Hate Speech: Act Against Hate Mongers, Take Suo Motu Action or Face Contempt, SC Tells State Governments
New Age Islam News Bureau
22 October 2022
Supreme Court of India PTI
-----
• Pakistan Removed From Global Terror-Financing
Watchdog FATF Grey List
• NATO Allies Kept In Dark about Trump's Taliban Deal,
Inquiry Hears
• Over One Million, both Saudis and Foreigners,
Forcibly Displaced Due To Mass Demolitions In Saudi Arabia's Jeddah: Human
Rights Group
• Leading Iranian Cleric Javad Alavi-Boroujerdi Voices
Support of People’s Right to Protest against Rulers
India
• Prophet and Arab Historians Were Touched by India’s
Ancient Knowledge: Kerala Governor
• Varanasi Court to Hear Plea Seeking Survey of
Basements In Gyanvapi Mosque
• Don't know which Bhagavad Gita Shivraj Patil has
read, says VHP leader on jihad remarks
• Krishna Janmabhoomi: Mosque Committee Questions
Right of Petitioner to File Suit
• India-born Pakistani to remain in India, on bail:
Supreme Court
--------
Pakistan
• Equally Strives For Prosperity of Both Muslim,
Non-Muslim: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony
• Bahrain residents protest recent terror wave in Swat
• Global Powers Anxious after Remarks on Pakistan
Nuclear Capabilities
• Pakistan poll tribunal disqualifies Imran as MP,
bars him from public office in assets case
• Ex-Pakistan PM Imran Khan accuses ECP of colluding
with govt to disqualify him
• Gen Bajwa to bid ‘farewell to arms’ in five weeks
• Govt says decision ‘just the beginning’, PTI puts
its faith in courts
--------
North
America
• Trump took home classified documents about China,
Iran: Washington Post
• US in talks with Musk to set up Starlink in Iran
• US extends deportation protections to Ethiopians
over raging conflict
--------
Arab
World
• Syria intercepts Israeli strikes: State media
• UN appeals for $13 million for Palestinian refugees
in Lebanon
• Cholera outbreak hits Syrian refugees sheltering in
camps in Lebanon
• Saudi Arabia welcomes victims of Mogadishu bombing
for medical treatment
• Saudi, Chinese officials agree to boost energy
cooperation
• League of Islamic Universities launches climate
action on campuses
--------
Mideast
• Leading Iranian Cleric Javad Alavi-Boroujerdi Voices
Support of People’s Right to Protest against Rulers
• Iran protests death toll rises to 244, over 12,500
detained: Rights group
• 'Anti-Muslim Attacks Surge amid Legitimization of
Ideology' Across the World: President Erdogan
• Israeli troops kill Palestinian; Islamic Jihad says
was member
• Turkey calls for end to embargoes on Iran, Venezuela
to help energy crisis
• Iran teachers to strike over ‘merciless’ crackdown
on children
• Over 100 Israeli settler attacks against
Palestinians in West Bank in past 10 days: Report
• Hamas, Islamic Jihad call for unity to escalate
against Israel
--------
Europe
• In A First, EU Invites Jews and Muslims to Stand Up
For Kosher and Halal Slaughter amid Local Bans
• Preston Man in Court Accused of Sharing Islamic
State Videos
• Muslim Schoolchildren in France Often Denied Food
Options That Fit Their Faith
• Hundreds take to streets in Iran's Zahedan over
killings
• Ukraine appeals for more help with air defenses,
warns over Iran
• France repatriates 40 children, 15 mothers from
Syria camps
--------
South
Asia
• Taliban Kill Six Islamic State Members in Raid in Afghan
Capital - Spokesman
• Mujahid Says West Preventing Islamic Emirate’s
Recognition
• Clash in Afghan Capital: Taliban Claims to Discover
ISIS Hideout
--------
Southeast
Asia
• International Conference Reflects Open, Moderate
Islamic Studies in Indonesia: Religious Affairs Minister
• Malaysia election: Why the ethnic Malay votes matter
and who has the upper hand
• Mysterious 135-year-old temple in Perak’s jungles
--------
Africa
• Tunisian Doctor Sentenced To 15 Years in Jail By
Saudi Court For Expressing Support For Hezbollah
• Burkina Faso's new junta leader sworn in as
president
• Sudan declares state of emergency in Blue Nile over
tribal conflict
• At least 150 people killed in tribal clashes in
Sudan
• Libyan rivals to meet to discuss electoral law in
Rabat
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hate-speech-mongers-suo-motu-supreme-court/d/128245
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Hate Speech: Act Against Hate Mongers, Take Suo Motu
Action or Face Contempt, SC Tells State Governments
Supreme Court of India PTI
-----
21 OCT 2022
The Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from
the Centre and the states to a plea seeking directions for taking appropriate
steps to stop hate speeches against the Muslim community.
A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and CT Ravi Kumar
issued notices to the Centre and all states while tagging the matter with other
pending petitions on the issue pending before another bench.
Petitioner Shaheen Abdullah has moved the top court
also seeking direction to the Centre and states to initiate independent, credible
and impartial probe into the incidents of hate crimes and hate speeches across
the country.
At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing
for the petitioner, said something needs to be done to tackle the problem and
action must be taken against those making hate speeches or indulging in hate
crimes.
The bench said the prayer in the plea is very vague
and no specific instances have been mentioned.
It said cognizance can be taken where an FIR has been
lodged in a case.
Sibal, however, submitted the prayer in the petition
is not vague and mentions recent incidents of hate speeches.
He added several petitions have been filed in the last
six months to stop hate crimes but such incidents are still continuing.
In his petition, Abdullah has also sought to invoke
the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other stringent provisions to
curb hate crimes and hate speeches.
He has said the Muslim community is being
"targeted and terrorised" by the participation of the members of the
ruling political party in delivering hate speeches.
"The spread of hate towards Muslims and other
minorities gets accelerated and becomes all the more far-reaching in its impact
as a result of the support, directly or indirectly, extended to radical
miscreants, who engage in acts of hate crimes, physical violence as well as
communally charged speeches by the ruling political party", it said.
Country secular, take suo motu action against hate
speeches: SC tells 3 states
Holding that the Constitution of India envisages a secular
nation, the Supreme Court Friday directed Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand
governments to come down hard on hate speeches, promptly registering criminal
cases against the culprits without waiting for a complaint to be filed.
The apex court warned any delay on the part of the
administration in taking action on this "very serious issue" will
invite the court's contempt.
"The Constitution of India envisages a secular
nation and fraternity among citizens assuring the dignity of the
individual...The unity and integrity of the nation are one of the guiding
principles enshrined in the preamble. There cannot be fraternity unless the
members of the community from different religions are able to live in harmony.
The petitioner points out that despite various penal provisions, no action has
been taken and there is a need to serve constitutional principles. We feel this
court is charged with a duty to protect the fundamental rights and also protect
and serve the constitution where the rule of law is maintained," the top
court said.
A bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy also
issued notices to Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand on the petition filed by
journalist Shaheen Abdullah.
The court said action must be taken against those
making hate speeches irrespective of their religion to preserve the secular
fabric of the nation.
"Respondents 2-4 (the three states) will file a
response as to what action has been taken for the speeches highlighted. They
shall ensure that as and when any (hate) speech or action takes place without
any complaint being filed, suo motu action is taken in such cases in future
without waiting for complaints," the bench observed.
"Respondents will issue directions to their
subordinates for appropriate action and such action will be taken irrespective
of religion against the person who delivers such hate speech so that the
secular character of this country as envisaged in the preamble is
maintained," it said.
Source: Outlook India
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Pakistan
Removed From Global Terror-Financing Watchdog FATF Grey List
A
flag with the logo of the Financial Action Task Force, FATF, waves in the wind
next to the German national flag during a meeting of the task force at the
Congress Center in Berlin on June 17, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP
-----
Oct
22, 2022
NEW
DELHI: Global terror-financing watchdog FATF on Friday announced Pakistan's
removal from its grey list, saying the country has largely completed its action
plans on anti-money laundering and financing of terrorism. The exit from the
increased monitoring list means greater access to foreign loans and aid.
Pakistan has been on the FATF grey list since June 2018.
India
responded by saying that FATF scrutiny had forced Pakistan to take some action
against well-known terrorists, including those involved in attacks against the
entire international community in Mumbai on 26/11. "It is in global
interest that the world remains clear that Pakistan must continue to take
credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustained action against terrorism and
terrorist financing emanating from territories under its control," said
foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, while noting that Pakistan will
continue to work with the Asia-Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) to
further improve its anti-money laundering /counter terror financing system.
Announcing
the decision after the plenary meeting in Paris, FATF chief T Raja Kumar
welcomed Pakistan's "significant progress" in improving its
anti-money laundering/ combating of financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and
the "high-level commitment" by the Pakistan leadership to the ongoing
reforms for checking money laundering and terrorism financing. He said an
inspection team visited Pakistan and it had returned satisfied. The agency had
in June this year agreed to an onsite evaluation in a sign that it was
considering removing Pakistan from the grey list. Pakistan had been on the FATF
grey list since June 2018.
"Pakistan
has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed
technical deficiencies to meet the commitments of its action plans regarding
strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in June 2018 and June 2021, the
latter of which was completed in advance of the deadlines, encompassing 34
action items in total. Pakistan is, therefore, no longer subject to the FATF's
increased monitoring process," said the agency, adding though that there
is still work to be done and that Pakistan will continue to report to the
agency about follow-up action.
For
India though, the presence of UN-proscribed terror groups and its leaders in
Pakistan remains a major concern.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
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NATO
Allies Kept In Dark about Trump's Taliban Deal, Inquiry Hears
The
US signed a deal with the Taliban in February 2020. Reuters
-----
Tim
Stickings
Oct
21, 2022
Nato
allies were kept in the dark about the US deal with the Taliban that led to the
withdrawal from Afghanistan, an inquiry has heard.
A
German diplomat said the deal was only shown to allies a day before it was
announced in February 2020.
“We
all hoped it would be better negotiated than it really was,” they said.
Another
official said the US had ignored pleas to withdraw when conditions allowed,
rather than setting a hard deadline.
The
revelations were made to a German parliamentary committee investigating the
exit from Afghanistan.
US
and Nato forces ended their 20-year campaign in Afghanistan last year,
prompting the swift return to power of the Taliban.
The
US had agreed to withdraw under the 2020 deal, in return for Taliban promises
to negotiate peace and prevent terrorism.
A
former aide to Germany’s Nato staff said allies hoped the US would make its
withdrawal conditional on the Taliban meeting its commitments.
Instead,
they told the closed-door inquiry that they found the agreement vague and were surprised
that all US troops would leave.
German
diplomats had to transcribe the text of deal because officials in Donald
Trump’s administration would not even let them take away a copy, the inquiry
heard.
It
echoed a report in August that British officials were kept out of the loop when
secret annexes were added to the deal.
The
second witness, a former director for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the German
Foreign Ministry, said Berlin had raised its concerns with US officials.
They
said plans for a German withdrawal were not made immediately because of the
possibility that a new US president would come to power.
Joe
Biden did defeat Mr Trump in the 2020 election and allies made another attempt
to rethink the deal once he came to power.
However,
no consensus could be reached with the US on linking the troop withdrawal to
positive developments on the ground, the inquiry heard.
“We
tried to couple together the military and civilian matters. We were not
particularly successful,” the foreign ministry official said.
Mr
Biden announced in April 2021 that the US withdrawal would go ahead, and Nato
allies swiftly fell in behind him.
The
Nato aide said he had feared at the time that an over-hasty withdrawal would
leave unstable conditions on the ground.
In
the event, Taliban forces quickly overran Afghanistan and seized Kabul before
Nato forces had finished their withdrawal.
It
led to questions about Europe’s reliance on the US and whether other Nato
powers should be able to act more independently.
The
German inquiry previously heard that intelligence was lacking on how resilient
the Afghan forces would be.
The
12-member panel is examining the final phase of the war and whether Germany
should have prepared better.
A
separate inquiry will examine the wider sweep of the 20-year mission in
Afghanistan.
Germany
deployed 93,000 troops, of whom 59 died, in its biggest military intervention
since the Second World War.
Source:
The National News
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
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Over
One Million, both Saudis and Foreigners, Forcibly Displaced Due To Mass
Demolitions In Saudi Arabia's Jeddah: Human Rights Group
This
file picture shows demolitions in a neighborhood of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
(Photo via Twitter)
------
21
October 2022
An
independent human rights organization says more than one million people, both
Saudi citizens and foreigners, have become victims of forced displacement and
have not received adequate compensation as old neighbourhoods are being
demolished in Saudi Arabia’s strategic Red Sea port city of Jeddah to make way
for luxury high rises and entertainment venues.
Democracy
for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a US-based rights group created by murdered
Saudi dissident and the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi to promote
democracy, human rights and the rule of law for the Arab world, stated that
while the Riyadh regime is expected to spend more than $20 billion on the
ambitious plan, very little of that amount has been allocated to compensate the
1.5 million people who have lost or will lose their homes and livelihoods.
The
rights group went on to note that demolitions began slowly in October 2021, but
by December last year the Saudi authorities had started to demolish large parts
of several neighborhoods, forcibly displacing residents without warning and
without prior consultation or sufficient compensation afterwards.
DAWN
highlighted that Saudi officials demolished 16 to 20 neighborhoods between
October 2021 and May 2022, covering an area of more than 4,000 square
kilometers.
The
speed and extent of demolitions inside Jeddah were unprecedented in modern
Saudi history, and the impact of the demolitions on Saudi citizens will be
significant, the rights group said.
Moreover,
a recently published map of the project shows that the demolitions, which are
expected to be completed this month, will affect 1.5 million people in 63
neighborhoods.
The
research conducted by DAWN concluded that the Saudi forced displacements are in
violation of international law since the measures are incompatible with
internationally recognized legal principles to guarantee and protect the
population’s rights.
Saudi
officials have failed to employ appropriate alternatives to displacement and to
follow legal procedures, including providing advance notice and an opportunity
to appeal or providing prompt, adequate, and effective compensation.
DAWN
stressed that Saudi authorities must stop all demolitions in and around Jeddah
until it can ensure that development projects comply with international legal
standards.
According
to the London-based rights group ALQST, an independent non-governmental
organization advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia, evicted residents had
been living in their homes for up to 60 years.
Some
were driven out when their power and water were cut off, or threatened with
jail for disobeying an eviction order, it added.
A
resident of Jeddah’s southern neighborhood of Galil, which saw the first
demolitions last October, said security forces had confiscated mobile phones to
prevent footage from getting out.
“We
were suddenly expelled from our homes overnight and without warning,” said the
man, who gave his name as Fahd.
Saudi
officials have asserted that the kingdom will compensate families for their
losses and announced in February that the government would complete 5,000
replacement housing units by the end of the year.
But
residents, including those evicted early on, said they had so far received
nothing and that there was no clear way to assess the value of their destroyed
homes.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Leading
Iranian Cleric Javad Alavi-Boroujerdi Voices Support of People’s Right to
Protest against Rulers
A
picture obtained by AFP outside Iran on September 21, 2022, shows Iranian
demonstrators taking to the streets of the capital Tehran during a protest for
Mahsa Amini, days after she died in police custody. (File photo: AFP)
-----
21
October, 2022
A
leading Iranian cleric has come out in support of the people’s right to protest
against the country’s rulers, in a report published Friday, after
demonstrations erupted over Mahsa Amini’s death.
Iran
has been rocked by protests since 22-year-old Amini’s death on September 16,
three days after she was arrested by morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating
the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.
“The
people have the right to criticize the leader of Muslim society, whether the
criticism is justified or not,” Javad Alavi-Boroujerdi said, quoted by Shafaqna
news agency.
“The
people have something to say and they don’t agree with what you are doing,”
Alavi-Boroujerdi told the authorities.
The
68-year-old cleric is the grandson of late Hossein Boroujerdi, the leading Shia
cleric in the 20th century.
The
street violence that broke out across Iran after Amini’s death has led to
dozens of deaths, mostly among protesters but also among the security forces,
and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested.
“The
press should be free, different thoughts should be expressed on state
television,” Alavi-Boroujerdi said.
During
the unrest since last month, “some people have been arrested and are in jail...
treat them with mercy,” he added.
On
September 26, Hossein Nouri Hamedani, a prominent conservative cleric and
strong supporter of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, had called on the authorities
to “listen to the demands of the people.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
India
Prophet and Arab Historians Were Touched by India’s Ancient Knowledge: Kerala Governor
21st
October 2022
New
Delhi: Prophet Muhammad and all major Arab historians were touched by India’s
ancient knowledge, while the invaders from Europe and Central Asia sought to
demoralise the people of the country to establish their rule, Kerala Governor
Arif Mohammed Khan said on Friday.
Khan
said it is a matter of pride that Muslims are practising Islam in the country.
“Whenever
someone invade from outside to rule they try to demoralise the country by
breaking its people’s self-confidence and claim they have come to civilise
them. Whatever Muslim invaders from Central Asia had said (about India), but
the Prophet who never came to India and, sitting in Medina, had once said he
felt cool breeze of knowledge coming from the land of India and that’s what
Iqbal also stated,” Khan said.
Speaking
at a programme at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) here,
Khan said he had mentioned this in Deoband and underlined that it is a “matter
of pride for Muslims that they are practising Islam in India, the country whose
knowledge the Prophet was touched by.”
The
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom is located in Deoband.
He
further said, “When people in India were writing huge books…the people of
England were living in caves and they think they civilised us.”
Source:
Siasat Daily
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Varanasi
Court To Hear Plea Seeking Survey Of Basements In Gyanvapi Mosque
October
21, 2022
Varanasi:
A district court here fixed November 2 for a hearing on a plea for the survey
of two basements in the Gyanvapi Mosque complex and imposed a penalty on the
mosque committee for not filing an objection to it in time.
District
Government Counsel Mahendra Pandey said the court had earlier asked the mosque
committee to file an abjection to the plea filed by Hindu plaintiffs in the
Gyanvapi mosque-Shringar Gauri complex case.
"The
mosque side could not file any objection, after which the court slapped a fine
of ₹ 100 on them and fixed November 2 for hearing," Pandey added.
The
court on Friday also rejected prayers of four people for becoming a party to
the case.
Earlier
on Monday, the court had rejected similar applications of seven people.
The
people who had filed applications for becoming a party to the case included
former Kashi Vishwanath temple mahant Kulpati Tiwari, Hindu Sena national
president Vishnu Gupta, weaver Mukhtar Ahmed Ansari and president of Brahmin
Mahasabha Ajay Kumar Sharma, Pandey said.
While
some of the applicants prayed for becoming a party to the case seeking
permission for regular worship of deities whose idols are located on an outer
wall of the mosque, others said they had detailed information of the matter .
Lawyers
connected with the case have been claiming that the basements are located near
the "wazookhana", a place for the ritual ablution in the mosque
complex.
One
of the petitioners from the Hindu side also pleaded for ensuring the safety of
idols of Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi, which they claimed have been
recovered from the complex.
Last
Friday, the court had turned down the Hindu petitioners' plea seeking
scientific investigation and carbon dating of a "Shivling" claimed to
have been found on the mosque premises. The Muslim side has rejected the claim.
Source:
ND TV
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Don't
know which Bhagavad Gita Shivraj Patil has read, says VHP leader on jihad
remarks
22nd
October 2022
NAGPUR:
A top functionary of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday slammed Congress
veteran Shivraj Patil over his claim that the Bhagavad Gita also spoke of jihad
and said the remarks were made to garner cheap publicity and create confusion
in the society.
Talking
to reporters here, VHP secretary-general Milind Parande accused the former
Union minister of indulging in minority appeasement.
Patil
on Thursday claimed the concept of jihad (holy war) was not just in Islam but
also in the Bhagavad Gita and Christianity.
Speaking
at the launch of Congress veteran and former Union minister Mohsina Kidwai's
biography, the former Lok Sabha Speaker stated that there is a lot of
discussion of jihad in the religion of Islam.
"It
is not just in the Quran, but in the Mahabharata also, the part in Gita, Shri
Krishna also talks of jihad to Arjun and this thing is not just in the Quran or
the Gita but also in Christianity," he claimed in his remarks.
Asked
about Patil's comments, Parande said they were irresponsible and aimed at
garnering cheap publicity and creating confusion in the society.
"I
don't know which Gita he (Patil) has read. There is no mention of jihad in the
Gita," the VHP leader said.
Asked
about the alleged assault on members from a minority community by Bajrang Dal
workers at a 'garba' programme during the Navratri festival in Ahmedabad, the
VHP leader feigned ignorance about the incident and said he does not know what
exactly happened there.
Parande,
however, maintained members from a particular community enter venues of such
programmes with false names.
"There
may have been such incidents out of excitement. Otherwise, we just create
awareness. We will have to see whether such a thing actually happened as
everything that comes in news is not true," said the VHP leader.
Asked
about a mass religious conversion event held in New Delhi earlier this month,
Parande said "The Buddhist community is our own and hence we consider its
members as our own."
Source:
New Indian Express
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Krishna
Janmabhoomi: Mosque committee questions right of petitioner to file suit
Oct
22, 2022
By
Hemendra Chaturvedi
The
Shahi Eidgah mosque management committee in Mathura on Friday questioned the
right of a Hindu petitioner to file a suit in the court of the civil judge
(senior division) on the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi issue.
The
mosque committee invoked the Places of Worship Act (Special Provisions) Act
1991, which states that the religious character of a place of worship existing
on August 15, 1947 shall continue to be the same as it existed on that day.
The
intezamia (management) committee for Shahi Eidgah Mosque on Friday concluded
its arguments on its own application moved under Order 7 Rule 11 of the Civil
Procedure Code. Arguments are to be placed by counsel for petitioner, Manish
Yadav, on November 8, the next date of hearing, in the case.
Elaborating
on arguments placed on Friday, the secretary and counsel of Shahi Eidgah
management committee Tanveer Ahmed said, “The petitioner Manish Yadav has no
right to file the suit and seek relief as prayed for. The suit, as filed, is
time barred and no evidence for title has been placed or proved by the
petitioner in the case.”
“The
petitioner has failed to identify the land in the suit said to be measuring
13.37 acre because the map filed has not specified the boundaries much required
to identify the property. Besides this, the suit is barred by time because the
petitioner has failed in proving the delay, not of years but of decades, while
challenging the compromise entered in 1968,” asserted Ahmed who was assisted by
Neeraj Sharma, Abrar Ahmed and Vikas Pathak, the other lawyers appearing in the
case for Shahi Eidgah mosque.
On
October 3, the court of civil judge (senior division) at Mathura had heard
initial arguments placed by lawyers for Shahi Eidgah mosque, who have
challenged the maintainability of the suit filed by Hindu petitioners on the
Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi issue in Mathura. This is case no. 152 of 2021 Bhagwan
Sri Krishna Virajman versus UP Sunni Central Waqf Board and others filed in the
court of Civil Judge (Senior Division) Mathura in December 2021.
Manish
Yadav, the petitioner, had on May 12, 2022 moved applications before the
Allahabad high court, which directed the lower court in Mathura to decide the
two applications filed on behalf of Bhagwan Shri Krishna Virajman in connection
with the Krishna Janmabhoomi issue within four months.
Another
case filed by a Lucknow-based lawyer Shailendra Singh on the same issue was
also heard in the court of civil judge (senior division), Mathura. But the
petitioner was not present in the court despite Friday being the last
opportunity provided to Singh, who is both counsel for and petitioner in the
case, to turn up.
“The
court of civil judge (Senior Division) Mathura has reserved the file for
passing the order after there was no adjournment moved by petitioner Shailendra
Singh who was not present in the court despite the court fixing today’s date as
the last opportunity in the case,” said Ahmed, representing Shahi Eidgah Mosque
in this case too.
These
petitioners, besides others, have challenged the settlement dated October 10,
1968 between Sri Krishna Janmsthan Seva Sangh and Shahi Masjid Eidgah, which
was part of suit no. 43 of 1967, alleging that it had no legal validity because
the Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi Trust, having ownership and title of the property,
was not party to the settlement.
The
petitioners have sought cancellation of the judgment and decree dated July 20,
1973 and judgment and decree dated November 7, 1974 passed in civil suit no. 43
of 1967 by the civil judge, Mathura.
There
had been a dozen cases filed in the Mathura court on the issue of Sri Krishna
Janambhoomi and the relief sought was more or less, similar seeking removal of
Shahi Eidgah Mosque that shares wall with Sri Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura,
and handing over of land measuring 13.37 acre back to the deity.
Source: Hindustan Times
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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India-born
Pakistani to remain in India, on bail: Supreme Court
Oct
22, 2022
NEW
DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday permitted 63-year-old Mohd Qamar - born in
India in 1959 and went to Pakistan as an 8-year-old with his mother to visit
relatives, got stranded there due to her sudden demise and came back holding a
Pakistani passport to get arrested – to stay in India on bail as Pakistan
government refused to recognize him as her citizen.
A
bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Hima Kohli told additional solicitor
general K M Nataraj that since Pakistan government is not recognizing him as
their citizen, he could not be left as a ‘state-less person. “Since he is not
considered either by the Union or UP government as a security threat, we will
admit his daughter’s petition for grant of Indian citizenship and keep him on
bail,” it said.
Qamar
was released in April this year on SC orders from Delhi’s Lampur detention
Centre, where he has been detained since 2015 under Foreigners Act after he
served out his three- and half-year sentence on being convicted by a Meerut
Court for illegal stay in India.
The
bench said since he is not a security threat and that he is married to an
Indian and had five children, who are all Indians, Qamar could look for some
succor on being kept free on bail at this advanced age, especially when the
Pakistan High Commission is not confirming his Pakistani citizenship despite
grant of consular access twice.
Born
in Meerut to Indian parents in 1959, Qamar went to Pakistan as an eight
year-old with his mother to visit her relatives in Shalami area in Lahore.
Unfortunately, his mother died before the expiry of visa period, and he was
left in the care of his mother's relatives.
On
becoming an adult, he got a Pakistani passport and visited India in 1989-90.
Shortly after arriving in India, he got married to Sehnaaj Begum in Meerut and
in the next six years had five children, three boys and two girls.
Though
his visa expired long ago, being illiterate, he never bothered to renew it, his
daughter’s counsel Sanjay Parikh informed the court. He was arrested on August
8, 2011, under the Foreigners Act for residing in India after expiry of visa.
He was convicted by a Meerut court and sentenced to three years and six months.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
Equally
Strives For Prosperity of Both Muslim, Non-Muslim: Minister for Religious
Affairs and Interfaith Harmony
OCTOBER
22, 2022
Minister
for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Mufti Abdul Shakoor said the
ministry was equally striving for progress and prosperity of both the Muslim
and non-Muslim population.
He,
in a meeting with British High Commissioner (BHC) Christian Turner the other
day, said the life, property and prestige of the non-Muslims living in Pakistan
was equally dear to us as the welfare and well-being of human beings is part of
our religion.
He
said the minority communities were enjoying the equal rights enshrined in the
Constitution and in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) which has no example in the world.
He
said to prevent anti-Islamic and hateful events in the West, the promotion of
mutual relations was indispensable adding, “Islam, Pakistan and people are against
the religious extremism and misuse of the religion.”
Mufti
Abdul Shakoor said hostile agencies were trying to spread unrest in Pakistan
through unemployment and misuse of religion. The minister said our region had
been suffering from instability for 40 years due to special interests of
foreign powers. He said Pakistan had already a weak economy and it was further
affected by the terrorism, climate change and refugees.
The
minister said the world should help in creating health, education, employment opportunities
in Pakistan. “War is not a solution of the problems as they can be settled down
with open-minded and result-oriented negotiations.
He
said Afghan government was not against the girls’ education as its main
problems are peace, security and international interference. Meanwhile BHC
Christian Turner said the United Kingdom (UK) committed to promoting regional
peace, economy, interfaith harmony and bilateral relations.
He
said the promotion of strong Pak-UK ties; religious freedom and tolerance at
the public level were among the priorities. To dispel the misperception of
Pakistan, the British government brought positive change in its travel
guidelines and revived the British Airways, he added.
Source:
Daily Times Pakistan
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://dailytimes.com.pk/1015915/equally-strives-for-prosperity-of-both-muslim-non-muslim-shakoor/
--------
Bahrain
residents protest recent terror wave in Swat
Fazal
Khaliq
October
22, 2022
SWAT:
Residents of Bahrain tehsil gathered in Madyan Bazaar here on Friday in large
numbers shouting slogans against terrorist activities and for peace in the
region.
The
Swat Qaumi Jirga and Swat Olasi Pasoon held the event against the recent wave
of terrorism in Swat.
It
was the ninth protest by the people of Swat since the start of terrorist
attacks in Swat in August this year. Besides civil society, the ruling PTI and
opposition JUI-F also staged rallies.
The
speakers told Madyan Bazaar protesters that they were surprised after hearing
from government spokesman Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif that he had fought along
with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
They
insisted that Saif’s disclosure suggested that he was a militant.
Noted
among speakers were Dr Amjad Ali, Zubair Torwali, Malak Ibrar Torwali, Mazhar
Azad, Ayoub Asharey, Sher Shah Khan, Syed Jaffar Shah, Sher Bahadar Khan,
Shahid Ali Khan, Mukhtiyar Yousafzai and Dr Khalid Mehmood.
The
Swat Quami Jirga leaders warned if Saif tried to visit Swat, the residents
would stage street protests as they considered him to be the friend of killers
and those challenging the writ of the government.
They
criticised the police for not registering an FIR against the killers of a man
and his son on the Bypass Road in a ‘fake encounter’.
The
speakers said if the local Taliban tried to return to Swat, the people would
take up arms against them instead of waiting for security agencies to come and
eliminate them.
They
said Swatis wanted their land to be peaceful.
The
speakers also demanded equal rights for the people of Malakand division like
other citizens of the country.
They
said the Swat youth had the right to formal education, security and
development.
The
speakers rejected the idea of a military operation in Swat and said the local
police should be tasked with maintaining law and order control in the region as
they enjoyed the residents’ ‘complete trust’.
They
said it was ironic that the citizens were seeking protection of their life from
the state.
Young
women also took part in the demonstration like previous ones staged by civil
society activists in the district.
They
held placards inscribed with slogans for peace and shouted slogans.
Resham,
a resident of Madyan area, said that the women of Swat had taken to the streets
to demand peace for themselves and other residents.
“Protecting
public life and property is the duty of the state,” she said.
Another
young protester, Kiran Naz, said terrorism had badly hit women.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1716193/bahrain-residents-protest-recent-terror-wave-in-swat
--------
Global
Powers Anxious after Remarks on Pakistan Nuclear Capabilities
By
Arif Ahmadi
21
Oct 2022
ISLAMABAD,
Pakistan – Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities are now taking center stage and
raising concerns among several key world powers after United States President
Joe Biden described the country as “one of the most dangerous nations in the
world”.
Addressing
a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Reception on Thursday, United States
President Joe Biden said Pakistan may be “one of the most dangerous nations in
the world”.
“…
And what I think is maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world:
Pakistan. Nuclear weapons without any cohesion,” he said.
Pakistan’s
government, the Taliban, its various outfits in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and
other jihadist groups inside Pakistan have created a worry over the nuclear
weaponry falling into terrorist hands, reported Global Strat View.
In
the past, there have been multiple instances when experts and US Presidents
have expressed their concerns over Pakistan’s nukes.
During
the time of the Obama administration, a Harvard nuclear expert, Graham Allison,
stated, “When you map weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, all roads
intersect in Pakistan,” as The Economic Times reported.
He
said this while sitting on the US Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of
Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism.
Bill
Clinton, a former US president, expressed a comparable level of concern over Pakistan’s
moves toward nuclear testing. Clinton was concerned that if Islamabad went
ahead with its nuclear weaponry, South Asia would pose a geopolitical threat.
General
Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other senior generals
made similar claims.
Pakistan
Reaction to Biden’s Remark
Soon
after the news circulated around social media, Pakistani former Prime Minister
Imran Khan reacted to Joe Biden’s remark, questioning the US president how he
obtained such information that proves Pakistan was one of the most dangerous
nations in the world.
“I
have 2 Qs on this: 1. On what info has @POTUS reached this unwarranted
conclusion on our nuclear capability when, having been PM, I know we have one
of the most secure nuclear command & control systems?, he tweeted.
“2.
Unlike the US which has been involved in wars across the world, when has
Pakistan shown aggression esp post-nuclearisation (sic)?”
The
former PM, who believed the US plotted his ouster, claimed that Biden’s
statement showed a “total failure of the imported” government’s foreign policy
and its “claims of a reset of relations with the US”.
“Is
this the ‘reset’? This government has broken all records for incompetence,”
Imran tweeted, adding that he feared the incumbent government would end up
compromising national security
Meanwhile,
former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, in whose administration Pakistan became an
atomic power, also weighed in on the matter, saying Pakistan is a responsible
nuclear state that is perfectly capable of safeguarding its national interest.
“Pakistan
is a responsible nuclear state that is perfectly capable of safeguarding its
national interest whilst respecting international law and practices,” he said
in a tweet.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/global-powers-anxious-after-remarks-on-pakistan-nuclear-capabilities/
--------
Pakistan
poll tribunal disqualifies Imran as MP, bars him from public office in assets
case
Oct
22, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was dealt potentially the biggest
blow of his political career on Friday when the country's Election Commission
disqualified him as an MP and barred him from holding any public office after
holding him guilty of "intentionally" making "false statements
and incorrect declaration of assets".
In
what it said was a "unanimous" ruling, the five-member tribunal led
by chairperson Sikandar Sultan Raja called for criminal proceedings to be
initiated against Imran.
The
ruling against the ex-PM, whose Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won six out of
seven National Assembly seats in the bypolls last week, appeared to instantly
plunge the country into turmoil as protests raged in Islamabad, Lahore,
Peshawar and Karachi amid a call by his party for supporters to take to the
streets everywhere.
Footage
broadcast on TV stations showed parts of Peshawar littered with burning tyres.
In Lahore and Rawalpindi, police were seen using tear gas on protesters.
PTI
functionaries questioned the electoral tribunal's jurisdiction and authority to
deliver such a verdict, with Imran's colleague and former minister Fawad
Chaudhry quoted as saying it was "a slap on the faces of 220 million
people". The cricketer-turned-politician's legal team intends to move the
Islamabad high court against the electoral body's verdict, counsel Faisal
Chaudhry said.
The
tribunal indicted Imran for "corrupt practices" while in office,
including making a false declaration on the sale of gifts received from foreign
dignitaries. These include Rolex watches, a ring and a pair of cufflinks.
Imran, according to the order, "ceases to be a member of the National
Assembly of Pakistan and his seat has become vacant accordingly".
The
case had been filed in August by Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha, a member of the
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), accusing Imran of hiding gifts from the
"toshakhana" (a state depository).
PM
Shehbaz Sharif said the Election Commission had "delivered justice"
after his predecessor "shattered the ideal of 'sadiq' and 'ameen'
(truthfulness and trustworthiness)" with his conduct in office. "The
nation has seen that the post of PM was made a source of personal income
through corrupt practices," he tweeted, urging Imran to "bow" to
the verdict instead of "contesting the law, wielding sticks, firing shots
and bringing mobs".
"No
one is above the law," he said.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Ex-Pakistan
PM Imran Khan accuses ECP of colluding with govt to disqualify him
Oct
21, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Friday accused the election body
of colluding with the government to disqualify him in the concealment of assets
in the Toshakhana case and vowed to continue fighting against “thieves”.
The
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in its unanimous verdict declared that
Khan was involved in concealing proceeds from the sale of gifts he purchased
from the Toshakhana at a discounted rate.
Khan
issued a recorded message after chairing two back-to-back meetings of his
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party at his Banigala residence in the suburbs of
Islamabad after his disqualification.ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister
Imran Khan on Friday accused the election body of colluding with the government
to disqualify him in the concealment of assets in the Toshakhana case and vowed
to continue fighting against “thieves”.
The
Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in its unanimous verdict declared that
Khan was involved in concealing proceeds from the sale of gifts he purchased
from the Toshakhana at a discounted rate.
Khan
issued a recorded message after chairing two back-to-back meetings of his
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party at his Banigala residence in the suburbs of
Islamabad after his disqualification.
The
cornered former premier stated that he knew that the ECP was going to target
him as it already lost neutrality after its chief Sikandar Sultan Raja became a
mouthpiece of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.
“The
entire nation took to the streets against the illegal decision by the ECP,” he
said and announced to challenge the verdict in the Islamabad high court.
He
thanked his supporters for staging protests against a highly partisan decision.
He also lashed at the chief election commissioner Raja, accusing him of making
decisions against the PTI during the last two and a half years.
He
maintained that Raja failed to take action on various complaints by the PTI,
including stalling legislation on the use of electronic voting machines in
elections.
“I
knew beforehand that he (Raja) would disqualify me; I already sent a message to
my party leaders about it,” Khan said.
He
made a commitment that he would continue to fight against “thieves” including
the chief of the ECP.
Khan
also asked his protestors to wrap up countrywide protests and wait for his call
for a grand protest march which he said would be historic.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Gen
Bajwa to bid ‘farewell to arms’ in five weeks
Baqir
Sajjad Syed
October
22, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Bajwa on Friday called for national coherence and
rule of law as he confirmed that he would be bidding a farewell to arms in a
few weeks.
Speaking
at the National Security Workshop at National Defence University, Gen Bajwa
said he would be retiring in about five weeks’ time.
During
a visit to Washington earlier this month, Gen Bajwa had announced that he
would step down at the end of November.
In
a reference to the political turmoil in the country, Gen Bajwa told
participants of the workshop that the army had decided to remain apolitical. In
recent months, the army has continued to face the allegations of political
interference despite pledges by its leadership that it would stay out of
politics.
In
his remarks, Gen Bajwa also highlighted the need for “national cohesion and
unified response” for protecting and promoting national interest and ensuring
progress.
He
recalled the military’s successes against terrorism. Operation Raddul Fasaad
was launched in February 2017, months after Gen Bajwa assumed command, to
sustain the progress achieved through successive counter-terrorism operations.
Terrorism incidents sharply decreased afterwards.
The
outgoing chief said that peace and stability can only be achieved if rule of
law and state’s writ is established.
However,
lately a resurgence is being witnessed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and over 400
people, mostly security personnel, have lost their lives in terrorist attacks
this year.
Read:
Why and how is the TTP resurfacing in Swat?
Succession
Gen
Bajwa will be retiring by the end of November after commanding the army for six
years. He was appointed army chief in 2016 for a three-year tenure, which was
extended by three years in after parliament legislated on the tenures of
services chiefs on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The
legislation had fixed 64 years as the retirement age for services chiefs. Gen
Bajwa is 61 years old and can technically stay on for another term, if the
government agrees to it. This possibility has led to endless speculation that
he may continue in the position.
It
is expected that the process for the selection of his successor would begin by
next week. Influential quarters within the government have advised the prime
minister to expedite the appointment process as they suspect that unrest in the
country was linked to the upcoming change in command, according to a member of
the federal cabinet.
As
per the process, General Headquarters would route a panel of the five senior
most lieutenant generals through defence ministry to Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif for appointing the next army chief.
According
to Article 243 (3) of the Constitution, the president would appoint the
services chiefs on the recommendation of the prime minister.
Besides
the appointment of the COAS, the position of chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
Committee will also fall vacant on Nov 27. All eyes, however, are on who would
be the next army chief because of the history of this office overshadowing
political landscape.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1716300/gen-bajwa-to-bid-farewell-to-arms-in-five-weeks
--------
Govt
says decision ‘just the beginning’, PTI puts its faith in courts
Syed
Irfan Raza
October
22, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
The ruling and main opposition parties on Friday interpreted in their own way
the decision against former prime minister Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case,
with the former hailing it as a “five-year disqualification”, and the latter
rejecting the verdict on the basis that it would be struck down by the high
court.
Saying
the ECP “has done justice in [the] Toshakhana reference”, Prime Minister
Shehbaz Sharif urged PTI leaders and workers not to take law into their own
hands.
“The
myth of [Imran Khan’s] honesty and sagacity has been broken,” he tweeted,
adding that the nation had borne witness to how the PM’s office was misused for
personal gain.
Calling
for Mr Khan’s arrest and the recovery of “looted money” from him, PML-N Vice
President Maryam Nawaz said that “Pakistan’s first certified liar and thief”
had been disqualified with irrefutable evidence.
Shehbaz
laments how PM office was used for personal gain; Asad Umar says they expected
such a verdict
Members
of the ruling Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition also met soon after
the ECP announced its decision, and in a subsequent presser, Maulana Fazlur
Rehman hailed the verdict, observing that following Imran Khan’s
disqualification, “The nation has gotten rid of the fitna (troublemaker).”
PPP
leader and foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, speaking at an event in
Karachi, saw the decision against Mr Khan as “just the beginning”, predicting
that “more such decisions” against the ex-PM were yet to come.
In
the words of Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan, the
ECP verdict was within the ambit of the commission’s constitutional
jurisdiction.
PTI
reaction
However,
Mr Khan’s own party was understandably upset by the ruling, saying that the
decision against Mr Khan was beyond the ECP’s jurisdiction and proved its
“lopsidedness”.
The
party also announced its intention to file an appeal against the decision
before the Islamabad High Court once a copy of the detailed decision was made
available.
In
PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi’s opinion, the ECP verdict “had no
value”. He said that Imran Khan would continue to hold the office of party
chairman since the commission had no jurisdiction to rule on such matters.
“We
are going to challenge this decision in the Supreme Court,” he added.
The
party’s Central Secretary General Asad Umar also reacted sharply to the
decision, saying that the verdict would not even stand for a few hours.
“We
expected this verdict. Our lawyers are prepared, the petition is ready and the
decision will be challenged in the high court,” he said.
Speaking
to the media outside ECP offices, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said:
“This is a wrong decision, ECP cannot de-seat Imran Khan… The ECP did exactly
what we expected of them.”
“Today
is the beginning of the revolution. No one can disqualify Imran Khan. Only the
public can do that,” he vowed.
Shafqat
Mahmood flayed the verdict, calling it “a black day for Pakistan”.
PTI
legal expert Babar Awan opined that Imran Khan had not been disqualified,
rather those had announced the verdict were the incompetent ones.
His
view was echoed by former finance minister Shaukat Tarin, who maintained that
the ECP was not a court of law. “He [Imran] has broken no rules and people know
it. This will only make him more popular and will force PTI to launch the long
match. Minus one is not acceptable to the people of Pakistan,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile,
on a question about Mr Khan’s disqualification and if it could impact
US-Pakistan relations, a US State Department spokesperson said Washington did
not have a position on one political candidate or party versus another.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1716298/govt-says-decision-just-the-beginning-pti-puts-its-faith-in-courts
--------
North
America
Trump
took home classified documents about China, Iran: Washington Post
Anwar
Iqbal
October
22, 2022
WASHINGTON:
Classified papers discovered from former US president Donald Trump’s Florida
residence contained information about Iran’s missile programme and US
intelligence data about China, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
The
secret documents were recovered when the FBI raided Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home
in August.
“If
shared with others, such information could expose intelligence-gathering
methods that the United States wants to keep hidden from the world,” the report
warned. One of the documents describes Iran’s missile programme while other
documents have highly sensitive intelligence information about China.
Some
of the most sensitive materials were recovered in the FBI’s court-approved
search of Trump’s home on Aug 8, in which agents seized about 13,000 documents,
103 of them classified and 18 of them top secret, court papers seen by the
paper revealed.
The
Washington Post has previously reported that one of the documents seized in the
FBI search described a foreign country’s military defences, including its
nuclear capabilities. The people who shared the information would not say if
that intelligence was related to Iran, China, or some other nation.
US
intelligence agencies believe Tehran is close to having enough fissile material
for a nuclear weapon but has not demonstrated its capabilities yet.
The
documents retrieved by the FBI included top-level analysis papers about Iran’s
nuclear programme. “Some of the seized documents detail top-secret US
operations so closely guarded that many senior national security officials are
not informed about them,” the Post reported. “Only the president, some members
of his Cabinet or a near-Cabinet-level official could authorize government
officials to know details of these special-access programmes.”
David
Laufman, a former senior Justice Department official, told the Post that “the
reckless exposure of invaluable sources and methods of US intelligence
capabilities … will certainly influence the Justice Department’s determination
of whether to charge Mr Trump or others with willful retention of national
defence information”.
Mr
Trump agreed in January to turn over 15 boxes of material. When archivists
examined the boxes, they found 184 documents marked classified, including 25
marked top secret.
US
officials, however, notified the Justice Department that Mr Trump had not
turned over all the classified material in his possession. In June, Mr Trump’s
aides handed over a sealed envelope containing another 38 classified documents,
including 17 marked top secret. Security camera footage showed boxes being
carried from the storage area after the subpoena was issued — and a key witness
told the FBI that he moved the boxes at Trump’s instruction.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
in talks with Musk to set up Starlink in Iran
October
22, 2022
WASHINGTON:
The White House is in talks with billionaire Elon Musk about setting up
SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink in Iran, CNN reported on Friday, citing
officials familiar with the matter.
The
satellite-based broadband service could help Iranians circumvent restrictions
on accessing the internet and certain social media platforms.
The
US treasury department said last month that some satellite internet equipment
can be exported to Iran, suggesting that the company may not need a licence to
provide satellite broadband service in the country.
Musk
had then said he would activate Starlink in response to US Secretary of State
Antony Blinken’s tweet that the United States took action “to advance internet
freedom and the free flow of information” to Iranians.
Musk
said on Tuesday Starlink had not received any funding from the US defence
department for its services in Ukraine, adding the company was losing $20
million a month due to unpaid service and costs on security measures for cyber
war defence.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1716284/us-in-talks-with-musk-to-set-up-starlink-in-iran
--------
US
extends deportation protections to Ethiopians over raging conflict
Michael
Gabriel Hernandez
21.10.2022
WASHINGTON
The
US extended on Friday protections against deportation to Ethiopians residing in
the US due to the worsening conflict in the east African nation.
The
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) protections will remain in effect for at least
18 months, and in order to be eligible individuals must have lived in the US
prior to Oct. 20 of this year.
“The
United States recognizes the ongoing armed conflict and the extraordinary and
temporary conditions engulfing Ethiopia, and DHS is committed to providing
temporary protection to those in need,” said Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement.
"Ethiopian
nationals currently residing in the U.S. who cannot safely return due to
conflict-related violence and a humanitarian crisis involving severe food
shortages, flooding, drought, and displacement, will be able to remain and work
in the United States until conditions in their home country improve," he
added.
TPS
prevents an individual from being deported from the US, and enables them to apply
for work permits. The program was designed to provide protections to
individuals whose home countries are afflicted by war, natural disasters and
other "extraordinary and temporary conditions."
Peace
talks between Ethiopia’s government and rebels from the northern state of
Tigray will commence in South Africa on Oct. 24 under African Union auspices.
The
development comes after Ethiopian forces recently made gains in the Tigray
region by capturing key areas, including the strategic town of Shire.
Last
Sunday, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front said it was “ready to abide by an
immediate cessation of hostilities,” urging the international community to
press Addis Ababa “to come to the negotiating table.”
Earlier
this week, Redwan Hussien, the national security adviser to the Ethiopian prime
minister, rejected recent statements from UN officials, including its chief
Antonio Guterres, that the Tigray crisis “is spiraling out of control,”
asserting that it was being “extinguished” thanks to Ethiopia’s efforts.
The
Tigray conflict has killed thousands and displaced millions more since November
2020.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab
World
Syria
intercepts Israeli strikes: State media
21
October, 2022
Syria
intercepted Israeli missiles over the capital Damascus Friday, state media
reported.
“Our
air defenses intercepted an Israeli missile strikes in the airspace of Damascus
and the southern region,” Syria’s official news agency SANA said.
An
Israeli strike around the capital Damascus killed five soldiers last month.
In
June, Israeli airstrikes put Damascus airport out of service for nearly two
weeks.
In
the past month, Israeli airstrikes have twice targeted Aleppo airport.
Since
civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes
against its northern neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied
Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN
appeals for $13 million for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
21 October,
2022
The
United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) appealed Friday for $13
million in funding to support Palestinians in Lebanon, as the country reels
from an unprecedented economic crisis.
“Palestinian
refugees, living in overcrowded camps... are at the end of their rope,” UNRWA
chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement, adding that “almost every
Palestinian refugee in Lebanon lives in poverty.”
He
said UNRWA was “urgently appealing for $13 million” in funding for cash
assistance to families, primary health care services and to keep the agency’s
schools open until the end of this year.
Palestinian
refugees in Lebanon are “often unable to even scrape by,” he said, adding: “Our
assistance is a drop in an ocean of despair.”
For
the past three years, Lebanon has been in the throes of one of the worst
economic crises in recent global history, according to the World Bank.
“Unprecedented
levels of poverty, skyrocketing unemployment rates and increasing despair
are... severely hitting the Lebanese people and Syrian and Palestine refugees,”
Lazzarini said.
Lebanon
hosts about 210,000 Palestinian refugees, including 30,000 who fled Syria after
war erupted in 2011, according to UNRWA.
It
also hosts more than one million Syrian refugees.
Most
Palestinians live in 12 official refugee camps in squalid conditions, worsened
by Lebanon’s financial meltdown, and face a variety of legal restrictions,
including on their employment.
According
to the UN agency, 93 percent of all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are poor.
The
situation has pushed hundreds to attempt perilous sea journeys in hope of
reaching Europe.
Palestinians
were among the more than 100 dead after a migrant boat that left from Lebanon’s
north sank off neighboring Syria, in one of the deadliest such shipwrecks in
the eastern Mediterranean.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Cholera
outbreak hits Syrian refugees sheltering in camps in Lebanon
21 October,
2022
Syrian
refugees in displacement camps are falling victim to a cholera outbreak in
Lebanon, already suffering from an economic meltdown that has slashed access to
clean water and strained hospitals.
Lebanon
recorded its first cholera case in early October -- signaling the return of the
bacteria for the first time in 30 years. It now counts at least 220 cases and
five deaths.
According
to the World Health Organization, Lebanon is the latest phase of a rampaging
outbreak that began in Afghanistan in June - then spread to Pakistan, Iran,
Iraq and Syria.
In
Syria itself more than 13,000 suspected cases have been reported, including 60
deaths, according to the Syria office of Doctors Without Borders (MSF).
Cholera
is typically spread through contaminated water, food or sewage. It can cause
severe diarrhea and dehydration – which can kill if left untreated.
Most
cholera cases in Lebanon have been in the camps, among the roughly 1 million
Syrians who have taken refuge over the past decade from the conflict in their
homeland, according to caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad.
He
said the three-year economic crisis was partly to blame. The water in Lebanon’s
public mains, not just in the camps, was already unsafe to drink without
treatment - but with state coffers drained by the recession, there is not
enough fuel to run government-run water stations.
Their
stagnant waters are becoming easily contaminated while households face shortages,
Abiad said.
Dirty
water
Syrian
refugees in Lebanon rely on UN agencies and international NGOs to regularly
truck in water to fill up cisterns outside their tents and clear out sewage
containers.
But
residents of the Idris camp in Qub Elias say those services have become more
scarce, prompting fears of an overflow.
“When
the sewage containers would overflow in the past, there would be dirty water
flooding the camp,” said Amal, a slender and freckled Syrian woman living in
the camp.
“If
there isn’t already cholera in this camp, I’m sure we’ll get it in no time.”
Seven
cases have been detected in the Qub Elias area, but the health ministry has not
specified how many Syrians are among them and which camps were affected.
The
WHO says refugee camps are a “typical at-risk area,” given the lack of access
to clean water and sanitation.
UNICEF
said on October 14 it would begin delivering more water to camps, install
handwashing stations with chlorinated water, and conduct awareness sessions.
The
UN children’s agency in Lebanon has also secured emergency fuel to run water
pumping stations in the north and stop wastewater from flowing to the coast.
But it said it needed $29 million to fund three months of anti-cholera
activities.
Besides
Amal, none of the refugees who Reuters spoke to had heard of the outbreak.
Fatima Hussein, a Syrian mother of nine, said she did not know what cholera
was.
“The
sewage system?” Hussein said when asked about clean water, recounting how the
toilet in her tent had overflowed countless times.
She
said she had caught her youngest daughter drinking from a local well, where she
feared wastewater was being dumped.
“If
something happened to my daughter, I wouldn’t know what to do,” she said.
Most
of the refugees Reuters spoke to said they paid for their own bottled drinking
water. But with prices rocketing due to hyperinflation, that may soon become
too expensive.
WHO
country director Abdinasir Abubakar told Reuters cholera posed a “very high
risk” for Lebanon – and that transmission to other countries was likely.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Saudi
Arabia welcomes victims of Mogadishu bombing for medical treatment
22
October, 2022
Saudi
Arabia has welcomed victims of a hotel bombing in Somalia for medical treatment
in the Kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Friday.
Six
people who were injured in a hotel bombing in Mogadishu were flown into
Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport following the directives of Saudi
Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Representatives
of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), the Ministry
of Health, and the Somali Ambassador to the Kingdom, Salim Maow Haji, welcomed
them upon arriving to the Kingdom.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Saudi,
Chinese officials agree to boost energy cooperation
21
October 2022
Saudi
Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and China's National
Energy Administration Director Zhang Jianhua agreed on Friday to boost
cooperation in the energy sector, the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
The
two sides underscored in a phone call the importance of long-term and stable
supply to the crude oil markets.
Earlier
on Friday, the Saudi minister, who was in New Delhi, where he met with several
Indian officials, including Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, said OPEC+ had
taken the right decision to cut oil output by 2 million barrels per day to
ensure stable and sustainable oil markets.
The
decision caused an increase in the price of oil in the energy market. President
Joe Biden of the United States, after some administration officials asked him
to reconsider relations with Riyadh, said the move would have consequences for
the political relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia.
On
Thursday, the Saudi Foreign Ministry wrote in a message on its Twitter account
that the kingdom would not be coerced into taking action and that Riyadh was
trying to protect the global economy from the fluctuations of the oil market.
White
House spokesman John Kirby recently said the "Saudi Foreign Ministry can
try to spin or deflect, but the facts are simple." Other nations in the
oil cartel, he said, told the United States privately they "felt coerced
to support Saudi's direction."
Relations
between Washington and Riyadh have experienced deep friction since the
inauguration of Joe Biden, who has taken a number of controversial positions
towards Saudi Arabia.
Ali
Shihabi, author and commentator on Middle Eastern politics and economics with a
particular focus on Saudi Arabia, believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin
Salman sees the right partner in Washington under current global circumstances.
Several
OPEC+ officials have repeatedly said the decision to cut oil output by 2
million barrels per day is not political at all, but taken in order to maintain
stability in the world markets.
Source:
Press TV
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/10/21/691339/Saudi-Chinese-officials-boost-energy-cooperation
--------
League
of Islamic Universities launches climate action on campuses
SANJAY
KUMAR
October
22, 2022
NEW
DELHI: The League of Islamic Universities will launch environment courses at
the campuses of its member institutions, following a climate action summit held
in India earlier this week.
Based
in Cairo, Egypt, the league is an association representing Islamic universities
around the world.
Its
members, including 200 universities from 60 countries, gathered at Jamia
Markaz, an Islamic university in Kozhikode, Kerala, for the International
Climate Action Summit on Oct. 17-20.
The
event was inaugurated by the league’s secretary general, Dr. Osama Al-Abed, who
urged global stakeholders to employ new strategies in addressing climate
problems, as the world is “facing challenges that are structurally different
from the past.
“Even
a minor variation in the ecosystem in a remote village can have huge global
impacts. The human population across the globe is now entangled with each other
in unprecedented ways,” he said.
“This
demands policymakers and governments to resort to more international approaches
toward issues such as climate change and come up with global solutions for even
local issues.”
The
summit concluded with a joint declaration for climate action that obliges the
league’s members to include environmental science in their curricula and
allocate resources for research on confronting climate change-related problems.
“We
thought that the real community who has to work on climate change is students.
In every country, if the universities go for some course on climate then the
future generation would be working on climate change,” Jamia Markaz rector Dr.
Abdul Hakeem Al-Kandi told Arab News on Friday.
“Students,
who are the future leaders, when they are getting aware of climate change,
(they) will impact the whole world.”
Al-Kandi
added that a center dedicated to environmental studies will be established by
the league in Calicut, India.
“This
would be part of the League of Islamic Universities,” he said.
“Anyone
can come and study here.”
Environmentalist
and principal of Markaz Law College Dr. C. Abdul Samad, who coordinated the
summit, said the idea of the university league’s action was to mobilize
community members in different societies and make them stakeholders in
protecting the environment.
“Introducing
environmental science courses in universities is important as the young leaders
need to be educated to think about nature and climate change, and its impact,”
he said.
“It
is the new generation that can preserve the diversity of nature and respect the
environment. The whole idea is to save the planet for the future.”
Saudi
environmentalist Ahmed Sabban, who took part in the summit, also highlighted
the urgency of climate action dedicated to the young generation.
“Let’s
start teaching the environmental science courses to young graduates, because
the universities are places where research and development, and professors and
students, will come up with solutions quicker than other organizations,” he
told Arab News, adding that such courses are already underway in Saudi
universities.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2185671/world
--------
Mideast
Iran
protests death toll rises to 244, over 12,500 detained: Rights group
21
October, 2022
Iran’s
security forces have killed 244 protesters and arrested over 12,500 others in
anti-government demonstrations sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini in police
custody, a rights group said on Friday.
Of
those killed, 32 were children, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA),
a news site run by a collective of Iranian human rights advocates, said.
The
group estimated the number of people arrested during the protests to be 12,516.
For
the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
There
have been 28 fatalities among security forces, according to HRANA.
Protests
erupted across Iran after Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman, died in
police custody on September 16.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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--------
'Anti-Muslim
Attacks Surge amid Legitimization of Ideology' Across the World: President
Erdogan
OCT
21, 2022
President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned against the legitimization of anti-Islam sentiment,
which has been restricting the freedom of worship and other freedoms for
Muslims in different places across the world.
Speaking
at an Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Istanbul, Erdoğan
said attacks targeting Muslim communities have also been on the rise.
The
issue of Islamophobia has become a growing threat across Europe, as several
countries enact policies institutionalizing it, according to the European
Islamophobia Report 2021.
It
said countries such as the United Kingdom and France became "the main
spots of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobic incidents."
Erdoğan
has been a vocal critic of the rise of Islamophobia amid Western silence and
inaction in the face of the growing problem, which affects millions of Muslims.
He
also called on Muslim countries to enhance cooperation amid ongoing problems.
"We
cannot overcome attacks against the Muslim world without increasing cooperation
on all fronts, from Kashmir to Palestine, from Western Thrace to the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)," he said.
The
president also criticized the West for its hypocrisy regarding the Daesh
terrorist group, saying that French cement giant Lafarge's support for
terrorism has been proven in the courts.
"Even
though we are the only country that was involved in close combat and won a
victory against Daesh, we are subjected to dirty accusations claiming
otherwise," he said.
French
cement giant Lafarge will pay more than three-quarters of a billion dollars
after pleading guilty to U.S. charges of providing material support to two
designated terrorist groups including Daesh in Iraq and Syria.
Lafarge
paid the terrorist groups from 2013 through 2014 for protection and to allow
the continued operation of a cement plant in northern Syria run by Lafarge's
local subsidiary, Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS). In total, nearly $6 million was
sent to the two groups, according to prosecutors.
Source:
Daily Sabah
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Israeli
troops kill Palestinian; Islamic Jihad says was member
October
21, 2022
RAMALLAH,
West Bank, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian during an
overnight raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin, the Palestinian Health
Ministry said.
Palestinian
Islamic Jihad said the man, whom it named as 19-year-old Salah Braiki, was a
member of the militant group.
Witnesses
said clashes broke out during the raid, which the Israeli military said it
carried out in order to arrest a suspected militant.
Several
people "hurled explosive devices and fired shots at the security forces,
who responded with live fire. Hits were identified," the military said. It
did not elaborate.
Islamic
Jihad said in a statement that Braiki was killed while confronting Israeli
forces in Jenin. His father, speaking to Reuters at the hospital, denied Braiki
had been involved in the overnight fighting.
He
said: "This boy was neither armed nor wanted (by the Israelis). Why did
you kill him?"
More
than 100 Palestinians from the West Bank have been killed this year, most since
late March when Israeli forces began a crackdown in response to attacks by
Palestinians that killed 19 people in Israel.
Israel
says the operations are a security measure needed to arrest militants and
thwart attacks. Palestinians say the raids are a form of collective punishment
and that they are fighting to resist decades of Israeli occupation.
Israel
captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza - areas that Palestinians seek
for an independent state - in a 1967 Middle East war.
On
Thursday, a UN-appointed commission of inquiry concluded that Israel's
"permanent occupation and de-facto annexation" violated international
law.
Source:
Reuters
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Turkey
calls for end to embargoes on Iran, Venezuela to help energy crisis
21
October, 2022
Turkey
on Friday said the lifting of Western sanctions on countries including Iran and
Venezuela would alleviate the global energy crisis triggered by Russia's
invasion of Ukraine.
Venezuela
has been hit by US oil sanctions since 2019 and Iran is under US sanctions as
talks between Tehran and Washington over reviving a 2015 nuclear deal stall.
Iran
has the world's second largest natural gas reserves, after Russia, but lacks
the infrastructure to increase exports, which are currently limited to Iraq and
Turkey.
“The
entire world needs Venezuela's oil and natural gas... On the other side,
there's been embargoes on the Iranian oil,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu said.
“Remove
these sanctions... if you want the prices to drop, remove the embargoes on the
countries that will offer their products to the market,” he added.
“You
cannot solve the problem by threatening a country.”
Moscow's
move to cut off gas supplies to Europe amid tensions over Ukraine has triggered
an energy crisis across the continent, with consumers and businesses facing
high prices as winter approaches.
Source: Al Arabiya
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--------
Iran
teachers to strike over ‘merciless’ crackdown on children
21
October, 2022
An
Iranian teachers’ union has called a two-day strike from Sunday over the lethal
targeting of schoolchildren in a crackdown on protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s
death.
The
death of 22-year-old Amini, after her arrest for allegedly breaching Iran’s
strict dress code for women, has fuelled the biggest protests seen in the
Islamic republic for years.
Young
women, university students and schoolgirls have led the charge, removing their
headscarves, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security
forces on the streets.
The
Co-ordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates on Thursday called a strike in
response to the crackdown that Amnesty International says has cost the lives of
at least 23 children.
“The
Co-ordinating Council declares sit-in strikes for Sunday and Monday. We
teachers will be present at schools but will refrain from being present in
classes,” it said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
“We
know very well that the military and security forces and plainclothes
(officers) have violated schools and educational centers,” it said.
“During
this systematic oppression, they have mercilessly taken the lives of a number
of pupils and children; from Nika (Shahkarami) and Sarina (Esmailzadeh), to
Abolfazl (Adinezadeh) and Asra Panahi.”
The
four, all in their teens, were killed by Iran’s security forces during the
crackdown on the nationwide protests that has flared since September 16, when
Amini died in custody, according to human rights groups.
Oslo-based
group Iran Human Rights said on Thursday that at least 27 children have been
killed by the security forces and that children and teachers are among the
thousands arrested in the crackdown.
In
its statement, the teachers’ union said “a large number of teachers have been
arrested” without being charged.
“The
rulers must know that ... Iran’s teachers do not tolerate these atrocities and
tyranny and proclaims that we are for the people, and these bullets and pellets
you shoot at the people target our lives and souls,” it said.
“This
is why the Co-ordinating Council of Teachers Syndicates supports the rightful
protests of the people across Iran, and condemns the killings and oppression of
past weeks.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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--------
Over
100 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians in West Bank in past 10 days:
Report
22
October 2022
Israeli
settlers have carried out more than 100 violent attacks against Palestinian
people in the occupied West Bank over the past 10 days, amid tensions escalated
by the regime’s forces in the occupied territories.
Israeli
media reported on Friday that the West Bank had seen an “alarming” rise in
attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians, homes, and
storefronts in recent weeks, with more than 100 cases of crimes by Jewish
settlers in the last 10 days.
“In
recent weeks, the security establishment has identified an alarming increase in
acts of violence by settlers throughout the West Bank,” Haaretz daily newspaper
said, adding that most of the attacks had taken place in the northern West
Bank, especially in the town of Huwwara in Nablus.
Last
week, dozens of settlers attacked Palestinian property and vehicles in the
Huwwara, with witnesses telling the Middle East Eye that masked settlers threw
rocks at Palestinian vehicles near the town, as well as setting vehicles and
olive trees on fire. Over 40 Palestinians were reported wounded.
Abdullah
Odeh, who owns a local amusement park in Huwwara, said the Palestinian
residents had almost been successful in repelling the violent attacks,
stressing that a group of Israeli soldiers arrived to help and protect the
armed settlers.
"The
settlers were retreating, but when they saw the soldiers, they came back in
force and started to get closer, breaking everything in their path. The
soldiers did not push them back. Instead, they started to attack us and shoot
toward us," said Odeh.
"While
the soldiers were pushing us back and attacking us, the settlers started to set
fire to one of our vans that was parked higher up on the hill, while another
group of them came and started to set fire to one of our lorries," he
added.
The
Haaretz daily newspaper cited an unnamed security source as saying that
contrary to claims by senior Israeli officials that attacks on Palestinians
were being carried out by a handful of settlers, they were in fact being
perpetrated by a large number of settlers, including women and children, as
part of attempts to inflame the situation in the occupied West Bank.
Tensions
have been running high across the occupied Palestinian territories over the
past months.
In
late September, Israeli right-wing groups called for the storming of al-Aqsa
Mosque in the occupied Old City of al-Quds so as to increase Jewish presence at
the holy site as Jews celebrated Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.
The
extremist right-wing groups have openly called for turning al-Aqsa into a
Jewish worship area and tearing down the Islamic shrines in order to build a
Jewish temple on the location.
Moreover,
Israeli forces have recently been conducting overnight raids and killings in
the northern occupied West Bank, mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus,
where new groups of Palestinian resistance fighters have been formed.
Source:
Press TV
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https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/10/22/691373/Israeli-settlers-violent-attacks-West-Bank-
--------
Hamas,
Islamic Jihad call for unity to escalate against Israel
21
October 2022
Leaders
of Hamas and Islamic Jihad resistance movements have highlighted the need to
boost unity and escalate military confrontation with the Israeli regime amid a
new wave of Israeli aggression against Palestinians.
A
meeting was held on Friday in the Lebanese capital of Beirut between a Hamas
delegation led by Fathi Hammad, a member of the group’s political bureau, and
an Islamic Jihad delegation led by secretary-general Ziad al-Nakhala.
The
sides affirmed that the liberation of Palestinian lands at this stage requires
efforts to unify resistance forces, escalate the confrontation with the occupying
forces, and force the regime to retreat from all Palestinian soil, Palestine
Today reported.
They
also stressed that al-Quds is the “eternal capital” of Palestine and will
remain a symbol of unity for the Palestinian people.
The
meeting comes a few days after a historic visit between Hamas officials and
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.
A
high-ranking Palestinian delegation met with Assad on Wednesday, in the first
such visit in more than a decade as the two sides seek to revitalize their
ties.
Deputy
chief of the Hamas political bureau in the besieged Gaza Strip, Khalil
al-Hayya, who headed the delegation, said the spirit of resistance was
resurrected within the Arab world following their historic visit to Damascus.
“The
relations with Syria will give strength to the Axis of Resistance and to all
the believers in the resistance,” al-Hayya said.
The
efforts to boost resistance come as Israeli forces have recently been
conducting overnight raids and killings in the northern occupied West Bank,
mainly in the cities of Jenin and Nablus, where new groups of Palestinian
resistance fighters have been formed.
Meanwhile,
emboldened by the military forces, Zionists living in illegal settlements have
also been involved in attacks against Palestinian people and neighborhoods.
On
Thursday night, the Israeli forces shot dead 19-year-old Salah Briki during a
raid on the Jenin refugee camp north of the occupied West Bank.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/10/21/691346/Hamas-Islamic-Jihad-call-escalation-against-Israel
--------
Europe
In
a first, EU invites Jews and Muslims to stand up for kosher and halal slaughter
amid local bans
BY
CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
OCTOBER
21, 2022
(JTA)
— European Union officials in Brussels invited Jewish and Muslim community
leaders to discuss meat production, in what some of the guests characterized as
progress toward ensuring religious freedom.
The
event, which was convened by the EU’s point person for fighting antisemitism,
Katharina von Schnurbein, included Jews and Muslims concerned about a
two-pronged attack on their traditional methods for slaughtering animals for
food that has resulted in bans in some countries. About 30 EU officials and
about 20 community leaders were present, according to people who were there.
“We’ve
had sessions before at the EU where advocates defended shechitah,” the Hebrew
word for the Jewish way of killing animals for food, Rabbi Menachem Margolin,
who heads the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, told the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency. Thursday’s event, he said, “was the first designed to give
us a platform, rather than to just have us come and state our case alongside
people with the opposite view.”
Animal
rights activists say shechitah and zabiha, the Muslim method for slaughtering
animals for food, are cruel because both methods preclude stunning before the
animal’s necks are cut. Advocates of the customs say they result in no greater
suffering to animals than mechanized slaughter methods with higher malfunction
rates and less attention to individual animals.
In
recent years, opposition to shechitah and zabiha has widened as right-wing
parties began adopting this stance as part of their commitment to reducing the
presence in society of Islam, and in some cases also Judaism.
When
Jewish community leaders challenged recent bans in two of Belgium’s three
states at the Court of the European Union, the court dealt them a major defeat
when it upheld the bans in a 2021 ruling that Israel’s ambassador to Belgium
called “catastrophic and a blow to Jewish life in Europe.”
The
ruling added Belgium to a number of EU countries where ritual slaughter is
illegal, including Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Slovenia. In 2011, the
Netherlands briefly joined the list, but the Dutch Senate reversed the ban in
2012, citing freedom of worship. Poland also outlawed ritual slaughter in 2013
but has since scaled back the ban to include only meat for export.
“While
all of this was happening, EU officials, who are not shy about criticizing
individual member states on some issues, have basically ignored our pleas for intervention
on the meat issue,” Margolin said. “The fact that the EU has finally decided to
create an event centered on defending religious slaughter, or at least hearing
the case for it, is an encouraging first step on a path that needs to lead to
legislation enshrining minorities’ rights to continue to exercise their
religious freedoms.”
The
office of von Schnurbein, who in 2015 became the first European Commission
coordinator on combatting antisemitism, had stayed out of the debate on
shechitah for most of her tenure. But she has become increasingly outspoken on
the issue since the bans in Belgium, which were initiated by a right-wing party
and advanced by a socialist party. In January, she said during an EU meeting
that the bans risk painting Jews and Muslim minorities as “medieval.”
“The
fact that Katharina was an initiator of this event is also significant because
it correctly frames the debate on banning shechitah in the discussion on
antisemitism,” Margolin said.
Von
Schnurbein did not immediately respond to a request for comment from JTA.
Shimon
Cohen, the director of the British-Jewish advocacy group Shechitah UK, also
referenced the connection between antisemitism and bans on religious slaughter
during his speech at the event Thursday. Cohen noted that the first ban on
shechitah in Europe occurred in Switzerland in the 19th century to make the
country less hospitable to Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia.
The
Nazis, too, enacted a ban on kosher slaughter early on, Deborah Lipstadt, the
U.S. special envoy charged with monitoring antisemitism abroad, said in her
speech at the conference. She said the United States recognizes the importance
of allowing ritual slaughter and urged European lawmakers to include exemptions
for religious groups in any legislation about meat production.
“There’s
an easy way to both promote animal welfare during slaughter & respect the
rights of members of religious minority groups,” she said. “By exempting ritual
slaughter from these laws, countries can ensure animals are treated more
humanely, while preserving rights.”
In
his comments at the conference, Cohen argued that existing laws about religious
freedom are not enough to ensure that shechitah remains legal.
Source:
JTA
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--------
Preston
man in court accused of sharing Islamic State videos
October
22, 2022
A
man accused of sharing Islamic State videos on social media has appeared in
court.
Mohammed
Afzal, 18, allegedly shared material showing an execution and fighters in
combat on Instagram between March and September.
He
is also accused of collecting instructions on how to make explosives.
Mr
Afzal, of Preston, Lancashire, appeared by videolink for the hearing at
London's Old Bailey where he was remanded in custody.
Source:
BBC
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-63343586
--------
Muslim
schoolchildren in France often denied food options that fit their faith
22.10.2022
PARIS,
France
Although
the subject gets little media coverage, the problem of food in French school cafeterias
is a headache for many parents of Muslim students.
Citing
their version of secularism, some mayors have decided not to offer alternative
menus in school cafeterias.
This
is the case in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, a commune on the outskirts of Lyon, which
since 2016 has mandated that only a single menu be offered for school meals.
And
when the only meal offered is sometimes centered around pork, students who eat
only halal or kosher – approved under Muslim or Jewish guidelines, respectively
– have trouble getting enough to eat.
To
get around this problem, some mayors have proposed an exclusively vegetarian
menu, citing environmental concerns
These
mayors have given the choice to parents with three possible menus: meat, fish,
or vegetarian. The Grenoble City Hall asked parents to choose the menu they
wanted, and 94% opted for fish or beef/chicken menus.
Children
in those schools were able to choose their meals, unlike the situation created
by other mayors who think that secularism means making Muslim and Jewish
children either eat pork or go hungry.
Backlash
from Muslim parents
Faced
with a lack of empathy by mayors, parents in schools where pork is often the
only choice launched an online petition to demand alternative menus.
They
said that last December, the Council of State clearly ruled that proposals for
alternative menus in fact do no undermine secularism or religious neutrality.
Moreover,
it argued that "a single menu goes against the sense of history at a time
when food waste is being criticized.”
“The
unique menu, defended by the City Council in Tassin-la-Demi-Lune, hinders
access to catering for 20% of students, whether for religious reasons, health,
or belief (vegetarianism)," said the parents’ petition, adding: "The
role of a mayor is to serve the population, all the population, in the name of
the general welfare.”
Several
well-known figures, including journalist and feminist activist Rokhaya Diallo,
have lent support to the petition and encouraged others to sign it.
In
France, Muslims are subjected to unrelenting attacks and exclusion amid an
intensifying debate over the visibility of the community.
There
is a question about the definition and concrete application of the principle of
secularism. While some want to go further by prohibiting any "Muslim-related"
visibility, others are looking to live and let live.
School
dress codes
Among
the hardliners, Eric Ciotti, the mayor of Nice, France’s fifth-largest city,
and a presidential hopeful last year, wants to modify a 2004 law on religious
symbols in schools to ban certain types of clothing, such as abayas – a long,
free-flowing garment worn by Muslim women over their clothes.
Apparently
referring to Muslim young girls who wear long skirts, he called allowing such
clothing "a misuse of secularism.”
Some
elected representatives in France apparently want to have "a clothing
police" that will have the right to decide if attire is a religious dress.
For
weeks, several French media outlets have charged that the abayas “violate
secularism,” and so young girls should not wear them.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Hundreds
take to streets in Iran's Zahedan over killings
October
22, 2022
PARIS:
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of the southeastern Iranian city
of Zahedan, three weeks after over 90 people were reportedly killed in “Bloody
Friday” protests.
“Death
to the dictator”, the protesters, mostly young men, chanted on Friday in
reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outside a police station, in
footage widely shared on social media.
According
to Iran Human Rights, an Oslo-based group, Iranian forces had killed 93 people
who had gathered at the same location on September 30.
Zahedan,
the capital of Sistan-Baluchestan province, is one of the few Sunni-majority
cities in Iran.
“Death
to Khamenei” and “Unity, unity”, the protesters shouted after Friday prayers in
a video shared by Radio Farda, a US-funded station.
The
slogans echoed those chanted in nationwide protests over Mahsa Amini, an
Iranian woman of Kurdish origin who died in custody on Sept 16.
The
police chief of Sistan-Baluchestan, Ahmad Taheri, said 57 “rioters” were
arrested during Friday’s protests.
A
news agency said “thugs and rioters” had gathered after Friday prayers at Makki
Mosque — headed by influential Sunni cleric Molavi Abdol Hamid.
It
said they “shouted slogans and threw rocks at shops, cars and banks”, noting
that “leaders and instigators” had been identified and investigations were
underway.
Amini,
22, died three days after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran by
the morality police for an alleged breach of the country’s dress code for
women.
Two
weeks later, violence erupted in Zahedan during protests that were triggered by
anger over the reported rape of a teenage girl by a police commander in the
region.
Climber
under ‘house arrest’
A
human rights group called on Friday for Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi to be
protected after she was reportedly placed under house arrest for competing
abroad without a hijab. Rekabi competed in South Korea last week without
wearing a headscarf.
Citing
an “informed source”, BBC Persian said Rekabi had been put under pressure to
make a “forced confession” after her return on Wednesday from the Asian Championships
in sports climbing in Seoul.
The
33-year-old was given a hero’s welcome on her return to Tehran by supporters
who raucously applauded her action, but the source told BBC Persian that she
did not go home after arriving at the airport.
“She
was held at the national Olympics academy under the watch of plainclothes
officers until she met the minister,” it said, referring to Sports Minister
Hamid Sajjadi.
Rekabi
had been threatened with the seizure of 100 million rials ($312,000) worth of
her family’s property unless she made the “forced confession”, the source was
quoted as saying. On Friday, a New York-based human rights group called on the
International Federation of Sport Climbing to do more to protect her.
The
federation “should engage with rights organisations to protect pro climber
#ElnazRekabi and all Iranian athletes”, the Center for Human Rights in Iran
said on Twitter.
“Don’t
take the government in Iran’s word at face value — it has a documented history
of detaining, maiming and killing those who oppose it.”
Fears
had been raised about the fate of Rekabi after friends had reportedly been
unable to contact her following the end of her participation in the competition
in Seoul.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1716264/hundreds-take-to-streets-in-irans-zahedan-over-killings
--------
Ukraine
appeals for more help with air defenses, warns over Iran
21 October,
2022
President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a new call for foreign help strengthening Ukraine’s
air defenses against Russian air strikes during talks on Friday with three
members of the US Congress.
An
air force spokesperson echoed Zelenskyy’s appeal, saying the world must prevent
Tehran providing Moscow with ballistic missiles in addition to the “kamikaze”
drones which Kyiv says Russia is using in its attacks on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy
said his talks with US Congressmen Mike Turner, James Himes and Eric Swalwell
had covered the armed forces’ priority needs, repairs to damaged energy
facilities and Ukrainian demands for tougher sanctions on Russia.
“It
is important for Ukraine to receive air defense systems in the necessary
quantity to create an ‘air shield’,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging
app following the talks.
He
said the visit to Kyiv was “a bold step that demonstrates strong bicameral and
bipartisan support for Ukraine,” adding: “It confirms that the United States is
our strategic partner.”
Russia
has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities and cities since Oct. 10,
using missiles and what Kyiv says are Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones.
Air
force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Ukraine’s air defenses were proving
increasingly effective against the drones but indicated they were less
effective against missiles.
“If
we take the last two weeks and the results in taking down drones, our air
defense is 85 percent effective,” Ihnat told a briefing. “Now we’ve learned to
recognise them and shoot them down more effectively.”
Ukrainian
concerns about Iran
Tehran
denies supplying Shahed-136 drones to Moscow and the Kremlin denies its forces
have used Iranian drones to attack Ukraine. But two senior Iranian officials
and two Iranian diplomats told Reuters that Iran has promised to provide Russia
with surface-to-surface missiles, in addition to more drones.
“Ukraine
currently doesn’t have effective air defense systems against ballistic
missiles. Iran will likely supply those (to Russia), unless the world finds a
way to stop it,” Ihnat said.
The
United States has dismissed Iran’s denial that it has sold the drones to Moscow
and said Iranian military trainers are in annexed Crimea helping Russian forces
operate the drones.
Ihnat
said this was a matter for Ukrainian and Western intelligence but added: “It’s
obvious they are there, for me personally. They are teaching and maybe even
participating in military action.”
Ukraine
has been aided by the delivery of sophisticated air defense systems from allies
including the first of four IRIS-T air defense systems from Germany.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
France
repatriates 40 children, 15 mothers from Syria camps
Feiza
Ben Mohamed
21.10.2022
NICE,
France
France
repatriated 40 children and 15 mothers from camps in Syria, the government said
on Thursday.
The
minors have been transferred to “child welfare services and will be subject to
medical-social monitoring” while “adults have been handed over to the judicial
authorities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It
is thus a new operation to repatriate French nationals who were in the camps of
northeastern Syria, it said, commending the local authorities in northeastern
Syria for their cooperation, which made the transfer possible.
It
has been the first transfer by Paris since the condemnation of the government
by the European Court of Human Rights on Sep. 14 over its reluctance on
repatriations.
The
court said the government should review “as soon as possible” all requests for
the repatriation of French women and children detained in camps in northeastern
Syria.
The
latest transfer involving women comes months after the first group of 16
mothers and 35 children were repatriated on July 5.
Initially,
France had only agreed to repatriate a handful of minors whose situation was
assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Seventeen
children, most of whom were orphaned, and a little girl suffering from heart
disease, were repatriated in March and June 2019.
In
June 2020, a dozen other French children were able to return to France to be
taken care of.
In
January 2021, seven “particularly vulnerable” minors were repatriated from a
camp in northeastern Syria.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/france-repatriates-40-children-15-mothers-from-syria-camps/2717609
--------
South
Asia
Taliban
kill six Islamic State members in raid in Afghan capital - spokesman
October
22, 2022
KABUL,
Oct 22 (Reuters) - Taliban security forces killed six Islamic State members in
an overnight operation in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a spokesman for the ruling
group's administration said on Saturday.
The
Islamic State members killed in the raid on their hideout were involved in two
major attacks in recent weeks, one on a city mosque and the other on a tutoring
institute in which dozens of female students were killed, said the spokesman,
Qari Yusuf Ahmadi. "They were the attackers of the Wazir Akbar Khan mosque
and also ... of Kaaj Institute," said Ahmadi, who said one Taliban security
force member was killed in the operation.
No
group claimed responsibility for either attack.
The
blast at the female section of the Kaaj Institute education centre on Sept. 30
killed 53 people, most of them girls and young women. read more
On
Sept. 23, at least seven people were killed and more than 40 wounded in blast
near a mosque in Wazir Akbar Khan, a heavily fortified neighbourhood once home
to a "Green Zone" of embassies and foreign force bases. read more
Since
the Taliban took over in 2021, they say they have focused on securing the
country after decades of war.
However,
a series of blasts have rocked the capital and other urban areas in recent
months and the United Nations has said security is deteriorating.
The
Afghan affiliate of Islamic State, known as Islamic State Khorasan, after an
old name of the region, are enemies of the Taliban.
Source:
Reuters
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Mujahid
Says West Preventing Islamic Emirate’s Recognition
October
22, 2022
The
Islamic Emirate's spokesman while traveling in Turkey said that the West,
particularly the United States, has prevented the recognition of the Islamic
Emirate of Afghanistan.
In
an interview with the Turkish "Ilke News Agency," Zabiullah Mujahid
said that some Muslim and regional countries are unwilling to recognize the
Islamic Emirate because of issues they have with the United States.
"The
West is behind this; they prevent the recognition of and cooperation with an
Islamic government. Although the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has made--and
continues to make--great attempts, unfortunately, some pressures are
applied," Mujahid said.
"There
is no doubt that the US government is attempting to stop everyone from
recognizing the Taliban,” said Wahidullah Faqiri, a political analyst.
Mujahid
said that Kabul wants to improve its political and economic ties with all
nations, including the United States and Europe. Additionally, he urged
investment in Afghanistan from the US and Europe.
"All
nations should work with us and not be worried about us. We want to have good
political and economic interactions with other countries, such interactions
that would be trusted by both parties, including America and Europe. We asked
Americans to invest in Afghanistan,” Mujahid said.
Source:
Tolo News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-180400
--------
Clash
in Afghan Capital: Taliban Claims to Discover ISIS Hideout
By
Saqalain Eqbal
22
Oct 2022
Several
explosions and shootings occurred in the 8th district of Kabul, the Afghan
capital, on Friday night, according to local sources. The Taliban claimed that
after discovering an ISIS hideout, the group’s forces carried out an operation.
According
to the sources, there were at least five explosions heard in the area on Friday
night, October 21, in addition to the sound of gunfire.
While
some other sources state that there were two explosions, sources familiar with
the clash state that the first explosion happened at around nine o’clock at
night, and that it was followed by additional explosions and gunfire.
However,
shortly after the gunfire exchange, the Taliban government’s spokesman,
Zabihullah Mujahid, announced in a tweet that the Taliban had discovered a
hideout of the Islamic State (ISIS).
The
Taliban government’s forces, according to Mujahid, had started an operation
against the ISIS hideout, but Kabul residents should not be alarmed, he said.
There
are currently no available details regarding the explosions’ nature or the
number of potential casualties or financial losses the explosions may have
caused.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/clash-in-afghan-capital-taliban-claims-to-discover-isis-hideout-36473/
--------
Southeast
Asia
International
Conference Reflects Open, Moderate Islamic Studies in Indonesia: Religious
Affairs Minister
October
22, 2022
Jakarta
(ANTARA) - Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas noted that the Annual
International Conference on Islamic Studies (AICIS) demonstrated the good
implementation of open and moderate Islamic studies in Indonesia.
"Although
AICIS is an international event on Islamic studies, the event also invites
several Islamic studies observers from various other studies. It indicates that
AICIS facilitates open and moderate Islamic studies in Indonesia," he said
in a statement on Friday.
He
remarked that the event is a joint effort to continue encouraging a sense of
love for science, honing intellectual capabilities, as well as contributing to
the advancement of the nation, religion, and humanity.
Implementation
of the 21st AICIS involved several domestic and foreign keynote speakers from
different religious backgrounds.
"(This
shows) the commitment of the Religious Affairs Ministry to providing capacity
building for scientists as well as other intellectual sector players within the
ministry, in particular, and throughout Indonesia, in general," the
minister stated.
The
minister expected that the conference would generate a roadmap on the
recontextualization of Islam whose implementation can involve world leaders,
including political leaders and social organizations leaders; educational
centers; as well as public figures inclusively and not only the ones with an
Islamic background.
"If
necessary, appoint several emissaries to implement the strategy (in the
roadmap). Thus, it requires a serious effort," Qoumas remarked.
Source:
Antara News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Malaysia
election: Why the ethnic Malay votes matter and who has the upper hand
Amir
Yusof
22
Oct 2022
JOHOR
BAHRU: Fisherman Razali Abdul Razak hangs three different political flags on
his wooden boat.
There
is a dark blue flag of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, the light blue flag
of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition as well as the black flag of the
youth-centric party Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA).
“Hanging
up these flags does not mean I support these parties. They are just gifts from
politicians when they campaign,” said the resident of Parit Jawa, a seaside
village near the Johor city of Muar.
“Who
I will vote for will depend on the candidates - Will they help ensure I
continue to earn a good living here fishing? More importantly, are they willing
to fight for the rights of the Malays and defend the sovereignty of Islam (in
Malaysia)?” said Mr Razali.
For
the upcoming 15th General Election (GE15), the battle to garner support for
Malay-Muslim voters, such as Mr Razali, is expected to be a fierce one.
According
to the latest census figures released by Malaysia's department of statistics,
as of 2020, 69.4 per cent of the population are Malay-Bumiputeras and 63.5 per
cent are Muslims.
In
the 2018 general election when Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition emerged the
winner, local media attributed the outcome to a “Malay Tsunami”. This referred
to a wave of ethnic Malay voters who voted for PH, and that reportedly proved
to be the tipping point which ended BN’s 60-year reign in government.
In
2020, following a political manoeuvre known as the “Sheraton Move”, BN returned
to power alongside PN and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), in what observers
described to be a largely Malay-Muslim centric coalition.
In
the lead up to polling day on Nov 19, jostling for support among the Malay
Muslims in the electorate is again expected to be decisive in terms of
determining the winner.
In a
recent interview with CNA, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad noted that
identity politics remains key. He added that the electorate is still voting
along racial lines.
“In
an area where the population is predominantly Chinese, you cannot put a Malay
candidate there. He will never win. By the same token, in (a) Malay area (and)
you put a Chinese candidate, he will not win,” said Dr Mahathir, who is
chairman of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang).
“You
have to respond to the attitude of the people. We can’t just say this is not
right and put someone the people do not want,” added the 97-year-old.
For
GE15, Dr Mahathir will be leading the Malay movement Gerakan Tanah Air (GTA).
He is also seeking re-election in the Langkawi constituency.
RURAL
MALAYS LIKELY TO SUPPORT UMNO, PAS
Political
analysts interviewed by CNA said that Malay voters in rural heartlands are
likely to support candidates who preserve the rights of the Malays, fight for
Islamic superiority and pledge to preserve the longevity of the royal house.
Dr
Serina Rahman, who is a lecturer with the Southeast Asia Studies Department at
the National University of Singapore (NUS), stressed that the “core issues” of
“race, religion and royalty” affect the rural Malay vote, and this has not
changed over the years.
Mr
Adib Zalkapli, director for strategic advisory firm BowerGroupAsia said that
rural Malay voters in Peninsular Malaysia are likely to vote for either UMNO or
PN component party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) as they are “recognisable
brands”.
“For
instance, for PAS in areas like Kelantan and for UMNO in (rural) areas on the
west coast, these parties are seen as legitimate representatives of the Malay
Muslim community,” he added.
Mr
Sani Hassan, a retiree who lives in Kampung Mawai Baru in the Kota Tinggi
federal constituency, is a case in point. The Kota Tinggi federal constituency
has been won by UMNO since 1986 and is considered a BN stronghold.
“I
will support UMNO regardless of what happens, this will not change. Previously,
now and forever,” said the 64-year-old.
“I
don’t trust the other parties and I don’t think I will ever be able to,” he
added.
UMNO
supreme council member Isham Jalil told CNA that while BN may be the favourite
to win in some rural areas, there is no room for complacency.
“In
the last general election, we lost 24 federal seats we previously held, just
like that. And many of these seats were in the rural Malay heartland,” said Mr
Isham, who was recently inducted into the party supreme council.
“We
were punished in 2018 and we have learned our lesson,” added the former BN
Selangor information chief.
PH
HAS AN ADVANTAGE AMONG URBAN MALAY VOTERS
Meanwhile,
Malay voters in urban seats will also be decisive in determining the outcome.
These constituencies are mainly concentrated within the Klang Valley and major
cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
BowerGroupAsia’s
Mr Adib pointed out that in GE14, PH won 33 out of 43 Malay-majority urban
seats. PAS won six seats while BN won four.
Mr
Fahmi Fadzil, who is the information chief of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), told
CNA that the coalition has garnered strong trust among the urban Malays because
PH champions issues that they care most about. PKR is a component party of PH.
“A
lot of these concerns are related to rice bowl problems, cost of living, public
transport and housing. Middle-class families are also against corruption and
abuse of power that they have seen the last 50 years,” said Mr Fahmi during a
phone interview.
“They
have practical considerations and principled positions,” added the incumbent
member of parliament for Lembah Pantai, a Malay-majority urban seat in Kuala
Lumpur. Lembah Pantai has been a PH seat since 2008.
Ms
Sakinah Abdul Malik, who lives in a low-cost council flat in Pantai Dalam
within Lembah Pantai constituency, told CNA that PH is able to reflect the
aspirations of what she believes Malaysia can be.
“I
hope to see my country free of corruption one day and I think Pakatan aspires
to this. We all dared to dream after (PH’s victory) in 2018 and perhaps we can
do it again now in 2022,” she added.
Yet,
Mr Adib posited that based on the results of the recent-by elections as well as
the Johor and Melaka state polls, UMNO-led BN is likely to regain some of the
12 urban Malay-majority seats which it lost back in 2018.
He
added that a key factor was that its opponents are now splintered, with PH, PN
and GTA likely to split votes in multi-cornered contests while BN is likely to
retain its voter base.
“In
2018, Bersatu’s association with PH and also the split in UMNO benefited PH in
the urban Malay constituencies. It’s going to be very challenging for PH to
repeat its performance this time with a divided opposition,” said Mr Adib.
He
noted that the urban Malay seats will be keenly watched in the upcoming polls
as the results “could go either way”, adding that BN would look to win back its
former strongholds such as Setiawangsa and Titiwangsa in Kuala Lumpur.
While
what matters to urban and rural Malay voters may be slightly different, both
groups are concerned about bread and butter issues such as income and
employment.
Rising
costs of living due to inflation and a likely global recession are set to play
a big part in the GE15 campaign narratives.
NUS’
Dr Serina said: “The Malays are still struggling with basic economic issues -
prices of everything have gone up and basic goods are getting hard to find or
out of financial reach.”
PKR’s
Mr Fahmi said that issues like inflation and cost of living are among “the
greatest concerns” faced by urban Malays and that PH will be looking to address
this during the campaign.
“In
terms of what we present, we want to show how this PH is markedly different
from the PH that went into GE14. We are more pragmatic having been in power, we
know what can be done and what is harder to do,” he added.
Meanwhile,
UMNO’s Mr Isham also said that BN’s focus for the upcoming polls will be on
bread and butter issues. He added that BN will campaign based on positive
messaging on the political front.
Source:
Channel News Asia
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-general-election-malay-urban-rural-voters-3017431
--------
Mysterious
135-year-old temple in Perak’s jungles
Noel
Wong
October
22, 2022
BATU
GAJAH: Travelling for kilometres without a skyscraper in sight is a welcome
change for urbanites visiting the sleepy state of Perak.
Should
you ever pass through the quiet town of Jeram in the Batu Gajah district, you
should make a detour to a secluded tourist attraction few know about – the
Shoushanyan Guanyin Temple hidden in the depths of a thick jungle.
Getting
to the temple is something of an adventure itself as you have to travel along a
stretch of dirt road snaking through an oil palm plantation.
At
the end of the road is a clearing where you can leave your vehicle to explore
the Shoushanyan Guanyin Temple ahead on foot.
This
is quite a unique temple, being built into and inside a limestone cave, a
common geographic feature in Perak’s Kinta Valley.
Its
name, which if directly translated, means “Longevity Rock Mountain”, is shared
with a famous temple in Taiwan’s Taoyuan City.
Like
its Taiwanese counterpart, the temple is dedicated to the Chinese Goddess of
Mercy, Guan Yin, whose statue greets visitors driving in from the road.
A
brick arch marks the entrance to the temple although much of it is swallowed up
by the thick trunks of towering rainforest trees that were left to their own
devices for decades.
While
not particularly big or grand like other temples in Malaysia, the Shoushanyan
Guan Yin Temple does have a certain air of mystery around it.
With
so few people around and little information available, it is natural that many
questions abound about the place.
However,
according to local historian Gary Lit, the temple has been around for more than
135 years, making it about as old as nearby Ipoh itself, or even older.
“This
temple in its initial form was thus evidence that this part of the Kinta Valley
was already being settled by presumably Taoist Chinese immigrants,” he told FMT
during a recent visit there.
He
also added that the temple is surrounded by many forgotten entrances to
subterranean tunnels, which were used during the Communist insurgency.
Perhaps
a future archaeologist could begin a search for the tunnels around this temple
to uncover long lost secrets.
Within
the temple’s main hall are some interesting sights like the bell and drum,
which visitors are welcomed to ring and beat, to announce their presence to the
deities who reside there.
Like
the temple, the bell has an interesting backstory, being cast sometime during
the reign of the Guangxu Emperor which lasted from 1871 to 1908.
The
historical bell was the target of a recent theft attempt by scrap metal
thieves, which was foiled by its sheer weight. A copy of the police report is
pasted on the wall of the temple, and extra chains now keep the bell secured in
its place.
Also,
within the main hall are the idols of several Chinese deities, including the
patron goddess Guan Yin herself.
Aside
from the temple, the cave itself is something to marvel at, with stalactites
and stalagmites having formed for over millennia at this point.
As
to be expected, caves like these are rarely uninhabited so keep an eye out for
the dozens of bats hanging above you.
Outside
the cave is a rather fascinating display of piety from the local residents
living in the temple’s vicinity. Dozens of idols belonging to different deities
sit atop a table, left there by worshippers over the years.
This
is their final resting place as devotees find the idea of disposing their old
idols rather sacrilegious. Going by the number of idols left there, one cannot
help but wonder just how long this practice has been going on for.
In
any case, the Shoushanyan Guanyin Temple is certainly worth a brief visit for
adventure seekers.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Africa
Tunisian
doctor sentenced to 15 years in jail by Saudi court for expressing support for
Hezbollah
22
October 2022
Saudi
Arabia’s Supreme Court has handed down a Tunisian doctor, who has been living
in the kingdom for more than a decade, a lengthy prison sentence for her
interaction with a Twitter post in support of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance
movement.
Mahdia
al-Marzouki had been already sentenced to two years and 8 months in prison by
Saudi Arabia’s so-called Specialized Criminal Court and the verdict was
appealed by a lawyer appointed by Saudi authorities.
However,
Saudi authorities extended the term of al-Marzouki’s imprisonment to 15 years,
the Prisoners of Conscience, an independent non-governmental organization
advocating human rights in Saudi Arabia said on Twitter.
The
rights group noted that the 51-year-old doctor does not pass 87 followers on
Twitter and thus cannot incite “public unrest and destabilize civil and
national security,” as firmly opposed to what the Saudi government proclaims.
Marzouki
has been residing in Saudi Arabia since 2008. She was arrested in July 2020,
and the investigation continued for several months before she received her
initial sentence of two years and 8 months.
Her
brother told the Tunisian Arabic-language Jawhara FM radio station that all
contact with her was cut off when she was arrested, adding that the
investigations lasted for an entire year.
The
man also confirmed that the family has contacted the Tunisian consulate for
assistance several times, but to no avail, calling on Tunisian President Kais
Saied and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene.
Saudi
Arabia once invested billions of dollars in Lebanon and bolstered its luxury
tourism economy.
The
Riyadh regime has shunned the country for years because of Hezbollah resistance
movement and its strong support within Lebanese society and political circles.
Since
Mohammed bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, the kingdom
has arrested hundreds of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others for
their political activism, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the
face of international condemnation of the crackdown.
Muslim
scholars have been executed and women’s rights campaigners have been put behind
bars and tortured as freedom of expression, association, and belief continue to
be denied by the kingdom's authorities.
Source:
Press TV
Please
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Burkina
Faso's new junta leader sworn in as president
Aurore
Bonny
21.10.2022
DOUALA,
Cameroon
The
head of the Burkinabe junta Capt. Ibrahim Traore was sworn in before the
Constitutional Council Friday as the new president of the transition around one
month after a coup.
During
the official swearing-in ceremony broadcast on Burkina Faso's national
television, Traore, 34, swore before the members of the constitutional council
"to preserve, respect, ensure respect for and defend the constitution, the
transitional charter, and the laws."
He
vowed, with his right hand raised, to "do everything possible to guarantee
justice for all the inhabitants of Burkina Faso."
The
new leader of the West African country staged a coup on Sept. 30 against Lt.
Col. Henri Sandaogo Damiba, the former leader of the junta known as the
Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration.
The
same overthrew civilian President Roch Marc Christian Kabore, on Jan. 23 during
his second term. The inability of the leaders to secure the country against
terrorism and poor security choices are the pretexts put forward by the junta
during both coups.
Traore,
unanimously designated as the president on 15 Oct. by a national assembly of
the nation's active forces, reiterated on Friday his willingness to fight
alongside his compatriots to confront the terrorists who have been undermining
the country's security for several years.
"We
can win this battle. We can win this war," he said, indicating that the
enemy is not above the Burkinabe.
"Fatherland
or death, we will win," he added, calling on the people of Burkina Faso to
show solidarity and unity.
He
committed himself to peace "on the great fronts for the liberation"
of his country.
"For
my nation I will fight," he insisted.
He
claimed the last putsch saying it marked the revolt of the volunteers for the
defense of the country and that of the populations of the afflicted localities.
They "pay a heavy price but have decided to defend the country with their
bodies and souls," according to Traore.
The
end of the transition is scheduled for 2024, and its president is not eligible
for the general elections that will be organized at the end of this period.
In
the country of more than 20 million people, growing insecurity and blockades in
many areas have left communities cut off from the rest of the country and
facing increasing hunger, according to the UN.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/burkina-fasos-new-junta-leader-sworn-in-as-president/2717856
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Sudan
declares state of emergency in Blue Nile over tribal conflict
Bahram
Abdel Moneim
21.10.2022
KHARTOUM,
Sudan
The
Sudanese authorities on Friday declared a state of emergency in the state of
Blue Nile in the wake of killings of more than 200 people as a result of a
tribal conflict.
Ahmed
Al-Omda, the state's governor, said that the emergency will remain in effect
throughout the Blue Nile region for a period of 30 days.
The
US embassy in Khartoum tweeted: “We are pained by the reported loss of more
than 200 lives to intercommunal violence in Blue Nile and the growing death
toll due to clashes in West Kordofan.”
The
embassy urged that “the violence cease immediately and that the government
engage the affected communities in a dialogue to restore peace between those
who have lived side by side for generations.”
It called
for “unimpeded humanitarian access to ensure help is provided to people
impacted by the fighting.”
The
clashes are the latest in a wave of tribal violence that has swept across the
country despite the signing of a nationwide peace deal two years ago.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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At
least 150 people killed in tribal clashes in Sudan
Omer
Erdem and Ahmed Osama
21.10.2022
KHARTOUM,
Sudan
At
least 150 people have been killed over the past two days in a tribal conflict
in southeastern Sudan, according to local media reports.
Dozens
of others were injured in the clashes which took place between tribes on
Wednesday and Thursday in Blue Nile state, where violence flared up again in
July.
“The
UN is alarmed by violence escalation in Lagawa & conflict resurgence in the
Blue Nile region,” the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan
(UNITAMS) said on Twitter.
“Sustainable
peace won't be possible without a fully functional credible government that
prioritizes local communities' needs including security & addresses the
root causes of conflict,” it added.
The
clashes are the latest in a wave of tribal violence that has swept across the
country despite the signing of a nationwide peace deal two years ago.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/at-least-150-people-killed-in-tribal-clashes-in-sudan/2716997
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Libyan rivals to meet to discuss electoral law in Rabat
21.10.2022
RABAT,
Morocco
The
speakers of Libya's rival assemblies are expected to meet Friday in Morocco's
capital Rabat, a Moroccan official said.
Aguila
Saleh, speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, and Khaled Al-Mishri,
the president of Libya's High Council of State, will hold a joint press
conference after the meeting, the official added without giving further
details.
On
Wednesday, Libyan media cited First Vice-President of the Libyan State Council
Naji Mokhtar as saying: "Rabat will host a meeting that brings Aguila and
Al-Mishri together.”
A
member of the Libyan House of Representatives, Al-Hadi Al-Saghir, said that the
meeting of Saleh and Al-Mishri comes within the framework of consultations on
sovereign positions.
Al-Hadi
stated that "there are indications of achieving positive results in the
Morocco meeting.”
"The
Morocco meeting will also touch on the constitutional track,” he added.
He
further said that the parliament and the state have different visions regarding
the constitutional base.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/libyan-rivals-to-meet-to-discuss-electoral-law-in-rabat/2717645
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