'Some Hindus Have Turned To Terrorism to Protect Hindu Beliefs' Said the Now-Withdrawn Book in the United Kingdom
New Age Islam News Bureau
09 October 2020
It is significant that there are 614 government
madrassas in Assam and about 900 private madrassas, almost all of which are run
by Jamiat Ulama, while there are about 100 government Sanskrit tols and over
500 private tols. Representational Image
-----
• The Need for Muslim Social Media is now: Many
Muslims Even Consider Dropping Major Applications like Facebook
• The US, Japan and Many EU Nations Joined a Call on
Tuesday Urging China to Respect the Human Rights of Minority Uighurs
• G20 Riyadh: More Than 500 Leaders to Take Part in
Interfaith Forum
• Facebook Post on 'Another Possible Motorway
Incident' Inside KU Premises Causes Outrage on Social Media
• Gang War Erupts In Rohingya Refugee Camps In
Bangladesh, At Least 8 Killed, Thousands Flee
• Being Pro-Trump Has Caused Me More Grief than Being
Osama Bin Laden’s Niece
• Algeria Hands Activist Yacine Mebarki 10 Years Jail
For ‘Inciting Atheism’: NGO
• Nagorno-Karabakh Military Death Toll Rises To 350 As
New Clashes Rage On
India
• 'Some Hindus Have Turned To Terrorism to Protect
Hindu Beliefs' Said the Now-Withdrawn Book in the United Kingdom
• Assam BJP Govt Announced That the State Government
Will Close Down All Government-Run Madrassas in Assam
• The Need for Muslim Social Media is now: Many
Muslims Even Consider Dropping Major Applications like Facebook
• Locals Protest Toilet Built Close To a Graveyard and
a Mosque in Begum Bazaar, Hyderabad
• NIA arrests two Islamic State suspects in Bengaluru;
agency gets 10-days custody
• J&K: Police arrests one for spying for Pakistan
• Chargesheet against 6 in JeM terror module case
• 7 Indians kidnapped in Libya; govt in touch with
Libyan authorities to rescue them: MEA
• India ‘among lead countries’ facilitating peace
restoration in Afghanistan, says Abdullah Abdullah
--------
Southeast Asia
• The US, Japan and Many EU Nations Joined a Call on
Tuesday Urging China to Respect the Human Rights of Minority Uighurs
• After PAS gets a Sabah rep, PBS says will keep an
eye on the Islamist party
• Malaysia's Anwar says he will meet king Tuesday in
bid to oust PM
• PAS Youth urges allies to sit out Batu Sapi poll,
says Muhyiddin’s administration can do without seat
• King has range of options after meeting Anwar, say
analysts
--------
Arab world
• G20 Riyadh: More Than 500 Leaders to Take Part in
Interfaith Forum
• 'Unbearable' Memories Push Some Yazidi Survivors of
IS to Suicide
• Lebanon's Sunni leader Hariri urges revival of
French plan
• Iraqi People Converge on Karbala on Eve of Arbaeen
• Lebanon’s Saad Hariri says he’s open to becoming PM
again, warns of civil war
• US strongly condemns deadly terrorist attack in
Syria's Al Bab: State Department
--------
Pakistan
• Facebook Post on 'Another Possible Motorway Incident'
Inside KU Premises Causes Outrage On Social Media
• CCPO proposes ‘police court-martial’ to punish
deviant officials
• Court bars FIA from arresting journalist over his
tweets
• Imran Khan’s Problem Matrix to Get Complicated as
FATF Decides on Pak Record
• Pakistani opposition parties plan to oust Imran Khan
Government, to hold first mega rally on October 16
• PM asks Sindh governor to sort out islands issue
• 'Imran's selectors' will have to answer for
country's situation today, says Nawaz
• Senior bureaucrat hired as HEC executive director
--------
South Asia
• Gang War Erupts In Rohingya Refugee Camps In
Bangladesh, At Least 8 Killed, Thousands Flee
• Rights Group Calls for End to Rohingya ‘Prison’
Camps in Myanmar
• India can play ‘vital role’ for Afghan peace, top
negotiator says
• Afghanistan: more than 500 assassinated by the
Taliban in only six months
• Afghan officials downplay US president’s
announcement on early troop withdrawal
• Deputy Chief of Ghazni Prison Killed Following
Abduction
• Allies to Leave Afghanistan when ‘Conditions on
Ground’ Permits: NATO
• Khalilzad Tackles Afghan Peace with Pakistani
Officials
--------
North America
• Being Pro-Trump Has Caused Me More Grief than Being
Osama Bin Laden’s Niece
• US Seizes 92 Iran ‘Propaganda’ Websites For
Spreading Misinformation
• Islamic State ‘Beatles’ Jailers Are Charged in Abuse
of Murdered Hostages
• NATO says to discuss plans to withdraw from
Afghanistan after Trump announcement
• US targets Iran's financial sector, imposes sanctions
on 18 banks
• David Friedman is furthering the Kosher Nostra
extremist Likudnik Israeli agenda: Scholar
• Trump claims to have killed ‘bigger names’ than
Osama Bin Laden in attack on Obama’s record
--------
Africa
• Algeria Hands Activist Yacine Mebarki 10 Years Jail
For ‘Inciting Atheism’: NGO
• Jordan’s Islamists ally for upcoming parliamentary
elections
• UAE, Turkey routinely violating Libya arms embargo:
Investigation
• Nigeria: How Nigerian Army Can Win Boko Haram War -
Borno Governor
• Somalia: Somali Military Kills Ten Al-Shabaab
Fighters Including Senior Commander in Lower Shabelle Region
• 3 Mali National Guardsmen Killed in Overnight Attack
• Attackers kill 25 displaced civilians in Burkina
Faso, UN says
• Malian Politician Released by Islamist Insurgents
Meets with Mali's Transitional President
--------
Europe
• Nagorno-Karabakh Military Death Toll Rises to 350 as
New Clashes Rage On
• Germany criticised for not listing more far-right
groups as terrorist entities
• Putin invites foreign ministers of Armenia,
Azerbaijan for talks Friday: Kremlin
• Turkish, Greek FMs meet for first time since eastern
Mediterranean dispute
--------
Mideast
• Iran Protesters Chant ‘Death to Dictator’ After
Death of Renowned Musician Shajarian
• Iran Underlines Willingness to Further Enhance Ties
with Syria, Japan
• Latest Iran sanctions will deprive Tehran the
ability to support terrorism: Pompeo
• Renowned Iranian musician, singer Mohammad Shajarian
dies of heart attack
• Iran releases human rights activist Narges Mohammadi
after sentence cut
• UN envoy condemns recent clashes in Yemen’s
Hodeidah, calls for ceasefire
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
--------
'Some Hindus Have Turned To Terrorism to Protect Hindu Beliefs' Said the Now-Withdrawn Book in the United Kingdom
Times Now
Oct 07, 2020
Langley school Representational image | Photo Credit:
iStock Images
------
London: A publisher in the United Kingdom withdrew a
GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) religious studies workbook
after it led to a furore among the British Indians. The book, bearing the AQA
logo, was also taken down from a school’s website.
Students were able to download the workbook titled,
'GCSE Religious Studies: Religion Peace and Conflict', from the curriculum
section of the Langley School’s website until Monday. However, it is not
available now.
Langley School is located in Solihull, West Midlands.
On Page 4 of the now-withdrawn book, it was stated:
"Holy books teach that it is necessary to be able to morally justify war
in order to preserve dharma. Arjuna, as a Kshatriya, is reminded of his duty to
uphold a righteous cause and that in fact there is nothing better than a
righteous war.”
"If the cause is just, Hindus will take up arms.
Self-defence is justifiable; hence India has nuclear weapons to protect from
aggressors. Some Hindus have turned to terrorism to protect Hindu beliefs.”
"The Arthashastra scriptures state that
governments must act with a suitable moral approach, which implies a just
one."
Responding to contents of the book, Hindu Forum of
Britain (HFB) president Trupti Patel said: "This is a political move to
discredit Hindus and India. I am sure whoever wrote this did it
deliberately."
Notably, the Hindu Forum of Britain is an umbrella
body for British Hindus.
Patel and HFB vice-president Ramesh Pattni, the chair
of HFB's religious education committee, had sent a letter to AQA and qualifications
regulator 'Ofqual', calling the text as "vexatious, inaccurate and meant
to teach wrong beliefs about Hindus to impressionable children".
The letter added: "You have completely
misinterpreted the meaning of dharma and linked it to what you describe as
terrorism... even the interpretation about Arjuna is totally misinterpreted...
We suspect that there may be a political agenda behind how Hindu beliefs and
practices have been portrayed."
"We have had a holding reply saying AQA will
investigate," news agency IANS mentioned Patel as telling one of the
Indian media.
Meanwhile, an AQA spokesperson said: "We didn't
produce the workbook that's been shared on social media and our logo was used
on it without our permission. Some of the material in it seems to have come
from a textbook -- we've spoken to the publisher, which has withdrawn the book
from sale while it addresses the issue."
Langley School has confirmed removing the book from
its website "as soon as it was alerted" via e-mails earlier this
week. The school added that it did not know why the workbook had the AQA logo
and the book "was not used for teaching".
"A member of our staff purchased the resource
from the Times Educational Supplement website some years ago. We are unaware of
the author of the document. We are devastated that this oversight in our
administration has caused this offence," said the school in a statement.
"We can assure you it is not used in
school."
https://www.timesnownews.com/international/article/british-indians-raise-hue-and-cry-as-schoolbook-links-hinduism-to-terrorism-publisher-withdraws-it/663685
-----
Assam BJP Govt Announced That the State Government Will Close Down All Government-Run Madrassas in Assam
Oct 9, 2020
It is significant that there are 614 government
madrassas in Assam and about 900 private madrassas, almost all of which are run
by Jamiat Ulama, while there are about 100 government Sanskrit tols and over
500 private tols. Representational Image
-----
GUWAHATI: Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on
Thursday announced that the state government will close down all government-run
madrassas in Assam because it cannot allow religious education with public
money. Sarma said a notification will be issued next month.
"No religious educational institutes will be
allowed to function with government funds. We will bring out a notification in
November to this effect. We have nothing to say about privately-run
madrassas," said Sarma.
Soon after this statement, AIUDF supremo and Lok Sabha
MP Badruddin Ajmal said that if the BJP-led state government closes down
government-run madrassas, his party would re-open them after coming to power in
the assembly elections scheduled early next year.
"You cannot shut madrassas. After we come to
power, we will take a cabinet decision to reopen these 50-60-year-old madrassas
if this present government closes them forcibly," said Ajmal.
In February, Sarma had announced that the government
planned to close down not just government-run madrassas but also government-run
Sanksrit 'tols'. He had then justified it by saying that religious teachings
cannot be carried out with government funds in a secular country. However, on
Thursday, Sarma said, "The Sanksrit tol matter was different."
"The objection to government-run Sanksrit tols is
that they are not transparent. We are taking steps to address this," he
said.
There are 614 government madrassas in Assam and about
900 private madrassas, almost all of which are run by Jamiat Ulama, while there
are about 100 government Sanskrit tols and over 500 private tols. The
government spends about Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore on madrassas in the state and
about Rs 1 crore on Sanskrit tols annually.
Two years ago, the state government had scrapped the
two controlling boards - State Madrassa Education Board and Assam Sanskrit
Board - and brought the madrassas under the Secondary Board of Education Assam
and the Sanskrit tols under Kumar Bhaskar Varma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies
University to introduce modern education to learners to bring them into the
mainstream.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/assam-bjp-govt-to-shut-state-run-muslim-schools/articleshow/78564457.cms
--------
The Need for Muslim Social Media is now: Many Muslims
Even Consider Dropping Major Applications like Facebook
10/8/2020
Young adult teenager Muslim Islamic Thai Asian women
using smartphones and tablet in social media.
-----
Facebook Accused of Watching Users through Cameras!
Facebook Dealing with a Hate Speech Crisis!
Social Media Graphic Video Circulates!
Recent headlines like the above are not uncommon, in
fact, they have been increasing in number as of late. So too have calls for
stricter measures to control the spread of graphic content and misinformation.
As major networks come under fire, many are starting to ask the question “Is it
all worth it?” Many Muslims even consider dropping major applications like
Facebook, yet it would be hard to imagine a world without Social Media. So,
what can one do?
Social media users have been clamoring for some time
for the creation of safe networks and platforms which not only regulate obscene
language and images, but also promote a community-based approach. This is
exactly what inspired J. J. Muhammad Shakur, Founder of OOLi Network, to create
an application that has a policy and mission to provide positive and beneficial
content for the Muslim community.
Muslims, who have often been the target of much
hate-speech on networks like Facebook and Twitter, can now have a safe
environment to share, like and post messages and ideas. OOLi Network wants to
provide this specific environment for a niche community. As mentioned on their
website, “Islam is a unique bond that connects Muslims all around the world and
that alone is an incentive to have a social network to share content in a more
filtered environment, for a better Muslim experience.”
Those used to the Facebook or Instagram interface will
immediately feel comfortable using OOLi Network and may even find some aspects
more user-friendly. After signing up with a phone number, one can immediately
tap into the OOLi community, made up almost entirely, but not exclusive of
Muslims. “Although we had Muslims in mind, we invite other communities to check
out our product,” Shakur says.
While still is its early stages, OOLi Network seems to
show a lot of potential and has the appeal to attract many new users. Once more
users join, it is quite evident that OOLi Network will be a major networking
tool for Muslims globally. And the possibilities keep expanding. “We hope to
one day include a fully operational online selling platform,” Shakur continues,
“and we’ve recently added a community ‘Spaces’ to help organizations, masjids
and communities in general make announcements and post to the public.”
With regular updates, OOLi Network seems to be
listening to its users and is keen on providing a quality visual and
user-friendly experience. OOLi Network can be downloaded on both Google Play
and App Store so that in a few minutes, you too can be connected to a safe
environment and growing Muslim Online Community.
OOLi Network is set to change how Muslims network with
one another globally. Dedicated to providing Muslims with a unique yet
easy-to-use platform with a seamless, clean, simple and user-friendly
interface, OOLi Network is your Muslim-Friendly Social Media. Share. Create.
Post!
--------
The US, Japan and Many EU Nations Joined a Call on
Tuesday Urging China to Respect the Human Rights of Minority Uighurs
October 7, 2020
China is accused of imposing severe restrictions on
religious freedom, as well as widespread surveillance singling out Uighurs, as
well as forced labour and involuntary sterilisation [File: Seda Suna/EPA]
-----
UNITED NATIONS: The US, Japan and many EU nations
joined a call on Tuesday urging China to respect the human rights of minority
Uighurs, and also expressing concern about the situation in Hong Kong.
“We call on China to respect human rights,
particularly the rights of persons belonging to religious and ethnic
minorities, especially in Xinjiang and Tibet,” said German UN ambassador
Christoph Heusgen, who led the initiative during of a meeting on human rights.
Among the 39 signatory countries were the US, most of
the EU member states including Albania and Bosnia, as well as Canada, Haiti,
Honduras, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
“We are gravely concerned about the human rights
situation in Xinjiang and the recent developments in Hong Kong,” the
declaration said.
“We call on China to allow immediate, meaningful and
unfettered access to Xinjiang for independent observers including the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights,” it added.
Immediately afterward, the envoy for Pakistan stood up
and read out a statement signed by 55 countries, including China, denouncing
any use of the situation in Hong Kong as an excuse for interference in China’s
internal affairs.
Addressing Germany, the US and Britain, Chinese
ambassador Zhang Jun criticised what he called their “hypocritical” attitude
and demanded that the three countries “put away your arrogance and prejudice,
and pull back from the brink, now”.
The organisation Human Rights Watch praised the fact
that so many countries had signed on to the declaration “despite China’s
persistent threats and intimidation tactics against those who speak out”.
In 2019, a similar text drafted by Britain only
garnered 23 signatures.
Western diplomats have said that China is piling on
more pressure each year to dissuade UN member states from signing such
statements, threatening to block the renewal of peacekeeping missions for some
countries or preventing others from building new embassy facilities in China.
On Monday, China led a group of 26 countries in a
joint declaration calling for an end to US sanctions which they said violate
human rights during the struggle to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
Last month, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
(ASPI) said it had identified more than 380 “suspected detention facilities” in
the Xinjiang region, where China is believed to have held more than one million
Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking residents.
In the US, the House of Representatives passed a bill
at the end of September that aims to ban imports from Xinjiang, contending that
abuses of the Uighur people are so widespread that all goods from the region
should be considered made with slave labour.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2020/10/07/39-nations-demand-china-respect-uighur-human-rights/
--------
G20 Riyadh: More than 500 leaders to take part in
interfaith forum
October 05, 2020
RIYADH: More than 500 world leaders and
representatives of different religions and global policy institutions will take
part in the G20 Interfaith Forum to be streamed virtually from Riyadh on Oct.
13 to 17.
The forum will address the coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) pandemic, climate change, disaster risk reduction, hate speech, and
racism.
Representatives from the UN, the International
Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Muslim
World League and the European Commission will also attend the event.
The forum seeks global solutions by collaborating with
religious thought leaders and political representatives. It calls on the
world’s political leaders to include religious actors in the policymaking
process to promote shared values of solidarity, coexistence and respect.
The five-day event is open to the public and will be
streamed live at www.G20Interfaith.live.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1744706/saudi-arabia
--------
Facebook post on 'another possible motorway incident'
inside KU premises causes outrage on social media
09 Oct 2020
Netizens took to social media to voice their anger
after a Facebook user shared a chilling account of being followed and harassed
by a group of men inside the Karachi University (KU) campus.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Syed Shaheer Ali said
that he was accompanied by two female friends, one of whom he dropped off at
the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) girls' hostel, which is situated
inside the Karachi University campus. He said that he was on his way back with
his friend, when a group of men on motorcycles surrounded the car, shouting for
them to get out of the vehicle.
Ali said that he drove away from the men and reached
the IBA hostel for boys. However, the men once again surrounded the car,
banging on the windows and screaming: "Larki ko bahar nikal, gaari rouk
[Get the girl out, stop the car]".
However, the two managed to shake off the group of men
— who, Ali said, seemed to be between 15-25 years of age — and informed the
guards of the incident. He added that his friend was in a state of shock after
the ordeal and he has been unable to sleep peacefully, describing the incident
as "another possible motorway incident".
"The point of sharing all this is that we
miraculously escaped this horrible situation and it's our duty to inform all of
you to be very cautious so that this doesn't happen with anyone of you,"
he said in the post. He added that he had informed the university
administration, which was coordinating with them.
Ali, in his post, was referring to a rape incident
that took place on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway last month, where a woman was
gang-raped in front of her children. The main suspect of the case is still on
the run.
Speaking to Dawn.com today, IBA Head of Marketing and
Communications Haris Tohid termed the incident highly deplorable.
"The security and safety of students, staff and
faculty members is paramount to IBA Karachi and as soon as the incident was
reported to the management, the matter was taken up with the KU security
personnel, the police and the Rangers.
"Throughout this time, IBA security personnel
remained in coordination with the affected students and law enforcement
agencies." He added that the varsity's campus, the hostels and the
employees’ residential complex, housed inside the KU premises, were under 24/7
CCTV surveillance and secured by round-the-clock security.
The post was shared more than 4,000 times on Facebook
and became a trending topic on Twitter as people expressed outrage and shock
over the incident inside a university campus. 'Karachi University is not safe'
was among the top trends on Twitter throughout the day as people used the
hashtag to demand an investigation of the incident.
Twitter user Muhammad Wahab, while sharing screenshots
of the Facebook post, said: "KU needs literally to get this investigated
and increase its security. Now we must take strict action against them. Thank
God to hear that you guys were saved but the trauma you faced is
speechless."
Another user Zafar Dar recalled that his wife and
himself had noticed that the "wild grass and trees need(ed) immediate
trimming as the road from Maskan to IBA looks like a jungle and it's not safe
for girls".
Twitter user Aaisha said that the reported incident
had "scared [her] so bad" as she usually walks down the same road at
night.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1583948/facebook-post-on-another-possible-motorway-incident-inside-ku-premises-causes-outrage-on-social-media
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Gang War Erupts In Rohingya Refugee Camps In
Bangladesh, At Least 8 Killed, Thousands Flee
Oct 8, 2020
DHAKA: A turf war raging between criminal armed groups
in Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh has forced thousands of people
to flee and at least eight have been killed in clashes in recent days, police
and humanitarian workers said on Thursday. Authorities have arrested 12 people
after days of gunfire, arson, and abductions by gangs competing for dominance
in the sprawling settlement, the world’s largest refugee camp home to more than
a million people.
“A tense situation is prevailing there,” Rafiqul
Islam, an additional police superintendent based in the nearest town of Cox's
Bazar, told Reuters by phone.
“Two groups are trying to establish dominance in the
area,” he said, adding that they were suspected drug and human traffickers.
The region is a crucible of the lucrative trade in
methamphetamine, mostly manufactured across the border in Myanmar.
More than 100 Rohingya have been killed since 2018 in
incidents human rights groups say are extrajudicial killings but police say the
victims were caught in the “cross-fire” during shootouts with suspected drug
smugglers.
Three refugees speaking on condition of anonymity
named the two groups behind the fighting as the “Munna” gang, named after a
notorious local alleged drug baron, and the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army
(ARSA), an armed group that has a presence in the sprawling camps and that
refugees have accused of carrying out kidnappings and attacks.
In a Twitter post, ARSA denied responsibility for the
latest violence and blamed criminals seeking to cast aspersions on the group.
Attacks by ARSA on police posts in Myanmar in 2017
triggered a sweeping military crackdown that led more than 730,000 Rohingya to
flee to Bangladesh.
About 2,000 Rohingya families were displaced in the
latest violence, though some had returned by Thursday, according to additional
refugee relief and repatriation commissioner Mohammad Shamsu Douza.
“We are living in fear, especially at night,” one of
the refugees told Reuters by phone.
“Last night also, one group carried out an arson
attack. Where will we go now?”
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/gang-war-erupts-in-rohingya-refugee-camps-at-least-8-killed-thousands-flee/articleshow/78554087.cms
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Being pro-Trump has caused me more grief than being
Osama bin Laden’s niece
Noor bin Ladin
October 08, 2020
Americans are, in my experience, the warmest, most
kind-hearted and open-minded people in the world. I have found this to be true
for my whole life, despite being the niece of Osama bin Laden and sharing the
same last name (albeit spelled slightly differently — bin Ladin is the original
translation). Americans base their judgment on the content of someone’s
character and actions, not on the color of their skin — or their last name.
This was reaffirmed last month, after I voiced my love for America and support
for President Trump. The response to ‘My Letter to America’ has been
overwhelmingly wonderful, and I am most thankful to all those who took the time
to read it and send kind messages, including Spectator readers. But in my
private life, I have lost a few so-called friends for backing Donald Trump over
the past five years. Coming out publicly was a step too far for some, and the
vitriol I received for stating my political beliefs revealed unflattering sides
to certain characters. From a sociological standpoint, it is quite interesting
that in some elitist circles being pro-Trump has caused me more grief than
carrying the name bin Ladin.
Even more striking were the contrasting reactions to
President Trump’s COVID diagnosis. Gleeful comments devoid of compassion
flooded social media, some even going as far as to wish for his death. Kim
Jong-un showed more sympathy than many of the President’s detractors. Yet for
all the hate, there was an outpouring of love and well-wishes from his
supporters. One take from a favorite Twitter account of mine (@HonorAndDaring)
expressed it best: ‘Trump is the first and only President that I’ve actually
cared about. That’s because he’s the first President in recent memory that
seems to care more about Americans than an abstract ideology or just enriching
his donors.’ This sentiment is clearly felt by many Americans, who come out in
droves for the President wherever he goes, including Walter Reed Medical Center
during his stay: if he can’t hit the road, the rally comes to him.
And why do I support Donald Trump? Look at his record.
He has stood up to China, kept America out of new wars, solidified ties with
Israel, overturned the disastrous Iran deal and obliterated Isis. Domestically,
he removed handicapping regulations to American economic growth, rebuilt a
depleted military, brought back manufacturing and revamped dying industries by
renegotiating trade deals and cutting taxes; he has achieved energy
independence, curbed immigration — all of which contributed to setting record
unemployment rates. He has tackled neglected issues such as human trafficking
and unjust incarceration — and given America a chance at restoring her
principles, pride, independence and true place in the world as beacon of
liberty and hope for all.
I had intended to write this from London, but COVID
quarantine restrictions prevented me from flying into the UK from Switzerland.
I did try to skirt the rules, I admit, via neighboring countries, but to no
avail. In proper Orwellian fashion, all traveling nowadays is monitored with
mandatory governmental forms throughout Europe, even if your country isn’t on
the quarantine list. I missed my goddaughter’s baptism as a result. Besides the
sadness I felt from missing out on this, I thought of all those who couldn’t be
with their loved ones before passing away during lockdown, and was filled with
dread at the prospect of what the future might hold: is the next step ‘no
vaccine, no travel’?
At least I wasn’t subjected to a two-hour Black Lives
Matter-themed play, The New Tomorrow at the Young Vic, unlike my friend who
wasn’t so lucky last weekend. She was invited by a leftist friend of hers and,
unknown to her before accepting the invitation, the entire play was a BLM
manifesto. Not surprisingly, she described the experience as a form of torture;
her friend was enthralled. While I’m glad to miss out on London’s latest
cultural trends, I was disappointed at having to cancel my reunion with friends
— not least with Douglas Murray whose book launch for The Madness of Crowds at
the Spectator offices remains a firm highlight of last year.
Thankfully, these frustrations and let-downs are
outweighed by hope, love and trust. Seeing the uplifting images of Americans
rallying around the President also warms my heart and lifts my spirits. I wish
I could be there with them. You can be sure I’ll be on one of the first flights
to America once restrictions are lifted — via London, to meet my goddaughter,
of course.
https://spectator.us/being-pro-trump-caused-more-grief-bin-laden-niece-noor-bin-ladin/
--------
Algeria hands activist Yacine Mebarki 10 years jail
for ‘inciting atheism’: NGO
08 October 2020
An Algerian court on Thursday handed a key member of
the Hirak anti-government protest movement a 10-year prison sentence for
“inciting atheism”, a rights group said.
Yacine Mebarki was also found guilty of “offending
Islam” and fined 10 million dinars ($77,400), Said Salhi, vice president of the
Algerian Human Rights League.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Salhi said he was “shocked by such a heavy verdict against
a citizen who only expressed his opinion online.”
The sentence was the longest given to a member of the
Hirak, the popular anti-government movement that led demonstrations that pushed
president Abdelaziz Bouteflika from power last year.
At the start of the trial, the prosecution demanded
Mebarki be jailed for eight years.
But in a rare move, the judge at the Khenchela court
in eastern Algeria decided to add two more years to that term.
Mebarki denied any wrongdoing and would appeal, Salhi
said.
The 52-year-old activist had been arrested on
September 30 during a raid at h
According to a friend, the police found an old and
faded copy of the Koran with one of its pages ripped – something considered as
an attack against Islam.
Salhi said Mebarki had been convicted of inciting
atheism and “offending Islam” as well as inciting discrimination and hatred.
“It’s a case of freedom of conscience and opinion,”
Salhi said, calling for Mebarki’s release and for charges against him to be
dropped.
The Hirak-led protests broke out in February last year
and led to the resignation of Bouteflika, whose plans to run for a fifth term
had sparked the protests.
Weekly demonstrations continued after Bouteflika’s
ouster to demand wholesale political changes but halted in March due to
restrictions to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, authorities have cracked down on activists,
journalists, and government critics, with many jailed and convicted on various
charges.
A total of 61 people are currently behind bars for
acts related to “Hirak”, according to CNLD, a rights group that lists prisoners
of conscience in Algeria.
In a bid to satisfy the protest movement, Algeria
launched on Wednesday a campaign for constitutional reforms which will be put
to a referendum in November.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/10/08/Algeria-hands-activist-Yacine-Mebarki-10-years-jail-for-inciting-atheism-NGO
--------
Nagorno-Karabakh
military death toll rises to 350 as new clashes rage on
08
October 2020
The
defense ministry of the Nagorno-Karabakh region said on Thursday it had
recorded another 30 casualties among its military, pushing the military death
toll to 350 since fighting with Azeri forces erupted on Sept. 27.
The
fighting has surged to its worst level since the 1990s, when some 30,000 people
were killed.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Azerbaijan
and ethnic Armenian forces fought new clashes in and around the
Nagorno-Karabakh region on Thursday, before the United States, France and
Russia were due to meet in Geneva to try to avert a wider war in the South
Caucasus.
Azerbaijan
said the city of Ganja had been shelled early on Thursday by Armenian forces
and that one civilian had been killed in the Goranboy region. It said other
villages were fired on by ethnic Armenian forces.
Azeri
authorities have reported 30 civilian deaths since fighting broke out on Sept.
27 over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountain enclave which under international law
belongs to Azerbaijan but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.
Azerbaijan
also says 143 civilians have been wounded but has not disclosed information
about its military casualties.
Authorities
in Nagorno-Karabakh said the tactical situation had not changed significantly
overnight, with artillery and rocket fire reported in some areas and the main
administrative centre, Stepanakert, hit by shelling.
France,
the United States and Russia are co-chairs of the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group that mediates over
Nagorno-Karabakh. They hope to persuade the warring sides to agree a ceasefire
after the deadliest fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh in more than 25 years.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/10/08/Nagorno-Karabakh-military-death-toll-rises-to-350-Defense-ministry-
--------
India
Locals
Protest Toilet Built Close To A Graveyard And A Mosque In Begum Bazaar,
Hyderabad
09th
October 2020
HYDERABAD:
Tension prevailed in Begum Bazaar and Feelkhana areas on Thursday over the
construction of a public toilet near a graveyard and a mosque at Feelkhana.
Traders, along with local BJP leaders, observed a bandh on Thursday in these
areas.
Traders
are demanding that new toilets, which are under construction, should be
completed in place of the existing one at the earliest, as it is the only
public toilet available in the area and without this toilet, visitors to the
area would face a lot of inconvenience.
On
Thursday, traders downed shutters and tried to take out a rally, along with
local BJP leaders, in Begum Bazar. However, the police stopped them, saying it
was a violation of the Covid-19 guidelines in force.
GHMC’s
Goshamahal circle took up construction of the gents toilet in question near
Feelkhana Dargah, Begum Bazar, a few days ago after demolishing an older public
toilet. On Wednesday, AIMIM party workers and people working at Feelkhana
Dargah staged a demonstration at the construction site, demanding for the
public toilet works to be topped as as it is also adjacent to a graveyard. The
works were halted following the protest.
The
GHMC wrote a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Zone,
requesting police protection during the execution of works until completion of
the toilet. Police deployment has been made in Begum Bazaar, Feelkhana and
surrounding areas. GHMC officials said the construction is being done as per
the orders of the High Court. Goshamahal MLA T Raja Singh saw a political
motive behind the protests. He said the old toilet was built about 60 years
ago, and in view of the upcoming GHMC polls, a certain political party was
trying to gain political mileage by stalling the works.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/hyderabad/2020/oct/09/locals-protest-toilet-built-close-to-mosque-cemetery-in-begum-bazaar-2207885.html
--------
NIA
arrests two Islamic State suspects in Bengaluru; agency gets 10-days custody
October
08, 2020
Bengaluru:
The National Investigation Agency has arrested two suspected members of the
city-based Islamic State module, which was allegedly involved in radicalisation
of youth and funding their trip to Syria to join the terror outfit.
Ahamed
Abdul Cader (40), hailing from Ramanathapuram district in Tamil Nadu and Irfan
Nasir (33) from Frazer Town were arrested by the NIA sleuths on Wednesday.
The
NIA action comes weeks after the agency busted the terror module with the
arrest of a doctor in Bengaluru. In continuing with the investigation, the
sleuths conducted searches on the premises of Cader and Nasir in Gurappana
Palya and Frazer Town and recovered incriminating material and electronic
devices from their possession.
While
Cader is a business analyst in a bank in Chennai, Nasir is a rice merchant
here, the NIA said in a statement.
The
duo was produced before Special NIA Court in Bengaluru, which granted 10 days
custody to the agency for interrogation.
During
the investigation of a case taken up by the NIA on September 19, certain
incriminating facts emerged about a Bengaluru-based Islamic State module, the
agency said.
It
got a lead with the arrest of a doctor in Bengaluru.
During
his examination, names of those who had travelled to Syria in 2013-14 to join
Islamic State surfaced. "Further investigations resulted in busting of a
module wherein it was revealed that Cader, Nasir and their associates were
members of Hizb-ut-Tehrir.
They
had formed a group called 'Quran Circle,' which radicalised gullible Muslim
youth in Bengaluru and funded their visit to conflict zone in Syria to aid and
assist the Islamic State terrorists," the NIA said.
The
NIA also stated that they had played a very significant role in radicalisation
of the members of the group and arranged funds through donations and own
sources for visit of the doctor and other Muslim youth from Bengaluru to Syria
to join Islamic State.
"Two
such youth got killed in Syria," the NIA claimed. "Further
investigation in the case is continued to unearth the larger conspiracy,"
the NIA said.
https://www.firstpost.com/india/nia-arrests-two-islamic-state-suspects-in-bengaluru-agency-gets-10-days-custody-8894571.html
--------
J&K:
Police arrests one for spying for Pakistan
Oct
9, 2020
SAMBA:
Jammu and Kashmir Police have arrested a person, Kuljeet Kumar, from Samba
district for allegedly spying for Pakistan.
According
to sources, Kuljeet had been photographing important locations in Samba and
used to send them to Pakistan since 2018, he allegedly used to get paid hefty
amounts for doing so.
Security
agencies operating in the region nabbed the accused in coordination with Samba
police.
Four
mobile phones, which had photos of many important locations, along with various
sim cards have been recovered from his possession.
Samba
police produced him in court and have taken his remand.
The
security agencies are now trying to ascertain how the accused got involved in spying
for Pakistan, and what all important information he has sent across the border
till date.
Speaking
about the arrest, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Samba, Rajesh Sharma
said, "We have registered a case at the Samba police station under sections
of the Enemy Agents' Ordinance Act. Our investigations are currently
underway."
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jk-police-arrests-one-for-spying-for-pakistan/articleshow/78568088.cms
--------
Chargesheet
against 6 in JeM terror module case
Oct
8, 2020
JAMMU:
The Jammu & Kashmir police on Thursday filed a chargesheet against six
hardcore overground workers (OWG) of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in a "money
and technology transfer" case registered in April this year.
The
case was registered after one of the accused was arrested in RS Pura with
several SIM cards, memory cards, and hawala money meant for OGWs and
terrorists.
After
his arrest, police raided Kot Bhalwal jail in April and recovered incriminating
material, including mobiles phones, SIM cards and memory cards, which were used
for communication of terrorists and OGWs from inside the jail with sleeper
cells of JeM outside the jail.
The
six accused against whom the chargesheet has been filed are Muzaffer Beigh,
Farhan Lilu, Gulam Hassan, Ehsaan Farooq, Owais Ahmed, and Pakistani terrorist
Abdul Rehman, who is currently lodged in Kot Bhalwal jail.
Investigating
agencies said a JeM hardcore OGW, one Muzaffer Ahmed, was in touch with the
Pakistani terrorist Abdul Rehman lodged in the Indian jail.
“Muzaffer
and five others chargesheeted remained constantly in touch with JeM handlers in
Pakistan and active militants on secret messaging platforms for carrying out
subversive and militant activities in Kashmir valley," a police statement
said.
Further
investigation in the case is in progress and supplementary challan would be
produced in due course, police said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/chargesheet-against-6-in-jem-terror-module-case/articleshow/78561159.cms
--------
7
Indians kidnapped in Libya; govt in touch with Libyan authorities to rescue
them: MEA
Oct
8, 2020
NEW
DELHI: Seven Indians, hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar
Pradesh, were kidnapped in Libya last month and India is in touch with authorities
in the African nation to secure their release, the ministry of external affairs
said on Thursday. The Indians were kidnapped at a place called Asshwerif on
September 14 when they were on their way to the Tripoli airport to catch a
flight to India, external affairs ministry Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said
at a media briefing.
"The
government is in touch with their family members and would like to assure them
that we are making all possible efforts in consultation and coordination with
Libyan authorities and the employer to trace our nationals and secure their
release from captivity at the earliest," he said.
Srivastava
said the Indian nationals were working at a construction and oil field supplies
company.
"The
employer has been contacted by the kidnappers and shown photographs as proof
that the Indian nationals were safe and keeping well," he said.
Libya,
an oil-rich country in North Africa, has been witnessing large-scale violence
and unrest since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's four-decade regime in 2011.
Srivastava
said the Indian embassy in Tunisia has reached out to the Libyan government
authorities as also the international organisations present there, seeking
their help in rescuing the Indian nationals.
The
Indian mission in Tunisia handles matters relating to the welfare of Indian
nationals in Libya.
In
September 2015, an advisory was issued by the government for Indian nationals
to avoid travelling to Libya in view of the security situation there.
In
May 2016, the government imposed a complete travel ban irrespective of the
purpose in view of the deteriorating security situation in Libya.
"This
travel ban is still in force," said Srivastava.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/7-indians-kidnapped-in-libya-govt-in-touch-with-libyan-authorities-to-rescue-them-mea/articleshow/78560418.cms
--------
India
‘among lead countries’ facilitating peace restoration in Afghanistan, says
Abdullah Abdullah
Posted
by Susmita Pakrasi
Oct
08, 2020
Afghanistan
leader and Chairman of High Council for National Reconciliation, Dr Abdullah
Abdullah on Thursday said that India has been amongst the countries that helped
Afghan in its journey towards peace and stability.
“In
our journey in the past two decades, many countries have helped us, contributed
and made sacrifices alongside our own people. India has been amongst those lead
countries in this regard,” Abdullah said in his address to the ‘‘Institute for
Defence Studies and Analyses’ (IDSA) in the national capital today.
The
chief negotiator in the intra-Afghan peace process further said that there is a
chance to “look at the light at the end of the tunnel” if everyone “works
towards restoring peace, stability” of Afghanistan.
“We
know that now we have a chance to look at the future -- a future of peace.
Afghanistan was peaceful. Despite the tensions, we enjoyed a higher degree of
connectivity, trade, transit, people to people relation in all types of
exchanges. We might have been on the trail for tourism but no one had to worry
about terrorism at that time,” he added.
Things
soon changed, he said when his country was invaded by the Taliban 40 years ago:
“We now have a chance to rebuild the new region, deeper ties and wider
connectivity if we can work towards restoring peace, stability of Afghanistan.”
Abdullah
earlier today met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and re-affirmed the long-term
commitment to further deepen India-Afghan ties.
This
is the first visit of Abdullah to India after the formation of a new government
in Afghanistan.
His
visit comes at a time when the Afghanistan government and Taliban are trying to
negotiate a deal in order to restore peace in the country.
The
peace talks between the Afghanistan government and the Taliban began on
September 12 in Qatar’s capital Doha.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-among-lead-countries-facilitating-peace-restoration-in-afghanistan-says-abdullah-abdullah/story-ykrNWTVCLVEiY4QNzWecTJ.html
--------
Southeast Asia
After
PAS gets a Sabah rep, PBS says will keep an eye on the Islamist party
08
Oct 2020
BY
JULIA CHAN
KOTA
KINABALU, Oct 8 — Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), one of the parties within the
Gabungan Rakyat Sabah alliance who had objected to the inclusion of PAS in the
state assembly, said it would now provide check and balance against the
Islamist party.
Its
president Datuk Maximus Ongkili said the party shares the same misgivings and
concerns with Sabahan voters over PAS’ inclusion as an appointed state
assemblyman despite the party not even contesting in the recent state election.
“We
hear loud and clear the unhappiness of the Sabah public, politicians and
general public. We share their misgivings and concerns over the setting of a
precedent whereby a member of a Malaya-based religious party is appointed to be
a member of the state assembly without even having participated in the
election.
“As
I have informed the public in my statement earlier, we have raised this matter
with the top leaders of Perikatan Nasional. They have given their explanation,”
said Ongkili.
The
Kota Marudu MP said that the party maintain their position that there is no
need to set a precedent for the appointment given the concerns on religious
grounds.
“Given
that the appointment has since been made, we will assume our role as a monitor
and provide a check and balance to ensure that the concerns of the Sabah public
are addressed,” he said.
He
added that they were ready to work with the PAS representative and hoped that
he would be able to “disprove the wrong things and perceptions of the public”.
“Our
desire is nothing less than to see Sabah develop more, prosper exceedingly and
strengthen, fully united under the new government of GRS,” he said.
Earlier
today, the Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin swore in a new assembly speaker,
five new state ministers, 18 assistant ministers and gave four nominated
assemblymen, including PAS secretary Aliakbar Gulasan their letter of
appointment.
Aliakbar’s
appointment is controversial because of PAS’ brand of conservative religious
politics is seen as not compatible with the multicultural and religiously
tolerant Sabah.
Both
PBS and STAR who are parties under the current government, have voiced their
objection to the inclusion of PAS into the state assembly.
PAS
also did not contest in the recent state elections, instead opting to support
its Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional allies.
Meanwhile,
Ongkili thanked Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Mohd Noor for giving PBS two
Cabinet Ministers positions and three Assistant Ministers in the new
government.
“Our
team, led by Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam, are all set to
play their role in their respective appointments,” he said.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/10/08/after-pas-gets-a-sabah-rep-pbs-says-will-keep-an-eye-on-the-islamist-party/1910942
--------
Malaysia's
Anwar says he will meet king Tuesday in bid to oust PM
October
8, 2020
KUALA
LUMPUR -- Malaysia's parliamentary opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says he will
meet the country's king next Tuesday to prove he has the support of a majority
of lawmakers, doubling down on his attempt to topple Prime Minister Muhyiddin
Yassin.
In
a statement on Thursday, Anwar, 73, said King Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin had
summoned him for an audience.
"At
the meeting, I will present documentation of the strong and convincing majority
of MPs as I mentioned earlier," said Anwar, a longtime prime minister
hopeful. For now, Anwar called on Malaysians to remain calm and protect their
health, as well as adhere to the government's movement restriction procedures
amid a troubling wave of COVID-19 infections.
Anwar
would need the backing of a minimum of 112 lower house members to form a
government as the country's ninth prime minister.
Last
month, his abrupt announcement that he now commands a "formidable, strong
and convincing" parliamentary majority sent shock waves through the
country, further destabilizing Muhyiddin's shaky government even without
showing any evidence.
At
last count, the Muhyiddin-led National Alliance had the support of 114 MPs, a
razor-thin majority. Anwar controlled 91 via the Alliance of Hope, comprising
his People's Justice Party, the Democratic Action Party and the National Honest
Party. Former premier Mahathir Mohamad has about 15 MPs in his corner,
including independents and lawmakers from the Sabah Heritage Party.
Anwar
has been fighting for the country's top job for the past 22 years and was twice
considered Mahathir's heir apparent.
But
Mahathir in 1998 sacked Anwar as his deputy over allegations of corruption and
sodomy, for which he was jailed from April 1999 to 2004. Muslim-majority
Malaysia criminalizes homosexuality and offenders can be imprisoned for up to
20 years, as well as whipped.
Anwar
was charged again in July 2008 for alleged sodomy involving a personal aide and
was sentenced to five years. He and his supporters insist all his legal
troubles stemmed from a political vendetta.
Mahathir
and Anwar appeared to bury the hatchet when they teamed up to defeat Najib
Razak in the May 2018 election, ending the 61-year rule of the National Front.
Anwar was soon released on a full pardon by the king, while Mahathir became
prime minister for the second time.
Anwar
was expected to eventually take over, but Mahathir resigned earlier this year
following an internal coup by a Muhyiddin-led faction. Ties between Mahathir
and Anwar have been on a roller coaster ever since.
While
Anwar has long been perceived as a leader-in-waiting, there are also questions
about the breadth of his support in Malaysia, where many conservative Muslims
consider him to be very liberal.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Malaysia-in-transition/Malaysia-s-Anwar-says-he-will-meet-king-Tuesday-in-bid-to-oust-PM
--------
PAS
Youth urges allies to sit out Batu Sapi poll, says Muhyiddin’s administration
can do without seat
09
Oct 2020
BY
SHAHRIN AIZAT NOORSHAHRIZAM
KUALA
LUMPUR, Oct 9 — PAS Youth asked the party’s allies today not to contest the
Batu Sapi by-election, saying Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s
position would not be jeopardised without winning the seat.
PAS
Youth deputy chief Ahmad Fadhil Shaari made the call after the party was
notified of the vacancy caused by Datuk Liew Vui Keong’s death.
“PAS
Youth would like to suggest that Muafakat Nasional and Perikatan Nasional
parties consider not contesting the seat and allow it to be retained by the
incumbent party, in order to avoid aggravating Sabah’s Covid-19 situation that
worsened after the state election,” he said.
Ahmad
Fadhil said winning an election should not be given a higher order of priority
than protecting lives.
He
said sitting out the by-election could avoid an unnecessary campaign from
taking place all while without breaching any constitutional requirements.
“PAS
Youth is also confident that, even without contesting the Batu Sapi seat, the
government of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will remain firm, respected and beloved
by the majority of Malaysians,” he said.
Liew
died on October 2 due to a lung infection he developed after being hospitalised
for a slipped disc.
The
EC will meet on October 13 to set the dates for the poll.
Major
political rivals to Liew’s Warisan party have said they will not contest so as
not to trigger an election campaign or force voters out while Covid-19 was
raging in the state.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/10/09/pas-youth-urges-allies-to-sit-out-batu-sapi-poll-says-muhyiddins-administra/1911101
--------
King
has range of options after meeting Anwar, say analysts
Minderjeet
Kaur
October
9, 2020
PETALING
JAYA: Political analysts have cautioned Anwar Ibrahim’s supporters against
expecting his meeting with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to result in as smooth a
change of government as the change that occurred early this year even if he can
prove he has majority support in the Dewan Rakyat.
Speaking
to FMT, they noted that the country now had a sitting prime minister, unlike in
February, when Dr Mahathir Mohamad resigned from the post.
Azizuddin
Mohd Sani of Universiti Utara Malaysia, Azmi Hassan of Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia and political strategies consultant Syed Arabi Idid said the King now
had a range of options.
He
might call Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for advice, Azizuddin said, adding
that he might also consult the Malay rulers, the attorney-general and the chief
justice or even reject Anwar’s claim.
Powered
by Streamlyn
Other
options, according to Azizuddin and Syed Arabi, include letting a vote of
confidence in the Dewan Rakyat decide the issue.
Azizuddin
said the King might also ask the two sides to negotiate to retain the current
government or replace it without an election to prevent campaigning in view of
the danger posed by Covid-19.
Anwar
said yesterday he was due to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on
Tuesday.
At
a press conference last month, he said he had a “strong, formidable and
convincing majority” in the Dewan Rakyat to form a new government.
He
did not reveal the number of MPs backing him, saying he would do so after an
audience with the King.
Umno
president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi subsequently said many MPs from Umno were
supporting Anwar.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/10/09/king-has-range-of-options-after-meeting-anwar-say-analysts/
--------
Arab world
'Unbearable'
Memories Push Some Yazidi Survivors of IS to Suicide
By
Nisan Ahmado
October
07, 2020
Driven
by "unbearable" memories, the suicide rate among members of the
Yazidi religious minority is increasing more than six years after the Islamic
State (IS) terror group attacked Yazidis' homes in the Sinjar district in
northern Iraq, according to Yazidi activists.
Many
Yazidis who fled the IS into Iraqi Kurdistan's refugee camps are now facing
mental health issues. The distress is particularly acute among women who
experienced sexual violence while in IS captivity.
"There
are multiple factors pushing some Yazidis to commit suicide, but the main
reason is the unbearable memory of what happened during the IS genocide,"
said Khodr al-Domali, a Yazidi researcher and coordinator of social support to
Yazidi women in refugee camps.
Al-Domali
said thousands of Yazidis in refugee camps are afraid to return home because
armed groups are fighting over who will control their villages and towns now
that IS jihadists are gone. Yazidis who have returned home can't find work or
educational opportunities, and they face discrimination by surrounding
communities.
"Many
Yazidis continue to experience the horrors they went through as their areas
remain widely destroyed and they don't find adequate help ... so they could
deal with the trauma," he told VOA.
In
its rampage across Iraq and Syria in August 2014, IS attacked the area in
northern Iraq where about 400,000 Yazidis lived. The jihadi group killed
thousands of Yazidi men, kidnapped thousands of women and girls to use as sex
slaves, and reportedly kidnapped young boys for training as suicide bombers and
IS fighters.
The
United Nations called the IS attacks a genocidal campaign.
According
to the Kidnapped Yazidis Rescue Office in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, 3,543
kidnapped Yazidis have been rescued from IS, but some 2,800 remain
missing.
Mostly
women
Local
activists say there is no official data about the Yazidi suicide rate, and some
may be unreported. They are certain, however, that the majority of suicides are
Yazidi women. The local news outlet Rudaw, located in Iraqi Kurdistan, estimated
that some 150 Yazidi women have committed suicide since the genocide began in
2014.
"Yazidi
women took the hardest toll during the genocide," said al-Domali. "We
noticed that most of the women who committed suicide were waiting for the
return of their kidnapped family members or they found out that their families
were found in mass graves."
He
continued, "The Yazidi community is ready to adapt and work on its issues,
and the answer is psychological support, financial aid and social
help."
Local
media reported in September that a 53-year-old Yazidi woman, Dai Shirin, had
set herself on fire and died in the Khanki refugee camp in Duhok province after
failing to determine the fate of her husband and six children. In August, a
young Yazidi man, Nashwan Sharaf, hanged himself in Duhok's Bajid Kandala
camp.
Counseling
support
Lina
Villa, a mental health activity manager with Doctors without Borders (MSF) who
works with the Yazidi and Arab communities in Sinuni Hospital in Sinjar
district, said, "We see different levels of symptoms in the communities we
are serving, like depression, angry and suicidal thoughts, suicidal attempts.
Some patients have intrusive thoughts, and they are having revivals of the situations
they have faced, flashbacks, delusions and hallucinations — also, anxiety,
stress, fear and psychosomatic like short of breath, loss of appetite and lack
of sleep."
Villa
told VOA that between April and August, her organization received 30 reports of
people who attempted suicide. Last month, 25% of the patients expressed
suicidal thoughts, she added.
A
2019 MSF report based on a mental health survey from Sinuni Hospital revealed
that all the families interviewed had at least one member who suffered either
moderate or severe mental illness.
Giving
Yazidis a voice that will allow them to feel dignified and settled in their
homeland, accompanied by social support, will help address the problem of
suicide, according to Villa.
"The
main thing that Yazidis have lost is a sense of security and protection,"
she said. "The communities we serve return to their homes and fields, they
find everything has been destroyed, and they feel their ordeal continues. When
a traumatic situation doesn't stop, it becomes more difficult to cope with that
situation."
https://www.voanews.com/extremism-watch/unbearable-memories-push-some-yazidi-survivors-suicide?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
--------
Lebanon's
Sunni leader Hariri urges revival of French plan
OCTOBER
9, 2020
BEIRUT
(Reuters) - Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, former premier Saad
al-Hariri, called for the restoration of a French plan to lift the nation out
of its worst financial crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war.
Former
colonial power France, which has led foreign aid efforts, has tried to rally
have Lebanese leaders to launch reforms to tackle the crisis. But they failed
to agree a new government - the first step in the French roadmap - and drawn a
rebuke from French President Emmanuel Macron.
Lebanon
urgently needs foreign cash to get out of a financial meltdown which has
slashed the value of the currency since last year.
“I
call on political parties to think well so as not to waste this chance...French
President Macron’s initiative still stands and we can still enact it,” Hariri
said in a TV interview late on Thursday. “If we let it fail, it would be a
crime.”
Talks
on a new cabinet hit a logjam as politicians wrangled over ministerial posts,
with Iran-backed Hezbollah and its ally Amal demanding they name the finance
minister. Hariri and Hezbollah have blamed each other for the deadlock.
Hariri
added that he would only return as prime minister - a post he has already held
three times - if there was agreement by Lebanon’s fractious parties on securing
an International Monetary Fund deal.
His
coalition government was toppled a year ago by huge protests by Lebanese
furious at an entrenched ruling elite that has overseen a state riddled with
graft and drowning in debt.
Hariri,
a Western ally traditionally aligned with Gulf Arab states, also said Lebanon
had no way out of the crisis other than a programme with the IMF.
Foreign
donors have made clear there will be no fresh aid unless Lebanese leaders
launch reforms to tackle graft and improve governance, and engage in IMF
negotiations.
IMF
talks stalled this year over a row among Lebanese government officials, bankers
and political parties about the vast scale of financial losses.
Hariri
warned that he feared civil strife as the crisis spirals. It has fuelled unrest
in a country where divisions run deep since the war, which was fought along
sectarian lines by factions still dominating Lebanese politics.
“What
is happening in terms of carrying arms and what we are seeing in terms of
military displays in the street...means the collapse of the state,” Hariri
said.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-lebanon-crisis-hariri/lebanons-sunni-leader-hariri-urges-revival-of-french-plan-idUKKBN26T3J1
--------
Iraqi
People Converge on Karbala on Eve of Arbaeen
Oct
08, 2020
Shiites,
Sunnis, and people of other faiths from Iraq have been on a spiritual journey
to the Iraqi city, many on foot, since days ago.
Millions
of Muslims in Iraq who rallied from the city of Najaf to the city of Karbala
arrived in Karbala city on Thursday to mark the Arbaeen.
Muslims
from across the world, including Iran, who had attended the 100-km rally in the
previous years to Karbala and to the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH) could
not participate in this year's Arbaeen ceremony due to the closure of Iraq's
borders for the fear of coronavirus epidemic.
In
September, Shiite pilgrims of Iraq had also flocked into Karbala, some 100 km
South of Baghdad, and into Kadhmiyah in Northern Baghdad to commemorate
Ashoura, which marks the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (PBUH), grandson of Prophet
Mohammad (PBUH) and the third Shiite Imam.
Imam
Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside
Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.
In
the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by
Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends,
soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal
war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.
The
occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.
Imam
Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song -
remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a
majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990717000119
--------
Lebanon’s
Saad Hariri says he’s open to becoming PM again, warns of civil war
Joseph
Haboush
October
09, 2020
Lebanon’s
former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Thursday that he was open to returning
to the premiership if political sides in the country agreed to the French
roadmap to recovery for Beirut, but warned of a civil war breaking out.
“I
will meet with all political sides to find out their stance and approval on the
French initiative, and if all sides agree, I will not close the door” to
becoming prime minister, Hariri said in a televised interview.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Hariri
was forced to step down amid nationwide anti-government protests that broke out
in October 2019.
Following
his resignation, Hezbollah and its allies formed a so-called technocratic
government made up of experts. But the government, headed by Hassan Diab, was
unable to reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for
badly-needed aid and the economic crisis further deepened.
Diab
stepped down after the catastrophic Aug. 4 Beirut blasts and renewed protests
against corruption and sectarianism in the country.
On
Thursday, Hariri voiced his fears of a civil war breaking out in Lebanon due to
the weapons outside of the state’s control, including Hezbollah’s arsenal.
“I
fear a civil war because what is taking place from military parades and arms in
the streets of Beirut, and yesterday in Baalbek-Hermel, portrays the collapse
of the state,” Hariri said.
But
the former PM reiterated that he was a candidate to head a new government
“without a favor from anyone,” because “I have a parliamentary bloc and it’s
known who I am.”
Asked
about Lebanon and Israel’s recent agreement to begin US-mediated talks on
disputed maritime borders, Hariri said Iran-backed Hezbollah and its Shia ally,
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, feared US sanctions.
“There
were sanctions on some [individuals] and [they] started looking at ways to
protect themselves,” Hariri said, in an apparent reference to recent US
sanctions on Hezbollah’s political allies.
He
also called on Hezbollah to make sacrifices and stop dragging Lebanon into its
external problems, including military participation in Syria and Iraq. “There
is a project to drag Lebanon into a civil war. I am against war. I am against
weapons,” Hariri said.
“There
are sides inside the country that left us no Gulf or Arab friend … and
Hezbollah’s interference in Syria, Iraq and Yemen caused this ordeal for
Lebanon,” Hariri said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/10/09/Lebanon-s-Saad-Hariri-says-he-s-open-to-becoming-PM-again-warns-of-civil-war
--------
US
strongly condemns deadly terrorist attack in Syria's Al Bab: State Department
8
October 2020
Washington
[US], October 7 (ANI/Sputnik): The United States is deeply concerned over the
rising number of terrorist attacks in Syria and strongly condemns this week's
deadly car bombing in the Syrian town of Al-Bab, State Department spokesperson
Morgan Ortagus said in a statement on Wednesday.
"The
United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack near a crowded traffic
circle in al-Bab yesterday, which according to initial reports killed more than
20 innocent people and injured scores more," Ortagus said. "We are
deeply troubled by the rise in such terrorist attacks in recent months, and we
again remind all parties that violence impedes the hope for a lasting political
resolution to the conflict in Syria as called for by UNSCR 2254."
On
Tuesday, the state-run SANA news agency reported that dozens of civilians were
killed and wounded in the blast, which occurred on the territory controlled by
Turkish-backed armed groups. (ANI/Sputnik)
https://in.news.yahoo.com/us-strongly-condemns-deadly-terrorist-190015501.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
--------
Pakistan
CCPO
proposes ‘police court martial’ to punish deviant officials
Asif
Chaudhry
09
Oct 2020
LAHORE:
Pointing out inadequacies in the existing mechanism for punishing officials,
Lahore Capital City Police Officer Umar Sheikh has proposed introduction of
‘court martial’ in police department, on the pattern of Pakistan Army, to
penalise ‘disobedient, violent and offending’ employees to provide relief and
sense of security to the members of public visiting the police stations and
offices of the capital police.
While
submitting recommendations to Punjab Inspector General of Police Inam Ghani,
the CCPO proposed that the provincial government might be moved for new
legislation to introduce ‘police court martial’ under article 8(3) of the
Constitution.
The
CCPO submitted that the prevailing disciplinary rules of police department did
not cater to the frequent misconduct committed by police officers, bringing bad
name to the department and hampering the maintenance of law and order in the
province.
“In
view of the above [mentioned facts] it is requested that the government of
Punjab may be moved for new legislation regarding dedicated Accountability
Rules for Police Department, including the process of Court Martial as
available in the Pakistan Army, so that the police officers’
accountability/discipline may be ensured in the interest of general public,”
reads the letter sent to the IGP.
It
further stated that it was high time to review disciplinary rules of police
department, rather to devise a new accountability regime to ensure service
delivery to the public and better policing in the province.
“Presently,
E&D Rules, 1975 are applicable to the uniformed officers/officials of
police, while ministerial staff is being governed by Civil Servants Rules
1999”, it further reads, adding that the ineffectiveness of these rules was
quite evident from the statistics of the last five years.
The
CCPO, in the letter, informed that despite the fact that every year 25-30
percent of the force was being made accountable, no visible improvement in the
officials’ attitude and conduct had been observed and the public, the media and
the non-government organisations (NGOs) are persistently complaining about the
misconduct of police.
Giving
a reference of statistics pertaining to last five years, he stated that as many
as 57,318 Punjab police officials were awarded various punishments in 2015 on
various charges, including misconduct, disobedience, embezzlement, bribery,
faulty investigation, murder in custody, etc.
This
number was 61,422 in 2016, and 92,521 in 2017, he said, adding that 82,170
police officials/officers were handed down punishments in 20118.
In
2019, the then Punjab IGP had introduced a policy of bringing punishment ratio
in police down when senior officers took up the issue, arguing that excessive
penalties were lowering the force’s morale.
Though
as many as 61,573 guilty Punjab police officials/officers were given minor and
major punishments in 2019, the public continued to suffer at the hands of such
habitual violators.
Similarly,
the CCPO stated that the misconduct of staff, particularly of accounts branch,
was being reported in the form of embezzlement of funds in various field/units
of the police department.
“It
would not be out of place to mention here that Article 8(3) of the Constitution
also takes into account the formulation of such laws as an exemption from
fundamental rights enunciated in the Constitution for every citizen of
Pakistan”, the letter stated.
The
insertion of such exemption from fundamental rights is merely to ensure
discipline in the ranks and file of a law enforcement agency, including police,
responsible for maintenance of law and order in society, it argued.
“Absence
of such laws for the accountability of police force has greatly hampered the
discipline of the police force leading to [making it] a permanent target of
human rights activists, NGOs, media, political parties and the judiciary”,
reads the letter.
The
CCPO stated the long and slow processes, multiple rights of appeal,
intervention of various layers of civil courts and service tribunals has made
the prevalent accountability regime nothing but a “futile exercise”. Despite
regular departmental inquiries, the defaulters given major penalties for their
glaring misconduct find relief and re-enter the organisation with all perks and
privileges, he concludes while asserting that the ‘police court martial’ would
be the best option to take the guilty officers to task in true spirit.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1583978/ccpo-proposes-police-court-martial-to-punish-deviant-officials
--------
Court
bars FIA from arresting journalist over his tweets
Malik
Asad
09
Oct 2020
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restrained the Federal Investigation
Agency (FIA) from arresting a journalist over his allegedly objectionable
tweets.
IHC
Chief Justice Athar Minallah summoned the inquiry officer of the FIA’s
Cybercrime Wing on Oct 12 along with the record against the journalist, Rana
Mohammad Arshad.
Justice
Minallah was hearing a petition filed by the journalist.
This
is the first case in Islamabad in which a legal committee constituted by the
Pakistan Bar Council for defence of journalists has filed a petition.
A
panel of lawyers comprising Mohammad Sajid Tanoli, Usman Warriach and Babar
Hayat Samor and representing the journalist appeared before the court.
The
counsel informed the court that the petitioner was a physically challenged
person and working as a journalist.
They
asserted that because of opinions and views expressed by the petitioner on
social media, he was being harassed by the FIA’s Cybercrime Wing.
According
to one of the lawyers of the petitioner, the FIA has served the petitioner an
undated notice. He termed the notice mala fide due to its vague content.
He
said that the petitioner was summoned by the FIA and later his house was raided
by officials of the agency.
Justice
Minallah observed: “The profession of the petitioner, fundamental rights
guaranteed under Articles 19 and 19-A of the Constitution of the Islamic
Republic of Pakistan, 1973, and the manner in which the respondents [FIA] have
so far proceeded in this case, prima facie, raises questions of public
importance, particularly abuse of power under the Prevention of Electronic
Crimes Act, 2016.”
The
court directed the registrar office to issue notices to the FIA authorities.
“The
officer who has been entrusted [with] inquiry of the case is directed to appear
on the next date fixed and explain under what authority of law the undated
notice was issued followed by raiding the house of the petitioner as has been
alleged,” the court order said. “The officer shall also explain why the alleged
commission and omission on part of the petitioner were not disclosed in the
undated notice.”
The
court admitted the petition for regular hearing, issued notices to the FIA
authorities and directed that “no adverse action shall be taken against the
petitioner”.
It
adjourned the hearing till Oct 12.
Meanwhile,
former senator Farhatullah Babar has deplored delay in providing him the CCTV
footage related to investigation into abduction of journalist Matiullah Jan.
Mr
Babar pointed out that under the related law, he was supposed to be provided
the CCTV footage within 10 days of the filing of an application. However, he
said, it had been weeks since he filed the application, but the interior ministry
had not shared the footage with him.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1584059/court-bars-fia-from-arresting-journalist-over-his-tweets
--------
Imran
Khan’s problem matrix to get complicated as FATF decides on Pak record
Shishir
Gupta
Oct
09, 2020
Prime
Minister Imran Khan, already facing a mounting challenge to his leadership by a
joint coalition of 11 opposition parties, could find his problem matrix getting
far more complicated later this when the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
takes a hard look at Pakistan’s track record to stop terror. The global
anti-terror financing watchdog is expected to conclude that Islamabad should be
kept in the grey list with a new set of compliances based on the October 2019
mutual evaluation report (MEP). The mutual evaluation report is done on member
countries after every eight years.
According
to diplomats based in Paris and counter-terror experts, the FATF plenary, which
is going to hold its virtual meeting on 21-23 October, is likely to prepare a
new action plan for Pakistan based on the October 2019 MEP and add points not
compiled by Islamabad for the previous 27-point action plan.
While
Islamabad routinely blames India for politicising FATF, fact is that Pakistan
based terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT)
are constantly targeting innocent civilians and security forces in the union
territory of Jammu and Kashmir. JeM’s Kasim Jan, one of the key accused in the
2016 Pathankot airbase attack, is still the principal handler of terror attacks
in Jammu and Kashmir with sleeper cells all over India. Proscribed LeT’s
co-founder Hafiz Saeed’s son Talha is active in planning and executing terror
action against India with impunity.
Pakistan
watchers believe that PM Imran Khan may try to leverage its influence over both
Taliban and Haqqani Network to negotiate for a ceasefire in Afghanistan and
attempt to buy some relief at the FATF. Already, US President Donald Trump has
announced that US troops will return from Afghanistan before Christmas this
year.
However,
this is easier said than done since the FATF’s mutual evaluation report 2019
says that Pakistan faces significant money laundering and terror financing
risks. “A number of terrorist outfits, including UN-listed groups, operate in
Pakistan all of which raise funds through a variety of means including direct
support, public fundraising, abuse of non-profitable organisations, and through
criminal activities. Funds are moved through formal and informal (mainly hawala
or hundis) channels. Pakistan’s geographical landscape and porous borders
increase its vulnerability to terror financing and heightens the risks
associated with cash smuggling. At the time of the last evaluation, there were
66 organizations and approximately 7,600 individuals proscribed under UNSC
resolution 1373, which was passed to prevent and suppress financing of terror
acts post 9/11 attacks,” the report stated.
The
MEP report on Pakistan further stated : “Major money laundering crime include
corruption, drug trafficking, fraud, tax evasion, smuggling, human trafficking
and organized crime. Corruption is endemic across Pakistan’s economy….and
connected with a range of other predicate offences….Illicit funds from
predicate crimes are generally money laundered through domestic real estate,
precious gems/jewellery and the financial sector. Criminal proceeds are also
moved offshore via formal and informal channels.”
Even
as Pakistan is still to comply with the previous 27-point action plan, the MEP
2019 presents a very grim picture of Pakistan with caustic comments about both
its lead enforcement agencies as well as federal agencies for not understanding
the full purport of money laundering and terror financing acts.
“Based
on MEP 2019, a new assessment will be made of Pakistan and a set of tasks to be
complied with by Islamabad will be prepared. Under the circumstances, it is
very difficult for Pakistan to walk out of the grey list of FATF,” said a
counter-terror expert in New Delhi.
The
downside of Pakistan remaining in the grey list means that much needed loans
for reviving a comatose economy will be very hard to come by and PM Imran
Khan’s problems will be further accentuated by a united opposition, which is no
longer afraid of the all powerful Pakistan Army. On Thursday, former Pak PM
Nawaz Sharif, who has been a primary force in cementing the opposition, said
that his problem was not with Imran Khan but his selectors (Army). FATF’s
October plenary, which would likely keep Pakistan in the grey list, will just
exacerbate political tensions in Islamabad.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/imran-khan-s-problem-matrix-to-get-complicated-as-fatf-decides-on-pak-record/story-iQ5Nf4zE99Hy0XuUeQoQoO.html
--------
Pakistani
opposition parties plan to oust Imran Khan government, to hold first mega rally
on October 16
Oct
06, 2020
Islamabad:
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), an alliance comprising 11 of the
country`s opposition parties, will formally launch its massive campaign against
PM Imran Khan-led PTI government with a public meeting in Gujranwala on October
16, instead of Quetta.
The
PDM`s steering committee at its meeting on Monday released a schedule of six
public meetings in the four provinces as part of the first phase of its
movement in line with decisions taken at the September 20 multiparty conference
(MPC) in Islamabad, reports Dawn news.
The
decisions taken by the steering committee were announced by its convener Ahsan
Iqbal of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with leaders of other PDM
component parties at a media briefing.
According
to Iqbal, the PDM would hold its second public meeting in Karachi on October
18, third in Quetta on October 25, fourth in Peshawar on November 22, fifth in
Multan on November 30 and the last one in Lahore on December 13.
While
the alliance has appointed Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana
Fazlur Rehman as its first phase President, Iqbal said that members of the
steering committee had unanimously elected Raja Pervez Ashraf of the Pakistan
People’s Party (PPP) as senior vice-president, whereas PML-N`s Shahid Khaqan
Abbasi had been nominated as its secretary-general.
The
PDM was created last month in an effort to oust the incumbent Imran Khan-led
government over its "failures in all sectors".
https://zeenews.india.com/world/pakistani-opposition-parties-plan-to-oust-imran-khan-government-to-hold-first-mega-rally-on-october-16-2315166.html
--------
PM
asks Sindh governor to sort out islands issue
Amir
Wasim | Kalbe Ali
09
Oct 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Amid widespread criticism and restlessness in Sindh over the Centre’s move to
take control of two islands for developing them as trade and investment hubs
and international tourist destinations, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday
directed Sindh Governor Imran Ismael to sort out the matter related to the
project in consultation with the provincial government.
The
directives were issued by the prime minister to the governor when the latter
called on him after a meeting which was held at the Prime Minister House to
review progress on the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development in Punjab and Bundal
Island projects in Sindh.
“The
Bundal Island project will generate immense opportunities of investment and
employment,” the prime minister said during his meeting with the Sindh
governor, according to a brief announcement by the PM Office.
The
meeting on the Ravi Riverfront Urban Development project in Lahore and Bundal
Island Project was also attended by Naya Pakistan Housing and Development
Authority Chairman retired Lt Gen Anwar Ali Haider, Ravi Urban Development
Authority Chairman Rashid Aziz, and the chief secretaries of Punjab and Sindh.
Meeting
in PM House reviews progress on Ravi Riverfront Urban Development in Punjab and
Bundal Island Project in Sindh
According
to the official handout, the meeting was also attended by the chairman of the
newly-established Pakistan Island Development Authority (PIDA) through a
controversial presidential ordinance despite the fact that so far no one had
been appointed for the post.
Upon
queries, the sources in the government later told Dawn that Mr Imran Amin had
actually attended the meeting as the acting chairman of PIDA. Under the
ordinance, the federal government is required to appoint a serving or retired
grade-22 bureaucrat or a serving or retired officer of the armed forces “not
below the rank of a lieutenant general or equivalent” or an “experienced
professional” or a “businessman” as the PIDA chairman for a period of four
years.
Keeping
parliament out of the loop, President Arif Alvi on August 31 promulgated the PIDA
Ordinance 2020 to allow the federal government to take control of the two
islands — Bundal and Buddo— along the Karachi coast to initiate and maintain a
continuous process of reclamation, master planning, urban planning, spatial
planning and to promote and stimulate the twin islands as trade, investment and
logistics centres, duty-free areas and international tourist destinations.
The
promulgation of the PIDA Ordinance triggered a criticism from the ruling party
of Sindh as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari
equated the move with the illegal annexation of India-held Jammu and Kashmir by
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year.
Terming
the step “illegal annexation of Sindh’s islands through the presidential
ordinance by the PTI government”, the PPP chairman alleged that the federal
government “seeks to annex these lands/islands which are properties of the
provinces, to exploit them for financial gain by allowing crony capitalists to
undertake housing and such other projects including tourism, which has been
devolved to the provinces” under the 18th Amendment, he stated.
Speaking
at a news conference after his meeting with the prime minister, Sindh Governor
Imran Ismail said the Sindh government had failed to understand the importance
of the Bundal Island project.
Accompanying
Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi, the governor said there were some
confusions in the Sindh government, declaring that these islands would remain
part of the province.
Mr
Ismael said the major chunk of revenues generated from the project would go to
Sindh and the only interest that federal government had in the project was
foreign investments amounting to around $50 billion which would help strengthen
foreign exchange reserves.
Apart
from huge foreign investments, he said, Bundal Island would generate around
150,000 jobs and around 4 to 5 million tourists were expected to visit the area
annually.
He
said Ravi city and Bundal Island were two cities being developed in the country
in around five decades after the federal capital, Islamabad, was established.
Apparently
contradicting the governor, Mr Zaidi stated that Bundal Island was under the
Port Qasim Authority (PQA) as per the coordinates established in 1973 and lease
to establish a base there was given by Port Qasim to Pakistan Navy, and it was
a federal land.
On
Tuesday, Mr Zaidi had posted on social media a provincial government letter,
dated July 6, 2020, through which it had made “available” Bundal Island to the
federal government.
Also,
the Sindh cabinet in its Tuesday’s meeting discussed the presidential ordinance
and declared that the Constitution established the ownership of the provincial
government on the lands, the islands and the land in the sea located within its
territorial jurisdiction, but the ordinance was promulgated in such a way as if
the islands were property of the federal government.
Meanwhile,
the prime minister also presided over a weekly meeting of the National
Coordination Committee for Housing, Construction and Development on Thursday in
which he was given a detailed briefing on the commencement of work on stalled
projects of the federal government agencies.
The
prime minister also met a delegation of the country’s renowned industrialists
and representatives of Karachi’s trade organisations. The delegation also
apprised the prime minister of the difficulties faced by the business
community.
Earlier,
presiding over a meeting of the National Coordination Committee for SMEs, the
prime minister directed the minister for industries to finalise the roadmap
based on timelines for implementation of the proposed SME policy in
consultation with provinces at the earliest.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1584053/pm-asks-sindh-governor-to-sort-out-islands-issue
--------
'Imran's
selectors' will have to answer for country's situation today, says Nawaz
08
Oct 2020
PML-N
supremo Nawaz Sharif on Thursday demanded "Imran's selectors" to
answer for the ongoing crises in the country, saying that his supporters
"will not sit back" until they get one.
Nawaz,
who is currently in London, made the remarks in a virtual address at a
convention of PML-N's parliamentarians and ticketholders, saying that the
country was facing "defining moments".
The
former prime minister, while commenting on the state of the economy and the
challenges being faced by the masses, asked: "Who should I hold
responsible for this? Just Imran Khan or those who are really
responsible?"
"Imran's
selectors, you will have to answer for this. You cannot go home without
answering," Nawaz declared. "Without Pakistan's parliament, its
institutions cannot operate. Even the judiciary cannot work. We will make you
answer, we will not sit back until we get one."
He
said that people in Pakistan were "crying" because of rising
inflation and prices of power and gas.
"Have
you thought about how they (people) are living? Was this the situation two
years ago?"
The
former premier regretted that so far no one has tried to "diagnose the
root cause" of the country's problems and political instability and said
that he had decided to "identify" it at the multiparty conference of
the opposition parties held on September 24 without any "ambiguity".
In
the PPP-hosted multiparty conference held last month, Nawaz had said that the
opposition's struggle was not against Prime Minister Imran Khan but those who
brought him into power through the 2018 elections.
In
today's address, Nawaz also took a hit at the military personnel "who have
digressed" from the Constitution, saying that the army can only become the
"world's best" if it sticks to its constitutional role.
"I
know an overwhelming majority [in the army] sticks to constitutional
boundaries, but there are few who have digressed. Those names are few, they can
literally be counted on fingertips [but] they have defamed the entire army and
that is not acceptable to me," the PML-N supremo said. "I respect my
soldiers and generals, but I cannot respect those who do not respect the
Constitution, who rig elections."
He
also directed his party's parliamentarians to take a stand, saying that they
were not "rented members".
"You
(PML-N leaders) had won the election, but he was given victory. The tabdeeli
person," Nawaz said, referring to PM Imran and added that those who
"rigged" the 2018 general elections, had "violated the
Constitution and committed a crime".
"We
are not sheep that can be herded and if this has been happening [in the past],
it will not happen anymore! We will make Pakistan a respectable country,"
he vowed and added that any member who "was scared should sit at home. We
don't need cowards. You don't deserve to be in the assemblies if you are
scared".
Nawaz
also criticised the PTI government for "begging" other countries for
money even though they had promised not to do so.
'Disqualified
for what?'
Nawaz
also spoke about the Supreme Court's decision in 2017 to disqualify him in the
Panama Papers case, in which he was found guilty of not declaring a receivable
salary, saying that he "didn't understand what happened".
"Had
there been a valid reason for my removal, I would have understood that I have
been punished for a crime that I committed," he said. "I was
disqualified for not taking a salary from my son.
"Why
would I need an iqama? If Musharraf [had not] imposed martial law in 1999, I
would not have had to leave with my family. To live there (UAE), I needed an
iqama. I had to stay abroad for seven years," he told the session.
"Whether
I draw a salary from my son or not, that is my choice. Is that a reason to
expel me from the prime minister's office?" he asked.
He
said that he had been observing how the situation of the country had changed
over the past two years even when he was in prison in Pakistan and lamented
that people's lives had become difficult after his party's tenure.
"At
a time when people have to eat roti with water, it becomes haraam for me and
you to sit peacefully. If we don't speak, we will also be guilty."
https://www.dawn.com/news/1583945/imrans-selectors-will-have-to-answer-for-countrys-situation-today-says-nawaz
--------
Senior
bureaucrat hired as HEC executive director
Kashif
Abbasi
09
Oct 2020
ISLAMABAD:
After announcing the vacant post thrice and failing to get a “suitable”
candidate, the Higher Education Commission hired services of senior bureaucrat
Dr Shaista Sohail (BPS-22) on deputation against the post of Executive Director
(ED).
The
post fell vacant in October 2018 after the resignation of Dr Arshad Ali, who
was appointed after a competitive process on the MP-I post on a four-year fixed
term.
After
his resignation, the HEC advertised the post thrice but surprisingly could not
get a “suitable” candidate in a country where the HEC itself has been helping
universities to produce a large number of PhDs for years.
Finally,
the HEC decided to give up the process of filling the post through the
competitive process and opted to hire the services of the senior bureaucrat.
An
official in the HEC told Dawn that Dr Sohail joined the HEC on deputation after
approval from HEC Selection Board. “There is no illegality in this appointment,
we followed the process,” said HEC’s spokesperson Aayesha Ikram.
Sources
in the HEC said after completing the process of appointment, the HEC selection
board got a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the prime minister for
appointing the new ED. They said the new ED would not get MP-1 package rather
her appointment was made on standard terms and conditions of civil servants.
The ED HEC acts as the principal accounting officer.
“Dr
Shaista Sohail, a BPS-22 officer of Pakistan Administrative Service, has joined
the HEC as its executive director,” said a press release issued by HEC on
Thursday.
With
a doctorate in International Relations from Geneva School of Diplomacy,
Switzerland, and Master’s in Economics from Punjab University, Dr Sohail brings
with her a diverse experience of serving at national and international levels,
the press release said.
It
said starting her career as a lecturer in economics at Government College for
Women, Okara, she joined Civil Service of Pakistan in 1985 with her first assignment
as assistant commissioner Karachi South.
Her
key postings included Joint Secretary Policy and Planning, Ministry of
Industries, Member Estate CDA, Joint Secretary Debt Management/Japan EAD,
Additional Secretary to the President of Pakistan, Special Secretary Cabinet,
Secretary Statistics, Secretary Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division,
Deputy Secretary Commerce WTO and Economic Counsellor to WTO, Geneva.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1583991/senior-bureaucrat-hired-as-hec-executive-director
--------
South Asia
Rights
Group Calls for End to Rohingya ‘Prison’ Camps in Myanmar
By
Zsombor Peter
October
08, 2020
KUALA
LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Myanmar should end the "apartheid regime" that has
left thousands of Muslim ethnic Rohingya families trapped in stifling
displacement camps eight years after deadly communal clashes tore through the
Buddhist-majority country's far west, the U.S. advocacy group Human Rights
Watch said in a report released Thursday.
International
attention on the Rohingya has focused mostly on the sprawling refugee camps in
neighboring Bangladesh since a 2017 crackdown by Myanmar's police and military
in Rakhine state sent 700,000 of them fleeing across the border. The United
Nations called the widely alleged campaign of arson, rape and murder "a
textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Rights groups have called it
genocide. The government denies the claims.
Largely
ignored are more than 130,000 Rohingya who have been confined to fenced-off and
guarded camps in Rakhine state itself since 2012, according to U.N. figures,
when a wave of communal violence between local Muslims and Buddhists drove them
from their homes. About half the camps' denizens are children.
Human
Rights Watch says conditions in those camps are getting worse and that the
government's recent efforts to "close" them risk cementing the
Rohingya's status as a segregated underclass.
The group interviewed more than 30 Rohingya who live in the camps or
fled them and nearly as many aid workers and advocates for its report, An Open
Prison Without End: Myanmar's Mass Detention of Rohingya in Rakhine State.
Myanmar's
government rejects the Rohingya's claim to a distinct ethnic identity —
dismissing them instead as illegal migrants from Bangladesh — despite their
roots in Rakhine going back generations, and it denies them citizenship unless
they give up the claim.
"It
has within that setup these camps that are effectively sites of
detention," Human Rights Watch researcher Shayna Bauchner, who wrote the
report, told VOA.
"It
is a complete violation of all of their basic rights," she said.
"They have been for eight years now been denied the ability to return to
their homes, which is really all that they've been asking to do — to be able to
return to their homes, to reintegrate into the community. They are instead
being denied the ability to live lives with dignity, to achieve
self-reliance."
Human
Rights Watch says strict travel restrictions outside the camps — enforced with
arrests and physical abuse — prevent many from finding work or going to school,
leaving them largely dependent on deliveries from international aid agencies
that increasingly are being blocked by authorities on vague and dubious grounds
of health and security.
The
report describes squalid and overcrowded communities with ramshackle shelters
and open sewers, and cites other reports and studies that link those conditions
to camp death and disease rates higher than those in surrounding villages.
The
organization also warns that the government's nascent moves to "close"
the camps since 2017 look less likely to relieve those conditions than
perpetuate them.
The
government claims to have closed three of the estimated 24 camps so far.
Human
Rights Watch says a group of Buddhist ethnic Rakhine displaced by the 2012
pogroms was resettled to a site agreed on with the government, while a group of
Muslim ethnic Kaman was coerced into moving hundreds of kilometers away to
Yangon, Myanmar's commercial hub.
However,
when authorities "closed" a Rohingya camp, Human Rights Watch says,
they merely built new housing on the same site, leaving the same travel
restrictions in place.
"The
government is undertaking this process, which it is calling a process to close
the camps, but is in reality just sort of entrenching the Rohingya's status as
permanent detainees," Bauchner said.
"Their
ability to work, to study, to get medical care are all severely constrained,
and the result is a community that for generations will be cut off from
self-reliance, from dignity, from ... being able to have opportunities to study
in certain fields so that they can actually provide services on their
own."
John
Quinley, a human rights specialist for the advocacy group Fortify Rights who
has been in regular contact with Rohingya in and out of the camps, agreed with
Human Rights Watch’s dire assessment.
"These
are internment camps in central Rakhine state trapping thousands upon thousands
of Rohingya women, children and men. It's a systematic campaign to confine
these people to these camps, so ‘apartheid’ is, yes, the correct way to
describe it," he said.
He
also expressed concern that the way the government claims to be closing the
camps, whether on the same sites or new ones equally constrained, will do
little if anything to relieve the Rohingya’s plight.
"Unless
they're granted access to go back to their original homeland or places where
they want to settle, it's pretty certain that the conditions will still be ones
of internment," Quinley said.
He
and Bauchner said the conditions in the camps, and the growing belief among the
Rohingya trapped there that they will never improve, is adding to their
despair. A few thousand have managed to flee the camps, often risking death to
reach Malaysia by boat in hopes of a better life. Some don't make it.
“We
know we will die in the sea," one Rohingya woman in the camps told Human
Rights Watch. "If we reach there, we will be lucky; if we die, it is OK
because we have no future here.”
Win
Myat Aye, Myanmar's minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement, would
not speak with VOA about the camps and referred questions to the ministry's
permanent secretary, Ko Ko Naing, who could not be reached. Other government
officials and spokesmen did not reply to VOA's requests for comment.
https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/rights-group-calls-end-rohingya-prison-camps-myanmar
--------
India
can play ‘vital role’ for Afghan peace, top negotiator says
SANJAY
KUMAR
October
08, 2020
NEW
DELHI: Afghanistan’s top peace negotiator, Abdullah Abdullah, said India could
play a “vital role” for peace in Afghanistan, as he met Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi on Thursday.
Abdullah,
chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation, arrived in
New Delhi on Wednesday for a three-day visit at Modi’s invitation, as peace
talks between Afghan government and Taliban negotiators continue in Doha, Qatar
to strike a power-sharing deal and end decades of conflict.
“India
can play a vital role in establishing lasting peace in Afghanistan and the
region,” Abdullah said in a statement.
“India
has shown support to the first direct engagement between the Afghan government
and Taliban, while underlining its concerns about possible use of Afghan soil
for violence against others,” he said.
During
the meeting, Modi expressed India’s commitment to a “permanent cease-fire” in
Afghanistan. The cease-fire has been a major sticking point in the negotiations
between the Taliban and Kabul, as Taliban offensives have continued even since
the talks started on Sept. 12.
“The
prime minister reiterated India’s commitment toward sustainable peace and
prosperity in Afghanistan and welcomed efforts toward a comprehensive and
permanent cease-fire in Afghanistan,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said
in a statement.
Abdullah’s
visit comes at a time when India for the first time has been invited to take
part in the Afghan peace process. Some experts say that New Delhi is even
becoming more open to dealing with the Taliban as Afghanistan’s new political
setup may include them in the government.
“India
can be expected to be more open in dealing with the Taliban but that will
depend on a case-by-case basis, depending on the interlocutors and the
subject,” Anand Arni of the Bangalore-based Takshashila Institution told Arab
News.
“I
am sure Abdullah would be briefing India that Indian concerns will be engaged
with in its discussions with the Taliban,” said Arni, who for more than three
decades worked with India’s external intelligence agency, the Research and
Analysis Wing (RAW)
“Afghanistan
would like India to be supportive of its position. And to continue with its
assistance in the event that there is an agreement. Abdullah would take New
Delhi into confidence about the state of play, his concerns, assurances
conveyed by Pakistan.”
India
has a $3 billion development commitment in Afghanistan, whose strategic partner
it has been since 2011. It also trains the Afghan National Army (ANA).
According
to India’s former ambassador to Kabul, Amar Sinha, New Delhi has a significant
role to play in Afghanistan’s future.
“Given
India’s stake and equities in Afghanistan, and its friendships that cut across
the spectrum in Afghanistan, I believe India has a significant role to play in
advising and counselling unity and creating a common platform that represents
the aspirations of a new Afghanistan,” he said.
Sinha
added that India had always been “willing to support and follow Afghanistan’s
lead” in the peace process. He said that while he did not see “a fundamental
shift in India’s position” toward the Taliban, it will support “efforts to
reintegrate Taliban into the mainstream Afghan society.”
“Preserving
the unity and sovereignty of Afghanistan is key to any negotiation and likely
outcomes. India will support these objectives,” Sinha said, adding that New
Delhi would also need to ensure that “external actors and agencies do not act
as spoilers.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1746236/world
--------
Afghanistan:
more than 500 assassinated by the Taliban in only six months
Ruchi
Kumar
Oct
8, 2020
Fifteen
Taliban members thought to be responsible for a spate of assassinations in
Kabul and beyond were captured on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s primary intelligence
organisation announced.
The
National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the men were tasked with carrying
out assassinations of security and defence forces as well as prominent
political figures in Afghanistan.
“Members
of this group would operate in teams of four and five, and track movements of
targets who are prominent and political figures in Afghanistan before carrying
out their attacks,” a spokesperson for the NDS shared.
The
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said 533 civilians have
been killed and 412 others wounded in targeted attacks in the last six months.
Among these were two of AIHRC’s own employees, 24-year-old Fatima Khalil and
driver Ahmad Jawid Folad, who were killed in an explosion targeting their
vehicle on June 26.
The
Afghan Ministry of Interior (MOI) provided equally grim figures, stating that
at least 70 civilians were killed and more than 140 injured in the last two
weeks of September.
“Although
they haven’t claimed it, the Taliban are killing civilians, including children
and women every day, in planned attacks targeted towards government employees,”
Tariq Arian, spokesperson to the MOI told The National, adding that it is
likely the spike in assassinations were Taliban’s attempt to pressure the
government in the ongoing peace talks in Qatar.
A
delegation from the Afghan government is currently in meetings with Taliban
members in Doha in an effort to reconcile two decades of conflict between the
parties. Earlier this year, the Taliban also penned a deal with the US
administration that will facilitate the exit of foreign forces from
Afghanistan.
Among
many high-profile assassinations include an attack on Afghan politician Fauzia
Koofi, who is among the only four women participating in the negotiations with
the Taliban. While Ms Koofi survived the attempt, she was severely injured and
attended the peace talks while wearing a cast.
Fifteen
Taliban members thought to be responsible for a spate of assassinations in
Kabul and beyond were captured on Tuesday, Afghanistan’s primary intelligence
organisation announced.
The
National Directorate of Security (NDS) said the men were tasked with carrying
out assassinations of security and defence forces as well as prominent
political figures in Afghanistan.
“Members
of this group would operate in teams of four and five, and track movements of
targets who are prominent and political figures in Afghanistan before carrying
out their attacks,” a spokesperson for the NDS shared.
The
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said 533 civilians have
been killed and 412 others wounded in targeted attacks in the last six months.
Among these were two of AIHRC’s own employees, 24-year-old Fatima Khalil and
driver Ahmad Jawid Folad, who were killed in an explosion targeting their
vehicle on June 26.
The
Afghan Ministry of Interior (MOI) provided equally grim figures, stating that
at least 70 civilians were killed and more than 140 injured in the last two
weeks of September.
“Although
they haven’t claimed it, the Taliban are killing civilians, including children
and women every day, in planned attacks targeted towards government employees,”
Tariq Arian, spokesperson to the MOI told The National, adding that it is
likely the spike in assassinations were Taliban’s attempt to pressure the
government in the ongoing peace talks in Qatar.
A
delegation from the Afghan government is currently in meetings with Taliban
members in Doha in an effort to reconcile two decades of conflict between the
parties. Earlier this year, the Taliban also penned a deal with the US
administration that will facilitate the exit of foreign forces from
Afghanistan.
Among
many high-profile assassinations include an attack on Afghan politician Fauzia
Koofi, who is among the only four women participating in the negotiations with
the Taliban. While Ms Koofi survived the attempt, she was severely injured and
attended the peace talks while wearing a cast.
Despite
assurances in the deal with the US, the Taliban has not reduced violence in the
country, and continues to target civilians, particularly those voices that have
been critical of the group.
The
latest among these is 28-year-old Zarifa Ghafari, the youngest mayor of an
Afghan city of Maidan Shar in Maidan Wardak province.
Ms
Ghafari survived an attack by armed gunmen on her vehicle on Sunday while
travelling between the Afghan capital and Maidan Wardak province. IT was the
second attempt made on her life in six months.
“I
believe they target me for many reasons, but mostly because I am a woman who
broke their [patriarchal] steel wall to become an empowered woman leader,” she
told The National.
“They
also want to show that the Afghan government is weak and if they can kill a
government official like a mayor, then they can show themselves as stronger
party and use it to leverage the talks,” she added.
While
the recent bust of the Taliban gang is expected to reduce the violence to some
extent, MOI officials shared that there may be as many as 100 Taliban assassins
targeting those likely to present opposition to the insurgent group during the
negotiations.
Ms
Ghafari, too, has been very critical of the Taliban, often speaking at
international forums, and seeking international support to protect the rights
of the Afghan women in the talks with the insurgent group.
“It
is nothing but an attempt to silence democracy and dismiss the voices of
people,” Ms Ghafari said of the recent spike in the assassinations in the
country.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/afghanistan-more-than-500-assassinated-by-the-taliban-in-only-six-months-1.1090133?utm_campaign=1594421_&utm_medium=email&utm_source=iterable
--------
Afghan
officials downplay US president’s announcement on early troop withdrawal
SAYED
SALAHUDDIN
October
08, 2020
KABUL:
Afghan government officials on Thursday said US President Donald Trump’s
announcement that all American troops would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by
Christmas — sooner than previously outlined — would have no impact on the
war-torn country’s security.
In
an unexpected move, Trump said in a Twitter post that the remaining US service
personnel stationed in Afghanistan should be “home by Christmas.”
The
pullout had earlier been scheduled for spring 2021, following a US-Taliban deal
in February to end the protracted conflict in Afghanistan, which started after
the American invasion in 2001 that removed the Taliban from power.
“The
withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan will have no effect on the
situation of Afghanistan and our security forces have the capacity to defend
the country without the presence of foreign troops,” Fawad Aman, a spokesman
for the defense ministry, told Arab News.
He
said that for the past six months Afghan security forces had been planning and
conducting offensives independently, without assistance from US-led troops.
The
US and NATO had pledged to provide support for Afghan troops, despite their
soldiers’ departure, until “the threat of terrorism in Afghanistan and in the
region is annihilated,” Aman added.
In
a video message, Afghan army chief, Yasin Zia, said that Afghan forces had
earned the “ability to foil enemy attacks” and were equipped with sophisticated
ground and aerial weapons and aircraft which were unmatched in the region.
Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani’s office was unavailable for comment.
Trump’s
decision came as intra-Afghan talks were taking place in Doha, Qatar, where
nearly a month ago Taliban and Afghan government negotiators were brought to
the table to decide the country’s future political setup.
Discussions
have lately reached a stalemate, which may turn Afghanistan “into a Syria, if
each side insists on being right on everything. It would be repeating the
errors of the past,” Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistan,
told Afghan media on Wednesday.
The
Taliban, meanwhile, welcomed Trump’s decision. The group’s spokesman,
Zabihullah Mujahid, told Arab News: “The Islamic Emirate welcomes this
announcement and considers it as a positive step in the implementation of the
agreement between the Islamic Emirate and America.”
The
troop withdrawal was Trump’s electoral promise in 2016, which he appears to be
trying to fulfill as he seeks reelection in November.
Hours
before Trump’s tweet, US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien said the US
would reduce the number of troops it had in Afghanistan to 2,500 early next
year. Currently, some 5,000 American soldiers remain in the country. As per the
US-Taliban accord, 4,000 have already left since February.
Torek
Farhadi, a former adviser to the Afghan government, said Trump’s announcement
gave the “Taliban an edge, at least psychologically, as they see the republic
(Ghani’s government) side very dependent on the US, both financially and
militarily.”
With
no sign of any breakthrough in intra-Afghan talks, he warned the war could go
on for years if Afghan leaders and warring parties “don’t start to find a
solution for peace right there, when they are at the negotiations table.”
As
Ghani traveled to Qatar to help with the stalemate in talks, Farhadi said Trump’s
team might have briefed him about the US president’s decision.
Officials
in Kabul refused to comment on whether Trump had informed the Afghan government
about his decision.
Zabihullah
Pakteen, an analyst, told Arab News that Trump’s move was “a surprise both
within US military hierarchy and in Afghanistan” and could be detrimental to
the peace process. “The withdrawal of troops before the deadline throws the
peace process in jeopardy,” he said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1746226/world
--------
Deputy
Chief of Ghazni Prison Killed Following Abduction
By
Mohammad Haroon Alim
08
Oct 2020
The
Taliban have abducted and killed a Ghazni prison deputy of security chief on
the Ghazni-Kabul highway in southern Ghazni province, the prison administration
said.
Mohammad
Ali Ahmadi, the deputy head of security at the Ghazni prison, was on his way to
Kabul from Ghazni on Tuesday when he was abducted and killed by Taliban
militants, Afghanistan office of prisons administration said in a press
statement.
The
Taliban have not yet commented on the incident.
https://www.khaama.com/ghazni-prison-security-deputy-chief-killed-following-abduction-989878/
--------
Allies
to Leave Afghanistan when ‘Conditions on Ground’ Permits: NATO
By
Mohammad Arif Sheva
09
Oct 2020
NATO
asserted Thursday its members would consult and decide “together” on when to
leave Afghanistan, according to sources, after the United States President
Donald Trump announced to bring its troops home by Christmas.
While
it remained unclear whether the announcement was an official heads-up on troops
withdrawal, Trump has occasionally been tweeting on the timeline for ending
America’s longest war.
NATO
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg exclaimed the alliance’s longstanding
position that it will end its mission in Afghanistan only when “conditions on
the ground” permit.
“We
decided to go into Afghanistan together, we will make decisions on future
adjustments together, and when the time is right, we will leave together,” said
Stoltenberg at a news conference after talks with North Macedonian Prime
Minister Zoran Zaev, as France 24 quoted.
“We
will make decisions based on the conditions on the ground, because we think it
is extremely important to continue to be committed to the future of
Afghanistan, because it is in our interest to preserve the long term security
of Afghanistan,” he added. Foreign troops withdrawal from Afghanistan is based
on an agreement between the US and Taliban, which paved the way for
intra-Afghan negotiations to be held, determining a political settlement in
Afghanistan.
https://www.khaama.com/allies-to-leave-afghanistan-when-conditions-on-ground-permits-nato-75544es-will-leave-afghanistan-when-conditions-on-ground-permits-7654/
--------
Khalilzad
Tackles Afghan Peace with Pakistani Officials
By
Mohammad Arif Sheva
09
Oct 2020
ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan – United States Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation
Zalmay Khalilzad and Commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission Gen. Scott
Miller visited Islamabad Thursday, discussing Afghan peace with Pakistani
officials.
In
a meeting with Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Khalilzad “thanked
Prime Minister Khan and General Bajwa for their help in advancing the
Afghanistan peace process,” according to a statement by the US Embassy in
Pakistan.
“He
and General Bajwa agreed that intra-Afghan direct negotiations are an historic
opportunity for achieving peace in Afghanistan and for the region,” the
statement read. “They also agreed the opportunity must not be lost and past
mistakes should not be repeated.”
Both
sides addressed the efforts countries who support the peace process can
undertake to help Afghans reach a political settlement and to implement it.
Meanwhile,
Khalilzad, Gen. Miller, and Gen. Bajwa “affirmed the need for a significant
reduction in violence in Afghanistan as peace negotiations between the two
sides move forward.”
In
the meeting, they tackled Prime Minister Imran Khan’s upcoming visit to
Afghanistan and the “roadmap that would guide Pakistan-Afghanistan relations
after there is a peace agreement.”
https://www.khaama.com/khalilzad-tackles-afghan-peace-with-pakistani-officials-76544/
--------
North America
US
seizes 92 Iran ‘propaganda’ websites for spreading misinformation
08
October 2020
The
US has seized 92 web domains used by Iran, including four which purported to be
genuine English language news sites, the Justice Department announced
Wednesday.
The
sites were identified first with intelligence from Google and then also with
help from Twitter and Facebook, the department said.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Four
of them, with the domain names “newsstand7.com,” “usjournal.net,”
“usjournal.us,” and “twtoday.net,” were “operated by or on behalf” of Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to influence United States domestic and
foreign policy, the Department said.
The
other 88 domains also included purported news sites “to spread Iranian
propaganda” targeted at Western Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Visitors
to the websites Wednesday could see a statement saying “This domain has been
seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
“We
will continue to use all of our tools to stop the Iranian Government from
misusing US companies and social media to spread propaganda covertly, to
attempt to influence the American public secretly, and to sow discord,” said
Assistant Attorney General John Demers.
“Fake
news organizations have become a new outlet for disinformation spread by
authoritarian countries as they continue to try to undermine our democracy,”
Demers said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/10/08/US-seizes-92-Iran-propaganda-websites-for-spreading-misinformation
--------
Islamic
State ‘Beatles’ Jailers Are Charged in Abuse of Murdered Hostages
By
Adam Goldman and Charlie Savage
Oct.
7, 2020
WASHINGTON
— Two notorious Islamic State detainees from Britain were brought to the United
States on Wednesday to face federal charges over accusations that they jailed
and tortured Western hostages, some of whom were beheaded, Justice Department
officials said.
The
transfer is a milestone in the saga of the two men, El Shafee Elsheikh, 32, and
Alexanda Kotey, 36, who are half of an ISIS cell of four Britons called “the
Beatles” — a nickname bestowed by their victims because of their accents — and
known for their extreme brutality.
The
American government has linked the group to the kidnapping and abuse of more
than two dozen hostages, some of whom were ultimately beheaded for propaganda
videos, including the journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff.
The
British extremists repeatedly beat the hostages they kept imprisoned in Raqqa,
Syria, formerly the Islamic State’s self-declared capital, according to
prosecutors. They subjected their hostages to abuses including waterboarding,
mock executions, painful stress positions, food deprivation, beatings with
sticks lasting 20 minutes or longer, chokeholds causing blackouts and electric
shocks. They also forced their hostages to fight each other and to witness
murders, court papers said.
At
a news conference on Wednesday, Justice Department officials and the F.B.I.
director, Christopher A. Wray, announced the men had been indicted on multiple
charges, including hostage-taking resulting in death and conspiracy to commit
murder outside the United States. If convicted, the men could spend the rest of
their lives in prison. They made an initial appearance on Wednesday in federal
court in Alexandria, Va.
Justice
Department officials and the F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, announced
that two Islamic State detainees from Britain will face federal charges over
accusations that they jailed and tortured hostages.
“These
charges are the product of many years of hard work in pursuit of justice for
our citizens slain by ISIS,” Attorney General William P. Barr said in a
statement. “Although we cannot bring them back, we can and will seek justice
for them, their families, and for all Americans.”
Both
of the detainees were captured by an American-backed Kurdish militia in Syria
in early 2018. In October 2019, the American military took custody of them amid
the upheaval of Turkey’s attacks on the militia, and they had been held in Iraq
since then.
Their
arrival and the initiation of a civilian trial is a victory for the families of
the hostages who were killed. The families had pushed for the men to be
prosecuted in federal court instead of being sent to the military prison at
Guantánamo Bay, where military commissions have proved dysfunctional in cases
in which defendants contest the charges rather than plead guilty.
The
two men have given numerous interviews while imprisoned, at first striking a
largely unrepentant tone and dodging questions about their culpability in the
killing of the hostages. But as time passed, the men seemed more apologetic and
admitted holding Westerners hostage in later interviews.
Another
member of the cell — Mohammed Emwazi, better known as Jihadi John — was killed
in an airstrike in 2015 in Syria. Mr. Emwazi was believed to have killed Mr.
Foley and Mr. Sotloff, both Americans, as well as Peter Kassig, an aid worker.
A
fourth man, Aine Davis, is imprisoned in Turkey on terrorism charges. The
extradition of Mr. Davis to the United States seems unlikely as the
American-Turkish relationship deteriorates.
The
families of Mr. Foley and Mr. Sotloff as well as those of Kayla Mueller and
Peter Kassig, two Americans who were also killed in Syria, said they welcomed
the news the two men were being brought to the United States to be prosecuted.
“James,
Peter, Kayla and Steven were kidnapped, tortured, beaten, starved and murdered
by members of the Islamic State in Syria,” the families said in a statement.
“Now our families can pursue accountability for these crimes against our
children in a U.S. court.”
The
families added they were particularly grateful to Mr. Barr for his decision to
waive the death penalty against the two men and thanked Ali H. Soufan, a former
F.B.I. agent who quietly helped them.
Any
trial would most likely involve former hostages, especially from Italy, France,
Spain and Denmark, possibly testifying and recounting the horrors they
experienced while imprisoned by the Islamic State in Syria.
The
two men helped supervise detention facilities where hostages were held,
coordinated ransom negotiations for their release and engaged in a prolonged
pattern of physical and psychological violence against their prisoners,
charging documents said. For example, on April 25, 2014, prosecutors said, the
men forced prisoners from Europe to witness the murder of a Syrian man by Mr.
Emwazi as part of a hostage negotiation process.
“Emwazi
executed the Syrian prisoner by shooting him in the back of the head and then
numerous times in the torso as and when he fell into a grave,” the charging
documents said. “Kotey instructed the hostages to kneel at the side of the
grave and witness the execution while holding handmade signs pleading for their
release. Elsheikh videotaped the execution of the Syrian hostage.”
It
added: “After the execution, Kotey, Elsheikh, and Emwazi returned the European
hostages to the prison with Elsheikh telling one hostage, “You’re next.”
All
four men had lived in West London. Mr. Kotey, born in London, is of Ghanaian
and Greek Cypriot background, while Mr. Elsheikh’s family fled Sudan in the
1990s. Both men have been designated foreign terrorists by the United States.
The United Kingdom has stripped them of their British passports.
The
Trump administration wanted to bring the two detainees to the United States for
a trial in civilian court, as the families of their victims urged, but their
transfer was delayed by a need for evidence in British hands that prosecutors
viewed as essential to prove their case.
A
lawsuit in Britain brought by the mother of one of the defendants tied up that
government’s ability to share the evidence because the attorney general at the
time, Jeff Sessions, refused to preclude seeking the death penalty, as normally
happens in such cases since Britain has abolished it.
In
August, however, Mr. Barr sought to resolve the impasse by reversing the policy
and telling Britain that the United States would not seek to execute the two
men. The British courts swiftly permitted the government to share the evidence
— clearing the way for their transfer to American soil for the case to
commence.
Prosecuting
foreign terrorists in civilian court, once common under the Obama
administration, has become rare under the Trump administration. Mr. Sessions
had attacked that approach while he was still a Republican senator from
Alabama, portraying it as soft on terrorism and declaring that such suspects
should be held as military combatants and tried at Guantánamo Bay.
But
the military commissions trial system at Guantánamo has proved dysfunctional,
and there were additional legal problems raised by the prospect of holding
members of ISIS — as opposed to Al Qaeda — there without trial.
Britain
also did not want to share evidence for use at Guantánamo, and the victims’
family members pressed instead for prosecutions in civilian court, to avoid the
risk that some would see the men as human-rights martyrs and because civilian
courts have proved to be far more effective in practice.
Senator
Jeanne Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, who worked closely with the Foley
family and pushed to have the two detainees brought to trial in civilian court
rather than a military commission, hailed the charges as “a giant step towards
justice.”
“The
families of the Americans murdered by ISIS finally have their day in court on
the horizon,” she said in a statement. “Through a thorough trial with all
evidence presented, the United States has an opportunity to deliver real
justice and honor the memories of James, Peter, Steven and Kayla.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/us/politics/beatles-islamic-state.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
--------
NATO
says to discuss plans to withdraw from Afghanistan after Trump announcement
09
October 2020
NATO
insisted Thursday that its members would consult and decide together on when to
leave Afghanistan, after US President Donald Trump vowed to bring American
troops home by Christmas.
Trump,
trailing in polls ahead of the November 3 presidential election, made his
surprise announcement on Twitter on Wednesday, dramatically speeding up the
timeline for ending America’s longest war.
NATO
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg repeated the alliance’s longstanding
position that it will end its mission in Afghanistan only when conditions on
the ground permit.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“We
decided to go into Afghanistan together, we will make decisions on future
adjustments together, and when the time is right, we will leave together,”
Stoltenberg said at a news conference after talks with North Macedonian Prime
Minister Zoran Zaev.
NATO
went into Afghanistan following the 2001 US-led invasion to topple the Taliban
in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.
It
ended its combat operations in Afghanistan in 2014 and has vastly reduced its
presence on the ground but maintains a 12,000-strong force training and
advising local forces.
Stoltenberg
said NATO would only leave Afghanistan when it could do so without the risk of
the country once again becoming a haven for militants.
“We
will make decisions based on the conditions on the ground, because we think it
is extremely important to continue to be committed to the future of
Afghanistan, because it is in our interest to preserve the long term security
of Afghanistan,” he said.
It
is not clear whether NATO had any advance warning of Trump’s announcement,
though Stoltenberg’s statement that allies would now “consult on the future of
the mission” appeared to indicate that it did not.
After
intense US cajoling, the Afghan government and the Taliban last month opened
peace talks in Doha, but negotiations have got off to a slow start.
Trump’s
timeline for withdrawing forces appeared to contradict his own national
security adv
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/10/09/NATO-says-to-discuss-plans-to-withdraw-from-Afghanistan-after-Trump-announcement
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US
targets Iran's financial sector, imposes sanctions on 18 banks
08
October 2020
The
United States has targeted Iran’s financial sector by imposing sanctions on 18
Iranian banks, in defiance of Europe’s humanitarian objections.
The
Treasury Department announced the measure on its website on Thursday, weeks
ahead of the American presidential elections in which incumbent Republican
President Donald Trump is pitted against Democrat Joe Biden.
The
Trump administration took the punitive action with an aim to cut off the
Islamic Republic from the world's financial system.
The Treasury Department failed to come up with
any specific accusations against most of the banks. It just declared that the
Iranian financial sector may be used to support the government's nuclear
program and its "malign regional influence."
Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin claimed that the US sanctions would "stop illicit
access to US dollars."
"Our
sanctions programs will continue until Iran stops its support of terrorist
activities and ends its nuclear programs," he said in a statement,
throwing the oft-repeated baseless US accusations against Iran.
“Today’s
actions will continue to allow for humanitarian transactions to support the
Iranian people,” he added.
The
Trump administration has claimed humanitarian goods are exempt from its
sanction, but a web of sanctions tied around Iran over years has made foreign
banks and companies extremely wary of engaging in any trade with the country.
Health
officials say Iran can produce more than 96 percent of its medical needs. But
specialist treatments such as those for cancer or donor transplants often rely
on imports.
The
Treasury on Thursday said the sanctions did not apply to transactions for the
provision of agricultural commodities, food, medicine or medical devices to
Iran, but European diplomats have said that US sanctions have dire humanitarian
consequences.
According
to Bloomberg, the new measures could sharply hinder Iran’s ability to secure
supplies of food and medicine at a time the country struggles to contain a
resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak.
The
move comes after Washington last month said it had triggered a snapback of all
UN sanctions on Iran. The claim however was rejected by Washington’s European
allies and most UN Security Council members.
They
said the US withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and had no right to
activate the snapback mechanism.
After
its pullout, the US launched a so-called “maximum pressure” campaign that has
so far resulted in several rounds of sanctions against Iran.
The
new sanctions is an escalation of Washington’s futile bid to force Iran into
new negotiations over its nuclear program, two years after Trump withdrew the
US from a landmark 2015 deal with Tehran and re-imposed sweeping sanctions.
According
to reports, the new sanctions are aimed to close the few remaining financial
loopholes allowing Iran to earn revenue, and stymie Biden’s promise to return
to the nuclear deal if he wins the presidency in November.
The
new sanctions would leave Iranian companies increasingly dependent on a small
network of informal money changers overseas who can execute financial
transfers.
Hence,
the Trump administration seeks to also target money-changers and hawala
transfer systems and anywhere money changes hands, the US will try to stop it.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/08/635955/US-targets-Iran-s-financial-sector,-imposes-sanctions-on-18-banks
--------
David
Friedman is furthering the Kosher Nostra extremist Likudnik Israeli agenda:
Scholar
08
October 2020
US
Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is an organized crime figure who is furthering
the Kosher Nostra extremist Likudnik Israeli agenda, an American political
analyst has said.
Kevin
Barrett, an author, journalist and radio host with a Ph.D. in Islamic and
Arabic Studies, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Thursday.
Breaking
a long-standing tradition of ambassadors being politically neutral, Friedman
said on Sunday that US policy toward Iran could take a turn for the worse from
the perspective of Israel if Democratic nominee Joe Biden is elected the US
president in November.
“Joe
Biden was part of the Obama administration, which negotiated and implemented
the Iran deal, something that President [Donald] Trump — and I share his view —
thinks was the worst international deal the United States has ever entered
into,” Friedman said in an interview with the United Arab Emirates’ al-Ain news
site.
“It
[the Obama administration] did nothing to restrain their building of ballistic
missiles,” Friedman said.
Friedman
added, “If we continue on this path, we think Iran will ultimately have no
choice but to end its malign activity. … I’d hate to think that a new
administration would undermine that, but regrettably, if Biden wins, I think
they might.”
Dr.
Barrett said that Friedman “is a Kosher Nostra mob lawyer. He represented Trump
in Trump's bankruptcies over his Atlantic City casinos.”
“And
he's of course a friend and associate of people like Sheldon Adelson and Bibi
Netanyahu. So this guy is all-out organized crime. Trump rewarded him and the
syndicate by appointing Friedman ambassador to Israel,” he added.
“So
now Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel, is yelling about how if Biden wins,
the hardline Trump policy towards Iran will fall apart, and this wonderful
effort which is just on the brink of a victory that nobody else sees will
somehow be totally thwarted by a Biden victory,” he said.
“This
represents the hard-line Likudnik extremist Netanyahu wing of Zionists who put
Trump in office by hacking voting machines, bringing in Israeli intelligence
(to do so). In the summer of 2016, Israel contacted the Trump campaign and said
you are gonna lose unless you bring us on board to win it for you. Trump or his
people said come on and help us. And so Israel inserted Trump into office
precisely to have Quds/Jerusalem handed to them on a silver platter, and to
move the war on Iran into overdrive, and have the nuclear deal, the JCPOA,
shredded and thrown in the trash,” the scholar noted.
“All
of this was the Kosher Nostra extremist Likudnik Israeli agenda. That's the
reason Trump was put in office. And so they're quite right, that if Trump
leaves office and Biden who is controlled by liberal Zionists rather than
extremist Likudnik Zionists wins, then that policy will undoubtedly change.
What's really outrageous here is that an ethnic organized crime syndicate
associated with the most radical wing of a genocide project, namely the
genocide of Palestine, is allowed to dominate American politics and American
policy the way it does,” he said.
“And
of course, what Friedman could have added is that Biden will in no way
challenge Israel's supremacy here in the United States, where we are Israeli
occupied territory. Rather a Biden administration would simply represent a more
liberal and in some ways more humane, such as it is, wing of the genocidal
Zionist movement that will continue to murder and expel the Palestinians, to
steal more land, to take over the holy places of nearly four and a half billion
Christians and Muslims, on behalf of a religion that claims maybe 15 million
people worldwide, a tiny proportion of the Abrahamic monotheists, of whom the
majority of the so-called Jewish people are not even religious, and yet they
have a messianic millenarian ideological genocide project going in the Holy
Land,” he said.
“It's
outrageous and Friedman is a disgrace. Trump is a disgrace and indeed the
entire leadership of the United States here which is owned and controlled by
Zionists of one stripe or another is an absolute disgrace,” he concluded.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/08/635933/%E2%80%98US-Ambassador-to-Israel-is-organized-crime-figure%E2%80%99
--------
Trump
claims to have killed ‘bigger names’ than Osama Bin Laden in attack on Obama’s
record
John
T. Bennett
October
08, 2020
Appearing
eager to one-up former President Barack Obama, Donald Trump on Thursday claimed
he has ordered the killing of “bigger names” in the violent Islamist extremist
realm than al-Qaeda founder and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden
Mr
Obama ordered the raid into Pakistan in 2011 that ended with US Special Operations
forces killing bin Laden. Mr Trump has never given the 44th president much
credit for the mission, and has more recently used Mr Biden’s advising against
it when he was vice president as a reason voters should not elect him to the
highest office in the land.
"I
killed Soleimani, I killed al-Baghdadi – names that everybody, bigger names
than Osama bin Laden,” Mr Trump told Fox Business. “Nobody could find them
until I came along"
He
was referring to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the last ISIS leader, and Qasem
Soleimani, the late Iranian general whom the United States and other Western
countries considered a terrorist.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/trump-obama-osama-bin-laden-al-baghdadi-soleimani-terrorism-b885943.html
--------
Africa
Jordan’s
Islamists ally for upcoming parliamentary elections
October
9, 2020
The
Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Jordan, will participate in the next legislative elections scheduled for 10
November.
IAF
officials have been attempting to form alliances, as they have previously done
during the 2016 elections.
Arabi21
reported that the party formed the National Alliance for Reform, along with
political personalities and currents outside the Islamic movement, which
includes 100 candidates.
The
party is expected to join forces with three candidates for the Christian seats,
while 40 candidates from outside the IAF are anticipated to partake in the
alliance.
The
participation of the Islamic movement in the Jordanian parliamentary elections
comes amid rising tensions between the IAF and the authorities. A study
conducted by Mohammad Abu Rumman, researcher in the field of Islamist movements
and groups, indicated that: “The regime wants to prevent the movement’s representatives
from winning enough seats to have a say in parliament.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201009-jordans-islamists-ally-for-upcoming-parliamentary-elections/
--------
UAE,
Turkey routinely violating Libya arms embargo: Investigation
08
October 2020
The
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Turkey have been routinely violating a 2011 arms
embargo on Libya and fueling the protracted war in the North African country,
according to an investigation.
The
Guardian newspaper revealed the findings in a report on Wednesday, saying they
were part of a joint probe with the investigative journalism website Bellingcat
and the media non-profit organization Lighthouse Reports.
Citing
flight data and satellite images, the UK-based daily said both the UAE and
Turkey were using large military cargo planes to transport military forces and
goods to the nine-year conflict in Libya.
“The
arms embargo remains totally ineffective,” the Guardian quoted an unknown
diplomat with knowledge of a forthcoming UN report on Libya as saying. “In the
case of those member states directly supporting the conflict, the violations
are extensive, blatant and with complete disregard for the sanctions measures.”
The
daily said Turkey has been using Airbus A400M military cargo jets to supply
their forces on the ground in western Libya, adding that the planes flew
regularly between Turkish airports in Istanbul, Gaziantep and Kayseri to
Misrata in Libya throughout June, July and August.
Videos
posted on social media of the forces, allegedly Syrian militants chatting and
lining up to board a plane in Gaziantep, suggest that some of these flights
transported mercenaries, the British paper added.
“The
Turkish air force used a new route to avoid certain flight information
regions,” the diplomat said. “All flights are non-scheduled or special charter
flights that attempt to disguise their routes by switching their transponders
off.”
A
senior source at Turkey’s defense ministry rejected the report and told the
Guardian that the country’s activities in Libya were focused on clearing
explosives left by rebel groups under the command of renegade Libyan general
Khalifa Haftar, providing humanitarian assistance and running hospitals.
“All
of Turkey’s activities related to Libya are within this framework and in accordance
with international law,” they said. “There is no violation of any decision,
sanction or international law. Our military flights are solely to transport
essential materials needed by our staff in fulfilling their mission in Libya,
among others for mine clearing, and medical and technical supplies for the
hospital run by Turkey.”
As
for the UAE, the Guardian said Abu Dhabi was using some of their fleet of
massive long-haul military transport aircraft C-17 Globemaster to fly regularly
to two remote military air bases, Sidi Barrani, in Egypt’s western desert
region bordering eastern Libya, and Gianaclis, near Alexandria.
The
military airbases on Egypt’s border with Libya are key to the UAE’s efforts to
support rebel groups and militias commanded by Haftar, the newspaper said.
“What’s
on them is either transported by road or picked up by aircraft flying for
Haftar,” said the diplomat. “The UN panel has written that this is indirect
supply of arms and related material, which is a violation of the resolution.”
Turkey
and the UAE both attended a summit in Germany’s Berlin in January and along
with nine other states agreed to respect the existing arms embargo on the North
African country.
The
summit was intended to halt foreign interference via flows of weapons, troops
and money into Libya.
The
oil-rich country first plunged into chaos in 2011, when a popular uprising
backed by a NATO intervention led to the ouster of long-time leader Muammar
Gaddafi.
Two
rival seats of power have emerged in Libya since 2014, namely the
internationally-recognized government run by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj,
and the parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk, supported militarily by
Haftar’s rebels.
The
Libyan rebels are supported by the UAE, Egypt, and Jordan. They launched an
unsuccessful military offensive to seize the capital, Tripoli, and unseat the
government in April 2019.
The
Libyan military has undone many of the rebels’ gains.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/10/08/635910/Guardian-arms-embargo-Libya-Turkey-UAE
--------
Nigeria:
How Nigerian Army Can Win Boko Haram War - Borno Governor
6
OCTOBER 2020
By
Abdulkareem Haruna
The
Governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, on Tuesday, listed some actions he
believes the army can take to win the Boko Haram war.
The
governor who was a special guest of honour at the 2020 joint Chief of Army
Staff Conference held in Maiduguri, Borno State, said the Nigeria Army being
the flagship of the nation's military, has all it takes to win the war, only if
it can review its fighting strategy.
While
commending the military for what he said was the recent improvement in troops'
fighting spirit against the insurgents, the governor said the war could be
ended in no time if the military especially the Nigeria Army can "change
the war narratives."
He
said it is appropriate to commend the army when it has done well "and we
must also have the courage to tell each other the common truth and be critical
of the troops' operations when things go wrong."
He
said his administration will not relent in giving the soldiers all the needed
support to win the war.
"As
part of the ten-point agenda of this administration ... , the Borno state
government shall sustain its role as a stakeholder in supporting the activities
of the Nigerian army, through the provision of all the needed support and
morale-boosting mechanism to all the security agencies to end the fight against
Boko Haram crisis."
"In
this direction, I wish to ask the Nigeria army to change the war narratives all
together in order to end the crisis.
"Attack,
they say, is the best form of defence. The Nigerian Army must have to take the
war to all the hideouts of the Boko Haram.
"You
should not wait and give the terrorists an opportunity for the first attack.
You should as a matter of policy, embark on critical clearance operation after
successful execution of attacks."
He
added that the army is finding it difficult to get the buy-in of the local
populace, as partners in the counterinsurgency, because it has failed in the
area of confidence-building.
"The
Nigerian Army must also embark on confidence-building and confidence sharing
mechanism with the communities and civil authorities they found themselves, so
as to expose the terrorists, their collaborates and sponsors," he said.
Governor
Zulum also called on the chief of army staff to look at the issue of competence
while deploying officers to command strategic military units, an area he said
was not well explored.
He
said the army authority should not emphasise loyalty of soldiers as criteria
for postings to military commands.
"Sir,
in appraising the performance of the Nigerian Army, there is a need to look at
the critical issues of competence, dedication and doggedness of officers and
men of the Nigerian armed forces.
"Let
me re-emphasise the need for having competent and dedicated officers to head
the military commands; because from my little observation, it is noted that all
the locations headed by competent and dedicated officers hardly fall into the
hands of the insurgents. Therefore we have to weigh the importance of loyalty
and competence, which is very important."
Governor
Zulum also mourned the death of Colonel Dahiru Bako, who died two weeks ago in
an ambush by Boko Haram in Borno State.
He
said the death of such gallant officers and soldiers was "a set back"
in the fight against the insurgency.
Earlier,
the army chief, Tukur Buratai, commended Nigerian troops for their sacrifices
in the service of the nation.
The
army chief had also commended the president and commander in chief, Muhammadu
Buhari, for the support being given to the army. He equally thanked the
government of Borno State for partnering with the army in most of its
operations.
He
said though the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the Nigerian army's focus of
events for 2020, the army has been able to secure a new allowance.
He
said the army has been able to procure and deploy PPEs to various formations to
help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
He
said the army has taken delivery of newly procured war equipment which officers
and soldiers are being trained on how to handle.
He
said the army had also been able to locally fabricate some of the military
equipment that has been deployed in the front lines, even as he called on all
commands to ensure judicious use of all the equipment in a manner that
justifies the investment of the federal government.
The
army chief commended the conduct of soldiers during the Edo election even as he
urged them to sustain that standard in the Ondo State governorship election
holding on Saturday.
He
said the Nigeria Army has rolled out plans to provide free housing programme
for families of all soldiers that have been killed in action while prosecuting
the war against Boko Haram.
The
Boko Haram insurgency in Northern Nigeria has caused the death of thousands of
people and displaced millions of others, mainly in Borno State.
The
efforts of the Nigerian military and other security agencies have, since 2016,
limited the insurgents to the three Northeastern states of Adamawa, Borno and
Yobe.
However,
the insurgents are still able to carry out attacks on civilians and security
agencies in those three states.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202010070081.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
--------
Somalia:
Somali Military Kills Ten Al-Shabaab Fighters Including Senior Commander in
Lower Shabelle Region
6
OCTOBER 2020
Somali
National Army (SNA) forces on Monday killed ten Alshabab militants including
two senior Alshabab officials in a military operation near Barire town in Lower
Shabelle region, military official confirms.
The
two senior operatives were identified as Isse Timaweyne also known as Abu Dhere
who was in charge of who was Alshabab operations and Qorey who was in charge of
Zakat in the region.
Ahmed
Hassan Siyad, 143 Section Commander of the Somali National Army told the
military-owned radio that the successful operation conducted to flushing out
terrorists and disrupting their plans to terrorize the residents in the Lower
Shabelle region.
"We
discovered the militants' presence in the area and launched an attack on them,
killing 10 of their fighters including two officials," Siyad said
This
comes hours after the military killed four Alshabab fighters in Middle Shabelle
on following fierce fighting on Monday.
Alshabab
group has been fighting in Somalia since 2007 to topple the internationally
recognized government and establish Sharia law-based and understood in their
own interpretation.
The
group was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 by the Somali military and the
African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) but they still carry out attacks in
the capital and elsewhere.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202010070185.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
--------
3
Mali National Guardsmen Killed in Overnight Attack
OCTOBER
7, 2020
Three
national guardsmen were killed in an attack in central Mali on Tuesday night, a
security official said, in the latest violence to hit the turbulent region.
Unidentified
gunmen ambushed the guardsmen at around 11 pm in the village of Birga-Peul near
the town of Koro, by the border with Burkina Faso, the security official said
on Wednesday, killing three.
The
militants also torched two vehicles and made off with another, added the
official, who declined to be named.
Mali
has been struggling to quell a jihadist insurgency that emerged in 2012 and has
since spread into neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Central
Mali has become an epicenter of the conflict, which has claimed the lives of
thousands of soldiers and civilians.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/10/07/mali-guardsmen-killed/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
--------
Attackers
kill 25 displaced civilians in Burkina Faso, UN says
7
Oct 2020
A
convoy carrying dozens of displaced civilians hoping to return to their homes
in central-northern Burkina Faso was ambushed by armed assailants, who then
separated the men from the group and killed 25 of them, the United Nations has
said.
The
attack late on Sunday took place some 9km (five miles) from the town of Pissila
in Sanmatenga province, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on
Wednesday.
The
women and children were let go, the UNHCR said in a statement based on
survivors’ testimony. One man who was left for dead also survived.
“The
attack on the (internally displaced people) occurred as they were returning to
their homes from Pissila, hoping for an improved security situation there,” the
UN said.
Ioli
Kimyaci, UNHCR’s representative in Burkina Faso, denounced the “brutal and
callous” attack. “Innocent civilians are seeking safety but instead are paying
with their lives with alarming frequency,” she said.
An
impoverished country of some 20 million people, Burkina Faso is one of several
West African states in recent years to have been gripped by escalating violence
that has spread across the western portion of the Sahel region.
Last
year, clashes between government forces, bandits and armed groups linked to
ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda led to more than 2,000 deaths in Burkina Faso. More
than one million Burkinabe people have been displaced by the conflict.
For
many years, Burkina Faso’s various ethnic groups have been well-integrated but
more recently armed groups have been trying to force division between them in
an attempt to stoke violence, according to analysts.
‘We’ve
got you’
Three
of the women who survived the attack told the Associated Press news agency that
the assailants identified themselves as “jihadists” who said their attack was
in retaliation for having volunteer defence fighters in their village.
“They
said people from our town had recruited volunteers to fight them and ‘today,
we’ve got you’,” one of the women said by phone from Pissila.
An
official speaking on the condition on anonymity told the AFP news agency an
investigation into the incident was opened.
“The
attack occurred on Sunday evening, but it was on Monday morning that about 25
bodies were found, near the site of the attack,” said the official.
The
fatalities were from the villages of Wintokuilga and Tang-kienga, close to
Pissila, he said.
The
Burkinabe government has not yet confirmed the killings but several regional
officials told AP they were aware of the situation and were looking into the
matter.
A
humanitarian worker in the town of Kaya said the casualties were “internally
displaced people who were returning home” when they were ambushed.
“We
still don’t know the exact number of victims, because there are still people
listed missing,” the aid worker said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/7/attack-in-burkina-leaves-25-displaced-people-killed-un?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
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Malian
Politician Released by Islamist Insurgents Meets with Mali's Transitional
President
October
09, 2020
Former
Malian presidential candidate Soumaila Cisse met the country's transitional
president Thursday night for the first time since his release this week by
Islamist insurgents in a prisoner swap.
Cisse,
who had been kidnapped six months ago, did not reveal the nature of his talks
with Bah N’Daw and other dignitaries at Mali's presidential palace, in the
capital Bamako.
Cisse
only spoke of his captivity, saying he was mostly in isolation living under difficult
conditions, but that he was not the victim of any physical or verbal abuse.
Cisse
and three European hostages were freed by Islamic extremists in northern Mali
just days after the Malian government released nearly 200 militants despite
concerns their release might further destabilize the country.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/malian-politician-released-islamist-insurgents-meets-malis-transitional-president
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Europe
Germany
criticised for not listing more far-right groups as terrorist entities
Nicky
Harley
Oct
7, 2020
German
efforts to curb far-right infiltration into the police and security services
are being hampered by the nation’s failure to list more extremist organisations
as terrorist entities.
A
report on extremism in the German security forces, published Tuesday, uncovered
more than 350 suspected far-right cases between 2017 and April 2020.
There
have been a string of scandals involving far-right networks in the police and
military in recent years.
Experts
have told The National that Germany should have been quicker to designate
far-right groups as terrorist organisations.
The
move would have given the authorities powers to target bank accounts and
electronic communications, and to raid properties in connection with their
investigations.
Hans-Jakob
Schindler, Director of the Counter Extremism Project think tank, said more
extremist groups need to be listed as terrorist groups.
“There
is clearly a problem with right-wing issues in the German security services,”
he said.
“Germany
has this problem and needs to treat it equally to Islamist extremism. Just
because these people are German and speak German does not mean they are any
less dangerous.
“Since
2019 everyone has been looking closely at the issue since the murder of a
politician and then the Hanau terror attack earlier this year. It is an issue
which needs urgently addressing.
“The
authorities should be listing far more of these groups as terror groups than as
extremists. Unless they list them as terror entities they cannot just simply
block their bank accounts or search their apartments.”
Mr
Schindler said a mass recruitment drive in the military and police in Germany
in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks and the rise of ISIS in Europe
led to a relaxation of standards.
“They
first need to look at their recruitment methods after 2001 and after 2015,” he
added.
“It
was massively enlarged and they lowered their recruitment standards and levels.
“Another
issue is the leadership, they need to move leaders around. Leaders have developed
loyalty and this has involved cover-ups.
“They
also need to give right-wing extremism far more attention, people are twice as
likely to fall victim to far-right violence in Germany than Islamist.”
Around
300,000 members of the security forces were asked to fill out anonymous
questionnaires for the report, in the hope of breaking what unions and experts
have called a culture of silence.
These
included security professionals from across the police and other security
services, including the BfV domestic intelligence agency.
Mr
Schindler told The National that there have been almost weekly incidents of
far-right issues in recent months.
“This
report is particularly concerning as these people are supposed to be fighting
terrorism, they have weapons and access to secret information,” he added.
“It
definitely is a major problem. We have had a whole summer of almost weekly
scandals.”
In
September, 29 officers were suspended from the police force in the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia over their participation in private chat groups in which
images of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and a refugee in a gas chamber were shared.
The
interior minister of the western state, Herbert Reul, said the 126 images
shared across five WhatsApp chat groups between 2013 and 2015 were “the worst”.
In
July, an elite unit of Germany’s Special Commando Forces was formally disbanded
after some of its members were found to hold extremist views.
Police
seized weapons, explosives and ammunition during a raid on the private property
of a commando sergeant major in the eastern state of Saxony.
Investigators
uncovered two kilograms of plastic explosives and an AK-47, plus an SS songbook
and other Nazi memorabilia.
In
Hesse, police chief Udo Münch was forced to resign after it emerged police
computers were used to find out details of a left-wing politician who later
received threatening mail from right-wing extremists.
Earlier
this year, 10 people were killed and five others wounded by a far-right
extremist in Hanau, near Frankfurt.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/germany-criticised-for-not-listing-more-far-right-groups-as-terrorist-entities-1.1090108?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1594421_
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Putin
invites foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan for talks Friday: Kremlin
09
October 2020
Russian
President Vladimir Putin invited the foreign ministers of Armenia and
Azerbaijan to come to Moscow for peace talks Friday and said fighting in the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region should be halted for humanitarian reasons, the
Kremlin said.
“The
President of Russia is issuing a call to halt the fighting in the
Nagorno-Karabakh on humanitarian grounds in order to exchange dead bodies and
prisoners,” the Kremlin said.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“The
foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia are being invited to Moscow on
October 9,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin, adding that the
Moscow talks would address those issues.
The
Russian leader said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would mediate the
talks.
The
Kremlin said late Thursday Putin had held a series of phone talks with the
leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
It
was not immediately clear if the top diplomats of the two countries had
accepted Moscow’s invitation.
Azerbaijan
and Armenia have for nearly two weeks been locked in bitter fighting over
Nagorno-Karabakh, an Azerbaijani region controlled by Armenians who declared an
unrecognized breakaway statelet after the fall of the USSR and emerged victorious
from the war that followed.
International
leaders have repeatedly called for an immediate halt to the fighting but there
are no signs yet of the conflict abating.
Yerevan
has so far ruled out any talks between the two countries’ top diplomats as long
as clashes are ongoing.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/10/09/Putin-invites-foreign-ministers-of-Armenia-Azerbaijan-for-talks-Friday-Kremlin
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Turkish,
Greek FMs meet for first time since eastern Mediterranean dispute
08
October 2020
The
foreign ministers of Turkey and Greece met on Thursday for the first time since
a disputeemerged between the two NATO members over energy exploration and
territorial rights in the eastern Mediterranean, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
said.
Turkey’s
Mevlut Cavusoglu and Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias met on the sidelines of
the Global Security Forum in the Slovak capital Bratislava, it said. Turkish
state media said the two men discussed “bilateral and regional issues”.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Turkey
and Greece sharply disagree over rights to offshore resources and the extent of
continental shelves.
Tensions
simmered in August when Turkish and Greek warships collided, but later eased
when Ankara and Athens agreed to resume talks.
Greece
has accused Turkey of illegally carrying out seismic exploration in parts of
the Mediterranean claimed by Athens and Cyprus, but Turkey says its operations
are within international law.
Ankara
withdrew its exploration vessels from contested waters last month to “allow for
diplomacy” ahead of a meeting of EU leaders. After the summit the bloc said it
would punish Turkey if it continued its operations in the region.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/10/08/Turkish-Greek-FMs-meet-for-first-time-since-eastern-Mediterranean-dispute
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Mideast
Iran
protesters chant ‘death to dictator’ after death of renowned musician Shajarian
Yaghoub
Fazeli
09
October 2020
A
gathering of fans of the late Iranian composer and singer Mohammad Reza
Shajarian in the capital Tehran outside the hospital where he died turned into
an anti-government protest Thursday evening, with demonstrators chanting “death
to the dictator,” according to videos shared on social media.
Shajarian,
80, died of a heart attack in Tehran’s Jam hospital on Thursday, his son
Homayoun announced on Instagram.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
legendary musician had become a symbol for the Iranian opposition after he
declared his support for the protests over the disputed reelection of former
president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
“Death
to the dictator,” people outside Tehran’s Jam hospital were seen chanting in
one video shared on Twitter. This chant is commonly used in anti-government
protests in Iran and is directed at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Protesters
also chanted against Iran’s state broadcaster, which had refrained from playing
Shajarian’s songs since 2009.
“Our
radio and television is our disgrace,” protesters were seen chanting in another
video shared on Twitter.
Other
videos showed a heavy presence of security forces, as well as clashes between
protesters and security forces.
Security
forces beat protesters with batons and arrested a number of them, according to
social media reports.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/10/09/Iran-protesters-chant-death-to-dictator-after-death-of-renowned-musician-Shajarian
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Iran
Underlines Willingness to Further Enhance Ties with Syria, Japan
Oct
08, 2020
During
the meetings in Tehran on Wednesday, outgoing Syrian and Japanese Ambassadors
to Tehran Adnan Mahmoud and Mitsugu Saito described relations as historic and
brotherly.
They
considered the development of relations with Iran as a breakthrough, thanking
the Iranian officials for their constructive cooperation.
High-ranking
Iranian and Japanese diplomats in a meeting in Moscow last month had discussed
the latest developments related to the nuclear deal and Syria as well as ways
to further broaden bilateral ties.
The
meeting was held between Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazzem Jalali and his
Japanese counterpart Toyohisa Kozuki.
During
the meeting, the ambassadors discussed ways to expand cooperation and issues of
mutual interests, including political and economic cooperation between the two
countries as well as regional and international issues, Syria, coronavirus, and
the Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Jalali,
for his part, stressed the illegality of the US actions against Iran and
Washington's attempts to restore sanctions despite the opposition of the world,
specially the members of the United Nations Security Council.
He
added that Iran has been deprived of the economic and political interests of
the JCPOA due to US sabotage.
Japan's
ambassador stressed Iran's constructive role in peace and stability of the
region.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990717000242
--------
Latest
Iran sanctions will deprive Tehran the ability to support terrorism: Pompeo
Joseph
Haboush
08
October 2020
The
latest batch of sanctions on 18 Iranian banks will further deprive Tehran the
ability to support terrorist activities and “nuclear extortion that threatens
the world,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday.
“Our
maximum economic pressure campaign will continue until Iran is willing to
conclude a comprehensive negotiation that addresses the regime’s malign
behavior,” Pompeo said.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Sanctions
were placed by the US Department of Treasury on 16 Iranian banks for their role
in the country’s financial sector, one bank for being owned or controlled by
another sanctioned Iranian bank and one military-affiliated bank, the Treasury
Department said.
Some
of them had been covered by previous designations but Thursday’s move places
them all under the same authority covering Iran’s entire financial sector.
Pompeo
said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei used funding meant for the Iranian
people and the response to the coronavirus pandemic, to increase funding for
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and “doubled the funding for the regime’s
Basij forces that terrorize the Iranian people every single day.”
Despite
criticism that the sanctions will impact humanitarian needs, including medicine
and food, Pompeo, like US officials earlier Thursday, reiterated that
Washington continued to stand with the Iranian people. “Today’s actions
pursuant to E.O. 13902 do not affect existing authorizations and exceptions for
humanitarian exports to Iran, which remain in full force and effect,” the US
diplomat said.
He
added: “We are committed to continuing the Iranian people’s access to
humanitarian goods and other essential goods and services, and we reaffirm the
United States’ offer to assist Iran in its response efforts to the COVID-19
outbreak.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/10/09/Latest-Iran-sanctions-will-deprive-Tehran-the-ability-to-support-terrorism-Pompeo
--------
Renowned
Iranian musician, singer Mohammad Shajarian dies of heart attack
Yaghoub
Fazeli
08
October 2020
Renowned
Iranian musician and singer Mohammad Reza Shajarian died of a heart attack at
the age of 80, his son Homayoun announced on Instagram on Thursday.
The
legendary singer was rushed to a hospital in the capital Tehran on Sunday after
his health deteriorated.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
In
2016, Shajarian revealed to the Iranian public that he had been battling cancer
for 15 years.
Iran’s
state broadcaster had refrained from playing Shajarian’s songs since 2009 due
to his support of the protests over the disputed reelection of former president
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He
was also banned from performing any concerts in Iran soon after.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/10/08/Renowned-Iranian-musician-singer-Mohammad-Shajarian-dies-of-heart-attack
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Iran
releases human rights activist Narges Mohammadi after sentence cut
08
October 2020
Iranian
human rights activist and journalist Narges Mohammadi has been released from
prison after her sentence was reduced, her husband and the judiciary said on
Thursday.
“Narges
was released from Zanjan prison at 3 am (1130 GMT). Wishing freedom for all
prisoners,” her husband Taghi Rahmani announced on Twitter.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
Mohammadi,
48, is a campaigner against the death penalty and was the spokeswoman for the
Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran -- founded by Nobel Peace laureate
Shirin Ebadi -- when she was arrested in May 2015.
The
mother-of-two was sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison for “forming and
managing an illegal group.”
According
to international press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF),
she was transferred in late December from Tehran’s Evin prison, where she had
been held since 2015, to a prison in Zanjan, northwest of the capital.
The
activist, reportedly suffering from a neurological disease that causes muscular
paralysis and a lung condition, requested temporary release from prison in June
for medical treatment.
Her
release comes days after UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet called on Iran
to “immediately release” political prisoners who have been excluded from a push
to empty prisons amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Since
March, more than 100,000 detainees in Iran have been granted furlough or
sentence remissions to help limit the spread of Covid-19.
The
disease has killed 27,658 people in Iran and infected 483,844, according to
health ministry figures.
Iran
is ranked 173 out of 180 countries in the 2020 edition of RSF’s World Press
Freedom Index.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/10/08/Iran-releases-human-rights-activist-Narges-Mohammadi-after-sentence-cut
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UN
envoy condemns recent clashes in Yemen’s Hodeidah, calls for ceasefire
08
October 2020
A
top UN official Thursday condemned recent clashes in Yemen’s strategic port
city of Hodeidah, which have left dozens killed and wounded, urging the
country’s warring parties to immediately stop the fighting.
Since
Saturday, clashes have flared up between Yemen’s Houthi militia and government
forces south of the port in Hodeidah, which handles about 70 percent of Yemen’s
commercial and humanitarian imports.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Yemeni
officials said Wednesday the death toll had reached 52 and that around 70 people
were wounded, including two dozen civilians.
“This
military escalation not only constitutes a violation of the Hodeidah ceasefire
agreement but it runs against the spirit of the ongoing UN-facilitated
negotiations that aim to achieve a nationwide ceasefire, humanitarian and
economic measures and the resumption of the political process,” said UN Special
Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths in a statement.
Griffiths
said he is following with “deep concern” reports of civilian casualties,
including women and children.
“I
have been engaging with all sides. I call on them to immediately stop the
fighting, respect the commitments they made under the Stockholm agreement,” he
said.
On
Monday, the UN mission to Yemen called for an immediate halt of violence in
order “not to put the population at further risk and jeopardize the delivery of
humanitarian assistance.”
The
war in Yemen has spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, leaving
millions suffering from food and medical shortages. It has killed over 112,000
people, including fighters and civilians, according to a database project that
tracks violence.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/10/08/UN-envoy-condemns-recent-clashes-in-Yemen-s-Hodeida-calls-for-ceasefire
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