Can Allah Hear Only If You Scream On Microphone, Is He Deaf, Asks BJP Leader
New Age Islam News Bureau
14 March 2023
Senior BJP leader and former minister KS Eshwarappa (Source: Zee News)
-----
• BJP Needs “Nationalist Muslims” But Not All Muslims,
Says Party Leader Contradicting PM’s Inclusive Agenda
• China’s Mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran Not
‘Adverse’ To US Interests: White House
• False Accusations Are Unbecoming Of Devout Muslims,
Anwar Tells Opposition
• Belgium Bars Nude Kneeling Searches of 2016 Terror
Attack Accused
India
• Unity among Muslims Is Need of the Hour: Imam of
Jama Masjid- Bengaluru
• In BJP's Kerala Master plan, Huge Outreach to
Christians, Muslims: Sources
• Supreme Court orders removal of mosque from
Allahabad HC complex within 3 months
• Pandits, Imams Can’t Turn Places of Worship to Private
Tenements: Delhi HC
• Sukanta: BJP is not against Muslim community
• CM Jagan meets Muslim leaders, seeks support
• NIA raids house of suspected Islamic State operative
in Srinagar
• AMU Alumni Association Plans To Form Global Body
• Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin elected as Chancellor of
Jamia Millia Islamia
• Pakistan’s cross border infiltration, truce
violations hit ties: MEA
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Arab World
• Iran: Saudi Arabia detente to positively affect our
ties with Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain
• Iran says deal with Saudi Arabia will help end
Yemen’s war
• Saudi FM to Asharq Al-Awsat: Agreement With Iran
Sign Of Joint Will To Resolve Disputes Through Dialogue
• Iraq seeks fiscal stability with 3-year budget
• UN, Syrian govt implicated in post-earthquake aid
failures: UN-inquiry commission
• Saudi plane carrying 85 tons of humanitarian aid
lands in Turkish city of Gaziantep
• US military choppers airlift Daesh terrorists to
camps in Syria’s Hasakah before transfer to al-Tanf base: Report
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Southeast Asia
• Bookings for Tarawih Prayers Required At 10 Mosques
in Singapore during Ramadan
• Malaysia needs stricter regulation of the genetic
testing of embryos
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Europe
• Greece Tramples on Religious Rights by Keeping
Mosques Closed
• Ex-PM Blair says US-UK relationship would have
‘suffered’ if Britain abandoned Iraq invasion
• Russia welcomes Iran-Saudi Arabia agreement to
restore relations
• Co-leader of German ruling party calls for putting
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on EU terror list
• 30 irregular migrants missing after boat capsizes
off Libya
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South Asia
• Afghan Diplomats to Participate in India’s Online
Training Program Open to Students “Across the World, Including in Afghanistan”
• Afghan Voice News Agency’s Reporter Killed at
Balkh’s Press Event
• Afghan Forces Arrest Man in Kabul with Magnetic IEDs
• Afghan Interim Govt Appoints Envoy to Afghanistan’s
Consulate General in Dubai
• Bangladesh probe suggests ‘sabotage’ behind
devastating fire at Rohingya camps
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Mideast
• Ansarullah Leader: US, Israel Seeking To Present
Distorted Image of Islam to World
• UAE Halts Military Purchase from Israel amid
Political Crisis Facing Netanyahu
• A new intifada? Young Palestinian fighters rise as
West Bank boils
• Key element of Israeli judicial reforms passes first
vote despite weeks of protests
• Oldest Palestinian Prisoner in an Israeli Jail, Fuad
Shubaki, 83, Released After 17 Years
• Polls show Erdogan lags opposition by more than 10
points ahead of May vote
• Iran has pardoned 22,000 arrested during protests,
Judiciary chief tells IRNA
• Turkey’s earthquake toll tops 48,000 as government
races to build container cities
• Houthis refuse to trade four abducted journalists
with Yemen’s government
• Iran says supports UN efforts to restore peace in
war-wracked Yemen
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North America
• U.S. Arms Left In Afghanistan Surface in Pakistan
Taliban Insurgency
• US rejects notion it is disengaged from Middle East
after Saudi-Iran deal
• US urges Turkey to allow NATO expansion as officials
set to meet
• US private sector raises over $110M to aid Türkiye:
Chamber of Commerce
• Iran says it is 'ready' for prisoner swap with US
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Pakistan
• Pakistan Government Makes Public the Record of
Toshakhana Gifts
• Study shows judges fasting for Ramadan are more
lenient
• Several political activists join JUI-F in Bannu
• Islamabad court suspends Imran’s arrest warrants to
March 16 in judge threats case
• Move in Senate against PM’s powers to retain
retiring army chiefs
• Two policemen martyred in attacks on census teams in
KP
• Security forces gun down terrorist involved in
attack on census team in Tank
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Africa
• Third Japan-Jordan Foreign Ministers’ Strategic
Dialogue Held in Tokyo
• New Tunisian Parliament Begins Its First Session
• Japan contributes $1m in support of WFP’s food
assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan
• Jordan’s northern town of Umm Qais receives Best
Tourism Villages award at AlUla
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/azan-allah-microphone-deaf-bjp/d/129319
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Can Allah Hear Only If You Scream On Microphone, Is He
Deaf, Asks BJP Leader
Senior BJP leader and former minister KS Eshwarappa
(Source: Zee News)
-----
March 13, 2023
BJP MLA and former minister K.S. Eshwarappa, on
Monday, revived the debate on loudspeakers being used for Azaan (the prayer
call for Muslims made five times a day, every day) questioning if there is a need
to use microphones for the same.
He said listening to the loud call for prayer gives
him a headache.
"No doubt this will end soon as there is a SC
judgement. PM Modi asked to respect all religions, but I must ask can Allah
hear only if you scream on a microphone," news agency ANI quoted as saying
in Mangaluru.
Eshwarappa said Hindus pray in temples but do not use
loudspeakers. "Hindus also pray in temples. We have more faith than them
and it's Bharat mata who protects religions. But if you say that Allah listens
only if you pray using a microphone, I must question if He's deaf. This issue
must be resolved," he was quoted as saying.
Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had
said his government will ensure that the apex court order on the use of
microphones will be cordially implemented in the state.
"Regarding Azaan, there are Supreme Court and
High Court orders, we have already issued circulars to this effect. There are
laws about how much decibel (sound) should be there. DG (Director General of
police) has already issued a circular,"Bommai had said in April.
Source: The Week
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original story:
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BJP Needs “Nationalist Muslims” But Not All Muslims,
Says Party Leader Contradicting PM’s Inclusive Agenda
K.M. Rakesh
| Bangalore
14.03.23
Senior BJP leader K.S. Eshwarappa on Monday said his
party needed the votes of “nationalist Muslims” but not all Muslims,
contradicting the inclusive line that his party claims Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has directed it to follow.
Eshwarappa, sacked as minister over a corruption
scandal but a leading BJP campaigner for the upcoming Assembly polls, told a
news conference in Mangalore that he had never said the BJP did not need Muslim
votes.
“(It isn’t true) that the BJP doesn’t need Muslim
votes. We don’t need the votes of Muslims who support the PFI (Popular Front of
India, a banned extremist organisation) and the SDPI (Social Democratic Party
of India, the PFI’s political arm). Nationalist Muslims will support us,” he
said.
In January, Karnataka BJP veteran B.S. Yediyurappa had
said, after meeting Modi on the sidelines of the national executive in Delhi,
that the Prime Minister wanted the party to take Muslims into confidence.
“In any case, we have a good rapport with the Muslims,
whom we respect. We shall contact them more in the coming days in keeping with
the Prime Minister’s advice,” Yediyurappa, a former chief minister, had told
reporters in Shimoga.
However, as the Assembly polls draw near, BJP leaders
have been increasingly making inflammatory remarks on “love jihad” and other
polarising issues. Eshwarappa’s remarks on “nationalist Muslims” came a day
after he had made a controversial statement about the ritual of azan during the
BJP’s Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Kavoor near Mangalore.
“Wherever I go, this (azan played over loudspeakers)
is a headache,” he had told the gathering. “Does Allah hear you only if you
scream over loudspeakers? In our temples, we too perform puja — shlokas are
chanted, girls sing bhajans,” he said.
Hindu temples, however, are known to play religious
songs and hymns over loudspeakers during festivals and other special occasions.
On Monday, Eshwarappa sought to play down the azan
controversy, saying he had only meant to say that loudspeakers disturb the
neighbourhood.
“The use of loudspeakers for azan disturbs students
preparing for their exams and patients in hospitals,” he told the news
conference.
“I’m only saying this on behalf of people disturbed by
azan over loudspeakers. I have not disrespected the religion and not stoked any
controversy over azan.”
Eshwarappa has been known to make provocative remarks.
He had last year called the 18th-century ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, a
“Muslim goonda”.
He was forced to resign as the minister for rural
development and panchayat raj last April after a contractor committed suicide
accusing him of seeking a 40 per cent cut to clear a Rs 4-crore bill.
Eshwarappa has since then been trying unsuccessfully
to get reinstated in the ministry. But the BJP has entrusted him with
campaigning for the Assembly polls.
Source: Telegraph India
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original story:
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China’s Mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran Not
‘Adverse’ To US Interests: White House
Wang Yi, a member of the
Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and
director of the Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Ali
Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and
Minister of State and national security adviser of Saudi Arabia Musaad bin
Mohammed Al Aiban pose for pictures during a meeting in Beijing, China March
10, 2023. (Reuters)
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14 March, 2023
The White House said on Monday the US was not in a
position to take on the role of a mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran but
added that China’s efforts to “promote de-escalation” in the region were not
“adverse” to American interests.
Saudi Arabia and Iran announced on Friday a landmark
agreement brokered by China to re-establish diplomatic ties and reopen
embassies after seven years of heightened tensions, backing opposing sides in
regional conflicts and supporting differing parties in political rows across
the Middle East.
Asked about how Washington viewed Beijing’s role in
brokering the normalization agreement, White House national security adviser
Jake Sullivan said: “So, from our perspective, even as we have put a lot of
diplomatic muscle into trying to help promote de-escalation, as with the Yemen
truce, having other countries like China promote de-escalation is not
fundamentally adverse to US interests and frankly it’s in a way rowing in the
same direction.”
He added: “We were not in a position to be a mediator
between Saudi Arabia and Iran given our relationship with those two countries.
We never have been, and we aren’t in such a position today.”
However, Sullivan stressed that the US considered the
understanding reached between Iran and Saudi Arabia as a “positive” development
for the Middle East. He said: “We think this is something positive in so far
that it promotes a goal the US has been promoting in the region, which is
de-escalation and reduction in tensions. That is a good thing.”
He also said that Riyadh was keeping Washington in the
loop with regards to the developments of the negotiations: “We were in close
touch with Saudi Arabia as they were approaching and engaging in those talks,
and they were keeping us apprised of their progress along the way.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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original story:
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False Accusations Are Unbecoming Of Devout Muslims,
Anwar Tells Opposition
Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim speaks at the Parliament in Kuala Lumpur March 7, 2023. — Bernama
pic
------
By Keertan Ayamany
14 Mar 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim today said that he has been unjustly accused of selective
prosecution and that religion is being used as a weapon against him.
In Parliament, Anwar said that people should not be
punished without evidence, and thus, the same principle should apply to him.
“I want to inform the leadership of that side... you
must remember as responsible Muslims, are you confident, do you have proof that
Anwar interfered to prosecute anyone?” he said in comments directed at the
Opposition bench.
“If not, then that’s callous — accusing people in the
name of religion.”
Anwar was replying to a question from PAS’ Pasir Mas
MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari who wanted to know if the government was acting against
the corruption cases that Anwar had been vocal about before the general
election, especially the littoral combat ship (LCS) scandal.
Ahmad Fadhli said that the government was instead seen
as focusing on issues that involve the Opposition.
Anwar stressed that he was still of the opinion that
authorities have not made sufficient headway with the LCS scandal, but that the
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had assured him that further action
will be pursued.
He also said that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption case is ongoing, and he has never interfered by
asking for the case to be rescinded or for the related punishment to be
reduced.
“I did not interfere. You can ask the MACC and
attorney general.
“My instructions to them were that I support any
action based on facts and strong evidence. But do not prosecute with a flimsy
reason that can be questioned and challenged,” he said.
Source: Malay Mail
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original story:
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Belgium Bars Nude Kneeling Searches of 2016 Terror
Attack Accused
Representative AI image: Lexica
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Mar 13, 2023
BRUSSELS: A top Belgian court on Monday prohibited the
authorities from making the defendants at the trial into the 2016 Brussels
terror attacks kneel for strip searches.
Six suspects had filed a complaint after refusing to
attend the hearings into the suicide bomb attacks that killed 32 people in
protest at the anal searches conducted by police.
The appeals court in Brussels backed a preliminary
decision in December by ruling there was no legal basis for making the subjects
"genuflect" during searches as they were being transferred from
prison to court.
The ruling, seen by AFP, ordered the Belgian state
"to put an end to this practice".
Nine defendants are currently facing justice over the
March 22, 2016 bomb attacks claimed by the Islamic State group that hit
Brussels airport and the city's metro.
A 10th suspect is believed to have been killed in
Syria.
Belgium's biggest-ever criminal trial is being held
under tight security at a purpose-built space in the disused former
headquarters of the NATO alliance.
The prime suspect is Salah Abdeslam, who is already
notorious after being convicted in a separate trial in France for his role in
the 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Survivors of the attacks and relatives of those killed
began giving testimony last week.
The trial is expected to last until June.
Source: Times Of India
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India
Unity among Muslims Is Need of the Hour: Imam of Jama Masjid- Bengaluru
13th March 2023
Hyderabad: In view of increasing sectarianism in the
nation, Imam of Jama Masjid- Bengaluru, Maulana Imran Masood held that Muslims
should consider ‘unity’ as their shield to sail through the situation.
The Maulana is a renowned leader who encourages
Muslim-Hindu unity while pledging to eliminate hatred building up due to
political propaganda in the nation.
The Siasat Daily, in an exclusive interview with the
Imam at the Rainbow hotel in Lakdikapul, pulled light on the concept of unity
among Muslims.
Hijab ban, Halal controversy, Azaan on loudspeakers
row, the Imam deliberated that the issues are nothing but political
conspiracies fashioned to distract people from the main purpose of their
survival.
“The only way to deal with this challenge is for
Muslims to avoid all kinds of petty differences and unity among Muslims is the
most essential ingredient for the minorities to survive in the nation with
other religions,” stressed the Imam.
Shedding light on the role of Muslims during the
election process, the Imam said, “India is a democratic country and each vote
counts and hence, no person should trade their vote for anything.”
Reflecting on the issue of Muslims being targeted in
the nations in some way or the other, the imam said that education is the key
factor in building communal ethics in children.
Stressing the elevating Azaan issue, the maulana said
that the call for prayer is given in accordance with the Supreme court
guidelines which have not fixed a particular decibel of volume at which the
call should be given.
“Future generations must be taught to stay united for
there is no life without unity,” asserted the imam.
Parties working on the principle of secularism are
preferred and not parties working with Muslim people in the leader’s seat.
Maulana further stressed that the power of votes
should not be underestimated and hence every Muslim has to uplift their fellow mates
to encourage each other positive voting spirit.
Source: Siasat Daily
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of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/unity-among-muslims-is-need-of-the-hour-maulana-imran-masood-2546266/
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In BJP's Kerala Master plan, Huge Outreach to Christians,
Muslims: Sources
March 13, 2023
New Delhi: Northeast under its belt, the BJP is out to
win Kerala, with a massive public outreach programme that plans to embrace the
two key non-Hindu communities -- Muslims and Christians. Together, the two comprise
46 per cent of the population, crucial to crack into a state that has
traditionally been a bastion of the Left and the Congress.
The BJP, which stepped up its outreach in Kerala ahead
of the 2019 election, has been unable to make inroads.
Bucking the national trend, the party had drawn a
blank in the state despite its high-pitched agitation on the Sabarimala issue.
The Congress had won 15 of the state's 20 Lok Sabha seats. Its allies won
another four -- the Indian Union Muslim League bagged two and the Kerala
Congress (Mani group) and Revolutionary Socialist Party one seat each.
The outcome was seen as a rejection of the party's
stance on religious issues.
The BJP's growth in the state has been stymied since,
despite the many incidents of communal clash between the right-wing supporters
and the Left.
Sources said the huge outreach programme planned this
time will involve BJP workers visiting the homes of Christians on Easter week.
On April 9, Easter Sunday, 10,000 BJP workers will visit the homes of 1 lakh
Christians.
Last year, during the Christmas week, thousands of BJP
workers visited the homes of Christians with gifts, sources said.
The right-wing workers will also visit the homes of
Muslims on Eid in the third week of April.
Christians will be invited to the homes of right-wing
activists on the festival of Vishu on April 15.
BJP leaders say while the common people have welcomed
the initiative, it is being closely watched by the ruling Left and the
opposition Congress.
The outreach is the brainchild of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, who had asked the party cadre to organise a "sneha
samvaad" (message of affection) to the minorities in Kerala during the
party's national executive meet in Hyderabad.
After the victory in the three northeastern states, PM
Modi also said at a programme organised at the BJP headquarters in Delhi that
the party will form a coalition government in Kerala, where assembly elections
are due in 2026.
He indicated that this time, the party would bank on
the support of the Christian community, who, he said, had given much support to
it in the northeast.
Pointing to the two dominant parties in Kerala, he had
said while the Left and Congress are bitter rivals in the state, they contested
the Tripura elections as allies.
Source: ND TV
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Supreme Court orders removal of mosque from Allahabad
HC complex within 3 months
Mar 13, 2023
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed
authorities to remove a mosque from the premises of the Allahabad high court
within three months, telling the petitioners opposing the demolition that the
structure stood on a terminated lease property and they can't claim it as a
matter of right to continue.
The petitioners, Waqf Masjid High Court and UP Sunni
Central Waqf Board, had challenged a November 2017 Allahabad High Court order,
which had given them three months to move the mosque out of the premises.
The top court dismissed their plea on Monday.
A bench of Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar, however,
allowed the petitioners to make a representation to the UP government for
allotment of land nearby for the mosque.
It told the petitioners that the land was a lease
property, which was terminated, and they can't claim it as a matter of right to
continue.
"We further grant three months time to demolish
the construction in question by the petitioners and if the construction is not
removed within a period of three months from today, it will be open for
authorities including the high court to have them removed or demolished,"
the bench said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the
management committee of the mosque, said the mosque has been there since the
1950s and it cannot be just asked to move out.
"The government changed in 2017 and everything
changed. A PIL is filed 10 days after the new government was formed. We have no
problems with shifting to an alternative place as long as they give it to
us," he said.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the high
court, said that this was a case of complete fraud.
"Twice there were renewal applications and there
was no whisper at all that the mosque was constructed and it was used for the
public. They sought renewal saying it was needed for residential purposes. The
mere fact that they are offering namaz will not make it a mosque. If in the
Supreme Court verandah or HC verandah, if namaz is allowed for convenience, it
will not become a mosque," he said.
The top court had earlier asked the Uttar Pradesh
government to explore the possibility of granting a piece of land to relocate
the mosque.
The high court had told the apex court it does not
have an alternative plot of land to relocate the mosque and the state may
consider shifting it to another area. It had also said there was already a
shortage of space for parking.
Source: Times Of India
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Pandits, imams can’t turn places of worship to private
tenements: Delhi HC
by Malavika Prasad
March 14, 2023
While dismissing a man’s plea seeking de-sealing of a
property located near India Gate, the Delhi High Court expressed concern over
conversion of public places of worship into private tenements where rights are
claimed by priests, pandits, imams, caretakers and their families in an
“illegal and unauthorised manner”.
A single judge bench of Justice Prathiba Singh in her
March 6 decision observed that public places of worship are converted into
residences and are occupied by persons who take care of the said places
including by their extended families, domestic help and other trespassers,
which is “contrary to law”. The court said that it has noticed that these
places of worship are extended beyond the allotted land and converted into
commercial property, and rents/lease amounts are collected in an illegal and
unauthorised manner.
“Even in the present case it is not clear as to the
basis on which so many persons who are described as ‘workers’ were inducted by
the Petitioner into the property and they continued to occupy the property for
several years,” the HC said.
The HC was dealing with a petition related to a prime
property located next to Masjid Zabta Ganj on Man Singh Road. The petitioner,
one Zahir Ahmed, had sought de-sealing of the said property, which consists of
one room, kitchen, bathroom and some space adjacent to the mosque. He also
sought a restraining order against alleged harassment caused to him and sought
permission to carry out reconstruction work on the property.
Justice Singh observed that Ahmed was an “unauthorised
occupant” after the court was informed by Ahmed himself that there is no title
document to the property in question in his favour. “The Petitioner’s father
was an imam in the mosque and in the Court’s opinion, it could be due to this
reason that the Petitioner unauthorisedly came into occupation of the said
property,” the HC said.
The high court directed Ahmed to pay Rs 15 lakh to the
Delhi Waqf Board within 8 weeks considering the duration of illegal occupation
of the premises and the location of the property. It also asked him to deposit
Rs 2 lakh as costs with the Delhi Waqf Board within 8 weeks.
The court said the family of an imam in a mosque
cannot claim any rights in the property of the mosque, as the property vests in
the Waqf and the imam is merely appointed for purposes of conducting prayers
and taking care of Waqf property. The court observed that the imam occupies the
property in a “fiduciary capacity” on behalf of the Waqf and any attempt to
claim independent rights in the property would be “impermissible”.
The court said while an independent imam was appointed
for the property/mosque in 1981, Ahmed “in an illegal manner” continued to
encroach and occupy the property next to the mosque, noticing that the same was
a “prime property”. “The writ petition is devoid of any merit and is liable to
be dismissed,” the HC said.
Ahmed had contended that he and his family had been
living on the property for several decades and that it was separated from the
mosque by a wall. He challenged an eviction notice of March 2, 2020, issued by
the sub-divisional magistrate, Chanakyapuri, and an order of March 5, 2020,
which records that an eviction drive was undertaken in respect of the said
property and the possession of the said property was handed over to the Delhi
Waqf Board.
The high court, however, said Ahmed and the three
individuals whom he represented, were clearly unauthorised occupants and
encroachers who had no right in the property.
While passing directions, the high court asked the
Waqf board to secure the land allotted to it by way of the gazette notification
issued in terms of the agreement registered on July 3, 1945 and it shall ensure
that no land beyond the 0.095 acres is occupied by any person including the
current Imam or his family or occupants on his behalf.
Source: Indian Express
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Sukanta: BJP is not against Muslim community
Mar 14, 2023
Kolkata: Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said on
Monday that his party was not against the Muslims in the country.
“We are not against the Muslim community. There are
many moderate voices who swear by India. They are not like those who follow
radical Islam and try to suppress the moderate voice,” Majumdar said at
Balurghat on Monday.
The state BJP president’s statement came a day after
filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s controversial statements about the situation in
Bengal. “All those who support the cause of Bharat are our friends, no matter
if he is a Hindu or a Muslim. We urge them to come together,” Majumdar said.
Source: Times Of India
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CM Jagan meets Muslim leaders, seeks support
Mar 14, 2023
Vijayawada: Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy met
the representatives of Muslim minority community at his Tadepalli camp office
on Monday. He told them that the government is working for the backward
classes, weaker sections and minorities.
“This is our government. Support this government,” he
told the Muslim leaders explaining the various welfare initiatives of the
government. He said the government has given a number of nominated posts for
the Muslim minorities.
Source: Times Of India
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NIA raids house of suspected Islamic State operative
in Srinagar
Mar 13, 2023
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on
Monday raided the house of a Kashmiri alleged to have participated in a
conspiracy hatched in Srinagar in 2020 to facilitate plans by radicalised men
and women from Kerala, to travel to an Islamic State-controlled territory.
Uzair Azhar Bhat, whose house in Karfali Mohalla in
Srinagar was raided, was a common contact between Deepthi Marla, a converted
Muslim woman from Kerala, and Obaid Hamit Matta, both suspects in ISIS Kerala
module case being probed by NIA since 2021. Marla had got in touch with prime
accused Mohammad Ameen alias Abu Yahya, a resident of Kadannamanna in Kerala’s
Malappuram district, after her failed bid to travel to IS-administered Khorasan
via Teheran, Iran in 2019.
Ameen and other suspects including Madesh Shankar had
made plans to undertake hijrah (holy journey) to ISIS administered territory.
In January 2020, Deepthi went to Srinagar in January 2020 to meet Obaid to plan
the hijrah and stayed in Srinagar for one week.
In 2021, NIA had started investigating Ameen who was
allegedly running various ISIS propaganda channels on social media platforms
such as Telegram, Hoop and Instagram. Through these channels, he was
propagating violent jihadi ideologies of ISIS and was radicalising and
recruiting new members for the ISIS module. Ameen and his associates had even
identified certain individuals for targeted killings. They had made plans to
undertake hijrah to J&K for engaging in terrorist acts and had raised funds
from various sources for this trip.
During the probe, it was found that Ameen was in touch
with Deepthi, who was married to Anas Abdul Rahiman of Mangalore. In 2015, she
went to Dubai to pursue studies where she met Mizha Siddeeque, another woman.
Both Deepthi and Mizha developed an inclination towards ISIS. In 2019, they
tried to do hijrah to Khorasan and reached Tehran, Iran. However, after
reaching Tehran, their contact with ISIS operatives based in Khorasan could not
be established.
They both returned to India, and Deepthi got in touch
with Ameen, Obaid Hamid Matta, Madesh Shankar @ Abdullah and others and made
plans to undertake hijrah to ISIS administered territory.
Source: Times Of India
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AMU alumni association plans to form global body
Mar 13, 2023
The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Old Boys (Alumni)
Association Lucknow hosted an online global AMU alumni meeting on Sunday where
the formation of a Global AMU Alumni Association was planned, said Prof Shakeel
Ahmad Qidwai, president of the association. The plan was proposed during the
meet and most of the participants welcomed the move as it will be in the
interest of AMU and members of the Alig fraternity, he added.
The participants also discussed the aims and
objectives of this international forum. Aligs from the USA, India, Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia, UAE and many more countries participated in the meeting. It was
resolved that a committee should be constituted to work out the practical and
legal modalities and long-term vision of such an international organisation.
Many useful inputs and suggestions were proposed which were noted to prepare a
long-term master plan which will again be discussed in the next session, said
Syed M Shoeb, honorary secretary of the association.
The ongoing crisis on the AMU campus over the issue of
unprecedented delay in the appointment of the next vice-chancellor was also
discussed and it was decided to write a letter to President Droupadi Murmu in
her capacity as the visitor of the University with a request for her
intervention into the matter. Prior to that, a delegation of AMU Old Boys
Association Lucknow will meet the vice-chancellor and take an account of the
current situation.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin elected as Chancellor of
Jamia Millia Islamia
14th March 2023
New Delhi: The members of the Court (Anjuman) of the
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) on Monday unanimously elected Dr Syedna Mufaddal
Saifuddin as the Chancellor (Amir-e-Jamia) of the Jamia Millia Islamia
university for a period of five years.
The five-year tenure for the new Chancellor will commence
with effect from March 14, 2023.
Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin succeeds Dr Najma
Heptulla who completed her five-year term as Chancellor of the university last
year.
“An illustrious leader with meritorious and laudable
credentials, the 53rd al-Dai al-Mutlaq, Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin is head of
the one million-strong global Dawoodi Bohra Muslim Community since 2014,” the
university said in a statement.
“Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, who leads by his
exceptional examples has dedicated his life to the betterment of the society at
large with a special focus on education, the environment, socio-economic
aspects and so on,” it read.
The most lauded Global programmes overseen by Dr
Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin include Saifee Burhani Uplift Project, Turning the Tide,
Project Rise, FMB Community kitchen work towards eradication of hunger,
reduction of food waste, protecting the environment and so on. Acclaimed
internationally, he is committed to make positive contributions to the society,
produce ideal citizens and establish amity, peace and harmony.
“Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin has been honoured with a
number of prestigious awards and accolades. He has been featured in the 500
Most Influential Muslims list. A citation was read in the celebration of his
contributions in the US House of Representatives at the US Capitol. He is
received as a reverent state Guest in several countries,” the statement read
further.
Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin has been a distinguished
alumnus of the historic Dawoodi Bohra educational institute
Al-jamia-tus-saifiya in Surat. He is also a well-known alumnus of the
world-famous Al-Azhar University and Cairo University, Egypt.
He inaugurated a new campus of Al-jamia-tus-saifiya in
Mumbai on February 10 2023.
A prolific writer Dr Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin has
authored the annual treatise over the last five years.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Pakistan’s cross border infiltration, truce violations
hit ties: MEA
Mar 14, 2023
NEW DELHI: The latest annual report of the ministry of
external affairs said that the military standoff with China that started in
eastern Ladakh in April 2020 has still not been fully resolved and India
officially continues to maintain that ties won't become normal till the time
troop disengagement is completed in the area.The ministry said both sides agree
that a prolongation of the existing situation was not in the interest of either
side, as it was impacting the relationship in a negative manner. "Military
and diplomatic officials of the two sides are meeting regularly to continue
their discussions on resolving the remaining issues at the earliest," it
said, adding there had been an enhanced deployment of troops and armaments by
the Chinese side in the border areas and along the LAC.
On Pakistan, the report said normalisation of
relations between the two countries was "undermined" as Pakistan
continued to support cross-border infiltration and ceasefire violations. India,
as a result of proactive outreach with the international community,
successfully thwarted Pakistan's misleading attempts to present an alarmist
picture of the situation of the region and interfere in the internal affairs of
India, according to the report.
"India seeks normal relations with all its
neighbours, including Pakistan. Our consistent position is that bilateral
issues should be addressed peacefully in an environment free from terror,
hostility and violence," it reiterated.
Source: Times Of India
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Arab World
Iran: Saudi Arabia detente to positively affect our
ties with Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain
13 March ,2023
Days after regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia agreed to
normalize ties with Iran, Tehran says it has set its sights on Cairo, Amman and
Manama next.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said
on Monday the resumption of diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia
will have a “positive effect” on Tehran’s ties with regional neighboring Arab
countries Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain.
“Fortunately, with the positive atmosphere that we are
witnessing in the region, this positive development can happen in connection
with other regional countries as well, including Bahrain. We should further
trust the path of diplomacy and take steps in this direction,” state news
agency IRNA quoted Kanaani as saying.
He added: “Egypt is an important country, and the two
countries value each other’s importance in the region. The region needs the
positive capacities of both Tehran and Cairo.”
“Political ties between Iran and Jordan have not been
abandoned in recent years,” he said, adding that Tehran was ready to expand and
further develop its ties with Amman.
These statements follow Saudi Arabia and Iran’s
announcement on Friday of a landmark agreement brokered by China to
re-establish diplomatic ties and reopen embassies after seven years of
heightened tensions, backing opposing sides in regional conflicts and
supporting differing parties in political rows across the Middle East.
While Amman currently maintains diplomatic ties with
Tehran, their complex and rocky relationship has been strained for decades
since the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s; and saw ambassadors being summoned in
protest and recalled, and ties being severed completely and then restored. In
present day, Jordan and Iran have contrary approaches to many regional
flashpoint issues such as Syria and Israel.
Bahrain had cut ties with Iran back in 2016, in
support of and solidarity with Saudi Arabia after its embassy was attacked in
Tehran and the Kingdom subsequently severed all diplomatic relations with the
Islamic Republic. Manama has also long accused Tehran of stoking unrest among
its people, a charge the latter denies.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran says deal with Saudi Arabia will help end Yemen’s
war
March 12, 2023
CAIRO: Iran’s mission to the United Nations says a
breakthrough agreement with Saudi Arabia restoring bilateral relations will
help bring a political settlement to Yemen’s yearslong war, Iranian state media
reported on Sunday.
Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to reestablish
diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after seven years of tensions
that brought the two regional powerhouses to the brink of conflict and fueled
tensions across the region.
Iran has long been accused by western governments and
UN experts of providing weapons to the Houthis. Western militaries have
repeatedly intercepted Yemen-bound ships carrying Iranian weapons in the Red
Sea.
Tehran has denied the accusations of arming the
Houthis.
China mediated the major diplomatic breakthrough
between Tehran and Riyadh, which it is widely believed decreases the likelihood
of armed conflict between the regional rivals, both directly and in proxy
conflicts.
Citing a statement from Iran’s UN mission, IRNA news
agency said the deal with Saudi Arabia would accelerate efforts to renew an
expired cease-fire deal, “help start a national dialogue, and form an inclusive
national government in Yemen.”
The ceasefire, the longest of the Yemen conflict,
expired in October. Both sides, however, refrained from taking serious
escalatory actions that could cause fighting to flare-up, as negotiations were
underway between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia to renew the agreement.
The Houthis appeared to welcome the deal, slamming at
the same time the US and Israel, Iran’s top foes.
“The region needs the return of normal relations
between its countries, through which the Islamic society can regain its lost
security as a result of the foreign interventions, led by the Zionists and
Americans,″ said Mohamed Abdulsalam, the rebels’ spokesman and chief
negotiator.
Abdel-Bari Taher, a Yemeni political commentator and
former Journalists’ Union head, called the Saudi Arabia-Iran deal a “positive
first step.”
He urged both Tehran and Riyadh to further pressure
their allies in Yemen to end the conflict and ease tensions elsewhere in the
region.
“They should pressure their allies to engage
positively in the UN efforts to relaunch political talks between Yemenis,” he
said. “Yemen is a hot and sensitive spot in the regional rivalry. If it is
solved, it would ease tensions in other areas in the region.”
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2267456/middle-east
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Saudi FM To Asharq Al-Awsat: Agreement With Iran Sign
Of Joint Will To Resolve Disputes Through Dialogue
ZAID BIN KAMI
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT
March 13, 2023
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin
Abdullah said the Saudi-Iranian agreement to restore diplomatic relations
underscores the joint desire by both sides to “resolve disputes through communication
and dialogue.”
He added, however: “This does not mean that an
agreement has been reached to resolve all pending disputes between them.”
Riyadh and Tehran agreed in Beijing on Friday to
re-establish ties that were severed in 2016. They also agreed to reopen their
embassies within two months.
In his first interview since the China-sponsored
agreement was reached, Prince Faisal said he was looking forward to meeting his
Iranian counterpart soon to build on the deal.
“We are preparing to restore our diplomatic ties
within two months, so it is normal for us to exchange visits in the future,” he
remarked.
On his latest visit to Kyiv and Moscow and talks about
a Saudi mediation to stop the Ukraine-Russia war, he stressed that the Kingdom
was “prepared to exert efforts and work with the two countries to reach a
political solution that ends the crisis and fighting and saves lives.”
Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore diplomatic
ties and reopen their embassies within two months. What is Saudi Arabia’s direct
interest in such a deal? Will it pave the way for a new phase in the region, on
the political and economic levels, and in complicated regional files?
Diplomatic ties are at the core of relations between
countries. This is doubly significant for two neighboring countries of the size
of Saudi Arabia and Iran. They share several religious, historic and cultural
ties.
So, the agreement was reached through China’s
sponsorship and mediation and after several rounds of talks over the past two
years in Iraq and Oman.
Saudi Arabia is forging ahead in the path of
de-escalation it has chosen because of its sense of responsibility in
bolstering regional and international security and stability.
Agreeing to restore diplomatic ties does not mean we
have reached a solution to all disputes between us. Rather, it is a sign of our
joint will to resolve them through communication and dialogue and peaceful and
diplomatic means.
We, in the Kingdom, hope to open a new chapter with
Iran and bolster cooperation that would consolidate security and stability and
push forward development and prosperity, not just in both our countries, but
the entire region.
When will you meet with the Iranian foreign minister
to activate the agreement and arrange for the exchange of ambassadors? Will we
soon see you in Tehran?
I am looking forward to meeting with the Iranian
foreign minister soon to build on the agreement. We will prepare to restore
diplomatic relations within the next two months. It is natural to exchange
visits.
Riyadh and Tehran stressed in their joint statement
“non-interference in the affairs of other countries and respect for their
sovereignty.” Washington has cast doubt on Iran’s commitment. Does the
agreement have any conditions related to meddling in the affairs of others and
do you believe Iran will respect this?
One of the most important demands for opening a new
chapter in ties with Iran is committing to the agreement signed between us.
There is no doubt that both our countries and the region have an interest in
activating joint cooperation and coordination and focusing on development
instead of hegemony.
Such an approach will achieve the aspirations and
hopes of our peoples and generations to come for a better future that is
secure, stable and prosperous. We hope the Iranians share our hope and goals
and we look forward to working with them to achieve them.
Iran has for some time now been grappling with several
crises, such as the collapse of the negotiations over its nuclear program and
internal problems that have led to one crisis after another, as well as its
struggling economy. Some voices, especially western ones, believe this new
agreement may be a lifeline to the Iranian regime. What do you think?
I won’t reply to most of what was brought up in the
question because they are mostly related to Iran’s internal affairs. What I can
say is that Iran is a neighboring country, whose stability and development will
benefit the interest and development of the region. We, in Saudi Arabia, only
wish it well.
As for Iran’s continued development of its nuclear
capabilities, this, no doubt, is cause for alarm. We have repeatedly called for
the Gulf region and Middle East to be free of weapons of mass destruction. We
call on Iran to commit to its nuclear pledges and intensify its cooperation
with the International Atomic Energy Agency. We will continue to work with
allies and friends to ensure that.
China is not in the habit of throwing its diplomatic
weight in initiatives aimed at resolving regional crises. The question is: Why
was China specifically the mediator, not another country?
As the joint statement said, Saudi Arabia welcomed the
initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. It worked with it as an
extension of the negotiations that it has been holding with the Iranians for
two years. It is no secret that China enjoys positive relations with Saudi
Arabia and Iran that has helped achieve rapprochement and highlight the
Kingdom’s legitimate concerns.
We hope China’s sponsorship of the agreement would
bolster coexistence and security in our region, and good neighborliness between
countries. The three countries have a joint interest in preparing a regional
environment that is marked by peace, security and stability so that they can
work on building and developing regional and international partnerships that
achieve economic development and prosperity for the people.
You had proposed an initiative in Moscow to end the
Ukraine conflict. Can you shed more light on your diplomatic efforts there,
specifically how accepting the warring parties were of any Saudi role? Have you
made progress in this area and are you optimistic over your success?
We were and are still ready to exert efforts and to
work with both countries to reach a political solution that would end the
crisis and fighting and save lives.
The efforts of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown
Prince and Prime Minister, led to a prisoner exchange between the two sides.
The Kingdom has been focusing on meeting the immediate humanitarian needs that
emerged from the war. Our humanitarian response in Ukraine is evidence of this
drive.
Source: Arab News
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Iraq seeks fiscal stability with 3-year budget
13 March ,2023
Iraq's prime minister on Monday said his government
had finalized a three-year budget for the oil-dependent economy traditionally
plagued by budgetary delays.
The bill, sent to parliament for approval, will
include financial aid to 600,000 families in a bid to “lower the poverty rate”,
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said at a press conference.
He spoke ahead of the 20th anniversary later this
month of the US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, ushering in
years of war, unrest, and political instability which the country is struggling
to overcome.
Iraq last year went without a budget because of
political paralysis.
Sudani said he hopes the three-year fiscal framework
will provide more certainty.
“We will end the process that disrupts all development
and construction efforts, as ministries are usually paralyzed before the end of
the fiscal year,” waiting for a new budget's approval, a statement from his
office said.
According to the United Nations, nearly one-third of
Iraq's 42 million population live in poverty.
The country is beset by corruption as well as power
cuts that reflect its crumbling infrastructure, but Sudani talks often of
repairing roads, hospitals, housing and other essential facilities.
The 2023-2025 spending plan would see $36.5 billion in
annual infrastructure investment, including the creation of a “special fund to
support the poorest provinces”, Sudani said.
He promised reconstruction of certain regions,
including Sinjar province, the historic home of the Yazidi minority.
ISIS extremists massacred Yazidis in 2014 during their
occupation of swathes of Iraq.
Annual expenditure would amount to $152 billion, with
future modifications possible in the event of oil price fluctuations.
Iraq is the second biggest producer in the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and crude exports
represent around 90 percent of the government's revenue.
Baghdad projects annual revenues of $103.4 billion
from oil sales, based on projected exports of 3.5 million barrels a day with an
average price of $70 dollars a barrel.
According to data cited by OPEC, Iraq produced more
than 4.3 million barrels daily in January. Brent crude futures traded below $81
a barrel late Monday.
The budget also seeks to illustrate warming ties
between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdistan, the autonomous province in the country's
north, with $307 million allocated for civil servant salaries.
In exchange, 400,000 barrels of oil produced daily by
the Kurds will go to the central government.
Source: Al Arabiya
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UN, Syrian govt implicated in post-earthquake aid
failures: UN-inquiry commission
13 March ,2023
The United Nations, as well as the Syrian government
and other actors, are responsible for delays in getting emergency aid to
Syrians after the earthquake, a UN-appointed commission of inquiry said on
Monday.
The allegations add to a growing chorus of criticism
of the global body for its role in the immediate aftermath of last month’s
earthquake that killed some 6,000 people, mostly in the opposition-held
northwest near the Turkish border.
“Though there were many acts of heroism amid the
suffering, we also witnessed a wholesale failure by the government and the
international community, including the United Nations, to rapidly direct
life-saving support to Syrians in the most dire
need,” said Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the commission,
in a statement.
The statement further said that the above actors
failed to agree a pause in hostilities and to allow life-saving aid through any
available route, leaving Syrians feeling “abandoned and neglected by those
supposed to protect them, in the most desperate of times.”
Syria’s information ministry did not immediately
respond to a request for comment.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Saudi plane carrying 85 tons of humanitarian aid lands
in Turkish city of Gaziantep
March 13, 2023
RIYADH: A Saudi humanitarian relief flight carrying
more than 85 tons of shelter materials arrived on Monday at Gaziantep Airport
in Turkiye.
It is part of the ongoing aid effort organized by the
King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center to help those affected by the
devastating earthquakes that hit parts of northern Syria and southern Turkiye
in February, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Source: Arab News
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US military choppers airlift Daesh terrorists to camps
in Syria’s Hasakah before transfer to al-Tanf base: Report
13 March 2023
US occupation forces have airlifted dozens of members
of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group from a prison in Syria's northeastern
province of Hasakah to nearby military facilities before transferring them to a
major base in the strategic al-Tanf region, near the borders with Iraq and
Jordan.
Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local
sources, reported that US military helicopters transferred the Daesh extremists
from the Industrial Secondary Prison, which is under the control of the
Kurdish-led and so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to their camps in the
town of al-Shaddadi and al-Omar oil field.
The Takfiri militants will be then moved to the US
military base in al-Tanf region to carry out terror attacks against residential
buildings, centers that provide public utility services as well as the
positions of Syrian government forces.
A number of captured Daesh terrorists have already
confessed to close cooperation with US military forces stationed at al-Tanf
base in the central Syrian province of Homs on carrying out various acts of
terror and sabotage.
During confessions broadcast on Syria’s state-run
television network in May 2020, several terrorists revealed that they were
instructed by American forces to target Syrian government troops in and around
the ancient city of Palmyra, the Tiyas Military Airbase – also known as the T-4
Airbase, the Shaer gas field as well as nearby oil wells.
Back in April last year, SANA, citing local sources
speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that a number of Daesh terrorists
were being trained at the US military base in al-Shaddadi town on how to fire
rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), shoulder-launched rockets as well as
anti-armor and anti-aircraft missiles.
The sources added that the Takfiris were set to be
transferred within a short period of time to Jazira Region in the eastern
Syrian province of Dayr al-Zawr and the Syrian Desert, northeast of the capital
Damascus, to attack positions of Syrian army forces, vital facilities and
popular gatherings.
The US military has until recently been airlifting
Daesh terrorists from one place in Syria to another in order to save them in
the face of advancement and territorial gains by Syrian government forces.
American occupation troops have also transferred to
safe sanctuaries hundreds of Daesh terrorists and their relatives from Syrian
territories to neighboring Iraq in a number of batches.
Moreover, there have been several reports showing
Washington's direct or indirect support through its regional allies for the
terrorist group over the past years.
Source: Press TV
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Southeast Asia
Bookings for tarawih prayers required at 10 mosques in
Singapore during Ramadan
Aqil Hamzah
MAR 13, 2023
SINGAPORE - As Muslims usher in the month of Ramadan
on March 23, 10 mosques will require bookings for the nightly tarawih prayers
as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) seeks to continue best
practices developed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement on Monday, Muis said it had catered for
98,550 spaces at 67 mosques throughout the fasting month, but bookings are
required at certain mosques where there is limited space and high demand.
The 10 mosques are Masjid Al-Islah, Masjid
Al-Istighfar, Masjid Al-Taqua, Masjid Darul Ghufran, Masjid An-Nur, Masjid
Darul Makmur, Masjid Yusof Ishak, Masjid Al-Abrar, Masjid Tasek Utara and
Masjid Al-Khair.
Bookings for slots, which will begin on Thursday, can
be done through prayerbooking.ourmasjid.sg
Muis said: “We seek the support and understanding of
the Muslim community to safeguard public health as we perform our religious
obligations in our mosques.
“Let’s continue our efforts in making our mosques the
safest, cleanest, calmest and most caring spaces for our community during
Ramadan and beyond.”
While bookings will be required for the tarawih
prayers, which are specially held during Ramadan, they will not be in place for
the qiyamullail prayers, which take place during the last 10 days of the holy
month.
Though the Republic has since moved away from Covid-19
restrictions following a reversion to disease outbreak response system
condition green on Feb 9, Muis urged Muslims here to continue with the
practices adopted previously.
For one thing, it encouraged them to break fast and
perform their nightly prayers at home, though communal eating areas will still
be prepared for congregants.
Worshippers are also urged to bring their own prayer
mats and perform their ritual ablution before arriving at the mosque, with
those feeling unwell advised to stay home.
“We thank the community for its patience and
cooperation in this journey with us to resume more activities in our mosques
safely,” Muis said.
Source: Straits Times
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Malaysia needs stricter regulation of the genetic
testing of embryos
14 Mar 2023
DOWN syndrome is the most common genetic abnormality
in newborns, and it is caused by the presence of an additional chromosome 21.
As World Down Syndrome day approaches on March 21, we are reminded of the
sobering statistic that around 90% of Down syndrome fetuses are routinely
aborted worldwide.
The risks of Down syndrome rises with increasing
maternal age, which is particularly significant for Malaysia, given the
increasing trend of late motherhood in the country.
Currently, non-invasive prenatal testing of fetal DNA
extracted from the mother’s blood is a reliable and accurate technique for
diagnosing a Down syndrome fetus within the mother’s womb.
Genetic testing of IVF embryos
Undoubtedly, expectant couples undergo much emotional
trauma upon receiving a positive Down syndrome diagnosis in prenatal testing,
and face the agonising moral dilemma of whether to proceed with abortion.
For older women undergoing in vitro fertilisation
(IVF) treatment, there is a way of avoiding this abortion dilemma by genetic
testing of IVF embryos before they are transferred into the womb; this is done
using a procedure known as preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy
(PGT-A).
However, this procedure is highly expensive, tedious,
time-consuming and invasive. There are risks of damaging the embryo upon
extracting cells for testing. Many experts have pointed out that studies
claiming no ill-effects from this type of testing are often based on
excellent-quality, healthy, and robust embryos rather than more “delicate”,
lower-quality embryos that might suffer more from the procedure. Hence, PGT-A
poses greater risks for older women who tend to have lower-quality embryos.
Potential misuse of genetic testing
Despite its risks and high costs, PGT-A is widely
marketed as a means of ensuring healthy births and avoiding Down syndrome
fetuses for women undergoing IVF treatment, even though much cheaper and
equally accurate prenatal testing methods are available. The major
justification is to prevent the necessity of aborting a genetically-abnormal
fetus, thus saving the expectant mother the medical risks and emotional trauma
of abortion.
However, because genetic testing inevitably reveals
the sex of the embryo (through identification of X and Y chromosomes), this
would give IVF patients an opportunity to secretly select the sex of their
embryos without any valid medical reasons.
In many traditional Asian cultures, there is often a
strong social preference to have a son rather than a daughter, so as to have an
heir to continue the family lineage and financially support parents in their
old age. Hence, the need to prevent Down syndrome can readily be used as a
convenient excuse and cover-up to use genetic testing for sex selection without
valid medical reasons.
This raises serious ethical and moral concerns, as sex
selection without valid medical reasons tends to reinforce sex discrimination
and traditional gender stereotypes; it can also skew the population sex ratio
as manifested in India and China.
Indeed, the guidelines of the Malaysian Medical
Council on assisted reproduction explicitly prohibit sex selection of embryos
for social or personal reasons.
AI-based embryo screening
Recently, a much cheaper and less invasive alternative
to manual genetic testing of IVF embryos was announced by an American
healthcare company. A novel artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm was
developed that can accurately assess the genetic normality of IVF embryos based
only on microscopy images.
Nevertheless, it must be noted that AI algorithms used
to detect abnormalities can also be easily modified for sex selection.
This would be of even greater concern because such
technologies are much cheaper and faster compared with manual genetic testing,
thus making it more affordable and convenient for IVF patients wanting to do
sex selection without valid medical reasons.
In the context of Muslim-majority Malaysia, a question
that often arises in IVF treatment is whether Islam permits non-medical-based
sex selection of IVF embryos for personal or social reasons. The dominant view
among Islamic scholars is that non-medical sex selection is permissible
provided there is a pressing need, the potential benefits outweigh the
potential harms, and the sex selection method does not lead to abortion or
infanticide. The most common example is a family with only daughters, that
needs a son to continue the family lineage. Nevertheless, such a practice is
not approved by the Malaysian Medical Council.
Unethical selection for non-medical-related traits
Polygenic testing for disease prevention can also be
abused for selecting intelligence and other non-disease-related,
socially-desirable traits
Another recent development is polygenic testing to
estimate an individual embryo’s likelihood of developing adult-onset,
multi-factorial traits such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular
diseases by analysing the combination of specific genetic variants within its
genome. This is referred to as preimplantation genetic testing for polygenic
risk scores (PGT-P).
In a recent breakthrough, researchers in China used
polygenic testing to select IVF embryos with less risks of developing
family-related diabetes, for expectant parents with a family history of the
disease.
Unlike the possibility of serious safety risks with
gene editing, there are minimal risks involved in polygenic testing of IVF
embryos because there are no permanent manmade genetic modifications that can
be passed down to future generations.
Nevertheless, polygenic screening for complex
multi-factorial diseases requires whole genomic DNA sequencing of IVF embryos,
which at the same time can also be used for polygenic screening of various
non-disease-related socially-desirable traits such as intelligence and athletic
prowess as well as beauty standards such as tallness, fair complexion, and hair
and eye colour.
This is a particularly lucrative business opportunity
because parents naturally and instinctively want the best for their children.
Indeed, a recent large-scale survey conducted in the United States showed that
38% of respondents indicated that they would use polygenic testing to improve
their child’s IQ and academic performance.
Even if polygenic testing of IVF embryos for
non-disease traits gets banned in Malaysia in the future, the fact remains that
the genomic DNA sequence of IVF embryos will likely be available to patients
who did polygenic testing for preventing diseases such as type 2 diabetes. It is
difficult to deny such data to patients who pay for it.
These patients can freeze their DNA-sequenced IVF
embryos, and send such data overseas for prediction of intelligence, tallness
and fair complexion.
Psychosocial problems and social divides
The major ethical concern here is the fear of
worsening social inequality, because only the rich can afford to use such
expensive technologies to beget genetically advantaged children, while the poor
will be excluded.
Over several generations of cumulative genetic
enhancement, this may possibly lead to permanent stratification and divergence
of humankind into genetically enhanced “haves” and “have nots”, which could in
turn result in new forms of servitude and exploitation.
Additionally, there are also psychosocial problems.
After spending so much money, parents may start having unrealistic expectations
of their specially selected offspring. Children born through such procedures
may have disturbing feelings of being treated like lab rats, and that their
parents do not love them unconditionally as who they are.
Source: The Star
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Europe
Greece tramples on religious rights by keeping mosques
closed
MAR 13, 2023
“The Christian community can freely perform religious
services in churches in Çeşme, but Muslims cannot perform prayers in old
mosques in Chios,” Sabri Can Sannav laments. An academic from the history
department of Türkiye’s Trakya University, he points to the contrast between
religious freedom in the popular Turkish resort town and the Greek island lying
just a few miles away from Çeşme. Experts say Greece failed to adhere to
reciprocity in securing the religious rights of the Muslim community, while
other countries such as Türkiye show respect to their Christian legacy.
Though Greece and Türkiye appeared to have warmed up
to each other after the Feb. 6 earthquakes in Türkiye’s south that triggered
sympathy from its western neighbor, the state of Ottoman heritage mosques is a
point of contention between the two. Türkiye in the past has criticized Athens
for depriving Muslim minorities of rights and letting Ottoman-era buildings,
including the mosques, fall into disrepair.
Sannav says the Mecidiye Mosque, converted into the
Byzantine Museum of Chios in 1912, largely lost its features as a mosque. “It
underwent restoration several times since then that resulted in a massive
transformation,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday. The museum now hosts
Christian artifacts and Muslim and Jewish gravestones. The Mecidiye Mosque is
the only Ottoman-era structure that remained largely intact in Chios.
“The Mecidiye Mosque is closed while Christian
faithful were able to convene a religious service in Aya Haralambos church in
Çeşme after 100 years,” Sannav said. “Greece should be more sensitive about
this issue. Every member state of the European Union values religious freedom
and equality, regardless of the faith. Türkiye is not a member of the EU like
Greece but still observes religious freedoms. Greece should answer the question
as to why Muslims cannot pray in Mecidiye or other closed mosques while the
Christian community can pray in churches here in Türkiye,” he said.
Neval Konuk, an associate professor of architecture
from Marmara University who penned a book on Ottoman architecture located on
several Greek islands, says four imperial Ottoman mosques stood the test of
time in Chios but none serve their original purpose. “One of them is a
warehouse for an electrical appliance repair shop, Mecidiye is a museum, while
the other two are used to store artifacts from archaeological excavations,” she
said.
Konuk says Greece follows a policy of “ignoring”
Ottoman-Turkish structures within its borders. “All buildings dating back to
the Ottoman era are officially registered as ‘Muslim’ architecture. They simply
ignore the background of those Muslims. They are certainly not Indian,
Pakistani or Arab Muslims,” she said. She noted that Greek records showed 8,500
buildings built during Ottoman rule, while Greece simply ignored Ottoman
buildings constructed in the period after the 1821 Greek uprising against the
Ottomans. She says her research highlighted that some 20,000 structures were
present in Greece despite deliberate policies of demolition and other factors.
She also noted that Greece’s policies involved
“unnatural” restoration of Ottoman-era buildings that “erases” traces of the
original purpose of buildings. “Some are restored in a way to make them
resemble Byzantine architecture,” she noted.
On Chios, Konuk said the island was ruled by Ottomans
from 1566 to 1912 but strangely, the island hosted only one Ottoman cemetery,
while gravestones collected from other cemeteries – apparently removed
deliberately – were randomly placed in areas serving as a “sort of open-air
museum.”
Source: Daily Sabah
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Ex-PM Blair says US-UK relationship would have
‘suffered’ if Britain abandoned Iraq invasion
March 13, 2023
LONDON: The relationship between the US and UK would
have suffered if Britain had not fully engaged with the invasion of Iraq,
former prime minister Tony Blair has said.
In a new radio series looking back on the invasion of
the Middle Eastern country in 2003, Blair spoke about Britain’s importance to
the US in the lead-up to the war.
George W. Bush had told Blair that the UK did not need
to the participate in the early stages of the assault on Iraq out of fear that
his ally would lose a vote in Parliament on the night before the war, but Blair
persisted with the invasion, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The former Labour prime minister said he viewed
confronting Saddam Hussein as a matter of principle and was “sure that our
alliance depended on us doing this together.”
Retired CIA operations officer and chief of Iraq
operations Luis Rueda was also interviewed for the series and admitted that “we
were wrong about the weapons of mass destruction.
“But I got to tell you, my personal belief, we would
have invaded Iraq if Saddam Hussein had a rubber band, a paperclip, and
somebody would have said, ‘Oh, he’s going to put your eye out. Let’s take him
out’,” Rueda said.
Blair also said the UK’s relationship with the US has
deteriorated since he was prime minister.
“When I was prime minister, there was no doubt either
under President Clinton or President Bush, who the American president picked up
the phone to first.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2267831/world
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Russia welcomes Iran-Saudi Arabia agreement to restore
relations
13 March 2023
The Russian foreign minister has hailed a recent
agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore relations after seven years
of estrangement.
Sergei Lavrov made the remark in a Monday phone call
with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
After several days of intensive negotiations hosted by
China, Iran and Saudi Arabia finally clinched a deal on Friday to restore
diplomatic relations and re-open embassies and missions within two months.
According to the statement, Iran and Saudi Arabia
highlighted the need to respect each others’ national sovereignty and refrain
from interfering in the internal affairs of one another.
Iran, Saudi Arabia and China expressed their firm
determination to make their utmost efforts to promote regional and
international peace and security, it emphasized.
The two foreign ministers also discussed the implementation
of long-term cooperation agreements signed between Tehran and Moscow.
The top Iranian and Russian diplomats also touched on
the forthcoming meeting among Iran, Russia, Turkey and Syria, which is aimed at
facilitating resolution of the existing problems between Syria and its northern
neighbor, Turkey.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently
announced that the Syrian, Turkish, and Russian foreign ministers would be
holding a meeting in line with the countries' collective efforts to address
existing disputes between Damascus and Ankara.
The Turkish chief executive said the countries' heads
of state would be joining the talks too if the need arises.
Lavrov has also called it "reasonable" for
Iran to join in mediating the talks between Syria and Turkey alongside Moscow,
TASS news agency reported.
Source: Press TV
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Co-leader of German ruling party calls for putting
Iran's Revolutionary Guards on EU terror list
Beyza Binnur Dönmez
13.03.2023
GENEVA
The co-chairman of Germany’s ruling Social Democratic
Party (SPD) called Sunday for adding Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) to the European Union’s terror list, according to local media.
Lars Klingbeil has criticized Tehran over the
conviction of a young student, German press agency DPA reported
Engineering student Samaneh Asghari was sentenced to
"18 years and three months in prison despite absolutely baseless
accusations," said Klingbeil, adding he was "deeply shocked" by
the decision.
The IRGC should be added to the EU's terrorist list,
according to a non-binding resolution that EU lawmakers approved in January,
the report added.
Asghari, a children’s rights activist and an
industrial engineering student at Kharazmi University, was arrested on Oct. 11
last year and detained in Evin Prison. She was later transferred to Qarchak
Prison, where she remains in custody.
If her sentence is approved in the appeal stage, the
maximum punishment of six years and three months will be applicable to her.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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30 irregular migrants missing after boat capsizes off
Libya
Baris Seckin
13.03.2023
ROME
Italy rescued at least 17 irregular migrants while 30
others are still missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya in
the Mediterranean.
The Italian Coast Guard Command said they conducted a
rescue operation targeting the boat carrying 47 people about 177 kilometers
(110 miles) off the coast of Libya after being alerted by the Alarm Phone
charity, which picks up calls from migrant vessels in distress, and receiving a
request for support from Libyan authorities.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/30-irregular-migrants-missing-after-boat-capsizes-off-libya/2843959
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South Asia
Afghan Diplomats to Participate in India’s Online
Training Program Open To Students “Across The World, Including In Afghanistan”
By Fidel Rahmati
March 14, 2023
The Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan informed its
diplomats to participate in the training programme provided by India from March
14 to March 17, according to a memo released by the Ministry in Kabul.
The Taliban Foreign Ministry’s director general of
diplomacy, Mufti Nurullah Azzam, has released the memo. It stated that informal
information regarding a short-term course offered by the Indian Institute of
Management (IIM) to staff members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been
obtained from the Indian Embassy.
The Taliban diplomats will participate in the training
by India for the first time since the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021.
However, sources said the Course is sponsored by the
Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Program (ITEC), which belongs to the
Indian Foreign Affairs and is open to students “across the world, including in
Afghanistan”.
“This is only an online course available worldwide,
including to Afghan students. While none of the students is being invited to
India, we are not discriminating against Afghan nationals, and anyone can avail
of the Course,” an Indian government official said, saying that New Delhi does
not recognize the Taliban, or its MFA, or its diplomats.
The Course will give the delegates a deeper
understanding of Indian business, environment, culture, history, and regulatory
ecosystem, according to ITEC’s websites.
However, most of the Afghan students who have been
stuck in Afghanistan since the takeover of the Taliban reacted angrily to the
online Course for Taliban, saying that they were not able to finish their
education in India as a result of New Delhi’s cancellation of all visas since
then.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/afghan-diplomats-to-participate-in-indias-online-training-program/
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Afghan Voice News Agency’s Reporter Killed at Balkh’s
Press Event
By Fidel Rahmati
March 14, 2023
Hossein Naderi, a reporter for the Afghan Voice News
Agency (AVA) and an internship student were killed in the explosion at a
gathering of Journalists in Mazar-e-Sharif, including 18 others injured from
different media.
According to the Afghan Voice News Agency, Hossein
Naderi was 20 years old and a second-year law student. Naderi was a resident of
Suzeme Qala district of Sarpul province, working as a local reporter in
Mazar-e-Sharif in the Afghan Voice News Agency for two years.
While Akmal Nazari was a journalism student and worked
as an intern with Afghan Voice Agency.
The explosion occurred three days ago at the Tebyan
Cultural Center during a journalists’ gathering for the award event in Balkh
province; at least three people were killed, and 30 others, including 16
journalists, were wounded.
According to the report, several religious clerics,
cultural figures, and local officials participated in the conference.
The explosion at the Journalists’ gathering is
considered a despicable attack on journalists and freedom of expression in the
country and is strongly condemned by the AFJC.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/afghan-voice-news-agencys-reporter-killed-at-balkhs-press-event/
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Afghan Forces Arrest Man in Kabul with Magnetic IEDs
By Fidel Rahmati
March 13, 2023
A man was arrested in Kabul’s capital city of
Afghanistan with six magnetic Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), according to
the Ministry of National Defense on Monday.
The Ministry said that the apprehended capture was
made possible based on the intelligence gathered by the 313 Central Corps of
the defence ministry.
“A man was arrested along with six 6-ring stick mines
and two rifles in the Dehamzang area of Kabul,” the Ministry tweeted, adding
that the suspect will be handed over to the relevant authorities after
investigation.
The arrest came two days after an attack on Friday
late evening in Kabul that killed three and wounded four members of the
Taliban, the Afghan Freedom Front, claimed in a news release.
However, the Islamic Emirate confirmed the explosion
without causalities and said that only two people were wounded.
Recently, the attack has been increased on the Taliban
interim government by Islamic State Khorasan and other militant groups in the
country.
Within a week, three explosions occurred, one in
Kabul, claiming three lives, one in Balkh’s governor’s office, which led to his
death and another in Tebyan Cultural Centre, killing more than three and other
30 journalists.
Source: Khaama Press
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Afghan Interim Govt Appoints Envoy to Afghanistan’s
Consulate General in Dubai
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
March 14, 2023
Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has appointed
Abdul Rahman Feda as the chargé d’affaires of the Afghan Consulate General in
Dubai.
As per the Taliban foreign ministry’s statement, Abdul
Rahman Feda will take office from the current Afghan Consul General Masood
Ahmad Azizi effective from March 23. It is clearly highlighted in the statement
that Masood Azizi’s office tenure will end on the mentioned date.
Upon the approval of the Taliban’s diplomatic
representative in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates will join the group of
several other countries in the region, which have handed over Afghanistan’s
political missions to the Taliban, without formally recognizing the group’s
regime.
Prior to this, Iran, China, Russia, Turkiye, and
Pakistan have accepted Taliban diplomats as the representatives of
Afghanistan’s Embassy and Consulate Generals.
Since the international community has not recognized
the Taliban regime, these countries cannot officially give credentials to the
Taliban Ambassadors. Therefore, to connect and engage with the Taliban
officials, these countries have allowed Taliban diplomats to take charge of
Afghan embassies in consulates in those countries.
Despite the pressure from the international community
on the Afghan interim government accused of violating human rights, the rights
of women and girls as well as religious minorities, the regional countries have
gradually started to engage with the Taliban.
Handing over Afghanistan’s embassies and diplomatic
missions to the Taliban diplomats is the first step towards a new development
in the context of Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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Bangladesh probe suggests ‘sabotage’ behind
devastating fire at Rohingya camps
SHEHAB SUMON
March 13, 2023
DHAKA: A huge fire that has left thousands of Rohingya
refugees in Bangladesh camps without shelter was a “planned act of sabotage” by
groups attempting to exert influence, a panel investigating the blaze said on
Monday.
The fire broke out on March 5 in Cox’s Bazar, a
southeastern coastal district and the world’s largest refugee settlement
hosting around 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims who fled violence and persecution
in neighboring Myanmar.
An estimated 2,000 huts and dozens of facilities,
including hospitals and learning centers, were destroyed after flames swept
through the camps, affecting more than 12,000 people.
“The fire incident was a planned act of sabotage and
vengeance which was done to establish influence in the camp over the rival
groups,” Abu Sufian, a senior district government official and head of the
seven-member probe committee, told Arab News.
The panel concluded its investigation after three days
and interviewed eyewitnesses from the camps, Sufian said, as they made several
recommendations to improve fire safety, as well as surveillance and
intelligence monitoring in the camps.
“We recommend further investigation over the incident
to dig out the names responsible for this fire. It requires an in-depth
investigation.”
Fire incidents are common in the crowded camps as the
makeshift structures are prone to such hazards. In 2021, a blaze destroyed
thousands of homes and killed at least 15 refugees.
But the recent incident is only the latest example of
surging crime in the camps.
“As a Rohingya refugee, I feel insecure in the camp to
utter the names of the … gangs that are active in the camps. One of these gangs
is responsible for the fire incident,” a Rohingya refugee residing in the
Kutupalong camp told Arab News.
The 25-year-old requested anonymity out of fear for
his safety.
“There should be more and more deep investigation. And
the authorities must hold them accountable. It’s obvious that the perpetrators
set the fire with an intention to establish dominance over the other groups in
the camps,” he said.
Asif Munir, a migration and refugee expert based in
Dhaka, said similar incidents had occurred in the camps in the last two years,
with “different groups and factions” behind them, most of whom are armed and
involved with drug trafficking.
“It doesn’t seem that they have any revolutionary
ideas or in terms of looking after the Rohingya population and their future and
their welfare. They’re a selfish group, and just kind of waiting for or hoping
to get some extra money which can support themselves only,” Munir told Arab
News.
“These are some things that actually Bangladesh
intelligence, authorities, as well as the law enforcing agencies need to have a
better mechanism of containing,” he said.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2267756/world
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Mideast
Ansarullah leader: US, Israel seeking to present
distorted image of Islam to world
13 March 2023
The leader of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah movement has
condemned efforts made by the United States and Israel to present a distorted
image of Islam to the world and target the Muslim world from within.
Abdul-Malik al-Houthi made the remarks on Monday
evening as he addressed a group of religious scholars during a ceremony in the
capital Sana’a.
He called upon religious thinkers and clerics to
remain vigilant in the face of hostile plots hatched by the enemies of Islam,
emphasizing that they are “actively present in military, political, security,
economic and cultural spheres, and use all capacities at their disposal” to
achieve their objectives.
“There is a plot aimed at targeting the Muslim world
from within and there are a number of scholars in countries that are allies of
the US and the Zionist regime who seek to present a distorted image of Islam,”
Houthi pointed out.
The Ansarullah chief said the enemies of Islam are
trying to corrupt Muslim nations and mislead them so as to foment infidelity
and aversion of religion.
The Ansarullah leader also urged Yemeni religious
scholars and clergy men to “further foster the culture of donations within the
society and encourage people to help the people in need.”
Earlier, Houthi had called the United States and the
Israeli regime "enemies number one" to Muslims around the world.
“Americans and Israelis try to abuse the problems that
lie within the Muslim world towards furthering their own plots,” Abdul-Malik
al-Houthi said in February last year while receiving tribal delegations from
across war-torn Yemen.
“Israel and its mercenaries consider the Yemeni nation
to be their common enemy,” he added.
Houthi was referring to the regional Arab states that
have entered US-backed normalization agreements with the Israeli regime and
have, ever since, been trying to ingratiate themselves to the occupying regime
by aligning their positions with it.
Source: Press TV
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UAE Halts Military Purchase from Israel Amid Political
Crisis Facing Netanyahu
2023-March-13
The Arabic-language Arabi21 online newspaper, citing a
report by Israel’s Channel 12 television channel, said the UAE’s decision came
in response to recent actions and statements by Israel’s so-called national
Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
The channel quoted Israeli sources as saying that the
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has announced the freeze on
the deal.
“As long as we do not receive assurances that [Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is able to control his administration, we
cannot undertake common projects,” Al Nahyan said.
Protests have been snowballing in the occupied
territories over the past two months since Netanyahu's controversial move to
reform the judiciary.
Back on September 22 last year, Reuters cited two
sources as saying that Israel had approved a UAE request and would supply the
Persian Gulf state with Rafael-made SPYDER mobile interceptors.
A third source said the UAE had acquired Israeli
technology capable of combating drone attacks like those that struck Abu Dhabi
earlier that year.
It was not clear how many interceptors, which are
fitted to vehicles and can defend against short to long-range threats, would be
supplied, or if any had already been shipped.
Back in 2020, the UAE and Bahrain signed US-brokered
agreements with Israel to normalize their ties with the regime. Some other Arab
states, namely Sudan and Morocco, followed suit soon afterward.
The normalization deals have sparked widespread
condemnations from the Palestinians as well as nations and human rights
advocates across the globe, especially within the Muslim world.
Palestinians regard ministers of the new Israeli
cabinet, especially Ben-Gvir and Smotrich, as racist and fascist for publicly
advocating the expulsion of Palestinians and the demolition of their homes,
supporting Israeli extremist groups repeatedly attacking Palestinians, and
stirring incitement to racism against Arabs and non-Jews.
Earlier this month, Smotrich caused an uproar when he
said the Palestinian town of Huwwara, South of Nablus, should be “wiped out”.
“I think the village of Huwwara needs to be wiped out.
I think Israel should do it,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli media outlets
on March 1.
Smotrich’s remarks were met with condemnations from
the European Union and many countries around the world as incitement of
violence and terrorism.
The office of the European Union Representative in
Al-Quds condemned the remarks as “unacceptable”, saying, “They incite to
indiscriminate violence in a situation which is already extremely tense.”
On March 6, Ben-Gvir ordered Israeli forces to press
ahead with the demolition of Palestinian homes that have purportedly been built
“without permits” in occupied East Al-Quds during the Muslim holy month of
Ramadan.
According to the Israeli public broadcaster KAN, the
announcement came despite the fact that the occupying regime has not carried
out home demolitions during Ramadan in the past years in order to avoid
tensions with Palestinians and their subsequent retaliatory operations.
Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from dawn to
sunset, is set to start later this month.
Source: Fars News Agency
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A new intifada? Young Palestinian fighters rise as
West Bank boils
14 March ,2023
Before a group of young men from Aqabat Jabr refugee
camp mounted a botched attack on a restaurant in Jericho popular with Israeli
settlers in January, they declared allegiance to Hamas.
That was a surprise to their families - and to Hamas.
“They weren’t members of Al Qassam until that moment,”
said Wael Awdat, father of Ibrahim and Rafat, two members of the group, using
the name of the armed wing of Hamas. “They had a normal life. This was
something personal.”
Their story illustrates the complex mix of spontaneous
action and association between established factions and new groups during an
upsurge in violence in the occupied West Bank that has fueled fears of a new
Palestinian intifada to follow the uprisings of the 1980s and early 2000s.
Alienated from mainstream Palestinian leadership and
raised in an era of social media, a new generation of Palestinians has formed a
clutch of militant groups, from the Lion’s Den based in Nablus to the Jenin
Brigade.
Often with just a handful of fighters, the militant
groups springing up across the West Bank over the past year have only loose
ties to factions such as Hamas, Fatah or Islamic Jihad.
With tight surveillance making it impossible to
operate normally in the West Bank, Hamas, which runs the blockaded Gaza Strip,
is relying on more flexible, informal networks to avoid detection, two Hamas
officials told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of Israeli
reprisals.
A Hamas cadre in Jericho, normally a tranquil city,
popular as a weekend getaway spot near the Dead Sea, told Reuters the movement
had not known of the cell behind the restaurant attack but said: “Any faction
would be happy to claim them as members.”
A few days after the attack, which failed when a gun
jammed, the young men in the group were killed in an Israeli raid.
“All the signs are that the intifada is coming,” said
the Hamas cadre, who declined to be named for fear of Israeli reprisals. “There
is a new generation of people who believe the only solution is armed struggle.”
Tiktok, posters and songs
Spontaneous offshoots of the established factions,
such as the previously unknown Aqabat Jabr Battalion formed by the Awdat
brothers and their friends, have proliferated.
“Today we have a new generation that is aware of the
resistance, and this is a generation that knows the ferocity of occupation,”
said one masked young fighter at a rally in Jenin this month, with the colors
of Al Qassam around his head.
“It does not fear arrest, injury or martyrdom. It is
not afraid of anything,” he told Reuters.
With no central leadership, the groups get their
message out though songs, TikTok videos and posters of fighters on walls,
offering a model to young men angered by what they feel as repeated
humiliations by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
“The number of fighters is growing all the time and
the enemy needs to know that violence against our people and our camps is
increasing their number not reducing it,” a masked gunman from the Jenin
Brigade said.
Over the past year, Israeli forces have carried out
near-daily raids in the West Bank as part of a crackdown started in the wake of
a spate of deadly attacks in Israel by Palestinians.
More than 200 Palestinians, including both militants
and civilians have been killed - about 80 this year alone - while over 40 Israelis
and foreign nationals have been killed in attacks by Palestinians in Israel,
the West Bank or around Jerusalem.
As the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish
Passover approach, fears of more violence have grown, with a flood of weapons
being smuggled in from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel itself,
Palestinian and Israeli officials say.
“It’s proper weapons, it’s M16s, Kalashnikovs, it’s
pistols, it’s ammunition, it’s not weapons you can make at home, it’s weapons
that countries buy,” said a senior Israeli officer, who spoke to Reuters on
condition he would not be named.
In addition, the officer said the new generation of
militants were using social media effectively to mobilize.
“We have the most lethal weapon there is, that nobody
talks about, which is the telephone, so on social media networks very easily
things pass from hand to hand over TikTok, etc,” he said.
Pleas for calm
While the lack of leadership has reduced the political
focus of the new groups, Israeli officers say their fluid nature and the large
number of lone attackers, with no known militant connections, has made them
much harder to control.
Incidents such as the Feb. 26 shooting of two Israelis
in the West Bank by a Hamas gunman that triggered a revenge rampage by hundreds
of settlers against the nearby Palestinian village of Huwara have shown the
volatility of the situation.
The violence has been constant, taking place amid a
daily experience for Palestinians of confrontations with soldiers at
checkpoints who have stepped up the search for “lone wolf” attackers, or with
Israeli settlers, some of whom taunt and attack Palestinians with apparent
impunity.
As one killing succeeds another, there have been
increasingly urgent pleas for calm from an alarmed international community. But
neither Israel, now run by one of the most right-wing, nationalist religious
governments in its history, nor the Palestinian fighters, appear ready to back
down.
“What do I fear? No, I carry my weapons and stand
against the army,” said Ahmed Ghoneim, whose two brothers were killed in an
Israeli raid in January, at a parade in the Jenin refugee camp on March 3 to
honor a founder of the Jenin Brigade.
The rally was a classic display of force, with some
250 fighters from various factions parading in a courtyard, its walls plastered
with pictures of their dead, posing with guns and the cropped hairstyles
popular among young West Bank men.
Four days later, Israeli security forces raided the
camp, killing at least six gunmen, including the Hamas member behind the Feb.
26 Huwara shooting. Two days after that, three Islamic Jihad gunmen were killed
in a raid nearby and on Sunday, three Lion’s Den militants died in a shootout
with Israeli forces.
Bitterness spreads
Israeli officials often blame the surge in violence on
a Palestinian Authority that nominally exercises a limited degree of rule in
the West Bank but which is in reality effectively powerless in flashpoint areas
such as Jenin.
To make matters worse, the Authority has been
preoccupied for months with the future of its 87-year-old President Mahmoud
Abbas, whose eventual exit risks setting off a factional power struggle.
For its part, the Palestinian Authority says its
control is constantly undermined by Israeli actions, which both weaken its
authority and fuel resentment among the young, already struggling with high
unemployment and scarce prospects.
The bitterness has now spread from radical fringes to
affect even comparatively well-off Palestinians, such as the Awdat brothers,
neither of whom fitted the classic profile of disaffected young men with no
education or prospects.
Speaking outside his house in Aqabat Jabr, a
relatively calm area that resembles a rural village more than the crowded camps
in Nablus or Jenin, their father, Wael Awdat, said his sons had appeared happy.
Ibrahim, 27, operated a water tanker business in
Aqabat Jabr and, like his 22-year-old brother Rafat, an electrician, had done
two years of college. One member of their cell had a poultry business and drove
a recent model BMW, Awdat said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Key element of Israeli judicial reforms passes first
vote despite weeks of protests
14 March ,2023
The Israeli parliament approved at its first reading
on Tuesday morning a bill limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn laws
it deems unconstitutional -- a key element of a judicial reform package that
has fueled weeks of protests.
The text was adopted just before 3 am (0100 GMT) by a
vote of 61 to 52, though it will still need to be approved at second and third
readings before becoming law.
The bill makes it more difficult for the Supreme Court
to strike down legislation deemed to contravene the Basic Laws, requiring that
a 12-member majority of a 15-judge panel rule in favour.
It would also allow parliament, with just a simple
majority, to override Supreme Court decisions striking down legislation and
deny the court the right to review such a move.
Before the vote on that bill, lawmakers also approved
in its first reading a separate one considerably limiting the chances of a
prime minister being impeached.
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,
whose ruling coalition includes ultra-Orthodox and extreme-right parties,
introduced its judicial reform package in January.
Ten consecutive weeks of nationwide demonstrations
followed, with critics saying the package is aimed at handing politicians more
power at the expense of the judiciary and protecting Netanyahu, who is facing
corruption charges.
Netanyahu and his justice minister argue the changes
are necessary to reset the balance between elected officials and the Supreme
Court.
The reforms would also grant the ruling coalition more
powers in appointing judges.
Israeli President Issac Herzog -- who, in his largely
ceremonial role, has tried to broker dialogue -- on Thursday called on the
coalition to halt the legislation, dubbing it “a threat to the foundations of
democracy”.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Oldest Palestinian Prisoner in an Israeli Jail, Fuad
Shubaki, 83, Released After 17 Years
March 14, 2023
RAMALLAH: The oldest Palestinian prisoner in an
Israeli jail was released on Monday after serving a 17-year sentence for arms
smuggling, an advocacy group and his son said.
Fuad Shubaki, 83, was released from Ashkelon prison
and is “on his way to Ramallah” in the occupied West Bank, a spokesperson for
the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club said, which was confirmed by Shubaki’s son
Hazem.
As Shubaki arrived in Ramallah at the tomb of the late
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, to whom he was a close ally, Palestinian
officials jostled to get close to the octogenarian draped in a Palestinian
keffiyeh.
Young children waved the flag of the Fatah movement,
while women proudly sported t-shirts with the face of a young Shubaki printed
on them.
Among the crowd was Mahmoud Aloul, vice president of
the Fatah movement, and TawfiqTirawi — two figures often described as possible
successors to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas. After praying at Arafat’s
tomb, Shubaki vowed to continue the “resistance” of the late Palestinian
leader. “We will go on the path Yasser Arafat drew for us, we will carry on his
resistance no matter what it costs, our lives are worthless when it comes to
our homeland, our people and those who were martyred along the way,” he said.
Shubaki, a senior member of the Fatah movement, was
arrested by Palestinian security forces in 2002 at the height of the second
intifada, or uprising.
He was accused of attempting to smuggle weapons from
Iran to the coastal enclave of Gaza aboard the Karine A ship, which was seized
by Israel in the Red Sea.
The Israeli military claimed the ship was carrying 50
tonnes of weapons
He was held by the Palestinian Authority in the West
Bank town of Jericho under US and British supervision.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1742108/oldest-palestinian-prisoner-released-after-17-years
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Polls show Erdogan lags opposition by more than 10
points ahead of May vote
13 March ,2023
New polls show the Turkish opposition’s presidential
candidate, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leading against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
by more than 10 percentage points ahead of elections on May 14 seen by many as
the most consequential vote in Turkey’s history.
The polls also show the opposition bloc, called the
Nation Alliance, leading the parliamentary race, at least six points ahead of
Erdogan’s AK Party (AKP) and its allies. The pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic
Party (HDP) remains comfortably above 10 percent.
Erdogan faces the biggest challenge to his 20-year
rule after the erosion of his popularity during a cost-of-living crisis.
Victims of last month’s earthquake are also reconsidering their loyalty in
previous AKP strongholds.
The elections will decide not just who leads Turkey
but how it is governed, where its economy is headed and what role it may play
to ease conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Wolfango Piccoli, political risk advisory co-president
at Teneo, said the Nation Alliance needs to present a unified front and sell
the voters a plan to keep up their momentum heading into the elections.
“Simply blaming Erdogan for everything that is wrong
in Turkey won’t cut it. Past elections have shown that Erdogan is a phenomenal
campaigner, but recent remarks suggest he has lost his popular touch and his
ability to connect with voters,” he told Reuters.
A poll published by Aksoy Research on Saturday and
conducted on March 8 showed Kilicdaroglu, named as the opposition alliance
candidate on March 6, leading against Erdogan with 55.6 percent support and
44.4 percent, respectively.
It showed the main opposition bloc garnering 44.1
percent of votes and the HDP at 10.3 percent. The AKP and its nationalist MHP
allies earned 38.2 percent together.
A poll conducted on March 6-7 by Alf Research showed
Kilicdaroglu at 55.1 percent and Erdogan on 44.9 percent. Kilicdaroglu’s
Republican People’s Party (CHP) was the most popular with 31.8 percent, while
the AK Party trailed with 31 percent.
The main opposition bloc earned 43.5 percent of votes,
while the HDP got 11.3 percent, that poll showed. The AKP and the MHP together
had 37.5 percent support.
Piar Research showed Kilicdaroglu winning with 57.1
percent, with Erdogan lagging on 42.9 percent. The CHP got 32.3 percent, the
AKP 30.8 percent and the HDP 11.6 percent. The main opposition bloc got 46.4
percent, while the AKP and MHP earned 37.8 percent, the poll, published on
March 10, showed.
ORC Research showed Kilicdaroglu ahead with 56.8
percent and Erdogan on 43.2 percent, according to a poll conducted on March
4-6, before Kilicdaroglu was officially announced as the opposition candidate.
The earthquakes appeared to have had little impact on
the AKP’s popularity. In a poll by Metropoll, 34.4 percent of people blamed the
government for the losses during the earthquake, while 26.9 percent blamed
contractors.
The municipalities came in third, with 15.4 percent of
contributors saying they were to blame, while 12.9 percent answered with “all.”
Merve Tahiroglu, Turkey program director at the
Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy, said the opposition alliance
was “diverse” and each prominent figure within the alliance could appeal to a
different segment of Turkey.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran has pardoned 22,000 arrested during protests, Judiciary
chief tells IRNA
13 March ,2023:
Iranian judicial authorities have pardoned 22,000
people who took part in anti-government protests, judiciary chief Gholamhossein
Mohseni Ejei said on Monday, according to the official IRNA news agency.
State media reported early last month that Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei had pardoned “tens of thousands” of prisoners including
some arrested in the protests in a deadly crackdown on dissent.
“So far 82,000 people have been pardoned, including
22,000 people who participated in [the] protests,” Ejei said.
He did not specify over what period the pardons were
granted or if or when the people had been charged.
Iran has been swept by protests since the death of a
young Iranian Kurdish woman in the custody of the country’s morality police
last September.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Turkey’s earthquake toll tops 48,000 as government
races to build container cities
13 March ,2023
The death toll in Turkey from last month’s major
earthquakes has risen to 48,448, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on
Monday, as authorities rush to set up container cities to house for the
longer-term those left homeless by the disaster.
The combined death toll including those killed in
Syria has climbed to more than 54,000.
Speaking at a news conference in Malatya, one of the
provinces hit by the quakes, Soylu said the toll in Turkey included 6,660
foreign nationals, mostly Syrians, adding that authorities were still trying to
identify 1,615 victims.
The earthquake and subsequent powerful tremors injured
more than 115,000 in Turkey and left millions sheltering in tents or seeking to
move to other cities.
President Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to rebuild homes
within a year but it will be many months before thousands can leave their tents
or container housing, and daily queues for food, and move into permanent
housing.
Soylu said the government plans to set up 115,585
containers for as many families in 239 sites across the affected region. He
said 23 sites had been established so far and 21,000 containers were set up,
with 85,000 people living in them.
He said 433,536 tents had been set up since the
earthquake in 354 sites, adding that businesses would be given new temporary
workplaces in the next 10 days.
During a visit on Sunday to Hatay, one of the
worst-hit regions, Erdogan said Qatar had pledged to send 10,000 containers,
which were used during the soccer World Cup at the end of last year.
Soylu said of the 36,257 buildings that collapsed, the
rubble of 5,321 had been cleared, while 6,000 of 18,219 buildings slated for
immediate demolition had been knocked down and the resulting rubble cleared.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Houthis refuse to trade four abducted journalists with
Yemen’s government
SAEED AL-BATATI
March 13, 2023
AL-MUKALLA: During prisoner exchange talks in
Switzerland, Iran-backed Houthi delegates refused to consider the release of
four journalists in their captivity who face the death penalty and refused to
include their names in the expected swap deal with the government, two Yemeni
officials told Arab News on Monday.
Relatives of the journalists have asked Yemeni
government negotiators to continue to press for their release.
The Yemeni government and the Houthis started
discussing prisoner exchanges on Saturday and are scheduled to continue for 11
days.
Over the two last days, the two parties exchanged the
names of hundreds of captives, forcibly disappeared individuals, and others,
including politicians, fighters, and military leaders. During the discussions,
the Houthis rebuffed the Yemeni government’s proposal to include the four
journalists in the upcoming prisoner swap.
Muammar Al-Eryani, Yemen’s minister of information,
condemned the Houthis’ resistance to pleas for the release of the journalists,
who are being subjected to physical and psychological torture, and called for
further pressure on the Houthis to free them.
Majed Fadail, Yemen’s deputy human rights minister and
government delegation member, said there have been no advances in discussions
regarding a prisoner exchange.
Tawfiq Al-Mansouri, Akram Al-Walidy, Abdul Khaleq
Omaran, and Harith Hamid were among nine journalists kidnapped by the Houthis
from a hotel in Sanaa in 2015. In October 2020, the Houthis freed five
journalists in what was the last major prisoner exchange.
The remaining four were taken on trial by the Houthis,
who then condemned them to death for spying, torturing them, denying them
access to medicine, and preventing them from getting in touch with their
relatives.
Nabil Al-Osaidi, a prominent member of the Yemeni
Journalists’ Syndicate, told Arab News: “The Houthis refuse to consider the
subject of journalists in any exchange of detainees in order to use them as
leverage to get the release of top Houthi officials.”
Families of the four journalists demanded that the
Yemeni government, the UN Yemen Envoy Hans Grundberg, who is sponsoring the
talks, and rights groups exert pressure on the Houthis until their release is
confirmed.
“The journalists’ file should not be open to such
blackmail and haggling, and they should be freed right away,” Abdullah
Al-Mansouri, brother of abducted journalist Tawfiq Al-Mansouri, told Arab News.
Abdullah expressed hope that the discussions would
result in the freedom of his brother and the other journalists. “We’re waiting
and hoping they’ll be released. We’re waiting for them, counting down the
minutes and seconds till my brother Tawfiq and his colleagues arrive.”
Separately, the Houthis have frozen Yemenia Airlines’
accounts in banks under their control, accusing the firm of neglecting to run
additional flights from Sanaa to Cairo and Mumbai.
Yemen’s information minister warned that Houthi
actions against the company will result in the suspension of employee salaries,
other operational activities, and flights from Sanaa airport.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2267891/middle-east
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Iran says supports UN efforts to restore peace in
war-wracked Yemen
14 March 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says
the Islamic Republic supports intra-Yemeni talks to find a political solution
to the crisis in the war-wracked Arab country.
In a meeting with United Nations Secretary General’s
Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg in Tehran on Monday, Amir-Abdollahian
reaffirmed Tehran’s support for the continuation of the ceasefire and the end
of the Saudi-led blockade on Yemen.
He emphasized that Iran supports any dialogue which
would help promote peace and stability in Yemen.
The top Iranian diplomat also commended efforts by the
UN secretary general and his appointment of a special envoy in order to follow
up on the situation in Yemen.
The UN special envoy, for his part, called for Iran’s
support for the world body’s efforts to promote peace in Yemen.
Grundberg expressed the UN’s firm determination to
find a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the devastating
war on Yemen in March 2015 with armed and logistical support from their Western
partners, leaving hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead.
The war also displaced millions of people, rendering
them homeless, while destroying the country’s infrastructure and spawning the
contemporary age’s worst humanitarian catastrophe.
The most recent truce, which began in April 2022, had
rekindled hopes of peace, but the Saudi-led coalition breached the terms of the
ceasefire agreement, prompting Yemenis to continue resistance.
Source: Press TV
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North America
U.S. arms left in Afghanistan surface in Pakistan
Taliban insurgency
ZIA UR REHMAN
March 12, 2023
PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Modern weapons and sophisticated
night vision devices left behind by U.S.-led coalition forces withdrawing from
Afghanistan and fleeing Afghan troops are being used by Pakistani Taliban
militants to intensify attacks on law enforcement, police and experts say.
Source: Asia Nikkei
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US rejects notion it is disengaged from Middle East
after Saudi-Iran deal
14 March ,2023
The State Department has said that its role in the
Middle East remains strong and Washington remains “deeply engaged” in the
region despite the recent China-backed deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran to
normalize ties.
After a surprise announcement last week about the
agreement, the Biden administration was heavily criticized for what was seen as
a lack of interest in the Middle East and for allowing Beijing to pounce on the
opportunity to make an unprecedented diplomatic gain in the region.
Over the next two months, the top Saudi and Iranian
diplomats are expected to meet before both countries reopen their embassies in
their respective capitals.
Asked if the deal sidelines the US from the region,
the State Department said Monday that it supported “anything that would serve
to de-escalate tensions in the region and potentially help to prevent conflict.”
Outgoing State Department Spokesman Ned Price said
America is “deeply engaged with the Middle East.”
He added: “We have a long way to go, but everything
we’ve done over the past couple years points to what we’re trying to achieve.”
But Price played down the notion that the
Saudi-Iranian agreement was about China. “When it comes to our role in the
region – and whether, as I’ve read, our role may be being supplanted, some
allege – I have a difficult time wrapping my head around our role could be
supplanted when no country on Earth has done more to help build a more stable,
a more integrated region.”
Reports in US media have suggested that Riyadh was
pressing the US for concessions, including helping Saudi Arabia’s civilian
nuclear program, as part of normalizing ties with Israel. The Saudi government
has not commented on these reports, while the Israelis have made no secret of
their hope to normalize with Saudi Arabia.
While the US supports normalization between Israel and
its Muslim and Arab neighbors, Price did not comment on the details of any
potential talks.
Source: Al Arabiya
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US urges Turkey to allow NATO expansion as officials
set to meet
14 March ,2023
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan urged
Turkey to ratify membership of Sweden and Finland into NATO, speaking ahead of
talks with his Turkish counterpart in Washington on Tuesday.
Officials from Turkey, Sweden and Finland have been
trying to break an impasse that has held up the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization’s expansion since the two Nordic countries were invited to join in
June. Turkey is putting pressure on Sweden to crack down on groups Ankara
considers as terrorist in order to allow the ascension.
“I believe there is no reason it can’t be secured by
the summit this summer for both Finland and for Sweden,” Sullivan told
reporters ahead of talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s special
adviser and spokesman Ibrahim Kalin.
The two men “will have the chance to talk about this
issue as well as 127 other issues that are relevant to the US-Turkey
relationship,” Sullivan said.
Turkey has linked Sweden’s new anti-terrorism law to
the ratification and also voiced opposition to the July deadline set by its
allies for enlargement completion.
Source: Al Arabiya
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US private sector raises over $110M to aid Türkiye:
Chamber of Commerce
Rabia İclal Turan
14.03.2023
WASHINGTON
The US private sector raised more than $110 million to
assist Türkiye following the devastating earthquakes, the US Chamber of
Commerce said Monday as the US-Türkiye Business Forum convened in the US
capital.
As the business people, diplomats and representatives
from both Türkiye and the US gathered for the forum in Washington DC, a minute
of silence was held by the participants to honor the victims of the Feb. 6
earthquakes.
In his opening remarks, Khush Choksy, the US Chamber
of Commerce’s senior vice president for Middle East and Türkiye Affairs, said
nearly 200 companies collectively contributed over $110 million to the initial
phase of recovery efforts.
Recalling the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting
last week with the Chamber to talk about the support for the people of Türkiye
after the devastating earthquakes, Choksy said that this is a “critical time”
to build the US-Türkiye business relationship.
Rifat Hisarciklioglu, President of Union on Chambers
and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye, for his part, said that the earthquake-hit
region is among the “economically significant regions of Türkiye,” especially
in terms of industry and agriculture sectors.
Adding that thousands of search and rescue teams from
90 countries came to help of Türkiye, he said: “We are also thankful for the
solidarity of the US Chamber of Commerce, US Business, US Government and the
international community.”
'Next phase is rebuilding cities'
Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus also addressed the
forum, saying Türkiye “mobilized all the resources and means of the state for
the immediate relief and recovery.”
“From now on, our priority is to make necessary
preparations and build safe residential areas with their pre-quake infrastructure,
roads, hospitals, schools, houses and workplaces, so on,” he added.
He said that Türkiye's bigger industrial facilities
and the region’s small and medium sized enterprises have been affected by the
earthquakes.
"We are undertaking a comprehensive screening to
identify the full impact of the disaster on such enterprises," he said.
"We are committed to recover our losses at the
shortest possible time and will bring our people to their daily life," he
said, adding that the next phase will be "re-building our cities".
"In this vein, financing is as important as
having the technical capacity," he added.
Türkiye’s Ambassador in Washington DC, Hasan Murat
Mercan, said the “genuine solidarity” extended by the international community
in the aftermath of the major earthquakes “gives us strength”.
He also thanked the US government and the private
sector for their support, adding: “We are grateful”.
“All Turkish missions in the US are receiving
donations of disaster relief items,” he said, while also recalling the
financial donations campaigns the diplomatic missions launched quickly after
the earthquakes.
He said thousands of aid materials were collected
throughout the US and were shipped to Türkiye by Turkish Airlines.
US Ambassador to Türkiye Jeff Flake recalled some
powerful images from the major earthquakes hitting the southern provinces of
Türkiye.
Noting that the US search and rescue teams
participated in the relief efforts in Türkiye, he said they also built a
military hospital in Hatay province, which was constructed in five days, and
was handed over to the Turkish Ministry of Health.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Iran says it is 'ready' for prisoner swap with US
Syed Zafar Mehdi
13.03.2023
Iran on Monday said that discussion about the exchange
of prisoners and other issues with the US is underway, stressing that Tehran is
looking for “practical results” from ongoing negotiations.
Speaking at a weekly news conference in Tehran,
Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said talks are going on between the
two sides through intermediaries on issues including a prisoner swap.
He said an agreement on some issues, including
prisoners, was reached in March last year and a written agreement was approved
and signed by official representatives of the two countries.
Underlining that the issue is of a "humanitarian
nature," Kanaani said the American side at one point agreed to de-link it
from the 2015 nuclear deal talks but at a later stage tied it to the Vienna
negotiations.
“If the American side takes a realistic approach, the
exchange of prisoners can be done as a completely humanitarian issue,” the
spokesman remarked.
His remarks came a day after Iran’s Foreign Minister
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in an interview with state TV, announced that Iran
has reached an agreement with the US to swap prisoners.
"Regarding the issue of the exchange of prisoners
between Iran and the US, we have reached an agreement in recent days,” he said,
adding that “if everything goes well” on the American side, the swap will
happen “in a short period.”
‘Everything is ready’
Amir-Abdollahian said that “everything is ready” on
the Iranian side but the American side is currently engaged in a “final
technical review” to go ahead with the swap of prisoners.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price, however,
rejected the claim, calling it a “crude lie.”
“Statements from Iranian officials that a deal
regarding the exchange of prisoners has been reached are another especially
cruel lie that only adds to the suffering of their families,” he told CNN on
Sunday.
Kanaani, responding to Price, said a US State
spokesman recently mentioned in his meeting that the US government is “working,
trying and following” up on this case of prisoners.
“My question from the American side is: Is he working
and trying and following up on this issue in a vacuum and unilaterally by
himself? Or through intermediaries in the framework of the messages that are
exchanged,” he said.
The Joe Biden administration has repeatedly called for
the release of three dual nationals detained in Iran over spying charges –
Siamak Namazi, Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz.
Iran, for its part, has also demanded the release of
dozens of its nationals imprisoned in the US, including some Iranian-American
dual nationals, mainly for bypassing US sanctions.
Iran-Saudi detente
In other remarks during his Monday presser, Kanaani
said there is no obstacle to the meeting of foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi
Arabia after the two neighbors resumed diplomatic ties.
Kanaani said the foreign ministers of the two
countries are expected to meet in near future, adding that arrangements have
been made about the place and timing by the diplomatic apparatuses.
The Tehran-Riyadh agreement, brokered by China last
week, was the result of one and a half years of efforts and negotiations, the
spokesman asserted, appreciating the “positive role” played by Iraq and Oman to
facilitate tension-easing talks.
Before President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to China in
February, Kanaani said, ideas and suggestions had been shared by Tehran and
Riyadh and during the visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed the message
from the Saudi side to the Iranian president.
After that, he added, it was agreed to hold a dialogue
between the two countries at the level of top security officials, which
resulted in an agreement to resume diplomatic ties and reopen embassies, which
he said will happen in two months.
Iran was represented in the talks by Ali Shamkhani,
who heads the country’s Supreme National Security Council, while Saudi Arabia
was represented by Musaid Al Aiban, the national security advisor, and China
was represented by top diplomat Wang Yi.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman also hinted at
fence-mending dialogue with Bahrain in the framework of the Tehran-Riyadh
agreement, stressing that recent development can have “positive consequences in
relations of Iran and other regional countries.”
“The relations between Iran and Bahrain are no
exception to this rule,” Kanaani said.
He also expressed hope that the resumption of
diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, seven years after they severed
relations, will have a positive effect on the issue of Yemen too.
“From the beginning of the war (in Yemen), we believed
that war is not a solution and it will be a loss for Yemen, Saudi Arabia and
the whole region,” the spokesman said.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/iran-says-it-is-ready-for-prisoner-swap-with-us/2844336
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Pakistan
Pakistan government makes public the record of
Toshakhana gifts
Mar 14, 2023
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan’s government has made public
the record of gifts retained by important public office holders — presidents,
prime ministers, federal ministers, politicians, bureaucrats, retired generals,
judges and journalists — from foreign dignitaries in the past 21 years.
The 466-page record of Toshakhana (state depository)
was uploaded on the website of the government’s cabinet division on Sunday in
compliance with a Lahore high court order, which came on a plea filed last year
after the disqualification of former PM Imran Khan by the election commission
in connection with the Toshakhana reference.
While the government has already submitted the list of
gifts from 2002 till 2022, the high court directed the authorities on Monday to
furnish the entire record of gifts received since 1947.
Prominent people who retained the Toshakhana gifts by
paying a small amount, in a bid to meet the legal formality, included President
Dr Arif Alvi, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, former prime ministers Imran Khan,
Nawaz Sharif, Shaukat Aziz, Yusuf Raza Gilani, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Raja
Pervaiz Ashraf and Zafarullah Khan Jamali, ex-president Asif Ali Zardari, late
military dictator Pervez Musharraf, Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, finance
minister Ishaq Dar, foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, former minister
Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and ex-foreign ministers Khursheed Kasuri and Shah Mehmood
Qureshi, among others.
Imran retained wristwatches, cufflinks, pens and rings
worth millions of rupees during his term as prime minister. His wife, Bushra
Bibi had also kept jewellery.
Asif Ali Zardari retained two BMW cars with an
assessed value of Rs57.8 million and Rs28.7 million, and a Toyota Lexus costing
Rs 50 million, apart from precious watches and other items, after depositing a
total of Rs16.1 million.
Nawaz Sharif was gifted a Mercedes Benz car worth
Rs4.25 million on April 20, 2008, which he retained after paying Rs0.636
million, as per the document, which did not mention in what capacity the PML-N
chief had received the vehicle.
The gifts that Sharif and his wife Kulsoom Nawaz
retained after he became PM for the third time in 2013 included expensive
watches and jewellery.
President Alvi’s wife, Samina Alvi, retained a
necklace worth Rs1.19m in October 2019 after paying Rs865,000 for it and other
items in the jewellery box. The president himself retained a Rolex wristwatch
worth Rs2.5m in February 2022 after paying nearly half its value, Rs1.2m.
Kasuri had received several gifts in 2005 and retained
these items free of cost.
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf retained a Graff wristwatch worth
Rs890,000 in November 2012 after paying a sum of Rs218,000 for it and other
items. Sheikh Rashid had retained dozens of gifts after paying a meagre
Rs3,420.
Source: Times Of India
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Study shows judges fasting for Ramadan are more
lenient
MARCH 14, 2023
According to a study released on Monday, Muslim judges
are more likely to render lenient judgments while fasting during Ramadan, in
contrast to earlier research that suggested judges who have not eaten render
harsher judgments.
According to a 2011 study known as “the hungry judge
effect,” judges in Israel were more likely to deny criminals parole before
lunch than after.
The lead researcher on the new study, Sultan Mehmood
of Russia’s New Economic School, told AFP that he was interested in observing
whether the same result transpired during the holy month of Ramadan when
Muslims typically fast from dawn to dusk.
Mehmood and two other economists combed through an
enormous amount of data on criminal sentencing—roughly half a million cases and
10,000 judges—covering a 50-year period in Pakistan and India, two of the three
nations with the largest Muslim populations.
Mehmood claimed that they had been “surprised” to
discover the opposite of the hungry judge effect.
According to the study published in the journal Nature
Human Behaviour, there was no such increase for non-Muslim judges during
Ramadan, but there was a “sharp and statistically significant” increase in
acquittals from Muslim judges.
Mehmood claimed that Muslim judges in both countries
acquitted defendants 40% more frequently during Ramadan than they did at other
times of the year.
And the longer the judges went without food and water,
the more lenient they became.
They were 10% more likely to acquit with each
additional hour of fasting, the study said.
‘The idea of clemency’
The researchers also tried to quantify whether the
more lenient decisions were better or worse than those made outside of Ramadan.
They found that the defendants on the receiving end of
the lenient decisions were no more likely to commit another crime.
The rate of recidivism was generally slightly lower –
including for defendants of violent crimes such as armed robbery and murder.
The lenient judgments were also less likely to be
appealed, the study said.
“The probability that the initial verdict was
overturned was also lower,” said Avner Seror, a study co-author and economist
at France’s Aix-Marseille University.
Seror said that Ramadan was “well-suited to
statistical analysis” because it offers numerous avenues for comparison, from
being held on different dates every year to the duration of fasting differing
depending on when the sun rises and sets.
He proposed that “the idea of clemency inherent in the
Muslim ritual, a little like the spirit of Christmas among Christians” may be
related to the change in the judge’s decision-making.
He continued, “But it goes further because it seems to
assist the judges in reaching the appropriate conclusion.
The researchers hypothesized that because previous
studies have shown that intermittent fasting can enhance mood, cognition, and
memory, judges may be able to make wiser decisions.
Mehmood claimed that when he conducted research on
Pakistani judges, they all concurred that “we are too lenient” during Ramadan.
Source: Daily Times
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https://dailytimes.com.pk/1072703/study-shows-judges-fasting-for-ramadan-are-more-lenient/
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Several political activists join JUI-F in Bannu
March 14, 2023
LAKKI MARWAT: Several political activists affiliated
with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Awami National Party joined Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl in Bannu on Monday.
The announcements were made at a public meeting held
in Sparka Wazir area, also attended by former provincial minister Sher Azam
Wazir and other leaders of JUI-F.
Malik Zahoor Khan and Nafid Khan along with their
families and supporters announced their decision to join JUI-F.
Azam Wazir, who along with his son, former MPA Fakhar
Azam Wazir, had recently joined JUI-F, on the occasion alleged former prime
minister Imran Khan was using women and youth as a shield to escape arrest.
Declaring Khan as the most incompetent ruler in the
history of Pakistan, he said the PTI chief, who used to call his opponents as
thieves, had now been proved a certified thief.
“Imran Khan should not dream about becoming the prime
minister again as his four-year tenure has brought the country to the verge of
a disaster,” he maintained.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1742018/several-political-activists-join-jui-f-in-bannu
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Islamabad court suspends Imran’s arrest warrants to
March 16 in judge threats case
Umer Burney
March 14, 2023
An Islamabad district and sessions court suspended on
Tuesday non-bailable arrest warrants issued for PTI chairman Imran Khan in a
case pertaining to threats issued to a judge.
On Monday, Senior Civil Judge Rana Mujahid Rahim
issued arrest warrants for Imran while hearing a case registered against the
ex-premier for using threatening language against Additional District and
Sessions Judge Zeba Chaudhry and the Islamabad police officials.
In yesterday’s hearing, Imran’s counsel had said that
the former prime minister was ready to join the proceedings through video link.
However, Judge Rahim rejected the plea and instructed the police to produce
Imran in court by March 29.
Subsequently, the PTI challenged the warrants in the
district court, which was taken up by the court of ADSJ Faizan Haider Gilani.
In its written order today, a copy of which is
available with Dawn.com, the court said that Imran’s counsel contended that
“due to security threat to the life of petitioner, the petitioner could not
appear before the learned trial court”.
“In this regard, the security provided by the
government has also been withdrawn. Learned counsel for the petitioner sought
an adjournment to place on record the letter of the Government of Punjab,
whereby, the security provided to the petitioner (former prime minister) was
withdrawn,” the court noted.
It said the petitioner’s counsel sought an adjournment
to place on record the letter of the Punjab government, whereby, the security
provided to Imran was withdrawn. “Let the needful be done,” the ruling said.
It said that the arguments raised by Imran’s petition
needed consideration.
“Now to come up for arguments on 16.03.2023. In the
meanwhile, operation of the impugned order is hereby suspended till the next
date,” the order added.
The hearing
In today’s hearing, lawyers Naeem Panjotha and Intizar
Panjotha appeared in court.
As the proceedings commenced, Intizar stated that all
the sections invoked against the PTI chief were bailable to which the judge
asked if non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued for Imran earlier as
well.
Before this, arrest warrants have not been issued in
the case related to threatening the woman judge, the lawyer replied.
The court then directed Imran’s counsel to attach the
documents submitted along with the petition. “I have been reading these
[documents] for the past 15 minutes but I can’t understand what they say,” ADSJ
Gilani said.
At one point during the hearing, Intizar contended
that Imran was the ex-premier of the country and it was the government’s
responsibility to provide him adequate security. “But instead, they have
withdrawn his security.”
Here, the judge asked if PTI had a letter which proved
that Imran’s security had been withdrawn.
“I can provide it to you by tomorrow,” the lawyer
replied.
For his part, the government’s lawyer revealed that
[arrest] warrants for Imran were also issued in the Toshakhana case. A sessions
court had directed the police on Monday to arrest the PTI chief in the case and
present him in court by March 18.
Meanwhile, the judge remarked that the ex-premier was
leading an election rally in Lahore to which Imran’s lawyer stated that the PTI
chairman had appeared in the judicial complex last month.
“But he never came to the katcheri (sessions court),”
ADSJ Gilani pointed out. “The katcheri was attacked in 2014 but did we shift it
anywhere else? Even during Imran’s tenure, the katcheri wasn’t moved.
“The party’s name is Tehreek-i-Insaf but what has it
done? Tell me at least one legal reform that the PTI introduced,” the judge
asked, stressing that hearings could be conducted via video link but “you are
not focused on legal reforms”.
The court also asked if terrorism charges had been
removed from the case to which the lawyer replied in affirmative.
Subsequently, ADSJ Gilani asked Imran’s counsel to
submit security documents in court and suspended the arrest warrants till March
16. He also issued notices to the respondents in the case.
The case
The PTI chairman had on August 20 condemned the police
as well as the judiciary over the alleged custodial torture of Shahbaz Gill and
announced that his party would file cases against Inspector General of Police
(IGP) Dr Akbar Nasir Khan, the DIG and Additional District and Sessions Judge
Zeba Chaudhry.
Initially, Imran was booked under various sections of
the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). Besides, Islamabad
High Court (IHC) also initiated contempt of court proceedings against him.
Later, the IHC removed the terrorism charges against
Imran and also pardoned him after he tendered an apology in the contempt case.
Source: Dawn
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Move in Senate against PM’s powers to retain retiring
army chiefs
Iftikhar A. Khan
March 14, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Seeking to take away prime minister’s
powers to retain retiring services chiefs and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff Committee, three separate bills — the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill,
Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill, and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill —
were submitted to the senate secretariat on Monday.
An outspoken Jamaat-i-Islami senator Mushtaq Ahmad
separately submitted notices in the office of senate secretary seeking to move
amendments to the existing laws.
In January 2020, following unprecedented hitches to
the proposed extension in the term of the then army chief Gen Qamar Javed
Bajwa, the parliament had approved three bills that set a higher retirement age
for the chiefs of the armed forces, allowing the prime minister to extend their
terms at his discretion.
The Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the
Pakistan Army Act, 1952 by omitting Sections 8B and 8E in the law. Similarly,
the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill and Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill seek
to amend the Pakistan Air Force Act, 1953 and Pakistan Navy Ordinance 1961
respectively by omitting different sections in these laws.
Three bills seeking amendments to legislation
submitted to Senate
The statement of objects and reasons of the Pakistan
Army (Amendment) Bill says that in the year 2020, the Pakistan Army Act was
amended and provisions were inserted for extension in services of army chief
and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. “Keeping in view the meritorious
appointment and promotion of young bold within the Pakistan Army leadership,
the provisions related to the extension of these two offices are proposed for
omission,” it added.
The statement of objects also underlines the role of
Pakistan Army for giving services and sacrifices for the sake of safety and
security of the country since its inception. “There is no denying the fact that
the Pakistan Army has made us feel secure within the borders and tried their
level best to combat existential threats, both conventional and
non-conventional.”
The statement of objects and reasons of the other two
bills also say that Pakistan Air Force Act and Pakistan Navy Ordinance were
amended in 2020 for the re-appointment or extension in services of both air and
naval chiefs. “Keeping in view the meritorious appointment and promotion of
young blood within the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy leadership, the
provisions related to the extension and re-appointment of these two offices are
proposed for emission, both the bills says.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1742073/move-in-senate-against-pms-powers-to-retain-retiring-army-chiefs
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Two policemen martyred in attacks on census teams in
KP
Irfan Mughal | Ghulam Mursalin Marwat
March 14, 2023
DERA ISMAIL KHAN / LAKKI MARWAT: Two policemen
embraced martyrdom and four others sustained injuries in militant attacks on
census teams in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s southern districts of Tank and Lakki
Marwat while a militant was shot dead in a security forces operation in Dera
Ismail Khan district on Monday.
A police van came under attack in the Kot-Azam area of
Tank district while it was returning from a village, according to a
spokesperson for district police. “Militants opened fire on the police van when
it was returning from Manjhi village [after duty hours]. As a result, one
policeman embraced martyrdom and four others sustained injuries,” said police
spokesman Syed Yaqoob Bukhari, adding that the attackers fled after
shooting.
The injured personnel were rushed to Tank district
headquarters hospital from where they were referred to Dera Ismail Khan due to
unavailability of required facilities, he said, adding that law enforcement
agencies’ personnel reached the site and launched a search operation against
the militants.
The martyred policeman was identified as Khan Nawab, a
recruit of Kohat police training centre, belonging to district Swat.
Funeral prayer for the martyred policeman was later offered at the District
Police Office which was attended by officers of law enforcement agencies,
police and others.
Same day in another militant attack on a census team,
a Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) police constable was martyred in Pirwala area
of the Lakki Marwat district.
Escorting the government staff on census duty in the
rural area, FRP constable Diljan was seriously wounded when two armed
miscreants opened fire on him and escaped, the police said.
Shortly after the shooting, a police contingent,
headed by DPO Mohammad Ishfaq Khan, reached the scene and launched a search
operation in the area. A rescue 1122 team also rushed to the site and shifted
the body to Government City Hospital. The martyred cop’s funeral was held at
the District Headquarters Complex in Tajazai.
TTP suspect killed
A member of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) wanted to security agencies in more than a dozen cases of murder and
militant activities was gunned down in a joint operation in Dera Ismail Khan,
police said.
The D.I. Khan police said Abdul Rasheed alias Rashidi
was killed in a joint intelligence-based operation carried out by police and
security forces in Rohri area of Tehsil Kulachi on Monday.
However, according to a statement issued by the ISPR,
terrorists opened fire on a police party employed on census security duty in
general area of Raghzai in Tank district. “Resultantly, one policeman, having
fought gallantly, embraced shahadat. On receipt of the information, security
forces immediately cordoned the area, blocking all possible escape routes.
Fleeing terrorists were intercepted in general area Gara Guldad, Tehsil
Kulachi, Dera Ismail Khan District. After intense exchange of fire, terrorist
commander Abdul Rasheed alias Rasheedi, was killed,” the ISPR said.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1742095/two-policemen-martyred-in-attacks-on-census-teams-in-kp
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Security forces gun down terrorist involved in attack
on census team in Tank
March 13, 2023
RAWALPINDI: Security forces on Monday killed a
terrorist involved in attack on census team in Tank district.
“On 13 March 2023, terrorists opened fire on Police
party employed on Census security duty in general area Raghzai, Tank District.
Resultantly, one policeman, having fought gallantly, embraced shahadat,” said
ISPR.
“On receipt of the information, security forces
immediately cordoned the area, blocking all possible escape routes. Fleeing
terrorists were intercepted in general area Gara Guldad, Tehsil Kulachi, Dera
Ismail Khan District. After intense exchange of fire, terrorist commander Abdul
Rasheed alias Rasheedi, was killed,” said the statement.
The killed terrorist was wanted by police being
involved in numerous terrorist activities against Security Forces as well as
killing of innocent civilians. Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from
the killed terrorist.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Africa
Third Japan-Jordan foreign ministers’ strategic
dialogue held in Tokyo
March 13, 2023
TOKYO: Japan and Jordan held their third foreign
ministers’ strategic dialogue in Tokyo on March 13.
The two ministers agreed to develop their ties further
on a wide range of bilateral, regional and East Asian issues, including
security, economy, financial aid to Jordan and supporting refugees.
Hayashi Yoshimasa, Japan’s foreign minister, attended
the meeting with Ayman Al-Safadi, Jordan’s deputy prime minister and minister
of foreign affairs and expatriates of Jordan, who is visiting Japan.
The meeting lasted approximately 105 minutes,
according to the foreign ministry in Tokyo.
In the talks, Minister Hayashi referred to the
steadily growing bilateral relations in various areas based on the strategic
partnership and expressed his hope to develop it further, according to the
ministry.
In response, Minister Safadi stated that the
Japan-Jordan friendly relations have been developing steadily, and he looks
forward to further deepening the cooperative relationship.
The two ministers concurred on further strengthening
the relationship in various areas, including security, exchanging high-level
visits, and economic cooperation.
Minister Safadi gave an overview of Jordan’s economy
and the government’s efforts toward its modernization. Hayashi explained Japan’s
support in the power and water sectors, among other areas, and the initiatives
to assist Jordan’s efforts. The two ministers shared the importance of Jordan’s
economic and financial reforms.
Assistance for refugees was also discussed at the
meeting, according to the foreign ministry. Minister Hayashi, referring to the
fact that Jordan is hosting a large number of refugees as well as the related
severe environment, especially due to the recent surge in fuel prices,
explained that Japan had provided a total of approximately US$10.44 million
from the FY2022 supplementary budget for Jordan through international
organizations such as UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for
Palestine Refugees) and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees),
and stated that Japan would continue to support Jordan’s efforts.
Minister Safadi stated that Jordan highly values and
appreciates Japan’s continued support. He emphasized that the international
community needs to continue supporting refugees and host countries.
On the security issues, the two ministers welcomed the
further enhancement of defense and security cooperation, including the first
Noncombatant Evacuation Operation training of the Japan Self-Defense Forces
held in Jordan last December, and confirmed to continue the collaboration.
In addition, the two ministers concurred on deepening
cooperation in areas such as building secure and reliable 5G networks,
improving cybersecurity capabilities, and combatting terrorism, including
through the Aqaba Process.
The two ministers welcomed the deepening of academic
exchanges, such as programs on studying abroad in the two countries based on
cooperation between Japanese and Jordanian universities, and concurred on
accelerating preparations in the lead-up to the 70th anniversary of the
establishment of diplomatic relations in 2024.
The situation in the Middle East received attention in
the talks when Minister Hayashi expressed his deep concerns over rising
political tensions between Israel and Palestine and the current serious
security situation and commended Jordan’s calls on relevant parties for easing
tensions, including the five-party meeting hosted by Jordan in February.
Minister Hayashi affirmed the important role of the
Hashemite Custodianship over the holy sites in Jerusalem and stated that Japan
would play its role by carrying out its efforts, such as the “Corridor for
Peace and Prosperity” initiative.
The two ministers concurred on close coordination to
build trust between the parties.
In this regard, Minister Safadi briefed on Jordan’s
efforts to prevent further deterioration in the Palestinian territories as well
as to find political horizons for restarting serious negotiations to achieve
just and lasting peace based on the two-state solution and stated that Jordan
highly appreciates the efforts Japan has made and will continue to work closely
with Japan.
The foreign ministry said the two ministers also
exchanged views regarding the situation in the Middle East, such as Iraq and
Syria, but didn’t disclose the details.
The statement said the two ministers discussed how to
respond to Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine and shared that the
international community must unite in urging that unilateral attempts to change
the status quo by force are unacceptable anywhere in the world. Minister
Hayashi further stated that Japan, the only country to have ever suffered
atomic bombings during wartime, cannot accept Russia’s nuclear threats, let
alone its use under any circumstances.
Minister Safadi stressed the need to end the war,
reiterating Jordan’s position that the international law, the UN charter and
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, including Ukraine,
must be respected.
The two ministers also exchanged views regarding the
situation in East Asia, including China and North Korea, and according to the
foreign ministry, Minister Safadi expressed support for Japan in its efforts to
address North Korea, including on the abductions issue.
Minister Hayashi explained a new “National Security Strategy
(NSS)” formulated last December, which Minister Safadi welcomed. Furthermore,
Minister Hayashi explained the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).
The two ministers agreed on the importance of a free
and open international order based on the rule of law and concurred on working
together to promote FOIP.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2268036/middle-east
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New Tunisian parliament begins its first session
13 March ,2023
Tunisia’s new parliament, elected in December and
January in a vote with a turnout of 11 percent, sat for the first time on
Monday in a session closed to all but state media and with the opposition
coalition saying it would not recognize its legitimacy.
Journalists were not allowed to attend the opening
session of parliament for the first time since the 2011 revolution. Officials
told reporters on Monday that only state TV and radio and the state news agency
were allowed to cover the event.
President Kais Saied shut down the previous elected
parliament in July 2021, moving to rule by decree in a move that opposition
parties called a coup. He has said his actions were legal and needed to save
Tunisia from years of crisis.
The new parliament, operating under a constitution
that Saied wrote last year and which was passed in a referendum with a turnout
of 30 percent, will have very little power compared with the body it replaces.
As most parties boycotted the election, and candidates
were listed on ballot papers without party affiliation, most of the new
parliament members are political independents.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Japan contributes $1m in support of WFP’s food
assistance to Syrian refugees in Jordan
March 14, 2023
DUBAI: The Government of Japan contributed 147 million
yen (about US$1.1 million) to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in Jordan to
provide nutrition-sensitive food assistance to more than 27,000 Syrian refugees
living in camps and host communities for one month.
The Ambassador of Japan to Jordan, OKUYAMA Jiro,
announced the contribution during a joint field visit to a Syrian beneficiary
family receiving WFP’s monthly food assistance in Jordan’s capital Amman.
“WFP is grateful for the continued support of the
people and Government of Japan. With overlapping crises and natural disasters
around the world making communities more vulnerable, Japan’s new contribution
ensures that some of the most vulnerable refugees living in Jordan do not fall
deeper into food insecurity,” said WFP Representative and Country Director,
Alberto Correia Mendes.
“Amid increasing global food price, the Government of
Japan acknowledges the alarming levels of food insecurity and the heightened
vulnerability of refugees in Jordan. We hope our assistance, in collaboration
with WFP, will support the food security and nutrition of vulnerable
populations, particularly female-headed households and families with persons of
disabilities,” Ambassador Okuyama said.
465,000 refugees in Jordan are currently receiving
monthly cash-based assistance from WFP to help meet their basic food needs.
Refugees residing in communities receive 2,800 yen (about US$21) per person per
month, while extremely vulnerable families living in camps and local
communities, receive 4,300 yen (about US$32) per person per month.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2268221/middle-east
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Jordan’s northern town of Umm Qais receives Best
Tourism Villages award at AlUla
March 13, 2023
ALULA: Jordan’s northern town of Umm Qais was honored
at the UN World Tourism Organization’s Best Tourism Villages awards ceremony in
AlUla on Sunday.
The BTV initiative is the flagship project of the
UNWTO’s Tourism for Rural Development Program, which aims at reducing regional
income and development disparities, and combating depopulation, as well as
advancing gender equality, innovation, digitalization, and women’s and youth
empowerment through tourism.
The 135 locations recognized by the awards — which
included AlUla Old Town — were announced in December as part of the BTV
initiative, which recognizes villages that are “an outstanding example of a
rural tourism destination, with accredited cultural and natural assets, that
preserve and promote rural and community-based values, products, and lifestyle,
and have a clear commitment to innovation and sustainability in all its aspects
— economic, social, and environmental.”
The event was attended by leaders from the tourism
sector and ministers from nominated
countries, the Jordan News Agency reported.
Imad Hijazin, secretary-general of Jordan’s Ministry
of Tourism and Antiquities, said: “Putting the village of Umm Qais on the list
will bolster the kingdom’s status on the global tourism map.
“This achievement comes within the ministry’s vision,
and is in compliance with its tourism development plan through the Jordan
National Tourism Strategy 2021-2025.”
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2267991/middle-east
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