Boko Haram Mystery: Just Who Is Leading Nigeria's Jihadists?
New Age Islam News Bureau
20
Aug 2015
Famous snake catcher Mohammad Saleem and others worship a cobra pair at the former's Snake Research Centre in Bhopal on Wednesday. (Mujeeb Faruqui)
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Africa
• 25 Al Shabaab Militants Killed In Somalia
• Military Obliterates Fleeing Boko Haram Terrorists
• Boko Haram Mystery: Just Who Is Leading Nigeria's Jihadists?
• Militants kill one policeman in Tunisian resort
• Attackers on moped kill Tunisian policeman wound 2 others
• C. Africa interfaith group receives UN peace prize
• International envoys urge resolution to Somali impeachment effort
• Hundreds stage a big rally against new Gedo admin in Somalia
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Europe
• We Can’t Take Muslim Migrants As We Don’t Have Mosques: Slovakia
• Riot over disrespect to Holy Quran left 15 wounded in Germany
• Appalling conditions spread typhoid in Yarmouk camp
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Arab World
• Iraqi VP Condemns S. Arabia for Spreading Terrorism
• HRW Urges Syria Arms Embargo After Deadly Regime Strikes
• Libyan guards at crossing to Egypt stop working
• Meet on liberating Iraq’s Anbar ends in brawl
• Blast near Cairo state security building wounds 6
• UAE announces Martyr’s day, but why November 30?
• Lebanese activists clash with police over trash crisis
• At least 4 Palestinians abducted in Egypt: Hamas
• Bomb blast targets Cairo security building, injures 29
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Pakistan
• 43 Militants Killed In North Waziristan Air Strikes: ISPR
• PAF Jets Bomb Pakistani Taliban, Kill 25
• Pakistani ID Cards Issued To Terrorists for As Less as $100 Bribe
• US Finds Action against Haqqani Network Inadequate
• Credible proofs of child sexual abuse in Kasur
• Aziz’s Delhi visit delicately poised
• OIC, UN can resolve Kashmir, ME issues: Pakistan
• Army to support anti-polio campaign in area bordering Afghanistan
• JI chief terms Khanzada exemplary man
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South Asia
• Afghan Forces Killed 118 Militants in Past Two Days
• Decision on Appointment of New Taliban Chief Due Today
• Turkey delivers aid to victims of deadly Kabul truck bombing
• Mohaqiq hold talks with Iran on growing ISIS threats in Afghanistan
'• No foreign role' in Bangkok bombing
• NDS arrests two terrorists in Nimroz
• Ban Ki-moon appoints Afghanistan’s Tanin as his special envoy to Kosovo
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Mideast
• ‘My Goal Is To Be Martyred,’ Says Turkish Minister
• Fierce Clashes Continue in Southern Yemen, Northern Saudi Arabia
• Ansarullah Dismisses News Reports on Seizure of UAE Embassy in Sana'a
• Bomb hits governor's office in Yemen's Aden, four dead
• Israel suspends hunger striking Palestinian’s detention
• Enough funds received to reopen UN schools for Palestinian refugees
• Report: Turkey Sends Trucks Loaded with Weapons, Ammo to Syria
• Hamas Captures Israel's Spying Robot
• Source Rejects Media Reports on Detention of Iranians in Kuwait
• Iran Calls for End to US Monopoly over Internet
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North America
• American Muslim Student Elected to Head J Street on U.S. Campuses
• Canada’s Salaam Swipe Offers 'Halal Dating'
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India
• Muslim Devout In Bhopal Worships Cobras on Naag Panchami
• Pakistan invites Hurriyat, but govt finds a way to save NSA talks
• Wary Nawaz dances to army tune on talks
• India readies Naved arrow to pin Pakistan
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Southeast Asia
• PM Najib Razak Says Universal Human Rights Not For Muslim Malaysia
• Suhakam: Human rights not at odds with Islam
• Malaysia will not protect LGBT people because of Islam, says Prime Minister
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/boko-haram-mystery-just-leading/d/104330
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Africa
25 Al Shabaab militants killed in Somalia
August 20, 2015
At least 25 Al Shabaab militants were killed by government troops in Hiran region of Somalia, military officials said.
Senior military officer Mohamed Omar told Xinhua on Wednesday that government troops along with Ethiopian forces conducted operations against the militant group in the past 48 hours in the region.
"During this military operation, we killed 25 Al-Shabaab fighters. Most of them died in Luq jelow village in Hiran," he said.
The officer said they would continue the operation until they liberate all villages under Al Shabaab control.
Al Shabaab said it inflicted heavy casualties on joint forces, a charge denied by the officials.
"There was a fierce battle between the two parties and the situation remains tense," a Luq jelow resident said.
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/25-al-shabaab-militants-killed-in-somalia-115082000057_1.html
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Military Obliterates Fleeing Boko Haram Terrorists
20 Aug 2015
By Senator Iroegbu in Abuja 

Troops of the 26 Task Force Brigade of 7Division, Nigerian Army in Gwoza, Borno State yesterday evening engaged Boko Haram terrorists fleeing Sambisa forest following the aerial bombardment by the Nigerian Air Force (NAF).
This was disclosed yesterday in a statement signed by the Director of Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman.
Usman said that the military decisively dealt with the fleeing terrorists in seven pick-up vans and some motorcycles mounted with assorted weapons such as rocket propelled grenades (RPGs) and anti-aircraft guns, adding that the attack led to the death of many of the insurgents.
“The troops also destroyed their vehicles, weapons and motorcycles. They also recovered a vehicle, one motorcycle, two AK47 rifles, large quantities of 7.62mm NATO and 12.7mm ammo,” he said.
The army spokesman also revealed that the troops have intensified their patrols and offensive action against the terrorists in the area.
Usman further added that following reports and distressed calls on suspected movements and planned attacks by Boko Haram terrorists around Damasak in Borno, the NAF conducted air surveillance and armed reconnaissance missions, while troops of the Nigerian Army were reinforced in the area.
According to him, the stories published by the media on the alleged massacre and drowning of over a hundred civilians in Kukuwa-Gari-Gujba Local Government Area of Yobe State could not be substantiated.
Usman assured members of the public of the army’s commitment in the fight against Boko Haram, adding that the military would ensure the security of law-abiding citizens in the affected areas.
He also revealed: “Our troops have just arrested two fleeing key members of Boko Haram terrorists with two pick -p vehicles in Geidam, Yobe State. Both terrorists are being interrogated.”
Corroborating his statement on the Kukuwa-Gari slaughter, Defence Headquarters' (DHQ) spokesman, Col Rabe Abubakar, said the reports on the slaying and drowning of 150 persons in the local government were “utterly scurrilous and very misleading”.
“However, the truth of the matter is that the military got an intelligence report concerning a planned attack by Boko Haram on Kukuwa-Gari village in Yobe State. Following the tip-off, troops and the civilian JTF (youth vigilante group) laid ambush between Kukuwatashi and Kukuwa-Gari villages.
“The insurgents ran into them and a gun-battle ensued in which four Boko Haram members and one civilian JTF lost their lives. At the end of the encounter, two AK 47 rifles and two motorcycles used by the Boko Haram terrorists were recovered from them.
“The Armed Forces therefore implore the media to always seek clarification of stories before going to press as most of these unsubstantiated reports tend to embolden or encourage the terrorists to believe they are invincible, thus instilling perpetual fear in the minds of the citizens, especially, those in the contested areas of the North-east,” Abubakar said.
He maintained that the military was doing all within its power to protect lives and property of Nigerians in any part of the country and solicited for the cooperation and understanding of the media to be partners in progress in the task.
Also, as part of his new strategy to tackle the Boko Haram Terrorist Group (BHT) at the North-east, the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Sadiq Abubakar, has authorised the immediate establishment of a 2-level hospital at the largest internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in Maiduguri, Borno State.
The Director of Public Relations and Information (DOPRI), Nigerian Air Force (NAF), Air Commodore Dele Alonge, announced in a statement yesterday, that the hospital would cater especially for elderly men, women and children in dire need of health care.
In addition to the establishment of the hospital, Alonge said the Air Chief also ordered the construction of a borehole to service the hospital and other people within the camp.
He said that the National Security Adviser (NSA), Maj-Gen Babagana Monguno (rtd), accompanied by the service chiefs visited several IDP camps in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States including the Dalori camp last week where it was observed that elderly men, women and children were in dire need of improved healthcare and water supply.
He said the CAS gave the NAF Director of Medical Services marching orders to establish a hospital with full complements to enhance the healthcare needs of the IDPs.
He added that the NAF has intensified the aerial bombardments of Sambisa forest.
Alonge also disclosed that the NAF’s F-7 fighter aircraft carried out interdiction mission over designated targets and suspected Boko Haram locations.
He said its Alpha jets also carried out armed reconnaissance and attacked some moving vehicles belonging to the terrorists.
“While, the Mi -24 and Mi-35 attack helicopters further carried out interdiction mission at some identified targets all in Sambisa forest,” he revealed.
Furthermore, Alonge said the ATR-42 and Diamond-142 surveillance aircraft continued with their ISR missions over Damasak, Alafia and Sambisa forest where some abandoned vehicles belonging to the terrorists were seen at some locations in the forest.
He said that the air force chief restated his commitment to continue with the air assault until total victory is achieved.
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/military-obliterates-fleeing-boko-haram-terrorists/217951/
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Boko Haram Mystery: Just Who Is Leading Nigeria's Jihadists?
2015-08-18
Lagos - Claims that Nigeria's Boko Haram has been "decapitated" have been spectacularly rebuffed by the jihadists' leader, yet his first broadcast in months may not see off an impending mutiny, say analysts.
Abubakar Shekau released an eight-minute audio recording on Sunday - his first since March - denying claims by Chadian leader Idriss Deby that he had been replaced, and dismissing the president as a "hypocrite" and a "tyrant".
The tirade was a reaction to Deby telling reporters in N'Djamena last week that Boko Haram was no longer led by the fearsome Shekau and that his successor, whom he named as "Mahamat Daoud", was open to talks with the government.
Security analysts accept the Shekau recording as genuine and many experienced observers are taking Deby's claims with scepticism, pointing out that similar reports have proven untrue in the past.
But Ryan Cummings, chief security analyst at South African consultancy Red 24 and an expert on the Nigerian insurgency described the Chadian head-of-state's claims as "not without merit".
Cummings believes Boko Haram may be an umbrella movement comprising many disparate factions rather than a monolithic organisation and says internal rivalries "would be no means be a new development for the sect".
He points to the formation of Ansaru, a splinter group formed in 2012 on the back of ideological differences and a leadership struggle between Shekau and a high-ranking Boko Haram commander known as Khalid al-Barnawi.
"So this does highlight that a precedent for leadership squabbles and factionalism does exist within the Boko Haram entity," Cummings told AFP.
'Top dog'
Boko Haram has been waging a six-year uprising against the Nigerian state, claiming more than 15 000 lives, but the jihadists' recent extension of their north-eastern insurgency across borders has brought Chad and its neighbours into the fray.
In March, Shekau pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, renaming his organisation "Islamic State West Africa Province", or "ISWAP".
Deby's speech on the group's decapitation made headlines around the world, but shed little light on Shekau's putative replacement, an apparently new player in global jihad who was virtually unknown before last week.
Nigerian security analyst Fulan Nasrullah, one of the country's most respected Boko Haram watchers, argues in a blog post for the London-based Royal African Society that the "Mahamat Daoud" to whom Deby referred is actually Muhammad Daud, a Shuwa Arab from Borno State, the cradle of the insurgency.
Daud, aged around 38, is an ex-serviceman and protege of slain Boko Haram founder Muhammad Yusuf, who disagrees with the 2009 uprising and is "one of the few top dogs against the pledge of allegiance made to Islamic State", Nasrullah says.
The militant, who has a Chadian mother, is a powerful commander in charge of counter-intelligence and internal security who oversaw the training of suicide bombers and the planning of attacks in major cities, according to the analyst.
Nasrullah says Daud has broken away from ISWAP with hundreds of fighters, including commanders who are against the ISIS pledge and disagree with Shekau's "extreme brutality".
Hatred of Shekau
Two months ago, he says, they retook Boko Haram's preferred pre-pledge name "Jama'atu Ahlil Sunnah lidda'awati Wal Jihad", or "Group of the People of Sunnah for Preaching and Jihad".
"They have declared Shekau a rebel against the teaching of Muhammad Yusuf, an apostate, a deviant and a religious hypocrite," Nasrullah writes.
Daud, he says, has approached the government to form an alliance to wipe out Shekau's IS franchise in return for an autonomous state in the northeast ruled by Islamic sharia law.
Crucially, Daud would go into any negotiations with Abuja in possession of key secrets about Boko Haram's fundraising, inner structure and even possibly intelligence on how to track down and kill Shekau.
Boko Haram's leader, according to Nasrullah, is now likely to be in the "rifle sights" of the breakaway Daud, whose "hatred of Shekau may very well surpass his hatred for the Nigerian state".
Andrew Noakes, coordinator of the Nigerian Security Network of analysts, cautions against relying on Deby as a credible source on Boko Haram's internal machinations, however.
"We should remember Deby's previous claim to be facilitating negotiations with Boko Haram over the Chibok girls last year, when in fact the interlocutor turned out to be a fake," he told AFP, referring to the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls.
Noakes sees a coup within Boko Haram's ranks as "plausible", however, pointing to numerous potential sources of a schism in the group, including over its failure to hold onto territory.
"If it has happened then it could mean a number of things. According to Deby it may mean negotiations with the government. But it could also mean the group turns inward as a power struggle plays out," he said.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Boko-Haram-mystery-just-who-is-leading-Nigerias-jihadists-20150818
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Militants kill one policeman in Tunisian resort
20 August 2015
Two Islamist militants riding a motorbike shot dead a Tunisian police officer on Wednesday in the beach resort of Sousse, where a gunman killed 38 people in June, a security source said.
Tunisia is struggling to protect its vital tourism centers following the Sousse killings and an attack in March against foreign visitors at the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
“Two young men on a motorbike opened fire on the police. At least one police officer is dead,” the security source said, asking not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
No further details were immediately available.
Since its 2011 uprising ousted autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia has emerged as a model for democratic transition in the Middle East. But the North African state has also struggled with a rising militant threat.
Officials say more than 3,000 Tunisians have left to fight in Iraq and Syria and increasingly in neighboring Libya, where the chaos generated by a battle between two rival governments has left a security vacuum for militant groups to grow.
The gunmen in the Sousse attack and the Bardo Museum were trained in militant camps in Libya, but officials and family say they were radicalized by militant groups at home through local mosques or contacts on the internet.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/africa/2015/08/20/Militants-kill-one-policeman-in-Tunisian-resort.html
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Attackers on moped kill Tunisian policeman wound 2 others
19 August 2015
A Tunisian official says two men on a moped opened fire with a rifle on three policemen in the resort town Sousse, killing one and wounding the other two.
Sahbi Jouini, a member of the policemen's union, said the victims were waiting for transportation to the neighboring town Kairouan from the low-income neighborhood of Hay Zohour when they were attacked Wednesday.
The attackers sped away and a search is now underway, Jouini added.
On June 26, a gunman killed 38 tourists on a beach in Sousse in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/19/Attackers-on-moped-kill-Tunisian-policeman-wound-2-others.html
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C.Africa interfaith group receives UN peace prize
20 August 2015
Geneva (AFP) - Members of the Central African Republic's Interfaith Peace Platform on Wednesday received an international peace award for their work to reconcile Muslims and Christians in the war-ravaged country.
The prize, in honour of United Nations envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello who was killed when a suicide bomber attacked the UN offices in Baghdad 12 years ago, was handed over to three of Central Africa's top religious leaders at a ceremony in Geneva.
The Catholic Archbishop of Bangui, Dieudonne Nzapalainga, the head of the Central Africa's Islamic Council Imam Oumar Kobine Layama and the head of the country's Evangelical Alliance, Pastor Nicolas Guerekoyamene-Gbangou received their golden plaques from Vieira de Mello's widow and two sons in the UN's European headquarters.
"The Interfaith Peace Platform shows what it takes during a crisis to bring a country together across the social, cultural and religious divides," one of the sons, Laurent Vieira de Mello, who heads the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation, said in a statement.
The three founders were hailed for creating their Interfaith Peace Platform as violence began exploding across their landlocked nation two years ago in a bid to promote dialogue and prevent religious violence.
Full report at:
http://news.yahoo.com/c-africa-interfaith-group-receives-un-peace-prize-192048072.html
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International envoys urge resolution to Somali impeachment effort
20 August 2015
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - International envoys urged a rapid resolution to a move by Somali lawmakers to impeach President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud - the latest crisis to threaten the country's stability as it struggles to rebound from two decades of chaos and war.
Somali lawmakers last week filed an impeachment motion against Mohamud, accusing him of abuse of office and "betraying the country". Mohamud has said he is committed to holding elections on time before his term runs out in August 2016.
In a joint statement, the envoys of the United Nations, the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the European Union, the United States and Britain expressed concern the impeachment effort would "impede progress on Somalia’s peace and state building goals.
"The submission of any such motion requires a high standard of transparency and integrity in the process and will consume extremely valuable time, not least in the absence of essential legal bodies," the statement said.
Under Somalia's constitution, at least 90 members of parliament have to sign a motion for it to be debated in parliament. To dismiss the president, two thirds of the 275 lawmakers would need to vote in favour of the motion.
The president's office said in a statement last week that Mohamud was aware of the motion and that the government respected parliament's role, but that lawmakers had more serious issues to debate ahead of the election.
Full report at:
http://news.yahoo.com/international-envoys-urge-resolution-somali-impeachment-effort-073115245.html
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Hundreds stage a big rally against new Gedo admin in Somalia
19, 2015
Hundreds of people including children, women and men took to the streets of regional capital of Garbahaarey to protest newly appointed Gedo administration in south of Somalia.
The demonstrators with banners and chanting slogans opposing newly appointed Gedo admin by leader of Somalia’s interim Jubaland, Ahmed Mohamed Islam (Ahmed Madobe) after visiting in the region.
The protest, which was organized by Bardhere civil society, has been held in Garbahaarey town in south of Somalia after leader Ahmed Madobe sacked former governor of Gedo and appointed another head.
Full report at:
http://www.mareeg.com/hundreds-stage-a-big-rally-against-new-gedo-admin-in-somalia/
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Europe
We can’t take Muslim migrants as we don’t have mosques: Slovakia
20 August 2015
Slovakia will take in 200 Christian Syrian migrants instead of Muslims because of a lack of infrastructure – including a shortage of mosques in the small Eastern European state – its interior ministry told the BBC on Wednesday.
Under a European Union relocation scheme to share the burden of thousands of Syrian migrants fleeing the civil war back home, member states will take in 40,000 new arrivals from Italy, Turkey and Greece.
But Ivan Metik, an interior ministry spokesman, told the BBC that small Slovakia was “only a transit country” and not an attractive option for a long-term stay – particularly for Muslims.
“We could take 800 Muslims but we don't have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?”
The spokesman denied that the move was discriminatory and said the decision to accommodate only Christian migrants was to safeguard community cohesion.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/We-can-t-take-Muslim-migrants-as-we-don-t-have-mosques-Slovakia.html
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Riot over disrespect to Holy Quran left 15 wounded in Germany
By KHAAMA PRESS - Thu Aug 20 2015
GermanyA riot erupted among asylum seekers at a refugee center in Germany leaving 15 people wounded including Afghans.
The riot reportedly erupted after a refugee tore pages from the Holy Quran prompting anger of some 20 other residents in the refugee center in Suhl city of Thuringen State on Wednesday evening.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/riot-over-disrespect-to-holy-quran-left-15-wounded-in-germany-3794
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Appalling conditions spread typhoid in Yarmouk camp
20 August 2015
LONDON: Typhoid has broken out among residents of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning of further disease outbreaks because of the appalling conditions there unless aid reaches the camp.
Six cases of typhoid were confirmed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which gained access to residents from the Yarmouk camp for the first time since June in nearby Yalda, where it carried out more than 200 medical consultations.
Typhoid is contracted by drinking or eating contaminated matter and symptoms include nausea, fever, and abdominal pain. Untreated, the disease can lead to complications in the gut and head which can kill up to one in five patients.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/793746
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Arab World
Iraqi VP Condemns S. Arabia for Spreading Terrorism
Aug 19, 2015
"The ISIL was a movement created by certain regional states, headed by Saudi Arabia, with sectarian and political goals," Maliki, a former Prime Minister, told FNA in the Northeastern city of Mashhad on Wednesday.
"The ISIL is supported by Saudi Arabia and Turkey as Ankara sought to overthrow President Assad's government," he added.
Elsewhere, Maliki referred to the internal situation in Iraq and its fight against the terrorist groups, and underlined the popular forces' vital role in taking back ISIL-held regions.
The popular forces helped the Iraqi army after senior clerics issued a fatwa (religious decree) in support of campaign against terrorism and "we believe that there wouldn't have been any Iraq now if it hadn't been for them", he added.
Turkey and Saudi Arabia are supplying terrorist groups in Syria with arms and funds.
A report in May quoted the Syrian sources as saying that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia, held coordination meetings with the country's senior officials to jointly supply the terrorist groups in the Syrian province of Idlib with arms and fund.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528000787
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HRW urges Syria arms embargo after deadly regime strikes
20 August 2015
Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on the Syrian government after deadly air strikes on a rebel town killed nearly 100 people.
The New York-based group said the Sunday attack on Douma outside Damascus showed the Syrian government’s “appalling disregard for civilians.”
The series of air strikes on the town in the Eastern Ghouta region killed mostly civilians, with several of the raids hitting a crowded marketplace.
“This latest carnage is another reminder -- if any was still needed -- of the urgent need for the Security Council to act on its previous resolutions and take steps to stop indiscriminate attacks,” HRW deputy Middle East director Nadim Houry said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, put the toll in the attack at 96 dead, though HRW reported 112 people had died, citing local officials.
The attack was among the deadliest government assaults in the conflict, which began in March 2011.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/HRW-urges-Syria-arms-embargo-after-deadly-regime-strikes-.html
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Libyan guards at crossing to Egypt stop working
20 August 2015
Libya’s regular border security guards have stopped working at the main border crossing to Egypt, officials said on Wednesday, a further breakdown of state authority.
The incident will reinforce worries in Egypt that militants are using the desert border to smuggle in fighters and weapons from Libya, which is in a state of chaos four years after rebels overthrew Muammar Qaddafi.
The border is also a transit route for migrants from Syria heading via Egypt to western Libya, from where they hope to get by boat with the help of smugglers to Italy.
“The force protecting the Musaid border crossing between Egypt and Libya have withdrawn due to some problems,” said Tariq Kharaz, a spokesman for the interior ministry of Libya’s internationally recognized government, based in the east.
He said another force was now manning the border, declining to say why the regular troops had left.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/africa/2015/08/20/Libyan-guards-at-main-crossing-to-Egypt-stop-working.html
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Meet on liberating Iraq’s Anbar ends in brawl
20 August 2015
A conference on liberating large portions of Iraq’s western province of Anbar from Islamist militants, held in the Al-Rasheed hotel in the capital Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone Wednesday, ended up in a chair-throwing fight.
The quarrel between tribal sheikhs from Anbar began due to their opposition against some of the figures attending and after accusations of “treason” were exchanged regarding the fall of parts of the Sunni-dominated province to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.
One of the attendees, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the fight took place after one individual – thought to be part of former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s entourage, said the participation of the tribal sheikhs was “disrespectful.”
Meanwhile, Sheikh Mizhir Mula Khudhar, head of the Albu Fahad tribe which has lost dozens of its men to ISIS, told Al Arabiya News Net, the Arabic language portal, in a telephone interview that “the altercations and what followed took place after the conference and not during the talks.”
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/Conference-on-liberating-Iraq-s-Anbar-ends-in-brawl.html
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Blast near Cairo state security building wounds 6
20 August 2015
At least six people were wounded early on Thursday in a car bombing near a state security building and courthouse in a Cairo suburb, security sources said.
The sources, who inspected the site of the blast in Shubra al-Khaima, said there was a burned-out vehicle and crater.
Comments on Twitter indicated the blast was heard in several parts of the Egyptian capital. Shopkeeper Mohamed Ali said he saw a man park a vehicle that exploded after he stepped away from it.
A man takes pictures after a bomb exploded early Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015, near a national security building in the Shubra neighborhood of Cairo, wounding several people, Egyptian security officials said. (AP)
Militants based in the Sinai, who support the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and have a presence in Egypt's neighbour Libya, have previously claimed responsibility for attacks on security forces.
Hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed since the army toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to eradicate militancy, which he has said is an existential threat to the Arab world and the West.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/Explosion-near-state-security-building-in-Cairo-.html
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UAE announces Martyr’s day, but why November 30?
20 August 2015
UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced on Wednesday that November 30 will be observed as Martyr's Day in memory of those who have died while serving their country.
UAE President also ordered that this national event be declared a public holiday.
Emiratis who have died performing their civil, military and humanitarian duty in the UAE and abroad will be honoured.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/UAE-announces-Martyr-s-day-but-why-November-30-.html
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Lebanese activists clash with police over trash crisis
19 August 2015
A group of Lebanese activists have clashed with police who sprayed them with water cannons in downtown Beirut over the country’s mounting trash crisis.
Garbage has been accumulating on the streets in Lebanon for the past month amid government paralysis and inability to agree on a solution after Beirut's main landfill was closed down.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/19/Lebanese-activists-clash-with-police-over-trash-crisis.html
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At least 4 Palestinians abducted in Egypt: Hamas
Aug 20, 2015
At least four Palestinian passengers have been reportedly kidnapped in Egypt’s restive northern Sinai region.
According to the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, unidentified gunmen took the four Palestinians from a bus on Wednesday late at night local time.
Hamas officials in the besieged Gaza Strip announced the bus was heading from the Egyptian capital, Cairo, to the main Rafah border crossing, located north of the country, into Gaza.
Palestinian authorities said they contacted the Egyptian government for further details and urged Cairo to secure their release.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/20/425515/Gunmen-kidnap-4-Palestinians-Egypt-Hamas
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Bomb blast targets Cairo security building, injures 29
20 August 2015
A massive car bomb blast has injured 29 people, including six policemen, in the Egyptian capital city of Cairo, the country’s Interior Ministry says.
According to the ministry, the blast targeted a state security building in Cairo’s Shubra al-Khaima district in the middle of the night.
“A man suddenly stopped his car in front of the state security building, jumped out of it and fled on a motorbike that followed the car,” read the ministry statement.
Another unidentified source also told AFP that “the explosion partially destroyed the building.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Health Ministry spokesman announced that 29 people, including six police forces, were injured in the explosion.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/20/425493/Egypt-blast-Cairo
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Pakistan
43 Militants Killed In North Waziristan Air Strikes: ISPR
By AFP Published: August 20, 2015
Air strikes killed 43 suspected militants near the Afghan border on Thursday, the military said, part of a major ongoing operation against Taliban and other insurgents.
The attacks took place in Gharlamai and Shawal areas of North Waziristan tribal region, where the army has been waging a major offensive to clear militant hideouts since June last year.
“Twenty-eight terrorists were killed in Gharlamai area and another 15 were killed in Shawal in precise aerial strikes,” the military said in a statement.
The conflict zone is remote and off-limits to journalists, making it difficult to verify the army’s claims, including the number and identity of those killed.
Pakistan has been battling a homegrown Islamist insurgency for over a decade following the late 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The Pakistan Army began a major campaign in North Waziristan in June last year and authorities have now vowed to intensify operations both in the border regions and across the country.
Officials say nearly 3,000 militants have been killed since the launch of the latest offensive.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/941729/43-militants-killed-in-north-waziristan-air-strikes-ispr/
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PAF jets bomb Pakistani Taliban, kill 25
August 19, 2015
BANNU: Military air strikes today killed at least 25 suspected militants in northwestern Pakistan, two intelligence officials said, taking to 133 the army's toll of insurgents in the region this week.
Since May, the military has stepped up operations in the deeply forested ravines of the Shawal valley, which straddles the Pakistani region of North and South Waziristan along the border with Afghanistan, and is dotted with militant bases.
Residents have reported continuous bombing since Sunday, when a provincial minister was among the 19 people killed by a suicide bomber in Punjab province, the stronghold of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
"Jet air bombing destroyed five militant hideouts and killed 25 militants," said one of the two officials who confirmed the death toll.
Access to the area is severely restricted and few telephone lines work, making it impossible to verify the military's casualty figures.
The army was battling the militants in different parts of Shawal Valley, a third intelligence official said.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/19-Aug-2015/paf-jets-bomb-pakistani-taliban-kill-25
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Pakistani ID cards issued to terrorists for as less as $100 bribe
Aug 20 2015
Pakistan has been probing a scandal involving its National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) officials receiving bribe for issuing identity cards to militants.
According to official documents, the country’s spay agency the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) has uncovered this during its ongoing anti-terrorism operation.
“It has been found that many NADRA officials are involved in facilitating miscreants and terrorists in obtaining fake identity,” a correspondence seen by AFP news states.
Including a retired army brigadier and a retired colonel, the names of 40 NADRA officials have so far popped up in the investigation.
Result of the current investigation reveals that the ID cards were issued to al-Qaeda and other militants such as Uzbek, Chinese and Maldivians for as less as 10,000 to 20,000 Pakistani Rupees. 10,000 Pakistani Rupees make less than $100 approximately $95.
An ID card was issued to Adnan EI Shukrijumah, one of the leaders of al-Qaeda’s external operation programme, who was wanted by the US over a plot to attack the subway system in New York City in 2009.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/pakistani-id-cards-issued-to-al-qaeda-for-as-less-as-100-bribe-3791
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US finds action against Haqqani network inadequate
BAQIR SAJJAD SYED
20th August 2015
ISLAMABAD: In a move that has blocked the disbursement of the next tranche of Coalition Support Fund (CSF), the United States has told Pakistan that it would not be certifying to the Congress that its (Pakistani) counter-terrorism operation in North Waziristan damaged the Haqqani network.
This was conveyed by the US Department of Defence to the Pakistani mission in Washington as well as to the authorities in Islamabad, according to a highly placed source.
The Foreign Office did not immediately reply to a question about the US communication, but a senior official based at the FO, speaking in private, said they had been informally told about the decision.
Obama administration refuses to certify to Congress that the group was damaged in Zarb-i-Azb operation
The US move is politically more damaging for Islamabad than its financial impact, which is significant nevertheless for being an important source for narrowing the current account deficit. More importantly, it coincided with the deterioration in ties with Afghanistan because of Kabul’s allegations that Islamabad continued to harbour Taliban bases from where attacks were being launched.
The US decision is also likely to sour ties in the run-up to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s scheduled visit to White House in October.
The US has been reimbursing Pakistan for operations and maintenance costs incurred in direct support of its operations in Afghanistan since 2001. So far $13 billion has been reimbursed to Pakistan under this arrangement.
The CSF arrangement was supposed to end with the completion of the drawdown in Dec 2014, but the US government late last year extended the programme for another year through legislation which envisaged additional conditions, including a requirement for certification by the defence secretary that military operations in North Waziristan have significantly disrupted the safe haven and freedom of movement of the Haqqani network in Pakistan.
The certification has to be made by the US defence secretary to congressional committees after every six months.
The last tranche of $337 million was received by Pakistan last month. The non-certification will affect the disbursement of the next instalment.
It comes at a time when the US is discussing the future of CSF post-2016.
Doubts have been expressed in the past by both the US and Afghanistan that the Haqqani network has been spared in the Operation Zarb-i-Azb. But it’s the first time that the US has taken such a harsh step.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1201551/us-finds-action-against-haqqani-network-inadequate
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Credible proofs of child sexual abuse in Kasur
20th August 2015
LAHORE: An HRCP-AGHS fact-finding mission says it has received credible testimonies indicating large-scale sexual abuse of children over many years in Husain Khanwala village of Kasur district. It is clear that a heinous crime has been committed against children.
The references made to a land dispute in the village are irrelevant and nothing can justify avoidance of impartial investigation and prosecution, says the report released here on Wednesday.
The fact-finding team agrees that the crime remained concealed largely because the victims’ families paid extortion money and they were also intimidated.
The police ignorance about the video clippings freely circulating in the area and their failure to take action lends support to charges of policemen’s collusion with the culprits, it says.
Led by Hina Jilani, HRCP Executive Council member and director of AGHS Child Rights Unit, and formerly UN Secretary-General’s Representative for Human Rights defenders, the team found the role of political parties very distributing.
HRCP-AGHS fact-finding report stresses impartial probe
The children abuse scandal surfaced after a clash between the police and protesting families in Kasur earlier this month which left two dozen protestors and 28 police injured.
The media reported existence of several hundred video clips that showed scenes of sexual abuse involving almost 300 children.
A nine-member fact-finding team visited Kasur on Aug 11, the day when the chief minister formed a joint investigation team to probe the issue, and interviewed the local police, families of the victims and local social activists assisting the complainants. The new SHO appointed at Ganda Singhwala police station as well as the Kasur DPO declined to meet the team or receive its phone calls.
The police station moharrir told the team that police visited the village on May 26 on a tip-off that the residents were planning to hold a demonstration against sexual abuse, making videos and blackmailing of those abused.
Some notables of the village affirmed the report saying the case emerged during a panchayat regarding a dispute on a piece of state land but the police “found no clue to the video clippings”, moharrir Amin reported.
The police decided “to take an appropriate action” only if a direct complaint of such activity was received, Amin said, denying media reports that the police had received a complaint of one incident of sexual abuse against the same accused in 2013 from one Mst Bashiran, whose son was also a victim, or that the woman had been tortured by the accused in the police station.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1201633/credible-proofs-of-child-sexual-abuse-in-kasur
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Aziz’s Delhi visit delicately poised
NEW DELHI: The August 23-24 meeting between the national security advisers of India and Pakistan appeared to be delicately poised on Wednesday amid reports that Pakistan’s representative would meet Hurriyat leaders in Delhi and India’s officials saying there would be an appropriate response.
Local reports said the Pakistan High Commission has invited leaders of the Hurriyat to meet Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz during his stay in Delhi.
he Hindu said that invitations had gone to key leaders of the Hurriyat, including chairperson Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and his rival Syed Ali Shah Geelani for a reception hosted by the High Commission.
The Bharatiya Janata Party offered a face-saving spin, which could tone down the toxicity of a Hurriyat-Aziz meeting that would be felt in Indian official circles.
The party is of the view that the NSA-level meeting is different from a diplomatic engagement, and as such it is being constructed as an “operational meeting” involving elements of the security apparatus on both sides.
Another point now stressed is that the Hurriyat leaders would be meeting Mr Aziz after his official engagement that too at a public reception, as distinct from a one-to-one meeting. In August 2014, India had called off talks between the foreign secretaries in Islamabad over the Pakistan High Commissioner’s meeting with Hurriyat leaders in Delhi, pointing to “new red lines” in engagement.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1201607/azizs-delhi-visit-delicately-poised
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OIC, UN can resolve Kashmir, ME issues: Pakistan
20th August 2015
UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan has told the Security Council that the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in cooperation with the UN was capable of dealing with the longstanding dispute of Kashmir and addressing the Middle East’s current security challenges.
In her address during the Security Council debate on “Regional organisations and contemporary challenges of global security”, Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi observed that the OIC was also capable of promoting global peace and security. Underlining its unique character, she said, the organisation includes 57 UN member states and spans four continents that today confronted imposing security challenges.
Know more: Pakistan criticises world community for not acting decisively on massive human suffering
She also told council that while some regional organisations had proved their worth while others, like the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc), had much potential but were yet to fulfil that promise. Saarc, she pointed, had been “constrained because of the deep differences among its members and attempts to utilise it for regional domination”.
Focusing on the need to address the root causes of conflict around the world, Ambassador Lodhi called upon the UN to actively promote cooperation with the OIC in areas such as mediation and conciliation of disputes; peace-keeping and peace-building; humanitarian assistance, especially to refugees and displaced people.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1201630/oic-un-can-resolve-kashmir-me-issues-pakistan
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Army to support anti-polio campaign in area bordering Afghanistan
20th August 2015
QUETTA: The Pakistan Army has assured the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) of its support in carrying out polio eradication campaigns along the border with Afghanistan, particularly at the Friendship Gate crossing in Chaman.
The assurance came during a meeting held at the EOC office here on Wednesday to review the strategy of vaccinating children at permanent transit points. It was presided over by EOC Coordinator Dr Syed Saifur Rehman and attended by the representative of Southern Command, Maj Inam Haider, Dr Abdul Aziz of Unicef, the World Health Organisation’s Dr Sarfraz Jamaldini, Dr Anwar of the Extended Programme for Immunisation and others.
Dr Jamaldini told the meeting that there were 57 permanent transit vaccination points in Balochistan but only 46 were functional. Six points are located along the Afghan border and 16 along Balochistan’s borders with other provinces.
The facilities available at the Friendship Gate were not up to the mark, he said and called for setting up a permanent transit point there to improve the vaccination coverage.
The meeting was informed about lack of shades and umbrellas for field staff, poor maintenance of cold chain for vaccines, security concerns and validation of vaccination data.
Dr Rehman said an improvement in the coverage in areas along the Afghan border would significantly help in eradicating poliovirus.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1201618/army-to-support-anti-polio-campaign-in-area-bordering-afghanistan
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JI chief terms Khanzada exemplary man
August 20, 2015
ATTOCK
Slain Punjab home minister Shuja Khanzada was a brave man who had an unflinching resolve against terrorism. The void created by Khanzada’s unfortunate death can never be filled, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq said on Wednesday.
He urged the government and the state institutions to work together for eradication terrorism and establishment of peace in the country.
The JI chief went to the residence of late Khanzada where he offered condolence to his son. He also offered Fateha for the eternal peace of the departed soul. Haq urged all the political parties to forge unity to safeguard the country’s interest by making efforts for peace.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/20-Aug-2015/ji-chief-terms-khanzada-exemplary-man
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South Asia
Afghan forces killed 118 militants in past two days
By KHAAMA PRESS - Thu Aug 20 2015
Afghan army with FlagAfghan National Security Forces (ANSF) have killed 118 insurgents during operations in past two days, the Ministry of Defense announced on Thursday.
A statement issued by the ministry states that the operations were carried out in Nangarhar, Laghman, Paktia, Paktika, Urozgan, Daikundi, Kandahar, Badghis, Kundoz, Sar-i-Pul, Takhar, Faryab , Helmand and Khak-i-Jabar and Sorubi districts of Kabul.
The statement adds that 118 militants were killed, 62 wounded and four others detained during these operations.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/afghan-forces-killed-118-militants-in-past-two-days-3792-3793
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Decision on appointment of new Taliban chief due today
Aug 20 2015
Amid widening rifts among the Taliban leadership regarding the appointment of former Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar’s successor, a 17-member Ulema Council is due to announce their decision regarding the group’s new chief today.
It is yet not clear who are forming the 17 member Ulema Council but it was formed after Mullah Omar’s son Mullah Yaqoob and his brother Mullah Abdul Manan opposed with the appointment of Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
It has been reported that Mullah Mansoor has gone missing during the past few days and is not contactable, even by deputy Haibatullah Akhunzada as well as through Jalaluddin Haqqani’s son Khalifa Haqqani.
A member of the Ulema Council quoted by a local media in Pakistan said decision would be made on regarding the parties who would succeed as the new Taliban chief.
The first party includes Mullah Yaqoob and Mullah Abdul Manan, the second party is comprised of Mullah Haji Qayoom Zakir, Mansoor Dadullah and Mullah Abdul Razzak, while the third party is Mullah Mansoor who has already filled the gap and has received pledges of allegiance including the one from al Qaeda chief Aymen Al Zawahiri.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/decision-on-appointment-of-new-taliban-chief-due-today-9592
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Turkey delivers aid to victims of deadly Kabul truck bombing
Aug 20 2015
The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) has delivered humanitarian aid to the victims of deadly truck bombing in capital Kabul which left at least 15 people dead and nearly 400 others wounded.
The aid agency following a statement said the humanitarian aid included 50-ton food which includes 500 packs and was delivered during an official ceremony in capital Kabul last week.
The ceremony was also attended by Dr. Nasrin Oryakhil, Afghan Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs & Disabled.
“Turkey has always helped us during our hard times, and it is the first country sending humanitarian aid in response to the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul,” Dr. Oryakhil quoted in the statement by the aid agency said.
She further added “The aid delivered today means the world to those families who lost their all in the attacks.”
According to TIKA’s Program Coordinator Suleyman Sahin, the aid package should meet the food needs of hundreds of families for a few months.
“Afghanistan and Turkey are two brotherly countries. We will continue to be with our Afghan brothers both on their good and bad days,” he said.
No group including the Taliban militants claimed responsibility behind the deadly bombing with the Afghan officials blaming the terror groups based in Pakistan for plotting and coordinating the attack.
A private school teacher was killed with his six children in a truck bombing which ripped through a market in Shah Shaheed area of Kabul city in the early minutes of Friday morning.
The attack was widely condemned with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) calling on anti-government armed militant groups to cease attacks in civilian populated areas.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/turkey-delivers-aid-to-victims-of-deadly-kabul-truck-bombing-9591
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Mohaqiq hold talks with Iran on growing ISIS threats in Afghanistan
Aug 20 2015
The Second Deputy to Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Mohaqiq met with the Iranian officials recently to hold talks over growing threats posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Afghanistan.
The issue was reportedly shared during a meeting with Ali Akbar Velayati, the advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mohaqiq said the activities and atrocities committed by the terror group in Syria and Iraq and are being implemented in Afghanistan by the group’s affiliates.
In the meantime, Velayati reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to assist the government of Afghanistan and the Afghan people with the growing threat of the terror group.
This comes as Mohqiq had earlier said that the terror group has started recruitments in the outskirts of Kabul province.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/mohaqiq-hold-talks-with-iran-on-growing-isis-threats-in-afghanistan-9593
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'No foreign role' in Bangkok bombing
August 20, 2015
The government of Thailand has said Monday's bombing in central Bangkok is "unlikely" to be the work of international terror group.
Col Winthai Suvaree, a spokesman for the ruling military junta, said this was the preliminary conclusion reached by investigators.
The attack on the Erawan Shrine in central Bangkok on Monday evening killed 20 people and injured scores.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/world/asia/no-foreign-role-bangkok-bomb-129706
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NDS arrests two terrorists in Nimroz
By KHAAMA PRESS - Thu Aug 20 2015
nds4The National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency has rounded up two terrorists in southwestern Nimroz province.
Shah Wali S/O Sultan Mohammad and Ahmad Gul S/O Lal Mohammad are originally from Pasawand District of Ghor province but were carrying out terrorist activities in Nimroz province.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/nds-arrest-two-terrorists-in-nimroz-3794
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Ban Ki-moon appoints Afghanistan’s Tanin as his special envoy to Kosovo
By ZABIHULLAH MOOSAKHAIL - Thu Aug 20 2015
zahir_tanin_UNSCUnites Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Afghanistan’s Zahir Tanin as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).
Ban Ki-moon announced on Wednesday that Zahir Tanin is the replacement for Farid Zarif whose assignment is going to be completed at the end of this month.
Tanin was appointed as a Permanent Representative of Afghanistan to the United Nations in 2006.
Since then he has served as the Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform (2008-2014), the Chair of the fifth Biennial Meeting of States to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons (2014), Vice-Chair of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people (2006-2015) and the Vice-President of the sixty-third, sixty-fifth and sixty-seventh sessions of the United Nations General Assembly.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/ban-ki-moon-appoints-afghanistans-tanin-as-his-special-envoy-to-kosovo-3791
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Mideast
‘My Goal Is To Be Martyred,’ Says Turkish Minister
19 August 2015
A senior Turkish cabinet minister declared Wednesday he wished to become a “martyr” as the government fights an unprecedented offensive against Kurdish rebels, prompting astonishment and mockery on social media.
“My goal is to be martyred, if Allah desires, for my religion, my nation and my country,” Energy Minister Taner Yildiz told reporters at a conference in Ankara.
Turkey is currently waging an “anti-terror war” against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, who have hit back by killing members of the security forces on a daily basis.
Each of the slain troops is buried with full honours and described as a “martyr” (“sehit” in Turkish) for the fatherland.
Like all prominent members of the Islamic-rooted ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Yildiz is a pious Muslim.
But his comments - which he later rushed to define as theoretical - were roundly ridiculed on social media.
“Taner Yildiz went home with his million-dollar armoured car escorted by 750 bodyguards after saying he hoped to become a martyr,” said Twitter user Cuma Cihan.
‘Irony!’
“Taner Yildiz would like to become a martyr!” said the opposition Sozcu daily.
“What is stopping you? We have had enough of these lies,” tweeted journalist Rustem Batum.
With soldiers’ funerals broadcast live almost every day, use of the word “martyr” has already stirred up some controversy.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/19/-My-goal-is-to-be-martyred-says-Turkish-minister.html
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Fierce Clashes Continue in Southern Yemen, Northern Saudi Arabia
Aug 19, 2015
The clashes are underway in Southern Yemen over control of al-Zit coastal region in Aden, which is the only route used for the transfer of military supplies to the pro-Saudi forces.
In Abyan province, the Yemeni troops captured several tanks of the pro-Hadi militias.
Reports also said that the Yemeni forces have hit the Saudi military bases in Jizan and Najran provinces in Southern Saudi Arabia.
On Tuesday, a senior Ansarullah commander announced that the revolutionary forces have launched fresh military operation to take back full control of the strategic Taiz province.
"The Ansarullah fighters backed by the tribal forces have started a new round of operations to take back Taiz," the commander, speaking on the conditions of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told FNA.
He noted that the popular forces have already taken control of al-Jamhalieh region and the Taiz governorate's building.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528001048
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Ansarullah Dismisses News Reports on Seizure of UAE Embassy in Sana'a
Aug 19, 2015
"The news reports that Ansarullah fighters have entered and captured the Emirati Embassy in Sana'a are not true," Arab media outlets quoted Mohammad al-Bokhaiti, member of Ansarullh's Political Council, as saying on Tuesday.
Al-Bokhaiti's remarks came after some pro-Saudi media claimed that the Ansarullah fighters had occupied the Emirati Embassy in Sana'a.
The UAE foreign ministry had also claimed that its embassy had been captured by the Yemeni popular forces. In a statement, it called for the evacuation of the embassy immediately and restoration of embassy staff.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528000914
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Bomb hits governor's office in Yemen's Aden, four dead
20 August 2015
A bomb attack on the governor’s temporary headquarters in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden on Thursday killed four people and wounded 10 others, security officials and medics said.
Governor Nayef al-Bakri was unharmed in the blast at the headquarters of the Aden Faculty of Administrative Sciences, which is housing the governor’s offices, the sources said.
Full report at:
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/08/20/Bomb-hits-governor-s-office-in-Yemen-s-Aden-four-dead-security-officials.html
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Israel suspends hunger striking Palestinian’s detention
Aug 20, 2015
The Israeli regime has freed a Palestinian prisoner who has been on hunger strike against his incarceration without charge or trial.
Israel on Wednesday suspended the detention order against Mohammed Allan, releasing him in a move that his family and friends hailed as a victory.
“I feel very happy,” said his brother, Amid Allan. “I hope that my brother… will rise from his bed in healthy condition, as happy as he used to be when they took him from his house.”
Meanwhile, Allan’s lawyer said his client remains unconscious.
Israel's ruling has not addressed what would happen to Allan if he recovers, saying only he can petition for his release if his condition improves.
Allan has been on hunger strike for 65 days to protest Israel’s practice of holding suspects indefinitely, without charge or trial, in a practice known as administrative detention.
Rights groups say the overused measure violates international law.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/20/425529/Palestine-Amid-Allan-Israeli-detention
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Enough funds received to reopen UN schools for Palestinian refugees
Aug 20, 2015
The UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has announced that after receiving $79 million in emergency funds, it is ready to reopen 685 schools in Palestinian refugee camps of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and the occupied territories.
"Education is a fundamental right for children everywhere in the world, and it should never have come to the point where the UNRWA school year risked being delayed because of a funding shortfall for our core budget," Pierre Krahenbuhl, the head of the agency, said on Wednesday.
He declared that the 2015-2016 academic year for refugee students will start on schedule which in Palestine is on August 24, and in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria is September 1, 7 and 13 respectively.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also expressed his gratitude for the move, saying that he is “greatly relieved” that the Palestinian children can start the school year on time because “rights delayed are rights denied.”
People of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia donated a total of $49 million to UNRWA. The rest of the funds came from the US, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain, Norway and Slovakia.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/08/20/425528/Palestine-UNRWA-UN-Ban-Kimoon
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Report: Turkey Sends Trucks Loaded with Weapons, Ammo to Syria
Aug 19, 2015
A number of trucks have crossed Iskenderun and al-Salib border crossings over the last two nights into Lattakia and Idlib provinces, the Arabic-language Al-Watan newspaper said citing the Turkish opposition media reports.
It wrote that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also ordered blackouts in the border towns to facilitate the smuggling of the weapons into Syria.
Turkey is a key backer of the terrorists who fight against the Syrian people and the government of President Assad.
The international community has for long been critical of Turkey for its assistance to Takfiri terrorists waging war in Syria.
Meanwhile, newly-surfaced video footage has corroborated widespread assertions that the Turkish government’s intelligence agency has been ensuring ISIL terrorists safe passage into Syria.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528001194
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Hamas Captures Israel's Spying Robot
Aug 19, 2015
The Palestinian resistance movement said the dolphin was taken offshore Gaza by the naval unit of Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, the Arabic-language Al-Qods newspaper quoted informed sources as saying on Wednesday.
Hamas said that the dolphin was also equipped with remote-controlled equipment.
The spy dolphin was also equipped with small arrows and bullets to enable it to target humans, including Hamas special forces.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528001228
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Source Rejects Media Reports on Detention of Iranians in Kuwait
Aug 19, 2015
"Such reports are not based on the required news standards and are fabricated and worthless pieces of news released for certain purposes," the source said.
"The main motivation behind such fake news is targeting the good relations between Tehran and Kuwait, and given the two sides' awareness, such media hypes are of no impact," the source added.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528001110
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Iran Calls for End to US Monopoly over Internet
Aug 19, 2015
"The telecommunications ministry has notified the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) about the need for putting an end to the US monopoly over the worldwide web management and the necessity of other countries' partnership in the administration of the Internet," Jahangard told FNA on Wednesday.
The Iranian telecommunications and information technology ministry is seriously following up issues related to the administeration and management of the Internet by countries other than the US in the ITU and ICANN.
"The Iranian government is trying to make the world governments play a greater role in preparing the laws and procedures for the worldwide web management.
In March, Jahangard announced that Iran is ready to launch cooperation with international internet service providing companies such as Google.
"We don’t oppose all those people who are in the international market and want to provide services in Iran, and we are ready to hold negotiations with them for their service providing in the Iranian market after accepting Iran's cultural conditions," Jahangard told FNA on Sunday.
"Also, we are ready to provide Google or any other company with Iran's possibilities and facilities for service providing to the region," he added.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940528000794
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North America
American Muslim Student Elected to Head J Street on U.S. Campuses
read
Aug 19, 2015
NEW YORK – J Street U, the campus arm of liberal lobbying organization J Street, has elected a Muslim-American of Pakistani descent as the president of its national student board.
The vote for Amna Farooqi, a 21-year-old incoming senior at the University of Maryland, was held at J Street U’s Summer Leadership Institute in Washington, D.C., which ended Monday.
While three other J Street U members ran for president, Farooqi won “decisively,” said J Street spokesperson Jessica Rosenblum. Roughly 120 J Street U student leaders attended the four-day summer gathering. Some 1,100 participated in the larger J Street conference last March, and J Street U says it has at least 4,000 active participants on 75 college campuses nationwide.
Farooqi, who grew up in the Washington suburb of Potomac, Maryland, is majoring in government and politics and minoring in Israel studies. Her parents, both born in Pakistan, have raised Farooqi and her younger brother in a fairly religious Muslim home, the student leader said in an exclusive interview with Haaretz.
Potomac was a heavily Jewish community, she said. “I had a lot of Jewish friends and felt connected to that.”
But “growing up in a household sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, the Palestine-Israel conflict was always the elephant in the room,” Farooqi says in a TED Talk-style video filmed at the J Street conference last March. “This conflict evoked a level of anger and emotion in me and I needed to learn more. Everything I was learning about the conflict made me not want to be pro-Israel. … As someone who wanted to contribute to ending this conflict I knew I needed to understand all sides.”
Farooqi’s election will almost certainly prompt harsh criticism from parts of the Jewish community where J Street is already controversial. Eric Fingerhut, Hillel International’s president, was scheduled to meet with J Street U students at last March’s J Street conference but backed out at the last minute, a move widely viewed as capitulating to pressure from donors. Intense media coverage followed and those 1,100 students marched on Hillel’s headquarters. But Fingerhut met with the J Street U student leaders at the just-completed Summer Leadership Institute, apologizing for “any hurt that occurred.”
“The election of a Muslim at the head of the most prominent left-of-center pro-Israel campus organization will evoke disparate reactions from conservatives and liberals,” said Steven M. Cohen, in an interview from Jerusalem. Cohen, a prominent American Jewish sociologist who made aliyah in 1992, works as a research professor of Jewish social policy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is on the board of the liberal American Jewish organization Ameinu.
Full report at:
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.672002
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-news/.premium-1.672002
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Canada’s Salaam Swipe Offers 'Halal Dating'
19 August 2015
BRITISH COLUMBIA – Offering Canadian Muslims an opportunity to marry within their Islamic culture, a new matchmaking app has been created to help young ones find life partners in a halal way..
“Being the person to bring people together is seen as a very noble thing to do,” Khalil Jessa, the creator of the app, told the Province on Tuesday, August 18.
“We don’t promote ourselves as a dating app, we’re a matching app.
“We just help people get together and meet each other.”
Called “Salaam Swipe”, the matching app aims to let young Muslims meet and get to know others within their culture, without the pressure of being set up by relatives.
Imitating Tinder dating website, the new app allows users to swipe right if they like, left if they don’t, along with other unique twists.
Besides including filters for potential matches by denomination, religiosity, or outlook, the app features an incognito mode, which filters out any online friends or connections for more privacy in your search for partner.
What makes the Muslim app different is providing a specific outcome, which is marriage.
“They’re looking for someone who shares a spiritual or cultural identity, so the connections will already be deeper,” Jessa said.
“My philosophy behind the app is to capture the diversity of the Muslim world.”
Planned a year ago, Salaam Swipe is set to launch publically on Wednesday, August 19, according to its 26-year-old creator.
Full report at:
http://www.onislam.net/english/news/americas/492223-canadas-salaam-swipe-offers-halal-dating.html
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India
Muslim Devout In Bhopal Worships Cobras on Naag Panchami
Neeraj Santoshi
Aug 19, 2015
This fifty-one year old Muslim from Bhopal has been ritualistically worshiping poisonous pairs of cobra for the last 19 years, despite opposition from his community.
Meet Mohammad Saleem, Bhopal's famous snake catcher, popularly known as 'Saleem Saanp walla'.
Working as a peon in Bhopal Municipal Corporation, he has been catching snakes from the age of 12, without charging money. Saleem claims that he has caught over two lakh snakes in the last 35 years and has been bitten four times by snakes.
aleem says that being a Muslim, many oppose his worshipping snakes like Hindus. "Snakes don't know who is a Hindu and who, a Muslim. They understand love. Initially, my community members even said that they won't bury me but cremate me according to Hindu rituals when I die. But now, most of them have accepted my way. Some of them even come to have Prasad (food) in the Langar (community feast) that I organise on Nag Panchami. Today, many politicians and bureaucrats including state home minister Babu Lal Gaur came here to offer prayers to the Cobra pair," he says.
Full report at:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/bhopal/muslim-devout-in-bhopal-worships-cobras-on-naag-panchami/article1-1381998.aspx
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Pakistan invites Hurriyat, but govt finds a way to save NSA talks
M Saleem Pandit
Aug 20, 2015
NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: Keen not to spurn the opportunity to confront Pakistan with evidence of its continued complicity in terrorism against India, the government has found a way around Islamabad's latest manoeuvre to scupper the NSA-level talks.
In a fresh provocation, Pakistan on Wednesday invited separatist Hurriyat leaders to a meeting with its NSA, Sartaj Aziz, in Delhi - a red rag to the Indian side which had cancelled a scheduled meeting of foreign secretaries last year for precisely the same reason. On Wednesday, however, India reacted differently as it leaned on veteran Hurriyat hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani not to meet Aziz before talks with his Indian counterpart A K Doval.
The Pakistan high commission had arranged for Geelani and other separatist leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Shabbir Shah to meet Aziz on Sunday - a schedule, official sources suspect, deliberately designed to queer the pitch for talks. Hurriyat sources in Srinagar confirmed that Geelani has heeded New Delhi's persuasion that he come to Delhi on Monday and meet Aziz after his talks with Doval.
The move was considered necessary for rescuing the NSA talks which India wants to use to confront Pakistan with what it insists on calling "irrefutable" evidence of the involvement of Pakistani agencies in terrorism directed at India.
Pakistan has piled on provocations in the past month since the Ufa agreement hoping to get India to call off the NSA talks scheduled for Monday. A meeting between Aziz and Geelani would have breached the red line which India drew last year by calling off the foreign secretary-level talks.
A reversal of the tough stand would have entailed an embarrassment with Congress already taunting the government for inconsistency. High-level sources in the government defended the decision as well as the effort not to let Pakistan slither out of its commitment to talk on terrorism. Signalling India's determination to go ahead with the talks on terror, a top level source said, "Talks and terror may not go together but talks on terror can happen."
The Pakistan high commission has invited the Hurriyat leadership to a dinner on Sunday, the day Aziz comes to Delhi. It is believed moderate Hurriyat leaders like Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Shabbir Shah may attend the dinner. But the real Hurriyat leader, Geelani, will only come on Monday.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistan-invites-Hurriyat-but-govt-finds-a-way-to-save-NSA-talks/articleshow/48549986.cms
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Wary Nawaz dances to army tune on talks
Omer Farooq Khan
Aug 20, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Taking independent foreign policy decision on ties with India has always proved difficult for Pakistan's civilian leadership.
Knowing the repercussions of independent decisions, specifically in the context of the 1999 Lahore Declaration, Nawaz Sharif is extra careful this time. His aides say he wants the military leadership on board before attempt ing to mend ties with India. "Nawaz Sharif knows that improving ties with India isn't possible without the military's support and endorsement," a Sharif aide told TOI.
So, while finalizing strategy for the NSA talks the Pak PM, his aides and his kitchen cabinet held extensive discussions with the army and ISI chiefs.
The civilian leadership, sources said, agreed with army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI DG Lt General Rizwan Akhtar to adopt an aggressive stance on terror-related issues but a give-and-take approach on bilateral disputes.The military leadership proposed this at a meeting held at PM House on Tuesday . Sources said the decision to invite Hurriyat leaders by the Pakistan high commission on August 23 was taken at this meeting.
Media reports said it was proposed that Aziz should raise the release of the Samjhauta Express blast alleged mastermind, India's involvement in Baluchistan and Afghanistan and its violation of LoC truce.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Wary-Nawaz-dances-to-army-tune-on-talks/articleshow/48550637.cms?
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India readies Naved arrow to pin Pakistan
Bharti Jain
Aug 20, 2015
NEW DELHI: With Udhampur attacker Mohammad Naved revealing that he was escorted by two top Pakistan based LeT commanders to PoK before he was launched into Tanmarg in J&K, India is set to confront Pakistan on its failure to rein in terror groups pushing jihadis across the border.
New Delhi, at the NSA talks, will pinpoint PoK terror training camps to highlight the "continued misuse of Pa kistani soil for anti-India activities," an official said.
NSA Ajit Doval will present to Sartaj Aziz a fresh dossier on fugitives wanted for crimes committed in India. Sources said unlike the 48 `wanted' criminals in the list submitted to Pakistan in 2012, the latest list may contain over 60 names. The additions reportedly include some terrorists linked to Indian Mujahideen and those identified by militants arrested in J&K.
The dossier being prepared by the home ministry , sources said, brings up recent terror cases, including the Gurdaspur and Udhampur attacks. The data from GPS sets used by the Gurdaspur attackers pointing to Sargodha Mastgarh in Pakistan as their starting point will be presented as proof that the strike was launched from across the border. The night-vision device stolen from US troops is expected to nail Pakistan.
Similarly , Naved's disclosures on his Pakistani address -Rafiq Colony in Faisalabad, his joining LeT at Markaz-eKhyber in Nishatabad, Faisalabad, followed by his 21-day Daura-e-Aam course at LeT's Garhi Habibullah camp and 3-month Daura-e-Khaas training at Markaz-e Aksa, Shawai Nallah, will be shared with Islamabad. Naved, sources said, has revealed that audiovideo clips of LeT chief Hafiz Saeed's speeches were shown to trainees at Shavai Nallah. In these, Saeed urged young recruits to be " Allah ke bande" and embrace martyrdom. Naved claimed that some "Pakistan military types" visited the camp to give "tips on fighting the jihad", though there's nothing specific on "state" actors.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-readies-Naved-arrow-to-pin-Pakistan/articleshow/48550626.cms
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Southeast Asia
PM Najib Razak Says Universal Human Rights Not For Muslim Malaysia
By Rachel Middleton
August 20, 2015
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual human rights are not guaranteed, nor will they be upheld in Malaysia.
Prime Minister Najib Razak said at an international Islamic moderation seminar 2015 in Bangi, Selangor that his administration will do its best to uphold human rights but only within the confines of Islam.
This is in line with the Islamic teaching of balance and moderation (wasatiyyah), he said, adding that Muslim Malaysia cannot defend the more "extreme aspect of human rights", citing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual rights for example.
"Although universal human rights have been defined, we still define human rights in the country in the context of Islam and the Shariah," he said, according to the Malay Mail.
"Even though it is difficult to defend internationally, we must defend our definition of human rights," the website Malaysiakini said.
"And even if we cannot defend human rights at an international level, we must defend it in the Islamic context," he told the seminar.
Full report at:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/prime-minister-najib-razak-says-universal-human-rights-not-muslim-malaysia-1516221
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Suhakam: Human rights not at odds with Islam
Mikha Chan
August 20, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR: Suhakam has taken issue with the Putrajaya administration’s approach to human rights, particularly its attempt to distance Islam from universal values.
In a press statement today, Suhakam Chairman Hasmy Agam said fundamental and universally accepted human rights were an integral part of Islam and not contrary in any way to the religion’s tenets.
The statement followed a speech Prime Minister Najib Razak gave on Tuesday, in which he said Malaysia could not defend human rights values that were at odds with Islam.
Hasmy described the government’s approach to human rights as “narrow,” saying it essentially opposed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Hasmy pointed out that the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (CDHRI), a declaration of the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), guarantees many of the rights described in the UDHR while affirming their source in the Syariah.
“The 30 articles of the UDHR are not contrary to the tenets of Islam,” he said. “The Commission regrets the many myths and misunderstandings that have sprung up about the concept of human rights, in particular the construal and superficial understanding of human rights in Malaysia.”
He cited Article 1 of the Cairo declaration, which states that “all men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities, without any discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, language, sex, religious belief, political affiliation, social status or other considerations.”
Full report at:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/08/20/suhakam-human-rights-not-at-odds-with-islam/
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Malaysia will not protect LGBT people because of Islam, says Prime Minister
20th August 2015
The Prime Minister of Malaysia has cited Islam in saying that the human rights of LGBT people will not necessarily be protected.
Najib Razak spoke at an international Islamic moderation seminar in Bangi Selangor, to say that his administration will adopt some human rights protections but not those which conflict with Islam.
Noting LGBT rights, he said that some of the “more extreme aspects of human rights”, would not be defended by Malaysia.
He said this was in line with the Islamic teaching of balance and moderation.
“Although universal human rights have been defined, we still define human rights in the country in the context of Islam and the Shariah,” he said, reports the Malay Mail.
“Even though it is difficult to defend internationally, we must defend our definition of human rights.”
Full report at:
https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/08/20/malaysia-will-not-protect-lgbt-people-because-of-islam-says-prime-minister/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/boko-haram-mystery-just-leading/d/104330