and those that aim to sell them in the near
future will be educated on how they can incorporate visits to historic Islamic
sites related to the life of the Prophet Muhammad into their tours for British
pilgrims.
These
sites include six mosques, a well and a fort that were recently restored to
their former glory in the holy city of Madinah, details of which were announced
by Saudi authorities last month.
“This
year we have brought extended partners and sponsors in to educate the trade on
how they can develop exciting itineraries for the Umrah pilgrimage market, and
how it can enhance the experiences of British pilgrims, and that of European
pilgrims as well, when they go for Umrah,” CEO of the Council of British Hajjis
and event host Rashid Mogradia told Arab News.
Mogradia
added that traditional Umrah tour operators in the UK are innovating ways in
which they can create itineraries and packages that go beyond booking flights
and accommodation for stays in Makkah and Madinah.
He
said that tour operators are moving toward providing packages that educate
pilgrims by taking them to significant historical sites, helping them to
connect these areas to the history and significance behind Umrah rituals, and
the life of the Prophet Muhammad.
The
Sunday event will help businesses “create opportunities to innovate and deliver
exceptional travel experiences for those embarking on the journey of a
lifetime,” Mogradia said.
“The
UK travel market has shown great recovery post COVID-19 pandemic, and is a
growing market. It’s therefore important, now more than ever, that the industry
stays connected and capitalizes on the offerings and developments on Umrah+
itineraries, programs and initiatives being offered by the Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia, which enrich and enhance the pilgrims’ experiences,” the CEO added.
Sponsors
of the event include the Clock Towers, Accor – Holy Destinations, the National
Committee for Hajj, Umrah and Visitation Activities, Makarem, Emaar Al Diyafa
Hotels, Zam Zam International, Dar Al Taqwa Hotels Madinah and DS Rent.
Partners
include the Kingdom’s flag carrier Saudia, Zamzam.com, Saudi Company for Visa
and Travel Services, Emirates, Zain Telecom, Mawasim, Shaza Makkah, Mysk Touch,
Somukh Aviation, Mahatat Al Alam, Safa Soft, Zamazemah Co., Destinations of the
World, Aqeeq Hotels Madinah and Al Taif for Umrah Services Co.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2192116/world
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Putin
tells Erdogan he wants ‘real guarantees’ from Kyiv on grain deal: Kremlin
November
01, 2022
MOSCOW:
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Tuesday that he wanted “real guarantees” from Kyiv before it potentially
rejoined the grain deal.
Putin
told Erdogan in a phone call that Russia sought “real guarantees from Kyiv
about the strict observance of the Istanbul agreement, in particular about not
using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes,” according to a
statement from the Kremlin.
The
Turkeye and UN-brokered deal allowed Ukrainian grain exports to resume in
August, easing a food crisis caused by the conflict.
On
Saturday, Russia accused Ukraine of misusing the safe shipping corridor for an
attack on Russian ships in Crimea and suspended its participation in the
agreement.
Putin
told Erdogan “it is necessary to conduct a thorough investigation into the
circumstances of the incident” against the Black Sea fleet.
“Only
after that will it be possible to consider the question of resuming work”
within the deal, the Kremlin statement said, referring to both the
investigation and guarantees it is seeking.
For
the second time in as many days Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu
discussed the deal with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar on Tuesday, the
Russian defense ministry said.
Ukraine
has said Russia’s claim was a “false pretext” to withdraw from the deal.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2191981/world
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South Asia
Afghanistan’s
mainstream media shaken by Taliban takeover
1
November, 2022
Kabul
[Afghanistan], November 1 (ANI): The mainstream media in Afghanistan that had
just started to get on its feet was shaken by the disruptions of 2021 – the
takeover of the war-ravaged country by the Taliban.
A
survey conducted by Reporters Without Borders and the Afghan Independent
Journalist Association in December 2021 reported the closure of more than 200
media outlets; rendering about 6,400 journalists jobless after the regime
change, reported Afghan Diaspora Network.
The
transfer of power from a west-supported government to the Taliban saw many
changes in the way institutions were working for the past twenty years.
Not
accustomed to working within the framework of the Taliban regime, several media
personalities moved to neighbouring or western countries, reported Afghan
Diaspora Network.
Though
it remains to be seen what the future holds for popular media in the country,
the upheaval has surely distressed it in the short term.
While
most of the media is attempting to adapt to the new environment, the turbulent
times have come as an opportunity for Pakistan, reported Afghan Diaspora
Network.
Drawing
flak from all around for fomenting trouble and interfering in the governance of
Afghanistan, Islamabad has now resorted to manipulating Afghan media to improve
its public image, reported Afghan Diaspora Network.
According
to some Afghan journalists, the efforts are part of a well-coordinated strategy
focused on exploiting the media vacuum in the country to implant favourable
coverage of Pakistan.
Though
common Afghan journalists working on the ground are not aware of the full plan,
they suspect it to be backed by Pakistani agencies. Afghan journalists facing
distress are being roped in for positive coverage about Pakistan and its
possible role in rebuilding Afghanistan reported Afghan Diaspora Network.
Fully
funded training courses are being offered to Afghan media persons with a special
focus on female journalists. Some local media houses are said to have been
contacted with offers of monetary assistance.
A
few of them facing financial duress are vulnerable to this strategy. Pakistani
private media companies are also being encouraged to set up their outlets in
Kabul to counter any negative perception about the Pakistani government/Army.
Separately,
Islamabad is stepping up engagement with local Afghan NGOs/civil society and
efforts are being made to rope in some foreign media houses, and western
outlets focused on Af-Pak region are being approached for establishing offices
in Islamabad for better coordination.
Source:
ThePrint
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://theprint.in/world/afghanistans-mainstream-media-shaken-by-taliban-takeover/1190597/
--------
Muttaqi
Calls on World to Engage with Islamic Emirate
November
1, 2022
The
acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Khan Muttaqi, called on the
international community to engage with the Islamic Emirate.
Speaking
at a ceremony held to distribute uniforms to intelligence forces, Muttaqi said
undermining the caretaker government of Afghanistan will be harmful for the
whole world.
“The
world should come forward for positive engagement. Weakening the government of
Afghanistan is harming the whole world,” he said.
Muttaqi
called on the Afghans abroad to return to their country and to support the
current government.
Speaking
at the same ceremony, the Second Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Salam
Hanafi said: “The Mujahideens that are active within the Ministry of Defense,
the Ministry of Interior, and Intelligence, or are working in other organizations,
are like a human's various sensory organs.”
Intelligence
forces were provided with uniforms by the Islamic Emirate for the first time
since the fall of the former government.
The
head of the intelligence forces, Abdul Haq Wassiq, said that the uniform is
important for the intelligence forces in providing security and stability in
the country.
Source:ToloNews
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-180557
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Bangladesh
pledges to boost trade, relations with Türkiye
Md.
Kamruzzaman
01.11.2022
DHAKA,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh
is committed to promoting the already established fraternal ties with Türkiye
in the future, a senior cabinet member of Bangladesh said.
Addressing
an event on the occasion of the 99th anniversary of the founding of the
Republic of Türkiye in the capital Dhaka Saturday night, Bangladesh’s Local
Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Minister Md. Tajul Islam said:
“The two moderate Muslim nations have very good relations with all other
countries across the world and both can contribute not only to mutual benefits
but to the world’s peace and stability.”
The
minister asked Turkish investors to invest in the booming sectors of Bangladesh
like the readymade garment industry, information communications technology, and
agriculture.
He
added that while the world was reeling from the global coronavirus pandemic,
the war between Russia and Ukraine further complicated the situation.
“In
such a critical situation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan played a good
role and tried to mitigate the problem through bilateral and multilateral
discussions,” Islam said, praising the Turkish role in the global arena.
Hosted
by the Turkish Embassy, the program was also attended by Bangladesh’s State
Minister for Power, Energy, and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid, and some former
ministers.
Envoys
from different countries and other top officials were also present at the
function which concluded with a colorful cultural performance and traditional
Turkish food.
Welcoming
the participants at the program, Turkish Ambassador Mustafa Osman Turan said
that bilateral trade between Bangladesh and Türkiye is booming while the
people-to-people connectivity is also growing.
“The
trade between Türkiye and Bangladesh is expected to reach $1.5 billion in the
year 2022,” Turan said.
He
said Turkish investors had already recognized Bangladesh as a land of
opportunities and decided to expand their investments in key sectors of the
economy such as energy, consumer goods, and ready-made garments.
Underlining
the Turkish historic city of Istanbul as one of the top destinations for
Bangladeshi tourists, he added that Turkish Airlines has increased the number
of flights to 14 a week.
Hailing
the strong cultural bond between the two nations, Turan said: “Turkish TV
dramas are being watched by millions of people in Bangladesh.”
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Opium
Production Rises by 32% in Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan
By
Saqalain Eqbal
01
Nov 2022
Despite
the Taliban government’s ban on drugs, opium cultivation increased by 32% in
Afghanistan in 2022, according to a report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC).
According
to the UNODC report released on Tuesday, November 1, “the 2022 opium crop in
Afghanistan is the most profitable in years,” with cultivation increasing by
one-third and prices surging even as the country is encircled by escalating humanitarian
and economic crises.
The
UNODC said that opium poppy cultivation climbed by 32% in Afghanistan from the
previous year to 233,000 hectares, making the 2022 harvest the third-largest
cultivated area since monitoring began.
Afghan
farmers are “trapped” in the illegal opiate industry, while seizure events
around Afghanistan imply that opiate trafficking remains in place, said Ghada
Waly, executive director of UNODC.
Nevertheless,
opium poppy growing occupied one-fifth of the province of Helmand’s arable land
in southern Afghanistan, according to the UNODC report.
Following
the announcement of the poppy cultivation ban in April, the report says that
opium prices have skyrocketed. Sales of opium increased Afghan farmers’ income
from $425 million in 2021 to $1.4 billion in 2022, a more than threefold,
jaw-dropping increase.
Source:
Khaama Press
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/opium-production-rises-by-32-in-taliban-ruled-afghanistan-37652/
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Former
Afghan VP’s Party Calls for Referendum on Federal System in Afghanistan
By
Saqalain Eqbal
01
Nov 2022
The
newly established Afghanistan Justice and Freedom party, which is led by Sarwar
Danesh, the former vice president, called for a referendum on the federal
system as a meaningful way for the country to climb out of its current crisis.
According
to the newly formed party, attempting to contrast the “modern” federal system
with the primitive “kings of the territorial divisions” system is a “funny
joke” but in no way constructive or serious.
No
time in Afghanistan’s history has the federal system been put up for a public
vote, according to a statement made on Tuesday, November 1, by the Afghanistan
Justice and Freedom political party.
The
statement called for a referendum on adopting a federal system in Afghanistan
as a solution for the current crisis, stating that Afghanistan should be
“committed to people’s vote.”
It
appears that this statement was made in response to recent statements made by
Mohammad Hanif Atmar, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs who also formed a
political party, even though no names have been addressed specifically.
In
a media interview, Atmar, the head of the Afghanistan National Movement for
Peace and Justice party compared territorial divisions with federalism and said
he did not accept any of them.
The
Justice and Freedom Party asked everyone, including the “academic, political,
and cultural elites and all those who believe in citizen-centered political
thinking, national unity, and political consensus,” thoughtfully consider the concept
of a federal system free of discrimination based on race and religion.
Source:
Khaama Press
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Blast
hits bus carrying Taliban admin. employees in Kabul, injures seven
02
November, 2022
A
blast hit a bus carrying Taliban administration employees in the Afghan capital
on Wednesday morning, police said, injuring seven people.
“Due
to a blast on a mini bus from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and
Development, seven have been injured,” said Khalid Zadran, Kabul’s police
spokesperson, adding the explosion was caused by a roadside mine.
It
was not immediately clear who was behind the blast.
Several
attacks have taken place in urban areas in recent months. Last month an attack
by gunmen on a vehicle in western Afghanistan, which was claimed by ISIS,
killed five medical personnel employed by Taliban security forces.
The
Taliban say they are focused on securing the war-torn nation since they took
over the country in 2021.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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HRW
calls on ICC to investigate all sides in Afghanistan
November
01, 2022
LONDON:
Human Rights Watch has urged the International Criminal Court in the Hague to
assess all sides — including former government forces — in Afghanistan for war
crimes and crimes against humanity after the Office of the Prosecutor resumed
its investigation on Monday.
Patricia
Gossman, HRW’s associate Asia director, said: “The ICC offers a rare
opportunity to advance justice in a country where accountability is completely
absent.
“This
investigation needs to address serious crimes by all sides to the conflict,
including US forces, to bring justice even when the most powerful nations are
involved.”
The
ICC’s initial investigation, stalled in March 2020 at the request of the Afghan
government, had been in limbo ever since the takeover of the country by the
Taliban in August 2021 — with ICC judges needing to determine who represented
the country.
Karim
Khan, the ICC prosecutor, was permitted to resume his work on Oct. 31 after
judges determined that Afghanistan under the Taliban was not carrying out
“genuine” investigations into war crimes or crimes against humanity.
His
investigation covers events starting in 2003, following the fall of the Taliban
to the US-led coalition, and includes the activities of the Taliban and its
affiliates, Daesh, the Afghan National Security Forces and forces belonging to
ICC member states stationed in the country, including the US, and their
activities in relation to Afghanistan overseas — which relate in part to the
practices of the US Central Intelligence Agency.
However,
HRW stated that in his initial request to resume his investigation in September
2021, Khan “indicated that any investigation would focus on alleged crimes by
the Taliban and the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), a
(Daesh)-affiliated group, while deprioritizing alleged crimes by Afghan
security forces and US personnel.”
HRW
said it had found “numerous” examples of violations of international law
committed by Afghan and coalition forces in Afghanistan, including torture and
summary executions.
It
added that the ICC’s investigation “relates to all alleged crimes and actors”
and urged Khan to “reconsider his decision to deprioritize these lines of
inquiry and reaffirm his mandate to address the most serious abuses by all
parties to the conflict.”
However,
HRW admitted that the activities of the Taliban and ISKP in the region remained
of chief concern, adding that the takeover of the country by the former had
raised large concerns not only over bringing historic cases of human rights
abuses to justice, but for the rights of future generations.
HRW
highlighted how the Taliban had carried out “unlawful killings, enforced
disappearances and other serious abuses predominantly targeting former
government security forces and officials and journalists, including women”
since its takeover last year, as well as “arbitrary detention, torture and …
collective punishment” on their opponents.
The
rights of women and girls are of particular concern, it said, following the
closure of almost all girls’ secondary schools in the country, their removal
from numerous lines of work, and restrictions placed on their freedom of
movement and expression. Many women and girls, it added, had been beaten,
detained and tortured for protesting these limits placed upon them.
ISKP,
meanwhile, are responsible for the deaths of over 1,500 innocent civilians,
predominantly from among Afghanistan’s Shiite and Hazara communities.
The
security situation in Afghanistan, HRW said, had forced many thousands to flee
the country, and would continue to hamper any ICC attempts to investigate and
seek justice for victims.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2191831/world
--------
Southeast Asia
Ahead
of GE15, CIJ launches site monitoring hate speech
By
Zarrah Morden
02
Nov 2022
PETALING
JAYA, Nov 2 — The Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) today launched a
website to “Say No to Hate Speech” as Malaysia enters election season.
CIJ
executive director Wathshlah G. Naidu encouraged Malaysians to report hate
speech when they see it to the portal, which exists to educate the public on
hate speech while providing general updates on how hate speech occurs and who
key actors are.
“Politicians
and other key actors often weaponise inflammatory tropes and rhetoric to
control narratives and influence public understanding around issues like race,
religion, royalty, gender and LGBTIQ, and refugees and migrants.
“They
do so to advance narrow political interests that do not serve a democracy,” she
said.
She
added that hate speech diverts attention from solution-focused thinking while
increasing the potential for harm against marginalised communities.
CIJ
and its partners expect hate speech and the dissemination of disinformation to
intensify on social media during GE15, she said.
She
said increases have been observed to take place in past elections and when
there is a shake-up of the political landscape that threatens government
stability, citing the immediate days after the 'Sheraton Move' of February 2020
and during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.
The
project aims to monitor the severity of hate speech and to develop collective
responses to hate-based narratives leading up to and during GE15, while also
enabling the public to respond more effectively to encountering hate speech
online.
Ryan
Chua from Pusat Komas, who was also at the launch, said that the microsite aims
to remind key actors that they are always under public scrutiny.
“We
are watching you and as we are watching you, we are documenting it,” he said.
He
said that this is because the communities often targeted by hate speech are
particularly vulnerable.
The
data from the project can also be used to document electoral offences, he
added.
Wathshlah
also indicated that those who are directly affected by hate speech will be
provided certain services, including funding for their legal defence if needed.
The
project is divided into two components.
The
first monitoring component is a collaboration involving CIJ and three
universities — Universiti Sains Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Sabah and
University of Nottingham Malaysia.
The
second, a rapid response component, involves a partnership between CIJ and
Pusat Komsas, Sisters in Islam, Architects of Diversity, Beyond Borders
Malaysia, Asylum Access Malaysia, Sahabat Wanita, Tenaganita, North South
Initiative and Justice for Sisters.
“The
monitoring component will measure the severity of hate speech around race,
religion, royalty, gender and LGBTIQ, and refugees and migrants, that are
amplified by political parties, politicians, government agencies, media
organisations and key opinion leaders,” said Wathshlah.
The
project established four levels of hate speech: level one involves
disagreements or non-offensive language, level two is made up of offensive or
discriminatory language, level three is dehumanising or hostile language and
level four is language that causes incitement or calls for violence.
Source:
MalayMail
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Malaysia’s
MAPIM President Urges Bringing Perpetrates of Shiraz Terrorist Attack to
Justice
November
01, 2022
Muhammad
Azmi Abdulhamid in a statement called for bringing to justice those behind the
heinous attack and expressed condolences to the Iranian officials and people
and families of the victims.
He
said the West and its cohorts were to blame for such brutal crimes that are
aimed at weakening the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The
enemies do not want to see a strong, united and independent Iran in the region
and seek to destabilize and split up the country, he stated,
Abdulhamid
underlined the need for vigilance, resistance, and unity among Iranians in the
face of plots hatched by Islam’s enemies.
He
also called on the world Muslims to support the Islamic Iran against the
conspiracies of the West.
An
armed terrorist stormed Shah Cheragh -- a sacred and popular Shia shrine in
Shiraz – on Wednesday evening.
Source:
IQNA
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Muslim
preacher Kazim Elias withdraws hours after named BN hopeful for Larut
By
John Bunyan
02
Nov 2022
IPOH,
Nov 2 — Barisan Nasional’s (BN) candidate for the Larut parliamentary seat
Datuk Mohammad Kazim Elias has bowed out of the race, the coalition’s Perak
chief Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad announced today.
The
popular Muslim preacher will be replaced by Mohd Shafiq Fhadly Mahmud to face
incumbent Larut MP Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin from Perikatan Nasional.
“Yesterday,
the BN chairman announced the candidate for the Larut seat, but there is a
change in the last minute.
“Kazim
has withdrawn and he will be replaced by Mohd Shafiq,” Saarani told a news
conference at the Hotel Casuarina Meru here.
Saarani
also said that he does not know why Datuk Mohammad Kazim decided to change his
mind.
“Prior
to yesterday’s announcement, he agreed in the evening that he would contest the
seat and he was announced as the candidate.
“However,
at around 1am today, when I was at the Umno office, I was informed that he had
withdrawn. Why did he do that? I think the question should be posed to him,” he
said.
Kazim
had in 2018 said he was offered to contest in the 14th general election, but
said he rejected the offer as he loved his tahfiz school more.
His
brothers Datuk Mohd Najmuddin and Ahmad Hasbullah are both leaders in Perak
Umno.
His
school Tahfiz Darul Barakah in Manjoi was previously embroiled in a sexual
abuse case involving its students, but police investigations stalled. The
facility is now under new management.
Source:
MalayMail
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Indonesia
seeks UAE, Saudi aid in fighting tuberculosis, meningitis
SHEANY
YASUKO LAI
November
01, 2022
JAKARTA:
Indonesia is set to receive financial assistance from the UAE and Saudi Arabia
to tackle a tuberculosis epidemic and acquire vaccines against meningitis, its
health ministry said on Tuesday.
Health
Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin held talks with foreign officials on the sidelines
of a Group of 20 ministerial meeting in Bali last week that led to at least
eight agreements, including financial assistance for the Indonesian health
sector from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“There
will be $5 million financial aid from Saudi Arabia for medicines and vaccines
against meningitis for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims,” the Indonesian Ministry of
Health said in a statement.
“There’s
also $10 million from the UAE to tackle TBC (tuberculosis) in Indonesia.”
Indonesia
has some of the highest numbers of meningitis cases in southeast Asia, as it
has been struggling to secure an adequate supply of vaccines amid limited
domestic production.
Vaccination
is a requirement for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims, and the supply issue has been a
problem in recent months for those coming from Indonesia, the world’s largest
Muslim-majority nation.
Tuberculosis
is also a major problem. Indonesia accounted for the second-highest number of
cases worldwide, after India, with 969,000 incidences annually, according to a
report this year from the World Health Organization.
Indonesian
authorities announced plans to launch a mass screening program in March, as the
country aims to eliminate the infectious disease by 2030.
Most
tuberculosis cases are recorded on Indonesia’s most populous Java island, home
to around 150 million people and where the capital Jakarta is located,
according to Ministry of Health data.
The
financial assistance from the UAE will help Indonesia to close a funding gap it
needs to fully finance its national program against tuberculosis, Jakarta-based
organization Stop TB Partnership Indonesia said.
“This
commitment from the UAE, as a direct result of bilateral diplomacy, is very
strategic,” Diah S. Saminarsih, Stop TB Partnership Indonesia’s chair of the
board of trustees, told Arab News.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2192141/world
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Maybank
Islamic wins top accolades in The Asset awards 2022
01-11-
2022
PETALING
JAYA: Maybank Islamic won the top awards at The Asset Triple A Islamic Finance
Awards 2022 last week, retaining its position as Islamic Bank of the Year in the
Asia-Pacific and Malaysia respectively for the ninth consecutive year.
It
also won the best Islamic retail bank in Malaysia award, a title it has held
since 2010. In addition, Maybank Islamic gold account (MIGA-i) was named best
investment product.
These
were among the 22 awards won collectively by Maybank’s Islamic, investment
banking and Singapore operations at the award ceremony held on Oct 27.
Maybank
Investment Bank clinched its fourth consecutive wins for best Islamic
investment bank in the Asia-Pacific and Malaysia and sukuk adviser of the year,
Asia-Pacific, and sixth consecutive win for sukuk adviser of the year,
Malaysia. The investment bank also collected 11 awards in the best deals by
country category.
Group
president and CEO Datuk Khairussaleh Ramli said its aspiration goes beyond
growing assets – it also aims to be a leader in providing world-class
syariah-compliant products and solutions.
“As
Malaysia’s largest banking group and with our regional footprint, we are well
positioned to continue championing the commonality between Islamic finance and
sustainability practices,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Maybank’s commitment to mobilising sustainable finance was recognised with
awards for best sustainability SRI sukuk, best sustainability-linked term financing,
best Asean sustainability sukuk and best green loan.
For
the best sustainability SRI sukuk award, Maybank Investment Bank was principal
adviser, lead arranger and lead manager while Maybank Islamic was syariah
adviser for Bank Pembangunan Malaysia’s RM450 million sustainability SRI
Islamic medium term notes. The issuance was upsized from its initial target of
RM300 million due to demand and complements Bank Pembangunan’s impact
assessment framework.
Maybank
Singapore also bagged two best green loan awards for its role as arranger of
Royal Group of Companies’ S$250 million Islamic green financing, a world-first
in the hospitality sector. Royal Group will embed syariah-compliant and
sustainability concepts in building design and operations.
Source:
TheSunDaily
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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After
Halloween raid in KL, human rights groups call for Suhakam to review joint ops
involving religious depts
By
Kenneth Tee
01
Nov 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Human rights advocate Justice for Sisters (JFS) and 19 other
similar groups have called for a complete overhaul of joint raids involving the
respective state Islamic Departments after Islamic law enforcers recently
raided a Halloween party in the national capital and arrested 20 transgender
persons for alleged indecency.
In
a statement, the group said it was deeply concerned by the tri-agency joint
operation organised by the police, Federal Territories Islamic Religious
Department (Jawi) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) which raised concerns over
human rights impact.
“Even
in the context where raids are conducted in full compliance with police
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), the involvement of state Islamic
Departments in joint raids legitimises moral policing, abuse of power, and victimisation
of Muslims under the law.
“Documentation
shows high levels of human rights impact, including violation of privacy,
equality, and freedom of expression, where Muslim persons are especially
victimised by the law and excessive state intervention into people’s private
lives is legitimised,” the group said.
The
group also condemned the deliberate targeting of LGBT people, further noting
the arbitrary arrest and detention; inhumane and degrading treatment and
violence with impunity by state authorities during these joint raids against
said group through discriminatory and vague Shariah laws.
They
also particularly noted the unaddressed LGBT-phobia in the media and social
media where rampant usage of derogatory terms are being used, concerns over
discrimination and harassment against those who had attended the event on the
basis of their gender expression, actual or perceived sexual orientation or
gender identity.
JIS
then urged the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) to undertake a
comprehensive human rights impact assessment of the Syariah Criminal Offences
Act and Enactments to ensure such legislations were in line with the Federal
Constitution and international human rights law.
“In
the spirit of upholding the rule of law and equality before the law (Article 8
of the Federal Constitution), it is critical for Suhakam and the incoming
government to immediately review joint raids involving the state Islamic
Departments given their extensive and discriminatory human rights impacts,” it
said.
Source:
MalayMail
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In court, Zahid's aide says boss donated RM10m to build mosque for in-laws,
over RM38m sponsored for mosque named after his parents
By
Ida Lim
01
Nov 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had donated to charitable
purposes, including the building of mosques, with a donation of RM10 million
for a mosque in Melaka named after both his father and mother-in-law, his
special officer told the High Court today.
Datuk
Mohd Kamal Abdullah said this while testifying as the sixth defence witness for
former home minister Zahid in the latter's trial.
Zahid
is facing 47 charges, including for the alleged criminal breach of trust of
RM31 million belonging to charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi — where he is
a trustee and also later its sole signatory for cheques.
Today,
Mohd Kamal said he knew that his employer Zahid made a number of donations for
charity, noting that Zahid had contributed RM10 million to build a mosque by a
lake at Masjid Tanah in Melaka.
Mohd
Kamal said Masjid Salmah Khamis was named after Zahid's parents-in-law, and
that he had on several occasions followed along Zahid to monitor the
construction of the mosque until it was completed in 2017.
Mohd
Kamal said this mosque was officiated by both the then Melaka governor Tun Mohd
Khalil Yaakob and Zahid, who was then the deputy prime minister.
Mohd
Kamal also spoke about another mosque over a river in Bagan Datuk, Perak that
is still under construction, noting that this floating mosque was named Masjid
Tuminah Hamidi, after Zahid's parents.
"It
has been long since he told me that he wished to build a mosque that will be
named after his mother's and father's names to remember and repay both parents'
good deeds and to hope that pahala (divine rewards) to them will always
continue," he said.
"The
construction of this Masjid Tuminah Hamidi is sponsored fully by Yayasan
Akalbudi and Yayasan Al-Falah as the developers," he said, later adding
that he had visited this mosque several times.
Mohd
Kamal said this mosque should have been completed this month based on the
schedule, but said this would be unlikely due to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission's (MACC) freezing of Yayasan Akalbudi's account.
Asked
by Zahid's lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh to give an estimate of how much has been
donated for the building of this mosque in Bagan Datuk, Mohd Kamal said:
"Over RM38 million."
Mohd
Kamal said he knew that Zahid had in 1997 set up his foundation which was named
Yayasan Budi, before it was renamed to Yayasan Akalbudi.
"I
still remember he told me that he formed this foundation on his father's
advice, to give alms, carry out welfare and charity to needy individuals if
able to do so," he said, claiming that Zahid had said he would place his
own funds in the foundation to be given to those in need.
Mohd
Kamal said some of Yayasan Akalbudi's objectives conveyed to him included
welfare for the poor, education, studies in several sectors and investment.
Mohd
Kamal said Zahid had told him that Yayasan Al-Falah was a foundation set up to
institutionalise the properties left behind by his late father to be channelled
for good. This foundation is chaired by Zahid's younger brother Datuk Seri
Mohamad Nasaee Ahmad Tarmizi.
Mohd
Kamal said Zahid had donated towards the building of mosques and suraus, tahfiz
centres, the poor, orphans and single mothers, and that such donations by Zahid
would either be from his personal funds or from his foundation Yayasan
Akalbudi.
He
claimed that Zahid had also made donations for the building of mosques abroad
such as in China, Thailand, South Africa and Australia.
Mohd
Kamal also said that Yayasan Akalbudi had made donations by fully sponsoring
the construction of the secondary school Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Ulu Al-Bab in
Melaka that was completed in 2014, and that Zahid had wanted it modeled after
the concept used by a secondary school in Kuala Terengganu.
Cash
aid and gifts of cows
Earlier,
Sabri Zainudin Zainul who had worked as then deputy prime minister Zahid's
principal private secretary from October 2017 to May 2018 testified as the
fifth defence witness.
While
working during that brief period for Zahid in the deputy prime minister's
office, Sabri said many individuals went to the office to ask to meet with
Zahid to seek for financial aid to continue their studies, and that Zahid would
usually agree and give aid in the form of cash.
"It
ever happened also when Datuk Seri Zahid did not have cash to give aid at that
time, he would call me and ask me to use my cash first if I have, and he will
repay it to me after that," he said.
He
said Zahid would give a personal donation to help with the costs of the Family
Day event each time it was organised by the Home Ministry.
Sabri
claimed to have knowledge of Zahid's foundation Yayasan Akalbudi, as several
individuals went to the deputy prime minister's office then with the intentions
of meeting Zahid and stating that they wish to donate to this foundation that
was under Zahid's management.
When
asked by Zahid's lawyer Aiman Abdul Rahman, Sabri claimed that Zahid had once
channelled RM150,000 as additional funds to enable the sending of 80 members of
a sports club and their family members to be sent to Muslim pilgrimage in 2015,
which was when the ringgit's value had fallen and the costs for the trip had
increased.
Sabri
also said that Zahid would give out cows to MPs — including those from the
Opposition — for the Hari Raya Korban celebration.
"I
have one good friend, each year he receives, MP," he said, before
proceeding to name incumbent MP Datuk Mahfuz Omar for Pokok Sena in Kedah.
"Actually,
he is opposition MP, Pokok Sena, Mahfuz. Each year he receives four to five
heads, I know because he invites me also. He and I are in the same village, we
are neighbours, he said he receives each year. The rest I knew during the
deputy prime minister's office period, for their good, I don't mention-lah,"
he said.
In
this trial, Zahid who is also Umno president is facing 47 charges, namely 12
counts of criminal breach of trust in relation to over RM31 million of
charitable foundation Yayasan Akalbudi’s funds, 27 counts of money-laundering,
and eight counts of bribery charges over RM21.25 million in alleged bribes.
Yayasan
Akalbudi was founded with the purported objectives of receiving and
administering funds for the eradication of poverty, and enhancing the welfare
of the poor.
Source:
MalayMail
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
3
seats offered to ‘friends of BN’ may have irked MIC, say sources
K.
Parkaran
November
1, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: MIC’s decision to stay away from the Barisan Nasional (BN) gathering to
announce the candidates for the 15th general election (GE15) has raised more
than eyebrows as it is considered a direct confrontation with coalition
chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
In
a surprise move, all 10 candidates from the party who were named by Zahid were
not present. The seat next to MCA chief Wee Ka Siong, meant for MIC president
SA Vigneswaran, was conspicuously empty.
Party
insiders said the party was happy in terms of the number of seats and the seats
that were offered. However, the seats offered to the Indian-based parties which
were considered as “friends of BN” could have triggered the MIC leaders’ ire.
They
are Makkal Sakti, Indian Progressive Front (IPF) and Malaysian Indian Muslim
Congress (Kimma), parties which had applied to join BN but were strongly
opposed by MIC as the BN constitution says any admission must be a unanimous
decision.
Makkal
Sakti president T Thanendran was given the Nibong Tebal seat which Gerakan used
to get when it was in BN, while IPF president T Loganathan will stand in
Jelutong. Kimma president Syed Ibrahim Kader has been offered the Puchong seat.
“As
for the party’s Sungai Buloh seat which has been given to Khairy Jamaluddin
now, MIC leaders apparently wanted Puchong and Batu but only got Batu. Other
than this, they got most of what they wanted,” one insider said.
Another
source said the party had been a steadfast ally of Umno especially after it’s
heavy loss in the last general election.
“The
first by-election after GE14 was for the Camerons Highland seat which was won
by an MIC candidate. But a by-election was called after the election court
declared the seat vacant.
“And
Vigneswaran magnanimously gave way to Umno to make it’s return. And yet he
feels they are not grateful,” he said.
MIC
candidates will stand in Sungai Siput (Vigneswaran), Tapah (M Saravanan), Hulu
Selangor (T Mohan), Teluk Intan (T Murugiah), Padang Serai (C Sivarraajh), Batu
(A Kohilan Pillay), Port Dickson (M Kamalanathan), Kuala Langat (M Mohana),
Kota Raja (D Kajendran) and Segamat (MP Ramasamy).
“Let’s
see what the party’s emergency central working committee (CWC) decides
tomorrow. Besides the two issues, things do not look bad as a couple of seats
offered were sought by Umno very strongly but Zahid did not relent,” he said.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Snubbed
by BN, Shahidan says will contest Arau but undecided on party
By
Zurairi A.R.
01
Nov 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR, Nov 1 — Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim has reportedly insisted that he will
defend his Arau seat despite not being named as a Barisan Nasional (BN)
candidate tonight.
Utusan
Malaysia reported him saying that he has yet to decide on the ticket under
which he will contest the seat.
“I
am a candidate who can win, I will contest. I will ask the grassroots about
which ticket to contest this seat.
“I
will choose a party that moves towards a national unity,” he reportedly said,
adding that he has yet to deliberate on this matter.
He
also slammed BN chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for
naming a candidate who does not hail from Arau for the seat.
“He
should quit as president for splitting the ‘ummah’,” he reportedly said, using
the term for the Malay-Muslim community.
Source:
MalayMail
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Malaysia
election: Ahmad Zahid says he did not ask UMNO candidates to back him as PM
01
Nov 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR: United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) president and Barisan
Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has denied asking candidates from the
coalition to back him as prime minister in the upcoming 15th general election
(GE15).
Malay
Mail quoted him as saying on Tuesday (Nov 1) that “it’s a lie”, when asked
about a media report claiming that BN candidates were required to sign letters
to back him as prime minister.
The
report cited sources who said that Ahmad Zahid has been going state by state to
give out credential letters to BN candidates to contest GE15, with the
condition they sign a pledge of allegiance and give him the mandate to form the
government, should the coalition win the federal polls on Nov 19.
The
sources added that BN candidates were asked, through the pledge, to support
Ahmad Zahid to negotiate with other political parties and appoint Cabinet
members from MPs of his choice.
Ahmad
Zahid issued his denial about the report when he met the media at the Kuala
Lumpur court complex where he is on trial for 47 charges of corruption, breach
of trust and money laundering.
Leading
up to the dissolution of parliament on Oct 10, Ahmad Zahid had been very vocal
in pushing for snap polls, ostensibly to seek a fresh mandate from the people.
This is despite objections from the opposition and Mr Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s
members of the Cabinet.
As
BN chairman Ahmad Zahid is expected to unveil the coalition’s list of candidates
for GE15 at a special event on Tuesday night.
Malaysian
media have quoted sources as saying that some UMNO ministers who have been
vocal against Ahmad Zahid are likely to be dropped from the list.
Among
them are caretaker federal territories minister Shahidan Kassim and caretaker
communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa.
Two
other ministers likely to be dropped are caretaker technology and innovation
minister Dr Adham Baba and caretaker national unity minister Halimah Mohamed
Sadique.
Apart
from being seen as not supportive of Ahmad Zahid, the ministers are also said
to be in close ties with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, which helped
form Mr Ismail Sabri’s government.
PN
which comprises mostly members of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and
Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) is also scheduled to unveil its list of GE15
candidates on Tuesday.
More
than 21 million people will cast their ballots in Malaysia’s GE15 to elect 222
new members of the Lower House of parliament.
Source:
ChannelNewsAsia
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Arab World
Qatari
UN ambassador demands end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian and Arab
territories
02
November 2022
Qatar's
Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif Al
Thani has called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to
bring to an end its occupation of the Palestinian territories, the Syrian Golan
Heights and Lebanon’s Shebaa Farms, and creation of a sovereign Palestinian
state.
Ali
Thani made the remarks during a United Nations Security Council briefing on the
situation in the Middle East on Tuesday.
She
stressed the need for an immediate halt to the Tel Aviv regime’s settlement
expansion activities across the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds,
Palestinian refugees' right to return to the homes from which they were
displaced, the restoration of Palestinians' inalienable historical rights, and
the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East al-Quds as its
capital.
The
top Qatari diplomat stressed that the best way to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is through negotiation between the two sides, and the international
community should take what it can to facilitate the so-called peace process and
settle all existing issues.
She
further noted that the occupied al-Quds is a central issue, and warned against
any damage to the historical and legal status of Islamic and Christian sites in
the city.
The
Qatari UN ambassador also warned about the Israeli regime’s efforts to further
Judaize al-Quds, divide the sacred al-Aqsa Mosque compound in time and place,
and restrain the religious freedom of Muslims, and stressed that these efforts
are invalid according to international law and UN resolutions.
Israel
occupied the West Bank, including the western part of the holy city of al-Quds,
in 1967. It later annexed East al-Quds, which Palestinians want as the capital
of their future state.
Source:
Press TV
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Netherlands
to repatriate 40 ISIS-linked women and children from Syrian camps
01
November, 2022
Twelve
women and 28 children will be repatriated to the Netherlands from detention
camps in northern Syria, the Dutch government announced on Tuesday, making the
country’s largest group yet to be brought back.
They
will face charges on their return for joining the ISIS extremist group.
The
move comes after a Dutch court in May recommended that the women be returned
immediately to the Netherlands, or that a commitment to return then be made
within four months.
“The
cabinet is transferring twelve Dutch women suspected of terrorist offences and
their 28 children to the Netherlands,” two government ministers said.
“The
women will be arrested after arrival in the Netherlands and will be tried,”
Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Justice Minister Dilan Yesilgoz-Zegerius
said in a letter to parliament.
The
ministerial letter declined to say from which camp the women and children will
be fetched or when, adding only it will be done via a “special operation.”
The
children will be taken into the care of the Dutch child protection services,
the ministers added.
Western
countries have faced a dilemma over how to handle their citizens detained in
Syria since the end of military operations against ISIS there in 2019.
Thousands
of extremists in Europe decided to join the group as fighters, often taking
their wives and children to live in the “caliphate” declared in territory
conquered in Iraq and Syria.
Some
300 Dutch citizens travelled to Syria during the height of the civil war,
according to Dutch government figures.
About
120 still remain – many in Kurdish-controlled camps and detention centers in
northern Syria, or in Iraq and Turkey.
The
return of extremist fighters to stand trial in the Netherlands is a politically
sensitive subject and the country’s anti-terror agency has warned that
returning citizens may have an intention to continue “supporting jihadist
activities.”
Dutch
courts earlier this year sentenced a woman to three-and-a-half years behind
bars for joining the now-defunct ISIS group.
The
28-year-old – identified only as Ilham B. – was repatriated last year from the
al-Roj detention camp in northeast Syria after she joined ISIS and Jabhat
al-Nusra extremist groups with her husband in 2013.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Damascus
will sooner or later respond to recurrent Israeli aggression, Syrian FM pledges
01
November 2022
Syrian
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Mekdad has strongly
condemned the latest Israeli air strikes that hit targets in the vicinity of
the capital Damascus, emphasizing that his country will definitely give a
crushing response to such acts of aggression at some point in the future.
“Under
the cover of passenger planes, they (Israeli military forces) carry out attacks
against their designated targets [inside Syria] either from underneath or above
the aircraft,” Mekdad said in an exclusive interview with the online Omani
Arabic-language newspaper 'Atheer.
He
noted, “Had Syrian air defense units sprung into action and induced a knee-jerk
reaction, a civilian plane could have been targeted and everyone would lay the
blame on the Damascus government. We decide, therefore, to exercise
self-restraint and not to show any reactions in such cases.”
“Our
position concerning such attacks is fairly clear. We warn the Tel Aviv regime
that an adequate response to such hostilities awaits them and it will be given
sooner or later,” the Syrian foreign minister underscored.
The
Syrian military said Israeli missiles were fired in the early hours of October
27 at sites near Damascus and that the country’s air defenses had “confronted
the missile aggression and downed most of them.” There were no casualties
reported.
“At
around 00:30 a.m. local time (2130 GMT), the Israeli enemy carried out an
aerial aggression from the direction of the occupied Palestinian territories
targeting several positions in the vicinity of Damascus,” the Syrian Defense
Ministry said in a statement.
The
attack follows similar air strikes on October 21 and a rare daytime air attack
four days earlier which wounded a soldier, according to the Syrian army.
Israel
frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the
resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping the Syrian
army in its fight against the foreign-backed terrorists.
Source:
Press TV
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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US
military convoy forced to retreat after civilians block road in Syria’s Dayr
al-Zawr
01
November 2022
Residents
of a town in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr have reportedly blocked a
US military convoy as it was attempting to pass through their community, as
public outrage is boiling over the presence of American occupation forces in
the energy-rich region of the war-torn Arab nation.
According
to a report published by Syria’s official news agency SANA, the convoy of
armored vehicles had to turn around and head back in the directions it came
from after locals of Jadeed Bakara town intercepted and expelled it from the
area on Tuesday.
The
development came a week after a US convoy of five US military vehicles was
forced to retreat as Syrian army troops deployed at a security checkpoint in
al-Damkhiyah village on the outskirts of Qamishli city in the northeastern
province of Hasakah, blocked the road and prevented its movement. There were no
reports of clashes or injuries.
The
US military has for long stationed its forces and equipment in northeastern
Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the deployment is aimed at preventing
the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of Daesh terrorists.
Damascus,
however, maintains that the deployment is meant to plunder the country’s
natural resources. Former US president Donald Trump admitted on several occasions
that American forces were in the Arab country for its oil wealth.
On
September 21, China called on the United States to stop plundering Syria’s
national resources and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the
Arab country.
“We
call on the United States to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial
integrity, unilaterally lift sanctions, and end the theft of Syria’s national
resources,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news
briefing.
“This
is not the first time that the United States military has stolen oil from Syria
and they seem to be becoming more and more uncontrollable,” Wang said.
The
Chinese spokesman also said the US government has a duty to investigate
robberies committed by intervening military forces and to compensate for the
damage caused.
Meanwhile,
people have held a demonstration in Jadeed Bakara town in Syria’s eastern
province of Dayr al-Zawr to denounce attacks and arbitrary measures by
Kurdish-led militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF).
The
protesters condemned the SDF militants’ abductions, murders, and looting of
Jazira region’s natural resources.
Informed
sources, requesting anonymity, said the demonstrators blocked roads by burning
tires and rocks and chanted slogans calling for an end to brutal practices
against local residents and withdrawal of the militants from the area.
Security
conditions have been deteriorating in the SDF-controlled areas in Syria’s
northern and northeastern provinces of Raqqah, Hasakah and Dayr al-Zawr.
Local
Syrians complain that the SDF’s constant raids have generated a state of
frustration and instability, severely affecting their businesses and
livelihood.
Source:
Press TV
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Bahrain's
jailed dissidents urge Pope to raise issue of crackdown, repression during
visit
01
November 2022
Families
of jailed dissidents in Bahrain have appealed to Pope Francis to speak out
against human rights abuses perpetrated by the ruling Al-Khalifa regime during
his upcoming trip to the tiny Persian Gulf country.
The
appeal was made in a letter written by the families of 12 prisoners sitting on
death row, and released by the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and
Democracy (BIRD) on Monday.
"Our
family members remain behind bars and at risk of execution despite the clear
injustice of their convictions. Many of them were targeted because they took
part in pro-democracy protests during the 'Arab Spring'," read the letter.
"During
your visit to Bahrain, we hope you can repeat your call to abolish the death
penalty and for the sentences of our family members to be commuted."
The
call came as the Pope is scheduled to head to the country on Thursday to attend
the closing ceremony of "Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for
Human Coexistence" and to meet members of the Catholic community.
The
four-day trip will also see the head of Catholic Church meeting with Bahrain's
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah.
According
to BIRD, Ali Al-Hajee, a "prisoner of conscience" who is close to
completing a 10-year sentence which he said was connected to his participation
in a pro-democracy protest, also wrote a letter to the pope.
"I
invite you, in the name of humanity, to urge the King of Bahrain to abide by
peace and to release me and all Bahraini political prisoners," his letter
read.
It
comes a week after a group of incarcerated Bahraini Shia Muslim clerics urged
Pope Francis to condemn the injustice and repressive policies of the ruling Al
Khalifah regime and push for reforms in the Persian Gulf kingdom ahead of his
visit early next month.
In
a statement, the scholars said in Bahrain "the motto of tolerance and
coexistence is raised for everyone except for its own people," reminding
Pope Francis that he is visiting a country "where justice and charity are
widely prescribed; but injustice and aggression are practiced in reality.”
“The
Bahraini nation constitutes people who have either lost their sons or loved
ones, grief-stricken mothers as well as injured, imprisoned, persecuted, and
exiled political opponents. International human rights organizations have
recorded a long list of violations against Bahraini people,” the statement
read.
Demonstrations
have been held in Bahrain on a regular basis since the popular uprising began
in the Arab country in mid-February 2011.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/11/01/691952/Bahrainis-urge-pope-human-rights-abuses-
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Sharjah
museum showcases rare Quran manuscripts, Islamic calligraphy
01
November, 2022
The
Sharjah Museums Authority is showcasing a number of rare Quran manuscripts and
Islamic calligraphy from the Hamid Jafar Quran Collection at the Sharjah Museum
of Islamic Civilization.
Sheikh
Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah,
opened on Monday the “Sacred Words, Timeless Calligraphy: Highlights of
Exceptional Calligraphy from the Hamid Jafar Qur’an Collection” exhibition
organized by Sharjah Museums Authority (SMA), which features a number of
exquisite manuscripts that are being displayed for the first time ever.
Present
at the opening were Sheikh Khaled bin Abdullah Al Qasimi, Chairman of Sharjah
Ports, Customs and Free Zones Authority, Zaki Nusseibeh, Cultural Advisor to
the UAE President, Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Prevention,
Hamid Jafar, Founder and Chairman of Sharjah-based Crescent Group of Companies,
and Manal Ataya, Director General of Sharjah Museums Authority.
The
exhibition will be open till March 19 next year at the Sharjah Museum of
Islamic Civilization, and is part of SMA’s efforts aimed at raising more
awareness about the history of Arabic calligraphy and its role in enriching the
art scene.
“We
are delighted to organize this exhibition which reflects the great dedication
of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi to making Islamic
collections accessible and ensuring they represent the diversity found in
Islamic heritage,” said Manal Ataya, Director General of Sharjah Museums
Authority.
“Calligraphy
is one of the most fundamental elements of Islamic art that has influenced
numerous cultures across the globe and with this exhibition we hope to
introduce our visitors to rare Islamic manuscripts and to the origins, methods,
and schools of calligraphy that were part of their production,” added Ataya.
The
exhibition features a selection of more than 50 rare examples of Quran
manuscripts including a painting and a rug spanning 14 centuries of Islamic
civilization from the Near East to China, South East Asia, to Spain, and the
Maghrib and depicting its influence as a unifying force and source of
inspiration for different cultures.
Hamid
Jafar, Founder and Chairman of Sharjah-based Crescent Group of Companies, began
collecting the masterpieces from an early age adding to a small collection
inherited from his late father, and continuing to build it over 40 years.
“I
am proud and honored to be exhibiting this selection from my collection for the
first time ever, doing so in my beloved Sharjah which I have taken as my home
for over half a century, and to be sharing with the wider community the beauty
of these remarkable works,” Jafar said.
Exhibits
include a masterpiece by female scribe Sharifah Wahidah Yaqutah, dated 1844 AD,
and a 1.7m high-page of the Baysunqur Quran that dates back to 1400 AD, and a
folio from one of the oldest and largest surviving Quran manuscripts from the
“Tashkent Quran” which dates back to the 2nd century AH/ 8th century AD.
Other
objects that depict the history of calligraphy and reveal new aspects of the
visual art of calligraphy include pages from a number of monumental Quran
manuscripts that date back to the era between 2nd AH / 8th CE centuries and 4th
AH / 10th CE centuries.
The
featured items illustrate craftwork and beauty in design, demonstrating
successive breakthroughs while reflecting the aesthetics of the location and
epoch in which they were produced.
Exhibiting
this important collection of rare Quranic manuscripts and calligraphy, was made
possible by generous support from the Crescent Group, founded by Jafar, which
is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Iraq's
new premier sacks senior officials
02
November, 2022
Iraq's
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced Tuesday the dismissal of
several senior officials appointed by his predecessor, days after a confidence
vote in his government.
Lawmakers
approved al-Sudani's cabinet on Thursday following a year of political
stalemate and bitter infighting between Shia Muslim factions following
contested elections.
At
a cabinet session, al-Sudani repealed several appointments made by former prime
minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi following the October 2021 polls, citing the
government's “interim” status.
The
officials dismissed were not identified, but a government source told AFP that
intelligence chief Raed Jouhi was among them.
“According
to the Supreme Court, an interim government does not have the right” to make
such senior appointments,” al-Sudani told his first press conference as prime
minister.
He
also vowed to tackle endemic corruption, calling it “a serious threat to the
Iraqi state, more dangerous than all other threats that have weighed on Iraq.”
“The
citizens want to feel that there is a sense of responsibility, and that looted
money is returned,” he added, without announcing any concrete measures.
Iraq
is ranked 157 out of 180 in Transparency International's corruption perceptions
index.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/11/02/Iraq-s-new-premier-sacks-senior-officials-
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Egypt
invites Brazil’s Lula to COP27
01
November, 2022
UN
climate summit host Egypt has invited incoming Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva, whose victory over climate-sceptic Jair Bolsonaro has raised
hopes for the battle against global warming.
Election
officials in Brazil on Sunday declared leftist Lula won in a run-off against
his far-right rival.
A
spokesperson for Lula -- who is not due to formally take office until January 1
-- told AFP that he “is considering going but has not yet made a decision.”
Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Monday “I invite him (Lula) to come to
Egypt to participate in the global climate summit COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh,”
according to his own spokesman, Bassam Rady.
Egypt’s
president harbored hopes about the “positive and constructive role” Brazil will
play, Rady added.
More
than 90 heads of state and government -- including US President Joe Biden --
are set to converge on the Egyptian resort town between November 6 and 18.
Climate
scientists and environmentalists have repeatedly noted that the outcome of last
week’s Brazilian election would have huge stakes for the planet.
Bolsonaro
became a figure of hate for environmentalists over his support of lumber and
mining companies blamed for destroying the Amazon.
Lula
said after his election victory on Sunday that Brazil was “ready to reclaim its
place in the fight against the climate crisis, especially the Amazon.”
He
vowed to “fight for zero deforestation.”
The
world’s biggest rainforest, which until recently has helped soak up humanity’s
soaring carbon emissions, is now strained to the point of starting to release
more carbon than it absorbs, research shows.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/11/01/Egypt-invites-Brazil-s-Lula-to-COP27
--------
Egypt’s
prominent activist starts ‘full hunger strike’ in prison
01
November 2022
Egypt’s
most prominent political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah has gone on “full hunger
strike” starting from Tuesday in protest at his prolonged imprisonment and
plans to stop drinking water as well on the first day of a global climate
summit, when the North African country comes under the spotlight, his family
said.
In
a letter to his family, the activist said he won’t drink any water starting
November 6, the first day of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27), which
will be hosted in Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. His family members are worried that
if Alaa is not released during the climate conference, he would die due to
dehydration.
“After
five days, on Sunday, 6 November, I shall drink my last glass of water. What
will follow is unknown,” he said in a letter shared on social media by his
relatives.
According
to his family, which has been lobbying for his release, the activist has been
on a partial hunger strike since April 2, consuming only 100 calories per day.
Mona
Seif, his sister, said Alaa believed if authorities determined to keep him in
prison forever or until he dies, then at least he will decide the terms of the
battle himself.
“I
cannot ask him to stop what he is doing,” she said in a video that was posted
on social media.
His
other sister, Sana’a, saidو “When I
last saw Alaa three weeks ago he looked so drained. He was struggling to
stand.”
Alaa’s
family communicates with him through weekly letters and has the opportunity to
see him in rare visits.
In
April, the family announced he had obtained British citizenship through his
mother, Laila Soueif, a math professor at Cairo University who was born in London.
The family said then that they sought a British passport for Alaa as a way out
of what they described as an “impossible ordeal.”
His
family has appealed to UK authorities to seek consular access to visit him in
jail. However, all attempts to free him have so far failed.
Alaa,
a blogger, a software engineer and an outspoken dissident, became prominent
during the so-called Arab Spring protests, which started to sweep across the
Middle East in 2011 and overthrew Egypt’s longtime dictator, Husni Mubarak.
The
40-year old activist spent most of the past decade behind bars, with his
detention becoming a symbol of Egypt’s return to autocratic rule.
He
was released in March 2019 after serving a five-year sentence for taking part
in a peaceful protest against military trials for civilians. According to
sources, he was arrested again in September in the same year on charges of
spreading false news and inciting people.
Human
rights groups and activists have constantly accused Egypt’s President
Abdel-Fattah Sisi of violating public freedoms and suppressing opponents.
According to rights groups, an estimated 60,000 political prisoners are being
held in Egyptian jails.
The
Egyptian president took power in 2014, a year after a military coup spearheaded
by him toppled the country’s first ever democratically-elected president,
Mohammed Morsi.
Source:
Press TV
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Lebanon
raises cost of electricity for first time since 1990s
01
November, 2022
Lebanon’s
state power company Electricite du Liban (EDL) raised the price it charges for
electricity for first time since the 1990s on Tuesday, an EDL spokesperson
said, in a move officials say will pave the way for an eventual increase in
power supply.
Lebanon
has not had round-the-clock power since the 1990s and cash transfers to EDL to
cover chronic losses have contributed tens of billions of dollars to the
country’s huge public debt.
Electricity-sector
reform is a key demand of donor nations who have pledged to help Lebanon exit a
financial crisis if it undertakes reforms.
Government
officials have said that increasing the price of power would allow the state to
afford to purchase more fuel to fire power plants, thereby increasing supply
from an hour or two per day to up to 10 hours per day.
Analysts
say weak governance, corruption and mismanagement are at the root of the
sector’s problems and remain largely unaddressed
Power
will now be priced at 10 US dollar cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for the first
100 kWh consumed, and 27 cents per kWh for consumption above that, the EDL
spokesperson said.
The
higher end of the new tariff is roughly half what people pay for subscriptions
to private generator services that have filled the power gap for decades.
New
power costs would be calculated in Lebanese pounds at the central bank’s
Sayrafa platform exchange rate, which sat at around 30,000 pounds per US dollar
Tuesday.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Russia
ready to boost ties with Arab League to strengthen regional, global security
01
November, 2022
Russia
is ready to boost ties with Arab League members to help strengthen regional and
global security, Russia’s TASS news agency reported on Tuesday.
In
a message addressed to Arab leaders ahead of the League’s summit which will
kick off later on Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin voiced the importance of
cooperation to confront threats and challenges the world currently faces.
“Undoubtedly,
the tasks of improving the international situation and opposing the threats and
challenges of our time increase the demand for coordinated collective efforts
and significantly raise the importance of representative organizations such as
the Arab League,” Putin said.
Putin
added he was “confident that efforts to further enhance the partnership between
Russia and Arab countries are in line with the common interests of the parties
and the need to ensure global peace and stability.”
The
Arab League will hold its first annual summit for three years in Algeria after
the pandemic forced the meetings’ suspension.
The
last summit was held in Tunis in March 2019.
Saudi
Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed
have both
confirmed
they are not coming to Algiers, as has Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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--------
Syrian
'crisis' must end: Head of Arab League
Ibrahim
El-Khazen
02.11.2022
ALGIERS,
Algeria
The
League of Arab States Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called Tuesday for
ending the "crisis” in Syria.
"The
developments in Syria still require a pioneering Arab effort," Aboul Gheit
said during the 31st Arab Summit. "It is necessary to show flexibility
from all parties so that the economic collapse and political blockage can be
dispelled. Syria must engage in its natural Arab environment.”
Syria's
membership in the Arab League was suspended in 2011 because of the regime’s
brutal crackdown against a popular revolution.
Aboul
Gheit touched on other Arab challenges and ways to solve them, including the
crisis in Libya and Yemen, as well as the Palestinian cause.
He
said Saudi Arabia will host the Arab-Chinese summit next December and the fifth
Arab-African summit in 2023.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/syrian-crisis-must-end-head-of-arab-league/2726938
--------
Arab
League urges Lebanon to agree on new president
Wassim
Seif El-Din
01.11.2022
BEIRUT,
Lebanon
Arab
League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Tuesday called on Lebanese
politicians to reach a consensus on electing a new president.
Lebanese
President Michel Aoun left office on Monday after his six-year term expired,
with lawmakers failing to agree on a new president.
Aboul
Gheit met Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Algeria on the
sidelines of the 31st Arab summit.
The
meeting took up the latest development in Lebanon, his spokesman Jamal Rushdie
said.
The
Arab League chief warned that a long presidential vacuum in Lebanon would have
negative repercussions on the country, the spokesman added.
The
current presidential vacancy in Lebanon is the fourth since the country’s
independence from French colonialism in 1943.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/arab-league-urges-lebanon-to-agree-on-new-president/2726857
--------
Mideast
Iran
prepares to send 1,000 weapons including missiles, drones to Russia: Report
01
November, 2022
Iran
is preparing to deliver more weapons to Russia to be used in its war against
Ukraine, CNN reported on Tuesday citing officials from a western country which
closely monitors Iran’s weapons.
It’s
estimated that Iran will send around 1,000 weapons that include
surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and attack drones.
“The
shipment is being closely monitored because it would be the first instance of
Iran sending advanced precision guided missiles to Russia,” CNN said.
According
to the officials cited, Iran’s last shipment of arms to Russia included 450
drones that Moscow used in Ukraine.
While
it is not clear when the weapons will be transferred to Russia, officials
expect the transaction to occur before year-end.
Kyiv
and its Western allies have repeatedly accused Moscow of using Iranian-made
drones in attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks.
In
September, Ukraine decided to significantly reduce its diplomatic relations
with Tehran over alleged arms deliveries to Moscow.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Benjamin
Netanyahu poised for comeback in Israeli election, exit polls show
Nov
2, 2022
JERUSALEM:
Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu inched towards reclaiming power Wednesday after
projected election results showed a majority government was within reach for
the veteran right-winger, though the outlook could shift as ballots are
counted.
If
the exit polls hold, it would mark a dramatic comeback for Netanyahu, Israel's
longest-serving premier, whose Likud party could be poised to form a coalition
with its ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies and a rising extreme-right.
"We
are close to a big victory," Netanyahu told supporters at a rally in
Jerusalem early Wednesday. "We don't know the final results yet, but if
the results are like the exit polls, I will form a national (right-wing)
government."
But
his main rival, caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid, told his own supporters in
Tel Aviv that "nothing is decided", and that his centrist Yesh Atid
party "will wait patiently... for the final results".
The
margins appeared wafer-thin, as was expected in the bitterly divided nation
holding its fifth election in less than four years. Previous elections have
shown that slight adjustments during the official count can turn an apparently
decisive result into yet another deadlock.
But
the early signs were positive for the 73-year-old Netanyahu, who is on trial
over corruption charges that he denies.
Projections
from three Israeli networks put Netanyahu's Likud on track for a first-place
finish, with between 30 and 32 seats.
That
number, combined with projected tallies for the extreme-right Religious Zionism
alliance and the two ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, would give the bloc backing
Netanyahu between 61 and 62 seats.
An
outright victory for the bloc would end the short reign of an alliance of eight
parties under Lapid that managed to oust Netanyahu last year before collapsing
itself.
Lapid's
Yesh Atid was on track for an expected second-place finish, with projections
giving it between 22 and 24 seats.
But
exit polls put the premier's ideologically-divided alliance of Netanyahu rivals
short of a majority.
The
head of the Israel Democracy Institute, Yohanan Plesner, warned of past
"discrepancies" between exit polls and the actual results.
In
a climate of grinding political deadlock, concerns about voter fatigue were
widespread, but in the end 71.3 percent of voters turned out, the highest rate
since 2015, according to official figures.
Extreme-right
leader Itamar Ben-Gvir would be key to helping Netanyahu return to power, with
his Religious Zionism bloc on track for an estimated 14 seats, according to
exit polls, double its current presence in parliament.
Ben-Gvir,
who wants Israel to annex the entire West Bank, said his rise was fuelled by
Israelis' security concerns.
"It's
time we go back to being masters of our country," he said, reiterating his
call for security services to use more force against Palestinians.
Justice
Minister Gideon Saar, a former Likud heavyweight who broke with Netanyahu and
now leads his own party, warned early Tuesday that Israel risked electing a
"coalition of extremists".
Arab-Israeli
lawmaker Aida Touma-Suleiman said Netanyahu might be on track to form a
government "with fascists by his side".
The
vote was held against a backdrop of soaring violence across Israeli-annexed
east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.
At
least 29 Palestinians and three Israelis were killed across the two territories
in October, according to an AFP tally.
While
many candidates have cited security as a concern, none have pledged to revive
moribund peace talks with the Palestinians.
The
Palestinian prime minister, Mohammed Shttayeh, said the projected outcome
highlighted "growing extremism and racism in Israeli society".
Lapid
was the architect of the last coalition, which for the first time brought an
independent Arab party into the fold.
The
unlikely alliance was made possible after Mansour Abbas pulled his Raam party
from a united slate with other Arab-led parties, paving the way for him to join
the coalition.
But
Raam's pioneering support for a coalition was not viewed positively across Arab
society, which makes up around 20 percent of Israel's population.
Raam
was projected to re-enter parliament, according to exit polls, but Abbas
charged that Arabs voters being "passive" could deliver a
"gift" to Netanyahu, possibly ushering in a government with
politicians known for virulent, anti-Arab rhetoric.
A
focus of the overnight count was the Arab-led Balad party, which rejects any
cooperation with Israeli governance.
The
early count put Balad just short of 3.25 percent of the vote needed to secure
the minimum four seats in parliament.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
Tehran
Imposes Sanctions on CIA, US National Guard over Interfering in Iran's Affairs
2022-November-1
In
a statement on Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry announces sanctions on a
host of American individuals and entities for committing human rights
violations, supporting terrorism and inciting violence against the Iranian
nation during the recent unrest
The
sanctions were imposed in line with a law titled “Countering America’s Human
Rights Violation and Adventurous and Terrorist Actions” passed by the Iranian
Parliament in 2017, it added.
The
Islamic Republic has imposed sanctions on 10 American individuals and 4
entities for committing human rights violations, interfering in Iran's internal
affairs, instigating violence and riots in the country, encouraging acts of
terror, countering Tehran's moves and attempts to fight terrorism, and mounting
pressure on the Iranian nation amounting to economic terrorism.
The
list includes:
Michael
Erik Kurilla, the commander of United States Central Command
Gregory
M. Guillot, the deputy commander of United States Central Command
Scott
Desormeaux, the commander of US airbase in Erbil, Iraq
Juan
Zarate, chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Center on
Economic and Financial Power (CEFP)
Mark
Wallace, the CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)
Adewale
"Wally" Adeyemo, the United States deputy secretary of the Treasury
Alexus
G. Grynkewich, the commander of Ninth Air Force (Air Forces Central)
Anne
Neuberger, the Deputy National Security Advisor for Cyber and Emerging
Technology
Isaac
Johnson, Jr., the commander of the United States Army Civil Affairs and
Psychological Operations Command
Brian
E. Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial
Intelligence,
United
Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)
Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The
Ninth Air Force
National
Guard of the United States
Iran's
top intelligence bodies has recently issued a joint statement about the recent
developments in the country, declaring that foreign intelligence agencies,
specifically the CIA, are orchestrating the deadly unrest in Iran.
Iran’s
Intelligence Ministry and the Intelligence Organization of the Islamic
Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) explained different aspects of the recent unrest
in Iran in detail on Friday, sheding light on the role played by the “mafia
regime” in the US in devising a multi-dimensional plot for instigating riots
and directing the wave of violence. (READ MORE)
Protests
erupted in several cities across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a
22-year-old Iranian woman who fainted at a police station in mid-September and
days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned
violent.
An
official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization announced that Amini’s
controversial death was caused by an illness rather than alleged blows to the
head or other vital body organs.
Iranian
officials blame Western countries for orchestrating the riots to destabilize
the country.
Supreme
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei severely censured
the deadly riots, saying they were orchestrated in advance by the United States
and the Israeli regime.
“I
state it clearly that these developments were planned by America, the Zionist
regime and their acolytes. Their main problem is with a strong and independent
Iran and the country’s progress. The Iranian nation proved to be fairly strong
during recent events and will bravely come onto the scene wherever necessary in
the future,” he added.
In
recent days, Iranian officials have blamed the United States, the European
Unions, and several Western states for meddling in Iran's internal affairs over
the death of Mahsa. They advised the US and its allies against
"opportunism and instrumentalization of the issue of human rights" by
misusing the incident.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Minister:
Russian Investors Keen to Invest $4.5bln in Iran's Energy Fields
2022-November-1
“So
far, Russian investors and companies have finalized a contract for developing
seven oil and gas fields with Iran worth 4.5 billion dollars, and some projects
have made 7-35% physical progress,” Owji said on Monday.
He
made the remarks in a coordination meeting with the representatives of
different working groups of the Iranian side of the Joint Economic Commission
of Iran and Russia to review the documents compiled for the purpose of
negotiating and signing the final document of Tehran-Moscow cooperation.
“We
should all take advantage of this golden opportunity in the fields of energy,
transportation, economy, industry, healthcare, banking, etc. Meanwhile, the
cooperation between the two countries in the field of banking seems to be the
most important,” the minister added.
Referring
to possible sanctions on Russia in January by the United States and the
European Union, the official noted, “Iran has been facing such sanctions for
years, so it is a good opportunity to neutralize the sanctions with the help of
two countries.”
Owji
underscored that expansion of cooperation between Moscow and Tehran will help
make international sanctions imposed on both nations ineffective.
He
also underlined that the level of bilateral cooperation will develop especially
in the economy.
Russia
hosts the 16th joint economic commission from October 30 to November 1. Deputy
Chairman of the Russian Government Alexander Novak and Owji are heading both
countries’ delegations at the event.
Since
Tehran and Moscow enjoy common interests in economic, military, and security
affairs as well as friendly relationship pursue common policies on regional and
international developments especially when it comes to taking stances in the
face of the United States’ unilateral and interventionist strategies.
Iran
and Russia have grown exchane of visits by officials to speed up expansion of
relations in recent months.
In
August, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian visited Moscow and
held meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The diplomat said
Moscow-Tehran comprehensive document of relations is in the final stage, and
added that the relationship between Iran and Russia is on track to enhance to
strategic levels.
Back
in June, the Russian foreign minister visited Iran for talks on boosting trade
and energy cooperation.
In
late May, Iranian and Russian officials in a meeting in Tehran inked 3
important Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) to further develop the two
countries' energy and banking ties. The MoUs were endorsed in a meeting
attended by Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji and Russian Deputy Prime Minister
Alexander Novak.
Back
in January, Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi visited Moscow and held a
meeting with President Vladimir Putin. Rayeesi stated he had presented Putin
with draft documents on strategic cooperation that would cement collaboration
between the two sides for the next two decades.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
‘We
are close to big victory,’ Netanyahu says after Israeli election vote
02
November, 2022
Israel’s
former premier Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that his right wing,
religious camp was on the cusp of a great election win, after exit polls
predicted his bloc gaining a slim parliamentary majority that would pave the
way for his comeback.
“We
have won a huge vote of confidence from the people of Israel,” a smiling
Netanyahu told supporters at his election headquarters in Jerusalem. “We are on
the brink of a very big victory,” he told the cheering crowd.
Lifted
by a strong showing from his far-right allies, Netanyahu, who is on trial for
corruption he denies, was on course for a return to power, according to Israeli
television exit polls late on Tuesday, which predicted his bloc of four parties
taking 62 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.
A
final result is not expected until later in the week.
Netanyahu’s
record 12-year consecutive reign ended in June 2021 when centrist Yair Lapid
managed to stitch together a fragile alliance of liberals, rightists and an
Arab party for the first time and which unravelled a year into its rule.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
Urges Iraq to Proceed with Trial of Accomplices in General Soleimani's
Assassination
2022-November-1
Mohseni
Ejei made the remarks while expressing satisfaction over the three rounds of
talks held at the joint judicial research committee on the issue.
He
pointed out that the results after the talks indicate that Tehran and Baghdad
are determined to fight terrorism, bring about justice, preserve peace and
security, and extend friendly cooperation, particularly in judicial areas.
"Such
a terrorist act violated the national sovereignty of Iran and Iraq and got out
of international principles," the Judicial chief underlined.
He
reiterate that although the terrorist act was carried out by former US
president Donald Trump and certain officials of some countries, their posts
will not prevent their punishment.
Mohseni
Ejei voiced Iran's readiness to continue cooperation with the Iraqi judicial
council.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
President
Rayeesi: Iran-Armenia Trade Volume Posts 43% Growth
2022-November-1
President
Rayeesi and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attended a joint press
conference in Tehran on Tuesday.
The
president described the neighborliness policy as one of the priorities of the
his government, and noted that holding bilateral meetings focusing on
development of economic, trade, political and security cooperation between Iran
and Armenia are on agenda.
"The
trade exchanges between Iran and Armenia have witnessed a 43% growth in in the
past few months. It is possible to reach the target of raising the value of
annual trade exchanges to $3 billion," Rayeesi stated.
Describing
the Caucasus region as a main component of Iran’s history, civilization and
culture, the president said Tehran is sensitive about the Caucasus and attaches
great significance to its security and stability.
"Peace
in the Caucasus region is very important to Tehran," the Iranian president
added.
"Regional
disputes should be resolved by regional actors. Any kind of interference by
foreigners in the region creates problems without solving any problem," he
emphasized.
The
Armenian prime minister, for his part, hailed Tehran's approach toward the
Armenian community in Iran, noting that the Islamic Republic acts transparently
on peaceful co-existence and cooperation between the two religions.
Appreciating
Iran's principled attitude towards stability and security in the Caucasus
region, Pashinyan said, "I briefed Mr. Rayeesi about the tripartite
meeting in Sochi and I agree with the views of the Iranian president regarding
the establishment of lasting peace in the region."
The
Iranian and Armenian ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on the
extension of electricity and gas swap agreements, he continued, adding that
some discussions have been also held for cooperation in the energy industry,
agriculture, infrastructures and management of water resources.
Heading
a high-ranking politico-economic delegation, Pashinyan arrived in Tehran on Tuesday.
During the prime minister’s trip, Iran and Armenia will sign several agreements
on strengthening bilateral cooperation.
The
visit comes on the heels of a recent trip by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein
Amir Abdollahian to Armenia in late October. During the visit, the top diplomat
reiterated Tehran's steadfast opposition to the deployment of foreign troops
and geopolitical changes in the region.
Iranian
officials have repeatedly underlined Tehran’s opposition to geopolitical
changes in the region, and reaffirmed the country is ready to use all its
capacities to establish peace and stability in the Caucasus region and its
growth and development.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Envoy
Describes UN Meeting on Iran's Unrest as Dangerous Precedence
2022-November-1
In
a letter to all ambassadors and permanent representatives of the UN member and
observer states on Monday, Iravani questioned the United States’ ostensible commitment
to defending Iranian women.
He
called on UN member states to skip an informal meeting the US plans to hold at
the Security Council on the recent nationwide riots in Iran.
“The
US has no true and genuine concern about the human rights situation in Iran or
elsewhere,” the Iranian diplomat added.
The
US claims that it is defending Iranian women, those who have been seriously
hurt by decades of inhumane sanctions imposed by Washington, the envoy said.
He
called the recent protests in Iran an internal issue, warning that it would be
“counterproductive to the promotion of human rights” if the UN Security Council
discussed it.
The
United States and Albania plan to hold an informal Security Council meeting on
Iran on Wednesday, which can be attended by all UN members. The meeting,
according to the US mission to the UN, aims to “highlight the ongoing
repression of women and girls and members of religious and ethnic minority
groups” in Iran.
“The
United States lacks the political, moral, and legal qualifications to hold such
a meeting, distorting the very basic principles of human rights,” Iravani
stressed.
The
Iranian ambassador called on UN member states to “explicitly object to such
reckless and dangerous practices through which the US attempt to create such a
dangerous precedent and politicize human rights issues in order to achieve its
political agenda.”
Iravani
stated the US has waged a psychological warfare and a deception operation
against Iran while claiming that the informal meeting aims to support rights of
Iranian women. But, he continued, this is completely originated from
Washington’s hypocrisy and is considered an abuse of the valuable concept of
human rights.
He
also reiterated the Islamic Republic’s commitment to promotion of human rights
and implementation of obligations in this regard within the framework of
international law contrary to baseless US accusations against Iran.
Iran's
envoy warned against the unconstructive consequences of any bid by the UN
Security Council to deal with the internal issues of countries, adding it would
weaken the existing effective mechanisms in violation of the UN principles and
objectives enshrined in the United Nations Charter regarding non-interference
in the internal affairs of states.
Intelligence
Bodies Reveal CIA Major Role in Iran's Unresthttps://t.co/3SeS4tQlWM
pic.twitter.com/0iSI5be9Fb
—
Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) October 29, 2022
Protests
erupted in several cities across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a
22-year-old Iranian woman who fainted at a police station in mid-September and
days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned
violent.
An
official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization announced that Amini’s
controversial death was caused by an illness rather than alleged blows to the
head or other vital body organs.
Iranian
officials blame Western countries for orchestrating the riots to destabilize
the country.
Supreme
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei severely censured
the deadly riots, saying they were orchestrated in advance by the United States
and the Israeli regime.
“I
state it clearly that these developments were planned by America, the Zionist
regime and their acolytes. Their main problem is with a strong and independent
Iran and the country’s progress. The Iranian nation proved to be fairly strong
during recent events and will bravely come onto the scene wherever necessary in
the future,” he added.
In
recent days, Iranian officials have blamed the United States, the European
Unions, and several Western states for meddling in Iran's internal affairs over
the death of Mahsa. They advised the US and its allies against
"opportunism and instrumentalization of the issue of human rights" by
misusing the incident.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Palestinians
in West Bank on course for deadliest year on record, UN says
November
01, 2022
LONDON:
Palestinians in the occupied West Bank will likely suffer their deadliest year
since the UN began tracking violence, the organization’s Security Council has
been told.
Middle
East Peace Process Coordinator Tor Wennesland told the council’s quarterly open
debate that increased Israeli military operations were a major factor in the
escalation, although attacks by settlers had also increased.
The
UN’s latest figures show that at least 101 Palestinians in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem have been killed by Israeli security forces this year, which is
the highest monthly average since records began in 2005.
“So
far, 2022 is on course to be the deadliest year for Palestinians in in the West
Bank since (the UN) began systematically tracking Palestinian fatalities in
2005,” Wennesland said.
“Mounting
hopelessness, anger and tension have once again erupted into a deadly cycle of
violence that is increasingly difficult to contain.”
The
coordinator did point to positive developments, such as October’s Algiers
Declaration, in which 14 Palestinian factions agreed to recognize the PLO as
the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people and to hold
elections for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, Legislative Council
and National Council.
Council
members and non-members condemned the escalation by Israel.
The
Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine Riyad Mansour said the council had
allowed its own resolutions to be violated by Israel for decades.
“Your
role is to protect it (Palestine), or you would be effectively abandoning the
two-state solution altogether,” he said. “If there is anything more you can do,
and you know there is much more that can be done, do it. What are you waiting
for?”
Israel’s
representative Gilad Menashe Erdan said the PA plays victim at the council but
praises “terrorists” on the streets of Nablus and Jenin.
He
said his country was in the midst of a “terror wave,” and claimed that there
had been more than 4,000 Palestinian against Israelis this year.
Erdan
added that the UN was biased against Israel, which he said sends a message that
the Palestinians do not have to make a single concession.
Saudi
Arabia’s representative Abdulaziz Al-Wasil called on the international
community to make every effort to resolve the conflict, and guarantee the
rights of the Palestinian people.
Al-Wasil
condemned Israeli settlement policies and measures in the occupied territories,
including land annexation, settlement construction and expansion, forced
displacement and property destruction.
He
also urged Israel to engage in serious negotiations to achieve peace based on
the two-state solution.
Kuwait’s
representative Faisal Al-Enezi urged the council to accept its responsibility,
as defined in the UN Charter, to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and
illegal actions.
He
also praised Australia’s withdrawal of its recognition of West Jerusalem as
Israel’s capital, and urged other countries to do the same.
Qatari
representative Ayla Ahmed Saif Al-Thani said that Australia’s decision
strengthens international efforts toward a two-state solution.
Al-Thani
said that she hoped the football World Cup, starting in Qatar later this month,
would inspire people and have a positive impact on the peace process.
Jordan’s
representative Katherine Al-Halique said that Israel was attempting to alter
the legal and historical status quo at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. She said
that the Jordanian Awqaf was the only entity authorized to manage the holy
site’s affairs, and would continue to do so.
UAE
representative Amiereh Al-Hefeiti said that 36 percent of Palestinians lived
below the poverty line and that the Gaza Strip had one of the world’s highest
rates of unemployment.
“A political solution is the only way to end
this conflict and establish an independent, sovereign Palestinian state based
on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” she said.
Bahraini
representative Jamal Fares Al-Rowaei said that the international community must
meet the Palestinian people’s aspirations for a peaceful, stable and prosperous
country with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Observer
for the League of Arab States Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz said that the failure
of the council to address the Palestinian question would lead to greater
reliance on the General Assembly, Human Rights Council, International Court of
Justice and the International Criminal Court to uphold democracy, human rights
and law.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2192041/middle-east
--------
Israeli
election results foreshadow rise in extremism: PA
02
November 2022
The
Palestinian Authority (PA) says the projections coming out of the Israeli
regime's earlier general elections only promise a sizeable swing to the right,
therefore boding ill for Palestinians.
"The
advance of far-right religious parties in Israeli elections... is testimony to
the rise of extremism and racism in Israeli society and from which our people
have suffered for years," the occupied West Bank-headquartered PA's Prime
Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said on Wednesday.
"We
had no illusions that Israeli elections would produce a partner for
peace," he added.
The
remarks came after exit polls gave former controversy-magnate Israeli prime
minister Benjamin Netanyahu 61 to 62 seats in the Knesset, the regime's
parliament, which packs 120 seats.
Netanyahu's
record long drawn-out run as the regime's prime minister, which lasted from
2009 to 2021, was marked with sheer expansion of Tel Aviv's illegal settlement
activities, which spelled an end to "peace" talks with the
Palestinians.
The
twilight years of his career were mired in a massive corruption scandal, which
eventually had him indicted on bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges.
Netanyahu
denies the charges, but the scandal delivered a telling blow to his staying
power, and eventually saw him being ousted when the current acting PM Yair
Lapid and his coalition partner Naftali Bennett cobbled together an alliance
with others.
"We
(Palestinians) already experienced Netanyahu's policy, his policy is always the
same, it will never change, we know its impact on the Palestinian people.
Netanyahu and his party will benefit from all of that, but the Palestinian
people will not, they will not benefit whether economically or socially or in
terms of peace and security stability," Palestinian resident of al-Khalil
(Hebron), Hussam Dofash, told Reuters.
"As
a Palestinian, this does not mean anything to me, we tried Netanyahu's policy before
as well as Yair Lapid, both are competing in conducting crimes against
Palestinians. Their election campaigns are always launched at the expense of
the Palestinian blood. They do not benefit us, on the contrary, they hurt us.
Our Palestinian blood is a measure of their success," said Abdullah Razem,
another Palestinian.
The
polls, meanwhile, gave Lapid's camp 54 to 55 seats, making it the
second-largest party in the parliament.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/11/02/691994/Palestine-Israel-elections
--------
Israeli
forces clash with Palestinians protesting Nablus' siege
01
November 2022
Israeli
forces have clashed with Palestinians protesting a drawn-out siege imposed by
the former on the city of Nablus in the north of the Tel Aviv-occupied
Palestinian territory of the West Bank.
The
clashes took place at the Huwara checkpoint in southern Nablus on Tuesday after
the troops attacked a Palestinian march, which had been formed to contest the
lockdown, the Palestinian Information Center news agency reported.
The
forces hurled teargas canisters at the protesters, which caused a number of
them to suffer suffocation.
The
occupying regime started imposing the siege around three weeks ago as means of
hunting down Palestinian fighters hailing from a West Bank-based resistance
group known as Lions' Den.
"...Nablus
is living under a complete siege, and the world should pay attention to his
siege. All countries and organizations must pay attention to it," Dalal
Salameh, a member of the Central Committee of the West Bank-based Palestinian
Fatah movement, told AFP.
Muhammad
Hamdan, secretary-general of the movement in Nablus, meanwhile said, at times
the regime "claims that it has eased the siege" in order to
"lure some resistance fighters."
Also
on Tuesday, Israeli troops fatally shot a Palestinian and injured three more
during an operation elsewhere in Nablus, the West Bank-headquartered
Palestinian Authority's health ministry reported.
Alaa
Zaghal, 21 "died of a bullet wound to the head fired by the
occupation army in Deir Al-Hatab, east
of Nablus,” it added.
Late
last month, the United Nations special coordinator for "the Middle East
Peace Process," Tor Wennesland, warned that "2022 is on course to be
the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs began systematically tracking Palestinian
fatalities in 2005.”
"Near-daily
instances of violence, [are] unfolding against a backdrop of unabated Israeli
settlement expansion, evictions of Palestinians, and home demolitions,”
Wennesland further underlined.
The
Israeli regime occupied and annexed the West Bank, including East al-Quds, in a
heavily-Western-backed war of aggression in 1967.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/11/01/691990/Israel-clash-Palestinians-Nablus-siege
--------
Rights
group: Eight-year-old Yemeni boy killed by sniper with Saudi-led coalition
01
November 2022
The
Human Rights Office in Yemen’s southwestern province of Taiz has slammed the
killing of an 8-year-old boy by a sniper serving the Saudi-led coalition of
aggressors in the province’s Mawiya district.
In
a statement it issued, the Human Rights Office said the young boy, Ihab Malik
Qassem Saeed Qaid, was fatally shot by sniper bullets near his house in the
village of Habeel Thaba.
Also,
the group condemned the Saudi-led coalition and its mercenaries for committing
crimes against civilians in the province, including targeting residential areas
with shelling and sniping.
The
statement said the perpetrators of the crime must be punished for their action,
highlighting the “unacceptable” silence of the international community toward
the recurrent crimes.
Earlier
in June, another rights group known as the Rasad Coalition said it had
documented the killing of some 3,200 children in the various regions of Yemen.
More than 250 of the children were killed by live bullets, over 150 lost their
lives to landmind explosions, and the rest died in bombardment.
According
to UNICEF, some 10,000 Yemeni children have been killed or maimed since the
beginning of the US-backed war on Yemen, while a total of 11 million children
need humanitarian assistance and some 400,000 suffer severe malnutrition.
Moreover,
the organization has reported than more than two million children are out of
school and another four million are at the risk of dropping out, while 1.7
million children have been internally displaced because of violence.
In
March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a war on Yemen in collaboration with its Arab
allies and with the support of the US and some Western countries, which have
been providing the invaders with intelligence, logistics and arms.
The
war was aimed at reinstalling the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansour
Hani and crushing the Ansarullah resistance movement, which has been running
state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Hamas:
Israel cannot legitimize occupation of Palestine via elections
01
November 2022
The
Palestinian Hamas resistance movement says the apartheid Israeli regime is an
occupying force in its entirety, and that it cannot give legitimacy to its
occupation of the Palestinian territories by staging eletctions.
In
an interview with al-Ahed news, Abdul Latif al-Qanou, a Hamas spokesman,
highlighted rift and discord in the Tel Aviv regime’s internal circle, saying
the Gaza-based resistance movement does not count on the outcome of the new
elections, which are the fifth of their kind in less than four years.
The
official said the entire Israeli regime, including its social, political and
security components, is considered an occupying entity, and that all parties in
Tel Aviv are hostile to the Palestinian nation.
Elections
cannot legitimize the Israeli occupation, he said.
The
Palestinian people, Qanou added, have “the right of resistance against the
Zionist occupation which kills them.”
The
elections, which kicked off on Tuesday, are a fifth attempt by Israel in only
four years to end a paralyzing political stalemate in Tel Aviv, amid deep
political divisions among the regime’s political parties that have prevented
them from forming an effective coalition cabinet since 2019.
What
are the odds?
Israel’s
former scandal-hit prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is bidding for his right-wing
Likud Party’s comeback in the race so that he can return to the post, despite
all the corruption allegations gripping him.
The
final network polls provided by the Israeli regime before the November 1
elections have all predicted that Likud will fall just short of a majority in
the 120-seat Knesset.
Surveys
aired by Channel 12 and Channel 13 news on Friday, and the Kan public
broadcaster on Thursday, gave the parties expected to back Netanyahu for
premier 60 seats in the upcoming Knesset — one fewer than needed for a
majority.
Meanwhile,
incumbent Israeli prime minister Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid was seen set to win
24-27 seats.
Just
like in the previous four elections, Netanyahu himself — and the possibility of
a cabinet led by him — is one of the defining issues, especially as his trial
continues.
Netanyahu
sees a comeback possible due to the alliance that Likud has forged with the
far-right Religious Zionism party.
Additionally,
some top center-right politicians, who agree with him ideologically, still refuse
to work with him for personal or political reasons; therefore, in order to make
a comeback, Netanyahu is likely going to depend on the support of extreme
right-wing parties to form a coalition, and if successful, he may be forced to
give their leaders ministerial positions.
According
to Israeli media, Netanyahu in late August called for unity among the ranks of
far-right Israeli parties.
Earlier
in October, Israel’s Ynet news reported that it obtained a recording of
extremist Religious Zionism Party member Itamar Ben-Gvir saying during an event
that if he gets elected into the new administration, he will push for
legislation to end the corruption trial against Netanyahu.
If
no one gets a majority in the election process, another deadlock would dominate
the political scene, while Lapid will be tasked with managing the Israeli
regime’s affairs as a caretaker PM.
Israel
held four inconclusive elections between 2019 and 2021, which were largely
referendums about Netanyahu’s ability to rule while on trial for corruption.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iranian
War Veterans Condemn German Hostile Policy Towards Tehran
2022-November-1
The
demonstrators, including people and veterans of the 8-year war that Iraq had
imposed on Iran, carried placards and chanted slogans against the German
government
They
lashed out at Berlin over its dark record in violating human rights and
supporting former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as well as meddling in their country's
domestic affairs.
The
US administration and its European allies have over the past weeks introduced
restrictive measures against a number of Iranian individuals and entities over
what they claim a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters across the country after
the death of an Iranian woman in police custody in Tehran.
Germany
last week announced it was tightening entry restrictions on Iran beyond an
already announced EU sanctions package.
Foreign
Minister Annalena Baerbock has also stated that Germany and the EU were
examining whether to classify the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) as a
“terrorist organization”.
In
response, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kana'ani cautioned Germany
over its initiative to place the IRGC on the terror list, stressing that
banning Islamic Republic’s official military body is completely illegal. (READ
MORE)
Protests
erupted in several cities across Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, a
22-year-old Iranian woman who fainted at a police station in mid-September and
days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned
violent.
An
official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization announced that Amini’s
controversial death was caused by an illness rather than alleged blows to the head
or other vital body organs.
Iranian
officials blame Western countries for orchestrating the riots to destabilize
the country.
Supreme
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei severely censured
the deadly riots, saying they were orchestrated in advance by the United States
and the Israeli regime.
“I
state it clearly that these developments were planned by America, the Zionist
regime and their acolytes. Their main problem is with a strong and independent
Iran and the country’s progress. The Iranian nation proved to be fairly strong
during recent events and will bravely come onto the scene wherever necessary in
the future,” he added.
In
recent days, Iranian officials have blamed the United States, the European
Unions, and several Western states for meddling in Iran's internal affairs over
the death of Mahsa. They advised the US and its allies against
"opportunism and instrumentalization of the issue of human rights" by
misusing the incident.
Source: Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
dissident told Dutch police of threats seven times before being killed: Report
01
November, 2022
The
leader of an Iranian Arab opposition group who was assassinated in the
Netherlands in 2017 had warned Dutch police his life was in danger at least
seven times prior to his killing, Dutch newspaper Volkskrant reported on
Tuesday.
Ahmad
Mola Nissi, a leader in the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz
(ASMLA), was shot dead in The Hague in 2017.
The
2017 police report, seen by the Volkskrant, stated that Nissi had repeatedly
informed the police of threats made against him, the daily said.
In
2019, the Dutch foreign ministry said Iran was responsible for the killing of
Nissi as well as the killing of another dissident on Dutch soil in 2015.
Tehran
denied the allegations.
ASMLA,
considered a terrorist organization by Iran, seeks a separate state for the
indigenous Ahwazi Arab population inside Iran’s oil-rich southwestern Khuzestan
province, with its capital city of Ahwaz.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
A
nuclear deal would help Iran ‘fund proxy groups, repress its people,’ warns
Iranian Kurdish leader Mustafa Hijri
DAVID
ROMANO
November
01, 2022
MISSOURI,
USA: Mustafa Hijri, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, is in
hiding following multiple assassination attempts and a late-September volley of
missiles and suicide drones that destroyed much of the KDPI’s headquarters in
Koya in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The
attacks killed at least 16 people, including several civilians. It was not the
first nor likely the last Iranian strike on Iraqi Kurdistan territory aimed at
the KDPI, the oldest and largest Iranian Kurdish opposition party.
In
September 2018, a similar Iranian missile strike on the KDPI headquarters
killed 17 people and injured another 49, including some of the party
leadership. In July 1996, Iran even invaded Iraqi Kurdistan, sending some 3,000
troops to attack KDPI offices in Koya.
Assassinations
and car bombs remain the more common Iranian tactic. In 1989 and 1992, Iran
assassinated two former KDPI leaders in Vienna and Berlin. Hijri is therefore
correct to be concerned about his security, choosing to meet Arab News at a
secret safehouse in the Middle East.
Most
observers in the region believe the latest strikes constitute an attempt to
divert popular attention away from Iran’s domestic troubles.
Unrest
over the death of a young Iranian Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, at the hands of
Iran’s morality police is still roiling the country. True to their usual
script, authorities in Tehran have blamed the trouble on “foreign
interference.”
Hijri
says the regime in Tehran would indeed like to provoke the KDPI into sending
its forces into Iran, as it would help the ayatollahs justify this claim.
“The
Iranian regime likes the idea of us sending the Peshmerga, as it gives more
justification to the regime to intensify its repression and oppression of the
people, and to tell the world that they have returned and fought us. But we
have not done this because this does not benefit people,” Hijri said.
The
protests in Iran have engulfed the entire country and have even crossed ethnic
and sectarian lines — a first in the country since the overthrow of the Shah in
1979.
“It
is the policy of Iran, either inside Iran or outside Iran, to pit the nations
against each other. They think if neighboring states and regional states, and
people inside them, are united, their government will be deposed,” Hijri told
Arab News.
“Look
at Iraq, in which Iran has an influential role, it has created division within
the Shiite house. Now the Shiite parties have disagreements. They held an
election one year ago but (only) formed their government (on Oct. 27 this
year). In Lebanon, it has created a division between Shiite and Sunni.
Everywhere it is working on these divisions.”
The
general consensus is that provoking divisions within a very diverse country
like Iran has allowed the regime to divide and rule the various groups.
“You
know that the nations (inside Iran), except for the ethnic Persians, including
Baloch and Azeri and Turks, in reality, are all marginalized in this
centralized system. The languages of these nations are prohibited in schools,”
he told Arab News.
“A
budget is not allocated to their regions and areas. There is a lot of
administrative discrimination against them. The Iranian regime looks at them as
the enemy. The Iranian regime thinks of them as if they want to divide the
country. So the Iranian regime has impoverished them.”
These
divisions evidently extend also to religion.
“A
large portion of them (minority ethnic groups in Iran) are Sunni Muslims,”
Hijri told Arab News. “The Iranian regime is antagonistic toward Sunni Islam.
These denials and repression have made the people understand that we all have
to be united and cooperative to overthrow the regime and free ourselves.
“In
Tabriz and Balochistan, they chant to support Kurdistan. In Zahedan, they chant
to support Balochistan. It seems that cooperation has become stronger within
them.”
Making
people believe that any uprising would lead to a Syrian-style civil war, with
warring parties fractured along ethno-sectarian lines, would no doubt help the
regime stave off a unified resistance.
If,
on the other hand, Iran’s many ethno-sectarian groups (Persians, Azeris, Kurds,
Balochs, Arabs, Turkmen, Shiites, Sunnis and others) remain united against the
regime and believe they can overthrow the mullahs in a Tunisian-style
revolution, the ongoing protests will pose a much greater threat to Iran’s
theocracy.
This
is one of the reasons Hijri and his KDPI are determined to maintain the
nonviolent nature of the uprising.
“We
think, as the Hawkary Committee of Coordination (which consists of three
parties, the KDPI and the other two Komalas with which it has a coalition) and
especially as the KDPI, that these protests should continue peacefully. Its
political objectives would be more than that if Peshmerga became involved,” he
told Arab News.
“Peaceful
protests would be more legitimate for the world and the human casualties would
be lower for Kurds if the Peshmerga do not go and get involved and start a
war.”
Nevertheless,
the young woman whose death at the hands of Iran’s morality police sparked the
protests was Kurdish, and the Kurdish provinces of Iran have seen many of the
most serious and widespread demonstrations.
“Zhina,
a Saqizi girl, was arrested in Tehran on accusation of showing her hair and
then killed,” Hijri told Arab News, referring to Mahsa Amini by her Kurdish
name.
“From
that time, the program began. After her body was buried in Saqiz, the Hawkary
Committee asked the Kurdish people the day after to strike and not go to work
and come to the streets and chant against the Iranian regime.
“All
people accepted the request and came to the streets and chanted against the
Iranian regime. This spread across Iran. In reality, I can say that this, if we
name it a revolution or an uprising, has continued for more than a month, and
originated from Kurdistan in Iran.”
With
growing calls among the protesters for regime change, many are now asking what
kind of system might replace the theocracy, and what could happen to those
parts of Iran where ethnic Persians do not make up the majority.
“What
we have believed from the start and what the majority of Kurds and other
nations in Iran believe is to create a democratic, decentralized and secular
Iran,” Hijri told Arab News. “We believe this government will make Iran a country
for all the nations inside it, and nobody would be marginalized.
“Now,
in addition to the Hawkary Coordination Committee, we have a coalition of
around 13 political parties of other Iranian nations, including Arabs, Balochs
and Azeris. We also have a coalition under the name of the Congress of Iranian
Federal Nations. We all work on this program.
“There
are some Persian personalities that accept these ideas for the future of Iran,
but not all of them. This is a problem we have. This is an issue across several
countries as they are ruled by one dominant nation.
“For
example, in Turkey, Kurds have been denied their rights and have been
prohibited to say they are Kurds. Turkey is better because of some democratic
infrastructure. But for the Kurds, it is the same as others.”
The
question now in many Western capitals is how the international community might
support the aims of the protesters. Hijri feels the regime is beyond reform,
which means the West needs to stop trying to get along with Iran. Indeed, efforts
such as restoring the 2015 nuclear accord merely strengthen what many view as a
fundamentally malign regime.
“I
announced before and repeat it here that what Iran gains from a Western deal
regarding its nuclear weapons will be spent on its terrorist groups and proxy
groups in the region,” Hijri told Arab News.
“Iran
would have an upper hand in conducting terrorist activities in Europe and the
West. Also, the gains the Iran regime receives from this deal would be spent on
purchasing military staff to repress the Iranian people.
“The
gains would also go to religious institutions and Pasdaran (Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps) forces. The majority of it goes into the pockets of
Iranian government officials. People will not get anything.
“In
the former deal before (former US President Donald) Trump withdrew from it, the
same happened. So, in my opinion, the Western deal with Iran concerning its
nuclear issue is an indirect help to Iran to continue its politics in the
region and inside Iran against the people.”
For
Hijri, the international community’s response ought to be more sanctions
targeting the regime, further help for the Iranian people in bypassing the
regime’s internet restrictions, moral support for the protests, and solidarity
with opposition groups like his own.
The
US government currently has a “no contact” directive in place concerning groups
like the KDPI, which Hijri believes comes from the State Department’s fear of
upsetting the regime in Tehran during the nuclear talks.
Above
all, Hijri wants the world to understand that the Iranian people need and want
regime change, and they want to do so themselves without foreign military
intervention.
“The
slogans that Iranian people chant now are to remove the Iranian Islamic
Republic,” Hijri told Arab News.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2192061/middle-east
--------
Students
on strike as Iranian protests spread
November
01, 2022
JEDDAH:
University students in Iran staged sit-down strikes on Tuesday as the most
widespread anti-regime protests since the 1979 revolution showed no sign of
abating.
Young
people in Tehran, Isfahan and other major cities defied warn- ings by security
forces to take part in the demonstrations, despite a crackdown by authorities
in which an estimated 450 protesters have been killed.
The
nationwide protests began seven weeks ago after the death in morality police
custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, a Kurdish woman who had been detained for wearing
her hijab in an “insufficiently modest” manner.
As
the demonstrations spread, the regime has tried all means to discourage them —
blaming “en- emy agents” for sedition, and accusing the protesters of betraying
the memory of Iranians who died in the 1980s war with Iraq.
That
tactic backfired on Tuesday when Asieh Bakeri, the daughter of a war veteran,
told Iran’s ruling clerics: “Yes, martyrs are looking over us but they are also
watching over your theft of public funds, embezzlement, discrimination,
oppression, and spilling of innocents’ blood. You shoot at the people with
weapons of war.”
Analysts
doubt that the protests can bring down the regime but they say the unrest may
lead to political change. “These protests are being seen as an opportunity to
push for change ... this is a mo- ment they hope to build upon,” said Sanam
Vakil of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
The
authorities have warned protesters it is time to leave the streets but the
demonstrations have shown no sign of abating, taking place in residential
areas, major avenues and universities nationwide.
The
challenge for the regime is compounded by the custom in Iran to mark 40 days
since a person died, turning every “chehelom” 40-day mourning ceremony for the
dozens killed in the crackdown into a potential protest flashpoint.
Residents
of the Tehran district of Ekbatan late Monday shouted protest movement slogans
including “Death to the dictator” with security forces using stun grenades in a
bid to stop the action, according to footage posted on the 1500tasvir
monitoring site and other outlets.
The
Norway-based Hengaw rights organization said the funeral in the mainly Kurdish
city of Sanandaj in northwestern Iran on Monday for Sarina Saedi, a 16-year-old
girl it said was killed in the crackdown, turned into a protest with
anti-regime slogans shouted and women removing headscarves.
1500tasvir
also posted a widely shared video on social media showing medical students
protesting in the northern city of Tabriz telling the authorities “You are the
pervert!” in a message to the morality police.
Norway-based
Iran Human Rights (IHR) group said that students were on Tuesday staging a
sit-in protest at Isfahan University while social media footage indicated a
similar action was in progress at the engineering faculty of Amir Kabir
university in Tehran.
Amini’s
death was according to family members caused by a blow to the head while in
custody. The Iranian authorities contest this explanation but have ordered an
investigation.
The
protests were fueled by anger over the strict Islamic dress code for women in
Iran — which the police who arrested Amini were enforcing — but have become a
rallying point for popular anger against the regime that has ruled Iran since
the fall of the shah in 1979.
While
there have been outbursts of protests in Iran over the past two decades the
current movement has regularly broken taboos.
Images
shared on social media showed murals of revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei and his predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had been daubed with
red paint in the holy city of Qom.
The
protests have also seen a myriad of different tactics, with observers noting a
new trend of young people tipping off the turbans of clerics in the street.
According
to IHR, 160 people have been killed in the crackdown on the protests sparked by
Amini’s death and another 93 in a distinct protest wave in Zahedan in the
southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.
IHR
has warned that these figures are a minimum, with information slow to flow in
due to disruptions of the Internet by the authorities.
Hengaw
said among those buried was Komar Daruftade, a 16-year-old from Piranshahr in
northwestern Iran who it said had been shot by security forces at a distance of
three meters (15 feet) and later died in hospital.
Thousands
of people have been arrested nationwide in the crackdown on the protests,
rights activists say, while Iran’s judiciary has said 1,000 people have already
been charged in connection with what it describes as “riots.”
The
trial of five men charged with offenses that can carry capital punishment over
the protests opened Saturday in Tehran.
One
of the men, Mohammad Ghobadlou, was sentenced to death at the first trial
session, according to a video from his mother posted by the Washington-based
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center. However this has not been confirmed by the
judiciary.
The
popular Iranian rapper Toomaj Salehi has become the latest high profile figure
to be arrested, according to the New York-based Center for Human Rights in
Iran.
At
least 46 journalists have been arrested so far, according to the New York-based
Committee to Protect Journalists. Tehran journalist Marzieh Amiri is the latest
to be detained, her sister Samira wrote on Instagram.
Meanwhile
the prominent freedom of expression campaigner and Wall Street Journal
contributor Hossein Ronaghi, who was arrested shortly after the protests began,
is on “hunger strike and not well,” his brother Hassan wrote on Twitter after
the activist was granted a meeting with his parents.
World
powers have sought to tighten the pressure on Iran with Canada announcing
Monday fresh sanctions, targeting Iranian police and judicial officials.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2191776/middle-east
--------
Africa
Benue govt demands arrest of Miyetti Allah leaders over allegation against Ortom
November
1, 2022
By
Ochogwu Sunday
The
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has called for the arrest of leaders of the
Fulani socio-cultural group known as Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore over allegations
that the governor is profiling Fulanis and confiscating their cattle for
auction.
The
Fulani group had in a statement alleged that Ortom has been profiling their
members in Benue State while their cattle were being confiscated.
But
Ortom in a statement issued by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Terver
Akase it was not the first time that the Miyetti Allah has launched a smear
campaign against
The
statement alleged that the groups had marked the Governor, not only for
victimization and vilification, but also for elimination, stressing that “they
don’t hide their evil intentions each time they speak about Governor Ortom”.
The
statement reads, “The groups have vowed never to obey the Benue State Open
Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law and have at various times
since 2017 taken responsibility for the attacks on Benue people.
“Their
statement that Governor Ortom has been profiling Fulani, a claim which was in
corroboration with comments of the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic
Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar is not only false but also mischievous.
“Groups
such as Miyetti Allah and Fulani Nationality Movement, FUNAM have never hidden
or denied their ethnicity when they issue press statements to threaten
peace-loving Nigerians. In most cases, their threats come to pass. If anyone is
guilty of profiling the Fulanis, Miyetti Allah and the other groups fit that
bill.
“Governor
Ortom has no personal issues with Fulani. Some of his friends of many years are
Fulani, and he also has some appointees of Fulani ethnicity.
“The
Governor is only against the attacks on his people by Fulani who come from
neighboring countries such as Niger, Chad, Mali among others. He owes no one
apology for choosing to stand with his people in resisting those whose only
agenda is to take over and occupy Benue lands.
“The
Fulani groups consider themselves above the laws of this country. This is why
they boldly issue directives, threats and make hostile comments on sensitive
national issues believing that the Federal Government or anyone else can do
nothing to stop them.
“Now
they are calling for the establishment of a Ministry of Nomadic Affairs.
Perhaps their next demand will be for the creation of a Nomadic state where
only pastoralists will live.
“If
the Federal Government is serious about ending banditry in this country, it
should order the arrest and prosecution of leaders and members of Miyetti Allah
groups. They have questions to answer regarding the armed herdsmen who have
taken over the country’s forests and have been attacking innocent Nigerians.
Source:
DailyPost Nigeria
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Jordan
air force agrees to buy 10 helicopters from US manufacturer
01
November, 2022
Jordan’s
air force has agreed to purchase ten light helicopters from US manufacturer
Bell Aircraft, the company announced on Tuesday.
The
Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF) will use the Bell 505s to train new pilots at
its King Hussein Air College in Mafraq, Jordan.
The
agreement was announced during the Special Operations Forces Exhibition and
Conference (SOFEX) in Aqaba, Jordan on Tuesday afternoon.
“We
look forward to adding the Bell 505 aircraft to our fleet and providing our
pilots with one of the best possible aircraft for their training,” RJAF
Commander Brig. Gen. Mohammad F. Hiyasat said in a statement to Al Arabiya
English.
“The
addition of 10 new aircraft will enable us to further expand our operations in
the country, in turn increasing the capabilities of the Royal Jordanian Air
Force.”
As
well as the ten Bell 505 helicopters, the contract includes the delivery of the
aircraft with a flight training device.
“The
Bell 505 will serve alongside the men and women of the Air Force by playing a
critical role in ensuring the operational readiness of its cadets,” added Sameer
Rehman, Bell’s managing director for Africa and the Middle East.
The
Bell 505 is a five-seat helicopter that first went on sale in 2017. The Fort
Worth, Texas-based company has since sold more than 500 units.
SOFEX
is a major defense exhibition that has been held in Jordan annually since 2001.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
PM
Shehbaz, Xi agree to strengthen cooperation on CPEC, other areas
November
2, 2022
Prime
Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on Wednesday to
strengthen the strategic partnership between Islamabad and Beijing, as well as
multilateral cooperation in various areas, including the China-Pakistan
Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The
bilateral consensus between the two leaders was reached as PM Shehbaz called on
Xi at the People’s Great Hall of China this morning, hours after landing in
Beijing yesterday night for a two-day official visit.
During
the meeting, the Chinese president and PM Shehbaz discussed “broad-based
cooperation in economy and investment and exchanged views on regional and
global developments”.
They
expressed the desire to further promote the all-weather strategic cooperation
partnership between their countries.
Maiden
visit as PM
This
is PM Shehbaz’s first official visit to China since he became premier in April.
He is heading a high-level delegation, including federal ministers, special
assistants as well as the Sindh chief minister.
The
premier is among the first world leaders to visit China following the 20th
National Congress of the Communist Party of China that re-elected Xi as the
party’s general secretary last month.
Prior
to his departure to Beijing on Tuesday, PM Shehbaz had explained that the trip
was aimed at revitalising the ambitious CPEC, seeking investment in various
sectors in Pakistan and increasing bilateral trade.
He
had tweeted that during his visit, he would hold discussions with the Chinese
leadership on the strengthening of bilateral relations, particularly the
revitalisation of the multi-billion-dollar CPEC project. The second phase of
the project promised to usher in a new era of socio-economic progress that
would uplift the quality of people’s lives, he had added.
“There
is a lot to learn from Chinese economic miracle,” the premier had said.
During
the trip, the premier will also meet his Chinese counterpart, Premier Li
Keqiang, on whose invitation he is in Beijing.
The
prime minister is also scheduled to meet Chinese investors and Pakistani businessmen,
and the visit is expected to advance the wide-ranging bilateral cooperation
agenda with the conclusion of a number of memoranda of understanding in diverse
areas and consolidate the momentum of CPEC cooperation in the wake of the 11th
meeting of the CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee held on Oct 27.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1718414/pm-shehbaz-xi-agree-to-strengthen-cooperation-on-cpec-other-areas
--------
Federal
Sharia Court takes notice of five-year-old’s marriage in Balochistan
ZULQARNAIN
IQBAL
01
NOV 2022
Federal
Shariah Court has taken suo-motu notice of the forced underage marriage of
five-year-old child in Balochistan, calling it contrary to the teachings of
Shariah.
A
five-year-old child was married off in a case of forced marriage in
Balochistan’s Khuzdar district.
Chief
Justice Dr Syed Muhammad Anwer said that marriage of an underage girl is
against the Shariah court.
During
the hearing, additional advocate general Balochistan informed the court that
the minor has been recovered and arrested two suspects.
He
further said that that law enforcement agencies are conducting raids to arrest
the person who performed Nikaah of the minor.
Source:
SamaaEnglish
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Imran wants martial law imposed if army chief of his choice not appointed: Fazl
Muhammad
Irfan Mughal
November
2, 2022
DERA
ISMAIL KHAN: Pakistan Democratic Movement chairman and Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday claimed that Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf leader and former prime minister Imran Khan wanted martial law
to be imposed in the country if the federal government didn’t appoint the next
army chief of his choice.
He
said the government won’t make any compromise on the supremacy of the
Constitution and the law.
Addressing
a news conference here, the PDM chief said national institutions, be they the
army, judiciary or Election Commission of Pakistan, should be apolitical and
shouldn’t support their ‘blue-eyed’ politicians.
He
said ‘conflicting’ verdicts by courts would create confusion and hurt the
people’s confidence.
Mr
Fazl said the PTI and its leaders shouldn’t get any face-saving.
“I
want to convey it to my [PDM] coalition government and its head, Prime Minister
Shehbaz Sharif, that the PTI shouldn’t be offered dialogue at all,” he said.
The
PDM leader insisted that the PTI’s ongoing anti-government march on Islamabad
had failed as the party failed to ensure participation of even 2,000 people in
it.
He
said the Imran Khan-led ‘long march’ couldn’t reach Islamabad as scheduled due
to a lack of public support.
Mr
Fazl claimed that the PTI’s march would vanish into thin air ahead of the
federal capital.
He
said the Tehreek-i-Insaf leaders had planned to carry arms in the rally for
violence as if they were part of a terrorist outfit, which didn’t believe in
politics and dialogue.
“They
[PTI] want to blackmail the federal government to serve their ends by entering
Islamabad,” he said.
The
PDM chief said political stability, which led to economic stability, was
imperative for a strong democracy.
He
said supremacy of the Constitution and law should be ensured.
“For
the first time, the chief of a national institution came forward for clarity on
key issues as moves by the PTI leadership threatened the state. The PTI is
trying to create political and economic instability and chaos in the country,”
he said.
Mr
Fazl said in the past, the PTI marched on Islamabad when the country was
entering a new era of economic stability and the Chinese president was to reach
the country on an official visit.
He
said the PTI’s anti-government rally was meant to damage the confidence of
China in Pakistan and block foreign investment in the country.
“Such
attempts will be countered through political wisdom and national solidarity,”
he said.
The
PDM leader said the 2018 general elections led to the formation of the
‘selected’ (PTI) government, which cancelled all mega projects in the country
blocking all international investments.
He
added that the policies of PM Imran Khan’s government also halted the country’s
development for three and a half years.
Mr
Fazl said the PTI government had ‘handed over’ the State Bank of Pakistan to
the International Monetary Fund in the name of the SBP’s autonomy, so the
bank’s president was no more answerable to the prime minister, cabinet or
parliament.
He
said the PTI had announced the ‘long march’ on Islamabad a few days before a
ministerial level meeting was held between China and Pakistan, which was to
decide investment and development projects for the next year.
The
PDM chief said the Tehreek-i-Insaf leadership was trying to shake China’s trust
in Pakistan’s economic and investment policies and moves.
He
said it was pity that the PTI was marching on Islamabad when Prime Minister
Shehbaz Sharif was in China to discuss investment options with the Chinese
authorities.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
seeks explanation from Russia over senator's remarks on Ukraine nukes
Naveed
Siddiqui
November
2, 2022
The
Foreign Office has sought an explanation from Russia after its Senator Igor
Morozov reportedly claimed that Pakistan and Ukraine recently held talks for
developing nuclear weapons.
“We
are surprised by such an unfounded and baseless statement,” said a statement
issued late Tuesday night from the office of FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar
Ahmed.
Indian
media quoted a Russian state news agency report as saying that "Ukrainian
specialists went to Pakistan and received a delegation from there to discuss
technologies and know-how for creating nuclear weapons".
Morozov
reportedly made the allegations during a press conference that was "part
of the Ukrainian dossier special project", the report added.
"He
said that it is not a secret that Ukraine can create a ‘dirty bomb’ but
questioned who are invested in the project," the report claims.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Imran
Khan accuses political opponents of conspiring for clash between his party and
Pakistan army
Nov
1, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan's ousted prime minister Imran Khan on Tuesday turned his guns at the
political opponents, accusing them of conspiring for a clash between his
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party and the powerful army.
Khan,
who has announced that his objective was to gain Haqeeqi Azadi (real freedom)
through the march which in his words was possible if free and fair polls are
held immediately, also said that he was not against the establishment of the
country.
Addressing
his supporters in Gujranwala on the start of the fifth day of his protest
march, Khan kept up his trademark vitriolic attack against his political
opponents - former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali
Zardari.
"They
are conspiring for a clash between the PTI, which is the biggest political
party of the country, and the military," Khan alleged.
"Nawaz
Sharif, I challenge you, when you come back, I will beat you in your own
constituency," he said.
He
warned the former three-time prime minister that when he returns to Pakistan,
"we will take you to Adiala jail from the airport".
Khan
also targeted former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Zardari,
saying he should "get ready" for his arrival in Sindh - the
traditional bastion of the Bhutto-Zardari family.
"Zardari
listen carefully, I am coming to Sindh,” he added.
Sharif
has mocked Khan for his long march turnout, saying the party could not even
gather 2,000 people while claiming that it would amass one million protesters.
"The
reason for the indifference of the people is the evil lies," Sharif
tweeted on Monday night.
He
alleged that Khan had consistently lied so much that the spy agency
Inter-Services Intelligence chief was "forced to break his silence and
tell the truth to the nation".
Sharif
said he had informed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to not listen to any of
Kha's demands, no matter how many people he brought.
ISI
chief Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum said on Thursday that Army chief Gen Qamar
Javed Bajwa was given a "lucrative offer" in March by the then
government led by Khan amidst the political turmoil.
Khan
admitted that he offered an extension in the tenure of the Army chief but said
he will remain "silent" as he does not want to "damage" the
country and its institutions.
Khan,
who came to power in 2018 with promises to create a ‘Naya Pakistan', apparently
lost support of the powerful Army after he refused to endorse the appointment
of the ISI chief last year.
Finally,
Khan agreed but it soured his ties with the army, which has ruled the
coup-prone country for more than half of its 75 years of existence and has
hitherto wielded considerable power in the matters of security and foreign
policy.
Separately,
former information minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the protesters would spend
the entire day in Gujranwala.
He
said the decision to slow down the trek to Islamabad was made to prevent
accidents with "thousands of people walking alongside the caravan".
Chaudhry
also announced that the schedule of the march has been changed and it would not
be able to reach Islamabad even by Sunday. The original plan was to reach the
capital on Friday. According to the new plan, the march would reach Jhelum by
Sunday.
He
also criticised the government for increased security measures in the national
capital and claimed it had deployed at least 30,000 security personnel and
released a large sum of funds to deal with the party's march.
Meanwhile,information
minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has accused Khan of “openly inviting the army to
overthrow the government” and to interfere in politics.
She
was reacting to Khan's speech on Monday night when he said that he would prefer
martial law be imposed in the country than the incumbent government.
The
minister said that only "humiliation and disgrace" are written in
Khan's fate, calling him a "foreign-funded fitna (disturbance)" and a
"coward who is only playing tricks".
Also,
PPP leader Shazia Marri said in Karachi that Khan wants to see bloodshed and
his statement about martial law shows his frustration. "We condemn the
remarks,” she said.
Khan
was earlier this month disqualified from membership of the current National
Assembly by a five-member panel of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)
headed by its chief Sikandar Sultan Raja.
He
has been demanding early elections and he is leading the long march towards
Islamabad to force his demands. The term of the National Assembly will end in
August 2023 and fresh elections should be held within 60 days.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
PTI
chief trained by ‘spy masters’, says Maryam
Atika
Rehman
November
2, 2022
LONDON:
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz vice-president Maryam Nawaz lambasted Imran Khan
during a press conference held here on Tuesday, questioning the Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman’s democratic credentials and alleging that he was
trained by past spy chiefs.
“Today,
Nawaz Sharif and his stance [against establishment interference] are
vindicated. When the interference stopped, Imran fell flat on his face,” Ms
Nawaz told a group of reporters at Stanhope House.
“Imran
Khan does not even pretend to be a democrat because his very ABCs of politics
are flawed. His teachers were General Pasha and General Zaheerul Islam, no
wonder his politics are flawed,” she said, referring to previous heads of the
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
She
also hit out at Mr Khan’s offer, as revealed by the incumbent ISI chief in a
presser last week, about the proposed “unlimited extension” in the army chief’s
tenure.
“Those
who changed his nappies, that group that he is looking for, he will not find
them,” Ms Nawaz said.
She
said it is “a very good thing” if the establishment says it is neutral. “That
is their responsibility; that is their role. It is very welcome if this is the
decision and I hope it is permanent.”
She
also said that Imran’s controversial statements about the establishment had
compelled the head of the premier intelligence agency to speak publicly, though
he is known to stay away from the media spotlight.
This
was the first press conference Ms Nawaz has had in London since she arrived
here early in October. “I was waiting for the reality of the long march to
unfold in front of the people before I spoke,” she said, adding that attendance
at the PTI’s march has been poor.
Her
father, Nawaz Sharif, was in the office during the press conference, but did
not participate in the presser or the subsequent Q&A session.
In
her remarks, Ms Nawaz accused Imran Khan of trying to pressure institutions
through “bullying tactics”, adding that he wanted to pressure the establishment
to disrupt the appointment of the new chief in November. “He is hoping for the
establishment’s support.”
“The
appointment of the army chief is the prerogative of the prime minister, and
Shehbaz Sharif will fulfill his responsibility in accordance with the
constitution.”
She
added that Mr Khan’s claims that he is engaged in talks with members of the
establishment were a ploy to fool his supporters into attending the march. “He
didn’t even tell the nation about his meeting with the army chief. When the DG
ISI revealed it, the truth came out that he meets them behind closed doors at
night and grabs them by the collar in the day.”
“His
frustration levels are high because the march was his trump card and people
haven’t shown up as expected,” she claimed.
On
the issue of criticism of the establishment, Ms Nawaz said that all parties had
criticised the establishment in the past, but “on the basis of democratic
princi[ples”.
“Imran
is doing it so he gets the crown back on his head – otherwise he will abuse
them.”
Ms
Nawaz also questioned Mr Khan on a recent claim where he said that the
establishment told him that the Sharifs and Zardari are “thieves”.
“There
is no bigger proof of Nawaz Sharif’s innocence. First Shaukat Aziz [Siddiqui]
spoke, then the late Arshad Malik revealed the conspiracy to keep Nawaz Sharif
out of politics. Now Imran Khan is saying the establishment told him they are
thieves…
She
asked, “So you [Imran] repeated everything you were told verbatim? What proof
did you want to show in court about this alleged corruption? That
‘establishment told me so’?”
She
even criticised former chief justice Saqib Nisar, saying he “could not show his
face in public” as he was part of the conspiracy to bring down the Sharifs.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1718373
--------
Punjab
IGP Faisal Shahkar picked by UN for prestigious post
Asif
Chaudhry
November
2, 2022
LAHORE:
Punjab Inspector General of Police Faisal Shahkar has been selected as Police
Adviser to the United Nations Department of Peace Operations by Secretary
General Antonio Guterres, becoming the first officer from Pakistan to have this
prestigious position.
The
global position had mostly been occupied by senior police officers from Europe
or America.
The
Department of Peace Operations (DPO) is charged with planning, preparation,
management and direction of UN peacekeeping operations. It is dedicated to
assist the member states and the UN secretary general in their efforts to
maintain international peace and security.
The
DPO also provides political and executive direction to the UN peacekeeping
operations around the world and maintains contact with the UN Security Council,
troops and financial contributors, and parties to the conflict in the
implementation of Security Council mandates.
The
head of the DPO is selected keeping in view an officer’s past experience at the
UN against any key position.
An
official say that Faisal Shahkar is the only police officer of IG rank who
qualified for the slot from Pakistan. He has been selected from amongst world’s
top police officers nominated by the UN member states to contest for the slot,
he adds.
He
was nominated by the Foreign Office after the UN advertised the high-profile
position. The two-year assignment is extendable for another term of the same
length, the official says. Shahkar was shortlisted by the UN for the written
test from amongst over 100 officers, keeping in view his outstanding profile,
including his past experience of serving in the United States (New York). He
was among nearly a dozen police officers who cleared the written test and
called by the UN for an interview conducted by a panel of senior officials some
five months back.
A
couple of days back, the official say, the UN approved the name of Shahkar,
making him the first Pakistani, as well as Asian, officer posted against the
global slot.
He
says that besides conducting probes into war crimes world over, the UNDPO had
carried out investigations into many high-profile assassinations, including
that of Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The
department also sends advice to the UN secretary general on reforms in police
units all over the world, he adds.
The
UNDPO, created in 1992 after Boutros Boutros-Ghali took over as UN secretary
general, is currently housing three main offices – Rule of Law & Security
Institutions, Military Affairs and the the Policy, Evaluation and the Training
Division.
About
Mr Shahkar’s joining of the UNDPO office, the official says the process may
take two months or so.
Meanwhile,
a spokesperson for the Punjab Police said IGP Faisal Shahkar has a nine-year
experience of working at the UN Headquarters and had also performed various
field duties under the UN. He said Mr Shahkar had served as Team Leader in the
United Nations Standing Police Capacity and in the United Nations Police
Division from 2005 to 2008 and from 2011 to 2013, respectively. He also served
in Liberia and Bosnia-Herzegovina for more than three years under the UN
Mission.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1718339/punjab-igp-faisal-shahkar-picked-by-un-for-prestigious-post
--------
‘Stubborn
child’ talking about bloodshed for face-saving: Haideri
November
1, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Secretary General Senator Maulana Abdul
Ghafoor Haideri while referring to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran
Khan on Tuesday said “stubborn child” was talking about bloodshed for
face-saving.
“The
fear of defeat is forcing him to make tall claims of bloodshed,” said Haideri
in a statement.
He
said the people were well aware about the ulterior motives of PTI chief, and
rejected the long march, due to which, the last option for Niazi was bloodshed.
Congratulating
the people of Punjab for rejecting the Niazi’s march, he said neither the
destination of PTI’s long march was known, nor its objectives were defined.
“Fabricating
lies, making accusations, spreading sedition and talking about corruption are
the four elements of Niazi’s politics,” he added. Haideri said the government
had expressed wisdom and prudence and did not create any obstacle in the long
march.
Meanwhile,
JUI-F Spokesman Muhammad Aslam Ghauri strongly condemned the physical assault
of Punjab Police against journalists in the Imran Niazi’s riot march.
He
urged the inspector general of police, Punjab to take full notice of the
violence against journalists.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
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