New
Age Islam News Bureau
24
February 2021
The
remarks by President Arif Alvi came after PM Imran Khan accused France of
encouraging Islamophobia [File: Chudary Naseer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]
-----------------
• Taliban
Tells Its Members To Avoid Recruiting Foreign Fighters
• Joe
Biden would not be okay if the Taliban ruled Afghanistan: White House
• Al-Qaeda,
Daesh terrorists using Ma’rib as launching pad for attacks on all Yemeni
regions: Officials
• Can’t
equate terror victims & plotters, India tells UN body
• Violence
in western Ethiopia forced 7,000 to flee into Sudan: UN
• German
court sentences ISIS leader to 10 years, 6 months in prison
• China
jails Uighurs for ‘picking quarrels’ and giving gifts
• Gulf
countries have to be part of any dialogue on Iran nuclear deal: GCC SG
Pakistan
• France
summons Pakistan envoy over criticism of ‘separatism’ bill cracking down on
Islamist extremism that ‘stigmatises Muslims’
• Pakistan
asks world to give up double standard on human rights
• Law
has to be followed in good faith: Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed
• 'Sense
will prevail': PM Imran woos Sri Lankan businessmen, hopes for better relations
with all neighbours
• Pakistan's
priorities have shifted from geo-political to geo-economic, says Qureshi
--------
South
Asia
• Taliban
Tells Its Members To Avoid Recruiting Foreign Fighters
• Taliban
supreme leader says only Shariah court can punish accused
• Sri
Lanka Muslims protest Covid cremations as PM Imran visits
• Taliban
attack claims 9 uprising force members in Logar
• Afghanistan
begins COVID-19 vaccine campaign amid surge in violence
• 42
Taliban killed in Kandahar: MoD
• ‘Violence’
against children spiked in Afghanistan
• Afghan
peace talks resume in Doha as US reviews Taliban deal
--------
North
America
• Joe
Biden would not be okay if the Taliban ruled Afghanistan: White House
• US
President Biden moves to reengage with Palestinians after Israel focus
• Biden
has first phone call with Iraq PM, second to a Middle East leader
• US
working to increase contributions at next week’s Yemen donor conference
• House
Republican lawmakers call on Biden to maintain ‘immense pressure’ on Iran
--------
Mideast
• Al-Qaeda,
Daesh terrorists using Ma’rib as launching pad for attacks on all Yemeni
regions: Officials
• Rouhani:
Iran’s Defense Power Based on Moral Values
• Qods
Force Commander: US Only Understands Language of Force
• US,
Britain’s Role in Sabotage Acts in Yemen Revealed by Spies in Court
• Clashes
in southeast Iran kill three: Lawmaker
• Israeli
court delays PM Netanyahu corruption trial until April
• IAEA
chief describes black box-type deal with Iran to monitor its nuclear activities
• US
think tank: UAE still an ‘aggressor’ in Yemen despite withdrawal claim
--------
India
• Can’t
equate terror victims & plotters, India tells UN body
• ‘Sanskrit
histories of Indo-Muslim rule are diverse in some ways’
• Development
in Gujarat does not touch Muslim areas, says Owaisi
• Four
terrorists eliminated in ongoing encounter in J&K's Anantnag
• Notification
to acquire land for Sunni dam project issued
• ‘Fertility
rate higher among Muslims, they want to turn India into Islamic state’: BJP MLA
HariBhushan Thakur
• Bombay
HC upholds bail for AreebMajeed, Kalyan resident accused of having Islamic
State links
• Delhi
court frames terror charges against Kashmiri separatist AasiyaAndrabi
--------
Africa
• Violence
in western Ethiopia forced 7,000 to flee into Sudan: UN
• Algerian
students hit streets in anti-government protests
• Russian
mercenaries seen in Sirte city: Libyan army
• Dozens
injured in multiple blasts in northeast Nigeria
• Somalia
bans opposition protests in Mogadishu
• Ethiopian
peacekeepers in S.Sudan resist going home
--------
Europe
• German
court sentences ISIS leader to 10 years, 6 months in prison
• Iran
must cooperate with IAEA for greater transparency: French, UK, German ministers
• French
mosque vandalized with Islamophobic graffiti
• Syrian
convicted by German court in landmark crimes against humanity trial
• SAS
war crimes in Afghanistan: Australia, UK
• Turkey
accuses Greece of 'harassing' research ship in Aegean Sea
--------
Southeast
Asia
• China
jails Uighurs for ‘picking quarrels’ and giving gifts
• Malaysia
deports over 1,000 Myanmar nationals in defiance of court order
• After
court halts deportation of 1,200 foreign nationals, Pakatan calls for govt to
initiate regional talks on Myanmar coup
• Indonesia
seeks to broker Taliban peace deal in Afghanistan
--------
Arab
World
• Gulf
countries have to be part of any dialogue on Iran nuclear deal: GCC SG
• State
Department warns Egypt against purchasing Russian fighter jets
• Iraqi
officials, Kata’ib Hezbollah condemn rocket attack on Baghdad Green Zone
• Over
6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar as it gears up for 2022 FIFA World
Cup: Report
• Saudi
students among winners of UAE space pioneers program
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/france-summons-pakistan-envoy-criticism/d/124387
--------
France
summons Pakistan envoy over criticism of ‘separatism’ bill cracking down on
Islamist extremism that ‘stigmatises Muslims’
23
Feb 2021
The
remarks by President Arif Alvi came after PM Imran Khan accused France of
encouraging Islamophobia [File: Chudary Naseer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images]
--------------
The
French foreign ministry has summoned Pakistan’s envoy to protest against claims
by President ArifAlvi that a French bill cracking down on what it terms
“Islamist extremism” stigmatises Muslims.
Addressing
a conference on religion on Saturday, Alvi said: “When you see that laws are
being changed in favour of a majority to isolate a minority, that is a
dangerous precedent.”
Specifically
referring to the legislation drafted after the beheading of a French teacher
over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, Alvi said: “When you insult the prophet,
you insult all Muslims.
“I
urge the political leadership of France not to entrench these attitudes into
laws … You have to bring people together – not to stamp a religion in a certain
manner and create disharmony among the people or create bias.”
Pakistan
was one of several Muslim countries that saw angry anti-French protests in
October over President Emmanuel Macron’s defence of the right to show cartoons
depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Pakistan,
a country with the second-largest number of Muslims in the world after
Indonesia, does not have an ambassador in France.
The
French foreign ministry said late Monday it had called in Pakistan’s charge
d’affaires to mark “our surprise and our disapproval (over Alvi’s remarks),
given that the bill contains no discriminatory element”.
“It
is guided by the basic principles of freedom of religion and conscience, makes
no distinction between the different religions and applies therefore equally to
all faiths,” the ministry said.
“Pakistan
must understand this and adopt a constructive attitude for our bilateral
relations,” it added.
The
bill adopted by the lower house of the French parliament last week is dubbed
the “anti-separatism” bill in reference to Macron’s claim that “Islamists” are
closing themselves off from French society by refusing to embrace secularism,
gender equality and other French values.
The
legislation significantly expands the state’s powers to close religious
organisations and places of worship if they are found to air “theories or
ideas” that “provoke hate or violence towards a person or people”.
It
also creates a new crime of “separatism” – described as threatening a public
servant to gain “a total or partial exemption or different application of the
rules” – that is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Pakistan’s
government has been particularly virulent in its condemnation of Macron’s
clampdown, which followed a wave of attacks in recent years on French soil.
Prime
Minister Imran Khan in October accused Macron on Sunday of “attacking Islam”
and choosing to “encourage Islamophobia” for defending the right to publish
cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/23/france-summons-pakistan-envoy-over-criticism-of-separatism-bill
--------
Taliban
Tells Its Members To Avoid Recruiting Foreign Fighters
February
24, 2021
Former
Taliban fighters after they joined Afghan government forces in Herat. (file
photo)
------------
The
Taliban has told its members to avoid recruiting or harboring foreign fighters
amid doubts about the militants' commitment to a deal reached with the United
States last year that provided for severing links to terrorist groups such as
Al-Qaeda.
“All
chiefs and mujahedin are directed to avoid arbitrary moves to bring in foreign
nationals into their ranks or harbor them,” the Taliban said in a statement on
February 23.
The
group warned its fighters that anyone who makes such an attempt will be removed
from their assignments, their group will be dissolved, “and will be referred to
the military affairs commission for further punishment.”
Under
a U.S.-Taliban deal reached in February last year, all foreign forces are to
leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for security guarantees from the
militant group, including severing ties with the Al-Qaeda terrorist group and
refusing to harbor any foreign terrorists.
But
the militants have been under criticism by Afghan and U.S. officials for
continuing their ties with terrorist groups, in particular with Al-Qaeda. The
Taliban has denied the accusations.
“We
believe that the top leadership of Al-Qaeda is still under Taliban protection,”
Edmund Fitton-Brown, coordinator of the UN's Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and
Taliban Monitoring Team, said earlier this month.
According
to the UN monitoring team’s report last month, there are 200 to 500 Al-Qaeda
fighters across about 11 Afghan provinces.
The
Taliban's move comes as peace talks between the group and Afghan government
resumed on February 22 in Qatar after a hiatus of more than one month.
https://gandhara.rferl.org/a/taliban-tells-members-to-avoid-recruiting-foreign-fighters/31119080.html
--------
Joe
Biden would not be okay if the Taliban ruled Afghanistan: White House
Feb
24, 2021
White
House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Persident Biden is 'not Ok'with the Taliban
ruling Afghanistan (AP)
--------------
WASHINGTON:
US President Joe Biden would not be okay if the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, the
White House has said, underlining that there is an ongoing process of
considering the next steps to ensure peace in the war-torn country.
The
US and the Taliban reached an agreement in February 2020 that called for a
permanent ceasefire, peace negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan
government, and a withdrawal of all foreign forces by May 1. There are about
2,500 US troops currently in the country.
The
Taliban had their ouster at the hands of US-led troops in 2001.
"I
don't think he would say he'd be okay with that," White House press
secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Tuesday when asked if Biden is okay with
the Taliban ruling Afghanistan.
"But
again, there's an ongoing process of considering the next steps in Afghanistan.
That's an ongoing discussion, and I'm not going to get ahead of where that sits
at this point in time," Psaki said.
Separately,
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that defence secretary Lloyd Austin
has been in constant communication with Afghan partners about the ongoing
review process and how they are working their way through that.
"We
are mindful of looming deadlines here and everybody shares the sense of
alacrity when it comes to working our way through this review but we want to do
it in a thoughtful, deliberate way, to make sure that whatever decisions are
made, they're the best ones, that are in our best national security interests
and certainly the security interests of our allies and partners, and that
includes the Afghan people," he said.
Meanwhile,
during a Congressional hearing General (rtd) Joseph F Dunford, former chairman
of the joint chiefs of staff, told lawmakers that Talban gets its financial
support from drug trade.
"We
know that the Taliban have had sanctuary in Pakistan. We know that they have an
active diplomatic effort travelling to Moscow, travelling to Beijing,
travelling to other countries. We know they travel in the Gulf. We know Iran
has provided some material support," he said.
The
Taliban, he said is a Sunni terrorist organisation. "There's no question
that the Taliban originates from the madrassas in Pakistan," he said in
response to a question. Dunford told lawmakers that the terrorist threat has
been reduced because of the US trained Afghan forces and continued US military
presence.
"We
believe that the threat can reconstitute itself in a period of about 18 to 36
months and present a threat to the homeland and to our allies," he said
adding that the Afghan forces are highly dependent on US funding, as well as
operational support. They will remain so for some time.
"The
probability of civil war is high in the wake of a precipitous US
withdrawal," he said, adding that Afghanistan meets the definition of a
fragile state. Despite very real challenges, with support, the Afghan
government can deliver minimally effective governance.
Dunford,
who chairs Afghan Study Group of the US Institute of Peace, told lawmakers that
the Taliban were not meeting the conditionality of the February 2020 agreement.
That was as a result of not seeing a broad reduction in violence and as a
result of not seeing the Taliban demonstrate the will or capacity to prevent
Al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a platform.
"We
are not advocating for a unilateral declaration that we remain behind after the
first of May. We're recommending that the Taliban actually hear that same
message from other regional stakeholders, not the least of which is China,
Russia and Pakistan," he said.
"We
do think that continued negotiations with the Taliban to highlight the fact
that we remain committed to the February 2020 Agreement. We have demonstrated
that, by drawing down to 2,500, we remain committed," he said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/joe-biden-would-not-be-okay-if-the-taliban-ruled-afghanistan-white-house/articleshow/81186086.cms
--------
Al-Qaeda,
Daesh terrorists using Ma’rib as launching pad for attacks on all Yemeni
regions: Officials
24
February 2021
This
undated file picture shows members of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group at an
undisclosed location in Yemen’s southern province of al-Bayda. (Photo via
Twitter)
------------
Yemeni
officials say members of the Takfiri al-Qaeda and Daesh terrorist groups are
using the center of strategic Ma’rib Province to launch attacks on other
regions in the war-ravaged country, and that the militants are receiving
training from Saudi military officers.
“Al-Qaeda
and Daesh [terrorist] groups have turned Ma’rib into a launching pad for
attacks on entire Yemeni regions. They are under the auspices of a Saudi
officer, and sending car bombs and death squads across the country,” Director
of Yemen’s Presidency Office Ahmed Hamed said at a ceremony in Sana’a on
Tuesday.
He
added, “Those who are now crying foul at the ongoing battle in Ma’rib kept mum
when Sana’a was under threat by [the al-Qaeda-affiliated Salafist] Islah Party,
al-Qaeda and Daesh [terrorists].”
“Why
is it that no one is worried about the closure of Sana’a International Airport,
which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of patients? Why is it that no
one is concerned about the seizure of Yemen-bound oil tankers, which has
brought vital, health and service sectors in Yemen to a standstill. This is
while al-Qaeda and Daesh operatives have occupied the city of Ma’rib and
displaced its local residents. It is very heartbreaking,” Hamed said.
Chairman
of the Comprehensive National Reconciliation and Political Solution Team Yousef
Abdullah al-Fishi also said Yemeni and foreign militants from Islah Party as
well as al-Qaeda and Daesh terror groups have come together in Ma’rib,
displaced locals and usurped their residences.
“Why
don’t we hear the United Nations, the Security Council, the international
community and, above all, the United States voicing concern about the brutal
siege of 30 million people [in Yemen]?,” he questioned.
Over
the past few weeks, Ma’rib has been the scene of large-scale operations by
Yemeni troops and allied Popular Committees fighters, who are pushing against
Saudi-backed militants loyal to former president AbdRabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Last
week, the DaeshTakfiri terrorist group said it had carried out operations
against the Yemeni armed forces in the province, killing and wounding a number
of them in the process.
The
Lebanon-based al-Akhbar newspaper wrote on Monday that Ma’rib is witnessing a
real coup against Saudi Arabia, and the kingdom’s actions to muster support are
no longer effective as local tribes tend to sign peace agreements with
advancing Yemeni army troops and Popular Committees fighters.
The
report highlighted that the unfolding development is a major blow to the Riyadh
regime as Ma’rib tribes have been in contact with the House of Saud for
decades.
The
tribes have seemingly had friendly relations with Saudi princes at various
periods. Saudi officials have been trying for decades to attract religious
scholars from Ma’rib in order to train them in the kingdom as part of a plan to
change the strategic Yemeni region’s culture.
‘Enemy
should not have foothold in any Yemeni province’
Meanwhile,
the spokesman of Yemen’s HouthiAnsarullah movement, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, has
called for the expulsion of foreign military forces from the country, stressing
that enemy should not be given a chance to gain a foothold in any Yemeni
region, be it Ma’rib or any other place.
“The
expulsion of the foreign occupier is the duty of every free Yemeni national.
Cooperation among people from all walks of life is required in order to
liberate all provinces. The enemy should not have a foothold in any [Yemeni]
province as it has tried in Ma’rib,” he said in a post published on his Twitter
page on Tuesday.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/24/645942/Al-Qaeda,-Daesh-terrorists-using-Ma%E2%80%99rib-as-launching-pad-for-attacks-on-all-Yemeni-regions--Officials
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Can’t
equate terror victims & plotters, India tells UN body
Feb
24, 2021
NEW
DELHI: Foreign minister S Jaishankar reminded the UN Human Rights Council,
which has also passed critical comments on Jammu & Kashmir, that terrorism
is a crime against humanity and violates the most fundamental human right, the
right to life.
Addressing
the high level segment at the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Jaishankar
said, “As a longstanding victim, India has been in the forefront of global
action against terrorism. This is possible only when there is a clear
realisation, including in bodies dealing with human rights, that terrorism can
never be justified, nor its perpetrators ever equated with its victims.”
The
exchanges have continued to be sharp after Michelle Bachelet, a socialist
politician and former Chilean President, became United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights. Jaishankar’s strong words are a pointed message
to the global human rights body that has been critical of decisions like
scrapping of Article 370 in J&K but which seldom pays attention to the role
of Pakistan-backed terrorists in inflicting loss of lives and preventing
normalcy in the Union Territory.
In
the past, India has said the council has taken egregious and unwarranted
positions that do not recognise the efforts to ensure democratic functioning in
the terror-hit region. In October 2020, the UNGA elected China, Cuba, Gabon,
Pakistan, Russia, and Uzbekistan as members of the UNHRC, a fact that came
under severe criticism. Pakistan was re-elected with China’s help even though
in 2019, it failed to secure the necessary support to call for a debate on
Kashmir, after India nullified Article 370.
Jaishankar
said, “violation of and gaps in implementation of human rights should be
addressed in a fair and just manner, with objectivity, non-selectivity,
transparency and with due respect to the principles of non-interference in
internal affairs and national sovereignty.” The UNHRC has issued a number of
very critical reports against India, particularly on Kashmir.
The
US quit the UNHRC in 2018 during the Trump administration citing unfair
treatment by the body of Israel. Last week, the Biden administration said they
would re-engage UNHRC formally, though a formal return may happen at the end of
the year, say sources.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/cant-equate-terror-victims-plotters-india-tells-un-body/articleshow/81181297.cms
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Violence
in western Ethiopia forced 7,000 to flee into Sudan: UN
23
February 2021
At
least 7,000 people who fled escalating ethnic violence in western Ethiopia have
sought refuge in neighboring Sudan, the United Nations refugee agency says.
The
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Tuesday that most
of the asylum seekers who fled ethnic violence in the Metekel Zone of the
Benishangul-Gumuz region were living among Sudanese host communities.
The
refugee agency was working with local authorities in Sudan's Blue Nile Province
to respond to the humanitarian needs of the newly-arrived refugees.
"The
situation [in Metekel] has rapidly escalated in the past three months,"
Babar Baloch, the UNHCR spokesman, said in the Swiss city of Geneva.
"The
stories the refugees are bringing... they are fleeing attacks from their
opponents," Baloch said.
According
to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission,
more than 180 people were killed in separate massacres in Metekel in
December 2020 and January.
This
came after members of the ethnic Gumuz community, the ethnic majority in the
region, attacked the houses of ethnic Amhara, Oromo, and Shinasha tribes.
The
rights group said the Gumuz set the houses on fire and stabbed and shot
residents.
Fighters
from Amhara, the second most populous ethnic group in Ethiopia, have been
accused by witnesses of carrying out atrocities along with Ethiopian and
Eritrean forces in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region
The
bloodshed in the Metekel Zone is separate from the deadly conflict in Tigray,
which has sent more than 61,000 Ethiopians into Sudan's provinces of al-Qadarif
and Kassala since fighting erupted in November last year.
The
new influx of refugees into Sudan comes amid tensions between Addis Ababa and
Khartoum over a border dispute and the deadlocked talks over a massive dam
Ethiopia is building on the Blue Nile.
Tensions
between the two countries further escalated after the Ethiopian government
launched a military campaign against rebels in Tigray last year.
Tensions
have led to armed clashes between Sudanese and Ethiopian forces in recent
months, with each sides accusing the other of instigating the violence. The two
countries held talks in Khartoum in January to deescalate.
Sudan
also demands that Ethiopia guarantee the complete re-demarcation of their
mutual borders and return to negotiations as previously agreed upon.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/23/645919/Violence-in-western-Ethiopia-forced-7,000-to-flee-into-Sudan--UN
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German
court sentences ISIS leader to 10 years, 6 months in prison
24
February ,2021
An
Iraqi preacher said to be ISIS’ de facto leader in Germany was sentenced to 10
years and six months in prison by a German court on Wednesday.
Ahmad
Abdulaziz Abdullah Abdullah, better known as Abu Walaa, was accused of
directing an extremist network which radicalized young people in Europe and
helped them travel to Iraq and Syria.
The
37-year-old was found guilty of membership of a foreign terrorist organization,
aiding the preparation of subversive violent acts and financing terrorism.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/24/Terrorism-German-court-sentences-ISIS-leader-to-10-years-6-months-in-prison
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China
jails Uighurs for ‘picking quarrels’ and giving gifts
February
24, 2021
BEIJING:
China has dramatically increased its prosecution of Muslim minorities in
Xinjiang through the formal court system, handing out long prison terms for
dubious charges such as “picking quarrels” and giving gifts to overseas
relatives, a rights group said Wednesday.
These
criminal convictions are in addition to the detention of an estimated one
million Uighurs and other mainly Muslim minorities in “political education”
camps in Xinjiang.
More
than 250,000 people in the northwestern region have been formally sentenced and
imprisoned since 2016, according to Human Rights Watch.
“Despite
the veneer of legality, many of those in Xinjiang’s prisons are ordinary people
who were convicted for going about their lives and practising their religion,”
HRW researcher Maya Wang said in a statement.
The
US State Department has said China’s actions in Xinjiang amount to genocide,
while Canadian lawmakers on Tuesday passed a similar declaration.
HRW
said criminal sentences in the region had spiked between 2017 and 2019 during a
crackdown on Uighurs and other mainly Muslim minorities.
Xinjiang
courts sentenced nearly 100,000 people in 2017, up from less than 40,000 in
2016, the organisation said, citing government data.
The
rights group said police, prosecutors and courts had been placed under pressure
to “deliver swift and harsh punishment” in the name of counter-terrorism,
causing many to be imprisoned without committing any genuine offence.
Sentences
were handed out for activities including “telling others ‘what is haram and
halal'” and bringing gifts to relatives in Turkey, HRW said, noting that prison
terms have also grown longer.
Prior
to 2017, around 11% of the sentences carried prison terms of over five years.
In 2017, 87% did.
China’s
treatment and incarceration of Muslim minorities in Xinjiang, which includes
accusations of forcibly sterilising women and imposing a regime of forced
labour, has drawn a growing chorus of international condemnation.
After
initially denying the existence of camps in Xinjiang, Beijing later defended
them as vocational training centres aimed at reducing the appeal of Islamic
extremism.
Foreign
Minister Wang Yi said Monday that Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in
Xinjiang was a “shining example” of China’s human rights progress.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2021/02/24/china-jails-uighurs-for-picking-quarrels-and-giving-gifts/
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Gulf
countries have to be part of any dialogue on Iran nuclear deal: GCC SG
Tuqa
Khalid
24
February ,2021
The
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries need to be part of any dialogue
related to Iran’s nuclear deal, GCC Secretary General NayefFalah Mubarak
al-Hajraf said on Tuesday.
“On
the Iranian nuclear file, al-Hajraf called for the necessity for the GCC to
participate in any negotiations related to the security and stability of the
region,” the secretariat of the GCC, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
the UAE and Saudi Arabia, said in a statement after the Secretary General’s
meeting with ambassadors of the European Union in Riyadh.
Washington
and Tehran are locked in a standoff over reviving nuclear talks.
US
President Joe Biden’s administration has signaled to Iran its willingness to
return to talks to revive the nuclear deal Former President Donald Trump
abandoned in 2018.
Biden
reversed Trump’s determination that all UN sanctions against Iran had been
restored. And the State Department eased stringent restrictions on the domestic
travel of Iranian diplomats in New York.
Yet,
Tehran demanded that all Trump-era sanctions on Iran be lifted before taking
any real action to return to the deal. Iran also upped the ante by officially
restricting site inspections by the UN's nuclear watchdog IAEA.
The
GCC SG also called on Iran to quit interfering in the internal affairs of
countries and stop “destabilizing security and stability by supporting
terrorist groups” in the region.
Gulf
countries have been at odds with longtime foe Iran for decades, condemning Tehran’s
long history of arming and financially supporting its network of proxies – Shia
militias across the Middle East – to further its influence in the region.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/24/Iran-nuclear-deal-Gulf-countries-have-to-be-part-of-any-dialogue-on-Iran-nuclear-deal-GCC-SG
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan
asks world to give up double standard on human rights
February
24, 2021
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Tuesday asked the United Nations Human Rights Council and the
international community to give up politically driven double standard on human
rights, especially in Occupied Kashmir, and hold the abusers accountable for
their actions instead of appeasing them.
Federal
Minister for Human Rights Dr ShireenMazari, in a video statement at the high-level
segment of the 46th Human Rights Council session, drew the council’s attention
towards Occupied Kashmir, which she said was witnessing “a full-blown human
rights crisis”.
In
her remarks, the minister also touched upon growing Islamophobia, spread of
state-sponsored hatred and dehumanisation of the oppressed on the pretext of
freedom of expression or secularism. Calling out the standard bearers of human
rights on their alleged hypocrisy, she said they “prioritise political,
strategic and commercial interests over human rights values and principles”.
The
minister regretted that even public calls for accountability of some of the
powerful and ‘friendly’ states were conspicuously missing.
Highlighting
the aggravating situation in Occupied Kashmir, Dr Mazari said about “eight
million Kashmiris have been caged up in one of the world’s largest
concentration camps. Using draconian laws, Indian forces have intensified
systematic use of summary executions, torture and rape as a weapon”.
She
also mentioned the encounters staged by the Indian security forces, imposition
of collective punishment on communities, use of live ammunitions, including
pellet gunshots, against peaceful protesters and religious gatherings.
The
minister recalled that a large number of political leaders, activists and
journalists have been put in jails by the Indian government without due
process.
“Cowed
by brave indigenous voices, Indian troops are gagging local media, harassing
journalists and carrying out reprisal attacks against human rights defenders,”
she added.
Dr
Mazari said Indian forces enjoyed complete impunity in held Kashmir for their
crimes and excessive use of force against the local population.
“Not
a single member of Indian army has so far been prosecuted for the widely documented
human violations in the occupied territory, including the mass rape of Kashmiri
women in the villages of Kunan and Poshpura in 1991 — just one of the many such
instances of use of rape as a weapon by the occupying forces,” she remarked.
About
Indian actions to change the demography of the occupied territory for
converting its Muslim majority into a minority, she said this was being done on
an “unprecedented” scale and over 3 million non-Kashmiris have been illegally
granted Kashmiri citizenship; allowed permanent settlement, and purchase of
properties and lands, and they were taking up local jobs in the occupied
territory.
The
human rights minister reminded the council of two of its reports on held
Kashmir in 2018 and 2019 that had been commissioned by the High Commissioner
for Human Rights and the Joint Statement on Jammu and Kashmir, endorsed by more
than 50 states at the 42nd session.
The
council, she said, while implementing the recommendations of the two reports
should establish an independent commission of inquiry to investigate and report
human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
She
further asked High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet to continue
with the Kashmir reporting process in exercise of her monitoring and prevention
mandate.
“Appeasement
or inaction are no options. Doing so will only embolden the abuser. Let us not
repeat mistakes of the past but rather demonstrate the courage to stand firmly
on the right side of the history,” she asserted.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1609051/pakistan-asks-world-to-give-up-double-standard-on-human-rights
--------
Law
has to be followed in good faith: Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed
SHAHID
RAO
February
24, 2021
ISLAMABAD
- Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Khalid Jawed Khan Tuesday in the Supreme
Court strongly opposed to hear the arguments of the Bar Associations in the
reference regarding holding of the Senate elections either through “secret
ballot” or “open ballot”.
The
AGP said that the bars should have taken notice of the lawyers’ protest. They
did nothing when some lawyers had attacked the Islamabad High Court Chief
Justice Chambers, he added. He requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan to
decide the reference by Friday (February 26), saying that afterwards the
arguments on the Reference will merely be academic.
He
opposed the petitions before a five-member bench of the apex court headed by
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice
MushirAlam, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijazul Ahsan, and Justice YahyaAfridi
during the hearing of the reference regarding holding of the Senate elections
either through “secret ballot” or “open ballot”.
It
is likely that the bench will reserve or announce a short order on the
Presidential Reference today.
Chief
Justice Gulzar Ahmed directed Senator RazaRabbani, who is representing PPP, and
appearing in his personal capacity, to complete the argument by Wednesday.
The
court allotted RazaRabbani, Farooq H Naek, counsel for Pakistan Peoples Party
Parliamentarians (PPPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), and Sindh Bar
Association half an hour to each for completing arguments on February 24. They
were asked to file their synopsis. Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-Pakistan and
Jamaat-e-Islami have adopted the arguments of RazaRabbani.
Earlier,
during the proceedings, responding to a court query, RazaRabbani said that
proportional representation is a system and it is not for reflecting the party
strength in the Senate. He added that Article 59(2) of Constitution provides
for the proportional representation. He further argued that the system requires
the party is represented in the Senate, but the political alliance and
compulsion can alternate the mathematical number of the parties in the Senate.
He said that it does not mean that an MP is involved in the corrupt practice if
he has not given vote to another party.
Justice
Gulzar asked from the counsel that you mean to say that if the strength of a
political party is not reflected in the Senate as there is room to enter into
alliance and there could be different matters.
Justice
Ijaz asked from Rabbani that you are accepting that ordinarily the party
strength needs to be reflected but if there is a distortion then the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP) cannot look in to it.
Rabbani
replied that the ECP can look the ballots but the secrecy of the vote mentioned
in Article 226 should not to be disturbed.
The
counsel argued that Section 167 of Election Act, 2017, deals with the corrupt
practice that a person is guilty of the offence of corrupt practice if he is
guilty of bribery, personation, exercising undue influence. He said that in
Section 168 bribery is defined that a person is guilty of bribery, if he,
directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf
receives or agrees to receive or contracts for any gratification for voting or
refraining from voting. He argued if it comes to the notice of someone that an
MP has cast or refrained from polling vote for money then that MP has committed
corrupt practice and there is punishment for it.
Justice
Ijaz said that the corruption has many variations and there should be some
post-election material to connect the corrupt practice. You have taken money
for refraining to cast vote is also corrupt practice. He asked that is it necessary
to have video of it.
Rabbani
responded that what had happened to those videos which came to limelight and
those videos are of 2018 elections but no action was taken. The Chief Justice
questioned, “We do not like to have system that a legislator involved in
corrupt practice be caught.”
RazaRabbani
said that constitution does not allow identification of voters.
Rabbani
said that suppose an MPA has refrained from voting then how it would be
determined that he has been involved in the corrupt practice. Rabbani contended
that the basic question of the Reference, filed by the federal government, is
whether Senate elections are under the Constitution or not? He said that it is
not the objective of the Reference that there should be secret or open ballot
for Senate election.
Later,
the bench adjourned the hearing till today for further proceedings.
APP
ads: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Tuesday remarked that
whatever was written in the law had to be followed in good faith.
During
the course of proceedings of presidential reference seeking an opinion on open
balloting for the upcoming Senate elections, CJP remarked that Implementation
of the law with malicious intention causes problem.
Justice
Ijaz said that the rules were framed under the Constitution. The status of the
Rules for the Election Act was not constitutional, he added. He said that
entire procedure of the Senate election had been in the law and not in the
constitution. Later the court adjourned hearing on Presidential reference seeking
an opinion on open balloting for the upcoming Senate elections till Wednesday.
https://nation.com.pk/24-Feb-2021/law-has-to-be-followed-in-good-faith-chief-justice-gulzar-ahmed
--------
'Sense
will prevail': PM Imran woos Sri Lankan businessmen, hopes for better relations
with all neighbours
February
24, 2021
Prime
Minister Imran Khan said on Wednesday that the only way forward for the
subcontinent is to resolve existing issues through dialogue.
"Immediately
when I came into power, I approached our neighbour India and explained to Prime
Minister NarendraModi that the way forward for the subcontinent is to resolve
our differences through dialogue.
"I
didn't succeed but I am optimistic that eventually sense will prevail. The only
way the subcontinent can tackle poverty is by improving trade relations. Let us
live like civilised neighbours as the Europeans live."
The
prime minister expressed the views while addressing the Pakistan-Sri Lanka
Trade and Investment Conference in Colombo, aimed at promoting trade and
investment between the two countries.
"Germany
and France have fought multiple times, but today it is unthinkable for them to
have a conflict because they are so interlinked due to trade. Similarly, my
dream for the subcontinent is that we resolve our differences," he said,
adding that the Kashmir issue was the only conflict in the region.
"All
we want is for the Kashmir dispute to be resolved according to the United
Nations Security Council resolutions and this can only be achieved through
dialogue."
The
prime minister said that a conflict between two nations only breeds more
conflict. "We need to resolve our differences through dialogue and not
through conflict. Imagine the potential for trade within the
subcontinent," he said, adding that the only thing stopping the region
from realising this potential was the inability to resolve differences through
dialogue.
He
expressed the hope that Pakistan could also play its part in reducing rising
tensions between the United States and China. "We would much rather be a
country that brings other nations and humanity together," he said.
Poverty
alleviation
PM
Imran began his address by stating that poverty alleviation was his motivation
behind entering politics. "Twenty five years ago, I entered politics
because I felt that the best way to reduce poverty in our country was to setup
a welfare state," adding that he realised that the Sri Lankan leadership
was also motivated by poverty alleviation.
He
said that during his meeting with Sri Lankan President GotabayaRajapaksa, the
two discussed how to bring down the rising cost of food items. Earlier today,
the premier called on the Sri Lankan president for a one-on-one meeting at the
Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
"He
told me how he went to China and visited various farms where the gap between
the wholesale and the retail [market] had been reduced."
In
Pakistan, a huge gap exists between these two, he said, adding that he was
going to take the Sri Lankan president's input on board.
"The
other way we can reduce poverty is through investment and promoting
profitability in business. We have completely changed our policies in
Pakistan," he said, adding that in the past, government policies had
impeded foreign investment.
Stating
that the country's ranking on the Ease of Doing Business index had improved, PM
Imran said that the whole idea was to generate wealth to uplift the
underprivileged. "This is what China did."
The
prime minister also touched on the relations between the two countries, saying
that Pakistan could learn the most from Sri Lanka in terms of tourism.
"You
have a much more advanced tourism industry compared to us. Pakistan has
enormous potential for tourism but that potential has been limited to local
tourism so far, not foreign tourism."
At
the end of his address, PM Imran once again urged the Sri Lankan business
community to participate in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.
"It gives you the opportunity of connecting from Gwadar right up to
Uzbekistan and the central Asian states.
"This
is the connectivity that Pakistan offers [...] we have these special economic
zones which give incentives to businesses to set up industries there. So I
invite Sri Lankan businesses, businessmen and investment, you can come over to
Pakistan."
'Focus
is economic diplomacy'
Addressing
the conference, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the two
countries have to look at how to improve bilateral relations.
"When
Imran Khan took reins of the government, our economic indicators were pointing
in the wrong direction. [But] in two-and-a-half years we have achieved, to a
large extent, economic stability," he said, adding that the focus had now
shifted towards growth.
Pakistan
has moved up a number of places in the Ease of Doing Business ranking and the
government is also facilitating investment, he said. "Our focus has
shifted from geo-politics to geo-economics," he said.
He
added that the aim was to make Pakistan a hub of economic activity, while
focusing on development and connectivity. Addressing the participants of the
conference, he said that the Foreign Office was committed to assisting and
facilitating Sri Lankan businessmen.
"Our
focus is economic diplomacy. You are welcome to come to Pakistan, you will see
how hospitable it will be," he concluded.
Dawood
appeals to business community
Commerce
Adviser Abdul RazakDawood said that the aim of the conference was to bring the
business communities of the two countries together to explore new ideas and
opportunities for increasing trade and investment.
"Fellow
business people, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, we have
come here not to fear the future but to shape it," he said.
The
adviser maintained that while there is trade between the two countries, it is
not "good enough" and doesn't match the relationship between Pakistan
and Sri Lanka.
He
said that Pakistan has made a dramatic economic turnaround and is witnessing
industrial growth. "So take advantage of this," he said in an appeal
to the Sri Lankan business community.
"We
stand at a moment where our capacity to change the economic relationship is
unmatched [...]. We must not accept the current level of economic relations and
must imagine future relations," he said.
PM
Imran meets Sri Lankan president
Earlier
today, PM Imran called on the Sri Lankan president at the President House in
Colombo. According to the Prime Minister's Office, the one-on-one meeting
between the two leaders was followed by delegation-level talks.
"The
premier underlined the exceptional quality of Pakistan-Sri Lanka relations
marked by trust, understanding and mutual support. The prime minister
emphasised the importance of building a robust economic partnership
characterised by enhanced bilateral trade, investments, and commercial
cooperation," the statement said.
The
prime minister also laid emphasis on deeper collaboration in diverse fields —
particularly agriculture, tourism, science and technology, sports, education
and culture. The importance of sharing experiences in poverty alleviation was
also stressed.
The
prime minister underlined that Pakistan and Sri Lanka had always stood by each
other. He re-affirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support to Sri Lanka in the future.
The close cooperation between the two sides in the multilateral fora was
re-affirmed, the statement said.
While
noting the close traditional and cultural ties between the two countries, PM
Imran highlighted that Pakistan has the potential of being a choice destination
for religious tourism for Sri Lankan people. He particularly highlighted the
rich Buddhist heritage of Pakistan.
"In
the regional context, the premier shared his vision of peace, development, and
connectivity. He also emphasized the importance of regional cooperation through
the platform of SAARC and the opportunities for regional prosperity through
CPEC, the flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative," the statement
said.
PM
Imran extended a cordial invitation to President Rajapaksa to visit Pakistan at
the earliest convenience, the statement concluded.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1609145/sense-will-prevail-pm-imran-woos-sri-lankan-businessmen-hopes-for-better-relations-with-all-neighbours
--------
Pakistan's
priorities have shifted from geo-political to geo-economic, says Qureshi
February
24, 2021
Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan has "shifted its
geo-political priorities into geo-economic priorities", while speaking
about Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Sri Lanka.
The
foreign minister was briefing the media about the premier's maiden visit to
Colombo. Qureshi said that Pakistan has offered a credit line of $15 million to
Sri Lanka for defence and security cooperation to "end the menace of
terrorism [which is] of equal importance to both" countries.
Furthermore,
the government has also decided to offer scholarships to 100 Sri Lankan
students in the top medical institutes in Pakistan, he said.
FM
Qureshi assured that Pakistan stood by Sri Lanka in the fight against terrorism
especially when the latter was "in trouble and terrorism [there] was at
its peak". "They share credit [of defeating terrorism] with
Pakistan," Qureshi said in a conversation with reporters.
He
said that the prime minister's visit will help in strengthening bilateral ties
and increase cooperation between the two countries, Radio Pakistan reported.
The
two sides also discussed ways to enhance bilateral trade and investment during
the visit, Qureshi said, adding that trade between the two countries was below
potential even though a free trade agreement existed.
The
country is also looking at ways to promote tourism, noting that Pakistan had
several Buddhist sites that would be attractive to Sri Lanka's citizens.
Furthermore, the varied landscapes and climate zones in Pakistan are also of
attraction for visitors.
PM
Imran's visit
PM
Imran arrived in Sri Lanka on Tuesday on a two-day visit on the invitation of
the country's prime minister, MahindaRajapaksa.
On
arrival in Colombo, he was received by his Sri Lankan counterpart and presented
a guard of honour. He was later introduced to members of the Sri Lankan
cabinet.Prime Minister Imran and Rajapaksa then held a one-on-one meeting at
Temple Trees, the official residence of the Sri Lankan prime minister.
It
was followed by delegation-level talks between Imran and Rajapaksa, according
to the former's office.
A
Foreign Office statement said yesterday that Imran and Rajapaksa during the
meeting held wide-ranging discussions with a focus on reinforcing a
"broad-based and enduring partnership" between Pakistan and Sri Lanka
to advance the shared objectives of peace, stability and economic prosperity in
South Asia.
The
two leaders reaffirmed their resolve to work together across a broad range of
areas and acknowledged the opportunities for mutually beneficial collaboration
in the areas of trade and investment, IT and human resource development,
agriculture and science and technology, security and defence cooperation, and
culture and tourism.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1609136/pakistans-priorities-have-shifted-from-geo-political-to-geo-economic-says-qureshi
--------
South
Asia
Taliban
supreme leader says only Shariah court can punish accused
February
24, 2021
PESHAWAR:
The Afghan Taliban supreme leader Shaikh HaibatullahAkhundzada has said that
only their court and judges had the authority to punish someone after a proper
trial and Taliban members violating this order would be made accountable.
In
an order posted on the Taliban website, he said if a prisoner is taken or an
accused is held by Taliban that person should be presented before a Taliban
Shaiah Court and put on trial. The directive said no Taliban member or official
other than the Taliban court had the power to award punishment to an accused.
Shaikh
HaibatullahAkhundzada in his directive said Taliban must abide by the law and
policies of the movement and refrain from violations that cause suffering to
the common people.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/794709-taliban-supreme-leader-says-only-shariah-court-can-punish-accused
--------
Sri
Lanka Muslims protest Covid cremations as PM Imran visits
February
23, 2021
Sri
Lanka minority Muslim community demonstrated in Colombo on Tuesday demanding an
end to forced cremations of Covid-19 victims as Prime Minister Imran Khan
arrived on an official visit.
Dozens
of Muslims carried a mock janazah, or coffin, denouncing the Sri Lankan
government's policy of banning burials of virus victims disregarding their
funeral rites.
The
demonstration was aimed at the visit of Prime Minister Imran who two weeks ago
had weighed in on the plight of Muslims in Sri Lanka.
He
had welcomed an announcement by Prime Minister MahindaRajapaksa on February 10
that burials would be allowed, but a day later Colombo backtracked and said
there would be no change in the cremation-only policy.
“Respect
Prime Minister's statement and allow burials,” said a banner carried by the
demonstrators who assembled at an open space in front of President
GotabayaRajapaksa's office.
His
government has rejected international pleas and recommendations from its own
experts to allow Muslims to bury their dead in line with Islamic custom.
The
government first banned burials in April amid concerns — which experts say are
baseless — by influential Buddhist monks that burying bodies could contaminate
groundwater and spread the virus. The World Health Organisation has said there
is no such risk, recommending both burial and cremation of virus victims.
Traditionally,
Muslims bury their dead facing Makkah. Sri Lanka's majority Buddhists, who are
strong backers of the current government, are typically cremated, as are
Hindus.
In
December, the authorities ordered the forced cremation of at least 19 Muslim
Covid-19 victims, including a baby, after their families refused to claim their
bodies from a hospital morgue.
This
stoked dismay and anger among the Muslim community, moderates and abroad, with
the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation repeatedly expressing
concern.
There
have been ongoing tensions between Muslims and the majority Sinhalese — who are
mostly Buddhists — since the deadly 2019 Easter bombings carried out by local
jihadists.
Muslim
community leaders say more than half the 450 Covid-19 victims were from the
Muslim minority which accounts for just 10 per cent of the 21 million
population.
Muslims
have a disproportionate number of fatalities because they don't seek treatment,
fearing they will be cremated if they are diagnosed with the virus, they have
said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608985/sri-lanka-muslims-protest-covid-cremations-as-pm-imran-visits
--------
Taliban
attack claims 9 uprising force members in Logar
23
Feb 2021
At
least nine public uprising force members were killed in a Taliban offensive in
Logar province on Monday night.
The
public uprising force members were attacked in the Hesarak area in Pul-e-Alam
the provincial capital.
Sources
told media the clashes continued for hours until the outpost fell to the
Taliban.The Taliban storm and overrun resulted in the death of 9 public
uprising force members, local sources told media.
Taliban
also took weapons and ammunitions from the outpost with them.
Taliban
has reportedly claimed responsibility for the incident.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-attack-claims-9-uprising-force-members-in-logar-343437/
--------
Afghanistan
begins COVID-19 vaccine campaign amid surge in violence
February
23, 2021
KABUL:
Afghanistan on Tuesday launched a Covid-19 vaccination campaign aimed at
inoculating hundreds of thousands, as the war-weary nation reels from
near-daily attacks by insurgents.
Doctors,
security personnel, and journalists were among the first volunteers to receive
doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine, donated earlier this month by India.
“Today,
I congratulate the people of Afghanistan for the launch of the first stage of
Covid-19 vaccine [drive] with 500,000 doses of vaccines. This is a big
opportunity for the people of Afghanistan,” said Afghan President Ashraf Ghani
as the first jabs were administered.
“We
don’t expect any miracles, but let’s help this campaign to be implemented
justly,” the country’s acting health minister WaheedMajroh added.
Afghanistan
is believed to have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic in the last year,
but limited testing and a ramshackle health care sector have hampered its
ability to track the virus.
Officially
the country has recorded just 55,600 confirmed cases and about 2,430 deaths.
But
a survey published by the country’s health ministry last August estimated that
up to 10 million people — nearly a third of the population — might have been
infected with the coronavirus.
Kabul,
along with urban areas across the country, have been rocked in the recent weeks
by frequent explosions on an almost daily basis amid fraught peace talks
between the government and the Taliban.
Decades
of conflict have slowed past vaccine drives in Afghanistan, including an
anti-polio campaign, with swathes of the country under the control of
insurgents making access difficult for inoculation teams.
The
war-torn country kicked off its vaccine drive as controversies dogged
inoculation plans across the globe, with accusations of dose hoarding, supply
shortages and logistical headaches slowing the delivery of jabs.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1814261/world
--------
42
Taliban killed in Kandahar: MoD
24
Feb 2021
The
Ministry of Defense on Wednesday stated that 42 Taliban fighters were killed in
the Mianshin, Panjwai, and Arghandab districts of Kandahar province.
MoD
in a released statement said Afghan national defense and security forces backed
by air support launched an operation in three districts of southern Kandahar
province.
During
the clashes 42 Taliban were killed, 8 wounded also the group’s stronghold, four
motorbikes, and some of their weapons and ammunition were wrecked in the
operations.
According
to the statement, defense forces discovered and defused 35 various types of
IEDs and mines in the Arghandab and Maiwand districts of the province by doing
so the Afghan forces prevented major casualties and saved dozens of innocent
lives.
This
comes as one policeman was and four others were injured in a Taliban offensive
in Nurgaram district of Nuristan on Tuesday night
Local
sources told the media that if reinforcements are not sent, the Taliban will
take over the center of the district and accused government officials of not
being attentive to the security situation in the region.
Taliban
and government officials have not yet commented on the incident.
https://www.khaama.com/42-taliban-killed-in-kandahar-mod-3434366/
--------
‘Violence’
against children spiked in Afghanistan
23
Feb 2021
Afghanistan
Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said in a report on Tuesday that
over 2,019 children have been killed and injured during the 2020 battles in
Afghanistan.
In
an annual report based on the children’s rights, AIHRC stated the child
casualties had dropped to 25.1 percent compared to 2019, but violence against
children has increased to 16 percent.
Physical,
mental, economic, sexual, and other forms of violence have been recorded
against children, and out of 1,391 children who were recorded as victims of
violence 984 (68.2%) are boys and 443 (31.8%) are girls.
“This
research reflects the human rights situation of 5,318 children (3,807 boys, and
1,509 girls) from 28 provinces of the country. 19.3 percent of these children
are between 7 and 11 years of age, and 80.7 percent of them are between 12 and
18 years old,” AIHRC stated.
According
to AIHRC, “In 1399 (2020), 628 (45.1 percent) of children included in the
study, were victims of psychological violence, 606 (43.6 percent) were victims
of physical violence, 44 (3.2 percent) victims of economic violence, and 34 (2.4
percent) were victims of sexual violence; and 79 (5.7 percent), were victims of
other types of violence that are not listed under verbal-psychological,
physical, economic and sexual violence”.
The
number of children deprived of education due to poverty, security issues, and
family also had a sharp rise, the report indicated.
The
report also added at least 100 children were recruited by illegal armed groups
and the government.
This
comes as UNAMA in a report said that amid peace efforts civilian casualties
have doubled.
https://www.khaama.com/violence-against-children-spiked-in-afghanistan-223322/
--------
Afghan
peace talks resume in Doha as US reviews Taliban deal
23
Feb 2021
Peace
talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government have resumed in the Qatari
capital Doha after weeks of delays, escalating violence and a change in US
diplomatic leadership as the Biden administration began.
Taliban
spokesman Mohammad Naeem tweeted on Monday night the resumption of the talks,
which were the outcome of an agreement between the Afghan armed group and the
US in February 2020.
But
the administration of President Joe Biden is reviewing the agreement, which was
aimed at ending the longest war the US has fought. The Taliban has been
fighting the combined forces of the Western-backed Kabul government and foreign
troops since it was toppled in a US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Last
week, the Taliban in an open letter called on the US to fully implement the
Doha accord, including the withdrawal of all international troops, saying it
had committed to its side of the deal – to secure US security interests in the
war-torn country.
Setting
the agenda
There
were no details about the talks except for an announcement that the first item
of business would be setting the agenda.
When
talks ended abruptly in January, days after they began, both sides submitted
their wish lists for agendas which they now have to sift through to agree on
negotiation items and the order in which they will be tackled.
The
priority for the Afghan government, Washington and NATO is a serious reduction
in violence that can lead to a ceasefire, the Taliban have until now resisted
any immediate ceasefire.
Washington
is reviewing the Doha peace agreement the previous Trump administration signed
with the Taliban as consensus mounts in Washington that a delay of the
withdrawal deadline is needed. The Taliban have resisted suggestions of even a
brief extension.
There
has been a suggestion of a smaller intelligence-based force staying behind that
would focus almost exclusively on ‘counterterrorism’ and an increasingly active
and deadly ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in eastern Afghanistan.
But
neither Washington nor NATO has yet announced a decision on the fate of an
estimated 10,000 foreign troops, including 2,500 American soldiers, still
stationed in Afghanistan.
NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that the troops from the
transatlantic alliance would not withdraw from Afghanistan “before the time is
right”, adding that the Taliban must do more to meet the terms of the agreement
with the US.
Political
solution
The
Biden administration, which has emphasised a political solution to the
protracted conflict, retained US diplomat ZalmayKhalilzad, who negotiated the
US agreement with the Taliban but has until now avoided any definitive
statements about the road forward on Afghanistan.
The
resumption in talks in Doha comes on the heels of hectic diplomatic activity,
including reaching out to Pakistani officials and its powerful Army Chief
General QamarJavedBajwa.
Pakistan
is seen as critical to getting the Taliban back to the negotiating table, and
it can use its influence to pressure the Taliban to reduce violence in
Afghanistan.
Last
week, the head of US Central Command, General Kenneth F McKenzie, was in
Islamabad, as was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Afghan envoy, ZamirKabulov
and Qatari foreign ministry special envoy Mutlaq Bin Majed Al Qahtani.
Afghan
President Ashraf Ghani’s special envoy Umar Daudzai is expected in Islamabad on
Wednesday.
While
details of the meetings have been sketchy, Afghanistan featured prominently and
officials familiar with the talks said a reduction of violence and eventual
ceasefire dominated discussions.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/23/afghan-peace-talks-resume-but-path-is-anything-but-certain
--------
North
America
US
President Biden moves to reengage with Palestinians after Israel focus
24
February ,2021
The
Biden administration is moving slowly but surely toward reengaging with the
Palestinians after a near total absence of official contact during former
President Donald Trump’s four years in office.
As
American officials plan steps to restore direct ties with the Palestinian
leadership, Biden’s national security team is taking steps to restore relations
that had been severed while Trump pursued a Mideast policy focused largely
around Israel, America's closest partner in the region.
On
Tuesday, for the second time in two days, Biden's administration categorically
embraced a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, something
that Trump had been purposefully vague about while slashing aid to the
Palestinians and taking steps to support Israel’s claims to land that the
Palestinians want for an independent state.
The
State Department said Tuesday that a U.S. delegation attended a meeting of a
Norwegian-run committee that serves as a clearinghouse for assistance to the
Palestinians. Although little-known outside foreign policy circles, the
so-called Ad Hoc Liaison Committee has been influential in the peace process
since Israel and the Palestinians signed the Oslo Accords in 1993.
“During
the discussion, the United States reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to advancing
prosperity, security, and freedom for both Israelis and Palestinians and to
preserve the prospects of a negotiated two-state solution in which Israel lives
in peace and security alongside a viable Palestinian state,” the State
Department said in a statement.
“The
United States underscored the commitment to supporting economic and humanitarian
assistance and the need to see progress on outstanding projects that will
improve the lives of the Palestinian people, while urging all parties to avoid
unilateral steps that make a two-state solution more difficult to achieve,” it
said.
U.S.
participation in the meeting followed a Monday call between Secretary of State
Antony Blinken and Israel’s foreign minister in which Blinken stressed that the
new U.S. administration unambiguously supports a two-state solution. Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is close to Trump, has eschewed the
two-state solution.
Biden
spoke to Netanyahu last week for the first time as president after a delay that
many found suspicious and suggestive of a major realignment in U.S. policy.
Blinken, however, has spoken to Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi twice
amid ongoing concern in Israel about Biden's intentions in the region,
particularly his desire to reenter the Iran nuclear deal.
In
Monday's call, Blinken “emphasized the Biden administration’s belief that the
two-state solution is the best way to ensure Israel’s future as a Jewish and
democratic state, living in peace alongside a viable and democratic Palestinian
state,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
The
Trump administration had presented its own version of a two-state peace plan,
though it would have required significant Palestinian concessions on territory
and sovereignty.
The
Palestinians, however, rejected it out of hand and accused the U.S. of no
longer being an honest peace broker after Trump recognized Jerusalem as
Israel's capital, moved the U.S. embassy to the city from Tel Aviv, cut off aid
to the Palestinian Authority, closed the Palestinian diplomatic mission in
Washington and rescinded a long-standing legal opinion that Israeli settlement
activity is illegitimate under international law.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/24/US-President-Biden-moves-to-reengage-with-Palestinians-after-Israel-focus
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Biden
has first phone call with Iraq PM, second to a Middle East leader
Joseph
Haboush
23
February ,2021
US
President Joe Biden had his first phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa
al-Kadhimi on Tuesday, a tweet from the latter said.
In
what was one of the first calls to a Middle East leader, Biden and al-Kadhimi
spoke of the need to continue the US-Iraq Strategic Dialogue “to serve as a
roadmap for the future.”
“We
reaffirmed our commitment to bolstering Iraqi-US ties for the benefit of our
peoples and cooperation in fighting Daesh to ensure regional peace and stability,”
the Iraqi premier tweeted.
US
troops and allied personnel have come under attack on at least three different
occasions in Iraq over the last week.
On
Monday, the Green Zone in Baghdad, home to the US Embassy and several other
Western embassies, was targeted by a rocket attack. No injuries or causalities
were reported.
The
attack came after four rockets hit Al Balad Airbase, where US companies
operate.
Perhaps
the most noteworthy attack was the Feb. 15 incident where at least 14 rockets
struck near Iraq’s Erbil Airport in the country’s Kurdistan region. A civilian
contractor, who was not a US citizen, was killed, and several others were
injured. It was one of the most significant strikes on US-led coalition forces
in the last year and the worst strike since US Biden took office.
A
pro-Iran Shia group claimed the attack, while Tehran denied any links to the
strike.
Iraqi
analysts welcomed Tuesday’s call as the Biden administration reportedly does
not see the Middle East as a priority.
This
was Biden’s second call to a Middle East leader after last week’s call to
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/24/US-foreign-policy-Biden-has-first-phone-call-with-Iraq-PM-second-to-a-Middle-East-leader
--------
US
working to increase contributions at next week’s Yemen donor conference
Joseph
Haboush
23
February ,2021
The
United States will participate in next week’s donor conference on Yemen, and it
is working to increase the contributions of its partners, the State Department
said Tuesday.
“We
look forward to participating in the UN high-level pledging event on the
humanitarian crisis in Yemen on March 1,” State Department Spokesman Ned Price
told reporters in a briefing.
Price
said Switzerland and Sweden would co-host the conference.
He
also noted that Washington was working to increase the contributions of its
“partners” during the conference.
“We
are seeking to raise the ambition, not only in this country but on the part of
our partners too when it comes to what they’re willing to contribute and able
to contribute to bringing an end to the humanitarian plight of the Yemeni
people,”
Meanwhile,
US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking met with Yemeni Foreign Minister
Ahmed bin Mubarak on Tuesday. This is Lenderking’s second public visit to the
region since he was appointed under President Joe Biden.
A
statement from the US Embassy to Yemen said the meeting discussed Washington’s
“dual-track approach to end the conflict in Yemen: A lasting political solution
& humanitarian relief for the Yemeni people.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/24/US-foreign-policy-US-working-to-increase-contributions-at-next-week-s-Yemen-donor-conference-
--------
House
Republican lawmakers call on Biden to maintain ‘immense pressure’ on Iran
23
February 2021
GOP
lawmakers in the US House of Representatives are calling on President Joe Biden
to maintain “immense pressure” on Iran.
Spearheaded
by Rep. John Katko, the lawmakers wrote
a letter to the Democratic president on Tuesday, warning him not to lift
anti-Iran sanctions imposed during the administration of former President
Donald Trump.
“Regime
demands for sanctions relief as a prerequisite for the administration’s
proposed bilateral negotiations are not made in good faith,” they said.
Republicans
on the House Homeland Security committee expressed concerns that removing the
brutal sanctions would strip the US of its power in dealing with Iran.
“The
United States must apply immense pressure to the Iranian regime and cannot
afford to be perceived as weak or wavering on these important national security
threats. Appeasement will not effectuate change,” they claimed. “Lifting
sanctions will only serve to back the United States into an inescapable corner
and removes any power we hold in our attempts to normalize Iranian and United
States relations.”
The
Biden administration is reportedly attempting to return to the Iran nuclear
deal, which was negotiated under former President Barack Obama and rejected by
Trump.
Iran
has slammed the new US administration for talking of returning to the 2015
nuclear deal, while sticking with Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign in
practice.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/23/645928/House-GOP-urges-Biden-to-maintain-immense-pressure-on-Iran
--------
Mideast
Rouhani:
Iran’s Defense Power Based on Moral Values
2021-February-24
“Iran's
defense doctrine is based on Islamic principles and moral values,” Rouhani
said, adding that some regimes resort to the military power to dominate the
world.
He
stressed that the Islamic Iran’s Armed Forces use defense capabilities and
capacities only to defend moral values and bolster Islamic principles.
In
relevant remarks on Tuesday, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
(IRGC) Qods Force Brigadier General EsmayeelQa’ani downplayed Israel’s attempts
to weaken the resistance front, and further said that the US has proved that it
only understands the language of force.
“We
know how to speak with a country like the US which only understands the language
of force,” General Qa’ani said.
He
also played down Israel’s attempts to weaken the resistance front, and said the
regime has failed in its attempts and has been forced to build a tall wall
around itself.
General
Qa’ani said that the US situation in the region is no better than Israel as
evidenced in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Elsewhere,
he stressed the efforts made by former IRGC Qods Force Commander Lieutenant
General martyr QassemSoleimani to establish security in the region, and said in
the past 10 years, he was directly confronting the world’s most notorious
terrorists.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991206000173/Rhani-Iran%E2%80%99s-Defense-Pwer-Based-n-Mral-Vales
--------
Qods
Force Commander: US Only Understands Language of Force
2021-February-23
“We
know how to speak with a country like the US which only understands the
language of force,” General Qa’ani said on Tuesday.
He
also played down Israel’s attempts to weaken the resistance front, and said the
regime has failed in its attempts and has been forced to build a tall wall
around itself.
General
Qa’ani said that the US situation in the region is no better than Israel as
evidenced in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Elsewhere,
he stressed the efforts made by former IRGC Qods Force Commander Lieutenant
General martyr QassemSoleimani to establish security in the region, and said in
the past 10 years, he was directly confronting the world’s most notorious
terrorists.
In
relevant remarks earlier this month, Spokesman of the Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps (IRGC) Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif warned Israel that it will
certainly be responded for its mischiefs and terrorist acts against the Iranian
scientists and people.
"Certainly,
the usurper and fake Zionist regime will receive the response to its
mischief," General Sharif said, referring to Israel’s assassination of the
Iranian scientists and people.
He
said that the enemy's all-out confrontation against the Islamic Republic is
indicative of Iran's strong power and recent incidents have shown that the
western power have lost power and the US has no more the ability to impose
hegemony on others.
Also
earlier this month, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
Major General Hossein Salami said the enemies should be scared of the country’s
defense power, stressing that any move by enemies would receive an all-out fire
of Iran’s Armed Forces.
“The
ill-wishers and enemies of Iran should be afraid of our defensive power, a part
of which was displayed in the recent military drills,” General Salami said on
the sidelines of IRGC Ground Force’s Great Prophet 16 wargame, adding that any
would-be threat of the enemies will be responded with an all-out fire.
“Iran’s
Armed Forces have always kept their spirit of authority, defense, resistance
and aggression against the enemies,” he said, and noted, “The enemy should take
a lesson from the firepower showcased by the Iranian forces during the Great
Prophet drills.”
"The
IRGC Ground Force’s combat power is much higher than what we saw today, and in
this exercise, we showed only a small example of this power,” the commander
said.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991205000593/Qds-Frce-Cmmander-US-Only-Undersands-Langage-f-Frce
--------
US,
Britain’s Role in Sabotage Acts in Yemen Revealed by Spies in Court
2021-February-23
Yemen’s
Saba’a news agency reported on Tuesday that in the second session of the court
to try the spies, evidence was presented by the prosecutor on the US and
Britain’s direct role in operations to recruit, train and send spies to conduct
sabotage acts in Yemen.
During
the hearing, recorded confessions of the accused was displayed to the court
where they admitted to recruiting, training, spying and carrying out sabotage
operations on Yemeni's soil under the supervision of the British intelligence
chief at the al-Qeiza airbase in al-Mahra province.
According
to the report, the recording is due to be aired on TV later on Tuesday.
Oxfam
has accused the British government of prolonging the war in Yemen by allowing
the export of air-to-air refuelling equipment that it fears could be used to
help the Saudi air force conduct indiscriminate bombing in the country.
The
technology was licensed to Riyadh last summer when arms restrictions were
lifted, alongside £1.4bln of other sales, and can be used to help warplanes fly
longer missions at a time when the conflict is intensifying.
Sam
Nadel, head of policy and advocacy at Oxfam, said, “As the US has called for an
end to the conflict in Yemen, the UK is heading in the opposite direction,
ramping up its support for the brutal Saudi-led war by increasing arms sales
and refuelling equipment that facilitate airstrikes.”
“The
UK claims to support peace in Yemen. It can start by immediately ending the
sale of all arms that risk being used against civilians and exacerbating the
humanitarian crisis,” Nadel added.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991205000821/US-Briain%E2%80%99s-Rle-in-Sabage-Acs-in-Yemen-Revealed-by-Spies-in-Cr
--------
Clashes
in southeast Iran kill three: Lawmaker
24
February ,2021
Three
people were killed over two days in clashes in the southeastern Iranian town of
Saravan near the border with Pakistan, the semiofficial ILNA news agency
reported.
An
angry mob stormed the district governor’s office Tuesday, a day after shootings
at the border left at least two people dead.
Tuesday’s
ILNA report quoted MalakFazeli, Saravan’s representative in parliament, as
saying: “As far as I know, three people lost their lives while being
transferred to the hospital.”
It
was unclear whether all three people were killed in the border shootings or if
one of the fatalities was a result of the chaos at the district governor’s
office.
Fazeli
said another eight people were hospitalized with injuries but three were
released. He said calm had returned to the town.
Saravan
is a major city in Sistan-Baluchestan, a desert province that is one of the
most restive and least developed parts of Iran.
Local
official Mohammad HadiMarashi said Tuesday the outrage at the governors’ office
stemmed from the shooting of several fuel smugglers on the Pakistani side of
the border near Saravan the day before.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/24/Clashes-in-southeast-Iran-kill-three-Lawmaker
--------
Israeli
court delays PM Netanyahu corruption trial until April
23
February ,2021
The
Jerusalem court overseeing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s corruption trial
has delayed the opening of the dramatic evidentiary stage until after March 23
elections.
The
three-judge panel issued a statement late Monday saying the proceedings, which
have been repeatedly delayed due to legal wrangling and coronavirus
restrictions, would begin on April 5 and take place three days a week.
Netanyahu
had pushed to delay the witness stage of the trial until after the election,
saying that allowing the testimonies before then would amount to “interference”
in the political process. A number of former aides have agreed to testify
against him as prosecution witnesses.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Netanyahu
has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three
separate cases.
He
stands accused of accepting lavish gifts from wealthy associates and offering
to grant favors to powerful media moguls in exchange for favorable coverage of
him and his family. He denies all charges.
Netanyahu
is hoping the election will result in a coalition of allies that would grant
him immunity from prosecution.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/23/Israel-relations-Israeli-court-delays-PM-Netanyahu-corruption-trial-until-April
--------
IAEA
chief describes black box-type deal with Iran to monitor its nuclear activities
23
February ,2021
The
U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief described his weekend deal with Iran on continued
monitoring of its nuclear activities for up to three months as one where data
is gathered but his agency is only able to access it afterwards.
The
International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran announced on Sunday that although
Tehran would go ahead with its plan to reduce cooperation with the IAEA this
week, including ending snap inspections, they had struck a deal on continuing
"necessary" IAEA monitoring and verification activities in Iran.
Details
of the deal are confidential but IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi described
a black box-type system in which data, even on Iran's most sensitive activities
like uranium enrichment, is collected without the IAEA being able to access it
immediately.
"This
is a system that allows us to continue to monitor and to register all the key
activities that are taking place throughout this period so that at the end of
it we can recover all this information," Grossi told an event hosted by
the U.S. Nuclear Threat Initiative think-tank.
"In
other words, we will know exactly what happened, exactly how many components
were fabricated, exactly how much material was processed or treated or enriched
and so on and so forth."
Grossi
has said he hopes a deal can be struck at a higher level while his technical
accord is in place - an apparent reference to efforts to salvage Iran's 2015
nuclear agreement with world powers by ending Iranian breaches and bringing the
United States back into the agreement.
"Some
say at the end of it, if Iran wants (to) and there is no agreement, they will
destroy this information. Yes, but if at the end of it there is no agreement
everything is destroyed. There is no confidence anymore," Grossi said.
Had
it not been for his weekend deal on inspections, he added, "the situation
would not, I repeat, would not be reversible or recoverable. We would be
basically flying blind, without any idea of what would be taking place in terms
of enrichment activities and other relevant activities."
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/23/Iran-nuclear-deal-IAEA-chief-describes-black-box-type-deal-with-Iran-to-monitor-its-nuclear-activities
--------
US
think tank: UAE still an ‘aggressor’ in Yemen despite withdrawal claim
23
February 2021
An
American think tank says the United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains deeply involved
in the war on Yemen despite its claim of disengagement.
Justin
Russel, the head of the New York Center for Foreign Policy Affairs (NYCFPA)
think-tank, said in an interview with the Middle East Eye (MEE) news portal on
Monday that his group documented continued Emirati military involvement in
Yemen after Abu Dhabi claimed last October that it had withdrawn from the
Saudi-led coalition.
Russel
said it was revealed after four months that the UAE was heavily active in the
war in Yemen by using strategic islands, air and sea ports, and military bases
and militias.
"The
UAE, either in the spotlight or under the radar, continues to be an aggressor
in the region," he said.
"The
UAE's withdrawal announcement drew international attention away and basically
took the rest of the world off the scent of what they are actually doing in the
region… But in our research, there is still funding and other battlefield
support from the UAE in Yemen on a regular basis," Russel said.
The
think-tank has filed a lawsuit against the US State Department over a
now-paused arms deal to the UAE.
Shireen
al-Adeimi, a Yemen-born activist and professor at Michigan State University,
told MEE that the UAE was likely keeping in place foreign forces that it has
trained and funded in the areas it withdrew from.
"At
some point last year, they announced that they were withdrawing... But really,
what they were saying is that they were leaving behind trained mercenaries
while pulling out their official ground troops," Adeimi said.
"They
make it look like they've withdrawn from Yemen while all they've done is just
pull out their official physical presence," she said. "The UAE has
been able to take advantage of the Saudis being the front-facing group for this
war, while they've been able to kind of take a step back and be behind the
scenes."
Adeimi
said the UAE's interests in Yemen were varied but a key goal of the small
Persian Gulf country was maintaining influence over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,
which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The
Yemen-born activist said the UAE had worked throughout the war to take up
strategic outposts around the waterway, which is essential for the passage of
about nine percent of the world's crude oil and refined petroleum traded via
the sea.
"It's
pretty clear to me as a Yemeni what the UAE's endgame is, and that is to make
sure that they have a government in Yemen that is going to make it easy for
their oil to travel through Bab el-Mandeb," Adeimi said.
"It's
a really important strategic location. That's why Yemen has always had
interventions by Saudi Arabia and the US in the past," she added.
"That's really what it comes down to."
The
MME reported that the UAE had turned Al Rayan airport in the southeastern
Yemeni port city of Mukalla into a military base for its occupation forces
around the start of the war and had refused to reopen the facility since then.
Yemen's
government says the Emirati troops are using the airport "as an illegal
prison to commit heinous forms of torture against Yemenis."
Saudi
Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March
2015 with the goal of bringing a former Riyadh-friendly regime to power.
According
to the United Nations, 80 percent of Yemen's 30 million people need some form
of aid or protection. About 13.5 million Yemenis currently face acute food
insecurity, United Nations (UN) data shows.
According
to the latest figures released by the UN in December last year, over 230,000
people have been killed since the onset of the Saudi-led war.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/23/645903/US-think-tank--UAE-still-an-%E2%80%98aggressor%E2%80%99-in-Yemen-despite-withdrawal-claim
--------
India
‘Sanskrit
histories of Indo-Muslim rule are diverse in some ways’
24th
February 2021
BENGALURU:
Sanskrit histories of Indo-Muslim rule embody considerable geographic,
political and religious diversity. The authors hailed from all corners of the
Indian subcontinent, from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu and from Gujarat to Bengal.
They worked across nearly as broad an area (for the exception of Bengal, see
the epilogue). Many texts were written by court poets, working for Muslim and
Hindu kings; the works’ writers and patrons also include merchants, religious
leaders and other non-imperial actors. Both Brahmins and Jains number among the
authors.
Brahmins
get plenty of attention in contemporary Sanskrit scholarship, but Jains are
often relegated to footnotes, literally. More than one scholar has repeated and
so entrenched a Brahmin-centric view of the premodern Sanskrit tradition, in
which Jains are presented as interlopers rather than full participants. By
putting Jains and Brahmins on equal footing, I make a small contribution to the
larger project of calling out and undermining Brahminical claims to define
Sanskrit intellectual production, an issue that contemporary Sanskrit studies
has not left in the past.
While
Sanskrit histories of Indo-Muslim rule are diverse in some ways, their authors
were elite in terms of language, gender and social status. These
poet-historians all wrote in Sanskrit or (in a few cases) Prakrit, a set of
Sanskrit-adjacent literary mediums, languages unknown to the vast majority of
Indians, past and present. The authors were nearly all men. A sole historical
text considered here was authored by a woman (Gangadevi’sMadhuravijaya), a
small bit of diversity that, while important, points up the overarching gender
exclusion that defined premodern Sanskrit textual production.
The
authors were often high caste and, following the tight link between gender and
caste, many express extreme levels of misogyny and casteism in their histories.
They are unapologetic about all of this. Exclusivity and privilege structured
premodern Sanskrit intellectual culture and the social spheres in which it
operated, which in turn informed what people chose to say in Sanskrit.
Again,
I will give away something of my findings: elite authors often express harsh,
elite ideas. I present these below with an unvarnished gaze and attempt to
contextualize premodern views, no matter how distasteful and bigoted we may
find them today. Brahminical privilege is one notion to which I return several
times, because it was a borderline obsession among several authors (e.g.,
Jayanaka, Jonaraja and several writers working for Rajput and Maratha courts).
We
also see recurrent attention given to Kshatriya kingship, a flexible
institution that rulers and intellectuals defined in many different ways. Being
a Kshatriya ruler was, for most thinkers, a varna distinction and typically
involved certain kinds of relations with Brahmins. But for numerous premodern
Sanskrit thinkers, the advent and expansion of Indo-Muslim rule provided new
foils for thinking about what it could mean to be a Kshatriya king or warrior.
Some of the results were stunning. For instance, writing in the fifteenth
century, Nayachandra upholds a Muslim Mongol, somebody outside of the varna
system, as an exemplar of Kshatriya heroism (Chapter 3).
Writing
in the sixteenth century, Chandrashekhara lauds as an ideal Kshatriya king a
man who neither ruled nor fought for himself (Chapter 6). There remained more
traditional views as well, such as Paramananda’s seventeenth-century vision of
a Kshatriya ruler who took every conceivable action to assist Brahmins (Chapter
6). Extracted from The Language of
History: Sankrit Narratives of Muslim Pasts by Audrey Truschke, with
permission from Penguin Random House
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/bengaluru/2021/feb/24/sanskrit-histories-of-indo-muslim-rule-are-diverse-in-some-ways-2268004.html
--------
Development
in Gujarat does not touch Muslim areas, says Owaisi
byAvinash
Nair , VaibhavJha
February
24, 2021
Riding
on the maiden victory of All India Majlis-e-IttehadulMuslimeen (AIMIM)
candidates in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation elections on Tuesday, the
leader of the political outfit, AsaduddinOwaisi, while addressing political
gatherings at Godhra and Modasa, pointed out how the development in Gujarat is
lopsided and does not touch Muslim-dominated areas.
“You
all know that in Godhra, no development works have been carried out in areas
that have Muslim majority. There is a railway line passing through the city. On
one side of this railway line, ‘SabkakaSaath, sabkaVikas’ can be seen. On the
other side, where topi and burkas can be seen, there is no Vikas (development),”
said Owaisi in Godhra town.
“What
is the reason that trains like GaribRath and August Kranti do not stop at
Godhra railway station? These trains stop at Dahod though. If Godhra had a
large Muslim population, then doesn’t it also have Hindus brothers? The BJP
government wants Dahod to develop… what kind of justice is this,” he added.
He
said there were 20 secondary schools in Godhra city of which, only three were
in Muslim areas. He said the dropout rate among school going Muslim girls were
as high as 80 per cent due to lack of Urdu medium schools. “Modiji then says,
BetiBachao, DeshBachao. How will daughters be saved, if there are no urdu
schools for them…,” he added.
On
Tuesday, AlMIM won about seven seats in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC),
winning all seats in Jamalpur ward and three seats in Maktampura ward. The
party had fielded 21 candidates for the AMC. Thanking the voters, Owaisi said,
“If people sitting in power in AMC think that they will continue to ignore
Muslim areas like they did in the past, then I would like to tell that that so
far you were engaged in a friendly duel with Congress or independents. Now now
we will fight (for development).”
In
the upcoming elections, BJP is contesting in 24 of the 44 seats in Godhra
municipality. Traditionally, BJP has been putting up candidates in only six
wards of the municipality where Hindus are in a majority. On the other five
wards, Muslim candidates have been winning largely as independents.
In
the 2015 local body polls in Godhra municipality, BJP won 18 seats, Congress
won one seat and remaining 25 seats were won by independents. Eight candidates
of AIMIM will fight the Godhra municipality polls on February 28. The party has
fielded candidates in Godhra, Modasa and Bharuch municipalities.
Earlier
in the day in Modasa, Owaisi invoked the 2008 bomb blast case that claimed one
life and said that people “reply to the oppressors” in the upcoming elections.
The AIMIM has fielded 12 candidates in three wards of Modasa municipality.
“Do
you know what happened on September 29, 2008 in Modasa,” Owaisi asked as crowd
responded saying “bomb blast”. “Among the deceased was a 15-year-old boy named
Jamal Ab Din Ghouri… a blast occurred near a mosque during Ramzan month in
Modasa in which seven were martyred and over 100 were injured (referring to
both Malegon and Modasa blasts cases ). I want to ask the BharatiyaJanata Party
(BJP), especially Prime Minister NarendraModi, Gujarat Chief Minister and
RashtriyaSwayamsevakSangh people… I want to ask the cowards of Congress whether
they will ever speak of Jamal,” asked Owaisi claiming, till date the people
responsible for the blast were not brought to book.
“The
families of the deceased persons in the blast still don’t know who killed their
loved ones. I appeal to my mothers and sisters that we will not let another
Jamal to die in Modasa… Human life has a value be it a Hindu, Muslim or tribal…
it has been granted to us in the Constitution by Dr BabasahebAmbedkar,” said
Owaisi.
Referring
to the protests in Modasa in January 2020 against the Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register
(NPR), Owaisi said, “I want to congratulate the people of Modasa for the manner
in which they protested against the CAA, NRC and NPR… I spoke up in the
Parliament against 306 MPs of the BJP saying that if they will bring the CAA,
then we will protest. We, too, have the right to live without fear (sic).”
Attacking
the Congress, BJP and AamAadmi Party president ArvindKejriwal in his 30-minute
address, Owaisi said, “There is a guy who has come to Gujarat with a bundle of
brooms… when riots were taking place in Delhi, when Hindus and Muslims were
killing each other, he went to Gandhi samadhi and sat over there… This guy kept
quiet even when the TablighiJamat was given a bad name and accused of waging
corona Jihad in Delhi.”
Alleging
that the Congress has not given the post of mayor to a Muslim in Modasa,
fearing that it would upset their votebank, he said, “It is the Congress party
that is responsible for India’s Muslims being weak, India’s Muslims lacking a
political voice and India’s Muslims, Dalits and Advasis getting harassed.
Modiji has spent so much money in constructing the Statue of Unity but in the
process he also displaced over 75,000 tribal people from there(sic).”
AIMIM
senior leader WarisPathan, party’s Gujarat president SabirKabliwala, Gujarat
general secretary Hamid Bhatti were also present.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/asaduddin-owaisi-ahmedabad-municipal-corporation-elections-godhra-modasa-7202316/
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Four
terrorists eliminated in ongoing encounter in J&K's Anantnag
24th
February 2021
ANANTNAG:
A many as four unidentified terrorists have been killed in an ongoing encounter
in Anantnag, said Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday.
Earlier,
a source in CRPF said that two to three terrorists are believed to be trapped
at the site of ongoing encounter in Anantnag.
An
encounter has started at the Shalgul forest area of Srigufwara in Anantnag
district today.
Further
details are awaited.
On
February 19, two policemen were killed in a terrorist attack in Srinagar's
Baghat area of Barzulla. In another encounter on the same day, three terror
associates affiliated were also killed in the Budgam area of the Shopian
district of Jammu and Kashmir.
One
police personnel of Jammu and Kashmir lost his life and one another was injured
in another encounter that broke out between the security forces and terrorists
in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 19.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/feb/24/four-terrorists-eliminated-in-ongoing-encounter-in-jks-anantnag-2268355.html
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Notification
to acquire land for Sunni dam project issued
Feb
24, 2021
Shimla:
Himachal Pradesh government has started the process to acquire over 698 bighas
of land for the construction of 382MW Sunni dam hydroelectric project by
issuing a notification under Section 11(1) of Land Acquisition Act. Land
acquisition would result in displacement of 45 families.
The
social impact assessment of project-affected areas has revealed that 91%
primary stakeholders were willing to surrender land for acquisition, provided
appropriate compensation was paid and only 8% resisted the process.
As
per the notification, total 8,007 forest trees and 2,914 fruit-bearing trees
are in the project area. Additional district magistrates of Mandi and Shimla
have been designated as administrators for the purpose of relief and
rehabilitation process as land to be acquired for the project fell in the two districts.
Land
proposed for the project would be acquired in the villages of Jaishi, Bharara,
Khaira, Lunsu, Bathora, Pandhoa, Grehna, Talah, Ogli, Kothi, Malgi of Sunni
tehsil; Jhjnjhun and Majrog of Kumarsain tehsil in Shimla disrtrict; and
Jaqlin, Bhounra, Balog, Phaphan, Parlog, Beludhank, and Kharyali of Karsog
tehsil of Mandi district.
The
project aims to harness the hydel potential of Satlujriver between Rampur and
Kol hydroelectric projects.
The
project is proposed to generate 1,369 million units (MU) of electrical energy
in a 90% dependable year. Proposed project is located on Satluj river basin
with Shimla district falling on its left bank and Mandi on right bank. The dam
is located near Khaira village in Shimla district.
Total
land requirement for the project is 44,03,889sq metre, of which 38,71,915 sq
metre is forest land and 5,31,974 sq metre is private land
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chandigarh/notification-to-acquire-land-for-sunni-dam-project-issued/articleshow/81179364.cms
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‘Fertility
rate higher among Muslims, they want to turn India into Islamic state’: BJP MLA
HariBhushan Thakur
Rohit
Kumar Singh
February
24, 2021
Bihar
BJP MLA HariBhushan Thakur has triggered a controversy with his remarks on the
fertility rate of Muslims.
Elected
to the Bisfi Assembly constituency on a BJP ticket in 2020, HariBhushan Thakur
said the fertility rate in Muslims was higher than in Hindus.
"Muslims
want to convert India into an Islamic state," the Legislator went on to
remark.
HariBhushan
Thakur made the comment in response to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's claim that the
fertility rate in the state has declined tremendously. Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar had made the statement while delivering a Motion of Thanks to the
Governor in the state Assembly on Tuesday.
HariBhushan
Thakur said Bihar had witnessed a decline in fertility rate but among Hindus
and not Muslims. The BJP MLA from Bisfi also demanded a law to restrict
population growth.
"Law
should be brought to control the population in the country. The resources in
the country are very limited but some people want to increase the population
and capture and turn India into an Islamic country," BJP MLA HariBhushan
Thakur said.
BJP
MLA HariBhushan Thakur added, "Muslim community is indulging into this. It
is important to control the population in order to make India into a developed
country from a developing country."
Asked
about several Muslim leaders in the JD(U), MLA HariBhushan Thakur even slammed
the BJP's ally in Bihar. He said, "Nation comes first and then comes
religion but for some people, religion comes first and then the country. There
is no feeling of patriotism in them."
Akhtar-ul-Iman,
MLA from AsaduddinOwaisi's AIMIM hit back at the BJP MLA for his controversial
comment.
"What
the BJP MLA is talking about is unconstitutional, illegal and aimed at dividing
the society. The fertility rate has nothing to do with religion but with
poverty and illiteracy. People who are poor and illiterate tend to have more
children than those who are literate and economically sound. BJP tends to speak
on issues which trigger hatred," AIMIM MLA Akhtar-ul-Iman said.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/-fertility-rate-higher-among-muslims-they-want-to-turn-india-into-islamic-state-bjp-mla-hari-bhushan-thakur-1772333-2021-02-24
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Bombay
HC upholds bail for AreebMajeed, Kalyan resident accused of having Islamic
State links
February
23, 2021
Mumbai:
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday upheld a special court order granting bail to
27-year-old AreebMajeed, accused of having Islamic State links.
A
division bench of Justices S SShinde and Manish Pitale disposed of an appeal
filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), challenging a special court
order granting bail to alleged Islamic State member Majeed.
The
bench said it was upholding the lower court's order granting bail to Majeed on
the ground of pendency of trial and not on merits of the case.
The
high court directed Majeed to furnish Rs 1 lakh as surety and also directed him
not to leave Kalyan in neighbouring Thane district, where he resides.
The
NIA's case was that Majeed had travelled to Syria to allegedly join the
terrorist group Islamic State and returned to India to carry out terror
activities.
Majeed
was arrested in November 2014 under provisions of the stringent Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code for waging war against
the nation and other charges.
He
was granted bail in March last year by a special NIA court.
The
NIA subsequently approached the HC, challenging the lower court order.
The
high court had then granted an interim stay on operation of the bail granted,
pending hearing of the NIA's appeal.
Hence,
Majeed continued to remain in jail.
While
opposing the NIA's appeal, Majeed argued that he had gone to Syria only to help
people and denied all charges levelled against him
https://www.firstpost.com/india/bombay-hc-upholds-bail-for-areeb-majeed-kalyan-resident-accused-of-having-islamic-state-links-9336011.html
--------
Delhi
court frames terror charges against Kashmiri separatist AasiyaAndrabi
February
23, 2021
A
Delhi court has framed terrorism, sedition and other charges against Kashmiri
separatist AasiyaAndrabi and her two associates for allegedly waging war
against the government of India and conspiring to commit terror acts in the
country.
The
case relates to waging war against the country with support from Pakistan
including terror entities.
Special
Judge Parveen Singh had put Andrabi and her associates – SofiFehmeeda and
NahidaNasreen – on trial for various offences punishable under IPC and the
stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on February 20.
The
court passed the order after the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
The
court framed charges under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 121 (waging
war against the government of India), 121-A (conspiracy to wage war against
government of India), 124-A (sedition), 153-A (promoting enmity between
different groups), 153-B (imputations, assertions prejudicial to
national-integration) and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) of the
IPC.
It
further framed sections 18 (conspires or attempts to commit, or advocates,
abets, advises or incites terror act), 20 (being member of terrorist gang or
organisation), 38 (offence relating to membership of a terrorist organisation)
and 39 (offence relating to support given to a terrorist organisation) under
the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Andrabi,
who was chief of the banned outfit Dukhtaran-e-Millat (daughters of nation),
was accused by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of being involved in
conspiracy and acts to “severely destabilise the sovereignty and integrity of
India”, along with her two other associates.
By
their activities on cyber space, they were running a concerted campaign to
solicit support of Pakistani establishment which inter-alia included arranging
support from terrorist entities from Pakistan, it said.
The
NIA, on directions of the Union home ministry, registered a case against them
and the organisation.
According
to the FIR, Andrabi, Fehmeeda and Nasreen were actively running
Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DEM), a terrorist organisation proscribed under the first
schedule of the UAPA.
They
were using various media platforms to spread insurrectionary imputations and
hateful speeches that endanger the integrity, security and sovereignty of
India, the NIA said.
DEM
through Andrabi openly advocated secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union
of India and had also called for Jihad and use of violence against India, it
said.
The
three accused were arrested in April 2018 and are currently in custody.
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/delhi-court-terror-charges-against-aasiya-andrabi-7201404/
--------
Africa
Algerian
students hit streets in anti-government protests
24
February ,2021
Dozens
of Algerian students defied police Tuesday to demonstrate in the capital
Algiers, a day after major protests for the second anniversary of mass
anti-government rallies.
The
“Hirak” protest movement forced longtime president AbdelazizBouteflika from
power in 2019, and before the protests were stalled amid COVID-19 restrictions
last year, marches were held every Tuesday.
A
mass rally in Algiers was held on Monday to mark the protests that kicked off
on February 22, 2019, to oppose Bouteflika’s bid for a fifth term.
The
protests on Monday were the largest since the weekly demonstrations were
suspended.
On
Tuesday, students continued, despite police deploying in force before dawn in
the center of Algiers, especially at Martyrs’ Square, where student marches
used to begin.
Several
dozen students and activists managed to walk a short distance shouting slogans
before police stopped the march.
“We
are students and not terrorists,” some chanted, according to AFP journalists.
“A free and democratic Algeria,” others shouted.
The
CNLD prisoners’ rights group said three students and five other activists were
arrested.
Protesters
demand a sweeping overhaul of a ruling system in place since Algeria’s
independence from France in 1962.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2021/02/24/Protests-Algerian-students-hit-streets-in-anti-government-protests
--------
Russian
mercenaries seen in Sirte city: Libyan army
24.02.2021
TRIPOLI,
Libya
The
Libyan army on Wednesday said it spotted several trucks of Russian Wagner
mercenaries in the coastal city of Sirte.
In
a statement, the government-led Volcano of Rage Operation said two groups of
mercenaries were also seen moving along the road from the oil-rich city of
Brega to Sirte and in the direction of Ajdabiya, the statement said.
The
Libyan army described the activities of the Russian mercenaries as a “violation
of the cease-fire agreement” signed in Geneva in October.
On
Oct. 23 last year, the UN announced a permanent cease-fire agreement between
Libya’s warring rivals during a meeting of the 5+5 Joint Military Commission in
Geneva.
Libya
has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in
2011.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/russian-mercenaries-seen-in-sirte-city-libyan-army/2155465
--------
Dozens
injured in multiple blasts in northeast Nigeria
Olarewaju
Kola
24.02.2021
MAIDUGURI,
Nigeria
Dozens
of people were injured as a string of explosions rocked Nigeria's northeastern
Maiduguri city on Tuesday.
Multiple
casualties are feared following blasts at four locations in the city, but
authorities are yet to confirm any numbers as evacuation efforts continue.
Musa
Saleh, a volunteer helping officials at the site, told Anadolu Agency that he
led a team that brought over 15 injured people, including children, to the
University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.
Scores
of family members of victims were seen in the hospital's emergency ward.
"We
reached Gwange [district] after the explosion and we brought about 16 wounded
victims to the hospital," he said.
Some
of the injured were from the Kaleri and Bulabulin areas of the city and were
brought to the hospital in pick-up trucks.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/dozens-injured-in-multiple-blasts-in-northeast-nigeria/2154846
--------
Somalia
bans opposition protests in Mogadishu
Mohammed
Dhaysane
23.02.2021
MOGADISHU,
Somalia
The
Somalian government on Tuesday banned protests in the capital Mogadishu due to
rising COVID-19 cases and security threats in the Horn of Africa country.
“Any
protests in Mogadishu, whether anti-government or pro-government, are illegal
and will not be allowed,” Internal Security Minister Hassan HundubeyJima'le
said in a news conference in Mogadishu.
The
announcement comes after the opposition presidential candidates, led by former
President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, said they will continue to hold protests and
called a fresh anti-government rally on Friday.
“This
is a political issue that needs political discussion. They are now dangerously
using the public for the sake of a political agenda. This is dangerous and has
to stop immediately,” JawahirMohamudJama, chairperson of Banadir Women
Organization, told Anadolu Agency over the phone.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/somalia-bans-opposition-protests-in-mogadishu/2154562
--------
Ethiopian
peacekeepers in S.Sudan resist going home
Benjamin
Takpiny
23.02.2021
JUBA,
South Sudan
Several
UN peacekeepers were injured during an internal brawl when 15 peacekeepers in
South Sudan, originally from Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region, refused to
return to Ethiopia on Monday, a UN official said.
Kirk
L. Kroeker, a spokesman for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), told
Anadolu Agency Tuesday: “169 members of the Ethiopian contingent were due to
rotate out of [the capital] Juba today and to be replaced by a fresh deployment
as part of the normal UNMISS rotation of peacekeepers. While still to be
verified, it is reported that approximately 15 members of the contingent chose
not to board the flight at the Juba International Airport and a scuffle broke
out, resulting in some minor injuries.”
Kroeker
said these contingent members are now receiving support from the South Sudanese
commission for refugee affairs and UNHCR.
“Individuals
in need of international protection, anywhere in the world, can choose to seek
asylum through their own free will, under international law,” he said.
“This
is a human right. Any process of asylum will be managed by the Government of
South Sudan with support from UNHCR.” Kroeker said, and praised the service of
the Ethiopian peacekeepers.
Kroeker
said the Ethiopian contingent has provided a highly professional peacekeeping
service in support of the people of South Sudan.
Ethiopia’s
Tigray region has been the scene of fighting since last November when Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed announced military operations against the Tigray People's
Liberation Front (TPLF), accusing them of attacking federal army camps.
Pro-government
troops took control of the regional capital Mekele in late November, but the
TPLF vowed to fight on, and clashes have persisted in the region, hampering
efforts to deliver humanitarian aid.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/ethiopian-peacekeepers-in-ssudan-resist-going-home/2154427
--------
Europe
Iran
must cooperate with IAEA for greater transparency: French, UK, German ministers
24
February ,2021
Iran
should fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and reverse
steps that reduce transparency, the governments of France, Britain and Germany
said on Tuesday.
On
Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran might enrich uranium up
to 60% purity if the country needed it and would never yield to U.S. pressure
over its nuclear programme, state television reported.
“We...
deeply regret that Iran has started, as of today, to suspend the Additional
Protocol and the transparency measures under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPoA),” the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain said.
“We
urge Iran to stop and reverse all measures that reduce transparency and to
ensure full and timely cooperation with the IAEA.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/24/Iran-s-actions-are-further-violation-of-JCPOA-commitments-European-foreign-ministers
--------
French
mosque vandalized with Islamophobic graffiti
Shweta
Desai
23.02.2021
PARIS
French
Muslim organizations on Tuesday strongly condemned vandalism of an
under-construction mosque in Strasbourg with Islamophobic graffiti.
The
words, "No to Islam, go back to your village” were sprayed across the
fence on the site of the Eyyub Sultan Mosque, which once completed will be
Europe’s largest Muslim place of worship.
In
a video statement, the MilliGorus Islamic Confederation (CIMG), the group overseeing
construction of the mosque, expressed disappointment at the Islamophobic and
racist message.
“There
is no material damage but the symbolism is strong,” said a tweet from the
official handle of the mosque.
“However,
this incident reflects the deleterious climate that France is going through
today. Indeed, the trivialization of remarks targeting Muslims in media
discourse demeans the enemies of living together,” it added.
A
21-year-old man detained by police admitted to have committed the vandalism, Strasbourg
prosecutor's office said, French daily DerniersNouvellesd'Alsace (DNA)
reported.
He
was released before his next appearance on prior admission of guilt, the report
said. The motive or intent behind the vandalism is still unknown.
CIMG
said in the last weeks it had received several threatening messages, which the
authorities failed to respond to.
The
recent vandalism received widespread criticism by national bodies like the
French Council of Muslim Worship (CFCM) and the Union of Mosques (UMF).
The
Grand Mosque of Strasbourg said the abject act of hatred and intolerance “aims
to divide the national community and to pit religious communities against each
other, while they live in perfect harmony."
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/french-mosque-vandalized-with-islamophobic-graffiti/2154660
--------
Syrian
convicted by German court in landmark crimes against humanity trial
24
February ,2021
A
former member of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s secret police was convicted
Wednesday by a German court of facilitating the torture of prisoners in a
landmark ruling that human rights activists hope will set a precedent for other
cases.
Eyad
Al-Gharib was convicted of accessory to crimes against humanity and sentenced
by the Koblenz state court to 4 and a half years in prison, the dpa news agency
reported.
It
was the first time that a court outside Syria ruled in a case alleging Syrian
government officials committed crimes against humanity. German prosecutors
invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction for serious crimes to bring the
case that involved victims and defendants who were in Germany.
Details
of the ruling were not immediately available, but Al-Gharib could have been
sentenced to more than a decade behind bars. However judges were able to
consider his defection and court testimony as mitigating factors.
Al-Gharib
was accused of being part of a unit that arrested people following
anti-government protests in the Syrian city of Douma and took them to a
detention center known as Al Khatib, or Branch 251, where they were tortured.
The
44-year-old went on trial last year with Anwar Raslan, a more senior Syrian
ex-official who is accused of overseeing the abuse of detainees at the same
jail near Damascus.
Raslan
is accused of supervising the “systematic and brutal torture” of more than
4,000 prisoners between April 2011 and September 2012, resulting in the deaths
of at least 58 people. A verdict in his case is expected later this year.
BalkeesJarrah,
associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the
conviction of Al-Gharib “gives Syrians some hope that this may be the beginning
of a path to fuller justice.”
“Germany’s
trial of two former Syrian officials for atrocities shows that it’s possible
with drive and perseverance and determined prosecutors for victims to have
their day in court,” she said.
Evidence
reviewed during the trial included photographs of thousands of alleged victims
of torture by the Syrian government. The images were smuggled out of Syria by a
police officer.
Syrian
government officials did not testify during the trial.
“Over
the last ten months, courageous survivors have provided testimony about
horrific abuses committed in Syria’s ghastly archipelago of prisons,” Jarrah
said. “This case not only speaks to the role of the two suspects but also lays
bare the Syrian government’s systemic torture and killing of tens of thousands
of people.”
Al-Gharib
was one of Raslan’s subordinates. When he was a sergeant major, his unit was
allegedly involved in chasing down and detaining at least 30 people following a
demonstration in Douma, and then bringing them to the detention center where
they were tortured.
Al-Gharib
left Syria in 2013 and came to Germany in 2018. Both men were arrested a year
later.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/24/Syrian-convicted-by-German-court-in-landmark-crimes-against-humanity-trial
--------
SAS
war crimes in Afghanistan: Australia, UK
23
February 2021
Australia
and the United Kingdom have both investigated their elite fighting force, the
Special Air Service (SAS) for war crimes in Afghanistan, where they were
supposed to be protecting the population.
The
Brereton Report and the Operation Northmoor investigation, respectively, found
substantial evidence of war crimes; a warrior culture and gang-like initiation
rituals known as “blooding”, resulting in dozens of dead Afghan civilians. Yet
no one has been prosecuted.
The
Brereton report released in late 2020, documents alleged war crimes committed
by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan.
A
separate inquiry into war crimes committed there by British Special Forces was
concluded just a few months earlier with many striking similarities.
This
is a topic that is often overlooked and under-reported, especially given the
severity of the crimes.
David
McBride, a former lawyer who served as a Major in the Australian Defence Force,
faces jail time for leaking evidence of war crimes to Australian broadcaster,
ABC.
What
we learned from the inquiries
In
2001, Australia invaded Afghanistan, along with the United States and the
United Kingdom. 20 years later, these countries are still occupying war ravaged
Afghanistan despite promising they would bring peace and stability.
Astronomical
amounts of money, resources and manpower have gone towards this occupation, all
in the name of nation building, however, it turns out that a lot of these
resources have been used to commit horrific acts against the people of
Afghanistan.
In
late 2020, an inquiry into war crimes committed by Australian Special Forces in
Afghanistan was finally released.
This
465 page report, entitled "The Virgin Report" was initiated in 2016
and took several years to complete. The report found that 39 Afghan civilians
are alleged to have been unlawfully killed by, or involving, Australian Defence
Force members.
None
of these alleged crimes took place in the heat of battle, and the victims were
non combatants or no longer combatants. The report is broken down into three
parts. However, a lot of it is heavily redacted. Not just the names of
individuals, but in some cases, entire events are redacted.
One
of the shocking practices revealed in this report is known as
"blooding". This practice is another extremely disturbing aspect of
these war crimes.
Essentially, what would happen is you'd have a
platoon commander, who would take a new squad member and have them execute a
detained prisoner. The prisoner would be unarmed, in cuffs and posing no threat
whatsoever.
The
term using this report is also of interest because they referred to this as an
unlawful killing. What it really is, is an execution. It's cold blooded murder;
calling it an unlawful killing is just a way to water down the horror of what
we're discussing here.
What
we're talking about here are war crimes, we're talking about murder, and there
is no way to sugarcoat atrocities like this.
Prisoners
executed, weapons planted
Another
practice that has come to light is the use of "throw downs".
Basically, what this means is that Special Forces would carry weapons that are
not regularly issued by the Australian or British military, and then plant them
on a prisoner after executing them. They would throw it down on the ground next
to them, thus the moniker “throw down”.
This
would make it look like the prisoner wasn't executed, but instead killed during
a firefight or because they had supposedly pulled a knife, for example, none of
which was true, of course.
It's
important to note that the Brereton report is not in fact a criminal
investigation, but an inquiry conducted by the Inspector General of the Australian
Defence Force. This is a role that is separate from the chain of command in the
Australian armed forces and is appointed by the Secretary of Defence.
The
Virgin Report makes a number of recommendations following the inquiry, some
criminal, others promotions, others pardons. However, it's not clear which
cases they're referring to because a lot of it has been redacted.
Once
again, another war crime, which didn't come from the Virgin Report, but is
still one of the most striking nonetheless, is unveiled in a video that was
released by Four Corners.
It
shows three men from the Australian SAS chasing an Afghan farmer with a German
Shepherd. They catch up to him and gather around him as he's lying on the
ground. At one point one of the SAS can be heard asking if he should drop the
man. There's an inaudible answer after which we see him execute the Afghan
farmer at point blank range using his machine gun.
It's
sickening, its grotesque and it's a war crime that makes one feel physically
ill just by watching it. The man who was executed in the video was 26 years
old.
His
name was Dadu Mohammad and was said to have been carrying a radio and that this
proved that he was an insurgent, which is why they killed him. This turned out
to be a lie, unsurprisingly, there was no radio recovered. And even if there
was, one has to ask the question, how does carrying a radio merit a summary
execution at point blank range?
After
the release of the Brereton report a Chinese official posted a doctored image
on Twitter of an Australian soldier with a knife in reference to the war crimes
committed by these by their special forces.
What's
interesting here isn't so much the image, but the reaction it garnered,
particularly, from Australian officials. Australia's parliament was outraged by
it and Australia's Prime Minister issued a statement rebuking the Chinese
government, demanding an apology.
Apparently,
the Australian Government is more offended by people exposing and calling out
its war crimes than the actual war crimes themselves perpetrated by its own
soldiers.
David
McBride, a former lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force, leaked
evidence of war crimes to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC. After
this happened, the ABC offices were raided by police.
And
I think it is extremely interesting, and worth pointing out here, that when
supposedly liberal democracies like the United States, Australia and the UK,
have embarrassing information about them leaked to the press, all notions of
freedom of speech and press freedoms suddenly seem to go out the window.
We
saw this with the raid on ABC, with the persecution of Julian Assange and
numerous other whistleblowers over the years.
After
leaking evidence of war crimes committed by Australian special forces in
Afghanistan to ABC, David McBride faces five charges including those of theft
of Commonwealth property, breaching the defence act, and disclosing information
without due authorization. This could result in him going to jail for decades.
David
is facing several decades in jail now, because he exposed war crimes committed
by the SAS in Afghanistan, he details how he tried going up the chain of
command, and how they put roadblocks and obstacles in front of him, and will
elaborate on some of the mechanisms that an institution like the Australian,
the British and the American military might put in place to prevent
whistle-blowers like himself from disclosing the truth and exposing wrongdoing.
It
wasn't war crimes that I first noticed a problem. It was more that we didn't tell
the truth about anything, about small things as well as big things. That the
war looked like it was being run to win domestic elections rather than to
actually make a difference in Afghanistan.
And
I started to get suspicious, because when I made complaints, they weren't
treated seriously. And in fact, the message that seemed to be coming back to me
was “shut up, stop making waves, what's going on is way above your paygrade”.
And
there were some things which looked like cold blooded murders. But they weren't
being investigated, or that were just being whitewashed, and I was like, Well,
how can that be?
How
could you not look into something which looks like children are being killed?
David
McBride, former Lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force
The
Virgin report, which was concluded in late 2020, says the SAS killed 39 Afghan
civilians. That's the official figure, but how many of those Special Forces
that committed these murders were prosecuted or held accountable?
Is
the 39 casualty count accurate or even legitimate?
There's
only one person, one person who ever put on a uniform for Australia, who was
facing a trial and significant jail time at this stage, and that is me. And I
think even the government finds that an uncomfortable fact.
The
report, as you know, was only finished late in 2020. And it wasn't a conviction
of anybody it was simply a non criminal report like an inquiry, which
recommended charges you know, didn't even recommend charges and recommend the
collates look at those 39 murders, and if necessary, charge people.
The
wheels of justice, even when they're, even when they're sort of being totally
run honestly, take a long time. And it's quite possible we won't even have a
trial on this until 2030.
In
relation to the amount of murders, I don't know that it was that many more. But
it's a significant number because it wasn't...a lot of people must have known.
And
that's what's truly significant, they should say, a lot of people must have
known, a lot of people must have said nothing. And not only that, what is more
worrying than sad, if it had been 300, was that often we rewarded the
perpetrators of the murders, we gave them medals, we made them sort of media
superstars, and I think that's the really sickening thing; to say, who do we,
who gets ahead in our society, you know, the person that does the right thing?
Or the person who is the most sneaky, the most ruthless, the person that
actually thinks that laws are just a joke?
David
McBride, former Lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force
Is
Australia's geopolitical standing, its place on the international stage, at
risk due to the perception that it is doing the bidding of the United States?
Could the confrontation with China, not to mention the situation with Julian
Assange, be another aspect of the same policy?
It
completely is and that it does worry me a lot. Well, we will never move forward
as a country until we take a good hard look at what they euphemistically call
the strategic relationship. That means we are just we're just doing whatever
America wants. And the idea is that they will look after us. You know, if we're
ever going to buy it, but I mean, that's highly questionable. And I would
rather stand on our own, they make us buy their equipment. They use us;
obviously, we don't have a very big army. But it's it has a very potent effect.
It means that when they go on these expeditions to Middle Eastern countries
that it doesn't look like they're acting on their own. So having Australian is
it's powerful for them.
David
McBride, former Lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force
So
Donald Trump, he sanctioned the ICC for investigating war crimes in
Afghanistan. Israel is now scared that the ICC might investigate them.
Do
you think that Australia has handled the SAS war crimes adequately? And if not,
do you think that the ICC should be stepping in to prosecute officials and
politicians involved in fiasco?
I
believe the ICC I believe that was the motivation for the Brereton Report. That
was the real motivation. I spoke to a senior lawyer back in 2014. And I said,
What's going on? There's obviously some big cover up there. Something strange
is going on, as I said, we're prosecuting people we shouldn't be prosecuting.
And we're not prosecuting the famous guys that need it. And he said, we're
worried about the ICC. And I didn't understand at the time, I thought, well,
the ICC doesn't have any jurisdiction in Australia, unless it's pretty serious.
What I didn't realize was that it was a lot more; it was serious enough for the
ICC. They knew it back in 2014. And everything they've done since, because the
ICC can't prosecute you, if you have carried out prosecutions yourself. I
think, they think they're being really
clever, because I imagine it's not really it's not clear what carrying out
prosecutions means and so if you're carrying out prosecutions, yourself for 50
years, that probably qualifies, you know, whatever, by that time they will all
be retired.
David
McBride, former Lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force
Who
is afraid of the ICC?
And
the reason why the ICC scares them, The ICC has a tendency to go for the
leadership. And this is how, you know, spineless our people are. They don't
really care about the soldiers doing things wrong, whatever. But they worry
that they might be in the frame and they might get before the Hague. And so
they need to find some scapegoats fast, and they need to draw it out. And I
think that that's that was the real, the really cynical motivation about
Brereton was to get, because unlike the US, where a signature were in, this is
typical Australia, back to Maurice Payne. We can't sign up to these things
quick enough. We sign up to any anything and we're like, oh, we're such a good
nation, you know, we signed up to the ICC... and I think a lot of the time
people just want to go on junkets to nice sounding... Rome was where the ICC
was put together. But they don't really think about what it means to be a
member and now, where the Americans have, of course, never sign up to it, now
we're backpedalling really fast. We will be complicit even though we are a
signatory to the ICC, a founding member, and the Americans, Pomeo's absolutely
outrageous idea that he was going to put sanctions that he made the ICC the bad
guys. Yeah, to try to make it look like the ICC were the criminals. And
Australia, of course, did nothing. And again, this is that creepy thing about,
you know, being beholden to the US. We either need to get out of the ICC or we
need to say something about that Pompeo's actions, and they are pretty
outrageous, but I think that, unfortunately you're hanging around, you know,
the boys long enough and you become like them and ...I think the only reason
... we even did the inquiries was to get the ICC off our back, we we didn't
support the ICC. When Pompeo was putting sanctions on them, I'm like, Oh, my
God!
David
McBride, former Lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force
As
stated earlier, these investigations literally take years. And you also have
the UK inquiry, Operation Northmoor, where they are still investigating war
crimes in Afghanistan, and of course, no one has been found guilty.
I
think that's, that's another good example. I'm glad you brought it up. I think
that that's what we're getting in Australia. And unfortunately, all these people
are working in the government. And it seems they are using the same playbook,
you know, make a big noise about something for long enough, throw around money,
but then make sure nothing ever happens, the sort of thing they do in political
investigations, you know, whereas if you only care about public appearances,
that sort of thing makes perfect sense. You know, if you're not actually trying
to do the right thing, just trying to win elections, of course, double dealing
and mixed messages and playing one side off another, a bit like the American
elections, you know, that partisan politics serves a purpose. And, if public
perception and opinion polling are your goals, your ultimate goals, why not?
Just mess with the truth the whole time. You know, a trial is really just a way
to look good temporarily. And if you have to have a trial, but make sure the
person gets acquitted, that's a win win. As far as these very cynical, you
know, reputation management, people would would go in there pretty much everything
that the US has, not just the US but all the Western nations are doing the
Middle East is a Sham.
David
McBride, former Lawyer and Major in the Australian Defence Force
The
United Kingdom, which also invaded Afghanistan in 2001, is also embroiled in
its own war crimes scandal. Britain's Special Forces, also named the Special
Air Service, SAS, were found to be committing war crimes going back many, many
years.
These
war crimes involved many of the same things we just looked at such as blooding,
or throw downs, and were also systemically covered up by the entire chain of
command. An inquiry was also launched, called Operation Northmoor, yet not a
single soldier or politician was held accountable. These atrocities were
reported on years before when the Sunday Times in cooperation with the BBC,
published internal emails showing that troops in Afghanistan were casually
discussing these war crimes among themselves.
For
example, in late 2010 and early 2011, British special forces from D Squadron in
the 22nd Special Air Service regiment, conducted several night raids in the
Helmand Province in Afghanistan.
During
these nighttime raids they would regularly execute dozens of unarmed Afghan
men, committing the most horrendous of war crimes, with complete impunity.
On
February 16th 2011, the SAS stormed the house of a man named
SaifullahGharebYar. They executed his two brothers, his cousin and his father.
All of his family members had been unarmed and were already in custody at this
point when they were murdered.
Afterwards,
the SAS falsified their Operational Summary, OPSOM reports, claiming that these
men had brandished weapons of some sort. They did this for practically every
raid, these “throwdowns”, the report goes on to detail how British commanders
became aware early on of a deliberate policy of executing Afghani civilians,
particularly men.
In
one email published by the Sunday Times a Major in the SAS remarks that there
were more bodies than weapons. This clearly indicates that either the weapons
had gone missing, or the men were never armed to begin with. And these reports
were fabricated, or falsified. The numbers literally did not add up.
In
another email soldiers casually talk about the latest massacre, indicating how
common these occurrences were. The UK Ministry of Defence claims that a
"breakdown of communication" between the Ministry of Defence and
lawyers is the reason that no action ended up being taken.
Operation
Northmoor was set up in 2014 to investigate these crimes. And yet, here we are
in 2021, and not a single person has been found guilty despite all of these
killings. How is that possible? It's extraordinary that none of these
investigations whether we're talking about Operation Northmoor, or the Brereton
Report, have resulted in any successful prosecutions or convictions; or even
criminal proceedings beginning.
How
is it that Australian, British and American Special Forces can literally get
away with murder?
The
end result of this is that these actions not only disgraced the uniforms of
these countries but also blew a giant hole in the mission these countries
allegedly set out to accomplish, if their original goal was, as they professed,
to bring peace and stability to the country, this certainly was not the way to
do it.
Executing
unarmed men and getting away with murder, is not nation building or bringing
peace and stability and security to Afghanistan. It's a horrendous, brutal
occupation that cannot be justified and is, ultimately, self defeating.
In
some cases when Afghan civilians were executed by special forces their families
were paid compensation by British and Australian troops, who did so without
acknowledging any wrongdoing.
If
you look at the sums mentioned, in some cases, it's around 2000 or $3,000.
According to the Sunday Times, in July of 2012, an Afghan mother named
BebeHazrata, watched as the elite British SAS commandos shot dead her three
unarmed sons (Nor Mohammad, 33, Din Mohammad, 30, and Sher Mohammed, 27) in the
courtyard of their own home.
They
were just farmers. The British then paid her 3000 pounds, and just left. Of
course, the British government denies any wrongdoing.
And
in another instance, reported by ABC, the Australian Special Forces killed a
man named BismillahAzadi and his 15 year old son, Sadighollah, while they lay
sleeping. According to Bismillah's cousin, he found them dead and the bed
riddled with bullets, the Australian Special Forces had left some cash with the
corpse and left.
Is
that how much the United States, Britain and Australia think Afghan lives are
worth, a few thousand dollars?
This
is not just repulsive; it's extremely insulting and dehumanizing. Foreign
invaders come to Afghanistan, kill Afghan civilians in front of their families,
pay them a few pennies and then just move on to the next village, or next town,
as if nothing happened.
And
the world stays silent and allows this to continue for decades. Is this it?
Anyone
with a shred of decency will be shocked and offended by what's going on. And
these are just the things that we know.
More
recently, there's a bill going through the British Parliament called the
Overseas Operations Bill, which is extreme cause for concern.
This
bill seeks to eliminate accountability for British troops who commit war crimes
overseas by introducing a statute of limitation of five years after the event
has happened. That is, If it's ever investigated.
This
means war crimes, torture, abuses of various kinds would go unpunished,
essentially, not just the soldiers committing the acts but all the way up the
chain of command, no one would be held responsible.
The
bill effectively eviscerates accountability for war crimes and does nothing to
prevent them in the future. It's an assault on human rights in the clearest
sense and an indication that the British government intends to continue the
trend of letting war crimes go unpunished.
If
there's one thing we've learned from these investigations, it's not just that
war crimes have been committed with absolute impunity, and that these horrific
practices like blooding and throw downs are going on, but that there's also
been a systemic cover up going up the entire chain of command.
It's
really worth thinking about what is more concerning here, the fact that these
war crimes have taken place at all or that military officials and politicians
are able to get away with them and escape unscathed after failing to prevent
them from happening in the first place, and letting them continue when they
knew the horrors that were taking place.
Honestly,
both concepts are equally terrifying, and equally unacceptable; most of all, to
the victims and their families.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/23/645885/SAS-commit-war-crimes-in-Afghanistan-with-impunity
--------
Turkey
accuses Greece of 'harassing' research ship in Aegean Sea
23
February 2021
Turkey
has accused the Greek military of "harassing" a Turkish vessel in the
Aegean Sea, despite efforts by Athens and Ankara to resolve their differences
over the disputed waters.
Turkey's
Defense Ministry claimed on Tuesday that four Greek F-16 fighters had flown
close to the TCG Cesme ship, which was carrying out "technical and
scientific research" in waters near the Greek island of Lemnos.
One
of the Greek fighter jets was alleged to have flown "at an altitude of
1,000 meters" and dropped a flare "two nautical miles" away from
the Turkish research ship.
"This
is unfortunately one of the frequent acts of harassment by our Greek
neighbors," Turkish Defense Minister HulusiAkar said in statement.
Without
providing further details, Akar said that Turkey had made an "adequate
response" to the incident.
"We
all believe that such harassment is not appropriate and does not suit good
neighborly relations," he added.
Greek
media reported that an official from the country's Defense Ministry had denied
that its fighter jets had harassed a Turkish vessel.
The
Turkish Navy deployed the TCG Cesme ship on a scientific mission in the Aegean
Sea last week and said the vessel would carry out surveys of the islands of
Lemnos, Skyros, and Alonnisos until March 2, a move that drew protests from
Greece.
For
the first time in five years, representatives from Ankara and Athens resumed
talks over energy rights in the eastern Mediterranean last month with the aim
of settling long-standing disputes between the two NATO member countries. The two
sides have agreed on a subsequent meeting in the Greek capital.
Greece
and Turkey, both of them NATO members, have been locked in a long-lasting
territorial dispute over hydrocarbon resources in the Mediterranean Sea.
Tensions
escalated last year between the two after Turkey began a military-backed
hydrocarbon exploration venture in waters between Greece and Cyprus.
Turkey’s
discovery of major gas deposits in the waters sparked anger in Greece, which
responded with naval drills.
Despite
warnings from the European Union, Ankara has organized several gas exploration
missions in Greek waters, triggering a diplomatic crisis.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/23/645921/Turkey-accuses-Greece-of--harassing--research-ship-in-Aegean-Sea
--------
Southeast
Asia
Malaysia
deports over 1,000 Myanmar nationals in defiance of court order
February
24, 2021
LUMUT:
Malaysia on Tuesday deported more than 1,000 Myanmar detainees back to their
strife-torn homeland just weeks after a coup, despite a court order halting the
repatriation and a storm of criticism.
The
migrants, whom activists say include vulnerable asylum seekers, departed on
three Myanmar navy ships from a Malaysian military base after arriving on
packed trucks and buses under police escort.
The
United States, the United Nations and rights groups had criticised the plan,
while hours before the deportation a Kuala Lumpur court ordered it be
temporarily halted to allow a legal challenge. Activists were set to argue it
should not go ahead as Malaysia would breach its international duties by
deporting vulnerable people, and the Myanmar military’s seizure of power put
them at even greater risk.
But
the vessels later set sail carrying 1,086 detainees, with authorities giving no
explanation as to why the court order had been ignored.
Amnesty
International, one of the groups that had brought the legal challenge, said
pushing ahead with the repatriation in defiance of the ruling was “inhumane and
devastating”.
“This
life-threatening decision has affected the lives of more than 1,000 people and
their families, and leaves an indelible stain on Malaysia’s human rights
record,” said Katrina JoreneMaliamauv, executive director of the group’s
Malaysian office.
Phil
Robertson, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said Malaysia had “sent
them back into the hands of a military junta known for persecuting those who
flee the country for political reasons”.
Malaysian
immigration chief KhairulDzaimeeDaud had offered assurances no members of the
persecuted Rohingya minority — not recognised as citizens in Myanmar — or
asylum seekers had been repatriated.
“All
of those who have been deported agreed to return of their own free will,
without being forced,” he said.
Rights
groups have however raised doubts over authorities’ claims no asylum seekers
were among those sent back, as the UN has not been able to do a proper
assessment.
Authorities
earlier said 1,200 detainees were to be deported, and it was not clear why the
final number was lower.
Officials
insist those sent back had committed offences such as overstaying their visas,
and the deportation was part of their regular programme of repatriating
migrants from poorer parts of Asia.
About
37,000 foreigners were repatriated last year. Malaysia is home to millions of
migrants who work in low-paying jobs such as construction. It is rare for
rights groups to launch legal challenges against deportations.
But
they were prompted to do so by concerns about the worsening human rights
situation in Myanmar since the coup, and that some of the migrants were
vulnerable.
Activists
have been growing increasingly alarmed since authorities blocked the UN refugee
agency from accessing immigration detention centres in Malaysia in 2019.
This
means the UN cannot assess whether foreigners are economic migrants looking for
work or asylum seekers fleeing persecution and conflict, who would usually be
granted refugee status and the right to remain in Malaysia.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1609083/malaysia-deports-over-1000-myanmar-nationals-in-defiance-of-court-order
--------
After
court halts deportation of 1,200 foreign nationals, Pakatan calls for govt to
initiate regional talks on Myanmar coup
23
Feb 2021
BY
EMMANUEL SANTA MARIA CHIN
KUALA
LUMPUR, Feb 23 — Opposition coalition PakatanHarapan (PH) today called on the
government to initiate a regional dialogue among Asean leaders to find a
solution to the recent military coup and restore democracy in Myanmar.
PH
zoomed in on the importance of such a discourse taking place soon, to end
alleged persecution and rights abuse by the junta, underscored by a recent
decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to grant a temporary stay of
deportation to some 1,200 Myanmar nationals earlier today.
The
temporary stay was granted until tomorrow morning when a judicial review of the
repatriation will be heard by the court.
“PH
calls on the Malaysian government to initiate a dialogue between Asean leaders
and the Myanmar Junta in order to end the violent repression of peaceful
demonstrators, to release prisoners of conscience, and return democracy and the
institution of Parliament in Myanmar,” read a statement issued by the
coalition.
The
statement, endorsed by its three party leaders, namely Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
(PKR), MohamadSabu (PartiAmanah Negara) and Lim Guan Eng (DAP), despite urging
the government to reconsider its decision to deport the Myanmar nationals, then
expressed their concerns if such a request would even be considered.
“Even
so, this decision (by the courts) may not stop the Malaysian government from
continuing with the repatriation process after that period is over.
“PH
stresses that the Malaysian government must reconsider the repatriation of
1,200 Myanmar nationals because such an action would legitimise and acknowledge
the Tatmadaw military junta.
“The
act of repatriating refugees to a conflict zone before stability and peace has
been truly established may jeopardise the safety of these refugees,” read the
statement.
The
foreign nationals were supposed to be deported earlier today, via three Navy
ships docked at the Lumut, Perak port sent by Myanmar’s military that seized
power in the country through a February 1 coup, before the Court’s decision at
the noon hearing today.
The
power grab by the Myanmar military triggered protests and demonstrations by
pro-democracy activists in locations throughout the country, with even several
fatalities reported as a result of the clashes with the junta.
Reports
had claimed that among the 1,200 set to be repatriated by Malaysia include
several with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) cards and
even minors with one parent in Malaysia.
This
despite the government earlier promising not to deport Rohingya Muslims or
refugees registered with the UNHCR.
Refugee
groups say asylum seekers from the minority Chin, Kachin and non-Rohingya
Muslim communities fleeing conflict and persecution at home are among those
being deported.
PH
today also expressed its worry towards these claims of minors and documented
refugees being among those set to be deported.
“If
this is true, then it is a worrying development. We therefore request that the
authorities, with the assistance of the UNHCR, promptly verify whether this is
truly the case or not,” PH said.
This
also comes a day after PH likened the PerikatanNasional government to the
military government currently ruling Myanmar, saying both were alike in their
efforts to subvert democracy through the suspension of Parliament
PH
had said both administrations also used the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to
impose autocratic rule as a way to divert attention from their failure to
tackle the health and economic crisis effectively.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/02/23/after-court-halts-deportation-of-1200-foreign-nationals-pakatan-calls-for-g/1952186
--------
Indonesia
seeks to broker Taliban peace deal in Afghanistan
February
24, 2021
JAKARTA
-- Former Indonesian Vice President JusufKalla said he has traveled to
Afghanistan and Qatar several times in recent months to help broker a peace
deal between the government in Kabul and the Taliban insurgent group.
In
an interview at his home in Jakarta, he told Nikkei Asia that he went to meet
the two parties in a personal capacity to "give them thoughts, as well as
ways of how to negotiate effectively."
Kalla
said one way he could help mediate the conflict is by offering suggestions to
both sides based on "Indonesia's experiences in dealing with conflict
areas," adding that he aimed to operate within Indonesia's constitution by
helping "maintain world order by means of lasting peace."
Kalla,
who served under the administrations of former President SusiloBambangYudhoyono
from 2004 to 2009 and current leader Joko "Jokowi" Widodo from 2014
to 2019, was a key figure behind the 2005 Helsinki agreement in which the
government and now-defunct Free Aceh Movement signed a peace accord following a
decades-long conflict in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
"By
negotiating, it means they basically already want to achieve peace," Kalla
told Nikkei Asia, referring to peace talks that started last September in Doha.
Faran
Jeffery, deputy director of the Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism (ITCT), a
U.K.-based anti-terrorism think tank, told Nikkei Asia: "Afghanistan's
security and stability will not only impact Asia but the rest of the
world."
Jeffery
continued: "Afghanistan has in the past acted as the hub of global
terrorism, with Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and a list of other terrorist groups
maintaining their bases and training camps in the country. Even if the Taliban
completely cuts ties with Al-Qaeda, they will always remain ideologically
aligned with the global jihadist group."
The
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in October the
country remained "among the deadliest places in the world to be a civilian"
-- with 2,117 people killed and 3,822 injured from January to September last
year.
In
a February 2020 report, UNAMA documented more than 35,000 fatalities and more
than 65,000 injuries in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2019. The actual death
toll could be much higher, as the U.S.-led coalition began operations against
the Taliban in the country in 2001.
As
the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, Indonesia has been a part of the
Afghanistan peace process since 2014, when Kalla began his second stint as vice
president. "The government is committed to contributing to peace in
Afghanistan," foreign ministry spokesperson TeukuFaizasyah told Nikkei
Asia. "What Mr.Kalla does adds value to the Indonesian government's
sustained diplomatic efforts and contribution for peace in Afghanistan."
Former
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Indonesian counterpart RetnoMarsudi
during a visit to Jakarta in October last year that he "appreciated"
Indonesia's engagement in the peace process. "The world's largest majority-Muslim
country has much to offer Afghanistan on its road to peace and making sure that
every Afghan, men and women, have all the rights to which they are rightly
deserving," Pompeo said.
Kalla,
currently chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross, however, declined to elaborate
on the message he conveyed to the Afghan government and Taliban. "Of
course, it cannot be [made] open," he told Nikkei Asia.
Jeffery
of the ITCT "can play an important role in Afghanistan" by promoting
religious harmony and helping the country rebuild. He said that U.S., Qatar and
other brokers had ignored the role of tribal leaders and their militias in
relation to the peace process.
"Similarly,
the Afghan non-Taliban Islamic scholars have also been largely ignored,"
he said. "I think this is where Indonesia can do what others have not so
far. Indonesia can engage with Afghan tribal leaders as well as Islamic
scholars in a variety of ways, which will eventually help bring them into the
Afghan national fold and be more productive in the national peace
process."
Ahmad
Rizky M. Umar, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia,
said Indonesia's initiative to encourage dialogue between groups in Afghanistan
was "actually driven more" by Kalla and the Indonesian foreign ministry,
rather than grassroots Islamic organizations in Indonesia.
Umar,
who has researched Islam and its connections to Indonesia's foreign policy,
said Kalla's involvement in the dialogue would be "different from his
experience in previous conflict resolutions," such as his roles in
Indonesia's Poso conflict from the late 1990s to early 2000s and in southern
Thailand in the late 2000s.
"This
will be very different because Afghanistan has a contour of Islamic
understanding which is quite different from that in Indonesia or in Southeast
Asia," he told Nikkei Asia.
Kalla
said he would continue monitoring the negotiations between the two sides and
would travel again to Afghanistan and Qatar if needed.
"I
promised them if there is still a deadlock, I am ready to come again to give
suggestions."
https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Indonesia-seeks-to-broker-Taliban-peace-deal-in-Afghanistan
--------
Arab
World
State
Department warns Egypt against purchasing Russian fighter jets
Joseph
Haboush
23
February ,2021
The
United States Tuesday expressed its concern over Egypt’s potential purchase of
Russian fighter jets, the State Department said Tuesday.
US
Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised the issue during a phone call with his
Egyptian counterpart SamehShoukry.
“The
Secretary raised concerns over human rights, which he emphasized would be
central to the US-Egypt bilateral relationship, and Egypt’s potential
procurement of Su-35 fighter aircraft from Russia,” State Department Spokesman
Ned Price said in a statement.
Washington
has increased its opposition to allies, specifically Turkey, acquiring Russian
fighter jets.
A
US sanctions regime was put into effect to allow the US to sanction any allies
for doing so.
Separately,
Blinken and Shoukry highlighted the importance of the strong strategic
partnership between the United States and Egypt, “particularly in security and
ongoing counterterrorism cooperation, and exchanged views on regional issues.”
The
ongoing UN-backed peace talks in Libya and the Middle East Peace Process were
also touched upon, Price said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/23/US-foreign-policy-State-Department-warns-Egypt-against-purchasing-Russian-fighter-jets
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Iraqi
officials, Kata’ib Hezbollah condemn rocket attack on Baghdad Green Zone
23
February 2021
Senior
Iraqi officials and Kata'ib Hezbollah resistance group, which is part of the
Popular Mobilization Units, have denounced the latest rocket attack that
targeted the high-security zone in the capital Baghdad, blaming rouge elements
for the “unjustifiable” assault.
“We
strongly condemn the resumption of attacks on diplomatic centers and spread of
terror among the residents of Baghdad,” Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the Fatah
(Conquest) Alliance in Iraq’s parliament, said in a statement.
Ameri,
who also leads Iraq’s Badr Organization, censured the rocket fire on Baghdad’s
fortified Green Zone as unjustifiable under any pretext, calling on Iraqi
security forces to fulfill their duties and protect diplomatic installations
across the country.
Iraq’s
Security Media Cell announced in a statement that at least two rockets had
landed in the heavily fortified Green Zone in central Baghdad, which houses
foreign embassies and some of the main Iraqi government institutions, on Monday
evening.
The
rockets only caused material damage, and there was no mention of casualties.
No
group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Kata’ib
Hezbollah’s military spokesman Jaafar al-Husseini also called the rocket attack
on the high-security Green Zone of Baghdad an attempt to foment unrest in Iraq.
“According
to the information received by us, the rocket attack in Green Zone, was the
work of evil hands who want to destabilize the country,” Husseini pointed out
in a short message.
Furthermore,
influential Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called on the Baghdad government
to take proper actions to stop attacks on diplomatic missions.
“We
are witnessing an increase in the use of weapons, bombings and attacks
targeting diplomatic installations in Iraq…They are posing tremendous risk to
the lives of Iraqi civilians, and seriously damaging the prestige of the
administration,” Sadr wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page.
He
called on Iraqi authorities not to stand idly by and adopt appropriate steps to
prevent rocket attacks.
Additionally,
the leader of the National Wisdom Movement (al-Hikma), Ammar al-Hakim, deplored
attacks on diplomatic missions, especially in the Green Zone in the center of
Baghdad.
He
said those individuals who launch such assaults are not concerned about the
dire consequences of their actions, which tarnish the reputation of Iraq,
damage the prestige of the government in the global public opinion, and
endanger the lives of people residing in the nearby areas.
PMU
‘will disclose info on perpetrators in due time’
Qais
al-Khazali, leader of Asa’ibAhl al-Haq, which is also part of the PMU, also
slammed the rocket attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone.
The
continuation of attacks on the Green Zone, which hit residential areas each
time and do not cause any damage to the US embassy, comes despite the declared
decision of the Iraqi Resistance Coordination Commission to stop such raids,
said the commander.
This
raises many questions about the party that benefits from such assaults,” he
said in a statement posted on Twitter.
“We
have information that we will disclose at the appropriate time,” Khazali noted.
‘Mossad
controls Daesh camps in Syria’
Meanwhile,
the Union of Muslim Scholars in Diyala said the Israeli spy agency Mossad is in
control of training camps of the TakfiriDaesh terrorist group in Syria.
“The
control of Daesh camps inside Syria has shifted from the CIA (Central
Intelligence Agency) to the Israeli Mossad, which has been directing the
militants for the past few months. The US [military] aircraft prevent any
initiative to bombard such camps and secure them. This is proof that Washington
is the sponsor of the largest extremist organization, which threatens global
security and stability,” the union’s head, Jabbar al-Ma’mouri, told
Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency on Monday.
He
added, “Creation of extremist organizations is a US objective, which was
formulated decades ago. It started with al-Qaeda [terror network] and has now
reached Daesh. They are the offspring of the CIA.”
“Confessions
of the White House leaders confirm such evidence. Iraq’s security is tied to
the fortification of its border with Syria since there is a scheme that aims to
undermine the stability of the country through attacks,” Ma’mouri noted.
Israel
frequently targets military positions inside war-ravaged Syria, especially
those of the Hezbollah resistance movement that has helped the Syrian army in
its fight against foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists.
Many
view the Israeli acts of aggression as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian
government’s increasing success in confronting terrorism in the country
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/23/645879/Iraqi-officials,-Kataib-Hezbollah-condemn-rocket-attack-on-Baghdad-Green-Zone
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Over
6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar as it gears up for 2022 FIFA World
Cup: Report
24
February 2021
More
than 6,500 migrant workers from five labor-sending South Asian countries have
reportedly died in Qatar ever since the Persian Gulf kingdom won the right to
host the 2022 FIFA World Cup nearly a decade ago.
British
daily newspaper The Guardian, citing findings compiled from a range of
government sources, reported on Tuesday that the figure means an average of 12
migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have died
each week in Qatar.
The
report said thousands of migrant Asian workers have died in unexplained or
dubious circumstances – often listed as “natural deaths” – while working in
Qatar in the last decade.
It
said 69% of the deaths among Indian, Nepali and Bangladeshi workers are
categorized as natural, while the figure is 80% among Indians alone.
Based
on the data from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, 5,927 migrant workers
lost their lives in Qatar between 2011 and 2020.
Separately,
Pakistan’s embassy in Doha reported there were a further 824 deaths of
Pakistani workers in the period 2010–2020.
The
Guardian further revealed that Ghal Singh Rai from Nepal paid nearly £1,000
($1,418) in recruitment fees for his job as a cleaner in a camp for workers
building the Education City World Cup stadium. He killed himself within a week
of arriving in Qatar.
Another
worker, Mohammad Shahid Miah, from Bangladesh, was electrocuted in his worker
accommodation after water came into contact with exposed electricity cables.
In
India, the family of MadhuBollapally have never understood how the healthy
43-year old died of “natural causes” while working in Qatar. His body was found
lying on his dorm room floor.
The
Guardian highlighted what it described the lack of transparency, rigor and
details in recording deaths in Qatar.
The
daily newspaper said embassies in Doha and governments in labor-sending
countries are apparently reluctant to share the data, possibly for political
reasons.
“There
is a real lack of clarity and transparency surrounding these deaths,” May
Romanos, a researcher with Amnesty International on migrant rights in the
Persian Gulf region, said.
She
added, “There is a need for Qatar to strengthen its occupational health and
safety standards.”
The
report warned the real death toll is significantly higher, as figures do not
reveal the number of deaths of workers from other countries which send large
numbers of migrants to Qatar, such as the Philippines and Kenya.
The
findings also do not include deaths that occurred in the final months of 2020.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/24/645952/Over-6,500-migrant-workers-have-died-in-Qatar-as-it-gears-up-for-2022-FIFA-World-Cup-Report
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Saudi
students among winners of UAE space pioneers program
TARIQ
AL-THAQAFI
February
23, 2021
MAKKAH:
The UAE’s inaugural spacecraft, the Hope Probe, entered orbit round Mars last
week and the country wants future generations in the Arab world to continue to
have an impact on space exploration.
It
all starts with the Arab Space Pioneers Program, which is an intensive science
training program launched in July by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the
UAE vice president and ruler of Dubai. The program comes on the heels of the
Hope Probe mission and aims to build Arab expertise in space science and
technologies, while also empowering the region’s talents.
Within
two weeks of its launch, the program received 37,000 applications from talented
researchers and inventors from Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, Morocco, the UAE, Jordan,
Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.
The
program, overseen by the UAE Space Agency, then selected 10 winners to
participate in the inaugural edition.
“I
knew I had to apply because it would allow me to explore my love for space at
an advanced level,” said Saudi national Nuran Al-Youssef, 16, one of the future
astronomers selected for the program.
“There’s
only so much a person can learn from online research papers and books and I
wanted to have real-world experiences in the field that I love.”
Joining
Al-Youssef in the program’s talent track will be Muhammad Al-Sayed Subai,17,
Salah El-Din Jalal, 17, and Nuran Al-Sayed, 16, from Egypt; Fatima Al-Abdullah,
16, from Saudi Arabia; Muhammad Zakaria, 15, from Algeria; and Muhammad
Al-Jroub, 16, from Jordan.
The
talent track offers training that will assist participants in entering the
scientific field.
Maria
Muhammad from the Comoros, Muhammad Abdel Jawad from Syria, and Asmaa
Al-Mismari from Saudi Arabia were selected for the program’s student track,
which will assist participants in earning college scholarships.
Participants
in both tracks will receive training in the UAE’s space research and
development centers.
Al-Youssef
became interested in space exploration when she was 7 while living in Texas as
her parents pursued their graduate degrees. After borrowing a simple astronomy
book from the library, her curiosity peaked. Al-Youssef then visited NASA’s
Johnson Space Center in Houston when she was in the sixth grade, which solidified
her goal to learn more about the skies above.
After
she returned to the Kingdom, Al-Youssef started a small club called the Saudi
Youth Space Association where the main goal was to encourage youth to pursue
careers in space-related fields.
“The
majority of students who would come into these webinars have an interest in
astronomy, but don’t know if they want to pursue it as a career,” she said.
“Seeing someone who has done it before and succeeded can inspire them to turn
their dreams into a reality.”
Saudi
Fatma Al-Abdullah, 16, said she discovered her love for science during summer
programs hosted by the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for
Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba).
The
11th grader from Al-Ahsa has a passion for modern physics and mathematics and
she has also participated in various olympiads.
“Throughout
the application and vetting process, I was trying my best to show how
passionate I am about space science, technology and mathematics and how driven
I am to achieve my goals,” Al-Abdullah said.
Both
students have high aspirations for the future. Al-Youssef wants to become an
astronaut and she plans to study astronomy and aerospace engineering in
college.
“My
ultimate goal is to eventually work in the Saudi Space Commission and play a
part in shaping Saudi Arabia’s space future,” she said.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1814626/saudi-arabia
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