Chasing Phantoms: Outlawing Something That Doesn’t Exist Would Be A Novelty Since Love Jihad Remains Unproven
New Age Islam News Bureau
03 November 2020
Representative Image(Source: Asia.in)
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• Armenian Memorial In France Defaced With Turkish
President Erdogan Initials
• Indonesian Muslims Ramp Up Global Outcry Against
Macron The 'Real Terrorist'
• Arab League Calls On Britain To Correct Historical
Mistake Over 1917 Balfour Declaration
• Experts Warn Of ‘Rapid Increase’ In Radical-Right
Extremism And Domestic Terrorism Following US Election
• Loss Of Face For Pakistan As Candidate Comes Last In
I Inter Parliamentary Union President Election
• Taliban Suffer Heavy Casualties in Kandahar, 101
Militants Killed
• Palestinians In Gaza Mark 103rd Anniv. Of Balfour
Declaration
• French Airstrikes Kill Over 50 Al Qaeda-Linked
Jihadists In Mali
India
• Chasing Phantoms: Outlawing Something That Doesn’t
Exist Would Be A Novelty Since Love Jihad Remains Unproven
• Club Of BJP-Governed States Contemplating Laws
Against ‘Love Jihad’ Grew To Four – UP, Haryana, MP and Karnataka
• Four, Two Muslims And Two Hindus of Khudai
Khidmatgar, Booked Over Offering Namaz by the Muslims, At Mathura Temple
• Bengal: NIA arrests madrassa teacher for Qaeda
links, terror plot
• Pakistan continues to support cross-border terrorism
taking advantage of Covid-19 pandemic: India at UN
• France killings: FIR against Munawwar Rana for his
remarks
• PM Modi interacts with Dawoodi Bohra community's
Shahzada Husain Burhanuddin
• ‘India stands with Austria’: PM Modi tweets
condolences over Vienna terror attacks
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Europe
• Armenian Memorial In France Defaced With Turkish
President Erdogan Initials
• Gunman On The Run After Vienna 'Terror Attack'
Leaves Two Dead
• Six Locations In Vienna Targeted In Apparent Terror
Attack; 4 Dead, 15 Wounded
• Third suspect arrested in connection to suspected
terror attack in French church
• French Terror Suspect Entered Europe Through Italian
Port, Italy Says
• Spanish police arrest man for praising attack near
Paris
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Southeast Asia
• Indonesian Muslims Ramp Up Global Outcry Against
Macron The 'Real Terrorist'
• Zakir Naik Calls For Boycott of French Goods, Slams
Macron In Provocative Facebook Post
• Despite 'backdoor govt' label, survey shows 53pc
Malaysians see Perikatan as country's saviour, says Emir Research
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Arab world
• Arab League Calls On Britain To Correct Historical
Mistake Over 1917 Balfour Declaration
• Iran’s Violations, Interferences Raises Tensions In
The Region: Saudi Arabia’s FM
• Armenia’s Lebanese repatriates support humanitarian
efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh
• Coalition and Kurdish forces conduct anti-ISIS
operation in Iraq’s disputed Makhmour
• Anti-government protests turn to clashes in Iraq
• Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemns ‘Vienna
terrorist attack’
• Turkish troops completely pull out of major military
base in north-western Syria
• Protesters clash with police forces in Baghdad, other
Iraqi cities
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North America
• Experts Warn Of ‘Rapid Increase’ In Radical-Right
Extremism And Domestic Terrorism Following US Election
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Pakistan
• Loss Of Face For Pakistan As Candidate Comes Last In
I Inter Parliamentary Union President Election
• Police Recover Christian Girl, 13-Year-Old Arzoo, On
SHC Order, Arrest Husband
• Foreign Minister Wants Inter-Faith Harmony To Deal
With Islamophobia
• Govt to counter PDM’s ‘anti-state narrative’ with
full force
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South Asia
• Taliban Suffer Heavy Casualties in Kandahar, 101
Militants Killed
• IS Attack On Afghan University Leaves 22 Dead, 22
Wounded
• Peace Envoy Dubs Perpetrators ‘Pro-ignorance’ after
Kabul University Attack
• Deadly Taliban Attack Probably Used Drone, a
Worrisome Shift
• On Afghan Highways, Even the Police Fear the
Taliban’s Toll Collectors
• Islamic State claims responsibility for Kabul
University attack
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Mideast
• Palestinians In Gaza Mark 103rd Anniv. Of Balfour
Declaration
• Trump Policies Against Palestine Add Insult To
Injury, Revive Balfour Declaration: PLO Official
• Spokesman: Iran's Peace Plan for Karabakh Region
Based on Int'l Law
• Biden’s words ‘more promising’, but Iran will wait
and see: Zarif
• Palestinian prisoner loses home after Israeli demolition
• Israeli bulldozers demolish more vast plots of
Palestinian land in West Bank
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Africa
• French Airstrikes Kill Over 50 Al Qaeda-Linked
Jihadists In Mali
• Libya: UN praises meeting between military rivals
after first day of talks
• Gunmen kill 32, torch houses in Ethiopia attack:
Local official
• Northwest Nigeria Potential Jihadi Linchpin in West
Africa
• Kenyan court jails men over 2013 Westgate mall
attack
• Islamic State claims responsibility for church
attack in Congo - Amaq
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/chasing-phantoms-outlawing-something-that/d/123357
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Chasing Phantoms: Outlawing Something That Doesn’t Exist Would Be A Novelty Since Love Jihad Remains Unproven
November 3, 2020
Representative Image(Source: Asia.in)
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Laws against love jihad under consideration by Uttar
Pradesh and Haryana betray an obsession with excessive legislation having no
perceptible benefits and ample scope for harassment and rights violations.
India’s penchant for over-legislating has been well-documented: Take cannabis
used by Indians including ascetics for centuries, but criminalised overnight by
the NDPS Act 1985. Where existing penal laws are hardly being implemented with
vigour to prevent heinous offences, a law to forbid a phantom crime defies
common sense. After all, love jihad remains a bogey despite being in political
circulation for long.
The Union home ministry told Lok Sabha earlier this
year that no “love jihad” cases were reported by central agencies in Kerala,
where the pejorative phrase is believed to have originated in 2009. This is
despite NIA probing two suspected cases. The horrific Ballabhgarh shooting that
has stoked outrage in Haryana, and could be the driving force behind chief
minister ML Khattar’s proposed law, must be recognised for what it is: Male
entitlement, stalking culture and VIP mentality that violently rejected a
woman’s agency to withhold consent. Focussing solely on the divisive interfaith
dimension while neglecting the gender aspect could condemn more women to Nikita
Tomar’s fate.
The love jihad bogey is no less a negation of women’s
agency. It treats women as gullible, defenceless participants in relationships.
Any law regulating interfaith marriage would cast the state as arbiter between
consenting adults where the state’s sanction sanctifies the marriage. Some
state laws against religious conversions that require official permission for a
person to change faiths flow from similar paternalism. Not just interfaith
couples, every person in love could be tripped up if such laws at odds with the
Constitution’s guarantee of civil liberties and prohibition of discrimination
by the state on grounds of religion and gender enter the body politic.
Instead of new laws, there exists already the Special
Marriage Act providing a marriage officer to vet identities and ensure consent.
Recently, Allahabad high court bemoaned a Hindu woman changing her faith to
marry her Muslim lover and recommended the SMA for such people. Personal
choices aside, religious marriages officiated by a priest or qazi offer lesser
hassles for eloping couples than SMA, with its archaic one month public notice
for soliciting objections. Instead of one more law – one that may criminalise
love – reform the here and present SMA.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-editorials/chasing-phantoms-outlawing-something-that-doesnt-exist-would-be-a-novelty-since-love-jihad-remains-unproven/
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Armenian Memorial In France Defaced With Turkish President
Erdogan Initials
02 November 2020
People mourn at the Tsitsernakaberd Armenian Genocide
Memorial Museum in Yerevan, April 21, 2015. (Reuters)
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An Armenian association in France expressed outrage
Sunday after a memorial center to the Armenian genocide was defaced with
pro-Turkish slogans.
The incident in the town of Decines-Charpieu outside
Lyon comes against a background of intense communal tensions in France between
its Armenian minority and the Turkish community over the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Turkey has strongly backed its ally Azerbaijan in the
conflict during the last weeks over Nagorno-Karabakh, part of Azerbaijan but
controlled by Armenian separatists since a 1990s war as the Soviet Union broke
up.
The National Armenian Memorial center was daubed with
the giant letters “RTE” in yellow paint in reference to Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan and the words “Grey Wolves,” a prominent Turkish nationalist
movement, in French.
A nearby memorial to the killings was also smeared
with an expletive against Armenia.
“This intolerable desecration..is one of a series of
events aimed at terrorizing and intimidating French citizens of Armenian
origin,” the Committee for the Defense of the Armenian Cause (CDCA) said in a
statement.
The Lyon region is home to one of France’s largest
communities of Armenians, centered around Decines-Charpieu.
Four people had been wounded on Wednesday in clashes
between suspected Turkish nationalists and Armenians who had been protesting
against Azerbaijan’s military offensive.
The CDCA accused the French state of “passivity” in
the face of the threat and the mayor of Decines-Charpieu, Laurence Fautra, said
its Armenian community needed physical protection.
The region’s top local official, prefect Pascal
Mailhos, wrote on Twitter that he “strongly condemned” the damage to the
memorial center and vowed everything would be done to find those behind it.
Armenians have long campaigned for the mass killings
of their ancestors in the Ottoman Empire during World War I to be recognized as
genocide.
France is one of several countries to have recognized
it as such.
Modern Turkey strongly rejects the use of the term,
saying lives were lost on both sides during a time of war.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/02/Armenian-memorial-in-France-defaced-with-Turkish-president-Erdogan-initials
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Indonesian Muslims Ramp Up Global Outcry Against Macron
The 'Real Terrorist'
November 2, 2020
People gather during a protest against the comments of
French President Emmanuel Macron considered insulting to the Prophet of
Muhammad and Muslims, on the main road near the French Embassy in Jakarta,
Indonesia, November 2, 2020. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan
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JAKARTA (Reuters) - Thousands of angry Muslims
protested outside the French embassy in the Indonesian capital on Monday
carrying banners calling French President Emmanuel Macron the “real terrorist”
and demanding the country’s ambassador be immediately expelled.
Joining global outcry over Macron’s comments about
Islam, protesters in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation demanded the
French leader withdraw his words and apologise to Muslims around the world.
“Inshallah (God willing), we Muslims forgive but if he
does not withdraw all his words and caricatures and apologise, Inshallah, he
will always be despised (by the Muslim world),” Nazaruddin, a 70-year-old
protestor, told Reuters.
Dressed in black and white prayer caps and face masks,
protesters joined Monday’s protest in downtown Jakarta carrying banners with a
devilish caricature of the French president’s face, red with pointed ears,
carrying the words “Macron is the real terrorist”.
Demonstrators waved Islamic flags while calling for
the French ambassador to be expelled and a boycott on French products.
In recent weeks the French president has enraged
Muslims for describing Islam as a “religion in crisis all over the world” and
for vehemently defending free speech that some have deemed blasphemous and
inflammatory.
Macron’s remarks came before and after two recent
attacks in France.
https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-france-security-protests-indonesia/indonesian-muslims-ramp-up-global-outcry-against-macron-the-real-terrorist-idUKKBN27I0VR
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Arab League calls on Britain to correct historical
mistake over 1917 Balfour Declaration
02 November 2020
The Arab League has called on the British government
to put right its “historical mistake” over the 1917 Balfour Declaration, which
was made after London declared its goal to establish a national home for the
Jewish people in Palestine.
The regional organization, in a statement released on
Monday, renewed its request to Britain to rectify the mistake, recognize the
Palestinian state and the historical injustice that has resulted in a
significant upheaval in the lives of Palestinians, and put pressure on Israel
to cease its ongoing crimes and end its occupation of Palestinian land.
The Arab League noted that a comprehensive, just and
lasting peace can be secured only after the Israeli regime ends its occupation
of all Palestinian and Arab territories usurped since 1967, and an independent
and sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital is
established.
The Balfour Declaration marks the beginning of the
tragedy of the century that befell Palestinian people, facilitated their mass
exodus from their homeland, and helped Zionist gangs occupy their lands and
establish their entity through ethnic cleansing, forced displacement and
heinous crimes and violations, the League pointed out.
The Arab League then reaffirmed its full and
unwavering support for the Palestinian nation as well as their just and
legitimate struggle until they attain freedom and independence.
It also condemned the Tel Aviv regime’s continuous
violations and settlement expansion policies, which constitute a war crime
under international law, Israel’s Judaization and annexation plans,
continuation of the unjust Israeli siege on the Gaza Strip for more than 13
years, and the regime’s attempts to destroy all aspects of Palestinian life and
desecrate their Islamic and Christian sanctities.
The continuation of such crimes and violations attests
to the inability of the international community to fulfill its duties and
responsibilities as regards confronting aggression and occupation, protecting
Palestinians, and forcing the Israeli regime to abide by its obligations under
the international law, the Arab League highlighted.
The Balfour Declaration came in the form of a letter
from Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, addressed to Lionel Walter
Rothschild, a figurehead of the British Jewish community. It was published on
November 2, 1917.
The declaration was made during World War I
(1914-1918), and was included in the terms of the British Mandate for Palestine
after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
It is widely seen as the precursor to the 1948
Palestinian Nakba, when Zionist armed paramilitary groups, who were trained and
created to fight side by side with the British in World War II, forcibly
expelled more than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland, captured huge
swathes of the Arab land, and proclaimed existence of Israel.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637774/Arab-League-urges-Britain-to-correct-historical-mistake-over-1917-Balfour-Declaration
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Experts warn of ‘rapid increase’ in radical-right
extremism and domestic terrorism following US election
Louise Hall
01 November 2020
Academic experts on the radical right have raised
“alarm” that the US could see a “rapid" rise in right-wing extremism and
domestic terrorism following the 2020 presidential election.
In an open letter sent to The Independent, 17
specialists on radical right discourse warn that “anti-democratic methods will
become normalised in pursuit of still darker, radical-right agendas.”
“We fear that should election violence or a contested
outcome in the US come to pass, there could be a rapid increase in
radical-right extremism, including increased risks of domestic terrorism,” the
letter reads.
Donald Trump has on a number of occasions refused to
commit to a peaceful transfer of power in the event he loses the 3 November
presidential election to Democratic rival Joe Biden.
The scholars express fears that the president’s
refusal to accept the result of the election in the event of a narrow margin
will further encourage a radical-right agenda.
“As experts and practitioners on the radical right
globally, past and present, we have seen this movie before,” the letter says.
If Mr Trump refuses to accept the election outcome and
presents a host of legal challenges that delay the transfer of power, the
country could be left in unprecedented territory. States such as New York have
been actively preparing for violent demonstrations in the wake of the election.
"Every scholar on the radical right I know is
raising the alarm around this election,” Professor Matthew Feldman, a
specialist on Anglo-American right-wing extremism and a Professorial Fellow at
the University of York told The Independent.
The document hosts signatures from a number of experts
at respected institutions across the world including Dr Louie Dean
Valencia-García, Texas State University;
Prof Inderjeet Parmar, City, University of London; and Dr Eviane Leidig,
Center for Research on Extremism, University of Oslo.
The letter states that under Mr Trump “radical right
activities” including “alleged electoral interference, voter suppression and
misinformation” and “repressive policing” have surfaced in the run-up to the
election.
It also alleges that under his administration there
has been a “deliberate rousing of radical-right militia and anti-governmental
groups.”
Prof Feldman said experts’ concern comes both from Mr
Trump’s leadership and the administration’s “whispering” of “sweet nothings”
into the ears of white supremacists and other right-wing extremists such as the
Proud Boys.
Mr Trump told the far-right group, which has embraced
white nationalism and espoused fascist views, to “stand back and stand by”
during the first presidential debate, rhetoric which some interpreted as a show
of support.
“Too many of them - from the Proud Boys to the Oath
Keepers to fascist groups like the American Identity Movement and an array of
militants on the alt-right - are interpreting this administration’s statements
as licence to disrupt or even attack the US elections,” the letter says.
The president has come under fire for his repeated
reluctance to distance himself from conspiracy theorists and white
supremacists.
“The dog-eat-dog amoral ruthlessness of Mr Trump’s
divisive model of society underscores the threat to US representative democracy
and a prelude to a dystopian era of harshness and repression in which ‘the land
of the free and the brave’ becomes unrecognisable,” Dr Alan Waring, an
independent scholar, author and original draftee of the letter, said.
Signatories say “public officials – from the highest
in the land to police officers on the beat across the US – must remember their
democratic obligations, and put these first.”
They conclude: "We thus appeal to all persons of
goodwill to be positive and proactive in the defence of democracy. History may
not simply repeat itself, but those of us professionally engaged in the study
of the radical right can all too balefully recognise its distinctive
voice."
The White House did not immediately respond to The Independent’s
request for comment regarding the letter.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/us-election-radical-right-extremism-domestic-terrorism-letter-experts-b1457528.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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Loss Of Face For Pakistan As Candidate Comes Last In I
Inter Parliamentary Union President Election
Nov 2, 2020
Pakistan suffered a major embarrassment Monday with
the elections for the President of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), during
the ongoing virtual session of the Governing Council of the IPU, seeing
Pakistani Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani lose to Portuguese MP Duarte
Pacheco by a huge margin. While Pacheco, who was elected as the President of
the IPU for a 3-year term, got 222 votes, Sanjrani could only get 52 votes.
The Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU), headquartered in
Geneva, is the global organization of National Parliaments and seeks to promote
democracy all over the world.
Two other candidates in the fray were from Uzbekistan
and Canada. Both of them polled more votes that the Pakistani candidate.
The Pakistani Senate Chairman had widely canvassed for
his candidature and had even travelled to a few countries to campaign, sources
said. By his own admission, he had also tried to contact the other three
candidates, but could not even get a response.
From Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, MP
Poonamben Maadam and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta cast their votes through a
secure online voting mechanism.
Currently, 206th session of the Governing Council of
the IPU is being held virtually from 1 to 4 November 2020 to elect the IPU
President, as well as to discuss and take decisions on pressing issues relating
to the functioning of the organization – including the adoption of the IPU
budget and programme of work for 2021.
The IPU President is the political head of the
organization. The President directs the activities of the organization, chairs
full meetings and acts as the IPU representative at global events and
gatherings. Presidents are elected for one mandate of three years only by the
Governing Council, which is the administrative and decision making body
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/loss-of-face-for-pakistan-as-candidate-comes-last-in-ipu-president-election/articleshow/79006594.cms
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Taliban Suffer Heavy Casualties in Kandahar, 101
Militants Killed
By Mohammad Haroon Alim
01 Nov 2020
Kandahar security officials say more than 100 Taliban
fighters have been killed in clashes with security forces in the province
overnight.
Kandahar police spokesman Jamal Naser Barakzai told
the media that 101 members of the militant group had been killed in clashes
between security forces and Taliban fighters in the Arghandab and Zherai
districts of the province.
He added that 64 Taliban fighters were killed in the
Arghandab district and 37 others were killed in the Zherai district of Kandahar
province.
According to Barakzai, security forces have launched
large-scale ground and air operations in parts of Arghandab district, where the
Taliban have suffered heavy casualties.
He said the operations took place in the Kohak and
Nagahan areas, where, in addition to the 64 killed, 20 Taliban fighters were
wounded.
Fighting between security forces and Taliban fighters
escalated last week in the Arghandab district, near the city of Kandahar, and
continues to this day.
According to the provincial security officials, heavy
clashes between security forces and Taliban fighters are ongoing in Arghandab,
Zherai, Panjwai, and Maiwand districts of the province.
The Taliban have not yet commented on the group’s
heavy casualties in Kandahar province.
https://www.khaama.com/heavy-taliban-casualties-in-kandahar-at-least-101-militants-are-dead-987867/
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Palestinians in Gaza mark 103rd anniv. of Balfour
Declaration
03 November 2020
Ashraf Shannon
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip marked the 103rd
anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.
In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James
Balfour issued his infamous declaration giving Zionist settlers the permission
to usurp Palestinian lands.
The Balfour declaration led to the displacement of
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians upon the establishment of the Israeli
regime in 1948.
Palestinians are demanding an apology and compensation
for what Britain caused to the Palestinian people.
The results of the Balfour declaration continue to
bring pain and suffering to Palestinians up to this date as they continue to
suffer under Israel’s occupation and constant human rights violations.
The Balfour Declaration is considered as the precursor
to the 1948 Palestinian Nakba or catastrophe.
Palestinian refugees who are numbered in the millions
are still scattered in camps in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, in
neighboring countries and in the Diaspora.
According to the UN, over 1.3 million registered
Palestinian refugees live in the blockaded coastal enclave.
Observers say the Balfour Declaration gave the Israeli
regime the green light to commit heinous crimes against the Palestinian people.
Palestinian refugees say they blame the British
government for their decades of plight and displacement.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637782/Palestinians-in-Gaza-mark-103rd-anniv--of-Balfour-Declaration
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French airstrikes kill over 50 Al Qaeda-linked
jihadists in Mali
Posted by Prashasti Singh
Nov 03, 2020
The French government said Monday its forces had
killed more than 50 jihadists aligned to Al-Qaeda in air strikes in central
Mali.
The offensive took place on Friday in an area near the
borders of Burkina Faso and Niger, where government troops are struggling to
rout an Islamic insurgency, French Defence Minister Florence Parly said after
meeting members of Mali’s transitional government.
“On October 30 in Mali, the Barkhane force conducted
an operation that neutralised more than 50 jihadists and confiscated arms and
material,” Parly said, referring to the French-led anti-jihadist Operation
Barkhane.
She added that around 30 motorcycles were destroyed.
Parly, who earlier met Niger President Mahamadou
Issoufou and her Nigerien counterpart Issoufou Katambe before heading to
Bamako, said the operation was launched after a drone detected a “very large”
motorcycle caravan in the “three borders” area.
When the jihadists moved under trees to try and escape
surveillance, the French force sent in two Mirage jets and a drone to launch
missiles, leading to the “neutralisation” of the insurgents, Parly said.
Military spokesman Colonel Frederic Barbry said that
“four terrorists have been captured”.
Explosives and a suicide vest had been found, he told
a reporters in a conference call, saying that the group had been “about to
attack (an army) position in the region”.
Barbry also said that another operation, this time
targeting the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, was also underway, with a
total of 3,000 soldiers.
The results of the operation, launched about a month
ago, would be announced in the coming days, he said.
Significant blow
Parly said the action marked a “significant blow” to
the Ansarul Islam group which she said was linked to Al-Qaeda via the GSIM
alliance led by Iyad Ag Ghaly.
Ghaly has emerged as a top jihadist leader in the Sahel
since the death of the Qaeda commander Abdelmalek Droukdel, who was killed by
French forces in Mali in June.
The United Nations has some 13,000 troops deployed in
Mali as part of its peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA, while France has
5,100 deployed in the Sahel region.
Mali has been struggling to contain a brutal jihadist
insurgency which first emerged in the north of the country in 2012, overtaking
a rebellion by mostly ethnic Tuareg separatists.
Former colonial power France launched a military
operation to drive back the Islamists in 2013, but fighting has spread to
central Mali, and to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, leaving thousands
dead and hundreds of thousands forced to flee their homes.
Vast swathes of Mali lie outside effective government
control. Frustration over the seemingly endless conflict contributed to mass
protests against president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita this year, culminating in his
ousting in a military coup on August 18.
Many analysts argue that engaging in dialogue with
jihadists is one of the few escape routes from Mali’s cycle of violence, and
government leaders in Bamako increasingly view the option favourably.
Mali’s new interim government, which was appointed to
rule for 18 months before staging elections, appears willing to engage in
dialogue.
Last month, it secured the release of four hostages
held by Islamist groups -- including 75-year-old Sophie Petronin, the last
remaining French hostage in the world -- in exchange for about 200 prisoners,
some of whom are thought to have been jihadists.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/french-airstrikes-kill-over-50-al-qaeda-linked-jihadists-in-mali/story-cVF27kPzlQC3hgzSy23R1J.html
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India
Club Of BJP-Governed States Contemplating Laws Against
‘Love Jihad’ Grew To Four – UP, Haryana, MP and Karnataka
Nov 3, 2020
BHOPAL/BENGALURU: The club of BJP-governed states
contemplating laws against “love jihad” grew to four on Monday, with MP already
“making legal arrangements to check this” and Karnataka waiting for UP and
Haryana to finalise theirs so that it can study and decide what provisions to
adopt.
“There will be no jihad in the name of love, and if
anybody dares to, then action will be taken,” MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said
on the eve of bypolls to 28 assembly constituencies. “My government will not
allow fanaticism. Whoever does so will face the consequences.” Three days ago,
BJP’s Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur had demanded a law to “protect Hindu girls from
love jihad”.
Referring to the recent murder of a 21-year-old
college girl in Ballabhgarh by a suitor she had spurned, Pragya claimed to be
getting 10 to 15 complaints on “love jihad” every day. “Those who do this are
irreligious people,” she said. “There should be a strict law to stop this and
such people should be severely punished.”
Karnataka home minister Basavaraj Bommai told TOI that
the state government had “taken note of recent incidents of communal tension
over religious conversions” in Dakhina Kannada, Udupi and some other districts.
"Let us see what the UP and Haryana governments will do. We’ll study their
laws before adopting them.’’
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/mp-ktaka-plan-law-to-curb-love-jihad/articleshow/79009985.cms
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Four, Two Muslims And Two Hindus of Khudai Khidmatgar,
Booked Over Offering Namaz by the Muslims, At Mathura Temple
Nov 03, 2020
The Uttar Pradesh Police has registered a first
information report (FIR) in Mathura against two Muslim members of Khudai
Khidmatgar, a non-violent resistance organisation which traces its roots back
to India’s freedom struggle, for allegedly offering “Namaz” on the premises of
the Nand Baba temple in the holy city.
Two other Hindu members from the organisation have
been named co-accused in a case registered on Sunday evening by Kanha Goswami,
a priest of the temple, and two other priests, Mukesh Goswami and SD Shiv Hari.
According to the FIR, the four accused -- Faizal Khan,
Chand Mohammad, Alok Ratan and Neelesh Gupta -- reached the temple at about
12.30pm on October 29 and performed the “84 kos parikrama” that is common in
Hindu prayers in the Mathura’s Braj area.
“[Later] photographs of the two Muslims offering
‘Namaz’ in the temple premises were uploaded on social media by Faizal Khan.
This has hurt Hindu sentiments,” alleged Goswami.
“No permission was sought from the priests or
administration for offering ‘Namaz’. Also, the photos of the ‘namaz’ were made
viral on social media,” Goswami said in the FIR, adding that these images could
be misused to fan communal tensions.
Khudai Khidmatgar, which means or “servants of God”,
is a resistance movement once led by Abdul Gaffar Khan, and resisted the
British Raj. Abdul Gaffar Khan, a Pashtun activist who fought for India’s
Independence, was popularly known as “Frontier Gandhi”. The Delhi-based
organisation is now run by Faizal Khan.
Locals in Barsana said that the four came for the ‘84
kos parikrama’ -- which is religious circumambulation done to please Lord
Krishna. Faizal Khan, these people said, was well versed in Hindu mythology and
narrated couplets from the Ramcharitmanas, an epic poem by Tuslsidas based on
the Ramayana.
Mathura police have taken Faizal into custody from
Jamina Nagar in Delhi, from where he runs the Khudai Khidmatgar
organisationHT’s attempts to contact someone from Khudai Khidmatgar failed.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/four-booked-over-offering-namaz-at-mathura-temple/story-koLMEJPpJuPE7gouNPm8KN.html
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Bengal: NIA arrests madrassa teacher for Qaeda links,
terror plot
Nov 2, 2020
NEW DELHI: National Investigation Agency (NIA) on
Sunday arrested a madrasa teacher from Murshidabad who was allegedly part of an
al-Qaeda module based in West Bengal and Kerala, conspiring to carry out terrorist
strikes at different locations in the country, including Delhi, West Bengal and
Kerala.
Abdul Momin Mondal, aged 32 years and a resident of
village Nazrana in Murshidabad district of West Bengal, was arrested as part of
NIA probe into the al-Qaeda case of West Bengal and Kerala. The case, in which
11 accused have been arrested so far from Kerala and West Bengal, pertains to
anti-national activities by a group of jihadi terrorists consisting of more
than 10 members, inspired by globally proscribed terrorist organization
al-Qaeda and planning to carry out terror attacks at various places in India.
NIA on Monday said its investigation had revealed that
accused Abdul Momin Mondal was working as a teacher in Raipur Darur Huda
Islamia Madrassa in Murshidabad District, West Bengal. He was found to be
involved in a series of conspiratorial meetings convened by the members of the
al-Qaeda module, and was also trying to recruit new members for the group and
raising funds for furthering its terrorist activities.
Digital devices were seized during searches at the
residential premises of the accused person.
Mondal was produced before the district court,
Murshidabad on Monday and transit remand for transporting him to New Delhi has
been granted.
Further investigation in the case is continuing.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bengal-nia-arrests-madrassa-teacher-for-qaeda-links-terror-plot/articleshow/79005109.cms
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Pakistan continues to support cross-border terrorism
taking advantage of Covid-19 pandemic: India at UN
Nov 3, 2020
NEW YORK: India on Monday took on Pakistan regarding
the issue of cross-border terrorism at the United Nations, saying that the
world has come to a standstill due to the Covid-19, but Pakistan has continued
to "support cross-border terrorism" taking "advantage of the
pandemic".
Speaking at the Interactive Dialogue with Special
Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, and other related intolerance,
Indian diplomat Ashish Sharma, said, "While the world has come to a
standstill due to the pandemic, but Pakistan has only enhanced support to
cross-border terrorism taking advantage of the pandemic."
"Pakistan has resorted to unbridled hate speech
trying to foment violence and intolerance in our country. The hate speech by
Pakistan is not merely directed towards one community in India but also against
organisations, individuals and even against high ranking political
leaders," he said.
The Indian diplomat also said that Pakistan is trying
to create divisions among the religious communities as well. "Fortunately,
their provocation is falling on deaf ears since India has had a tradition of
pluralism and co-existence where all communities live in harmony under a
democratic framework," he added.
Furthermore, the Indian envoy called on Pakistan to
practice co-existence in their own country and eschew all sectarian violence,
discrimination, and intolerance against their own people.
"Today, the world is confronted not only by the
challenge of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, but also the challenge of
'infodemic' which in many cases has been responsible for rise in hate speech
and seeding hatred within communities," Sharma said.
He also said that this year in June, India along with
12 countries co-sponsored the Cross-Regional Statement on "Infodemic"
in the Context of Covid-19 - first of its kind statement by the UN Member
States to counter the increase in hate speech and misinformation during the
pandemic.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pakistan-continues-to-support-cross-border-terrorism-taking-advantage-of-covid-19-pandemic-india-at-un/articleshow/79010165.cms
--------
France killings: FIR against Munawwar Rana for his
remarks
Nov 3, 2020, 04.43 AM IST
LUCKNOW: UP police have registered an FIR against Urdu
poet Munawwar Rana for his remarks on the recent beheadings in France over
Prophet Mohammad’s caricatures. The FIR is based on a complaint lodged with
Hazratganj police on Sunday by SI Deepak Kumar Pandey, who alleged that Rana’s
remarks were tantamount to promoting communal enmity, hurting religious
sentiments and disturbing peace and tranquillity.
The 67-year-old poet has been booked under sections of
IPC and IT Act.
Speaking to TOI last week, Rana had said that
caricaturing Prophet Mohammad and killing people over it were both wrong. But
he admitted that he “would also have done the same” as insulting a religious
figure was unacceptable. On Monday, he said he was ready to face the
consequences of speaking his mind.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/france-killings-fir-against-munawwar-rana-for-his-remarks/articleshow/79010023.cms
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PM Modi interacts with Dawoodi Bohra community's
Shahzada Husain Burhanuddin
Nov 2, 2020
NEW DELHI: The Dawoodi Bohra community's Shahzada
Husain Burhanuddin called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and talked
about community service efforts. "Had a wonderful interaction with
Shahzada Husain Burhanuddin. He talked about the commendable community service
efforts of the Dawoodi Bohra community," Modi said on Twitter and posted a
picture of the meeting.
Had a wonderful interaction with Shahzada Husain
Burhanuddin. He talked about the commendable community service eff…
https://t.co/UawlRl4PCD
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) 1604307125000
Burhanuddin, along with two other members of the community,
were seen with the PM in the photograph from the meeting.
Burhanuddin is the son of Mufaddal Saifuddin, the
spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohras.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pm-modi-interacts-with-dawoodi-bohra-communitys-shahzada-husain-burhanuddin/articleshow/79001288.cms
--------
‘India stands with Austria’: PM Modi tweets
condolences over Vienna terror attacks
Edited by Karan Manral
Nov 03, 2020
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday conveyed his
condolences over the terror attacks in Vienna, in which two people were killed
and at least 14 were injured, and said he was “shocked and saddened” by the
dastardly attacks in Austria’s capital city. He also said India was with
Austria “in this tragic time.”
“Deeply shocked and saddened by the dastardly terror
attacks in Vienna. India stands with Austria in this tragic time. My thoughts
are with the victims and their families,” PM Modi said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Gunmen attacked six locations in Vienna on Monday,
starting outside the city’s main synagogue, in what Austria’s government has
called a “repulsive terror attack.” While Vienna Police shot dead one of the
attackers, Austria’s interior minister Karl Nehammer said at least one
perpetrator is still on the run.
Speaking at a news conference Nehammer further said,
“It’s the hardest day for Austria in many years. We’re dealing with a terror
attack the severity of which, thank God, we’ve not experienced in Austria in
many years.”
As a precaution, the interior ministry has reinforced
border checks and children are not required to attend school on Tuesday. Though
people have been urged to stay at home, Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig said the
city would “run normally” on Tuesday. However, there will be tougher police
presence on the city’s streets.
Monday’s attack took place on what was the last
evening before a nationwide curfew was to come in effect due to the Covid-19
pandemic, across Austria.
The attack also comes on the back of recent stabbing
incidents in France-- in capital Paris and Nice. In a statement, French
President Emmanuel Macron, who has been the subject of outrage of several
Muslim-majority countries in recent days, said, “This is our Europe. Our enemies
must know with whom they are dealing. We will not retreat.”
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/deeply-shocked-and-saddened-by-dastardly-terror-attacks-in-vienna-pm-modi-tweets-his-condolences-to-austria/story-ssJ5FyhDKQobEgxj2USDZM.html
--------
Europe
Gunman on the run after Vienna 'terror attack' leaves
two dead
03 Nov 2020
Gunmen opened fire at multiple locations across
central Vienna on Monday, killing at least two people and wounding several more
in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terror
attack”, with a huge manhunt underway for the assailants.
One of the gunmen was shot dead by police who said
they were hunting for at least one more attacker still at large.
The attacks, in six locations including near a
synagogue in the centre of town, were carried out by “several suspects armed
with rifles”, police said.
Police said one person had died, with public
broadcaster ORF stating the individual was a passer-by.
Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig told ORF that a second
person had died of her injuries and that 15 people had been taken to hospital,
seven of them seriously wounded.
Police stated earlier that an officer had also been
hurt during the assaults.
The shooting began just hours before Austria was to
re-impose a coronavirus lockdown, with people out in bars and restaurants
enjoying a final night of relative freedom.
The attacks started at around 8pm when the first
gunshots were heard in the city's centrally located first district.
In a press conference early Tuesday, Interior Minister
Karl Nehammer said: “According to what we currently know, there is at least one
attacker who is still on the run.”
Speaking to ORF, Austrian leader Kurz had said that
the attackers were “were very well equipped with automatic weapons” and had
“prepared professionally”.
Earlier, he tweeted: “Our police will act decisively
against the perpetrators of this repulsive terror attack,” adding that “we will
never be intimidated by terrorism and we will fight this attack with all
means”.
Kurz said that while police were concentrating on the
anti-terror operation, the army would take over the security of major buildings
in Vienna.
Nehammer urged Vienna residents to remain in their
homes and keep away from all public places or public transport. He said that
children would not be expected at school on Tuesday in Vienna.
Sirens and helicopters could be heard in the city
centre as emergency services responded to the attack.
An AFP photographer said that large numbers of police
were guarding an area near the city's world-famous opera house.
The location of the initial shooting was close to a
major synagogue.
The president of Vienna's Jewish community Oskar
Deutsch said that shots had been fired “in the immediate vicinity” of the
Stadttempel synagogue, but added that it was currently unknown whether the
temple itself had been the target of an attack.
He said that the synagogue and office buildings at the
same address had been closed at the time of the attack.
'Cowardly act'
“It sounded like firecrackers, then we realised it was
shots,” said one eyewitness quoted by public broadcaster ORF.
A shooter had “shot wildly with an automatic weapon”
before police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.
Austria had until now been spared the sort of major
attacks that have hit other European countries.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, which has
experienced two serious attacks in recent weeks, tweeted that “we French share
the shock and sorrow of the Austrian people”.
“After France, it's a friendly nation that has been
attacked,” he added, referring to the killing on Thursday of three people by an
attacker in the southern city of Nice and the beheading of a schoolteacher by a
suspected Islamist outside Paris several days before.
EU Council chief Charles Michel tweeted that the bloc
“strongly condemns this cowardly act”.
And Germany's foreign ministry tweeted that the
reports from Austria were “horrifying and disturbing”.
“We can't give in to hatred that is aimed at dividing
our societies,” the ministry added.
Czech police said they were conducting checks on the
border with Austria.
“Police are carrying out random checks of vehicles and
passengers on border crossings with Austria as a preventive measure in relation
to the terror attack in Vienna,” Czech police tweeted.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also “strongly
condemned” the shootings.
“There is no room for hatred and violence in our
common European home,” he said on Twitter in Italian and German.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1588381/gunman-on-the-run-after-vienna-terror-attack-leaves-two-dead
--------
Six locations in Vienna targeted in apparent terror
attack; 4 dead, 15 wounded
02 November 2020
Austria’s top security official says that four people
have died - including one assailant - after a shooting in the heart of Vienna
late Monday.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammenr told reporters
Tuesday that two men and a woman have died from their injuries. A suspected
attacker, who was carrying an assault rifle and a fake suicide vest, was also
shot and killed by police.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app
Nehammer said that initial investigations indicate
that the suspect who was killed had sympathized with the Islamic State group.
“The attacker sympathized with the militant terrorist
group ISIS,” Nehammer told reporters. He declined to elaborate, citing the
ongoing investigation.
Authorities were still trying to determine whether
further attackers may be on the run. People in Vienna have been urged to stay
at home Tuesday.
Fifteen people were injured in the attack in the
center of the capital, among them a police officer.
The shooting began shortly after 8 p.m. (1900 GMT)
Monday near Vienna’s main synagogue as many people were enjoying a last night
of open restaurants and bars before the start of a coronavirus lockdown.
“We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the
federal capital that is still ongoing,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz
said.
The attack drew swift condemnation and assurances of
support from leaders around Europe.
How the attack unfolded
Police had cordoned off areas of the city as they
searched for the suspect.
“Shots fired in the Inner City district - there are
persons injured - KEEP AWAY from all public places or public transport,” the
police said on Twitter.
Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said on Twitter
that it was not clear whether the Vienna synagogue and adjoining offices had
been the target of the attack, and said they were closed at the time.
Videos circulated on social media of a gunman running
down a cobblestone street shooting and shouting. Reuters could not immediately
verify the videos.
Vienna police urged people not to share videos and
photos via social media. “This jeopardizes police forces as well as the
civilian population,” they said on Twitter.
In 1981, two people were killed and 18 injured during
an attack by two Palestinians at the same synagogue. In 1985, a Palestinian
extremist group attacked Vienna airport with hand grenades and attack rifles,
killing three civilians.
In recent years, Austria has been spared the sort of
large-scale attacks seen in Paris, Berlin and London.
In August, authorities arrested a 31-year-old Syrian
refugee suspected of trying to attack a Jewish community leader in the
country’s second city Graz. The leader was unhurt.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/02/Large-scale-police-operation-at-Vienna-synagogue-shots-fired
--------
Third suspect arrested in connection to suspected
terror attack in French church
October 31, 2020
Police in France have arrested a third suspect in
connection with a deadly terror attack in Nice, CBS News' Imtiaz Tyab reports.
The country has raised its security alert to the highest level amid recent
killings.
Authorities say a suspected terrorist stabbed and
killed three people inside the Notre Dame Basilica on Thursday, just two weeks
after a teacher was beheaded in a Paris suburb.
The stabbing suspect, named Ibrahim Issaoui according
to investigators, is a 21-year-old Tunisian national who entered Europe just
over a month ago. He is now in critical condition after being shot by police.
A 35-year-old man was arrested overnight, the
Associated Press reported, citing a judicial official. That suspect had met
with Issaoui in Nice. Another man, 47, was already in custody. Officials say he
was in contact with Issaoui the night before he went on his stabbing spree.
French President Emmanuel Macron has denounced the
killings as an "Islamist terrorist attack."
There have been three separate assaults since
September connected to cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad that were
first published in 2015 by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo — and were
republished again this September.
The images, seen as a gratuitous insult to Islam, have
sparked protests across several Muslim nations. Much of the fury is pointed
directly at France President Emmanuel Macron, whose defense of the crude
caricatures, as part of France's secular values, has opened him up to
accusations of deliberately stoking anti-Muslim sentiment for political gain.
Macron's approval ratings are low, and with an
election just under two years away critics say he is pandering to his country's
politically potent far right for support. The strategy may have backfired
internationally, but seems to be winning influence at home, despite the
enormous cost.
Macron has more than doubled the number of troops on
the streets of France, with many fearing the latest violence may only be the
beginning.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nice-terror-attack-france-church-third-suspect-arrested/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
--------
French Terror Suspect Entered Europe Through Italian
Port, Italy Says
October 30, 2020
Italy's interior minister confirmed Friday the
Tunisian man who killed three people in an attack on worshippers at a church in
Nice had passed through Italy on his way to France.
At a news conference in Rome, Interior Minister
Luciana Lamorgese said Ibrahim Issaoui disembarked from a migrant boat on
Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa on September 20 and was given a
repatriation order to leave Italy on October 9.
Lamorgese gave no further details on what if any
action was taken to act on the repatriation order or if Issaoui complied with
the order.
Under current agreements with Italy, Tunisia agrees to
take back a maximum of 80 nationals a week. New arrivals are invariably handed
expulsion papers but are almost never detained until a flight home can be
organized. Instead, many move swiftly out of Italy, often heading to France,
which has a large Tunisian community.
The Italian interior minister said Issaoui was not
flagged by either Tunisian authorities or by intelligence agencies.
Lamorgese has come under fire in Italy by right-wing
politicians who say she bears some responsibility for the killings in France
for not preventing Issaoui from entering Europe. The interior minister called
on Italian political parties "to take a break" from political
infighting and to show solidarity with the French people.
Police investigating the gruesome attack had a second
suspect in custody Friday. France recently heightened its security alert amid
religious and geopolitical tensions around cartoons mocking the Muslim prophet.
French authorities say Issaoui was seriously wounded
by police and hospitalized in life-threatening condition.
https://www.voanews.com/europe/french-terror-suspect-entered-europe-through-italian-port-italy-says?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
--------
Spanish police arrest man for praising attack near
Paris
OCTOBER 31, 2020
BARCELONA (Reuters) - A Moroccan man was arrested in
Barcelona for praising the beheading of a French schoolteacher outside Paris
this month and inciting more attacks, police said on Saturday.
The man, who was not named and who was detained on
Friday, posted messages on social media in support of the Oct. 16 murder of
Samuel Paty, Catalan regional police said.
Paty was killed outside his school in a Paris suburb
by an 18-year-old Chechen who was apparently incensed by the teacher showing a
cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in class. Police shot the attacker dead.
“Police officers from the Mossos d’Esquadra have
arrested a man of Moroccan nationality, for an alleged crime of exaltation of
terrorism and a crime of incitement to commit terrorist crimes,” Catalan police
tweeted.
The suspect appeared before a court in Barcelona on
Saturday and was released on condition he surrender his passport and appear
before magistrates every 14 days, police said.
An attacker killed three people in a church in Nice on
Thursday in the second deadly knife attack in France in two weeks. Three people
have been taken into custody.
The attacks came amid growing Muslim anger across the
world over France’s defence of the right to publish cartoons depicting the
prophet.
French President Emmanuel Macron has deployed
thousands of soldiers to protect sites such as places of worship and schools,
and ministers have warned that other Islamist militant attacks could take
place.
Police will guard French schools in the Spanish region
of Catalonia from next week.
https://in.reuters.com/article/us-france-security-spain/spanish-police-arrest-man-for-praising-attack-near-paris-idUSKBN27G0HS?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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Southeast Asia
Zakir Naik Calls For Boycott of French Goods, Slams
Macron In Provocative Facebook Post
by Arti Ghargi
October 30, 2020
In addition, Zakir Naik also called for a boycott of
French goods. His statements have come after tweets of Ex-Malaysian PM
justifying the killings in France.
French President Emmanuel Macron is facing massive
opposition from Islamic countries around the world for his controversial
remarks on Islam after the killing of history teacher Samuel Paty who discussed
Charlie Hebdo Cartoons in his class. Macron is being accused of supporting the
alleged provocative cartoons and intentionally hurting the sentiments of
Muslims. However, this resentment against the French president is now being
used to nurture their own agenda by some hardliners. The controversial Islamic
preacher Zakir Naik, without naming Macron, has given provocative statement.
https://www.facebook.com/zakirnaik/posts/1775366975959474
In his Facebook post, Zakir Naik wrote, “Those abusing
Allah’s messenger will get a painful punishment.” While he hasn’t explicitly
named Macron, his tweet is being seen in the context of the controversy erupted
after French presidents’ remark.
Zakir Naik has given controversial statements many
times before. A few days ago Zakir Naik had spewed venom against Indians and
said that non-Muslims of India who criticized Prophet Mohammed should be
imprisoned in Muslim countries. He said that most people who criticize the
Prophet are devotees of the BJP.
In addition, Zakir Naik also called for a boycott of
French goods. His statements have come after the outrageous tweet of former
Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad justifying the killing of French by Muslims. Naik
who is wanted in India is currently in Malaysia.
https://hwnews.in/international/zakir-naik-calls-for-boycott-of-french-goods-slams-macron-in-provocative-facebook-post/146340
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Despite 'backdoor govt' label, survey shows 53pc
Malaysians see Perikatan as country's saviour, says Emir Research
03 Nov 2020
BY SOO WERN JUN
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 — A research found that despite
the label of a “backdoor government”, 55 per cent of Malaysians think the
formation of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government has been the country's
saviour.
Emir Research said that a study conducted recently
showed only 9 per cent of those polled doubted the saviour role of PN.
“Slightly more than half of Malaysians (53 per cent)
have faith that the PN government has the ability to solve national problems.
“Only 7 per cent does not have faith,” Emir Research
said in its findings released yesterday.
Emir Research is led by Datuk Rais Hussin who was
recently appointed as Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation chairman.
The research titled “Pulse From the Ground: Emir
Research Quarterly Poll for Third Quarter 2020 (Part 1)” found that Bumiputera
of Sabah and Sarawak are the biggest supporters of the PN government.
“They (74 per cent) have an unshakeable faith in the
current government’s ability to solve national issues.
“In terms of strengthening the dominance of Malays in
politics, the majority of Malays are of the opinion that the coalition between
Umno and PAS, Muafakat Nasional is able to ensure Islam rights are taken care
of (59 per cent),” the research revealed.
The research was done among others to assess the
perceived direction of the country and living conditions among the people.
However Emir Research noted that the focus group
discussions (FGDs) were conducted in July, and the survey was done in August,
therefore the poll does not take into account the latest developments in the
country which include the surge in Covid-19 cases, the call for a state of
emergency to be declared which was denied by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
Under the category of rural dwellers, the research
found that this community appears to be on the current government’s side as 67
per cent supported the formation of the PN government, while a lower share of
51 per cent among the urbanites felt otherwise.
In terms of solving national problems, 66 per cent of
rural folks think the PN government has that ability, while 48 per cent
urbanites have the same opinion.
“Majority of rural dwellers feel the coalition between
Umno and PAS would strengthen the rights of the Malays and Islam (64 per cent)
whereas only 46 per cent of urbanites share the same view.
The research also found that more rural dwellers than
urbanites agree that the GE14 has led to a fall in Malay political power.
In terms of age perspective, Emir Research found that
those in the older age groups show stronger support for the formation of the PN
government with 31 to 40-years-old accounting for 60 per cent, 41 to 50 at 62
per cent, as well as those aged 51 and above at 62 per cent.
“The older aged Malaysians think the coalition between
Umno and PAS would ensure the rights of the Malays and Islam are maintained
with those aged between 41 and 50 registering the highest share of 57 per cent.
“The unity between Malay political parties also seems
to play a big part in strengthening rakyat’s confidence among those aged 51 and
above, showing 53 per cent who agreed to this sentiment,” said Emir Research.
In late February, then PKR deputy president Datuk Seri
Mohamed Azmin Ali led 10 MPs to leave the party to support PN, triggering one
of the country’s worst political crises and shortening the rule of PH, the
coalition he helped put in power.
In March, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, after Istana
Negara said he had the majority support compared to other candidates, was sworn
in as prime minister, following the fall of the Pakatan Harapan administration.
He now leads the PN government, together with former
political enemies Umno and PAS.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/11/03/despite-backdoor-govt-label-survey-shows-53pc-malaysians-see-perikatan-as-c/1918768
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Arab world
Iran’s violations, interferences raises tensions in
the region: Saudi Arabia’s FM
Tamara Abueish
02 November 2020
Iran’s violations of international treaties and its
interference in the affairs of other countries has caused tensions to rise in
the region, the Saudi Press Agency cites the Kingdom’s Minister of Foreign
Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan as saying.
The Iranian regime’s practices have destabilized the
region at both a regional and international level, the minister said.
Iran supports extremist militias – such as the Houthi
militia in Yemen – and continues to threaten maritime navigation.
Prince Faisal’s statements come at a time of
heightened tension in the region the Iran-backed Houthi militia continues to
launch explosive-laden drones towards Saudi Arabia.
The Arab Coalition has said it thwarted multiple
attacks in October.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/11/02/Iran-s-violations-interferences-raises-tensions-in-the-region-Saudi-Arabia-s-F
--------
Armenia’s Lebanese repatriates support humanitarian
efforts in Nagorno-Karabakh
02 November 2020
Small business owners from Lebanon who sought new opportunities
in Armenia are now finding themselves at the frontline of Armenia’s
humanitarian efforts amid the ongoing war with neighboring Azerbaijan.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
“We’re running from place to place every day,
delivering food donations to different camps and displaced families,” said
Sarkis Altounyan, a Lebanese-born resident of the Armenian capital of Yerevan.
He is the founder of the Lebanese Armenian Community
of Armenia, an NGO that supports food donations for those displaced by the
conflict.
The organization currently works with seven Lebanese
and Syrian restaurants in Yerevan, providing over 300 hot meals a week. “We
started off as a group of five families who made donations, then we decided to
reach out to the city’s Lebanese restaurants.”
In addition, a group of Lebanese-Armenian doctors have
volunteered on the frontline to treat the wounded, Altounyan said.
Looming humanitarian crises
Armenia faces a humanitarian crisis as it enters its
second month of war with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to the latest official data, over 1,100
Armenian soldiers have been killed since the fighting began, with thousands
more injured. On top of this, new cases of the coronavirus pandemic have
spiked, rising from an average of 300 new cases a day before the conflict began
to over 2,400 new cases on October 23.
“Most of the private hospital beds in Yerevan are full
from treating casualties. And we have more coming,” said Fouad Reda, a Lebanese
plastic surgeon who has treated soldiers at his private clinic in Yerevan,
“There are few beds left in the state hospitals.”
According to the Human Rights Defender’s Office of the
self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh, which is controlled by ethnic Armenians in
Nagorno-Karabakh, 90,000 people have been displaced from the territory after
civilian settlements were shelled by Azerbaijani forces. The majority are
staying in camps and disused buildings in the country’s capital, Yerevan, and
nearby provinces.
“Most of the children and families we are feeding have
family-members on the frontline,” said Altounyan.
Seeking stability, finding war
Thousands of Lebanese citizens have migrated to
Armenia in recent years, fleeing economic and political instability. Most of
these were of Lebanese of Armenian descent responding to Armenia’s offer of
citizenship and repatriation opportunities.
Others with no Armenian heritage sought new lives here
after the Velvet Revolution in 2018, which saw a new government come to power
promising reforms.
“There were new opportunities opening up in Armenia.
I’ve been here two years with my family, discovering the country,” said Joe El
Khal, from the Kesrouane region in Lebanon, who runs a bakery and restaurant in
Yerevan that has been making daily donations.
More than a thousand Lebanese citizens moved to
Armenia between 14 July and 2 September 2020, according to Armenia’s Chief
Commissioner of Diaspora issues Zareh Sinanyan, as quoted by Hetq. Lebanon’s economic
crisis had deepened, and Beirut was reeling from the aftermath of the August 4
blast.
But others were weary of the instability, which they
thought they had left behind in Lebanon. “I’m doing this to help children who
have been displaced, not for any politician or political reason,” said El Khal,
“I left Lebanon because of its politicians.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/11/02/Armenia-s-Lebanese-repatriates-support-humanitarian-efforts-in-Nagorno-Karabakh-
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Coalition and Kurdish forces conduct anti-ISIS
operation in Iraq’s disputed Makhmour
November 01-2020
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A senior Peshmerga commander
announced on Saturday that Kurdish forces conducted last Saturday a joint
operation with the US-led Coalition against members of the so-called Islamic
State southwest of the Kurdistan Region capital of Erbil.
The Peshmerga’s Gwer-Qarachokh Front Commander, Sirwan
Barzani, said in a social media post that “a joint operation by #Peshmerga
commandos & Coalition forces was conducted at Qerechukh mountain.”
“13 caves were searched and cleared during the 48-hour
period of the operation. Such operations will continue to ensure that no hiding
place is left for #ISIS terrorist in the area.”
The commander did not clarify if any clashes with
Islamic State fighters took place during the operation.
“In recent months the ISF [Iraqi Security Forces] and
Peshmerga Forces have maintained a relentless rhythm of operations to disrupt
Daesh, enabled by Coalition support, including tactical information sharing,
intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and air power,” Wayne Marotto, the
Spokesman for the US-led Coalition to defeat the Islamic State, told Kurdistan
24 on Saturday.
“The Coalition and our ISF partners are committed in
our mission to defeat Daesh (ISIS) in designated areas of Iraq and Syria.”
The former British Consul General in Erbil, Martyn
Warr, who now works for the Coalition to counter ISIS propaganda in London,
stated in a tweet that the Islamic State has no more “hiding place.”
“It’s positive to see such collaboration between the
ISF and Peshmerga against the common enemy, Da'esh (ISIS),” Warr told Kurdistan
24 on Monday. “The Coalition remains committed to supporting both forces to
achieve the lasting defeat of Da'esh.”
On October 27, Sirwan Barzani also met Major General
Kevin Copsey, Deputy Commander-Stability of the US-led anti-ISIS Coalition, and
visited the Barzani memorial, Shanidar cave and other places and discussed
ongoing operations against the Islamic State.
The town of Makhmour used to be jointly administered
by the Kurdistan Regional Government and the federal government of Iraq since
the fall of the Iraqi authoritarian regime in 2003.
Following the emergence of the Islamic State in 2014,
throughout most of the disputed areas, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces held their
frontline and prevented sleeper cells from entering their territory despite the
terrorist organization controlling adjacent land.
Security in those regions, however, significantly
deteriorated after Iraqi forces backed by Iranian-backed Shia militias, in
response to the Kurdistan Region’s September 2017 independence referendum,
overran Kirkuk and other disputed territories and drove Kurdish forces out.
One day after Iraqi forces took over Kirkuk, Peshmerga
forces withdrew on October 17 2017 from Makhour and Gwer, towns south of Erbil.
After Shia militias entered Makhmour, Islamic State
fighters returned close to Makhmour, threatening local villagers and farmers,
over three years after Baghdad declared a military victory over the group in
late 2017.
Last year, General Sirwan Barzani, told Kurdistan 24
that areas “under the control of Iraqi forces don’t have enough of a presence
to prevent ISIS from accessing the Qarachukh mountain.”
In response to the Islamic State threats, the
Peshmerga forces and Iraqi troops, backed by US-led Coalition airpower, have
launched several military operations in recent years to eliminate sleeper cells
hiding in areas surrounding Mount Qarachokh.
The Coalition, formally known as Combined Joint Task
Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), on Friday announced that they
“conducted seven strikes against Daesh targets consisting of 16 engagements” in
the time period between September 1 and September 30.
“This resulted in 18 enemy killed, six cache sites
destroyed, and four tunnels destroyed.”
Nicholas Heras of the Institute for the Study of War
told Kurdistan 24 that “ISIS continues to be a threat in the disputed internal
regions of Iraq because there is a security vacuum in these regions.”
“The Iraqi Security Forces controlled by Baghdad are
overstretched, riven with leadership disputes, and do not have a coherent plan
for preventing the return of ISIS into areas that were once controlled by the
Peshmerga and their adjutant intelligence networks.”
https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/24dc7445-66dd-4c47-ac13-d3fad310ec1d?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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Anti-government protests turn to clashes in Iraq
02 November 2020
Anti-government protests descended into clashes in
several Iraqi cities on Sunday, including the southern port city of Basra and
the capital Baghdad.
In Basra, police officers and troops fired into the
air to disperse around 500 protesters who had been throwing rocks, AFP
correspondents said.
Meanwhile, a few hundred young Iraqis returned to
Baghdad’s Tahrir Square for a flash protest, clashing briefly with security
forces.
For all the latest headlines follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Authorities had conducted a major operation to clear a
year-long anti-government encampment from the square – the epicenter of the
protest movement – and had only reopened it a day earlier.
Further south in Hilla, hundreds of students marched
with banners decrying the killing and kidnapping of activists in recent months.
“We’ll stay here, for the blood of our martyrs and the
love of our country,” said Abrar Ahmed, a student demonstrator in the city.
“It’s our revolution and we must continue it, as not a
single one of our demands were met!” she added.
A similar protest took place in the town of Kut, where
dozens turned out to demand justice for some 600 demonstrators who have been
killed in protest-related violence over the past year.
Unprecedented demonstrations erupted across Baghdad
and Iraq’s Shia-majority south in October 2019 as protesters called for jobs,
basic services, a total overhaul of the ruling class and an end to corruption.
There has been virtually no accountability for the
deaths in those rallies.
Two more activists were gunned down in Kut in recent
days.
The “October Revolution” marked its one-year
anniversary a week ago, with thousands hitting the streets of southern cities
and the capital.
But authorities swiftly reinstated calm, deploying in
large numbers in the squares and intersections that were once the hot spots of
the anti-government rallies.
Abdallah Ahmed, another student protesting in Hilla on
Sunday, insisted the movement was far from over.
“We’re not commemorating the revolution - we’re continuing
it,” he told AFP.
In the southern flashpoint city of Nasiriyah,
demonstrators torched tyres on a main highway to decry unemployment and poor
public services.
Iraq is one of the most oil-rich countries in the
world but has suffered chronic water and power shortages for decades.
The novel coronavirus pandemic and tumbling oil prices
have taken a heavy toll this year, with poverty rates expected to soar to 40
percent.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/11/02/Anti-government-protests-turn-to-clashes-in-Iraq
--------
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry condemns ‘Vienna
terrorist attack’
Reem Krimly
03 November 2020
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly
condemned the “terrorist attack that took place in the center of the Austrian
capital Vienna,” the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Tuesday.
“The Ministry affirmed the Kingdom's solidarity with
the Republic of Austria in taking all necessary measures to maintain security
and protect against extremist tendencies and acts of terrorism and violence in
all its forms,” SPA added.
The Saudi Embassy in Vienna called on its citizens in
the Austrian capital to “exercise caution, stay in their homes, and avoid using
public transportation as much as possible,” and to follow the instructions of
the Austrian authorities.
Four people have died - including one assailant -
after a shooting in the heart of Vienna late Monday, Austria’s top security
official said.
Interior Minister Karl Nehammenr told reporters
Tuesday that two men and a woman have died from their injuries. A suspected
attacker, who was carrying an assault rifle and a fake suicide vest, was also
shot and killed by police.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/11/03/Saudi-Arabia-s-Foreign-Ministry-condemns-Vienna-terrorist-attack-
--------
Turkish troops completely pull out of major military
base in north-western Syria
02 November 2020
Turkish troops have completely withdrawn from a
military base in northwest Syria, which was surrounded by Syrian government
forces last year, but are apparently beefing up their presence elsewhere in the
region.
Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Monday
that Turkish soldiers have fully pulled out of the observation post at Morek,
which had been set up by Ankara under the 2018 Sochi agreement to stop fighting
between Syrian army troops and Turkish-backed militants controlling northern
Syria.
The Sochi agreement was inked between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Under the deal, all militants in a demilitarized zone
that surrounds Idlib and also parts of the provinces of Aleppo and Hama were
supposed to pull out heavy arms by October 17, 2018, and Takfiri groups had to
withdraw two days earlier. Foreign-sponsored terrorists have, however, refused
to abide by the de-escalation zone.
Video footage published by SANA shows control towers
and logistical equipment at the Turkish military base to have been taken down,
and the walls removed.
Turkish forces are alleged to have been transferred
from Morek to the Jabal al-Zawiya region in the northwestern Idlib province.
Turkish mercenaries shell Ayn Issa outskirts in Raqqah
Also on Monday, Turkish-backed Takfiri militants have
launched barrages of artillery rounds at areas on the outskirts of Ayn Issa
town in the northern Raqqah province.
Local sources told SANA that the projectiles have
caused material damage in the targeted areas.
The sources pointed out that incessant shelling by
Turkish forces and their mercenaries against residential neighborhoods across
northern Syria has caused a state of panic among locals, prevented farmers from
working in their lands, and displaced hundreds of civilians from their villages
and towns.
Ankara has been providing support to militants
operating to topple the Damascus government since early 2011.
Last year, Turkey seized control of the border town of
Ra’s al-Ayn after it launched a cross-border invasion of northeastern Syria
with the help of its allied armed groups to push Kurdish militants affiliated
with the so-called People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the YPG as a terrorist organization tied
to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637758/Turkish-troops-completely-pull-out-of-major-military-base-in-northwest-Syria
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Protesters clash with police forces in Baghdad, other
Iraqi cities
02 November 2020
Clashes have broken out between Iraqi protesters and
security forces as people took to the streets of the capital Baghdad, and other
cities, including the southern port city of Basra.
Police forces fired into the air to disperse around
500 protesters, who had been throwing rocks in Basra, on Sunday.
Meanwhile, brief clashes erupted in Baghdad between
security forces and a few hundred young people who returned to Tahrir Square on
Sunday for a flash protest.
On Saturday, security forces cleared out sit-in tents
from Tahrir Square and opened the previously blocked-off roads.
The government said al-Jamhuriya Bridge, which
connects the square with the heavily fortified Green Zone housing some of the
main government offices and foreign diplomatic missions, had been opened for
the first time since it had been shut at the beginning of protests in October
last year.
Some of the demonstrators had welcomed the clearing of
the camp, saying it had been infiltrated by elements attempting to undermine
the protests with violence and disruption.
A protest also took place in Nasiriyah against
unemployment and poor public services. The demonstrators torched tires on a
main highway in the southern city.
Dozens of people also staged a protest in the town of
Kut, and demanded justice for those killed in demonstrations over the past
year.
A similar demonstration took place in the city of
Hilla.
The first anniversary of anti-government
demonstrations that erupted in October 2019 was marked last week by hundreds
rather than an anticipated thousands taking to the streets of Baghdad.
Protests erupted in Iraq in October last year over
unemployment and a lack of basic services, with demonstrators calling for
economic reforms and a meaningful fight against corruption in state
institutions.
Reports say about 600 people were killed and 30,000
injured as the anti-government rallies took a violent turn.
The protests led to the resignation of prime minister
Adil Abdul-Mahdi, who was replaced by Mustafa al-Kadhimi in May following
months of political deadlock.
In a televised address on October 24, Kadhimi vowed to
hold early and fair elections, a demand of many protesters, and called on
security forces not to fire at demonstrators, but also called on protesters to
"respect the uniform".
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637732/Protesters-clash-police-Iraq
--------
Pakistan
Police Recover Christian Girl, 13-Year-Old Arzoo, On
SHC Order, Arrest Husband
03 Nov 2020
KARACHI: Police on Monday night claimed to have
recovered 13-year-old Arzoo after the Sindh High Court directed the law
enforcement agency earlier in the day to recover the Christian girl and place
her at a shelter home within three days.
Acting Karachi police chief Arif Hanif confirmed that
the girl was recovered safely from the metropolis and her purported husband was
arrested.
He added that the girl was being moved to a shelter
home as per the high court’s directions.
He said the suspect would be presented before a court
on Tuesday (today).
Earlier in the day, a two-judge bench headed by
Justice K.K. Agha passed an order on a petition filed by the Sindh government
seeking clarification of the court’s Oct 27 order under which the SHC had
restrained the Frere police from making any arrest in connection with an FIR
against spouse and in-laws of Arzoo and directed the Preedy SHO to provide
protection to the newly wedded wife.
SHC fixes Thursday for taking up Christian girl’s
actual age, conversion to Islam and marriage issues
Arzoo had sought a court injunction against the
registration of an FIR against her spouse and in-laws by her family at the
Frere police station by filing a constitutional petition in the SHC.
She submitted in the petition that she converted to
Islam of her free will and also asked her family members to embrace Islam but
they refused.
She submitted that she contracted marriage with Syed
Ali Azhar of her own will without duress and fear and because of it her family
members had registered a kidnapping case against her spouse and in-laws.
She stated in the petition that she already intimated
the Frere SHO about her conversion to Islam as well as her marriage with Azhar
after obtaining permission and affidavit of free will before the competent
authority. However, her intimation despite being duly received by the official
of the Frere police station did not get acknowledgment.
Advocate General Salman Talibuddin submitted that the
court may clarify its Oct 27 order that it did not restrain the Preedy SHO if
he may consider necessary to ensure the safety and protection of Arzoo by
placing her in the care of Darul Aman.
DSP-Legal Raza Mian submitted in an affidavit that
after obtaining the order from the court, Azhar had taken Arzoo from the
address given in the title of the petition to an undisclosed location and the
Preedy SHO, who had been directed to provide protection to Arzoo, was unable to
comply with the same.
The DSP expressed the fear that Arzoo was being held
against her will as the free-will affidavit submitted showed her as 18 years of
age, while according to her date of birth, which was July 31, 2007, she was
actually 13 when the affidavit was signed and the so-called marriage
contracted.
The bench after hearing the arguments observed that
the dispute was twofold, including the age of Arzoo.
The court observed that the second issue was whether
she had converted of her own free will from Christianity to Islam and that
being the case she had entered into a valid marriage with Azhar.
The court observed that naturally the court had to
decide first the issue of age as no person under 18 can get married according
to the law prevailing in the country.
The court observed that the matter was fixed for
urgent hearing as such petitioner Arzoo and her alleged spouse were not present.
The court observed that police had little time to
trace them out though it was surprising that despite the protection order the
police were not able to keep an eye on them and did not know their whereabouts.
The court directed Anti-Violent Crime Cell SSP to
ensure that officers under his command trace the petitioner and as and when
they find her place her in a shelter home for her security.
The court observed that the petitioner shall be
produced in court. It observed that it was expected that the petitioner be
recovered and placed before a shelter home within three days positively.
The court issued notices to all parties including
Arzoo’s spouse on the application of the police and adjourned the hearing till
Nov 5.
Last week, a judicial magistrate had dismissed an
application filed by the family of Arzoo seeking to send her to a shelter home
from the custody of her Muslim husband.
Police had booked Azhar, the husband of Arzoo, and
arrested his brothers, Syed Shariq Ali, Syed Mohsin Ali, and a friend, Danish,
for allegedly abducting the underage Christian girl, purportedly forcibly
converting her and marrying her off to a Muslim man.
The incident of alleged abduction has sparked protests
from human rights groups against her alleged forced conversion and underage
marriage with a Muslim man.
KDA retirees’ case
The SHC came down hard on the top management of
Karachi Development Authority (KDA) for flouting its orders and filing flawed
statements about payment of post-retirement benefits to its retired employees
and issued show-cause notices to the director general and other senior
officials.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar also
directed the KDA chief and other severing and former senior officials to be in
attendance along with replies to the show-cause notices on Nov 20.
The bench observed the KDA has not only been defying
its directives but also miserably failed to discharge its statutory obligation
and deprived around 1,000 retired employees of unalienable fundamental right.
“It is even more unfortunate that despite alleged
financial scarcity of funds, the senior and top management of KDA has been
receiving full salary and allowances regularly and there could not be a better
example than this discrimination against those arguably most in need of a
stable source of income,” it added.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1588249/police-recover-13-year-old-arzoo-on-shc-order-arrest-husband
--------
Foreign Minister Wants Inter-Faith Harmony To Deal
With Islamophobia
03 Nov 2020
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on
Monday called for inter-faith harmony to deal with the disturbing rise of
Islamophobia.
He said this in a telephone conversation with Foreign
Minister of Germany Heiko Maas. The two leaders discussed bilateral relations,
the Covid-19 pandemic and the Afghan peace process.
The Foreign Office (FO) said Mr Qureshi expressed
concern on the current rise of Islamophobia, racism and hate speeches in
Europe.
“He mentioned that denigration of the Holy Prophet
(PBUH) through publication of caricatures was hurtful to the Muslim Ummah.
“The growing insensitivities to the sentiments of
Muslims across the globe by the proponents of freedom of expression had made
minorities in those countries vulnerable,” the FO said.
The foreign minister emphasised the urgent need to
promote inter-faith harmony.
The two ministers agreed to continue close and
consistent engagement to enhance cooperation in all spheres of shared
interests, the FO said.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Qureshi in a telephone
conversation with his Finnish counterpart Pekka Haavisto agreed to advance ties
and deepen cooperation.
“The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to
expanding bilateral relations especially in the area of trade, investment and
support at international forums. It was agreed to continue close engagement to
enhance cooperation in all spheres of common interest,” the FO said.
They appreciated the positive developments in
bilateral relations and exchanged views on a broad range of subjects, including
the Covid-19 pandemic, the Afghan peace process, the situation in occupied
Kashmir, and cooperation at multilateral fora, it added.
Finland is an important destination for Pakistani
exports as they seek to increase their share in Nordic market, which has the
highest per capita purchasing power in Europe. Pakistan, meanwhile, requires
Finnish technology, products and knowledge for its development needs.
Foreign Minister Qureshi and Saudi Minister for
Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha in a telephone conversation agreed to
collaborate for promotion of cooperation in the field of information
technology.
They reviewed the current level of cooperation in the
digital field.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1588315/fm-wants-inter-faith-harmony-to-deal-with-islamophobia
--------
Govt to counter PDM’s ‘anti-state narrative’ with full
force
03 Nov 2020
ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI)
has decided to counter opposition’s “anti-state narrative” with full force at
every forum and expose the corruption cases being faced by the opposition
members.
Sources told Dawn that while presiding over a meeting
of the PTI spokespersons who represent the party in TV talk shows, Prime
Minister Imran Khan on Monday categorically stated that his government would
not succumb to the pressure being exerted by the opposition through its
anti-government campaign and would not offer any concessions to the opposition
members facing corruption charges.
The sources said that in the meeting the participants
also discussed the recent controversial statement given by the Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz
Sadiq and termed it “irresponsible”.
The participants were of the view the PML-N leaders
were now changing their stance as they had started to say that the former
speaker had in fact talked about Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and not
against any state institution. The sources said some of the participants felt
the state should take some action against the PML-N leader.
The participants were of the opinion that some
“criminals” were trying to put pressure on the government by building an
“anti-state narrative” which could not be tolerated.
According to the sources, the meeting also discussed
the proposals and statements coming from various political and media circles
regarding the need for political dialogue and engagement. The prime minister,
however, was quoted to have stated that there was no harm in political
engagement, but this could not take place at the cost of the country and the
state.
Mr Khan vowed to further strengthen the state
institutions and foil the opposition’s attack on them.
The PTI has also planned some events in response to
the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s rallies in different parts of the country.
In this connection, the prime minister is expected to address a rally in
Hafizabad on Nov 7, for which preparations have already begun.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1588314/govt-to-counter-pdms-anti-state-narrative-with-full-force
--------
South Asia
IS attack on Afghan university leaves 22 dead, 22
wounded
Nov 2, 2020
KABUL: Islamic State militants in Afghanistan stormed
Kabul University on Monday as it hosted a book fair attended by the Iranian
ambassador, sparking an hours-long gun battle and leaving at least 22 dead and
22 wounded at the war-torn country's largest school.
Most of the casualties were students and there were
fears the death toll could climb further with some of the wounded said to be in
critical condition.
It was the second attack on an educational institution
in Kabul in as many weeks.
The Taliban promptly issued a statement denying they
took part in the assault, which came as the insurgents continue peace talks
with representatives of Kabul's US-backed government, with the aim to help the
United States finally withdraw from Afghanistan. Later in the day, the Islamic
State group claimed responsibility for the attack.
PM Modi condemns attack on Kabul University
As the attack unfolded, students and teachers were
seen fleeing the part of the campus where law and journalism schools are
located, while hand grenades exploded and automatic rifle fire could be heard.
Scores of Afghan special forces surrounded the campus, shepherding teachers and
students to safety.
The chaos subsided as the sun set over the Afghan
capital and the Interior Ministry's spokesman, Tariq Arian, said all three
attackers involved in the assault were killed.
The Islamic State group said it targeted newly
graduated "judges and investigators belonging to the apostate Afghan
government" gathered at the campus, according to the SITE Intelligence
Group, which monitors terror online messaging.
The IS statement claimed only two of its fighters were
involved, and posted their photographs, which conflicted with the Afghan
authorities' report of three attackers. The claim did not indicate the IS
intended to target the Iranian envoy or the book fair.
Last week, IS also claimed a brutal assault on a
tutoring center in the Afghan capital's mostly Shiite neighborhood of
Dasht-e-Barchi that killed at least 24 students and wounded more than 100
others on Oct. 24.
The peace negotiations between the Taliban and the
Kabul government, known as intra-Afghan talks, were part of a deal Washington
signed with the insurgents in February. They are taking place in the Gulf Arab
state of Qatar, and are seen as Afghanistan's best chance at peace - though
daily bloodshed has continued.
Five hours into the fighting on Monday, sporadic
grenade explosions and automatic weapons fire still echoed down the empty
streets surrounding the university's fenced compound. Afghan troops stood
guard.
Ahmad Samim, a university student, told journalists he
saw militants armed with pistols and Kalashnikov assault rifles firing at the
school, the country's oldest with some 17,000 students. He said the attack
happened at the university's eastern side, where its law and journalism faculty
teach.
Afghan media reported that a book exhibition was being
held at the university and attended by a number of dignitaries at the time of
the shooting. None of the dignitaries were reported hurt.
While Afghan officials declined to discuss the
bookfair, Iran's semiofficial ISNA news agency reported Sunday that Iranian
Ambassador Bahador Aminian and cultural attache Mojtaba Noroozi were to
inaugurate the fair, which was hosting some 40 Iranian publishers. Iranian
state television reported that the attack occurred, but did not offer
information on its officials.
Iranian diplomats have been targeted previously in
Afghanistan, incidents that dangerously escalated tensions between the two
countries. In 1998, Iran held the Taliban responsible for the deaths of nine
Iranian diplomats working in its consulate in northern Afghanistan, and sent
reinforcements to the 950-kilometer- (580-mile-) long Iran-Afghan border.
The IS affiliate in Afghanistan has declared war on
the country's minority Shiite Muslims and staged dozens of attacks since
emerging in the region in 2014. A horrific attack earlier this year on a Kabul
maternity hospital - also in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood - was blamed on
the Islamic State group. In that attack, militants killed 25 people, many of
them newborn babies and mothers.
Schools have also been targeted in past attacks. Last
year, a bomb outside of the Kabul University's gates killed eight people. In
2016, gunmen attacked the American University in Kabul, killing 13.
Violence has been relentless even as the talks in
Qatar to end more than four decades of war in Afghanistan have been painfully
slow and despite repeated demands for a reduction in violence.
The US-Taliban deal in February allowed for the
withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan and set the stage for the
talks underway in Doha.
The architect of Washington's agreement with the
Taliban, Zalmay Khalilzad, returned last week to the region, citing deep
disappointment at the escalating violence in Afghanistan. On Monday, Khalilzad
was in neighboring Pakistan, where he met with the powerful army chief. Few
details of the meeting have been released but it is widely believed Khalilzad was
pressing for Pakistan's help to push the Taliban to agree to a reduction in
violence.
Even though their political office is based in Qatar,
Taliban leadership councils are located in Pakistan, with Islamabad being
critical to pressing the insurgents into peace talks.
Though Khalilzad and the Afghan government have been
calling for a cease-fire or at the very least a reduction in violence, the
Taliban have refused a truce, saying a permanent end to fighting would be part
of the negotiations.
Pakistan's foreign ministry condemned Monday's attack
in Kabul, calling it an "act of terrorism'' that was particularly
"despicable as it targeted an institution of learning." Last week, a
suicide bomber attacked a religious school in Pakistan's northwest on the border
with Afghanistan, killing eight students and wounding more than 120.
Also on Monday, a vehicle hit a roadside mine in
Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, killing at least seven civilians, most
of them women and children, provincial governor spokesman Omer Zwak said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/gunmen-kill-at-least-10-students-in-attack-on-kabul-university/articleshow/78999640.cms
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Peace Envoy Dubs Perpetrators ‘Pro-ignorance’ after
Kabul University Attack
By Mohammad Arif Sheva
03 Nov 2020
KABUL, Afghanistan – United States Special
Representatives for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad says “terrorist
perpetrators are not only against education but are pro-ignorance”, after
gunmen stormed Kabul University Monday morning that lasted for six hours.
Kabul University attack killed at least 19 people and
wounded further 22, mostly young students.
“The terrorist perpetrators are not just against
education but are pro-ignorance,” said Khalilzad in a tweet. “They want to
breed chaos and instability, terror and poverty. They oppose and fear peace and
seek a permanent state of war.”
Peace envoy said the attack claimed by ISIS was
“horrendous”, adding “barbaric attack is NOT an opportunity for the government
and the Taliban to score points against each other.
“There is a common enemy here,” he said.”
Khalilzad urged all warring parties to “unite for
peace, find a path to a ceasefire, and accelerate a political settlement.”
The Afghan government announced Tuesday, November 3, a
national day of mourning across the country to honor the victims of terrorist
attack on Kabul University.
The Afghan national flag will fly at half-mast across
the country and at all diplomatic missions around the world.
https://www.khaama.com/peace-envoy-dubs-perpetrators-pro-ignorance-after-kabul-university-attack-34534/
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Deadly Taliban Attack Probably Used Drone, a Worrisome
Shift
By Najim Rahim and Thomas Gibbons-Neff
Nov. 1, 2020
KABUL, Afghanistan — A Taliban attack, most likely
carried out by a drone, killed at least four security officers in northern
Afghanistan on Sunday, according to senior and local Afghan officials,
representing what could be the group’s first publicly known use of the method
in the 19-year war.
The strike targeted the governor’s compound in Kunduz,
a province that has seen heavy fighting, like much of the country, in recent
months despite continuing peace talks between Taliban and Afghan government
negotiators in Qatar. At least eight other people were wounded in the blast,
local officials said.
“When the Kunduz governor bodyguards were playing
volleyball in the governor’s guesthouse, the explosion took place among them,”
said Ghulam Rabbani Rabbani, a member of Kunduz’s provincial council.
“It is not clear that it was an explosion or a missile
or drone attack,” he added.
Fazal Karim Aimaq, a member of the Afghan Parliament
from Kunduz, said on his Facebook page that the episode represented “a new
method of attack" but did not say if a drone had carried it out.
A Taliban spokesman did not respond to a request for
comment.
The Taliban’s use of small, over-the-counter drones
has been limited in recent years to filming attacks for propaganda and
reconnaissance. But, according to U.S. officials, there have been previous unreported
instances of the remote-controlled devices being used to drop munitions, a
practice made popular by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in the past.
In May, a similar strike occurred on the Kunduz
governor’s compound, killing one person. At the time, the governor’s spokesman
said a missile had hit a farewell party — a large gathering much like Sunday’s
volleyball game — hosted by the governor. But later local officials said they
believed a drone may have carried out the attack because of its precise nature.
If the strike on Sunday was indeed carried out by an
armed drone, it would show the proliferation of a method of attack that could
have wide-ranging and dire consequences for Afghan, United States and NATO
forces.
Officials in Kunduz said that small Taliban drones
used for surveillance were frequently seen in the skies there. In March, Afghan
forces claimed to have shot down one of the drones.
Much of the Afghan security forces, whose morale is
already low after a particularly brutal fall, fight from stationary
checkpoints, often open-air outposts that are especially vulnerable to attacks
from the sky.
American forces, as they move to withdraw completely
from Afghanistan — as stipulated by a Feb. 29 peace agreement signed with the
insurgent group in Qatar — have limited equipment available to counter the
small, hard-to-detect drones. U.S. forces in Iraq have dealt with the Islamic
State drone threat since 2014.
But under the February deal, the Taliban have not
attacked U.S. troops aside from several unclaimed rocket strikes on American
bases in the country’s south.
The episode comes after the deadliest month in
Afghanistan for civilians since September 2019, according to data compiled by
The New York Times. At least 212 people were killed as Taliban fighters
launched offensives in the country’s south and east.
About 2,100 Afghan civilians were killed and 3,800
wounded in the first nine months of 2020, according to a United Nations report
released Tuesday.
Mujib Mashal contributed reporting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/01/world/asia/taliban-drone-afghanistan.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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On Afghan Highways, Even the Police Fear the Taliban’s
Toll Collectors
By David Zucchino and Fahim Abed
Nov. 1, 2020
KABUL, Afghanistan — When the long-haul trucker drives
past this hilltop police outpost in southern Afghanistan each week, he knows
exactly what to do. The officers toss down a box tied to a length of rope and
like all drivers, the trucker places 5,000 afghanis — about $65 — in the box,
which the officers then reel back up to their outpost.
The officers don’t dare collect such bribes in person,
said the trucker Dawlat Khan, “because the highway is controlled by the Taliban
and the police are afraid to come out.”
Since the United States signed a troop withdrawal
agreement in February with the Taliban, the militants have established new
checkpoints along major highways, seizing control of long stretches of
roadways, extorting millions of dollars a month from truckers and travelers and
even displacing the police’s own efforts to extort bribes.
Truckers and bus drivers say government forces have
remained inside their bases, all but handing over control of many roadways to
Taliban fighters. The drivers say in addition to collecting “taxes,” the
militants search vehicles for soldiers or government employees, sometimes
executing them on the spot.
The lucrative highway racket helps fund the Taliban’s
war effort, but there is also a strategic purpose: The militants use their
control of many highways to launch attacks on beleaguered government forces,
bolstering their negotiating position at the stalled peace talks in Doha,
Qatar.
The Taliban takeover of sections of the country’s
roadways is shifting the dynamic of the war, now in its nineteenth year, by
making it more difficult for the government to resupply increasingly isolated
garrisons and checkpoints. Truckers and local government officials say the
militants now control more stretches of highway than at any time since the
United States and NATO first began drawing down forces nearly a decade ago.
At the same time, the extortion of ordinary Afghans
reinforces widespread resentment of a government unable to protect its
population. By bolstering the Taliban’s so-called shadow government, the
sophisticated highway tax scheme is a precursor to what the militants hope is a
future Taliban government.
In the process, the Taliban have cut in on the
lucrative bribery system long imposed on drivers by the police. The militants
even issue stamped receipts as proof of “tax” payment — documents accepted at
Taliban checkpoints anywhere in Afghanistan, drivers say.
“The Taliban principle is: Once you pay the tax, your
receipt works all over the country and you won’t be asked to pay the tax
again,” said Ahmad Sayid Azimyan, deputy head of the chamber of commerce in
Herat Province. Police officers, on the other hand, do not issue receipts for
the bribes they extort.
The Mahipar Pass near the Pakistani border in 2012.
Drivers carrying goods across the borders say both the government and the
Taliban expect bribes. Credit...Mauricio
Lima for The New York Times
On stretches of the strategically important Kabul to
Herat highway, which traverses much of the country, the Taliban earn between
$155,000 to $195,000 a day in such taxes, Mr. Azimyan said.
Abdul Yaqin Ahadi, a district governor in the province
of Samangan, said the taxes there fund insurgent attacks across northern
Afghanistan. In his region alone, he said, the Taliban earn about $26,000 a day
from taxes levied on hundreds of trucks hauling coal from a local mine.
Because the February agreement essentially sidelined
the U.S. military, the Taliban rarely worry now about American airstrikes
targeting their highway positions. American commanders have said they provide
air support to government forces only in critical situations; for instance,
American aircraft launched strikes after Taliban fighters besieged the
provincial capital of Helmand Province earlier this month.
Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Interior Ministry,
which oversees the police, said the Taliban presence on highways was
“scattered” and “not sustainable.” He said the government “has the upper hand
in controlling highways,” and any police officers caught demanding bribes were
punished.
But drivers and even local government officials paint
a different picture. The government, they say, has ceded control of large
stretches of roads and opened the door to the Taliban to commit highway
robbery. The militants exact onerous penalties for truckers who evade
checkpoints. If a driver is caught without a Taliban tax receipt, his truck is
likely to be stolen or burned, drivers said.
“No one dares trying to escape from the Taliban
without paying the tax,” said Zia-ul-Haq Ziaee, who owns a building materials
company in Kunduz Province in northern Afghanistan.
In Baghlan Province in northern Afghanistan, the
militants operate a checkpoint that collects customs fees of $400 to $660 per
truck on goods imported from Central Asian countries. Those fees are taken
after truckers already paid government duties at the official customs office at
the border.
The Taliban can earn $200,000 a day in such fees, said
Nasir Ahmad Qasimi, chairman of the Balkh Chamber of Commerce. He said the
double taxation has driven up the price of commercial and consumer goods,
including gas, oil, construction materials, flour and produce.
“Previously, the Taliban didn’t appear on the road to
collect customs because they feared the security forces,” said Mr. Ziaee, the
construction company owner. “Now they’re right out on the road, collecting
customs.”
Many drivers said highways controlled by the Taliban
are largely free of crime because the militants do not allow bandits to operate
in their territory. But the police and soldiers are so afraid to leave their
garrisons and outposts that thieves often rob drivers and passengers in many
government-controlled areas.
“Any part of the highway under government control,
there are a lot of robberies,” said Mohammad Khalid, who has driven a bus the
past eight years between Kabul and Herat. “There are no robberies in Taliban
areas.”
The militants have also interceded when the police
attempt to extort bribes too close to Taliban areas. Samir Khan, a fuel-tanker
driver on the Kabul-Herat highway, said he recently watched Taliban fighters
attack two police officers who demanded a bribe from a trucker.
“The Taliban killed one of the police and the other
one escaped,” he said.
Amir Mohammad, who drives minivans between the
provinces of Herat and Ghor in northwestern Afghanistan, said navigating that
roadway had never been so perilous during the four years he has driven the
highway.
“There’s the Taliban, there are robberies, there are
illegal armed men — everyone is trying to get money from us,” he said.
The Taliban had for years set up temporary roadblocks,
only to flee when attacked by government or American forces. But now, drivers
say, the checkpoints have become all but permanent, raising millions of dollars
from cargo trucks, fuel tankers, minibuses and taxis.
“Along the whole highway, there is only one outpost of
government forces,” Mr. Mohammad said. “There used to be others, but recently
they all fell to the Taliban.”
Khan Wali, a resident of Logar Province in eastern
Afghanistan, said the Taliban previously blocked the road only once a week.
“But now it’s on a daily basis — they have checkpoints and search vehicles and
passengers,” he said.
That has left some government outposts in precarious
positions and increased the risk of violence along stretches of roadway.
“A police outpost in Zabul Province stops drivers and
asks them to bring groceries to the outpost because they have such fear of the
Taliban,” said Mohammad Eisa, a bus driver.
A stretch of road in Paktia Province in eastern
Afghanistan was for years considered comparatively safe.
“But now the Taliban have set up a checkpoint to
search for targeted people, so there are clashes and attacks almost every day,”
between the militants and the government forces, said Afsar Khan, a taxi
driver. .
Ajmal, a resident of Khost Province in eastern
Afghanistan who goes by one name, said government employees had been kidnapped
and murdered by the Taliban recently on the highway between Kabul and the city
of Khost.
“In the past we traveled this road without any fear,
but now we don’t know whether we will reach Kabul or the Taliban will kill us
along the road,” Mr. Ajmal said.
Reporting was contributed by Najim Rahim in Kabul,
Taimoor Shah in Kandahar, Asadullah Timory in Herat, Zabihullah Ghazi in
Jalalabad and Farooq Jan Mangal in Khost.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/01/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-bribery.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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Islamic State claims responsibility for Kabul
University attack
NOVEMBER 2, 2020
CAIRO (Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility
for an attack on Kabul University on Monday that killed 22 people including
students, the group’s Amaq News Agency said.
In a message posted on Telegram, the group claimed to
have “killed and injured 80 Afghan judges, investigators and security
personnel” who gathered on completion of a training programme.
The death toll released by Afghan officials is much
lower, at 22, and does not mention the killing of judges or prosecutors.
Officials said multiple students had been killed.
https://in.reuters.com/article/afghanistan-attack-islamic-state/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-kabul-university-attack-idINKBN27I28J
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Mideast
Trump policies against Palestine add insult to injury,
revive Balfour Declaration: PLO official
02 November 2020
US President Donald Trump and his administration are
following policies toward Palestine that have ‘added insult to injury’ and ‘revive’
the Balfour Declaration, which led to the creation of Israel, a senior member
of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) warns.
“It has been 103 years since the British government
adopted a supremely arrogant, racist, and colonialist promise to give away
Palestine and willfully discard the inalienable rights of the Palestinian
people,” said PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi on Monday,
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported.
“The catastrophic consequences of the Balfour
Declaration have been our living reality since then.”
In a statement issued on the occasion of the 103rd
anniversary of the infamous declaration, she also lambasted the Trump
administration for reviving the declaration with his stance toward Palestine.
“Adding insult to injury, the Trump administration
revived the objectionable mindset of the Balfour Declaration by upending US
policy and international law in relation to Palestine. The so-called Trump plan
borrowed this worldview and attempted to impose it on the Palestinian people.”
Trump recognized Jerusalem al-Quds as the “capital” of
Israel in December 2017 and later relocated the US diplomatic mission from Tel
Aviv to Jerusalem al-Quds in a highly provocative move.
The decision sparked outrage among Palestinians, who
deem Jerusalem al-Quds as the future capital of a Palestinian state.
The American president also devised a controversial
land grab plan – dubbed the ‘deal of the century peace initiative’ – which
blatantly undermines Palestine’s right to statehood in exchange for vague
promises of basic economic opportunities.
His provocative scheme, which enshrines Jerusalem
al-Quds as “Israel’s undivided capital” and allows the regime to annex
settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Jordan Valley, further denies the
right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland.
“Then and now, all such exclusionary policies aiming
to deprive the Palestinian people of their fundamental right to have agency
over their lives and destiny are egregious and entirely unacceptable. Just like
the illegitimate Balfour Declaration, the Trump ‘plan’ is informed by an
absolutist and literalist ideology that excuses the inexcusable, allowing for
Israeli exceptionalism to perpetuate at the expense of Palestinian lives and
rights,” Ashrawi said.
Furthermore, Trump recently brokered three
much-condemned normalization deals between the Tel Aviv regime and three Muslim
countries, namely the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Sudan.
“In this land, absolutist ideologies, including those
backed by political and military aggression, have always failed. They will fail
again in normalizing Israel’s inorganic and imposed occupation and
institutional racism. Only a transparent and accountable political process that
heals and rights these wrongs can undo the Balfour and Trump legacies,” the
senior Palestinian official said.
The Balfour Declaration came in the form of a letter
from Britain’s then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour addressed to Lionel Walter
Rothschild, a figurehead of the British Jewish community. It was published on
November 2, 1917.
The declaration was made during World War I
(1914-1918), and was included in the terms of the British Mandate for Palestine
after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire.
It is widely seen as the precursor to the 1948
Palestinian Nakba, when Zionist armed paramilitary groups, trained and created
to fight side by side with the British in World War II, forcibly expelled more
than 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland, captured huge swathes of the
Arab land and proclaimed the existence of Israel.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637770/Palestine-Israel-Balfour-Declaration
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Spokesman: Iran's Peace Plan for Karabakh Region Based
on Int'l Law
Nov 02, 2020
"Iran has presented a plan based on the
principles of the international system, the elimination of occupation, and the
acceptance of international supervision, as well as international
borders," Khatibzadeh said.
"We seek to resolve disputes, not just a
ceasefire. In this regard, consultations were held at the highest level,"
the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman added.
He, meantime, pointed to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif's warning about the presence of terrorists along Iran's Northern
borders, and said, "This issue was raised by Iranian Deputy Foreign
Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi during his trip to the region to resolve the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict."
"This is a serious concern and we talked about it
seriously with the involved countries," Khatibzadeh added.
Zarif warned of the deployment of Takfiri terrorists
and other militants in the Karabakh region during the war between Azerbaijan
and Armenia, saying that Iran does not tolerate their presence near its
borders.
“We are almost certain about the presence of
terrorists during clashes and we have certainly stressed that it does not
benefit anyone,” Zarif said on Sunday.
“During recent negotiations and even before that we
informed the officials of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Turkey that the
Islamic Republic of Iran will not tolerate such a situation,” he added.
Zarif, meantime, said that the terrorists are not
present near the Iranian borders, and added, “But the possibility of their
presence in a distance from our borderlines is still high and we have informed
both sides (Azerbaijan and Armenia) of this concern.”
Zarif had earlier this week sent his Deputy Seyed
Abbas Araqchi to Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia and Turkey to promote Tehran’s
initiative for the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the Karabakh region.
Araqchi stressed that Tehran’s peace plan is based on
“a regional approach” with the participation of influential countries,
including Russia and Turkey.
The proposal also takes into account the realities on
the ground, he said, adding that three ceasefires have failed to bring peace to
the Karabakh as they did not consider those realities.
Iran’s initiative calls on warring sides to abide by
international rules such as respect for the rights of minorities and
humanitarian rights as well as non-aggression against civilians and the return
of refugees. It further outlines a series of specific principles related to the
Karabakh crisis, among them, ending the occupation and observing territorial
integrity and inviolability of borders, according to Araqchi.
He expressed hope that the plan could pave the way for
lasting peace in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, noting, "However, that it
is not an easy task because of problems and foreign interference."
"The Islamic Republic has always voiced its
readiness to establish a truce, start the dialog and restore peace given its
good relations with Azerbaijan and Armenia and the critical condition in the
region," he emphasized.
The new escalation began on September 27 after
Armenian separatists — who have been seeking to break the region away from
Azerbaijan for around three decades — opened fire on Azeri soldiers. More than
1,000 people, including more than 100 civilians, have reportedly died in the
violence.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the
highland region of Nagorno-Karabakh, a disputed territory that had been part of
Azerbaijan before the Soviet Union break-up, but primarily populated by ethnic
Armenians, broke out in February 1988 after the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous
Region announced its withdrawal from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic.
The fighting has been rated the worst to plague
Nagorno-Karabakh since 1992 when Armenians invaded the region and forced Azeris
into a retreat.
A number of stray shells and projectiles have crossed
the Iranian border, prompting stern warnings from Tehran.
The Ground Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps (IRGC) has deployed a mechanized brigade to protect the country’s
Northwestern border amid the ongoing clashes between the two former Soviet
republics.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990812000915
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Biden’s
words ‘more promising’, but Iran will wait and see: Zarif
03
November 2020
Iran’s
foreign minister says the country has no preference between the two US
presidential candidates Donald Trump and Joe Biden, even though it considers
the latter’s statements to be “more promising”.
Speaking
to CBS News on Monday, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that "the statements by
the Biden camp have been more promising, but we will have to wait and
see."
It's
not what the new administration says during the campaign that counts, but what
it does in office, Zarif added.
"What
is important for us is how the White House behaves after the election, not what
promises are there, what slogans are made. The behavior of the US is important.
If the US decides to stop its malign behavior against Iran, then it will be a
different story no matter who sits in the White House," the Iranian top
diplomat noted.
Earlier
in the day, the Foreign Ministry said Iran is unconcerned about who will become
the United States’ next president and only looks towards the US administration’s
political choices.
“More
than [paying attention to] the results [of the US elections], we pay attention
to the US administration’s actions,” and the policy that it will adopt,
ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in Tehran on Monday, on the eve of
the US presidential elections.
The
Biden camp has signaled that, if he wins, his administration would attempt to
renegotiate the deal hashed out in 2015, but the Iranian Foreign Minister told
CBS News that is not Tehran's hope.
"If
we wanted to do that [renegotiate], we would have done it with President Trump
four years ago," Zarif said, stressing that "under no
circumstances" would Tehran consider renegotiating the terms of a deal
which has since been adopted as a United Nations Security Council Resolution.
Zarif
was categorical that Iran would, instead, like to see the US re-join the deal.
"We
can find a way to reengage, obviously. But reengagement does not mean
renegotiation," he said. "It means the US coming back to the
negotiating table."
Zarif
further said the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign
against the Islamic Republic has failed.
"It
has hurt Iran," he said. "But it hasn't brought the type of political
change that the US desired — be it regime change, which was the desire of a
certain segment of the current US administration, or what President Trump
wanted, which was to bring Iran to its knees so that he could dictate his terms
of negotiations."
"I
know that Vice President Biden understands that that won't happen [renegotiate
the terms of the nuclear deal], and may act differently," the Iranian
foreign minister said. He expressed hope, however, that Trump, too, "is
capable of acting differently."
Elsewhere
in his remarks, Zarif once again denied any interference by Iran in the US
elections, and called President Trump "the single person who is making the
most important and effective affront against the U.S. electoral system."
Anyone
interested in undermining US democracy, Zarif suggested, "will just ask
President Trump to continue talking about forgeries and inconsistencies in
mail-in ballots and all sorts of other stuff."
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/03/637787/Biden-trump-zarif-election
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Palestinian
prisoner loses home after Israeli demolition
02
November 2020
Khalil
Duweikat is a Palestinian imprisoned by the Israeli regime; his two-storey
house was completely demolished by Israeli authorities on Monday.
Before
the demolition started, Israeli troops stormed the town of Rujeib, south of
Nablus. Bulldozers got into action afterward.
Some
Palestinians had crowded the area in protest against the move. They clashed
with the Israeli troops. Three young Palestinians were reportedly injured.
Israeli
authorities usually claim that the buildings they demolish have been
constructed without permits. They also sometimes order the Palestinian owners
to tear down their own homes or pay the demolition costs to the municipality.
Last
month, the United Nations (UN)’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) said there had been a sharp increase in the number of Palestinian houses
being demolished by Israel in the occupied West Bank during the coronavirus
pandemic.
Meanwhile,
UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Palestinian territories Jamie McGoldrick
warned that Israel’s demolition of Palestinian houses during the pandemic would
make the Palestinians more susceptible to health risks.
Back
in May 2019, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem said in a report that the Tel
Aviv regime uses other strategies to block Palestinian use of land, or demolish
the homes Palestinians have already built, thus, clearing the way for new
illegal Israeli settlements in the region.
The
demolitions of Palestinian homes coincide with Israel’s ongoing settlement
expansion.
More
than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli
occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank and East Jerusalem
al-Quds.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637773/Palestinian-prisoner-home-demolition
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Israeli
bulldozers demolish more vast plots of Palestinian land in West Bank
02
November 2020
Israel
has bulldozed large plots of private Palestinian land in the northeastern part
of the occupied West Bank following the confiscation of the property, the
Palestinian Information Center says.
The
regime goes ahead with its settlement construction policies in violation of
international law and UN Security Council resolutions.
The
center published a report on Monday, announcing the demolition on Sunday in Khirbet
Mak’houl village, in the vicinity of the settlement of Hemdat, near Tubas city.
Locals
say Israel plans to build poultry farms for Hemdat settlers in the confiscated
land of the village, near which there are multiple settlements and a military
base.
The
report added that in a separate incident on Sunday, Israeli forces threatened
to remove a Palestinian flag pole from a plaza in the archeological area of
Sebastia town, north of Nablus.
Sebastia
mayor Mohamed Azem was cited as saying that an Israeli officer had phoned him
and threatened to remove the flagpole under the pretext that it provokes the
settlers in the area.
Also,
a throng of Israeli settlers raided and wreaked havoc on a Palestinian-owned
plant nursery in the village of Sawiya near the road between Nablus and
Ramallah. Plants were also stolen.
The
nursery had been raided several times by Israeli settlers in the past.
Palestinians
want the West Bank as part of a future independent Palestinian state with East
Jerusalem al-Quds as its capital. But Israel’s aggressive settlement expansion
and annexation plans have dealt a serious blow to any prospect of peace.
More
than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem
al-Quds.
All
the settlements are illegal under international law.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/11/02/637753/Israel-West-Bank-settlers
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Africa
Libya:
UN praises meeting between military rivals after first day of talks
02
November 2020
Rival
Libyan military officers began talks Monday on home soil for the first time
following a ceasefire agreement last month, discussing implementation of the
deal.
“A
lot of progress was made today,” Stephanie Williams, the UN’s acting envoy to
the troubled North African nation, said at the end of the first day of talks.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“The
courage and determination... between those officers is what is needed from your
political class,” she added.
The
three-day meeting of the joint military commission is taking place in Ghadames,
a desert oasis some 465 kilometers (290 miles) southwest of the capital
Tripoli.
The
remote area, near Libya’s borders with both Algeria and Tunisia, is far from
the power bases of either side.
The
military commission had been dubbed “5+5,” because it is made up of five
officers from each camp.
“It’s
not the 5+5 now, it’s the Committee of Ten,” added Williams. “It’s truly a
joint Libyan committee.”
The
meeting follows an October 23 deal when the two warring factions signed a
“permanent” ceasefire agreement intended to pave the way towards a political
solution to the country’s grinding conflict.
Williams
said Monday that a “determination to implement the ceasefire agreement was
present at the table.”
Libya,
with Africa’s largest proven crude oil reserves, has been wracked by conflict
for nearly a decade, since the overthrow and killing of dictator Muammar
Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
It
has since been dominated by armed groups and divided between two
bitterly-opposed administrations: Government of National Accord (GNA) based in
the capital Tripoli, and a rival administration in the east backed by military
strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The
talks are part of long-running efforts to broker peace.
Haftar,
backed by Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive on
Tripoli in April 2019, but was beaten back in June by the GNA with military
support from Turkey.
Warring
factions returned to the negotiating table in September in UN-supported talks,
with negotiations being held in Morocco, Egypt and Switzerland.
On
November 9, the political leaders are due to hold face-to-face talks in
Tunisia.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/north-africa/2020/11/03/Libya-UN-praises-meeting-between-military-rivals-after-first-day-of-talks
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Gunmen
kill 32, torch houses in Ethiopia attack: Local official
02
November 2020
Gunmen
have executed 32 people and torched more than 20 houses in a raid on an area of
western Ethiopia, a regional administrator said on Monday.
The
killings were carried out on Sunday by an armed group called OLF Shane in the
Western Wollega Zone of Oromiya region, administrator Elias Umeta told Reuters.
“We
buried today 32 of them. About 700 to 750 people were also displaced from the
area,” he said.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
OLF
Shane split from the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), an opposition party that
spent years in exile but was allowed to return to Ethiopia after Prime Minister
Abiy Ahemd took office in 2018. Sporadic violence has rocked Ethiopia since
then.
OLF
Shane says it is fighting for the right of the Oromos, the largest ethnic group
in Ethiopia. But there was no immediate known motive for the killings, Umeta
said.
“They
were executed after they were told by the armed group they want to have a
meeting with them,” he said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/11/02/Gunmen-kill-32-torch-houses-in-Ethiopia-attack-Local-official
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Northwest
Nigeria Potential Jihadi Linchpin in West Africa
by
John Campbell
October
30, 2020
Up
to now, radical jihadi activity in West Africa has been centered in Mali—with
spillover to adjacent parts of Burkina Faso and Niger—and the Lake Chad Basin.
The two locales are now increasingly bridged by jihadi activity in northwest
Nigeria, where resurgent struggles over land and water with a cast of
ethnically aligned fighters and flourishing criminality provide them with new
space. Jihadi movements in all three regions are fractious, subject to bloody
internal rivalries, and overlap with criminal elements. They do share a
declared goal of establishing polities based on Islamic law—sharia—and the
destruction of the fragile, postcolonial secular states in the region.
(National borders, established by the former colonial powers, are largely
meaningless for most local people, as well as for criminals and jihadis.) Were
they to be successful, however, it is by no means clear that they could
establish coherent territorial governance much above the village level. No
charismatic leader such as Abu Musab al-Barnawi, Osama bin Laden, or even Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi has emerged to impose unity on the various jihadi groups now
active from the Lake Chad Basin to the western Sahel. More likely would be
decentralized regimes of warlordism led by Islamist and criminal opportunists.
Criminally inflected chaos and a humanitarian disaster are more likely than a
resurrected, unified Islamic State.
France
has the most modern military force countering the jihadis—Operation Barkhane
numbers some 4,500 soldiers—and supports most of the weak militaries of
francophone West Africa. The United States provides France with limited
logistical and intelligence support from its drone base in Niger. It also
trains small numbers of soldiers drawn from local militaries. Jihadi forces at
present are resurgent throughout the region. Were the French to leave, jihadis
would likely overrun Mali and adjacent territories even if they could not
govern them.
In
the Lake Chad Basin—mostly in Nigeria but also in Chad, Cameroon, and Niger—the
jihadis are primarily factions of Boko Haram, some with links to the Islamic
State, others to al-Qaeda. (Observers are divided as to the tactical or
strategic significance of those links.) Nigeria has taken the lead in
attempting to coordinate its efforts with those of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon.
Other than in Niger, the United States has no significant security presence in
the Lake Chad region or the western Sahel. Across the region, the jihadis, far
from defeated, appear to be strengthening. Northeast Nigeria and the Lake Chad
Basin have a much larger population and, accordingly, the humanitarian disaster
associated with fighting is much greater than in the western Sahel. (The United
Nations, the European Union, the United States, and other international donors
already provide significant humanitarian assistance right across West Africa,
including the Sahel.)
These
two centers of jihadism are separated by northwest Nigeria. That region is
increasingly plagued by conflicts over water and land use, exacerbated by human
and cattle population growth, climate change, and poor governance. A borderland
between the Sahara, the Sahel, and better-watered lands to the south, the
region has long been a center of smuggling as well as trading. With a harsh and
variable climate—as in the rest of the Sahel—population movements have been a
constant. So, too, have been waves of Islamic religious revival, which
influence present-day jihadi activity. Jihadi groups are taking advantage of a
general societal breakdown in certain areas. The Nigerian government has
responded by seeking to crush the jihadis and the bandits through military and
police methods, so far to no avail. Government-sponsored proposals, some
fanciful, prescribe reorganization of the cattle industry. None address the
huge population increase, climate change, and poor governance that provide
jihadis and criminals with oxygen.
A
different strategy is possible. Much of northwest Nigeria is included in the
domains of the Sultan of Sokoto and his subordinate emirs. (The sultan is the
preeminent Muslim traditional ruler in Nigeria, and his domains stretch into
neighboring countries.) Muslim rulers provide traditional justice that often
commands greater popular confidence than that handed down by the government in
far-off Abuja. Their agents sometimes have a good understanding of what is
happening on the ground—the local drivers of conflict. Jihadis despise these
traditional rulers as heretics and seek to kill them whenever possible. In the
northeast, for example, Boko Haram was nearly successful in killing the Shehu
of Borno, generally regarded as second only to the sultan in the traditional
hierarchy that jihadis seek to destroy. Were Abuja to cooperate more closely
with traditional rulers that command popular confidence, its confrontation with
the jihadis could be more successful.
https://www.cfr.org/blog/northwest-nigeria-potential-jihadi-linchpin-west-africa?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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Kenyan
court jails men over 2013 Westgate mall attack
30
Oct 2020
A
court in Kenya sentenced two men to 18 years in prison for helping al-Shabab
gunmen in a 2013 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall that killed 67
people.
Mohamed
Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa were sentenced to 18 years each for
providing support to the assailants. Abdi was given an additional 15-year jail
sentence for possession of materials promoting “terrorism”.
“This
court has to pass a sentence … commensurate with the offence,” Chief Magistrate
Francis Andayi told the two on Friday as they stood in a Nairobi courtroom.
He
said the seven years the men spent on remand would be deducted from their
sentences.
The
attack on the upscale mall, a favourite of Kenya’s growing middle class and
foreign workers, happened two years after the East African nation sent troops
into Somalia following a series of kidnappings and raids on Kenyan soil by the
armed group al-Shabab.
Al-Shabab
has promised retribution for Kenya for sending troops to fight the group in
Somalia since 2011.
Although
there was no specific evidence the convicted pair had provided material help,
the court was satisfied their communication with the attackers amounted to
supporting the armed rampage, and justified the guilty verdict for conspiracy.
A
third defendant, Liban Abdullah Omar, was acquitted in the trial, which
concluded on October 7. He was abducted by a group of gunmen a day after being
released from custody and his whereabouts is still unknown.
Kenyan
authorities’ disorganised response to the Westgate attack deeply damaged the
country’s reputation.
Soldiers
and police fired at each other during a chaotic four days and footage emerged
of soldiers looting the complex as bodies lay sprawled on the bloodstained
floors.
‘Peripheral
responsibility’
Defence
lawyer Mbugua Mureithi pleaded for leniency for his client, saying Abdi has
accepted the court’s findings and was remorseful, though he maintains his
innocence.
Mureithi
urged a custodial sentence for Abdi, allowing him to report to a police station
from time to time, because he was a first offender.
“His
responsibility is peripheral other than the communication interlinks between
him and the actual men who killed our people,” Mureithi said. “There is no
evidence that he provided them with the logistics or finances or any other form
of tangible support to execute our people.”
Abdi
asked the court to consider his family situation as well: “My father is
suffering from cancer and I’m the oldest,” he said.
Mustafah
also asked for leniency, saying he needed to look after his elderly parents.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/10/30/kenyan-court-jails-two-men-over-2013-westgate-mall-attack?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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Islamic
State claims responsibility for church attack in Congo - Amaq
OCTOBER
31, 2020
CAIRO
(Reuters) - Islamic State claimed responsibility on Friday for an attack on a
church in eastern Congo that killed at least 18 people, the group’s Amaq news
agency reported, without evidence.
The
attack happened Wednesday night in Baeti village in North Kivu province. A
civil rights group reported a death toll of at least 18 people and a church
being burned down.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-congo-islamic-state-security/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-church-attack-in-congo-amaq-idUKKBN27F2UH?il=0&utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1677769_
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/chasing-phantoms-outlawing-something-that/d/123357
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