PM Modi Uses Silver Brick to Lay the Foundation Stone of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya
New Age Islam News Bureau
5
Aug 2020
Why
Opposition Is Caught in A Bind on The Ram Mandir Issue
• Toll Expected to Rise in Blast That Shook Beirut, Killing 78 And Injuring Thousands
• Over 300 Members of Civil Society Pen Letter
Protesting Punjab's Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020
• Trump Says
Beirut Blast Was the Result Of ‘An Attack’ And ‘Bomb of Some Kind’
• ISIS Khorasan
Branch New Leader Is Pak-Based Haqqani Network Terrorist: Afghan Minister
• Malay Cops Say
Investigating Man for Allegedly Insulting Muslims On YouTube
• Zainab Abbasi Case Shines Spotlight on Police Brutality In UK
------
India
•
Why Opposition Is Caught in A Bind on The Ram Mandir Issue
• How the Ugly Spectre of Turkish Imperialism Fans Islamophobia in Kerala
• Retired Air
Vice Marshal Kak: ‘Annexation of Kashmir Ruptures Hindu-Muslim Bond In Kashmir’
• For Generations,
This Muslim Family in Ayodhya Making ‘Khadaus’ For Hindu Saints
• Kerala
physician among 3 Indian Islamic State operatives killed in Afghanistan prison
attack
• Ram Mandir
Bhoomi Pujan: Sena carries out Babri Mosque demolition ad; praises Balasaheb
• Hyderabad:
Darsgah Jihad o Shahadat workers protest against Ram temple
• Ahead of Bhumi
Pujan, All India Muslim Personal Law board questions Supreme Court verdict
• More Muslim
candidates crack civil service exam
• 30 students
from Jamia Millia Islamia coaching selected in UPSC’s Civil Services 2019
• Local terror
recruits halved in 2019, lesser now: 15 Corps chief
• BJP sarpanch
killed, two cops hurt in J&K twin terror attack
• J&K govt
to throw open religious places from August 16
--------
Arab world
• Toll Expected
to Rise in Blast That Shook Beirut, Killing 78 And Injuring Thousands
• Anti-US
Protest Rallies in Syria End in Clashes with Kurdish Militants
• Two-week state
of emergency declared in Beirut following explosions
• Lebanese PM
Diab calls on ‘friendly countries’ to help after Beirut explosions
• Hezbollah
slams Beirut blast, urges unity to overcome ‘national tragedy’
• Beirut blast:
Iran says ready to help Lebanon in any way necessary
• Interactive
maps reveal full extent of Hezbollah's global reach
• 18 killed in
clashes in northwestern Syria
--------
Pakistan
• Over 300
Members of Civil Society Pen Letter Protesting Punjab's
Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020
• PPP asks govt
to start Islamabad temple construction
• Pakistani Shia
Muslims hold protest demand for end to enforced disappearance
• Pakistan court
appoints three senior lawyers as amici curiae in Jadhav's case
• Pakistan
affirms claim to IHK with new map
• PTI’s social
media guru to head govt digital wing
• Opposition
questions PM’s absence from ‘briefing’ on Kashmir
--------
North America
• Trump Says Beirut
Blast Was the Result Of ‘An Attack’ And ‘Bomb of Some Kind’
• Trump says US
will be there to help following explosion in Beirut
• ‘US's Pompeo,
Taliban deputy leader discuss intra-Afghan talks’
• US threats
against Iran are falling on deaf ears: Scholar
• Homeland
Security Is Quietly Tying Antifa to Foreign Powers
--------
South Asia
• ISIS Khorasan Branch
New Leader Is Pak-Based Haqqani Network Terrorist: Afghan Minister
• Taliban
attacks repulsed in Faryab, at least 11 militants killed, wounded: Shaheen
Corps
• Afghan forces
arrest top ISIS leader in Kunar province of Afghanistan
• Indian doctor
detonated car bomb in deadly attack targeting jail in East of Afghanistan
--------
Southeast Asia
• Malay Cops Say
Investigating Man for Allegedly Insulting Muslims On YouTube
• Apex Court to
Hear If Muslim Can Be Made Party to Non-Muslim Marriage Dispute
• PBS says will
contest 30 seats in Sabah polls
--------
Europe
• Zainab Abbasi
Case Shines Spotlight on Police Brutality In UK
• UK government
to get 'to the bottom' of SAS Afghanistan emails
• Albania
transfers IS terror cell suspect to Germany
• Mosques
terrorist costing NZ millions
• MP Afzal Khan
made parliamentary chair of UK’s Labour Muslim Network
--------
Mideast
• How IRGC's
Buried Ballistic Missiles Tear Up Ground to Become Iran's New Surprise Weapon
• Israel seeking
to export own crises to Gaza: Hamas
• Turkey says
oil deal between SDF, US firm amounts to ‘financing of terrorism’
--------
Africa
• Haftar Says Libya
‘Will Never Accept Turkish Colonialism’ In Address to LNA Battalion
• Libyan tribes
sue rebel commander at ICC over civilian massacre
• Suicide
Bombing Attack on Mogadishu Restaurants Kills At least Three
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pm-modi-uses-silver-brick/d/122550
--------
PM Modi Uses Silver Brick to Lay the Foundation Stone of Ram Mandir at Ayodhya
Aug 06,
2020
Pawan
Dixit, Hindustan Times, New Delhi
Dressed in a traditional silk dhoti and gold-coloured kurta, Modi
offered prayers to the infant deity, Ram Lalla, at the makeshift temple and
performed a circumambulation, before planting a sapling (ANI Photo)
-----
Loud
cheers of Jai Shri Ram, the chanting of Vedic hymns and the blowing of conches
greeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as stepped into the Ram Janmabhoomi site
in Uttar Pradesh Ayodhya town at 12.07pm on Wednesday.
Inside,
175 guests waited patiently in chairs spaced two-feet apart under a waterproof
canopy in shades of red, gold and yellow. Outside, in the temple town, people
thronged shops with television sets to watch the event, and rooftops of houses
near the temple site became vantage viewing points as people jostled to get a
glimpse of the Prime Minister. “Bhoomi pujan (the ground breaking ceremony) is
a new beginning for us and end of a bitter past,” said Sujeet Bahadur, 65, a
local resident who is old enough to remember the movement for the Ram temple.
Dressed
in a traditional silk dhoti and gold-coloured kurta, Modi offered prayers to
the infant deity, Ram Lalla, at the makeshift temple and performed a
circumambulation, before planting a sapling. He then participated in the ground
breaking ceremony.
The
Vedic ceremony, presided over by Senapati Shastri of the Kanchi Kamakoti
Peetham in Tamil Nadu, began with prayers to Ganesha, the Hindu god of
beginnings. Hymns dedicated to Lord Hanuman, Kaal Bhairav and Goddess Kali, the
clan deity of Ram, were also recited. A 40kg silver brick donated by temple
trust chief Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, was used for the ritual.
The main
foundation-laying event began at 12.45pm, a pre-ordained time decided by
astrologers and seers. The priests dug a pit in the sanctum sanctorum of the
proposed temple, the silver brick was removed and nine other bricks, engraved
with the words ‘Jai Shri Ram’ [Hail Lord Ram], placed instead. All the bricks
were donated by devotees around the world in 1989, when Hindu groups started
mass mobilization to build the temple in what they believed is the birth place
of Lord Ram.
A lotus
and the PM’s personal offering, a kalash (holy pitcher) made of five metals
sacred in Hindu traditions (gold, silver, copper, iron and zinc) was placed on
the bricks. A copper plaque donated by Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti
Peetham, one of Hinduism’s holy seats, inscribed with Sanskrit hymns was also
laid at temple’s foundation. As the PM offered prayers, Rashtriya Swayamsewak
Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat, Uttar Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel, chief
minister Yogi Adityanath, Salil Singhal, nephew of late Vishwa Hindu Parishad
chief Ashok Singhal, and his wife looked on. All were wearing masks.
Soil
from at least 2,000 Hindu holy sites and water from at least 100 sacred rivers
were used for purification and other rituals. The 175 guests included 135 seers
from various spiritual traditions and eminent people from Ayodhya.
“Nine
bricks are kept here... these were sent by devotees of Lord Ram from around the
world in 1989. There are 2,75,000 such bricks, out of which 100 bricks with
‘Jai Shri Ram’ engraving have been taken,” said a priest officiating the
ceremony.
The
ceremony lasted 40 minutes, after which the PM released a postage stamp on the
Ram temple designed by the Ayodhya Shodh Sansthan, an organisation of the Uttar
Pradesh government’s culture department. Adityanath presented a three-feet high
statue of Kodanda Ram carved from rosewood to PM Modi. Kodada (literally, with
bow) Ram represents the deity from the period during which Ram was looking for
Sita after her abduction in the epic Ramayana.
In the
evening, fireworks lit up the sky and tens of thousands of earthen lamps
glittered across the town as locals said they hoped the ceremony marked a new
beginning.
Authorities
said 100,000 lamps were lit along the banks of the Saryu river.
“Lord
Ram belongs to everyone. Ram temple will also bring overall development to
Ayodhya,” said Iqbal Ansari, son of the oldest litigant in the Ram
Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit decided by the Supreme Court last year.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-uses-silver-brick-to-lay-the-foundation-stone-of-ram-mandir/story-SdjaznicaNTMBh4WSxk8OK.html
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Why
Opposition Is Caught in A Bind on The Ram Mandir Issue
Sunita
Aron
Hindustan
Times, Lucknow, Aug 06, 2020
Analysts point out that the Opposition can’t openly celebrate the
temple, nor criticise the ceremony. (PTI Photo)
------
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday said that she hopes the Bhumi Pujan (groundbreaking ceremony) of the Ram temple in Ayodhya will become an occasion to celebrate national unity. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has repeatedly said: “The temple is for all; let’s now work for the progress of the state.”
Analysts
point out that the Opposition can’t openly celebrate the temple, nor criticise
the ceremony.
Scholar
and political expert Badri Narain describes this as a “big loss to the
Opposition; they will need a viable issue to take on the Bharatiya Janata
Party”, in the state and outside it.
The BJP,
meanwhile, has sought to be seen as inclusive and invited three prominent
Muslims, two of them associated with the Ram temple/Babri mosque movement.
The
three Muslim invitees included Iqbal Ansari, son of late Hashim Ansari who
fought for the restoration of Babri Mosque for about 55 years. He was a close
friend of late Ramchand Paramhans of Digamber Akhara, who fought for the
liberation of Ram temple for five decades . Sometimes they used to travel
together in a rickshaw to Faizabad court. The other two invitees are Mohammad
Sharif, who has buried/cremated thousands of unclaimed bodies of Hindus and
Muslims and Zafar Farooqui, chairman of the Sunni Central Waqf Board. Ansari
attended today’s ceremony.
The
decision to invite two prominent players in the mosque movement is a political
move, the analysts added. The BJP has been systematically trying to dent the
opposition’s precious minority vote bank – about 19% the country’s population
and 21% of the state’s.They point out that it shouldn’t surprise anyone that no
provocative slogans or speeches are echoing in the state at a time such as
this.
Not
everyone is convinced.
Iqbal
Mustafa, an educationist from Ayodhya, said: “Muslims accept the existence of
Ram and the Supreme Court verdict. However, the invites to three Muslims is a
political move which will not help the BJP till they stop discrimination. The
fact is, no one lost or won the case. It’s time we build communal harmony in
the country and not make provocative statements.”
Narain
admits that while the invitations may not by themselves soften Muslim
sentiments towards the BJP, it just makes the opposition’s job that much more
difficult in terms of picking an issue. For instance, he added, Dalits
(traditionally, the vote base of the Bahujan Samaj Party) definitely want to be
a part of the temple construction exercise.” Dalits account for about 17% of
the country’s population and 21% of Uttar Pradesh’s.
To be
sure, the opposition has questioned the timing of the exercise -- in the midst
of the Covid-19 pandemic -- but most have resorted to the platitudinous “Ram
belongs to everyone” statement.
Their
silence hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said: “The Opposition were demanding
resolution of the dispute by the court. Now they are left with no choice but to
respect the verdict of the Supreme Court.”
Even the
Muslim parties to the Supreme Court case seem to have accepted the decision and
instead of filing a review petition in the apex court, as the one-time convenor
and lawyer in the case Zafaryab Jilani suggested, the Sunni Waqf Board is
building the mosque 5 kms away from the disputed site in Ayodhya.
But all
that is history now. The land is no more disputed and analysts say it has
ceased to be a fertile ground for the politics of consolidation.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/why-opposition-is-caught-in-a-bind-on-temple-issue/story-Iedk1eoYcNbvgbwx9kRrvN.html?utm_source=Daily_Newsletter&utm_medium=HT_Email
-----
Toll expected to rise in blast that shook Beirut, killing 78 and injuring thousands
05 Aug 2020
Tuesday's blast at port
warehouses storing highly explosive material was the most powerful in years in
Beirut. (Photo: AP)
-----
A powerful blast
in port warehouses near central Beirut storing highly explosive material killed
78 people, injured nearly 4,000 and sent seismic shockwaves that shattered
windows, smashed masonry and shook the ground across the Lebanese capital.
Officials said
they expected the death toll to rise further after Tuesday's blast as emergency
workers dug through rubble to rescue people and remove the dead. It was the
most powerful explosion in years in Beirut, which is already reeling from an
economic crisis and a surge in coronavirus infections.
President Michel
Aoun said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, used in fertilisers and bombs,
had been stored for six years at the port without safety measures, and said it
was “unacceptable”.
He called for an
emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday and said a two-week state of emergency
should be declared.
“What we are
witnessing is a huge catastrophe,” the head of Lebanon's Red Cross George
Kettani told broadcaster Mayadeen.
“There are
victims and casualties everywhere.”
Hours after the
blast, which struck shortly after 6pm (1500 GMT), a fire still blazed in the
port district, casting an orange glow across the night sky as helicopters
hovered and ambulance sirens sounded across the capital.
A security
source said victims were taken for treatment outside the city because Beirut
hospitals were overwhelmed with wounded. Ambulances from the north and south of
the country and the Bekaa valley to the east were called in to help.
The huge blast
revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war and its aftermath, when Lebanese
endured heavy shelling, car bombings and Israeli air raids. Some residents
thought an earthquake had struck. Dazed, weeping and injured people walked
through streets searching for relatives.
Others sought
their missing loved ones in the overflowing hospitals. One medic said 200 to
300 people had been admitted to a single emergency department.
“I've never seen
this. It was horrible,” the medic, who gave her name as Rouba, told Reuters.
"The blast
blew me off metres away. I was in a daze and was all covered in blood. It
brought back the vision of another explosion I witnessed against the US embassy
in 1983,” said Huda Baroudi, a Beirut designer.
Prime Minister
Hassan Diab told the nation there would be accountability for the deadly blast
at the “dangerous warehouse”, adding “those responsible will pay the price.”
The United
States embassy in Beirut warned residents in the city about reports of toxic
gases released by the blast, urging people to stay indoors and wear masks if
available.
Smoke and
fireball
Footage of the
explosion shared by residents on social media showed a column of smoke rising
from the port, followed by an enormous blast, sending up a white cloud and a
fireball into the sky. Those filming the incident from high buildings 2km from
the port were thrown backwards by the shock.
Bleeding people
were seen running and shouting for help in clouds of smoke and dust. Streets
looked as if they had been hit by an earthquake, with damaged buildings, flying
debris, and wrecked cars and furniture.
Officials did
not say what caused the blaze that set off the blast. A security source and
local media said it was started by welding work being carried out on a hole in
the warehouse.
The government
said it was still struggling to establish the magnitude of the disaster.
“There are many
people missing. People are asking the emergency department about their loved
ones and it is difficult to search at night because there is no electricity,”
Health Minister Hamad Hasan told Reuters.
Hasan said 78
people were killed and nearly 4,000 injured.
Lebanese
broadcaster al-Jadeed read out appeals for information about the missing into
the early hours of the morning. Some people posted photos of missing relatives
on social media.
The prime
minister called for a day of mourning on Wednesday.
Tangled wreckage
The explosion
occurred three days before a UN-backed court is due to deliver a verdict in the
trial of four suspects from the Shia Muslim group Hezbollah over a 2005 bombing
which killed former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri and 21 others.
Hariri was
killed by a huge truck bomb on the same waterfront, about 2km from the port.
Israeli
officials said Israel, which has fought several wars with Lebanon, had nothing
to do with Tuesday's blast and said their country was ready to give
humanitarian and medical assistance.
Iran, the main
backer of Hezbollah, also offered support, as did Tehran's regional rival Saudi
Arabia.
Qatar and Iraq
said they were sending makeshift hospitals to assist the high numbers of
casualties.
The United
States, Britain, France and Germany expressed shock and sympathy and said they
were ready to help.
US President
Donald Trump indicated at a White House briefing that the explosion was a
possible attack. Asked later to elaborate, Trump said that he had met with some
US generals who felt it was not “some kind of a manufacturing explosion type of
event.”
Two US
officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said initial information
contradicted Trump's view, however.
The blast
threatens a new humanitarian crisis in a nation that hosts hundreds of
thousands of Syrian refugees and which is already grappling with economic
meltdown under one of the world's biggest debt burdens.
Images showed
port buildings reduced to tangled masonry, devastating the main entry point to
a country that relies on food imports to feed its population of more than six
million.
Residents said
glass was broken in neighbourhoods on Beirut's Mediterranean coast and inland
suburbs several kilemetres away. In Cyprus, a Mediterranean island 180km across
the sea from Beirut, residents heard the blast. One resident in Nicosia said
his house and window shutters shook.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572722/toll-expected-to-rise-in-blast-that-shook-beirut-killing-78-and-injuring-thousands
--------
Over 300 members
of civil society pen letter protesting Punjab's Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill
2020
Aug 04 2020
KARACHI: More
than 300 members of the civil society have penned a letter to the Punjab
Assembly, protesting and expressing concerns about the recently-passed
Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020.
The letter, now
open to the public, has so far attracted signatures from 314 individuals,
including lawyers, activists, educationists, academics, artists, journalists,
doctors, architects, publishers, athletes, philanthropists, civil society
organisations (CSOs), historians, community organisers and workers, economists,
and members of the business community, as well as members of the Punjab
Assembly itself.
On July 23, the
Punjab Assembly had passed the Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020, granting
the Directorate General of Public Relations (DGPR) the power to visit and
inspect any printing press, publishing house or bookstore and confiscate any
book, before or after printing.
The new law bars
the printing and publication of objectionable material and also bars the
publisher, editor or translator from printing or publishing any book and
material that consists of photographs or pictures of suicide bombers,
terrorists, except as required by law enforcing agencies for purposes of
investigation.
The DGPR, as per
the new law, would also have the power to refuse permission to import, print or
publish a book “if it is prejudicial to the national interest, culture,
religious and sectarian harmony.”
"The
vesting of such immense arbitrary, unfettered and unilateral power in a single
bureaucrat is in breach of even those reasonable restrictions that can be
imposed on the right to freedom of expression under the Constitution of
Pakistan, 1973 ('the Constitution')," the letter reads.
It underlines
that the function of the DGPR is "the publicity of the government and
handling public relations of the government".
"There is
no rational or legal basis for the DGPR to be granted competence by the
legislature to make determinations on matters entrusted to him under this
Bill," the letter says.
Concerns over
Muttahida Ulema Board
It expresses
concerns about the Muttahida Ulema Board, which would be receiving the
confiscated books, under Section 8(4) of the Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill,
noting that there is no explanation as to who is part of the Board or whether
its members are competent "to decide what is prejudicial to national interest
and culture".
It further notes
with concern that the Bill does not define "objectionable material"
and how its ambiguous wording may lead to violations of Article 25 of the
Constitution.
"There is a
pressing need for this Bill to be reviewed in its entirety, as it amounts to
excessive delegation of powers to the executive," it reads. "Our
Constitutional framework is based on the trichotomy of powers. [...] Such
unbridled power to determine what amounts to objectionable content essentially
amounts to handing over power of the legislature to an executive
official".
Int'l Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights
Highlighting the
DGPR's powers in the matter, it says the wording is obscure and the
"unchecked power is bound to be abused by executive functionaries when
they perform the functions of prosecution and judge to punish any breach under
the law".
"Such
delegation of power amounts to vesting judicial powers in the executive, which
is in breach of principles of trichotomy of power and separation of powers,"
the letter adds.
Most
importantly, the concerned members of the civil society underscore that
"these are not lawful restrictions on the right to freedom of expression
under the Constitution".
Any interference
in the right to freedom of expression is only legitimate if "it is
provided by law; it pursues a legitimate aim; and it is necessary for a
democratic society", as per a three-part test contained in Article 19 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which
Pakistan has been a state party since June 23, 2010, they add.
Hindrance to
right of conducting business
In addition, the
concerned individuals stress on the fact that the powers of confiscation under
the Bill are "violative of Article 10-A of the Constitution" and that
any individual against whom an order may be considered should be given a chance
to present their viewpoint in a hearing.
The letter also
says a "requirement of four gratis copies placed on publishers and
printers" is a hindrance in the rights of businesses granted under Article
18.
"This Bill
is also in breach of Article 19A of the Constitution, which protects the right
to access to information. The concepts of the glory of Islam, national
interest, culture and religious and sectarian harmony cannot be allowed to be
misused and become a tool for whimsical, arbitrary, subjective, unstructured,
dictatorial or unreasonable censorship and control of publications," it
says.
No justification
"What is
peculiar is why a democratic forum would behave in such a dictatorial manner,
disrespecting the very Constitution that empowers it," it adds. "We
also fear that certain provisions of the proposed Bill may fuel sectarian
tensions in the province, which would have a spillover effect(s) throughout the
country."
Underlining the
citizens' right to the freedom of expression in a democratic society, it says
the Punjab Assembly has neither established the "necessity for this
bill" nor "a pressing social need that required passage of this
Bill".
The letter,
towards the end, mentions that the Tahaffuz-e-Bunyad-e-Islam Bill 2020 may also
have a detrimental impact on the domestic industry, which may suffer as
"such prohibitory legislation may end up encouraging citizens to get hold
of online pirated versions of publications that they wish to read",
thereby negatively affecting local publishers and distributors.
https://www.geo.tv/latest/301219-over-300-members-of-civil-society-pen-letter-protesting-punjabs-tahaffuz-e-bunyad-e-islam-bill-2020
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Trump says
Beirut blast was the result of ‘an attack’ and ‘bomb of some kind’
04 August 2020
US President
Donald Trump said Tuesday that the Beirut explosions were the result of a
"bomb of some kind," according to military generals he had spoken to.
Responding to a
reporter's question at a White House briefing, Trump said the generals
"would know better than I would," and that "they seem to think
it was an attack." Trump added that "it was a bomb of some
kind."
For all the
latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
At the beginning
of the White House briefing, Trump offered his condolences to the families of
those who died or were wounded in Tuesday's blasts. The US president said it
looked "like a terrible attack."
"This was
not some kind of manufacturing explosion type of event," Trump said.
Multiple
explosions rocked Beirut on Tuesday, killing at least 60 and wounding 3,000,
Health Minister Hamad Hassan said. Prime Minister Hassan Diab later revealed
that 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate were stored in the warehouse that exploded
in the Port of Beirut.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/05/Trump-says-Beirut-blast-was-the-result-of-a-bomb-of-some-kind-.html
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ISIS Khorasan
branch new leader is Pak-based Haqqani Network terrorist: Afghan minister
Aug 4, 2020
KABUL: Shahab
Almahajir, the new leader of ISIS Khorasan branch, is a Pakistan-based Haqqani
Network terrorist, said Afghanistan acting interior minister Masoud Andrabi.
Exposing links
between Haqqani network and Taliban, Andrabi alleged that the two terror groups
carry out terrorism on a daily basis across Afghanistan and when their
terrorist activities do not suit them politically they rebrand it under ISKP.
"Shahab
Almahajir, the newly appointed leader of the Islamic State of Khorasan
Province-ISKP is a Haqqani member. Haqqani and the Taliban carry out their
terrorism on a daily basis across Afghanistan and when their terrorist
activities do not suit them politically they rebrand it under ISKP," he
tweeted on Monday.
In May, former
Afghan intelligence chief, Rahmatullah Nabil, has warned that Pakistan-based
Haqqani Network is "backing" proscribed terror groups in planning a
'9/11 style' attack in the West.
The Haqqani
Network emerged in the 1980s and consists largely of fighters who grouped
around Jalaluddin Haqqani after that period. The outfit today is led by
Sirajuddin Haqqani and is rumoured to have between 10,000-15,000 terrorists.
The US has
accused Pakistan of maintaining a strong working relationship with the Haqqani
Network.
A UN report has
estimated that 6,000-6,500 Pakistani terrorists are in neighbouring
Afghanistan, posing a threat to both the countries, a UN report has said.
The 26th report
of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team concerning ISIS,
al-Qaida and associated individuals and entities said the terror group al-Qaida
in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) operates under the Taliban umbrella from
Nimruz, Helmand and Kandahar provinces of Afghanistan.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/isis-khorasan-branch-new-leader-is-pak-based-haqqani-network-terrorist-afghan-minister/articleshow/77349098.cms
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Malay Cops Say
Investigating Man for Allegedly Insulting Muslims On YouTube
05 Aug 2020
KUALA LUMPUR,
Aug 5 ― The police are investigating a man under Section 3 (1) (a) of the
Sedition Act for allegedly using insulting language and touching on the
sensitivities of Muslims.
Bukit Aman CID
deputy director (Investigation and Legal) DCP Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid
said the man believed to be a local was being investigated due to his tendency
to incite hatred and insult others.
“However, so far
the police have not received any report regarding this case (and) it is
believed that the man's speech was made abroad,” he told Bernama yesterday.
Yesterday, an 11
minute 37 second-long video was recently uploaded on YouTube showing a man
standing and acting indecently in front of a group of Muslims who were
performing prayers.
The man is
believed to have also uttered insulting words against Islam, independent
speaker Dr Zakir Naik and the Rulers in Malaysia.
The video
concerned has garnered over 5000 views since it was uploaded three days ago,
and received criticism from netizens who hoped that action would be taken
against the perpetrator. ― Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/05/cops-say-investigating-man-for-allegedly-insulting-muslims-on-youtube/1891079
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Zainab Abbasi
case shines spotlight on police brutality in UK
04 August 2020
The footage is
raw and deeply disturbing in equal measure: a panicked father waiting on her
daughter’s bedside at hospital only to be brutally dragged away by
ultra-violent police.
Bodycam footage
shows Dr Rashid Abbasi being dragged away by Northumbria Police officers as his
critically ill six-year old daughter, Zainab, clings to dear life thanks to a
ventilator.
The background
to the story is that Zainab, who suffered from the rare genetic illness
Niemann-Pick disease, was about to have her life snuffed out as her doctors had
just informed her father, and mother Aliya, that they had decided to switch off
her life-support machine.
In an ironic
twist, Dr Abbasi is himself a National Health Service (NHS) chest consultant
with thirty years service behind him.
Justifying his decision
to resist the forceful police officers, Dr Abbasi said he could not contemplate
leaving his daughter’s side voluntarily.
In an interview
with BBC Radio 4’s Today Program (August 03), Dr Abbasi said: “I would not
leave my daughters’ bedside voluntarily just to talk to them [the police]
because I knew if I stepped out they would not let me back in and they might
use that opportunity to if I am away from her to remove the tube”.
In another
interview with Sky News the Abbassis described the August 2019 incident as a
“living nightmare”.
"To be
honest, we cannot explain what a nightmare this became ... When my husband was
being detained I was telling them he has a heart problem, he's had a problem
for over 20 years.
"I actually
thought he was going to die, at one point I said to the nurses am I going to be
organizing two funerals?", Aliya told Sky News.
Following the
brutal incident, the NHS trust applied to the High Court for permission to take
Zainab off the ventilator, but in mid-September 2019, just three days before
the hearing was due to start, she tragically died.
The Abbassis are
now taking legal action against Northumbria Police.
The shocking
incident is set to further diminish public confidence in British policing, not
least because of the ethnic minority background and Muslim faith of the
Abbassis.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631086/UK-Police-Brutality-Hospital-Abbassi-Family
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India
How the Ugly
Spectre Of Turkish Imperialism Fans Islamophobia In Kerala
04 Aug 2020
The opening of
the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul for Muslim prayers by the Erdogan regime has been
compared in certain circles to the Ayodhya issue in India. Interestingly, in
the Indian state of Kerala with sizeable Christian and Muslim populations, the
event has found an echo, mostly through social media outlets, since the
religious institutions have thankfully been reduced to skeletal capacities by
the pandemic.
In an online
portal, an article sans a byline appeared saying that those who supported the
Erdogan regime, were “digging their own graves”. This went viral in politically
correct networks. The article was purportedly written in response to another
one written by a Thangal scion in the Indian Union Muslim League mouthpiece
Chandrika supporting the Turkish move. But hardly anyone in their righteousness
demurred about the “digging their own graves” remark and its invoking of the
Rohingya exodus, the Srebreniça massacre and other tragedies across national
and communal boundaries, with the underlying implication that any sort of
assertion by Muslims, exemplified in the Turkish action, will inevitably be met
with genocidal violence. This perhaps is true, given the decimation of Muslim
societies in West Asia and elsewhere, but the article hardly attempts to
empathize with the victims of those events of violence. The events in Ayodhya
are also inevitably invoked in inverted fashion. The absence of fraternal
feeling with the victims is glaring, since the controversy is invoked in its
minoritarian context.
The inverted
analogies with Ayodhya are again being drawn on communal lines, tracing the
genealogy of Islamicate sovereignty to Turkey, Erdogan himself being compared
to Babur as well as the right wing in India. But the vulpine logic here, lies
in casting the victims in the Indian context along with the perpetrators in the
Turkish one. `Indian minorities are answerable for Hagia Sophia. Why? See, this
is just what has happened to you over here, won’t you ever learn your lesson?’,
seems to be the tone that is sought to be set.
The victims
themselves are blamed just as the shame in a lynching incident still lies with
the victim and caste operates as an event horizon that nullifies the humanity
of the outcaste victim. A rigorous analysis of power relations at both ends,
Turkey and India, would have produced a nuanced understanding of
religiously-motivated violence. The victim-blaming culture doubly prosecutes
the powerless, first for being the victim, and then for wallowing in their
masochistic self-pity. Giorgio Agamben, whose attempted theorization of the
pandemic has drawn much ire from liberal circles, postulates that the Roman
imperial conception of the ‘homo sacer’ devoid of any sovereign rights is applicable
to the present-day world of refugees and disenfranchised. Rather than
solidarity with the aggrieved, the event has fanned phobia and hatred.
Even independent
observers and analysts had their judgement clouded by the communal fault lines.
Thus, the majoritarian fundamentalism in Turkey was strangely invoked in the
context of the minorities in India and their aspirations for dignity.
What would have
ended up as an internecine wrangle among Malayali journalists trying to be
sleuths and CIDs, escalated when the Turkish ambassador to India shot off an
epistle in response to an editorial carried by a national daily and written by
its foreign affairs editor. In his rejoinder, the envoy sought to defend
actions of the Erdogan regime by citing a legal precedent in India. This gave
an impetus to communal rather than power analysis of both events. The othering
of Muslims has been so comprehensive that any invocation of the community can
solely be in pathological contexts, either as maudlin victims or in the role of
aggressors, neither deserving empathy and understanding. The spectre of
neo-caste functions as an ethereal ether that swallows up the marginalized from
the mainstream. The Slovenian thinker Slavoj Žižek in his debate with Jordan
Peterson reminds us that the pursuit of a marginal position can be
counter-productive. The narrative of political correctness in contemporary
India often drives Muslims and other minorities into such a liminal status
where they enter into perpetual conflict with each other in a time warp.
While the EU,
whose casting out of Turkey fuelled the rising religiosity in that country, has
mostly been nonchalant in its response to the Turkish action, the Eastern
churches and Oriental Christian communities perceive the injustice as an act of
usurpation. Along with other regions in the Indian Ocean-belt, including Sri
Lanka, Indonesia and parts of Africa, the glacial internecine antagonism among
Abrahamic persuasions has gradually been rising in Kerala also. In a globalized
world, the conflicts in the middle-east, attempted decimation of Christian and
minority communities like the Yazidis by terrorist IS, Lebanese civil war,
occupation of Palestine by Israeli and the ongoing policies of the Trump
administration have all aided in the setting up of this template of unmitigated
mutual antagonism of an apocalyptic nature.
Evangelical
movements, institutions and media that often played a significant role in the
social scenario in places including Kerala during the colonial era, have
inevitably stereotyped Muslims. The despicable attack by Muslim fundamentalists
on a college teacher for alleged blasphemy perhaps served as the last straw.
Ecclesiastical epistles invoking medieval animosities and the threat of
miscegenation have hardly been helpful to the cause of communal amity. The
Syrian Christians of Kerala would perhaps be that rare Indic group which
despite a Semitic affiliation, retain their ‘caste’ status. The subaltern
sections of the minority populace on the other hand, especially along the ecologically
sensitive coastal region, have been divided on sectarian grounds and thus nurse
grievances of appeasement. The Muslims of Kerala, with tenuous links at best to
the Turko-Persian-Arab Islam, have frequently in the past found themselves
castigated in that very context, including the liquidation of the erstwhile
Caliphate by Kemal Ataturka century ago.
Even as Kerala
aspires to modern forms of commingled and cosmopolitan existence, internecine
fights and ‘organizational factionalism’ have made the Muslim community seem to
regress into atavistic forms of tribal affinities. The flimsy agency that a
remittance economy offers, has given minorities in Kerala some purchase power
in the socio-political arenas of the state. The resounding resonance with which
events happening at the edge of Asia are felt in distant Kerala is a woeful
reminder of the ephemeral nature of that agency. The flickering spark that
flies in from Constantinople might be too feeble to have any real impact on the
ground, but it is a tinderbox that awaits activation all the same.
Various online
fora that have abetted the emergence of a post-truth regime worldwide have been
detrimental to the cause of subaltern minorities. In a heavily mediatized
society like that of Kerala, the new normal is easily accepted with hardly any
demurral, thus letting vicious ideologies of hatred inveigle themselves into a
dynamic edifice of sociability and shared communal living. This engenders among
other things, rampant misogyny and the caricaturing of the underprivileged in
memes and other viral online platforms.
https://www.milligazette.com/news/Opinions/33651-how-ugly-spectre-turkish-imperialism-fans-islamophobia-kerala/
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Retired Air Vice
Marshal Kak: ‘Annexation Of Kashmir Ruptures Hindu-Muslim Bond In Kashmir’
Cheena
Kapoor
05.08.2020
A former Indian
Air Force (IAF) officer, representing Kashmiri Pandit (Hindu) community Kapil
Kak said that India’s move to dissolve and annex the disputed region of Jammu
and Kashmir last year on Aug. 5 has increased alienation, despair, and fear in
the region.
“Kashmiris have
now become more distant from the rest of the country as their hopes have shattered.
This distrust has led to terror, “said the retired Air Vice Marshal Kak in an
exclusive conversation with Anadolu Agency.
He is one of the
many petitioners, who have moved the Indian Supreme Court challenging the
abrogation of constitutional provisions and annexation of the region.
“Terror still
operates and has encouraged militancy. Firing from the Pakistan side has
increased too. Every human activity from education to agriculture has been
deeply affected. Instead of improving, the situation has gone worse,” he added.
Article 370 of
the Indian constitution allowed Jammu and Kashmir some degree of autonomy in
terms of having its constitution and empowered state assembly to make laws. It
also provided a legal shield to protect the demographic character of the
Muslim-majority region, as outsiders were not allowed to settle and buy
properties.
Further, he said
the physical distancing enforced by COVID-19 pandemic and the psychological
distance created by the annexation, the Kashmiris have further moved away from
the rest of India.
A decorated IAF
pilot, who participated in in 1965 and 1971 war against Pakistan said, the last
year Aug. 5 decision should not have been taken without the consent of 7
million people living in the region.
“Kashmir is an
issue, which would have come to a resolution with the involvement of the
Kashmiris and bilateral talks, “he said.
He points out at
the agreements and declarations signed between India and Pakistan on various
occasions including 1972, 1999, and 2004, mention that the Kashmir issue needs
to be resolved by both the countries.
“This has not
been a wise decision on the part of the Indian government to resolve the issue
on its own. Instead of resolving, they have made it more complex,” said the
former deputy IAF chief.
Return of
Kashmiri Pandits
Kakis among the
few Kashmiri Pandits (Hindus), who have not let the trauma of their exodus from
Kashmir Valley in 1990 to affect the rationale. In 1989-90, when militancy
started in Kashmir, many Kashmiri Pandits left their homes to settle a
300-kilometer (186 miles) away in the plains of the Hindu majority region of
Jammu.
“Kashmiri
Pandits’ exodus was the most painful. There was never a clash between the two
communities since the 7th century when Islam came in the region. Despite the
1990 exodus, there was a bond. But last year’s desperate developments that took
place have created an atmosphere of fear. The bond and togetherness between
Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims are virtually wiped out,” he said.
On the return of
Pandits (Kashmiri Hindus) to their homes in Kashmir, Kak said that it has been
hurting to be a part of the community that has been deprived of its cultural
moorings.
But returning to
Kashmir Valley and co-existing is problematic now since the revocation of
special status was not for the return of the Kashmiri Pandits to Kashmir.
“Most of the
Pandits who left Kashmir were openly accepted by other state governments and
were given reservations and quotas in government sectors, which led them to
take-up majoritarian views. If they now want to return, they should not do so
with pulses of majoritarian forces, which will lead to further distance with
Muslims and a tense atmosphere,” said Kak.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/-annexation-of-kashmir-ruptures-hindu-muslim-bond-in-kashmir-/1931982
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For generations,
this Muslim family in Ayodhya making ‘Khadaus’ for Hindu saints
Aug 05, 2020
A Muslim
family-based in Ayodhya has been making ‘Khadaus’ (wooden footwear) for Hindu
saints for several generations that is also its primary source of income.
Mohd. Azam said
he is the fifth generation in his family who is carrying forward the making
khadaus.
“I make Khadaus,
which are used by Hindu saints, for a living. These are also worshipped by many
people. I am the fifth generation in my family who is making this, and carrying
forward the tradition which was started by my ancestors,” he told ANI.
Khadau possesses
a great significance in the Hindu religion, in particular. In the epic
mythology Ramayana, Bharat, Lord Ram’s younger brother, placed ‘Khadaus’ of
Rama on the throne as a symbol of the latter’s authority over the kingdom. It
is thus an object of worship for many, even today.
Azam, who is
working with seven others to make these Khadaus, expects a rise in its sales
after the construction of Ram Temple in the holy city.
“As the Ram Temple
is getting constructed, many people will come to Ayodhya and I expect more
sales of Khadaus, which will improve our condition and livelihood,” he said.
Ruling out any
communal disharmony, Azam added, “Hindus and Muslims are not viewed differently
here. We all work together and celebrate each other’s festivals. I have
co-workers who are Hindus, and we all live peacefully.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/for-generations-this-muslim-family-in-ayodhya-making-khadaus-for-hindu-saints/story-oODBygeY8NHoVR1nONgH2L.html
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Kerala physician
among 3 Indian Islamic State operatives killed in Afghanistan prison attack
Aug 05, 2020
Islamic State
operative from Kerala - Dr Ijas Kallukettiya Purayil, included in the National Investigation
Agency’s (NIA) “most wanted” list - was among three Indian-origin members of
the terror group killed in a suicide attack in Afghanistan over the weekend.
According to
information and images released by the media arm of Islamic State’s Khorasan
unit (ISKP) on Tuesday, Purayil alias Ijas, was among 11 terrorists who
attempted to storm a prison at Jalalabad in Nangarhar province where IS
prisoners were being held. Ijas was the only Indian attacker whose face was
visible in photos released by IS, while the other two Indians were masked.
People familiar
with the developments said on condition of anonymity it was believed all three
Indian terrorists were from Kerala, from where a sizeable number of men and
women had travelled to Afghanistan to join the Islamic State in 2016. Ijas was
part of 22-member Kasargod module led by Abdul Rashid Abdulla.
Ijas, seen in a
photo standing before the black IS flag and holding an assault rifle, was a
physician from Kasargod district in Kerala. According to the NIA’s website, his
status is listed as “absconding”.
A charge sheet
filed by NIA in 2016 states Ijas was wanted in connection with a case
registered in 2016 on charges of criminal conspiracy, commission of unlawful
activities, and membership and support to the banned IS. Ijas, his wife
Reffeala and their minor child left India via Hyderabad airport in June 2016 to
join ISKP in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province.
Reffeala is
currently in a jail in Kabul’s Badam Bagh prison along with her five year old
son who they took with them in 2016 and an infant born in Afghanistan. She was
caught along with 24 other Indians among nearly 900 Islamic State fighters in
November 2019. Indian intelligence agencies had even questioned her. A NIA team
was supposed to go to Kabul to questioned Indians captured there including
Reffeala but the trip was delayed in the wake of cancellation of international
flights. The agency is now exploring if it can use a special flight to go to
Kabul.
NIA officials
who didn’t wish to be named said that they also have received report of Ijas’s
death but a DNA test can only provide a confirmation.
The attack on
the prison in Jalalabad ended on Monday with the killing of all the attackers
by Afghan security forces. Afghan officials said a total of 29 people were
killed and 50 others injured.
The Afghan
defence ministry said in a statement that the attackers and two security
personnel were among the dead. It added that five prisoners were killed by the
attackers and 1,025 prisoners were rescued.
ISKP’s media arm
released a 20-minute audio message in which the group’s spokesman Sultan Aziz
Azzam provided details of the attack. This was one of the rare occasions when
ISKP has made a detailed claim for an attack.
Azzam said the
attack was carried out by 11 IS members - four Tajiks, three Indians, three
Afghans and a Pakistani, who were divided into four groups. The assault was in
keeping with a promise by new ISKP chief Shahab al-Muhajir to release the
group’s prisoners. A suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden vehicle at
the gate of the prison while others entered the jail and freed hundreds of
prisoners, Azzam claimed.
Earlier this
year, NIA had registered its first case related to an attack on foreign soil
following the IS attack on a Gurudwara in Kabul in March. ISKP member Mohammed
Sajid Kuthurimmal, who also belongs to Kerala, was allegedly involved in this
attack that killed nearly 30 people.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/kerala-physician-among-3-indians-is-operatives-killed-in-afghanistan-prison-attack/story-mVJIpIGY6SAWXIiTAXWaKN.html
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Ram Mandir
Bhoomi Pujan: Sena carries out Babri Mosque demolition ad; praises Balasaheb
August 5, 2020
Ahead of the
foundation laying ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, Shiv Sena mouthpiece
Saamana newspaper on Wednesday carried out an advertisement depicting the
demolition of Babri Masjid.
The
advertisement, given by Shiv Sena party
secretary, Milind Narvekar, says, "I am proud of the man who did
this," below the picture of the Babri Masjid demolition.
The ad also has
a picture of Bal Thackeray, the founder of Shiv Sena party.
The party has
also carried out articles praising Balasaheb Thackeray for paving the way for
Ram Mandir construction. The Shiv Sena has contributed Rs 1 crore for the Ram
Temple construction.
However, the
Shiv Sena Chief has not been invited for today's Bhoomi Poojan. Chandrakant
Khaire, a four-time ex-MP from Aurangabad and top Sena leader, recently said he
was in Ayodhya when the masjid dome was brought down and recalled he had
touched the Ram idol installed inside soon after.
Another Sena
leader SuryaKant Mahadik said he took part in the kar seva after the dome was
demolished.
The Ram Mandir
movement is a decade-old issue and took the centre stage when veteran BJP
leader LK Advani took out a rath yatra at Ramjanmabhoomi where Babri mosque
stood in the 1990s. On December 6, 1992,
the mosque was demolished by activists who believed it was built on the
ruins of a temple that marked the spot where Lord Ram was born.
The Supreme Court
last year gave the site to Hindus, ending a decades-old legal battle. The court
gave Muslim parties an alternative 5-acre plot.
https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/ram-mandir-bhoomi-pujan-sena-carries-out-babri-mosque-demolition-ad-praises-balasaheb/story/412049.html
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Hyderabad:
Darsgah Jihad o Shahadat workers protest against Ram temple
Aug 5, 2020
HYDERABAD:
Taking strong exception to the Ram Temple bhoomi pujan in Ayodhya on Wednesday,
Muslims in the Old City on Tuesday protested and vowed to continue their
efforts for the reconstruction of Babri Masjid at the same place.
Darsgah Jihad o
Shahadat (DJS) activists staged a protest at Moghalpura and asked the central
government to stop moves to build a mandir at the Babri Masjid site.
“The temple is
being forcibly built at the Babri Masjid site which is unacceptable to Indian
Muslims. The mosque and its land belongs to Almighty Lord and one can’t hand it
over to anyone. Neither the site can be changed nor can anyone carry out any
sale or purchase of the property,” DJS president Abdul Majid said.
“Muslims should
continue with all possible efforts to rebuild Babri Masjid. Muslims should come
forward by casting out fear and build the mosque at the same place. If we give
up our struggle or efforts, Muslims will accountable on the Day of Judgement,”
DJS president Abdul Majid added.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/hyderabad-darsgah-jihad-o-shahadat-workers-protest-against-ram-temple/articleshow/77364649.cms
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Ahead of Bhumi
Pujan, All India Muslim Personal Law board questions Supreme Court verdict
5 August 2020
Hours leading up
to the foundation stone laying ceremony for the long awaited Ram temple in
Ayodhya, the All Iindia Muslim personal Law Board (AIMPLB) questioned the top
court verdict in Ayodhya case. Taking to Twitter, the AIMPLB told its followers
that there is “no need to be heartbroken”.
“#BabriMasjid
was and will always be a Masjid. #HagiaSophia is a great example for us.
Usurpation of the land by an unjust, oppressive, shameful and majority
appeasing judgment can’t change it’s status. No need to be heartbroken.
Situations don’t last forever,” the AIMPLB tweeted.
The tweet also
had a press statement attached to it.
The AIMPLB was
one of the petitioners who had filed a review petition against the Supreme
Court verdict in the Ayodhya case last year. The court had also ordered the
Indian government to allot a five acre plot of land in order to construct a
mosque.
AIMPlA had
stated that it will not accept the five acre land. Another Muslim body, the
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had said that they object to the unanimous decision passed
by the Supreme Court.
The AIMPLB was
not a party to the case but had engaged in three litigants - Mohammad Umar
Khalid, a resident of Ayodhya town; Misbahuddin, a resident of Ayodhya district
and Mehfusur Rehman, a resident of Tanda town - to file the review petition.
However, all
three review petitions were set aside by the Supreme Court.
The 136-year-old
Ayodhya dispute escalated the communal tension on 16th December, 1992 when a
mob scaled the Babri Masjid and razed it, stimulating series of violence that
claimed at least 2,000 lives across India. Many Hindus believe the site was the
birthplace of Lord Ram, and the 16th-century mosque was built after pulling
down a temple.
The Allahabad
high court in 2010 ordered the land be shared out equally to the Nirmohi
Akhara, Ram Lalla and the Sunni Central Waqf Board. However, the Superme Court
bench, led by former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, with one mind quashed
the high court ruling and gave title of the land to Ram Lalla.
http://www.catchnews.com/national-news/ahead-of-bhumi-pujan-all-india-muslim-personal-law-board-questions-supreme-court-verdict-197262.html
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More Muslim
candidates crack civil service exam
05th August 2020
NEW DELHI: The number of Muslim candidates clearing the
prestigious UPSC examination has increased to 40 from 28 last year. Other five
religious minorities have also done better than last year, sources in the Union
ministry of minority affairs said on Tuesday.
BJP leader and
member of Central Wakf Council Haneef Ali, however, said 187 candidates from
minority communities cleared the exam. Safna Nazarudeen, who secured 45th rank,
topped among Muslim candidates and is the only one from the community among the
top 100.
In terms of
percentage, Muslim candidates fared slightly better. Last year, Muslims
constituted almost 4% of the total successful candidates. This year, it is
about 5%. Muslim candidates have been doing well in the prestigious exams since
2016. Prior to that, Muslim candidates were only 2.5% of the total successful
candidates. Muslim candidates broke all
previous records in 2016 when 50 of them cleared the UPSC, with 10 making it to
the top 100. In the 2017 batch, too, 50 Muslims were selected through the exam.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2020/aug/05/more-muslim-candidates-crack-civil-service-exam-2179239.html
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30 students from
Jamia Millia Islamia coaching selected in UPSC’s Civil Services 2019
04 Aug 2020
30 candidates
who received coaching and training in the Residential Coaching Academy (RCA) of
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) have been selected in UPSC'S Civil Services Exam
2019. 25 of them were residing in RCA and 05 were trained at the mock interview
programme of the centre. This is the biggest selected group in the country from
any public coaching centre.
Out of 30
selected candidates 06 are expected to get IAS, 08 are likely to get IPS and
remaining candidates will get IRS, Audit & Account Service, IRTS and other
allied services of Group-A as per their ranking and choices.
Ruchi Bindal who
secured 39th rank is the best performer from the RCA this year. Six out of the
30 selected candidates are girls.
Ruchi Bindal
(39)
Zaib Zakir
Shaikh (153)
Non Jay Ali Akram
(188)
Farman Ahmad
(258)
Kevin Thomas
Skaria (259)
Mohd Shafiq
(292)
Sufiyan Ahmad
(303)
Nadia Beig (350)
Garima Dahiya
(459)
Mohammad
Nadeemuddin (461)
Md Qamaruddin
Khan (511)
Rajendra
Chaudhary (554)
Mohammad Aaquib
(579)
Sabzar Ahmad
Ganie (628)
Ramesh (646)
Arvind Meena
(676)
Stenzin Wengayal
(717)
Dhiman Chakma
(722)
K Prathima (757)
Parveen Nayak
(796)
Yshwant Meena
(797)
Md Shabbir Alam
(P)
Saifullah (P)
Azhruddin Qazi
(P)
Nawas sarfuddin
(P)
Below 5 attended
only mock interview:
Asif Yousuf
Tantray (328)
Ankit Kumar
Chouksey (500)
Apurwa Kumar
Singh (664)
Vineet Kumar
(750)
Ruheena Tufail
Khan (P)
Prof. Najma
Akhtar, Vice Chancellor, JMI said that the consistently high performance of
RCA, JMI trained students in Civil Services Examinations year after year is a
matter of great pride and satisfaction for the university. We expect better
results in the coming years.
Prof. Akhtar is
personally monitoring, guiding, and providing all support to RCA to work for
excellence. She has congratulated all the students and their family for their
success and has also praised the works and dedication of Hony. Director of RCA
Mr. Tanveer Zafar Ali ,IAS (Retd.) and Deputy Director Mr. Mohammad Tarique.
Mr. Tanveer
Zafar Ali (IAS Retd.), Hony. Director, RCA,JMI said,"Proud of the
performance of our students. Many of them have overcome tough socio-economic
challenges and proven their mettle.”
Last year Junaid
Ahmad,3rd rank holder in UPSC Civil Services Exam was the star performer from
the RCA, JMI.
Since, 2010-11
till 2019 RCA has produced 230 Civil Servants including many in IAS,IFS and
IPS. Besides, more than 285 students have also been selected in various other
central and state services i.e., CAPF,IB, RBI (GradeB), APF, Bank PO and PCS
etc. This year 14 students of RCA have already joined J&K PCS, 24 students
have qualified for UPPSC interview, and 15 students have qualified for
interview in BPSC.
RCA was
established in 2010 by the UGC under the aegis of Centre for Coaching and
Career Planning (CC&CP), JMI to provide free coaching, and residential
facilities to the students of SC, ST, Women, and Minorities for civil services
and other competitive examinations. Students are selected for comprehensive
coaching on the basis of an All India written test followed by individual
interviews.
RCA provides a
well structured multifaceted coaching & personality development programme.
This involves guidance at various stages of the examinations i.e. Prelims.,
Main and Interview with over 500 hours of classes, Special Lectures of eminent
scholars and senior civil servants, Group Discussions, Test Series and
Mock-Interviews. Besides, the Academy also provides 24x7 air-conditioned
library facility and free wi-fi. The Academy provides safe and convenient hostel
facilities. (PR/JMI)
https://www.milligazette.com/news/9-education-and-careers/30-students-from-jamia-millia-islamia-coaching-selected-in-upscs-civil-services-2019/
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Local terror
recruits halved in 2019, lesser now: 15 Corps chief
Aug 5, 2020
NEW DELHI: With
Jammu & Kashmir marking a year of revocation of Article 370, Lt Gen B S
Raju, the General officer-in-command (GOC) of Srinagar-based 15 Corps, has said
the situation in the valley is “stable but sensitive” amid infiltration
attempts from Pakistan even as the prime goal of the security forces remains to
maintain peace.
Talking
exclusively to TOI ahead of the first anniversary of abrogation of Article 370
on August 5, the top Army officer said local terror recruitment has dwindled in
the Valley but will remain a primary concern for the forces to handle.
“Recruitment of
local youth in terrorist tanzeems (outfits) had reduced by nearly half between
2018 and 2019 and the numbers have plunged further in 2020,” he said on the eve
of first anniversary of reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir.
More than 140
terrorists in the valley have been neutralised since August 5, 2019 last year.
“Good ground
intelligence from awaam (public) to the Army enabled us to carry out such
operations,” he said.
Consequently, terror
outfits have recorded a high rate of attrition since the leadership of nearly
all such outfits has been eliminated, said Raju.
According to the
Corps Commander, the past year was characterised by a renewed focus on ethical
conduct and transparency in operations of the forces, keeping in line with the
thrust on ‘Awaam-Army’ connect.
“The internal
situation in Kashmir is stable but sensitive. Maintaining peace has been the
prime goal of all the security forces, working in close synergy with each
other. Also, the Awaam-Army connect has always been strong due to our ethical
conduct and transparency in operations. It is an effort that has to continue”
he said.
He admitted that
infiltration from Pakistan continues to remain a regular affair on the Line of Control
(LoC).
“With the onset
of summers every year, Pakistan increases ceasefire violations and infiltration
attempts. However, our strong counter infiltration grid is adequately
structured and poised to defeat all such attempts.”
The officer, who
earlier had a stint in Uri where he commanded a brigade responsible for
guarding the LoC, added, “We have successfully thwarted many attempts this
year. The occasional spurt in civilian killings is indicative of the
desperation of the terrorist controllers to be in action and they are resorting
to hitting soft targets among Kashmiri population.”
But he also
warned that "Pakistani interference has stalled J&K economic and civil
society activity for last three decades. If this issue of Pakistan interference
is addressed then J&K will have opportunity to focus on the aspirations of
the local people”.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/local-terror-recruits-halved-in-2019-lesser-now-15-corps-chief/articleshow/77366152.cms
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BJP sarpanch
killed, two cops hurt in J&K twin terror attack
Aug 4, 2020
SRINAGAR: A BJP
sarpanch was killed by terrorists in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district late on
Tuesday while two cops, including an SPO, were injured in a grenade attack in
Pulwama district.
The sarpanch,
identified as Arif Ahmad, was fired upon by terrorists near his residence in
Kulgam’s Akhran Qazigund area. He sustained bullet injuries in his neck and was
shifted to a Qazigund hospital in a critical condition where he later
succumbed, a police officer confirmed.
Meanwhile, in
Pulwama district, terrorists lobbed a grenade at a police party near Wanpora
area, injuring SPO Ishfaq Ahmad and head constable Khurshid Ahmad. The duo was
rushed to a hospital with splinter injuries and is in a stable condition, a
senior police officer said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bjp-sarpanch-killed-two-cops-hurt-in-jk-twin-terror-attack/articleshow/77358201.cms
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J&K govt to
throw open religious places from August 16
Aug 4, 2020
SRINAGAR:
J&K government on Tuesday announced opening of all “religious places and
places of worship”, shut since March following the outbreak of Covid-19, in the
Union Territory from August 16. Religious processions and large religious
gatherings, however, will remain prohibited, government spokesman Rohit Kansal
said.
Meanwhile,
Srinagar district magistrate Shahid Iqbal Choudhary ordered lifting of curfew,
which was imposed in the district late Monday night for 48 hours in the wake of
spike in Covid-19 cases and apprehension of law and order situation on the eve
of the first anniversary of nullification of Article 370. “The curfew was
lifted before 48 hours since the situation remained incident-free on Tuesday,”
Choudhary said.
“Existing
restrictions on public activities and movement put in place since August 1 in
view of the Covid-19 situation in the district — where a sharp spike in cases
has been witnessed in the last one month or so — will, however, remain in
force,” the DM said.
He stated that
there shall be restrictions on public movement, including transport, and that
commercial and other establishments shall remain closed.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/jk-govt-to-throw-open-religious-places-from-august-16/articleshow/77358232.cms
--------
Arab world
Anti-US Protest
Rallies in Syria End in Clashes with Kurdish Militants
Aug 04, 2020
Syria’s official
news agency (SANA) reported on Tuesday that residents of the village of
al-Hawa’ej in the Eastern parts of Deir Ezzur held protest rallies against the
US forces’ deployment.
The protest
rallies were held after a leader of al-Akidat tribe was killed by unknown
assailants on Sunday.
The rallies led
to clashes with the Kurdish militants and injuring of 3 villagers.
Also, on Monday
night, residents of the village of Zabyan in Northern Deir Ezzur held anti-SDF
(Syrian Democratic Forces) rallies. They blocked the road to prevent moves by
the SDF militants.
Northeastern and
Eastern Syria have been the scene of anti-US and anti-SDF rallies in the past
two years.
In June, Syrians
staged a protest in Northeastern Hasaka province to condemn the presence of the
SDF, a US-backed anti-Damascus alliance of mainly Kurdish militants.
The
demonstration took place near the town of al-Shaddadah, South of Hasaka.
The Arabic
service of Russia's Sputnik news agency reported that the demonstrators were
residents of "al-Bajdali, al-Hariri and Al-Hana al-Sharqiyah villages from
the al-Muhasen/al-Jabbour tribe in the al-Shaddadi countryside".
The protesters
tried to reach Shaddadi, but the Kurdish forces, known as Asayish, blocked
their way, according to the report.
They were angry
about the killing of a young man and the wounding of several others by the SDF
militants.
The
demonstrators also called for the withdrawal of the US forces from the area and
the return of the Syrian army.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990514000806
--------
Two-week state
of emergency declared in Beirut following explosions
05 August 2020
A renewable
two-week state of emergency has been declared in Lebanon’s capital Beirut following
the deadly explosions at the city’s port, authorities confirm.
At least 70
people were killed Tuesday and more than 3,000 wounded in multiple explosions
that rocked Downtown Beirut, Lebanon's health minister said. US President
Donald Trump said he had reason to believe that the blasts were an attack.
Buildings
several kilometers away suffered material damage, the explosions were heard
over 20 kilometers away from Beirut and residents in Cyprus said they felt the
blasts.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/05/Two-week-state-of-emergency-declared-in-Beirut-following-explosions.html
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Lebanese PM Diab
calls on ‘friendly countries’ to help after Beirut explosions
05 August 2020
Lebanon’s Prime
Minister Hassan Diab Tuesday urged “friendly countries” to send help after two
massive blasts flattened Beirut’s port, killing dozens and wounding thousands.
“I am sending an
urgent appeal to all countries that are friends and brothers and love Lebanon,
to stand by its side and help us treat these deep wounds,” he said in a
televised address.
Lebanon's prime
minister vowed Tuesday that those responsible for two massive blasts in
Beirut's port, which killed at least 50 people and injured thousands, would be
held to account.
"What
happened today will not pass without accountability. Those responsible for this
catastrophe will pay the price," Hassan Diab said in a televised address.
Diab also
appealed for international assistance to help Lebanon, which is already mired
in its worst economic crisis in decades.
"I am
sending an urgent appeal to all countries that are friends and brothers and
love Lebanon, to stand by its side and help us treat these deep wounds,"
the prime minister said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/05/Lebanese-PM-Diab-calls-on-friendly-countries-to-help-after-Beirut-explosions.html
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Hezbollah slams
Beirut blast, urges unity to overcome ‘national tragedy’
05 August 2020
The Lebanese
Hezbollah resistance movement has called for unity to overcome what it
describes as “national tragedy” following a deadly blast in Beirut.
In a statement
released few hours after the massive explosion at Beirut Port on Tuesday,
Hezbollah offered “deepest condolences over the national tragedy which took
place in Lebanon in these hard times,” and urged national unity among all the
Lebanese.
“This grievous
disaster, along with its unprecedented repercussions and damage it had caused
on several levels, requires a national stand by all Lebanese people and powers
in a bid to overcome this ordeal,” the Lebanese resistance movement underlined.
The blast ripped
through the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, leaving more than 100 people dead and
nearly 4,000 others injured. Several smaller explosions were heard before the
bigger one occurred.
Footage shared
on social media captured the moment of the bigger explosion, with a colossal
shock wave seen traveling fast across several hundreds of meters and shrouding
the area in thick smoke.
The huge
explosion inflicted enormous material damage to the surrounding buildings and
structures.
Hezbollah also
on Tuesday hailed medical and rescue teams over their efforts to help those
harmed by the blast, expressing readiness to offer all kinds of assistance to
Lebanese citizens in this regard.
“We put all
capabilities to serve our honored people and dear citizens when necessary,” the
Lebanese resistance movement said.
Moreover,
Hezbollah announced that a speech scheduled to be delivered by the movement’s
Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday was adjourned to another
date that will be revealed later, citing the national mourning which Lebanon is
witnessing over the massive explosions.
Lebanese Prime
Minister Hassan Diab announced three days of national mourning for the victims
of the deadly blast in Lebanon, declaring a state of emergency across the
country for two weeks.
Diab also vowed
that those responsible for the massive blast in Beirut would be held to
account, calling for international assistance to help the country, which is
already beset by economic crises.
World offers
support, condolences to Lebanon
Few hours after
the massive blast took place in Beirut, condolences and offers of help poured
in from most countries in the world following Diab’s call for international
assistance.
United Nations
Secretary General Antonio Guterres expressed his "deepest condolences ...
following the horrific explosions in Beirut" which he said had also
injured some United Nations personnel.
Iranian Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed the country's full readiness to render
any necessary help.
In a post on his
official Twitter account on Tuesday, Zarif said Iranians thoughts and prayers
are with the "great and resilient people of Lebanon."
The top Iranian
diplomat also called on the Lebanese people and government to "stay
strong.”
Syria's
President Bashar al-Assad wrote to his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Aoun, that
"on behalf of the Syrian Arab people, we extend our sincere condolences to
you and the Lebanese people.”
Russian
President Vladimir Putin said that "Russia shares the grief of the
Lebanese people," according to a Kremlin statement.
"I ask you
to convey words of sympathy and support to the families and friends of the
victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to all affected."
French Foreign
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said the country was "ready to provide
assistance according to the needs expressed by the Lebanese authorities.”
Britain's Prime
Minister Boris Johnson voiced sorrow at the tragic incident and called the
pictures and videos from Beirut "shocking.”
"All of my
thoughts and prayers are with those caught up in this terrible incident,"
he wrote on Twitter. "The UK is ready to provide support in any way we
can, including to those British nationals affected."
US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo said in a tweet that, "We are monitoring and stand ready
to assist the people of Lebanon as they recover from this horrible tragedy.”
Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau offered his country’s assistance to the Lebanese and
said, "We think of all those who were injured in this tragic explosion, as
well as those who are trying to find a friend or family member or who have lost
a loved one. We're ready to help you."
Persian Gulf
countries were among the first to react, with Qatar promising to send field
hospitals to support the medical response in Lebanon.
Qatar's ruler
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani wished "a speedy recovery for the
injured," while the United Arab Emirates' Vice President and ruler of Dubai,
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, tweeted "our condolences to our
beloved people in Lebanon."
Kuwait said it
would also send emergency medical aid to Lebanon.
Egypt expressed
"deep concern" at the destruction, and Arab League chief Ahmed
Aboulgheit offered condolences, stressing "the importance of finding the
truth about the explosions.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/05/631107/Lebanese-Hezbollah-national-tragedy-deadly-blast-Beirut
--------
Beirut blast:
Iran says ready to help Lebanon in any way necessary
04 August 2020
Immediately
after a massive explosion rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut, Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has expressed the country's full
readiness to render any necessary help.
In a post on his
official Twitter account on Tuesday, Zarif said Iranians thoughts and prayers
are with the "great and resilient people of Lebanon."
The top Iranian
diplomat also called on the Lebanese people and government to "stay
strong.”
Our thoughts and
prayers are with the great and resilient people of Lebanon.
As always, Iran
is fully prepared to render assistance in any way necessary.
Stay strong,
Lebanon.
🖤🇱🇧
— Javad Zarif
(@JZarif) August 4, 2020
A warehouse at
the Beirut Port caught fire on Tuesday afternoon, triggering a huge explosion,
Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
Several smaller
explosions were heard before the bigger one occurred.
Footage shared
on social media captured the moment of the bigger explosion, with a colossal
shock wave seen traveling fast across several hundreds of meters and shrouding
the area in thick smoke.
The health
ministry in Lebanon announced that the death toll from the massive explosion in
Beirut stood at more than 70, and the number of injured was over 3,700.
Lebanese Prime
Minister Hassan Diab vowed that those responsible for the massive blast in
Beirut would be held to account, also calling for international assistance to
help the country, which is already beset by economic crises.
Diab announced
three days of national mourning for the victims of the deadly blast in Lebanon,
also declaring a state of emergency across the country for two weeks.
Iran top
security official condoles with Lebanon
Secretary of
Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani expressed
heartfelt condolences to the people of Lebanon for the tragic incident, and
said Tehran was ready to help Beirut by all means.
“I offer my
heartfelt condolences to the president, the government and the people of
Lebanon on the explosion in Beirut and the death and injury of a number of
Lebanese people,” Shamkhani said in a tweet in Persian.
“We share the
great sorrow of Lebanon, and we stand by its proud and resilient people for any
help and assistance,” he added.
حادثه انفجار در #بیروت و جان باختن و مجروح شدن تعدادی از مردم عزیز
#لبنان را از صمیم قلب به رئیس جمهور، دولت و ملت لبنان تسلیت میگویم.
در غم بزرگ لبنان عزیز، شریک هستیم و در کنار مردم سرافراز و مقاوم آن
برای هرگونه کمک و مساعدت ایستادهایم.
— علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) August 4, 2020
Lebanon's prime
minister said a committee to investigate the Beirut Port disaster would be
formed, and that the panel would prepare its report within five days.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631099/Iran-Mohammad-Javad-Zarif-massive-explosion-Beirut
--------
Interactive maps
reveal full extent of Hezbollah's global reach
August 4, 2020
A new
interactive map of Hezbollah’s activities has shown all the attacks, financing
operations and plots by the terror group revealing for the first time its vast
global reach.
Researchers, the
police and the public will be able to view the group’s activities across the
world in a resource that includes information taken from declassified CIA and
FBI files.
The document is
the painstaking work of former FBI agent Dr Matthew Levitt who hopes will it
will demonstrate the nature of Hezbollah to European countries that have yet to
fully proscribe it as a terrorist organisation.
If the map
proves successful it could also be used as a template to help the fight against
other terror groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS as well as international criminal
gangs.
The ‘Lebanese
Hezbollah Select Worldwide Activity’ is the first-ever publicly available,
interactive map and timeline of Hezbollah-related activities and
counter-terrorism action taken against it.
Dr Levitt said
he committed to the project because during forums and seminars on Hezbollah he
said there was always a lack of information.
“Discussion
about Hezbollah’s covert enterprises was rendered virtually impossible by the
dearth of publicly available material on the group’s covert activities,” he
said.
It is based on
open source or recently declassified information and the map has been designed
for a variety of users, from intelligence analysts to policymakers, and
academics and students. It features photos, videos, intelligence documents as
well as news articles.
The tool has
three main categories: plots and attacks, finance and logistics and
counter-terrorism actions.
All have further
drop-down menus allowing easy research. For example, a user can click on Paris
on the geographical map to see a list of numerous Hezbollah activity, from
fund-raising and bomb plots, to drug activities and actual attacks.
“It shows all
plots and attacks by Hezbollah and examples of new information or rare or
underreported information,” said Dr Levitt, of the Washington Institute.
For example, it
gives the real names of European Hezbollah members who have been convicted of
crimes from both Britain and France.
It also reveals
a Hezbollah plot in 1990 to plan an attack on a Warsaw synagogue and airport,
according to a CIA document, and Hezbollah surveillance of the Dutch-based
Special Tribunal for Lebanon that is prosecuting terrorists for the 2005
assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Other examples
include a mass bomb arsenal found in Kuwait in 2015 and a bomb plot in Bolivia
in 2017.
Juan Zarate, a
former US deputy national security adviser, said the map was important in a
world “where we are deluged with information”.
“This is a
phenomenal curation of information. It shows operations and activities of
Hezbollah in parts of the world you would not have been aware of,” he said.
“It clearly
reflects Hezbollah is a global organisation, not just in the Levant, that it
has links around the world and it demonstrates the scope of Hezbollah
activity.”
The map also
suggests that both Belgium and France remain key hotspots for Hezbollah
activity.
Kash Patel,
President Donald Trump’s deputy assistant on counterterrorism, told the webinar
launching the map that it showed that “Hezbollah is the Iranian regime’s most
dangerous proxy” carrying plots and attack around the globe.
“Hezbollah is a
terrorist group,” he added. “We see no difference between its political and
military wing.”
Only last year
Britain became the first major European country to designate all of Hezbollah a
terrorist group.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/interactive-maps-reveal-full-extent-of-hezbollah-s-global-reach-1.1058569?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1412573_
--------
18 killed in
clashes in northwestern Syria
August 03, 2020
BEIRUT/JERUSALEM:
Clashes between opposition groups and pro-Assad fighters in northwestern Syria
on Monday thwarted regime’s advance and left 12 pro-regime men dead, a
Britain-based war monitoring group said.
Another 17
pro-regime fighters were wounded while on the opposition-led side six fighters
died, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The forces loyal
to Bashar Assad had launched an attack with artillery and heavy gunfire in Syria’s
last major opposition bastion, said the war monitor.
But the Hayat
Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) alliance, headed by ex-leaders of Syria’s former Al-Qaeda
affiliate, and their allies reportedly thwarted the advance.
Four HTS and two
other opposition fighters were killed in the clashes in a rural area of Latakia
province, the monitor said.
The HTS-led
alliance also controls large areas of Idlib province and slivers of territory
in neighboring Aleppo and Hama.
The region they
hold is home to some 3 million people, nearly half of whom have been displaced
from other parts of the country.
Syria’s
9-year-old war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced nearly half of
the country’s pre-war population.
The
opposition-held area is a regular target of attacks by regime forces and their
Russian and Iranian allies.
A Russian-backed
regime offensive between December and March displaced nearly a million people
in the region.
A Moscow-backed
cease-fire agreement in March has reduced violence in the area, but shelling
and airstrikes by the regime and its backers continue.
Russian
airstrikes on the town of Binnish in Idlib province killed three people from
the same family on Monday, according to the Observatory. An AFP photographer
saw plumes of smoke rising from the site of the attack.
Golan Heights
Activity
The Israeli
military said it thwarted an infiltration attempt from Syria early on Monday
staged by four suspected militants it accused of trying to plant explosives.
Lt. Col.
Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said Israeli troops earlier spotted
“irregular” activity in the Golan Heights. Israeli troops opened fire on the
suspected militants, some of whom were armed, after observing them placing the
explosives on the ground, Conricus said.
There was no
official confirmation that the four suspected attackers were killed but a
grainy video released by the army shows four figures walking away from barbed
wire marking the frontier. The four then disappear in a large explosion that
engulfs the area.
The Israeli
military has not said if the four are suspected of ties to Iran or Hezbollah,
two Syrian allies. However, Conricus said Israel held the Syrian regime
responsible for the incident.
Addressing Likud
party lawmakers, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel
“thwarted an attempted sabotage on the Syrian front” and would continue to
“harm all those who try to harm us and all those who harm us.”
The incident
comes amid heightened tension on Israel’s northern frontier following a recent
Israeli airstrike that killed a Hezbollah fighter in Syria. Following the
airstrike, the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights was hit by explosives fired
from Syria and Israel responded by attacking Syrian military positions and
beefing up its forces in the area.
Israel has been
bracing for further retaliation and last week it said it thwarted an
infiltration attempt from Lebanon by Hezbollah militants, setting off one of
the heaviest exchanges of fire along the volatile Israel-Lebanon frontier since
a 2006 war between the bitter enemies.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1714266/middle-east
--------
Pakistan
PPP asks govt to
start Islamabad temple construction
05 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: The
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has urged the government to immediately start construction
of a temple in Islamabad “to give a befitting reply” to Indian Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who is scheduled to lay the foundation of a Hindu temple at the
site of historic Babri mosque in Ayodhya on Wednesday (today).
The demand was
made by PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar as official spokesman for party
chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in a statement issued by the party’s Media
Office here on Tuesday.
“The federal
government should take urgent steps to remove all hurdles in the way of the
construction of the temple in Islamabad and inaugurate its work on Wednesday
(today),” he said.
Mr Khokhar, who
is also chairman of the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights, said
Pakistan should send a message to the world community that the people belonging
to all religions enjoyed equal rights in the country.
Says move will
be a response to Modi’s act of opening Mandir at Babri mosque’s site
“It is the
demand of Jinnah’s Pakistan that the religious rights of all the minorities
should be protected in the country,” he added.
Criticising the
Indian prime minister’s move to build Raam Temple in Ayodhya, the PPP senator
said that by doing so Narendra Modi would “blacken the face of secular India”.
The controversy
over the construction of a Hindu temple in Islamabad’s H-9/2 Sector surfaced
two months ago when some religious parties and groups objected to the project,
saying that the construction of a temple with the taxpayers’ money in an
Islamic state was against Islam.
Last month, the
Islamabad High Court (IHC) had disposed of three identical petitions filed
against the construction of the temple, observing that the construction of a
place of worship required mandatory approval of the regulator i.e. Capital
Development Authority. The IHC also dismissed objections to the allotment of
the temple’s plot.
The government
allotted the plot measuring 3.89 kanals for the temple in January 2017. The
plot was handed over to the Islamabad Hindu Panchayat in 2018.
The issue also
came under discussion in the National Assembly and the Senate. Religious
Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri told the assembly that the construction on
the temple site had been stopped following objections by certain religious
scholars and the matter had been referred to the Council of Islamic Ideology to
seek its opinion on the matter.
The minister had
stated that the issue was not on the construction of the temple, but the
question had been raised whether the government could spend money from the
national exchequer or not.
The statement by
Mr Khokhar was issued on the day when, according to the French news agency AFP,
the flashpoint Indian town of Ayodhya geared up for a ceremony to be attended
by Prime Minister Modi to lay the foundation of a Hindu temple on the ruins of
the mosque that had been destroyed by a mob in 1992. The building of the temple
in northern India, starting on Wednesday with a colourful rite, has been a long
pledge of the Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Babri Masjid
stood on the site for almost 500 years until it was demolished by Hindu zealots
in 1992 that sparked riots across the country in which 2,000 people, mainly
Muslims, died — some of independent India’s worst sectarian violence.
In November,
India’s top court after a legal battle lasting decades had awarded the site to
Hindus, giving Muslims another location to build a new mosque.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572703/ppp-asks-govt-to-start-islamabad-temple-construction
--------
Pakistani Shia
Muslims hold protest demand for end to enforced disappearance
August 5, 2020
AhlulBayt News
Agency (ABNA): Pakistani Shia Muslims hold protest with demand for end to
enforced disappearance of innocent members of their community.
They held
protest demos while observing SOPs, after Eid prayers across the country.
Affected
families and their supporters demand immediate release of illegally detained
members of the community.
At least three
Shia youth have become the latest victims of enforced disappearance ahead of
Eid ul Adha.
Shia Muslims
believe in rule of law
Meanwhile, Joint
Action Committee for Shia Missing Persons said Pakistani Shia Muslims believe
in rule of law while law of Pakistan recognizes freedom and other fundamental
human rights of all Pakistanis.
Hence, Shia
Muslims support rule of law and under that demand immediate release of missing
Shia Muslims.
Shia Muslims
have rejected this unlawful and unconstitutional policy of the security
establishment.
Missing persons
is also used as a term for victims of enforced disappearance which security
agencies imposed upon them merely on suspicion.
But it shocked
and dismayed Shia Muslim community because they never took weapons against the
state besides they never did anything against national security.
Despite their
patriotism and huge services for Pakistan, pro-Saudi biased officials treated
them as though they violated national security.
Innocent Shia
youth and notables have been suffering due to that biased mindset.
The affected
families, Shia Islamic parties, scholar, notables and other community leaders
have been running a joint campaign to seek justice.
Under that
campaign, the families of Shia missing persons had staged sit-in outside
Karachi residence of President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi, that enjoys official
status of Presidential camp office.
They had held
sit-in outside Multan residence of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Besides, they
have also held countless protest rallies and demonstrations across Pakistan.
Tens of
thousands of supporters of the affected families of missing persons
participated in their protests.
Missing persons
in Pakistan is also used as a term for those subjected to enforced
disappearance.
Elderly
grandmothers, children, women, youths, all-age- group-people are protesting and
the rest of the community and supporters are expressing solidarity with them.
https://en.abna24.com/news//pakistani-shia-muslims-hold-protest-demand-for-end-to-enforced-disappearance_1060351.html
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Pakistan court
appoints three senior lawyers as amici curiae in Jadhav's case
Aug 4, 2020
ISLAMABAD: A top
Pakistani court has named three senior lawyers as amici curiae in the case of
Kulbhushan Jadhav as it ordered the Pakistan government to give "another
chance" to India to appoint a counsel for the death-row prisoner.
Jadhav, the
50-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani
military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.
India approached
the International Court of Justice against Pakistan for denial of consular
access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.
The Hague-based
ICJ ruled in July 2019 that Pakistan must undertake an "effective review
and reconsideration" of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to
grant consular access to India without further delay.
A two-member
bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah
and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb appointed the three lawyers on Monday as
it held a hearing of the petition filed by the Pakistan government to appoint a
lawyer for Jadhav.
Amicus Curiae is
a lawyer appointed by a court to assist in any matter or case.
The court also
ordered a larger bench to be set up for the case. It also directed the
registrar of the court to fix the proceedings at 2 pm on September 3 before a
larger bench.
“We appoint Mr
Abid Hassan Manto, Mr Hamid Khan, senior advocates of the Supreme Court and
former presidents of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and Mr Makhdoom Ali
Khan, senior advocate Supreme Court and former attorney general of Pakistan, as
amici curiae for our legal assistance in general and, in particular, to ensure
that the judgement of the International Court is effectively implemented,” the
court said in its order.
The Pakistan
government in its petition has claimed that Jadhav refused to file a review
petition or an application to reconsider the verdict against him by the
military court.
“We feel that in
order to ensure the effectiveness of the review and reconsideration of the
conviction and sentence of Commander Jadhav, a reasonable opportunity ought to
be extended to the latter and the Government of India to arrange legal
representation and to file a petition.
"We,
therefore, at this stage restrain ourselves from appointing a counsel on behalf
of Commander Jadhav and advise the Government of Pakistan to extend an
opportunity to Jadhav and the Government of India for arranging legal
representation in terms of Article 32(1)(c) of the Convention and in accordance
with the applicable laws,” the court order said.
The court also
asked the Pakistan government to communicate the order to the Indian government
Responding to
the judge's remarks, Pakistan's attorney general Khalid Javed Khan said an
ordinance was issued to give an opportunity to India and Jadhav to file a
review petition against the sentence.
"We will
contact India again through the Foreign Office," he said.
He told the
court that Jadhav was being taken care of and was in good health.
On July 16,
Pakistan provided consular access to Jadhav, but the Indian government said the
access was "neither meaningful nor credible" and he appeared visibly
under stress.
In New Delhi,
External Affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava last month said
Pakistan has once again exposed its "farcical" approach by denying
available legal remedies to Jadhav against his death sentence which is also in
contravention of the ICJ verdict, and asserted that India will explore further
options in the case.
Srivastava said
Pakistan has blocked all the avenues for an effective remedy available to India
in the case, while noting that New Delhi has so far requested consular access
to Jadhav for 12 times over the past one year.
The MEA
spokesperson said Pakistan is not only in violation of the judgment of ICJ, but
also of its own ordinance.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistan-court-appoints-three-senior-lawyers-as-amici-curiae-in-jadhavs-case/articleshow/77347171.cms
--------
Pakistan affirms
claim to IHK with new map
05 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: The
government on Tuesday unveiled a new political map of the country essentially
asserting its longstanding position on Kashmir and Sir Creek disputes.
“It is a
historic occasion. The political map reflects our national aspiration and
supports our principled stance on Kashmir dispute,” Prime Minister Imran Khan
said while introducing the map. He was on the occasion accompanied by his
foreign policy, national security and information ministry aides.
The map was
launched after the approval by the federal cabinet. Foreign Minister Shah
Mehmood Qureshi had earlier in the day briefed the legislators from opposition
parties on the map during a meeting at the Foreign Office.
The new map was
made public a day before Pakistan observes the first anniversary of annexation
of occupied Kashmir.
India had annexed
the held territory on Aug 5 last year by revoking articles 370 and 35A of its
constitution, which had provided special status to occupied Kashmir and rights
and privileges to Kashmiris.
The inauguration
of the new map is, moreover, believed to be a response to India, which launched
its own political map on Oct 31 last year after bifurcation of the disputed
territory into so-called Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and that of
Ladakh. India had through its map claimed the entire disputed area, including
Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, as part of its territory.
The Indian map
was on that occasion rejected by China, Pakistan and Nepal.
PM Khan hailed
the new map as the “first step” towards resolution of the nearly 73-year-old
dispute. He, however, emphasised that Pakistan believed in a political solution
to the dispute. He said the map rejected India’s illegal action of annexing
held Kashmir.
Foreign Minister
Qureshi, on this occasion, gave a presentation on the features of the new
political map. He said the map clearly showed the disputed area, whose status
Pakistan wanted to be decided in accordance with the UN resolutions and
aspirations of the people of held Kashmir.
“It is first
time that the aspirations of Pakistani nation and our stated position on the
dispute are being given with such clarity,” he maintained.
Special
Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Security Moeed Yusuf, while talking
to Dawn later, said the map asserted Pakistan’s claim on the territory, but had
in no way suggested that the region was part of Pakistan. “We have just said
that the dispute has to be resolved in accordance with UN resolutions,” he
added.
Entire
Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir had been given in the same green colour to show
that it’s one territory, Mr Yusuf said, adding that the map also showed the
changed nomenclature.
The government
has changed the description of occupied region from Indian Occupied Jammu and
Kashmir to Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. It has been further
clearly stated on the map that the region is disputed territory, whose “final
status is to be decided in line with relevant UNSC resolutions”.
Mr Yusuf said
the international boundary on the eastern side had been extended up to the
undefined frontier to demarcate Indian territory of Himchal Pardesh from the
disputed part of Jammu and Kashmir.
‘Frontier
Undefined’ is another description that has been added to the map.
Mr Yusuf said it
annotated that it would be defined after the Kashmir dispute was settled.
The claim on
Junagadh and Manavadar too has been underscored. Moreover, an administrative
boundary separating AJK and GB has also been inserted in the map.
Foreign Minister
Qureshi at the ceremony held to inaugurate the map said the Line of Control had
been extended and connected with the Chinese border. “This makes it clear that
Siachen is ours,” he maintained.
An official,
meanwhile, explained that the new map represented the position on Sir Creek,
according to Sindh government’s agreement with the State of Kutch in 1914, demarcating
the boundary on the Eastern Bank of Sir Creek.
Mr Qureshi said
it negated Indian position with regards to Sir Creek. “India was cleverly
trying to occupy hundreds of kilometers of our Exclusive Economic Zone,” he
added.
The new map
furthermore shows erstwhile Fata as part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Fata
was merged with KP in May 2018 after 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
Indian reaction
Indian Ministry
of External Affairs rejected the map as an “exercise in political absurdity,
laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian State of Gujarat and our
Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh”.
A statement
issued from New Delhi said: “These ridiculous assertions have neither legal
validity nor international credibility.”
FO response
The Foreign
Office categorically rejected the statement made by the Indian external affairs
ministry on Pakistan’s political map. “Through sophistry and obfuscation, India
cannot create a smokescreen for its illegal and unacceptable actions in Indian
occupied Jammu & Kashmir, including those taken since Aug 5, 2019. It is
preposterous for a country that is compulsively expansionist, and a brazen
practitioner of state-terrorism, to level charges against others,” the FO
spokesperson said in a statement.
It said India
had been in illegal occupation of parts of Jammu & Kashmir since 1947 and
had continuously violated UN Security Council resolutions for decades. Despite
its brutal suppression of Kashmiris for over 72 years, India had been unable to
force them into submission, it added.
“Pakistan’s
position remains clear and unambiguous. The solution of the Jammu and Kashmir
dispute lies in the realisation of the Kashmiris’ inalienable right to
self-determination through a free and impartial plebiscite under the
auspices of the United Nations. The government, leadership and people of
Pakistan remain firmly committed to the solution of the Jammu & Kashmir
dispute in accordance with the relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the
wishes of the Kashmiri people. The political map issued by Pakistan
emphatically reaffirms this abiding commitment,” the FO said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572694/pakistan-affirms-claim-to-ihk-with-new-map
--------
PTI’s social
media guru to head govt digital wing
Ramsha Jahangir
05 Aug 2020
KARACHI: After
assessing 500 applications received for the digital media wing, the government
has appointed the former social media head of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf
(PTI), Imran Ghazali, to lead the newly established unit in the information
ministry.
According to an
Establishment Division notification dated Aug 3, Mr Ghazali has been hired as
the general manager of the wing at the Management Pay-II (MP-II) pay scale.
In addition, the
ministry has also notified five other appointments with immediate effect,
including four digital communication officers, Shahbaz Khan, Usman bin Zaheer,
Naeem Ahmed Yasin, and Syeda Dhanak Hashmi at the MP-III scale. Mohammad
Muzamil Hassan has been hired for the role of digital media consultant at
MP-III scale.
According to the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Digital Media Wing (DMW) is a
newly established unit at the ministry and was approved by the cabinet earlier
this year.
The cabinet had
initially approved a supplementary grant of Rs42.791 million during the
previous financial year for creation of the digital media wing.
However,
according to the Establishment Division notification, individuals will be paid
as per their MP scale. The pay scale for the top position (MP-II) is expected
to be almost Rs300,000 with Rs150,000 being the basic pay.
Those on other
positions would be paid Rs75,000 a month.
The DMW, said
the information ministry, will be responsible for curating the digital content
for official social media assets of the government. It will also organise and
verify social media accounts of all federal government ministries and build
their presence online.
As per the
advertisements published in newspapers in March, the 23-member digital media
wing will comprise a general manager, a digital media consultant, five digital
communication officers, three video editors, two videographers, one
photographer, four graphic designers, five content writers and one digital feed
manager.
The candidates
for the remaining posts had been shortlisted, the ministry said.
According to the
information ministry, the recruitments in the digital media wing were made by a
special selection board after it conducted interviews. It added that a summary
of the selected individuals was approved by the prime minister on July 20.
Who are the
selected members?
Prime Minister
Imran Khan’s focal person on Digital Media, Dr Arslan Khalid, denied media
reports that suggested that all six individuals selected were former members of
the PTI’s social media wing.
He said these
were “not true” and that all the successful candidates were top names from the
digital media industry.
“Apart from
Imran Ghazali, who worked with PTI SMT [social media team] till 2016, none has
any linkage to the PTI,” he said.
According to the
profiles of the DMW members shared with Dawn, the DMW head, Ghazali, has over
14 years of experience in the digital industry. Besides leading the PTI’s
election campaign in the past, he has worked for Alif Ailaan and World Bank.
Muzamil Hasan,
who has been selected as the digital media consultant, is a content creator and
the founder of Lolz Studios, an infotainment channel on YouTube.
COO of the same
Lolz Studios Network, Shahbaz Khan, has been assigned the role of digital
communication officer. According to the details, Shahbaz has been a social
media content specialist for the past decade.
Among the other
digital communication officers, is a content producer Usman bin Zaheer, who has
previously worked for Geo Entertainment Network from 2011 to 2018.
Digital
communication officer Naeem Ahmed has worked for news channels, including 24
News, Duniya News, Geo News and Bol News.
The fourth
officer is Dhanak Hashmi, who has previously worked as director research and
development at the Centre for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS).
The ministry
said a total of 76 applications were received for the position of ‘general
manager’, whereas 67 for the ‘digital media consultant’ vacancy. All in all,
some 461 people applied to the jobs across seven MP scales, it added.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572692/ptis-social-media-guru-to-head-govt-digital-wing
--------
Opposition
questions PM’s absence from ‘briefing’ on Kashmir
Amir Wasim
05 Aug 2020
ISLAMABAD: The
opposition members who participated in the national consultation on the Kashmir
situation at the Foreign Office here on Tuesday, although welcomed the
government’s initiative to invite them to a briefing, raised objection over the
absence of Prime Minister Imran Khan from such an important event.
Talking to Dawn
after attending the meeting, the opposition members also challenged the
government’s claim that it was an “all parties conference” on the Kashmir
situation, saying it was a simple “briefing session” in which the government
only informed them about the special events being organised by it on Wednesday
(today) to mark the first anniversary of the illegal annexation of Occupied
Kashmir by India through a controversial constitutional amendment on August 5
last year.
“This was
clearly not an APC. This was simply a briefing,” said parliamentary leader of
the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the Senate Sherry Rehman while talking to
Dawn.
Ms Rehman said
that in the meeting she forcefully raised the issue of prime minister’s
absence. She regretted that the prime minister had been missing since last
August and he did not have time to attend the meeting that had been called by
the government itself to discuss an important national issue on the eve of
August 5.
Also objects to
government’s claim that it was an all-party conference
“Is Kashmir not
an important enough issue for the prime minister?” she asked, while criticising
Mr Khan for not taking the opposition into confidence on key national issues.
“If you wanted
to send a powerful message on Kashmir, the government should have called a
proper meeting inviting entire leadership of Pakistan (and) agreeing on a joint
resolution for presentation in the parliament or here,” she said.
The PPP senator
said she had told the government that “whatever differences we have, our
leadership would have been here today” if the prime minister had taken this
initiative.
Ms Rehman
recalled that the country had a history of prime ministers convening all-party
conferences on important national issues, including Kashmir, which were
participated by the opposition parties despite having bitter differences with
the government.
Sources said
during the briefing the opposition members also raised questions over the
government’s move to issue a new political map of the country showing the
occupied valley as a part of Pakistan.
The sources said
that Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi presided over the meeting and gave a
briefing on the government’s policy on Kashmir. National Security Adviser Moeed
Yousuf highlighted some of the events arranged by the government to mark the
first anniversary of the illegal annexation of Occupied Kashmir by New Delhi
and director-general Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed
briefed the participants on the situation in the occupied valley.
Talking to Dawn,
spokesman for PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Senator Mustafa Nawaz
Khokhar, who was also present in the briefing, said that the government had
“only informed them” on the issue of new political map of the country and that
the party had so far not endorsed the move.
He said the
party would come out with its clear stance on the issue after discussing it in
the party’s core committee meeting.
On the other
hand, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) said that they had endorsed the new map unveiled by the government as
there was nothing objectionable in it.
The PML-N
senator, who is also the head of the Senate’s foreign affairs committee, also
presented a “Kashmir Action Plan” in the session, suggesting a number of steps
that should be taken by the government for the Kashmir cause.
The PML-N
senator called for giving “full moral, political, media and diplomatic support
to the widespread upsurge of the Kashmiri people” after building a “united
front of all Kashmiris who reject the annexation and who are now victims of
Modi’s fascism, from Syed Ali Gilani to Dr Farooq Abdullah to Mehbooba Mufti”.
He also called
for developing clarity for an India Policy that is clear on the “nature of the
Modi government and its designs with an outreach to Indian minorities/civil
society/political parties/media critical of Modi’s extremist and divisive
policies”.
He suggested
formation of a media coordination committee comprising selected journalists,
representatives of Foreign Office, Ministry of Information, Parliament and
relevant stakeholders to prepare fact sheets and a campaign to promote a media
strategy for continually highlighting the Kashmiri freedom struggle.
Those who
attended the conference included Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, National
Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, Information Minister Shibli Faraz, Law Minister
Farogh Naseem, Minister for Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur, Minister for
Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza, Kashmir Committee Chairman
Sheharyar Afridi, Raja Zafarul Haq and Khawaja Asif of the PML-N, Raja Pervaiz
Ashraf, Syed Naveed Qamar and Sherry Rehman of the PPP, Mushtaq Ahmed and
Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Aimal Wali Khan and Sitara
Ayaz of the Awami National Party and Anwarul Haq Kakar of Balochistan Awami
Party.
No one from the
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam attended the meeting.
Speaking at the
conference, Foreign Minister Qureshi said all the political parties of Pakistan
were united on the Kashmir issue.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572685/opposition-questions-pms-absence-from-briefing-on-kashmir
--------
North America
Trump says US
will be there to help following explosion in Beirut
04 August 2020
President Donald
Trump on Tuesday cast a massive explosion in Beirut as a possible attack,
despite statements by Lebanese leaders that it was likely caused by highly
explosive material that had been stored at warehouses in the capital for years.
"The United
States stands ready to assist Lebanon," Trump said at a White House
briefing of Tuesday's explosion, which killed at least 78 people and injured
thousands. "It looks like a terrible attack."
When asked later
about his depiction of the explosion, Trump said that he had met with some US
generals who feel the blast was not "some kind of a manufacturing
explosion type of event."
He told
reporters that according to these unnamed generals "they seem to think it
was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind."
Lebanon's
President Michel Aoun said that 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been
stored for six years at the port without safety measures and said it was
"unacceptable".
Prime Minister
Hassan Diab said in a televised address to the nation there would be
accountability for the deadly blast at the "dangerous warehouse".
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631101/Trump-says-US-will-be-there-to-help-following-explosion-in-Beirut
--------
‘US's Pompeo,
Taliban deputy leader discuss intra-Afghan talks’
04 August 2020
US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo has reportedly held a video meeting with the Taliban militant
group’s Doha-based deputy leader Mullah Baradar Akhund to discuss a “peace”
process between the Afghan government and the group.
Suhail Shaheen,
a spokesman for the Taliban’s office in Qatar, said in a Twitter post on
Tuesday that Pompeo and Akhund had discussed the issue of the 400 Taliban
prisoners allegedly still held by the Afghan government as well.
“Both sides
talked about the inception of intra-Afghan negotiations” and they “emphasized
that the release of the remaining prisoners are essential for commencement of
intra-Afghan negotiations,” the Taliban spokesman wrote.
The prisoner
swap has been an Afghan government obligation under a deal between the United
States and the Taliban that was struck in February. Kabul was excluded from the
talks, and the obligation was imposed on it.
The exchange has
been regarded as a first step toward broader talks between the government and
the Taliban. Its implementation has faced hurdles since the deal was signed in
February.
The US-Taliban
deal, which sets the stage for the withdrawal of all US-led foreign forces from
Afghanistan, required Kabul to free some 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange
for 1,000 Afghan security personnel held by the Taliban.
The Taliban say
they have already fulfilled their side of the exchange. While the government
has released most of the 5,000 Taliban prisoners stipulated in the deal,
authorities in Kabul have refused to free hundreds of inmates accused of
serious crimes that the militant group has requested to be released.
Last week,
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he had “no authority” under the country’s
constitution to release the remaining inmates because of their involvement in
serious crimes. Ghani said the decision on the release of those militants had
to be made by the Loya Jirga, a grand assembly of Afghan elders.
Meanwhile,
official data shows that bombings and other assaults by the Taliban have surged
70 percent since the militant group signed the deal with the United States.
The United
States led a military coalition of its allies in 2001 to invade Afghanistan to
topple a Taliban regime, believing it was harboring the al-Qaeda terrorist
group.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631075/Afghanistan-Taliban-US-Pompeo-video-meeting
--------
US threats
against Iran are falling on deaf ears: Scholar
04 August 2020
US threats
against Iran are falling on deaf ears, Professor Dennis Etler has said.
Etler, an
American political analyst who is former professor of Anthropology at Cabrillo
College in Aptos, California, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on
Tuesday while commenting on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s threats against
Iran.
Pompeo, riled up
by a potential long-term strategic partnership between Iran and China, on
Sunday threatened to slap the same unilateral sanctions already imposed on
Tehran against Beijing in case the deal was finalized.
Pompeo censured
in an interview with Fox News the potential Tehran-Beijing cooperation pact and
said Washington would apply all Iran’s sanctions also to the "Chinese
Communist Party and their businesses and state-owned enterprises" if the
deal was signed.
He also claimed
that the 25-year trade deal between Iran and China would foment instability in
the Middle East region, once again leveling false accusations that Tehran is a
“state sponsor of terror,” among other protestations.
Professor Etler
said that “Pompeo is like the boy who cried wolf once too often. It's getting to the point where no one will
pay any attention to his ranting and raving. The US still thinks it's the king
of the hill and rules the roost, that everyone hither and yon cowers at its bellowing
and braying. But the world can see clearly that the US is no longer in a
position to dictate to other nations how they should conduct their own
affairs.”
“Having isolated
itself from friends and foe alike, even America's staunchest allies are beginning
to have second thoughts about following its lead. Both Australia and the UK are
beginning to hedge their bets about fully endorsing the anti-China policies of
the US. The US is mired in a COVID-19 pandemic crisis of its own making, and
the prospects of a quick economic recovery are fast receding. The EU is only
marginally better off. It was already facing stiff economic headwinds and the
pandemic has only made matters worse. China, on the other hand, has weathered
the storm and it is the only global economy that has rebounded and shown
positive growth,” he stated.
“US threats of
sanctions against China for establishing normal economic relations with Iran
are thus falling on deaf ears. The US has lost all leverage with China and
continued posturing by Trump and his underlings are being shrugged off. China
can deal with whatever the US has to dish out, but can the US really cope with
the unintended negative consequences of its own actions? Any sanctions imposed
upon China will only boomerang against the US and further damage its own
economy. So China has nothing to fear about establishing further economic and
military ties with Iran, no matter what Washington has to say about it,” he
noted.
“The rest of the
world will soon follow suit. History and everyday experience show that once a
bully is challenged its underlying frailty becomes exposed and it loses the
ability to threaten others. It is getting to the point where the nations of the
world will no longer stand for American duplicity and bullying tactics,” he
said.
“The US has
nothing to offer and the world has nothing to lose but its chains,” the analyst
concluded.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631073/US-threats-against-Iran-are-falling-on-deaf-ears
--------
Homeland
Security Is Quietly Tying Antifa to Foreign Powers
AUGUST 3, 2020
Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) intelligence officials are targeting activists it
considers “antifa” and attempting to tie them to a foreign power, according to
a DHS intelligence report obtained exclusively by The Nation.
The intelligence
report, titled “The Syrian Conflict and its Nexus to the U.S.-based Antifascist
Movement,” mentions several Americans, including a left-wing podcast host who
traveled to Syria to fight ISIS. The report includes a readout of these
individuals’ personal information, including their Social Security numbers,
home addresses, and social media accounts, much of the data generated by DHS’s
Tactical Terrorism Response Teams. As the intelligence report states, “ANTIFA
is being analyzed under the 2019 DHS Strategic Framework for Countering
Terrorism (CT) and Targeted Violence.”
Dated July 14,
the document, marked FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY and LAW ENFORCEMENT SENSITIVE, draws
on a blend of publicly available information and state and federal law enforcement
intelligence. It was provided to The Nation by a source who previously worked
on DHS intelligence.
“They targeted
Americans like they’re Al Qaeda” a former senior DHS intelligence officer with
knowledge of the operations told The Nation. The officer, who served for years
in the DHS’s Office of Intelligence & Analysis (I&A), compared the
operations to the illegal surveillance of activists during the civil rights
era. “They essentially were violating people’s rights like this was the ’60s…the
type of shit the Church and Pike committee[s] had to address.”
While the law
generally prohibits intelligence agencies from spying on US residents, many of
those protections do not apply if the individual is believed to be acting as an
agent of a foreign power.
“Designating
someone as foreign-sponsored can make a huge legal and practical difference in
the government’s ability to pursue them,” explained Steven Aftergood, who heads
the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.
“It’s a crucial distinction. Once someone (or some group) is identified as an
agent of a foreign power, they are subject to warrantless search and
surveillance in a way that would be illegal and unconstitutional for any other
US person. The whole apparatus of US intelligence can be brought to bear on
someone who is considered an agent of a foreign power.”
Last week, the
DHS reassigned its intelligence chief after The Washington Post revealed that
the agency had been compiling intelligence reports on American journalists and
activists in Portland. In response to President Trump’s executive order to
protect monuments and other federal property, the DHS created the “Protecting
American Communities Task Force,” which sent DHS assets to Portland and other
cities. The agency has found itself in transition under the Trump
administration.“They are always pressuring I&A for political reasons; it’s
been like that since the election,” the former intelligence officer said.
This weekend,
Politico reported that DHS Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli loosened oversight
of I&A. Cuccinelli, at I&A’s request, curtailed the requirement that
the DHS’s Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties approve I&A’s
intelligence products prior to distribution to law enforcement partners.
The intelligence
report’s executive summary states:
In June 2020,
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) National Targeting Center (NTC)
Counter Network Division (CND) compiled CBP encounter data on individuals who
returned from Syria and fought with the Yekîneyên Parastina Gel (YPG,
translation: PEOPLE’S PROTECTION UNITS), and had some with reported ties to a
U.S.-based ANTIFA (Anti-fascist) movement. CBP concerns about and interest in
these individuals stem from the types of skills and motivations that may have
developed during their time overseas in foreign conflicts.
These skills
were also appreciated by the US military, which cooperated with the YPG in
fighting ISIS for years. Last year, President Trump enraged many in the US
military when he green-lighted a Turkish offensive against the Kurdish militia.
Jim Mattis reportedly resigned as defense secretary in part because of what he
considered a betrayal of our Kurdish allies.
The intelligence
report describes over half a dozen people who traveled to Syria in order to
fight alongside Kurdish factions—usually the YPG, but also other Kurdish groups
like the PKK and the Peshmerga. Some of the individuals described have denied
membership in antifa but variously identified with far-left causes. The DHS
appears to define antifa broadly, to encompass various left-wing tendencies:
“[A]ntifa is driven by a mixed range of far-left political ideologies,
including anti-capitalism, communism, socialism, and anarchism.” In two cases,
evidence of antifa affiliation was limited to photos taken in front of an
antifa flag. As the intelligence report itself notes, “ANTIFA claims no
official leadership,” raising questions about whether antifa even exists in any
sort of operational capacity.
The first
individual mentioned in the intelligence report, Brace Belden, cohosts the
popular left-wing podcast TrueAnon, and fought with the YPG in 2016. The
information appears to be partly drawn from a 2017 article on Belden in Rolling
Stone. Belden is described as “a minor criminal and drug addict who started
reading Marx and Lenin in drug rehabilitation treatment and became involved in
a number of political causes before deciding to fight alongside the YPG.”
The report goes
on to describe an encounter between Belden and border authorities.
U.S. citizen
(USC) Brace BELDEN was encountered on 08 April 2017, arriving in San Francisco,
California from Frankfurt, Germany. BELDEN was returning from a six month tour
of volunteering to fight with the YPG under the umbrella of the Syrian Democrat
Forces (SDF) fighting ISIS in Syria as part of the ongoing Raqqa offensive
starting in November 2016 to retake Raqqa from ISIS. BELDEN stated he recently
learned that an open source article had been written about him and his
“Anarchist” fighters.
Belden scoffed
at the association. “I am not now nor have I ever been a member of any antifa
organization,” he told The Nation. “The US government has been spying on and
smearing communists for 100 years, but they usually have the decency not to
call a Red an anarchist!”
“There appears
to be a clear connection…between ANTIFA ideology and Kurdish democratic
federalism teachings and ideology,” the intelligence report states. At least
one of the activists listed is described as being ethnically Kurdish.
On May 31, Trump
vowed to designate antifa a “terrorist organization.” While antifa groups have
engaged in acts of property destruction, antifa has not been linked to a single
murder in the United States, according to data compiled in the past 25 years by
the Center for Strategic and International Studies. By contrast, the same data
found that far-right extremist groups had killed 329 people.
The intelligence
report appears to conclude that the individuals described were not acting on
behalf of a foreign group—save for one unnamed person.
“Aside from a
single instance derived from open-source reporting, there does not appear to be
evidence of a centralized effort to give marching orders to returning
ANTIFA-affiliated USPER [US person] foreign fighters once they return to the
United States.”
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/dhs-antifa-syria/
--------
South Asia
Taliban attacks
repulsed in Faryab, at least 11 militants killed, wounded: Shaheen Corps
05 Aug 2020
The Afghan
forces forces foiled Taliban attacks in Dawlatbad and Garziwan districts of
northern Faryab province, killing or wounding at least 11 militants.
The 209th
Shaheen Corps in a statement said a group of Taliban militants were planning to
launch attacks in Shashpar Village of Dawlatabad and in the vicinity of the
capital of Garziwan district on Tuesday.
The statement
further added that the security forces took pre-emptive steps with the support
of the Air Forces.
The security
forces killed at least 4 Taliban militants during the operations and wounded at
least 7 others, the 209th Shaheen Corps added in its statement.
According to
209th Shaheen Corps, a key Taliban figure who was responsible for collecting
Zakat was among those killed during the operations.
The Taliban
group has not commented regarding the operations so far.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-attacks-repulsed-in-faryab-at-least-11-militants-killed-wounded-shaheen-corps-09002/
--------
Afghan forces
arrest top ISIS leader in Kunar province of Afghanistan
05 Aug 2020
The Afghan
Special Forces arrested a top commander of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
Khurasan (ISIS-K), the offshoot of the terror group, in Afghanistan.
Sources in the
Afghan military confirmed that the Afghan Special Forces arrested the ISIS-K
leader during a raid in eastern Kunar provice.
Without
disclosing further information regarding the identity of the detained ISIS
leader, the sources said the arrested ISIS leader was involved in transferring
foreign ISIS militants in various provinces of the country.
The sources
further added that the apprehended ISIS leader was also transferring the
families of ISIS fighters to different parts of the country.
The ISIS
Khurasan terror group has not commented in this regard so far.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-forces-arrest-top-isis-leader-in-kunar-province-of-afghanistan-09001/
--------
Indian doctor
detonated car bomb in deadly attack targeting jail in East of Afghanistan
05 Aug 2020
An Indian doctor
detonated a Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) in the initial
phase of a deadly attack on a jail in eastern Nangarhar province of
Afghanistan, it has been reported.
According to
local media reports emerging from India, a medical graduate, hailing originally
from Malayali of Kerala of India, detonated a car bomb close to the provincial
jail in Jalalabad city, the provincial capital of India.
Identified as
Ijaz, who had recently graduated from medical faculty in China, the suicide
bomber detonated the car bomb to allow the other assailants storm the jail.
He reportedly
left Kerala to join the offshoot of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria
Khurasan (ISIS-K) in Mat of 2016.
Ijaz was
reportedly treating the wounded ISIS Khurasan cadres before volunteering to
carry out the deadly suicide attack which left at least 30 people dead.
https://www.khaama.com/indian-doctor-detonated-car-bomb-in-deadly-attack-targeting-jail-in-east-of-afghanistan-09000/
--------
Southeast Asia
Apex court to
hear if Muslim can be made party to non-Muslim marriage dispute
V Anbalagan
August 5, 2020
PETALING JAYA:
The controversial issue of whether Muslims can be made a party in the wrecking
of the marriage of non-Muslim couples is going to the Federal Court for final
determination, lawyer Ravi Nekoo said.
Counsel said his
client, identified as AJS, had filed an application for leave to appeal in the
apex court yesterday.
“We hope the
Federal Court will find the legal questions framed are of public advantage or
are constitutional issues, as provided for under Section 96 of the Courts of
Judicature Act 1964,” he told FMT, adding that six questions of law have been
framed.
A civil appeal
to the Federal Court is not automatic.
On July 6, a
three-member bench of the Court of Appeal, in reversing a High Court ruling,
held that a Muslim cannot be made a party in a matrimonial dispute involving
non-Muslim couples.
Judge Kamardin
Hashim said there was merit in the appeal though he did not provide the grounds
for overruling the ruling.
High Court judge
Faizah Jamaluddin had ruled that a co-respondent could only be named in a
divorce petition and not a judicial separation, regardless of his or her
religion.
In July last
year, AJS filed a petition for judicial separation against her husband, known
as RIS.
AJS also
included JBMH, a Muslim woman, as co-respondent, as she was said to be having
an affair with RIS.
JBMH then filed
an application to remove her name on the basis that the Law Reform (Marriage
and Divorce) Act 1976 (LRA) did not apply to Muslims.
The identities
of the parties involved have been withheld as provided in the High Court
ruling.
Lawyer Siew Choon
Jern, who appeared for JBMH, had told the Court of Appeal on July 6 that
Section 3(3) of the LRA was clear that it excluded Muslims.
“It is a blanket
exclusion. The only exception is in relation to Muslim converts who had civil
marriages,” Siew said.
Ravi, who
represented AJS, said the court had to look into the legislative intent of
Section 3(3). “Parliament would not have given a cloak of immunity to a Muslim
who wrecks the marriage of non-Muslim couples and allow them to get away with
it,” he said.
In 2001, the
late VT Singham, then a High Court judge, said marriage was a sacred union and
parties should strive to maintain this relationship for life as any breakdown
in the marriage would have adverse effects on the children who were innocent
parties.
Therefore, he
said in the judgment in a separate case, third parties should stay away from
attempting to interfere or enter into any kind of immoral relationship with the
wife or husband of another, which no doubt was likely to cause the breakdown of
the marriage of a happily married couple.
The judge
ordered the third party to pay RM20,150 in damages to the divorced wife as she
had committed adultery with the husband.
However, in that
case, the third party was a non-Muslim woman.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/08/05/apex-court-to-hear-if-muslim-can-be-made-party-to-non-muslim-marriage-dispute/
--------
PBS says will
contest 30 seats in Sabah polls
BY JULIA CHAN
04 Aug 2020
KOTA KINABALU,
Aug 4 — After Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s declared its intention to
contest 45 out of the 73 seats in Sabah, Parti Bersatu Sabah said today it is
now aiming to contest 30 seats in the upcoming state election.
Party deputy
president Datuk Seri Radin Malleh said the party came up with the decision
after a thorough analysis on the party’s strength and support in all 73 state
constituencies.
"We are
only planning to contest in 30 seats because we want to be reasonable,
realistic and practical," Radin said after chairing the party’s political
bureau meeting.
Radin also
hinted that the potential candidates consisted of many new faces, including
women.
“We have been
quietly working very hard and we are confident we have what it takes to win as
many seats in the election,” Radin added.
Radin said being
a multi-ethnic party, PBS is capable of winning any seats it contested, be it
in a constituency dominated by non-Muslim Bumiputera or Kadazan-Dusun Murut,
Muslim Bumiputera, or the ethnic Chinese.
He also said
that in areas where PBS is not contesting, it will support candidates from
like-minded parties which share a common objective of defeating the
“under-performing Warisan-led government.”
Party president
Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, who is said to be recuperating from ailments brought
on by exhaustion, has tasked Radin to lead PBS’ preparation for the election.
The election
will see PBS using its own symbol after 16 years of contesting under the
Barisan Nasional logo.
Formed in 1985,
PBS is the longest surviving local political party in Sabah with 61 divisions
all over the state, including Labuan, with more than 2,000 active branches.
The party rose
to its peak in 1985 to 1994, when it formed the Sabah government under founder
Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
It was toppled
by defections after the 1994 state elections and PBS joined BN till the
latter’s fall in GE14.
It is currently
part of the Perikatan Nasional federal government.
In the upcoming
state polls, 73 seats are up for contest, including 13 newly-gazetted seats.
PBS is expected
to work and negotiate with Umno, Bersatu, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah and Parti
Solidarity Tanah Airku on seat divisions to avoid overlapping contests.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/04/pbs-says-will-contest-30-seats-in-sabah-polls/1890999
--------
Europe
UK government to
get 'to the bottom' of SAS Afghanistan emails
Simon Rushton
August 4, 2020
The fallout from
reports about the alleged conduct of elite British forces in Afghanistan has
sent shock waves through the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The Special Air
Service (SAS) Regiment came under the spotlight at the weekend after emails
were released suggesting its troops were involved in the deaths of 33 Afghan
people in 11 night raids on homes in 2011.
Officials at the
MoD are now looking into how ministers did not know about the emails until last
Friday, BBC’s Newsnight programme reported, with officials willing to looking
into the allegations in full.
British Defence
Secretary Ben Wallace is also said to want answers after the High Court ordered
the release of the emails in a case brought by human rights law firm Leigh Day.
"The
Secretary of State is genuinely committed in getting to the bottom of this. He
wants to go back to the start in order to understand how this happened,"
the UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement.
"That means
speaking to the judicial engagement department as well as the director of
Special Forces and others to learn why this emerged in court and got his name
in the Sunday papers," the statement added.
Documents seen
by The Sunday Times newspaper reveal one incident in which it was alleged that
a British soldier killed four people in Helmand on February 16, 2011.
SAS soldiers
arrived by helicopter at night in a village called Gawahargin, in southern
Helmand province, looking for a suspect behind a bombing.
Women and
children were rounded up and the troops went into a family home where gunshots
were heard.
A teenager named
Saifullah went back into the house and found his father, brothers and cousin
with bullet holes in their heads.
The allegation
was passed on to the special investigation branch of the Royal Military Police,
who believed the claims were serious enough to launch an investigation in 2014.
They found
emails between special forces personnel, which have now been released by the
court.
The Ministry of
Defence said it had thoroughly investigated the claims and found no evidence to
prosecute any soldiers.
After the emails
were made public, Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Defence Select Committee,
told The National that any new evidence should be pursued by investigators.
“The British
Armed Forces have one of the most highly respected reputations in the world
because of their standards and values on the battlefield," Mr Ellwood
said.
"If
evidence comes to light that we have fallen beneath those standards, then it’s
imperative that the military police reopen the investigation.”
A consensus
appears to have emerged that work needs to be done to address how the
information from the investigations filtered up to ministers from SAS
commanders through MoD officials.
In the past,
veterans have spoken of the strain put on them by enquiries into misconduct in
the past.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/europe/uk-government-to-get-to-the-bottom-of-sas-afghanistan-emails-1.1058579
--------
Albania
transfers IS terror cell suspect to Germany
4 August 2020
BERLIN --
Albania has transferred to Germany a Tajik man accused of being part of a cell
of the Islamic State group that allegedly planned to attack U.S. military
facilities in Germany, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The suspect,
identified only as Komron B. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested on
his arrival at Frankfurt airport on Monday, federal prosecutors said in a
statement. Four other Tajiks were arrested in Germany in mid-April and their
alleged leader was taken into custody in March 2019.
Prosecutors said
Komron B. and the other suspects joined IS in January 2019 and founded a cell
in Germany on the group's instructions, initially intending to travel to
Tajikistan and fight that country's government. They then allegedly changed
plans and decided to carry out attacks in Germany, either on U.S. military
facilities or on individuals — including an unidentified person living in
Germany who they considered critical of Islam.
As part of their
efforts to raise money for their plans and for IS, one of the cell's members
traveled to Albania to carry out a contract killing for $40,000 but the plan
failed, prosecutors said. He and another suspect who had traveled with him then
returned to Germany.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/albania-transfers-terror-cell-suspect-germany-72161187?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1412573_
--------
Mosques
terrorist costing NZ millions
4 August 2020
New Zealand's
leaders continue to raise the prospect of Australia housing the Christchurch
mosques terrorist after he is given an expected life sentence next month.
However, it's
unclear whether a legal framework or political appetite exists for the transfer
of New Zealand's worst mass shooter - and now the country's most expensive
inmate.
Deputy Prime
Minister Winston Peters has called on Australia to take custody of Brenton
Tarrant, raised in the NSW town of Grafton, saying "he should be in
Australia".
"I'm
putting my cards on the table saying 'Go on, take him back into your prison
environment'," Mr Peters told AAP.
"That was
my view from day one but of course, it was sub judice so I couldn't say
anything while he was waiting for trial.
"After he's
been sentenced that's what I think should happen."
Prime Minister
Jacinda Ardern isn't as steadfast, saying she would "never have taken that
off the table" but "we do need to make sure that justice is done here
first".
For Tarrant to
serve his term in Australia, both governments either side of the Tasman would
need to agree, and NZ would need to accede to a transfer convention.
Freshly released
Cabinet papers in Wellington have revealed the high cost of housing Tarrant,
who shot and killed 51 people on March 15 last year.
A total of
$NZ3.59 million ($A3.33 million) has been approved for the first two years of
Tarrant's stay at Auckland's Paremoremo Prison.
Additionally,
$NZ790,000 ($A733,000) has been set aside this year for screening incoming and
outgoing mail for high-risk inmates.
That measure has
been directly attributed to an unfortunate incident last year when one of
Tarrant's letters - reportedly sent to a contact in Russia - was posted on a
notorious online forum.
Ms Ardern said
the bill to house the 29-year-old was unfortunately necessary.
"It is a
high-cost case," she said.
"Obviously
we've already seen what happens if we don't monitor closely, for instance, the
correspondence that that individual is is engaging in, and of course some of
the other precautions we need to put around the terrorist."
Australia and
New Zealand are close allies but are bitterly split on the issue of
deportations.
The Australian
government has deported thousands of people with Kiwi passports to NZ since
2014, including many who have little connection to Aotearoa.
Ms Ardern has
been resolutely critical of the deportations, telling Prime Minister Scott
Morrison in Sydney in February, "Do not deport your people and your
problems".
On Tuesday, she
drew a distinction between a prisoner relocation and the thorny issue, saying
Australia's deportations occurred at the end of sentences.
Tarrant will be
sentenced at Christchurch's High Court in three weeks, in the middle of a
national election.
Opposition
Leader Judith Collins, who was corrections minister under former PM John Key,
defended the multi-million dollar price tag to house Tarrant.
"It's a
real temptation for people to say 'Send him back to Australia before he's
served a sentence'," she said.
"I'd say to
(those people), there are around about ... 900 New Zealanders in Australian
jails. Would you like us to have all those back?
"He
committed his evil crime here. I think he needs to have his sentence here, even
though it costs us a lot of money."
https://au.news.yahoo.com/mosques-terrorist-costing-nz-millions-234455474--spt.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1412573_
--------
MP Afzal Khan
made parliamentary chair of UK’s Labour Muslim Network
Majid Khattak
AUGUST 5, 2020
The UK’s Labour
Muslim Network (LMN) has appointed MP of Pakistani origin, Afzal Khan, as their
new parliamentary chair. Afzal Khan, MP for Manchester Gorton and Shadow Deputy
Leader of the House of Commons is one of the leading Muslim and Pakistani MP’s
in the labour party.
In a statement
issued on Tuesday, the network said that Afzal Khan has been a champion of the
Muslim community and a fantastic voice for his constituents in Parliament. We
are excited to work with him closely in the coming year. The LMN is an
inclusive organisation which seeks to promote British Muslim engagement with
the Labour Party and in the political process based on our shared values of
social justice and equality. LMN also offers Islamophobia awareness training,
speakers for meetings, training and development opportunities and local
campaigning for Muslims across the UK
Afzal Khan MP on
his appointment said: I am humbled to take on the role of Parliamentary Chair
for the Labour Muslim Network. I look forward to getting to work on empowering
our members, tackling Islamophobia, and campaigning for a fairer, more equal
and democratic society.
Khan became the
first Muslim Lord Mayor of Manchester during 2005-2006 and in 2010 he was
appointed CBE for his race relations contributions. He also served as a Member
of the European Parliament (MEP) for North West England from 2014 to 2017.
A leading voice
for Muslims across the world, MP Afzal Khan have raised the issues of oppressed
Muslims of Kashmir, Palestine, and Rohingya in the British Parliament.
Similarly, he regularly highlights the problems faced by Pakistani and other
ethnic communities in the UK. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Afzal Khan raised
the issue of stranded British Pakistanis in Pakistan and due to his efforts,
British government started chartered flights from Pakistan.
https://dailytimes.com.pk/649353/mp-afzal-khan-made-parliamentary-chair-of-uks-labour-muslim-network/
--------
Mideast
How IRGC's
Buried Ballistic Missiles Tear Up Ground to Become Iran's New Surprise Weapon
Aug 04, 2020
In these
exercises, in addition to various international dimensions and special messages
for foreigners, specially trans-regional enemies who have been illegally
deployed in the Persian Gulf region for many years, new defense achievements
were demonstrated, specially in area Iran's missile technology. Meantime,
significant increase in the level of new defense technologies and weapons was
also put on display.
Among these
achievements was the very high velocity feature of anti-radar ballistic missiles
– much faster than previously seen - which makes it impossible to intercept and
target ballistic missiles by any defense shield. These missiles had already
been unveiled, though.
But the most
important and unique defense achievement displayed in these drills, which
astonished many experts and international observers, was the firing of
ballistic missiles planted, or still better to say buried, deep into the
ground. This technology is unique, under Iranian monopoly, and is completely
different from earlier versions of underground ballistic missiles which are
fired from underground silos and are owned by a few countries in the world. In
other words, the new capsuled ballistic missile is unrivaled in technology and
uniquely owned by Iran.
In addition to
underground missile towns and mobile launchers, this was the IRGC's third
tactical move to confuse enemy reconnaissance aircraft; the first two tactics
made it hard for enemy aircraft to site and target missile platforms and
launchers, but this new weapon system disarms enemy as it is buried and
impossible to trace by enemy aircraft.
During the Great
Prophet 14 drills, the IRGC Aerospace Force demonstrated another achievement
that is unparalleled in the world. Missiles buried into the ground were fired
at once with no need to platforms or launchers.
Of course,
studies showed that the US in the 1980s had a conceptual plan to fire the
LGM-118 Continental Ballistic Missile named Peacekeeper from underground with a
different mechanism but the conceptual design that was totally different from
IRGC's system never came in practice. As seen in the picture below, the LGM-118
and its launcher were designed to be hidden in camoflague few a
centimeters-tick layer of soil and once the command unit would decide to fire
it, it took some time for the launch and missile system to get ready, giving
enemy aircraft or forces a chance to site the system, although even this
conceptual design never came into effect, it still is completely different from
the technology and features of the new Iranian buried ballistice missile.
How Are IRGC's
Buried Missiles Fired from Their Resting Place Deep into The Ground?
An analysis of
images and videos released of this crucially important achievement show the
ballistic missile is placed inside a capsule or vertical launch canister (VLC)
which is planted into a hole dug into the ground and then covered with soil, or
simply said, buried.
The technology
of making capsules for vertically launched missiles, which is available in both
hot and cold launch types in the world, is one of the complex areas of hi-tech,
specially in the hot launch type, because the capsule or chamber in which the
missile is placed must be capable of tolerating the very high temperatures
resulting from the combustion of fuel by the missile fire engine in the initial
moments of launch.
The IRGC
missiles displayed during the recent drills use the vertical hot-launch system,
because in the first seconds of firing, the gas and fire resulted from the
combustion of fuel remove the soil from the upper discharge valves and open a
hole for the missile to fly out. Yet, as shown in the footage of the drills,
all this mechanism works in less than a second from the time of activation to
the launch of the missile.
There is no
information on the type of the missiles fired from inside these capsules, as
IRGC Aerospace Force has kept the identity and features of these missile highly
confidential, but a review of the video released from the moment these missiles
were fired in the recent drills shows that at least two types of missiles with
solid fuel have been launched.
One of the
missiles has no wings and the other missile has wings on its warhead to
increase its precision-striking power; the use of wings in the warhead of one
of the missiles fired as well as its solid fuel reinforces the speculation that
it has been from the Fateh class.
Also, given the
launch of two types of missiles from under surface, it can be strongly
speculated that most missiles which are fired obliquely or even vertical launch
missiles can be fired with this new technology.
Another point
that can be understood from the released video is that these missiles have a
thrust vector change (TVC) system, which can be seen in their firing profile
due to the changing trajectory of the rocket compared to the initial firing
angle. Such a control system is an indispensible part of these missiles,
because missiles fired from VLS launchers must use such a control method to
guide it towards the target.
Meantime, using
thrust vector control system in Iranian missiles is not unprecedented. The
system has, for instance, been used in Qiam ballistic missile which has no wing
to guide and correct its trajectory. Qiam uses 4 Jet Vanes in the nozzle of
gases which are exhausted from the missile and changing the thrust vector of
the exhausted gases guides the missile and corrects its path. Also, in Sayad-4
defensive missile used in Bavar-373 defense system, because the missile
operates in a hot vertical launch system, the thrust vector change control has
been used.
As a matter of
fact, the Iranian missile experts have managed to pose a big challenge to enemy
intelligence services and air reconnaissance by combining several special
technologies. Because they were so far able to detect the location of ballistic
missiles launchers, platforms or bases, underground missile towns or missile
centers by monitoring satellite images and monitoring the movement of missiles
and their launchers, but from now on they will not be able to detect Iran's
missile depots and fire platforms as this type of planted or buried missiles
stay fully hidden in camouflage deep into the ground and, hence, leave not even
the slightest chance for any enemy to trace and find them.
"Given the
high durability of solid fuel missiles, which can stay in operation for up to
15 years, IRGC's buried ballistic missile farms could grow anywhere, and this
will change the battle scene in favor of Iran in the entire region in future as
these missiles could be planted even behind enemy missile defense shields, like
the iron dom," Senior Analyst Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm said.
Last Wednesday,
Commander of the IRGC’s Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh
said that Iran is the first country in the world that has fired camouflaged
ballistic missiles buried deep into the ground during the military drills.
“It was the
first time in the world that ballistic missiles were fired from beneath soil,”
General Hajizadeh told reporters on the sidelines of the second day of massive
'Great Prophet-14' drills in the Southern parts of the country.
He added that
the missiles were launched without using platforms and equipment, noting that
the hidden missiles tear up the ground from where they are buried, fly and hit
the target.
The IRGC fired
ballistic missiles buried deep into the ground during the second day of massive
'Great Prophet-14' drills in the Southern parts of the country on Wednesday.
Also, in the
final stage of the IRGC drills, which took place in the waters of the Persian
Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the IRGC Aerospace Force drones attacked enemy's
mock aircraft carrier and targeted its command tower and bridge.
Also, the IRGC’s
Sukhoi-22 fighters bombed and destroyed pre-determined targets in Farour
Islands with winged bombs.
Destroying
hypothetical enemy targets designed much smaller than the actual size with a
variety of smart bombs was another part of this phase of the exercises.
The IRGC
Aerospace and Naval Forces' joint exercises were an important part of the
drills and demonstrated surprising tactics, including establishment of the two
forces' joint command systems, joint control, combined tactics and combat
methods.
Successful
missile combat operations were carried out by firing two surface-to-surface
Hurmoz and Fateh missiles, and a ballistic missile at specific targets, as well
as launching precision-striking air defense missiles.
Also, Shahed
181, Mohajer and Bavar drones successfully attacked and destroyed hypothetical
enemy targets and positions at this stage of the drills.
Meantime,
surface-to-surface missile operations, coast-to-sea operations, heavy artillery
firing and offensive mine-laying operations to cut off enemy lines were
demonstrated on the second day of the massive wargames.
Also, firing of
all kinds of artillery, RPGs and light weapons by combat forces in line and
around Iranian islands was part of the drills to reportedly show the firm
determination of the border guards in defending the country.
The IRGC
announced in a statement last Tuesday that it has started the final phase of
the 'Great Prophet-14' drills in the South of the country, and added that
Nour-1 Satellite, that was launched on April 22, was used to monitor the
wargames.
The drills were
held with the participation of the IRGC Navy and Aerospace forces in the
Hormozgan province and extend to the depth of the Iranian soil.
IRGC Navy’s
missile, ship, and drone units as well as IRGC Aerospace’s missile, drone, and
radar units are due to conduct operational drills in the wargames, the
statement said.
The wargames
were monitored for the first time by the Nour-1 Satellite that was launched
successfully on April 22.
The IRGC
launched the satellite aboard Qassed (Carrier) satellite carrier during an
operation that was staged in Dasht-e Kavir, Iran’s sprawling Central desert.
The Launcher Qassed is a three-stage launcher using compound solid-liquid fuel.
The satellite
was placed into the orbit 425km above Earth’s surface.
The satellite
was sent to the space on the anniversary of the IRGC establishment (April 22,
1979).
Great Prophet
(Payambar-e Azam) wargames are annual missile tests and exercises conducted by
Iran's IRGC. The first series of the wargames began in July 2008.
In recent years,
Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained
self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.
The Iranian
Armed Forces several times a year test their preparedness and capabilities as
well as newly-manufactured weapons systems in different wargames.
Iranian Armed
Forces recently test-fire different types of newly-developed missiles and
torpedoes and tested a large number of home-made weapons, tools and equipment,
including submarines, military ships, artillery, choppers, aircrafts, UAVs and
air defense and electronic systems, during massive military drills.
Iranian
officials have always stressed that the country's military and arms programs
serve defensive purposes.
Defense analysts
and military observers say that Iran's wargames and its advancements in weapons
production have proved as a deterrent factor.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990514000315
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Israel seeking
to export own crises to Gaza: Hamas
04 August 2020
The Palestinian
resistance movement Hamas says overnight Israeli airstrikes on the besieged
Gaza Strip are “a message of escalation and aggression” and an attempt by the
Israeli regime “to export its internal crises to the strip.”
Israeli
warplanes targeted several locations in the central and southern parts of the
coastal enclave in the early hours of Monday. The Israeli military claimed in a
statement that they hit positions belonging to the Gaza-based Hamas and that
the airstrikes were in response to alleged rocket attacks a few hours earlier.
On Monday, Hamas
spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the new Israeli aggression was aimed at deflecting
attention away from the worsening political situation inside Israel, where
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing massive 0protests.
“The valiant
resistance, which is well aware of the occupation’s plans and way of thinking
and knows how to deal with it, will not allow it to make Gaza an arena for
exporting its crises,” Barhoum said.
Netanyahu, the
first serving Israeli prime minister to go on trial, has been charged in at
least three corruption cases with bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. He is
accused of receiving extravagant gifts from billionaires and granting media
tycoons regulatory favors in return for more agreeable coverage of himself and
his family.
On Saturday, an
estimated 10,000 Israelis protested against Netanyahu in a rally that was
described by Israeli media as the largest in a decade.
In the past
recent weeks, thousands of protesters have also rallied, mainly in Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem al-Quds, against Netanyahu’s mishandling of the COVID-19 outbreak,
calling for his resignation.
Israel is
currently witnessing record numbers of coronavirus infections and fatalities
amid a deepening unemployment rate of more than 20 percent.
Gaza has been
under Israeli siege since June 2007.
Over the past
decade, Israel has waged three wars on Gaza, where two million Palestinians
live. Thousands of Gazans have been killed in each of the wars since 2008.
The crippling
blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as
unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the strip.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631074/Gaza-Hamas-Israel-airstrikes-export-crises
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Turkey says oil
deal between SDF, US firm amounts to ‘financing of terrorism’
03 August 2020
Turkey has
denounced a deal recently signed between the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and
an American company aimed at stealing oil in northeastern Syria, describing it
as equivalent to ‘financing of terrorism’.
“We regret the
US support for this step that ignores international law and that targets
Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said
in a statement on Monday.
It considered
the deal to be “the financing of terrorism” and “unacceptable.”
The Foreign
Ministry accused the Syrian Kurdish militants of advancing the SDF’s
“separatist agenda by confiscating, with this step, Syrian people’s natural
resources.”
“Syria’s natural
resources belong to Syrian people,” the Turkish statement added.
The Syrian
government on Sunday also condemned the agreement, which Turkey has also
described as “unacceptable.”
Damascus says
the deal is “an affront to national sovereignty” that amounts to “theft.”
The Syrian
Foreign Ministry has slammed Washington for hindering the Syrian government’s
efforts for rebuilding what has been destroyed by the foreign-led terrorism,
which is “mostly backed by the US administration itself.”
Al-Monitor,
citing unnamed sources, also named the company in a report on Thursday as Delta
Crescent Energy LLC, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of
Delaware, without giving further details.
On July 30 and
during his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo confirmed for the first time that an American oil company
would begin work in the SDF-controlled northeastern Syria.
A US-led
military coalition has been bombarding what it claimed was positions of the
Daesh Takfiri terrorists inside Syria since September 2014 without any
authorization from the Damascus government or a UN mandate.
The strikes have
on many occasions resulted in civilian casualties and failed to fulfill their
declared aim of countering terrorism.
The White House
has long been providing the SDF with arms and militant training, calling them a
key partner in the purported fight against Daesh. Many observers, however, see
the support in the context of Washington’s plans to carve out a foothold in
Syria.
That support has
also angered Washington’s NATO ally, Turkey, which views militants from the
Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) – the backbone of the SDF – as a
terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/631008/Turkey-Syria-SDF
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Africa
Haftar says
Libya ‘will never accept Turkish colonialism’ in address to LNA battalion
02 August 2020
"We will
never accept colonialism. The Turks have stayed in Libya for 300 years and the
Libyans have seen nothing but evil," said Libyan National Army chief Field
Marshal Khalifa Haftar on Saturday during a visit with the Tariq bin Ziyad
battalion.
Haftar was
photographed meeting with LNA officers as part of his tour inside the
battalion’s headquarters to check on their battle preparations.
“The Libyans
will confront each colonizer and will expel him. We are on the lookout and
their expulsion will be our main goal,” Hafar said during his speech.
Turkish forces
have been stationed in the country supporting forces and mercenaries linked to
the Government of National Accord (GNA) in western Libya.
Meanwhile, UAE
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash urged Turkey to stop
interfering in Arab affairs, mockingly referring to the Ottoman empire which
collapsed a century ago.
“The provocative
statement of the Turkish Minister of Defense is a new [failure for] his
country’s diplomacy…Relations are not managed with threats and intrusions, and
there is no place for colonial illusions at this time, and it is more
appropriate for Turkey to stop interfering in Arab affairs,” Gargash wrote on Twitter.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/08/02/Haftar-says-Libya-will-never-accept-Turkish-colonialism-in-address-to-LNA-battalion.html
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Libyan tribes
sue rebel commander at ICC over civilian massacre
04 August 2020
Libyan tribes
have filed a lawsuit with the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the
massacre of civilians by rebel militia led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar
and Emirati fighter jets in southern Libya last year.
Libya’s Toubou
tribes announced the filing of the lawsuit in a statement on Tuesday, saying
they sought to “punish criminals and terrorists who committed the massacre of
bombing a residential neighborhood in the city of Murzuq.”
At least 40
people lost their lives and dozens of others sustained injuries in the
airstrike by rebel forces under Haftar’s command in Murzuq on August 4, 2019.
“The painful
massacre that was committed intentionally against the Toubou tribes in Murzuq
by Haftar’s militias were carried out by warplanes belonging to the United Arab
Emirates,” tribal leader Issa Abdel-Majid Mansour said.
The non-Arab
Toubou tribes, residing in southern Libya, are among the ethnic minorities in
the North African country and have expressed support for the
internationally-recognized government in the capital, Tripoli.
Libya has been
beset by chaos since the overthrow of ex-dictator Muammar Gaddafi and a NATO
military intervention in 2011.
Since 2014, two
rival seats of power have emerged, namely the internationally-recognized Libyan
government headed by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj in Tripoli, and another
group based in the eastern city of Tobruk and supported militarily by Haftar’s
rebels.
The rebels — who
are backed by the UAE, Russia, and Egypt — launched an offensive to seize the
capital and unseat Sarraj’s government in April 2019. But the government
launched a counter-offensive and has recently managed to reverse many of their
gains both around the capital and elsewhere in the country with crucial help
from Turkey.
The Turkish
military has been providing air cover, weapons, and proxy militia from Syria to
help the Libyan government.
Haftar’s rebels
claim attack on government, Turkish forces
In another
development on Tuesday, media sources in eastern Libya claimed that Haftar’s
rebel forces had carried out airstrikes and inflicted “very serious damage” on
the positions of the Tripoli-based government and Turkish forces.
The sources
claimed that the rebels’ warplanes had targeted Misrata International Airport
in the northern city of the same name.
The sources
claimed that the attacks had targeted Turkish helicopters, drone hangars, and a
military cargo plane carrying weapons from Turkey to Libya.
The Libyan
government confirmed the attacks, saying they had been carried out from an
unknown location, most likely a distant one.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/04/631094/Libya-tribes-sue-Haftar-ICC
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Suicide Bombing
Attack on Mogadishu Restaurants Kills At least Three
August 04, 2020
Media reports
say a suicide bombing attack killed at least four people, including the bomber
at a Mogadishu restaurant, which is popular with security forces and government
workers.
Several others
were injured in Monday's attack on the Lul Yamani restaurant, in the Somali
capital.
Police say the
attacker detonated the explosives at the entrance to the restaurant after being
stopped by a restaurant security guard.
There was no
immediate claim of responsibility, but the Islamist al-Shabaab militant group
is suspected of being involved because its history of targeting security
forces.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/suicide-bombing-attack-mogadishu-restaurants-kills-least-three?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1412573_
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pm-modi-uses-silver-brick/d/122550