Hijab Row in Voice of Hind: ISIS Threatens To 'Slaughter' Hindus Who Dishonour Muslim Women
New Age Islam News Bureau
16 March 2022
(File) Representational image | PTI
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• AIMPLB, Jamiat Ulema i Hind and Students Islamic Organisation
of India Slam Verdict on Hijab Row
• Islamic State’s Afghan Affiliate Growing in
Afghanistan but Not Ready to Attack US, West
• Islamophobic Attacks in Australia Soared After
Sickening Christchurch Mosque Massacre, Report Shows
• UN Resolution on Islamophobia to Send Clear Message
against Racism, Anti-Muslim Violence: Pak FM
Arab
World
• Gulf Cooperation Council Offers To Host Peace Talks
between Yemeni Factions, Including Houthis, In Riyadh
• Washington to provide Egypt with F-15 jets, US general
says
• Lebanese govt talks with IMF moving in the right
direction: Deputy PM al-Shami
• Bahrain’s King, Russia's Putin discuss conflict in
Ukraine
• UK’s Johnson to meet UAE, Saudi leaders in push for
more oil
• Ukraine war recalls trauma for survivors of Aleppo
siege
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India
• Karnataka HC Order On Hijab Unconstitutional: Kerala
Muslim Groups
• Karnataka HC's hijab verdict may force Muslim girls
to quit studies: Experts
• Education, religion are like two eyes: Father of
Muslim girl who was heckled by saffron men
• Kerala Artist Ostracised From Performing In Temples
After Son Marries Muslim Girl
• Owaisi Should Show Quran Citing Hijab; by Muslim
Law, Mehbooba Won't Be A Leader: Arif Mohammad Khan
• What about anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh phobias, asks India
at UN meet on Islamophobia
• Terrorist killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's
Srinagar
• Mundra drug haul linked to Pak terror outfits, says
NIA
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North
America
• Pakistani 9/11 Mastermind Could Be Spared Death
Penalty As US Prosecutors Negotiate Plea Deal: Report
• CENTCOM chief: Iran has 3,000 ballistic missiles, many can reach Israel
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Europe
• Russia says it has secured US guarantees on Iran
N-deal
• UK looking at ways to pay historic Iranian debt:
Foreign secretary
• Ex-German foreign minister blasts West for denying
Turkiye air-defense systems
• UK to urge Saudi Arabia to raise oil output amid
plans to reduce dependency on Russian resources
• Symposium in Turkish capital marks third anniversary
of New Zealand terror attacks
• Chechen leader explains why he backs Putin’s
‘military operation’ in Ukraine
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Pakistan
• OIC Moot: Pakistan to Act As A Bridge To Promote Muslim
Unity
• Tahir Ashrafi terms corruption, extremism twin
threats
• Pakistan alarmed by ‘new low’ in Indian high court
upholding hijab ban
• Pakistan readies Kashmir propaganda at OIC session
amid members’ deepening ties with India
• 4 FC personnel martyred, 10 injured in Sibi IED
blast
• Pakistanis prefer to go down with me than supporting
'three stooges': PM Imran Khan
• KP Cabinet Okays Rs2m Compensation for Each Peshawar
Mosque Blast Victim
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South
Asia
• Cross-Border Terrorism By Taliban Seeks To
Destabilise Pak Democracy: Report
• Bangladesh eyes big investment deals as Saudi FM
arrives in Dhaka
• Over 180 media outlets inactive in Afghanistan:
media survey
• Turkey’s third humanitarian shipment arrives in
Afghanistan
• Anti-Taliban protest held in northern Afghanistan
• Mullah Baradar Attends Tree-Planting Campaign
Ceremony
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Mideast
• Top Diplomat Underlines Iran's Universal Opposition
to War
• Amir Abdollahian: Tehran to Further Develop Ties
with Moscow
• Lavrov: Russia in Receit of Written Guarantee from
US over Vienna Deal with Iran
• From Gaza to Ukraine and back, war haunts
Palestinian students
• Israeli forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank
violence
• Turkiye neutralizes 8 YPG/PKK terrorists in northern
Syria
• 5 killed in suicide bomb attack south of Yemen
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Africa
• Tunisia Says It Has Dismantled ISIS-Linked Terrorist
Cell
• Thousands protest violence against protesters in
Sudan
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Southeast
Asia
• Why Did OKU Groups Come To Us For Help, Yeoh Asks
Ministry
• Umno veteran Shahrir ’embarrassed’ over Hasni ouster
• Explain ‘extraordinarily stupid’ letter by Thomas on
Sulu issue, Najib tells PH
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hijab-hind-isis-hindus-muslim-women/d/126584
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Hijab Row in Voice of Hind: ISIS Threatens To
'Slaughter' Hindus Who Dishonour Muslim Women
(File) Representational image | PTI
-----
March 15, 2022
Reacting to the hijab controversy in Karnataka, terror
outfit Islamic State threatened to slaughter Hindus who dishonour Muslim women.
According to The Print, the terror outfit, in the
March edition of its propaganda magazine Voice of Hind said, "Every Hindu
coward putting an eye on the honour of our sisters will be slaughtered into
pieces mercilessly."
It claimed that the ban on hijab in educational
institutions in Karnataka is planned by the BJP to "undress and humiliate
Muslim women publicly” and said the controversy is being used to disempower
young Muslim women.
It alleged that the hijab row in Karnataka is part of
a global conspiracy to demonise Muslims, and cited the examples of France, the
Netherlands and Switzerland where there are progressive attempts being made to
assimilate Muslims into the society.
The magazine also accused the Muslim women in India of
adopting to western customs which is causing harm to them. “The dilution also
led to a degradation of its image in the eyes of believers who, drunk in the
fervour of western ways, started to reject it and consider it conservative,” it
read, reports The Print.
The Karnataka High Court, on Tuesday, said hijab was
not part of the essential religious practice in Islam and effectively upheld
the ban against the headscarf in educational institutions while dismissing a
batch of petitions filed by a few Muslim girl students from Udupi Government
Pre-University Girls' College who sought permission to attend classes wearing
hijab.
The court had also suggested the possibility of some
“unseen hands” behind the hijab row to engineer social unrest and disharmony.
"The way hijab imbroglio unfolded gives scope for the argument that some
'unseen hands' are at work to engineer social unrest and disharmony. Much is
not necessary to specify," the three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice
Ritu Raj Awasthi had said in the order.
Source: The Week
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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AIMPLB, Jamiat Ulema i Hind and Students Islamic
Organisation of India Slam Verdict on Hijab Row
For representational
purposes (Photo | EPS)
-----
16th March 2022
NEW DELHI: Several prominent Muslim organisations such
as All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Jamiat Ulama i Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind (JIH) and Students Islamic
Organisation of India (SIO) on Tuesday opposed Karnataka High Court's verdict
upholding hijab ban in schools. In separate statements, the key Muslim bodies
said the verdict would have a direct impact on religious freedom.
"This verdict would have many negative
implications, especially on the education of Muslim girls as they would lose
their right to choice and their confidence in the present communal
atmosphere," said Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind president Maulana Mahmood Arshad
Madani.
Maulana Madani said that decisions regarding any
particular religion should be based on the accepted interpretation of the
beliefs by the authoritative scholars and jurists of that religion and the
courts should not take a different path in this regard.
The AIMPLB said the verdict was not just disappointing
but also discriminatory. "Right to wear attire, dress or clothing as per
his or her choice is fundamental right given to any citizen. Moreover, the
verdict is against various sections of the Constitution. There are instances
when the government allows use of religious symbols and permits traditional
practices. Against this backdrop, stopping Muslim girls from wearing hijab is
discriminatory," said Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, general secretary
of the AIMPLB.
Source: New Indian Express
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original story:
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Islamic State’s Afghan Affiliate Growing in
Afghanistan but Not Ready to Attack US, West
General Kenneth McKenzie
Jr., USMC Commander, US Central Command
-----
March 15, 2022
WASHINGTON —
More than six months after the U.S. pulled its last
troops from Afghanistan, the threat from the Islamic State’s Afghan affiliate
is growing, though new intelligence assessments suggest that earlier warnings
the group might be able to strike at America and its allies as early as next
month appear to have been overblown.
Various intelligence estimates from the U.S. and other
countries warn that the group, known as IS-Khorasan and ISIS-K, nearly doubled
in size to more than 4,000 fighters during the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan
last year. The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia said
Tuesday that without sustained pressure from the U.S. and U.S.-backed Afghan
forces, the IS affiliate is solidifying its foothold.
"We are concerned about the developmental
trajectory of ISIS-K,” U.S. Central Command’s General Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie
told U.S. lawmakers.
“We continue to watch carefully as ISIS grows,” he
said. “ISIS has been able to execute some high-profile attacks even in Kabul
over the last several months. … It is my expectation that ISIS attacks will
ramp up as we go into the summer."
But while IS-Khorasan remains dangerous, the group has
not advanced its capabilities as quickly as some U.S. officials initially
feared.
The Pentagon’s third-highest ranking official warned
lawmakers in October that it appeared the group would be able to regenerate the
capabilities needed to launch terror attacks on the West in as little as six
months.
Since then, however, it appears IS-Khorasan under the
leadership of Shahab al-Muhajir, also known as Sanaullah Ghafari, has focused
more on its fortunes in Afghanistan.
Intelligence shared by United Nations member states
indicates the group prioritized retaking territory and now controls some
limited areas in eastern Afghanistan. Western intelligence officials and humanitarian
groups have seen signs IS-Khorasan is laying the groundwork for expanding its
networks among Afghanistan’s neighbors.
Perhaps as a result, the threat of an attack by
IS-Khorasan in the West has somewhat diminished, at least for the moment.
The best U.S. intelligence estimates now indicate the
soonest IS-Khorasan could launch terror attacks in the West is 12 to 18 months,
McKenzie told lawmakers, cautioning the timeline could change depending on
developments on the ground, where clashes with the ruling Taliban persist.
“[IS-Khorasan] still aspire to attack the United
States and our partners abroad," McKenzie said. "The Taliban are
attempting to maintain pressure. … They're finding it difficult to do."
The U.S. is having its own problems tracking IS-Khorasan,
as well as rival terror group, al-Qaida, limited largely to flying
reconnaissance flights from neighboring Pakistan now that it no longer has
troops on the ground in Afghanistan.
“It is much harder to do it now than it was before,”
McKenzie told lawmakers, though he added, “It is not impossible.”
“We will be able to do this only so long as CENTCOM
has the requisite resources to find, fix and finish threats to the homeland
before those threats develop the capability to conduct external operations,” he
said. “CENTCOM has the tools it needs to perform this mission, but the margins
are thin, and the risk will increase should resources diminish.”
The CENTCOM commander also told lawmakers that the
U.S. has not carried out any counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan since the
U.S. withdrawal from the country was completed.
Syria and Iraq
In contrast to Afghanistan, U.S. efforts to contain IS
in Syria and Iraq are faring better, McKenzie said.
“In the Euphrates River Valley in Iraq and Syria, ISIS
is unable to think beyond surviving that night or the next night," he told
lawmakers, crediting sustained pressure from Iraqi forces and the U.S.-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces.
But in Syria, concerns persist about the large,
displaced persons camps, including al-Hol, which hold thousands of people,
including the families of IS fighters.
The camps, McKenzie said, present IS with
"fertile soil for indoctrination and spreading terror.”
Source: VOA News
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original story:
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Islamophobic Attacks in Australia Soared After
Sickening Christchurch Mosque Massacre, Report Shows
Reports of Islamophobic
incidents in Australia increased following the Christchurch mosque massacre in
New Zealand in 2019 [Getty]
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15 March, 2022
Islamophobic attacks surged in Australia in the wake
of the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand, according to a new
report released on Tuesday.
Reporting of in-person Islamophobic incidents
increased at least fourfold, while reports of online hate increased by 18 times
in the two weeks following the far-right terrorist attack by Brenton Tarrant
which killed 51 Muslims, the Australian Islamophobia Register said.
The group's report was released on the third
anniversary of the massacre, in which the self-proclaimed white supremacist
murdered worshippers - including children and the elderly - at two mosques in
Christchurch.
"Islamophobia is not a 'Muslim' problem but a
social cohesion risk. It requires national engagement if Australia is to live
up to its multicultural legacy," the register said, urging public
authorities and media platforms to take on more responsibility to prevent hate
offline and online.
The report - which is the Islamophobia Register's
third 'Islamophobia in Australia' report - analyses 247 verified Islamophobic
incidents that occurred from January 2018 to December 2019.
A total of 138 of the incidents occurred in person and
109 occurred online, according to the register. Twelve percent of all physical
cases and 65 percent of all online cases were reported within the first two
weeks after the Christchurch attacks.
The report also revealed that 78 percent of
perpetrators were identified as men, a rise from 73 percent in the 2014-2016
report; while 82 percent of victims were women, an increase from 72 percent in
the previous report.
The Islamophobia Register highlighted that cases
analysed are just the tip of the iceberg as Islamophobia is "consistently
underreported".
Christchurch attacker Tarrant was sentenced to life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole in August 2020 after pleading
guilty to 51 charges of murder. However, last November his lawyer said the attacker
was considering appealing his jail term.
Source: The New Arab
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/islamophobia-surged-wake-christchurch-mosque-massacre
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UN Resolution on Islamophobia To Send Clear Message
Against Racism, Anti-Muslim Violence: Pak FM
UN Photo/Mahmoud Abd ELLatiff
UN Secretary-General António Guterres speaking at the
al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo in April 2019, where he underscored the need to fight
Islamophobia and all forms of hatred and bigotry.
-----
MARCH 16, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
Tuesday said the UN resolution on Islamophobia would send a clear message
against contemporary challenges of racism, discrimination, and violence against
Muslims.
The United Nations General Assembly unanimously
adopted a landmark resolution introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the OIC
countries designating March 15 as the International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
In his message, the foreign minister said the
resolution reflected the sentiments of more than 1.5 billion Muslims all around
the world.
He said it was a matter of great satisfaction and
pride for Pakistan to have steered this initiative under the leadership and
guidance of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Qureshi said Prime Minister Imran Khan was the first
Muslim leader to raise the issue of Islamophobia at the UN in his maiden
address to the UN General Assembly on September 27, 2019.
The prime minister has since been regularly advocating
the need to effectively combat the scourge of Islamophobia at various regional
and international forums.
The 47th session of the OIC Council of Foreign
Ministers, held in Niamey, Niger, in November 2020, unanimously adopted a
resolution initiated by Pakistan for the designation of March 15 as the
International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
“Over the past year, Pakistan, together with other
Islamic countries, pursued an extensive diplomatic process with the UN Member
States. Through constructive engagement, we and our OIC partners were able to
secure unanimous adoption by the UN General Assembly,” the foreign minister
remarked.
He said the adoption of this resolution came at a time
when hate speech, discrimination, and violence against Muslims were
proliferating in several parts of the world including in our neighborhood.
“It is on vivid display in the Indian Illegally
Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK). Islamophobia today is manifested in
negative profiling by security agencies, stigmatization, deliberate vandalizing
of Islamic symbols and holy sites, killings by cow vigilantes, discriminatory
laws and policies, ban on the hijab, attacks on mosques, pronouncements by
far-right parties that call for expulsion, and even “genocide” of Muslims,
anti-Muslim migrant bias, and attacks on the dignity of Muslim women,” he
commented.
Foreign Minister Qureshi said the commemoration of an
International Day to Combat Islamophobia would raise international awareness
about increasing Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred besides promoting a
message of tolerance, peaceful co-existence, and interfaith and cultural
harmony.
“We want to build bridges. We want to promote respect
for all religions and beliefs. I reiterate Pakistan’s call for a global
dialogue amongst civilizations under the ambit of the United Nations to promote
peaceful co-existence and interfaith harmony,” he said.
The foreign minister also acknowledged the efforts of
Pakistani diplomats, whose tireless work has culminated in the designation of
this Day by the UN General Assembly.
He resolved that Pakistan would continue to advance
international efforts to protect individuals against xenophobia, intolerance,
discrimination, negative stereotyping, stigmatization, violence, incitement to
violence, and hate crimes based on religion or belief.
Source: Daily Times Pakistan
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original story:
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Arab World
Gulf Cooperation Council Offers To Host Peace Talks between Yemeni Factions, Including Houthis, In Riyadh
March 15, 2022
AL-MUKALLA: The Gulf Cooperation Council is sponsoring
unprecedented and comprehensive peace talks between warring factions in Yemen,
including the Iran-backed Houthis, that could begin in Riyadh before the end of
this month.
“The Gulf Cooperation Council will invite all Yemeni
components, both supporters and oppositions, and the putschist Houthis would
have some seats in the talks,” a senior government official told Arab News. The
talks might start on March 27 and would continue for at least one week, they
added.
Former Yemeni government ministers and outspoken
politicians such as Ahmed Al-Maysari, Saleh Al-Jabwani and Abdul Aziz Al-Jubari
would be invited. “Almost no one will be excluded,” the official said.
Meanwhile, a car bomb attack on Tuesday on a convoy in
which a Yemeni southern military commander was traveling in Abyan province
killed two soldiers and seriously injured two more, according to a Reuters
report that quoted a military official.
Brig. Gen. Abdul Latif Al-Sayed survived the
assassination attempt, said Mohammed Al-Naqib, spokesman for the Southern Armed
Forces. Two assailants were also killed, he added.
Al-Sayed is the commander in Abyan of the Security
Belt, the military forces of the separatist Southern Transitional Council. In
October last year, the governor of Aden, who is a member of the STC, survived a
car bomb attack in the port city that killed six people.
The announcement of the proposed GCC-sponsored peace
talks came the day after Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met Nayef
Falah Al-Hajraf, the council’s secretary general, in Riyadh. SABA, the official
Yemeni news agency, reported that the two men discussed GCC support for moves
to end the war in Yemen and the Houthi coup, based on peace talks, continuing
efforts to fully implement the Riyadh Agreement and other issues.
They also reportedly discussed the GCC’s financial
support for the devalued Yemeni riyal, to address deteriorating services and to
alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people.
Yemeni officials said the peace talks are contingent
on the Houthis accepting the invitation. They added that the rebels might intensify
their military operations across the country, and in particular outside the
besieged central city of Marib, in an attempt to improve their negotiating
position if they agree to participate.
“They will carry out major military operations in
Marib and on other fronts to thwart any agreement (and force acceptance of)
their onerous conditions that they have repeatedly floated during previous
talks,” the official said.
The Houthis have rejected previous peace proposals,
including the Saudi initiative, and insist that the Coalition to Restore
Legitimacy in Yemen must first halt its airstrikes and lift alleged
restrictions on Sanaa airport and Hodeidah seaport.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2043101/middle-east
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Washington to provide Egypt with F-15 jets, US general
says
15 March ,2022
The top US general for forces in the Middle East said
on Tuesday that he believed the United States would provide Egypt with F-15
aircraft.
“I think we have good news in that we’re going to
provide them with F-15s, which was a long, hard slog,” General Frank McKenzie,
head of US Central Command, said during a congressional hearing.
McKenzie did not provide details on timing or how many
F-15 aircraft, made by Boeing, would be provided.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Lebanese govt talks with IMF moving in the right
direction: Deputy PM al-Shami
15 March ,2022
Talks between the Lebanese government and the
International Monetary Fund are moving in the right direction and have made
important progress, Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh al-Shami told the
National News Agency (NNA) on Tuesday.
The International Monetary Fund said in February it
would remain “closely engaged” with Lebanon’s authorities to help the
crisis-ravaged country formulate an economic reform program.
Source: Al Arabiya
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of the original story:
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Bahrain’s King, Russia's Putin discuss conflict in
Ukraine
15 March ,2022
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa and Russian
President Vladimir Putin discussed the importance of diplomatic solutions to
resolve the conflict in Ukraine, state news agency (BNA) reported on Tuesday.
The Bahraini king and Putin discussed in a phone call
the developments in Ukraine and noted the significance of dialogue to avoid
further escalation, the report said.
They also highlighted the importance of the unified
efforts by the international community “to achieve permanent and comprehensive
peace and guarantee the interests and national security of all parties.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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UK’s Johnson to meet UAE, Saudi leaders in push for
more oil
15 March ,2022
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to travel
to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week, according to people
familiar with the matter, as pressure mounts on the OPEC members to raise oil
output.
The visit comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roils
energy markets, driving crude prices close to $100 a barrel.
Johnson is tentatively scheduled to meet the Crown
Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed bin Zayed, and energy officials in Abu Dhabi on
Wednesday. He is meant to travel to Riyadh later the same day and meet Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, two of the people said, declining to be named
as the information is not public.
The prime minister’s possible trip to Saudi Arabia was
reported earlier by UK media. Downing Street declined to comment to Bloomberg.
Johnson’s plans may still change, some of the people said.
Resisting Washington
Saudi Arabia and the UAE pump more than 13 million
barrels a day of oil between them and are among the few producers with
significant spare capacity. They are key members of the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries. The cartel is in an alliance with Russia that’s known as
OPEC+.
The Saudis and Emiratis and have so far resisted calls
from the US, Japan and European nations to accelerate production increases.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Ukraine war recalls trauma for survivors of Aleppo
siege
March 16, 2022
BEIRUT: When Afraa Hashem thinks back about living
through the siege of Aleppo, she remembers how inventive everyone was.
In late 2016, Syrian government forces had sealed off
Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern half, with 270,000 people inside, and for months
they and Russian warplanes blasted it to rubble. Food was scarce. Hashem’s
family, like others, was largely surviving off one meal a day.
One day, her eldest son Wisam, 11 at the time, asked
out of nowhere: “Mommy, can we have fish?”
Her three kids didn’t even really like fish. But when
you have almost nothing, you miss even things you don’t like, she recalled.
Unwilling to cave in to despair, Hashem fried up moldy
bread, found some coriander, garlic and Aleppo’s famed red pepper flakes and
told them it was tilapia. Together, they all pretended it was fish — the kids
even said they could taste it.
“It wasn’t just me, but all the women in Aleppo were
doing these inventions to feed their children,” she said.
Hashem and other Aleppo survivors on Tuesday mark the
11th anniversary of Syria’s revolution-turned-civil war. This year, many of
them are not just reflecting on their own fates, they are watching in shock as
Ukrainians face familiar horrors: Bombardment, brutal siege and flight from
their homes.
In Syria’s war, Russia helped President Bashar Assad’s
government gain the upper hand with a ruthless strategy. One by one, they locked
sieges around opposition-held areas, bombarding and starving them until the
population’s ability to hold out collapsed.
The siege of Aleppo was among the most brutal. Aleppo
was Syria’s most populous city, famed for its unique cuisine of elaborate
dishes and its millennia-old Old City.
When the war began, its eastern districts fought off
the government for four years, brimming with revolutionary fervor. But nearly
six months of siege reduced much of the east to empty rubble, its population
dispersed or dead.
In Ukraine, a similar siege has been underway for
nearly two weeks on the port city of Mariupol, where tens of thousands are
scrounging for food and shelter under Russian bombardment. The fear is that
Russian President Vladimir Putin will expand a Syria-style siege strategy
across Ukraine.
Now in London with her husband and children, Hashem
said she stood in solidarity with Ukraine from the first day of Russia’s
invasion.
“A lot of people ask if I am mad that the world
sympathizes more with Ukraine than it did with Syria. I tell them I don’t care
if people sympathize more. I care that they are victims,” she said.
In a corner of Syria still outside government control,
another Aleppo survivor, Abdulkafi Alhamdo, is also trying to connect with
Ukraine.
He lives in opposition-held Idlib province and works
as a literature professor in the nearby Turkish-controlled town of Azaz.
In class, “I am always linking Big Brother in George
Orwell’s ‘1984’ novel to Putin, both in Syria and now in Ukraine,” he said.
Alhamdo printed two Ukrainian flags to wave alongside
the Syrian revolution flags at a local protest in Idlib marking the anniversary
this week.
When Syria’s conflict began in 2011, Hashem worked as
a school principal and activist. Her hopes for change in Syria rose with
opposition gains, including its capture of Aleppo’s eastern half from the
government. Hashem worked with the local council running the city and helped
organize protests.
Over the next years, Russian and government warplanes
increasingly bombed east Aleppo as they battled rebel forces in the
countryside. Hashem moved her school into a basement and turned the darkened
rooms into classrooms and shelters. She started a theater there, writing plays
for the students to perform.
With fighting growing worse, the ordinary life she
once had grew more remote. In the mornings she would pass by the hill
separating her part of east Aleppo from government-held west Aleppo.
It was as impassable as the Berlin Wall, she recalled.
If you got too close, snipers would shoot you. But she wanted to hear cars, any
sound from the other side that would bring the memory of friends and relatives
who lived there.
“I would always wonder, ‘What is life like in that
second universe?’”
Her universe tumbled into complete hell when siege was
imposed on the east in July 2016.
East Aleppo was sealed off, with hardly any supplies
getting in. Russian and government bombardment smashed everything, including
hospitals and schools. Residential blocks were left in ruins.
Early on, one of Hashem’s students was killed. She
stopped the school theater. The district’s few gardens became cemeteries.
Medicines ran out. The sound of explosions was constant. Hashem’s apartment
building was bombed multiple times, before and during the siege, and they moved
often.
With no electricity and limited fuel, residents turned
to “plastic gasoline,” extracting fuel from plastic bottles and containers. It
was bad for the generators and gave off a toxic smell. But it helped generate
enough electricity for people to charge car batteries, mobile phones and small
LED lights.
With no gas for cooking, families collected furniture
and scraps of wood to burn from the ever-growing number of bombed-out
buildings.
Prices spiraled. There were no fruits and few
vegetables. Flour was almost impossible to come by, so Hashem and other
families made bread by grinding white beans.
As winter cold set in, scrap wood was needed for
warmth, too. Her kids missed sahleb, a sweet, warm comfort drink that’s a
wintertime favorite across the Middle East. It’s made from the tubers of an
orchid, impossible to find during the siege.
So Hesham again improvised. She dipped into her
precious reserve of flour, boiled it with water and sugar, “and that was like
you are drinking sahleb but in a different way.”
Soon after, in late December 2016, she was among tens
of thousands of residents who agreed to leave under an evacuation deal. She
went to opposition-held northwest Syria, then into Turkey.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2043361/middle-east
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India
Karnataka HC order on hijab unconstitutional: Kerala
Muslim groups
16th March 2022
KOZHIKODE: Muslim organisations in Kerala have stated
that the Karnataka High Court order that said that hijab is not an essential
practice of Islam is unconstitutional and an affront to the individual rights.
Terming the verdict as unfortunate, IUML acting state general secretary PMA
Salam said hijab is not a contentious issue in Islam.
Countries in Europe and America allow women to do
their jobs wearing hijab, he said. “More than an issue of religious practice,
it is a question of an individual’s freedom,” he said. Salam added that the
court should have considered all these aspects before arriving at a conclusion
to buttress people’s faith in judiciary.
Sunni leader Kanthapuram A P Aboobacker Musaliar said
the court’s finding is against the basic tenets of Islam. “No one in any part
of the world has said that hijab is not an integral part of Islam,” he said.
Expressing pain and regret in the order, Kanthapuram expressed the hope that
there will be a favourable decision from the part of the upper court.
Sunni Yuvanaja Sangham (SYS) working secretary Abdul
Hameed Faizi Ambalakkadavu said the signals sent out by the court order are not
encouraging. “How can the court arrive at such a decision when all the schools
of Islamic jurisprudence uphold that covering the head is mandatory for Muslim
women?” he asked.
Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) state president T P
Abdulla Koya Madani said the Karnataka High Court order has raised many
concerns. It is regrettable that the court has failed to see the right of the
Muslim girls to wear the dress of their choice.
Source: New Indian Express
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Karnataka HC's hijab verdict may force Muslim girls to
quit studies: Experts
16th March 2022
By Vincent D’Souza
MANGALURU: The High Court verdict on the hijab issue
may lead to girls from conservative Muslim families dropping out of
school/colleges besides further ghettoisation of the community in the communally
sensitive Coastal Karnataka, some sections of society feel. The HC verdict came
as a big shocker to the Muslim community in Dakshina Kannada and social media
was abuzz with posts expressing severe displeasure over the verdict, with many
even terming it ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘unacceptable’.
Umar U H, president of the Muslim Writers’
Association, Mangaluru, felt that the verdict will mainly hit the poor and
conservative Muslims who are dependent on government colleges, while others
have the option of shifting to private institutions that allow the hijab.
According to him, over 75 per cent of Muslims in the region are poor, who
cannot afford to send their wards to private colleges and said the court should
have taken this into consideration.
Source: New Indian Express
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Education, religion are like two eyes: Father of
Muslim girl who was heckled by saffron men
16th March 2022
MYSURU/MANDYA: Following the High Court verdict in the
hijab case, Mohammed Husain Khan, father of Mandya student Muskan Khan, said
that education and religion are like two eyes, and both need to be taken into
confidence to lead a peaceful life.
Muskan was heckled by saffron-clad students chanting
‘Jai Shri Ram’ a few weeks ago on her college premises, and the lone girl
student had replied with chants of ‘Allah hu Akbar’.
Muskan had earlier noted that she has faith in the
Constitution and the court, and would respect the latter’s verdict. On Tuesday,
however, she declined to react to the court verdict.Meanwhile, her father told
reporters that religious leaders of their community will decide their next
course of action.
Source: New Indian Express
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Kerala artist ostracised from performing in temples
after son marries Muslim girl
16th March 2022
By MA Rajeev KumarExpress News Service
KANNUR: Karivellur village’s name is written in bold
red letters in the history of communism in Kerala, as it was here that the
oppressed peasants launched their fight against feudalism in North Malabar. Its
revolutionary background and strong presence of CPM have always given the place
an aura of progressiveness.
But N Vinod
Panickar, 57, a poorakkali-marathukali exponent of Karivellur, has been
facing a sort of ostracism as he is prevented from performing at the temples in
the village. The reason: his son has married a Muslim girl.
Panickar, who has been performing at various temples
in North Malabar for the last 38 years, was asked by officials of Kuniyan Sree
Parambath Bhagavathi temple to oust his son and daughter-in-law from his house
if he wanted to perform during the pooram.
“Since I think my son and daughter-in-law have nothing
to do with my belief, I told the temple authorities that I wouldn’t ask them to
move out of my house. They have been staying with me since their marriage in
2018,” said Panickar.
As per the temple’s custom, the marathukali Panickar
should be brought to the temple by the ‘aacharakkar’ (the assigned persons in
charge of the pooram) by visiting the house of Panickar inviting him to lead
the marathukali. Some rituals have to be done in connection with this custom.
After the festival, they would accompany Panickar to the house as well, to
complete the formalities.
One of the samudayis (a group of persons who manage
the temple activities), on condition of anonymity, said since a person from
another religion lives in the house, they would not be able to do the rituals
at Panickar’s house.
“We have asked him to move to the house of his mother
which is very near so that we could accommodate him in this year’s festival,”
he said. “He refused. The decision (to not allow him to perform) was taken by
the temple’s general body. We can’t move against the wishes of devotees,” he
said. Last year too, Vinod Panickar had to suffer this humiliation by another
temple committee.
Officials of Vaniyillam Someshwari temple, situated
near his house at Karivellur, had demanded the same from Panickar and he had
said that neither he would move out of his house nor would he ask his son and
daughter-in-law to shift.
“I think this is absurd as the committee of Payyannur
Paravanthatta Udayapuram temple had allowed me to perform marathukali during
the poorolsavam in 2019. When I told them about my son’s marriage with a Muslim
girl, they said they had come to invite me to perform, not my son,” said
Panickar. “What is acceptable for one temple is unacceptable to another temple.
How can one justify this,” he asked.
Source: New Indian Express
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Owaisi Should Show Quran Citing Hijab; by Muslim Law,
Mehbooba Won't Be A Leader: Arif Mohammad Khan
MARCH 15, 2022
Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan has been vocal on
the hijab row. On a day when the Karnataka High Court ruled that the headscarf
is not a part of the essential religious practice in Islam, he spoke to
CNN-News18 in an exhaustive interview about the row itself, the narrative of
majority vs minority, Muslim liberals and radicals, and the road ahead for the
community. Edited excerpts:
This is being seen as a defining judgement. How are
you viewing it?
I don’t like to use the words. My stand has been
vindicated by those who were debating the issue. What was at stake is the
future of the young Muslim girls. I am so happy and I welcome the decision.
These young Muslim girls, who are very competent, who are very consistent…Now,
the sort of ceiling, which some people were trying to impose…They were trying
to impose restrictions on career prospects…That has come to naught.
Why did this issue become about majority vs minority?
This was so clear from the beginning. I would say the
Karnataka HC has pronounced their opinion in a very high manner. Otherwise, as
far as the common man is concerned, that hand is not really unseen. Everybody
knows who were the people behind the controversy. The vested interests, people
whose hearts are full of hatred, they are here to create this type of
controversy. Whatever opportunity they get, they will take it and destabilise
society. They want to create disharmony in society.
Hatred against whom?
This hatred is against the current government. This is
an attempt to unsettle the government. This is an attempt to disturb the
government and they can go up to any extent.
What was the role of the commissions?
I never questioned their role. I always emphasised
that it shouldn’t be happening. I always said that the human rights commission
and all other agencies should be given the power to uphold the rights of
humans. The constitution during the British was based on religion. The Indian
constitution is based on equality. Our constitution strengthens our civic
rights. We are also the original signatory of the UN commission. Our
fundamental rights are based on that.
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What is your reaction to the arguments made by
Asaduddin Owaisi and others?
I shall be very grateful to him if he can show me any
line from the Quran which says so. The problem is not about Allah’s command.
The problem is that people like him, they feel that they are Allah. Whatever
command they give should be followed. I have seen him quoting the Quran that
this is the command given by Allah. I have repeatedly said that I do not want
to challenge you, but I shall be grateful to you if you can point out one
single line from the Quran or about the kaban for hijab. Just show me one line
where the term hijab has been used in the context of dress for a woman. It has
not been. Which Allah’s command are they talking about? Islam required
adherence to submit to the will of God. They are projecting their own commands
and projecting as the will of God. this can’t be accepted.
I am taking that argument a little forward, that what
is essentially a practice should be left between God and the believer. The
argument is that any devout Muslim should not be told what is essential and
what is not essential…
Islam itself says what is essential, and how you will
not discuss that issue…Islam says (quotes Quran) these are the essential things
and non-essential things. What are the essential things? First, oral
affirmation; second, prayer; third, fasting for a month; fourth, charity,
alms-giving; fifth, doesn’t apply to everybody, it is only for those who have
enough resources to travel to Haj. Islam itself says that these are the
essentials, it means everything else is non-essential.
There are certain sets of people who are radicals,
perhaps hardliners within the community, who are saying that this judgement is
an interference in the practise of Islam. What about those who are seen as
liberals? The liberal Muslim voices like Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti?
I only feel sympathy for them in the sense that in
their own personal lives they behave differently. I would not like to name, but
there are so many prominent Muslim leaders, who always refer to Jinnah. Jinnah
in his personal life was a different person but he spoke in a language that was
acceptable to the Muslims of India. So whatever we do personally is different
but to the common Muslim, we must appeal…they have this deep-seated
understanding that Muslims respond only to communal appeals and in fact, Maulana
Azad has also said, if you permit me, I will quote him. He has spoken in Urdu,
I will translate it because to my mind it is very important because this is how
the Muslim mind is being made up by the leaders: by the clerics by the
political leaders. Maulana Azad lamented about it, why? Because he was a
sincere man. These people, they exploit him, because they just want to take
political advantage. Quran does not even use the word hijab in the context of
women, but it is true that Muslim law does. It prescribes what a Muslim woman
should wear. But the same law also says that the leadership of any people can’t
be entrusted to women. It clearly says if you entrust the leadership of a
particular country… By law hijab should be applied, why not…If she (Mehbooba)
is a true follower of the law.
You are making a very important point, perhaps
Muhbooba Mufti should respond to that. I have seen the reactions coming on
social media. A lot of people have a lot of things to say. But the important
thing is slowly and steadily, there is an interference in Muslim religious
affairs when it should be an individual’s equation with the religion.
It is so unfortunate and full of ignorance when they
say there is an interference with Muslims. Now whatever is happening in Saudi
Arabia, is it they are interfering in religion or they are slowly realising
that with change in times, we must change? The Muslim countries themselves, do
they make it compulsory for women to wear hijab? Just to single out and try to
create a situation there is interference with the religion…Wasn’t Sati thought
essential by the followers of a religion? It was abolished. There are so many
things, not just Sati. Like untouchability. What did Mahatma Gandhi say?
Mahatma Gandhi said, I do not believe that untouchability is essential by
Shastras, but if you say it is essential by Shastra, I refuse to believe in
Shastras.
People like you who are voices of reason are often
criticised. Then who is failing the Muslim community, especially the women?
They have been failing. Don’t forget in 1920 we had
the Khilafat movement. All the Arab Muslim population was against the Khilafat.
The Turks themselves have abolished the Khilafat. But in India, they always
made these emotional appeals—Boli Amma, Mohammad Ali ki jaan, beta Khilafat pe
de do. What was the reason? Finally, they gave the call, issued a fatwa that
now India has become…. because of the abolition of Khilafat, India has become
Dar al-Harb. India has nothing to do with Turkey, but India has now become Dar
al-Harb because Britishers are responsible, they are ruling over here. This is
very important. It was the duty of every Muslim to migrate from India to
another place. So many people bought their homes, and innocent people,
following their fatwa…they left the country. They asked where to go. They said,
go to Afghanistan. We were always under the impression that 30,000 people were
killed on the border of India and Afghanistan. But recently, a book has come
from Pakistan. They have documented the numbers. More than 5 lakh people were
killed. Those who had issued the fatwa, they didn’t travel from their homes to
another city. Poor Muslims were made victims. Likewise, in the Pakistan
movement, what was the argument that was given? Do you know what Jinnah had
said? Jinnah had said, to liberate the Muslims of North West and North East, if
Muslims in West of India are smashed totally, I don’t care. Maulana Shabbir
Usmani made speeches everywhere. In UP and Bihar, people asked the question
that Pakistan will not be formed here then what will be our future? Then he
said, India was Dar al-Islam under Muslim rule, Britishers took over the
government, now India is going to be a democratic country. These are the
arguments of Shabbir Usmani, very well documented. He said that there is no
hope of India becoming Dar al-Islam again. But if the Muslims of the North are
ready to make sacrifices, then one part of India can become Dar al-Islam. How
people in UP and Bihar were persuaded to vote for the Muslim League, and Jinnah
said if they are smashed totally… So we have developed this special knack to
hurt ourselves. Likewise, the Shah Bano movement; what happened? I totally
believe and anyone will believe that what the Muslim Personal Law Board said in
2017 in their affidavit to the SC where they admitted that triple talaq is an
innovation. Triple talaq is an evil practice. Triple talaq should go away…
You think that was a desperate attempt because they
were trying to be relevant?
Whatever! I feel that in 1986, instead of saying, as
you used, divine command…ye Shariat hai, ye Allah ka qanoon hai…instead of
saying that in 1986, if they said this much what they had said in 2017, the
country would have been spared of so many troubles.
Arif sahab, we are meeting at a time when elections in
five states have concluded. The BJP has won decisively and comprehensively.
Election after election, one thing which is becoming clear is about the
minority vote bank. The Muslims of India in states like UP and Bihar, where
they almost at a time, you know, several years ago they had the balance of
power, are becoming inconsequential and irrelevant. What will you be telling
them?
I would say that the situation is never static.
Democracy is not merely the process of electing a government. Democracy is also
a great source of education. If a small group, you are using the word minority,
if generally, people come to view that country is being held to ransom by
them…You were saying that they were holding the balance of power. When will
they hold the balance of power? If the other society is totally divided. When
they felt, this is not what I am saying, this is what has been written by so
many people, that after Shah Bano, a very strong feeling developed among the
country that a small community, so-called minority, is holding the country to
ransom. They are saying that if you do not change the judgement of the SC then
we will create unrest. Then people forgot about their own differences to save
the country from the repetition of all such things…Do you realise…you must have
been a very small child…I don’t know when you were born. In 1985 outside
Parliament…these protests were not held at Jantar Mantar. They were held at
India Gate. At India Gate, a Muslim Personal Law Board meeting was held, where
calls were made to break the legs of “MPs who are opposing us". They went
scot-free, no action was taken against them. Will it create repulsion in the
minds of people or not? Who is responsible for creating this situation? If you
are behaving in a particular manner and you do not realise what kind of
reaction it will provoke, I can only sympathise with you.
Then do you think the time has come for Indian Muslims
to recalibrate their equation towards the current establishment?
Source: New18
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What about anti-Hindu, anti-Sikh phobias, asks India
at UN meet on Islamophobia
By Rezaul H Laskar
Mar 16, 2022
The UN General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a Pakistan-sponsored
resolution to declare March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia,
with India expressing concern at the elevation of the phobia against one
religion to such a level while excluding others.
The resolution, introduced by Pakistan on behalf of
the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), was adopted by consensus. It was
backed by 57 members of OIC and eight other countries, including China and
Russia.
Explaining India’s position on the resolution, TS
Tirumurti, the country’s permanent representative to the UN, expressed deep
concern at the rise in instances of discrimination, intolerance and violence
against members of many religious communities in different parts of the world.
“Let me also state that we condemn all acts motivated
by anti-Semitism, Christianophobia or Islamophobia. However, such phobias are
not restricted to Abrahamic religions only,” he said.
Tirumurti noted that Hinduism has more than 1.2
billion followers, Buddhism more than 535 million and Sikhism more than 30
million, and said the time had come to acknowledge the “prevalence of
religiophobia, rather than single out just one”.
He added, “It is in this context that we are concerned
about elevating the phobia against one religion to the level of an
international day, to the exclusion of all the others. Celebration of a
religion is one thing but to commemorate the combating of hatred against one
religion is quite another.”
Tirumurti also argued the resolution “may well end up
downplaying the seriousness of phobias against all other religions”.
While explaining India’s position, Tirumurti cited
what he contended were religion phobias that have affected the followers of
non-Abrahamic religions, including “anti-Hindu, anti-Buddhist and anti-Sikh
phobias”.
“These contemporary forms of religiophobia can be
witnessed in the increase in attacks on religious places of worship like
gurudwaras, monasteries, temples etc or in spreading of hatred and
disinformation against non-Abrahamic religions in many countries,” he said.
He also cited the destruction of the Bamyan Buddhas in
Afghanistan, “violation of gurudwara premises, massacre of Sikh pilgrims in
gurudwara, attack on temples, glorification of breaking of idols in temples”
and said these incidents “contribute to the rise of contemporary forms of
religiophobia against non-Abrahamic religions”.
Tirumurti said India, as a pluralistic and democratic
country that is home to almost all world religions, has always welcomed “those
persecuted around the world for their faith or belief”.
He said, “They have always found in India a safe haven
shorn of persecution or discrimination. This is true whether they were
Zoroastrians or Buddhists or Jews or people of any other faith. Therefore, it
is with deep concern that we have viewed the growing manifestation of
intolerance, discrimination or violence against followers of religions,
including rise in sectarian violence, in some countries.”
Tirumurti said India is proud that pluralism is at
“the core of our existence and we firmly believe in equal protection and
promotion of all religions and faith”. In this context, he said, it was
unfortunate that the word “pluralism” finds no mention in the resolution and
its sponsors did not take on board India’s amendments to include the word in
the text.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Terrorist killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir's
Srinagar
Mar 16, 2022
SRINAGAR: An unidentified terrorist was killed in an
encounter with security forces on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Wednesday,
police said.
Acting on specific inputs about the presence of
terrorists in the Nowgam area of the city, the security forces had launched a
cordon-and-search operation there, a police official said.
He said the search operation turned into an encounter
when the terrorists opened fire at the security personnel, who retaliated.
In the ensuing exchange of fire, an unidentified
terrorist was killed, the official said, adding, the operation is on.
Inspector general of police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay
Kumar said some terrorists have been trapped and they include those involved in
the March 9 killing of a sarpanch in Khonmoh area of the city.
Source: Times Of India
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Mundra drug haul linked to Pak terror outfits, says
NIA
Mar 16, 2022
AHMEDABAD: The National Investigation Agency has filed
a chargesheet against 16 people in connection with the seizure of heroin worth
Rs 21,000 crore at Mundra port by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in
September, 2021. Probe has revealed the involvement of Pakistan-based terror
outfits to raise funds for use in "anti-India activities", as per the
agency.
The NIA invoked charges under the UAPA, NDPS Act and
criminal conspiracy under the IPC for the alleged smuggling of 2,998.2 kg of
heroin, seized by DRI sleuths at Mundra port on September 13, 2021, concealed
in a consignment of semi-processed talc imported by Aashi Trading Co. The
consignment had been sent from Afghanistan through the Bandar Abbas port in
Iran.
Source: Times Of India
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North
America
Pakistani 9/11 mastermind could be spared death
penalty as US prosecutors negotiate plea deal: Report
Mar 16, 2022
NEW YORK: US prosecutors have started negotiating a
plea deal with Pakistani terrorist and 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed
and four others currently lodged in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, a move
which could result in the commutation of their death sentence to life
imprisonment, according to a media report.
The New York Times' report said that the plea deal
would undoubtedly disappoint, if not enrage, death-penalty advocates among the
victims' family members.
The unprecedented terror attack on September 11, 2001
destroyed the twin towers of the iconic World Trade Center (WTC) in New York,
killing nearly 3,000 people, including many Indians.
The report said that other family members, including
those troubled by the role of the US torture in the case and the delays, might
see it as a fitting conclusion.
While no deal is expected soon, guilty pleas resulting
in life sentences could force the Biden administration to “modify its ambition
of ending detention operations at Guantánamo Bay and instead rebrand it as a
military prison for a few men,” it said.
The report cited people with knowledge of the
discussions as saying that “prosecutors have opened talks with lawyers” for
58-year-old Shaikh and his four co-defendants to “negotiate a potential plea
agreement that would drop the possibility of execution.”
The report added that a guilty plea in exchange for
life sentences and not execution could bring to an end the case going on for
years now at Guantanamo Bay.
“Nearly a decade after the men were arraigned, the
military judge has set no trial start date,” it said.
During the Trump administration, there had been a failed
attempt at such talks when the accused plotters had demanded that they serve
their sentences at Guantanamo, where they are able to pray and eat in groups.
They did not want to be sent to the supermax prison in
Colorado where federal inmates are held in solitary confinement up to 23 hours
a day, the report said.
“A plea deal would undoubtedly disappoint, if not
enrage, death-penalty advocates among the victims' family members. But other
family members, including those troubled by the role of US torture in the case
and the delays, might see it as a fitting conclusion,” it said.
Following a nearly two-year closure of the court due
to the coronavirus pandemic, discussions began last week, the report said.
The NYT report said as part of any plea agreement, the
defendants would have to work with prosecutors through their lawyers on
“individual lengthy narratives known as a stipulation of fact” which will be
prosecution-approved admission of their crimes.
The report said that the judge, defence and
prosecution teams had travelled to Guantanamo Bay for three weeks of hearings
meant to address disputes over evidence, “particularly showing the role of the
FBI in the CIA prison network" where Shaikh and his co-defendants were
“tortured after they were captured in Pakistan in 2002 and 2003.”
A lead prosecutor in the case Clayton Trivett wrote to
the defence teams that they discuss “whether pretrial agreements are possible
for all five cases.”
“While I cannot guarantee that we will come to terms
over these next two weeks,” Trivett said in an email, “putting a concerted
effort focused solely on possible agreements while we are all onboard
Guantánamo, where your clients and teams are present, may be our best chance of
at least determining if deals can be reached.”
The report said that within days, the five defendants
and their lawyers met in the courtroom to compile an initial list of
requirements for the guilty plea, “starting with removing the death penalty
from the case.”
While prosecutors have begun the negotiations, a
senior Pentagon official known as the convening authority Col. Jeffrey D Wood
of the Arkansas National Guard, must approve any deal.
Source: Times Of India
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CENTCOM chief:
Iran has 3,000 ballistic missiles, many can reach Israel
March 16, 2022
Iran has more than 3,000 ballistic missiles, US
CENTCOM chief General Kenneth McKenzie said Tuesday, acknowledging that many of
those missiles could reach "Israel".
"At a military level my concern is first of all
that they do not have a nuclear weapon but I am also very concerned about the
remarkable growth and efficiency of their ballistic missile program,"
McKenzie told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The US General's words came a week after he met with
Israeli occupation Security Minister Benny Gantz and IOF Chief of Staff Aviv
Kochavi.
"They have over 3,000 missiles of various types,
some of which can reach Tel Aviv," McKenzie said in response to a query by
the senate committee. "None of them can reach Europe yet," he
claimed, however.
He also claimed that the Iranian missile capabilities
are the "greatest threat to the region's security," adding that Iran
had developed an arsenal of "nuclear-warhead capable ballistic
missiles."
According to the top US defense official, the Islamic
Republic has tested these weapon platforms multiple times, telling the
congressional committee that Tehran had heavily invested in its ballistic
missile program for the better half of the past decade.
The US Central Command assessed that Iran would
"continue using" Iraq and Syria as supply routes to forward Tehran's
"campaign" against the Israeli occupation, adding that the supplies
were in part to Hezbollah in Lebanon, whose missile capabilities were estimated
to amount to 130,000-150,000 rockets that can reach deep into occupied
Palestine. The tally reportedly includes many ballistic missiles.
McKenzie also voiced concern over the Iranian drone
program.
According to his statements, Iran's UAV fleet evolved
from "commercial off-the-shelf" drones to ones that "resemble
cruise missiles" in terms of speed, range, accuracy, invulnerability to
electronic warfare, and warhead weight.
Tehran has also been able to mass-produce the drone
components, allowing them to be supplied to their allies in Lebanon and Yemen,
he added.
Source: ABNA24
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Europe
Russia
says it has secured US guarantees on Iran N-deal
March
16, 2022
MOSCOW:
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Moscow had
received guarantees from Washington on its ability to trade with Tehran as part
of ongoing talks to salvage the Iran nuclear deal.
“We
received written guarantees. They are included in the text of the agreement
itself on the resumption of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the
Iranian nuclear programme,” Lavrov said at a press conference in Moscow with
Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
More
than 10 months of talks in Vienna have brought major powers close to renewing
the landmark 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on regulating
Iran’s nuclear programme.
The
negotiations halted after Moscow earlier this month demanded guarantees that
Western sanctions imposed following its military operation in Ukraine would not
damage its trade with Iran.
Lavrov
said that the guarantees it had received from Washington would protect Russian
involvement in Iran’s sole Bushehr nuclear energy plant.
The
minister said Moscow and Tehran share the position that Western sanctions are
imposed with the aim of overriding international law and accused Washington and
its partners of directing the penalties “primarily against ordinary citizens”.
Source:
Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1680223/russia-says-it-has-secured-us-guarantees-on-iran-n-deal
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UK
looking at ways to pay historic Iranian debt: Foreign secretary
16
March ,2022
Britain
is looking at ways to pay a historic $522 million (400 million pound) debt to
Iran, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Wednesday, adding that she would not
say if it had been settled already.
Iranian
state media reported in 2021 that unidentified Iranian officials had said the
British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe would be freed once the
debt was paid.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Ex-German
foreign minister blasts West for denying Turkiye air-defense systems
Cuneyt
Karadag and Erbil Basay
16.03.2022
BERLIN
Former
German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel criticized the West on Tuesday for not
providing air-defense systems to Turkiye when the NATO member country needed
them.
In
a speech in Berlin, Gabriel, now the sitting chairman of the Atlantik Brucke
(Atlantic Bridge) think tank, said he had worked hard to improve ties between
Turkiye and the West.
Underlining
that he had opposed the rejection of Turkiye's bid to procure air defense
systems, including the US-made Patriot, he pointed out that such systems were
defensive and could not be used to attack another country.
Turkiye
consequently decided to purchase S-400 missile defense system from Russia, a
hard decision for a NATO country, Gabriel said.
He
emphasized that the West should be careful in maintaining relations with Ankara
and should do its best to keep the country within the Western bloc.
Highlighting
the geopolitical significance of Turkiye, Gabriel said that while Ankara's
policies could be criticized, he remain adamant that the country staying in the
Western bloc benefited all parties to that relationship.
Referring
to the US support for the YPG, the PKK terror group's branch in Syria, Gabriel
underlined that the creation of a terror state in northern Syria would be intolerable
for Turkiye, regardless of government.
Since
2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across
its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and
enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive
Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
UK
to urge Saudi Arabia to raise oil output amid plans to reduce dependency on Russian
resources
Ahmet
Gürhan Kartal
15.03.2022
LONDON
British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge Saudi Arabian officials to increase
their oil production amid the West's plans to reduce dependency on Russian
energy resources.
Starting
a day-long trip to Saudi Arabia Tuesday evening, Johnson compared Russian
President Vladimir Putin to a drug-pusher feeding on the “addiction” of the
Western countries on Russian oil and gas.
Speaking
to Sky News ahead of his trip, he said the world needed to “avoid being
blackmailed by Putin in the way that so many Western countries sadly have
been.”
“We've
got to get ourselves off Russian hydrocarbons,” Johnson said.
He
added: “They're a massive part of the global market for hydrocarbons. They help
to drive the price.
“We
need to talk to other producers around the world about how we can move away
from that dependence. Vladimir Putin over the last years has been like a
pusher, feeding an addiction in Western countries to use hydrocarbons, to use
oil and gas. We need to get ourselves off that addiction.”
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Symposium
in Turkish capital marks third anniversary of New Zealand terror attacks
Fuat
Kabakci
15.03.2022
A
symposium in Turkiye’s capital Ankara was held to mark the third anniversary of
terror attacks at two mosques in New Zealand that killed 51 people.
On
March 15, 2019, Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, killed his
victims and injured 40 others at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre
in Christchurch.
He
was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole last year in
the first such ruling ever handed down on the island nation.
Organized
by the International Knowledge and Perception Association and Haci Bayram Veli
University under the auspices of Turkiye’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, the
“Hello Brother: World Peace Symposium” was attended by victims’ families and
activists.
“The
15th of March 2019, marks the dark day in history around the world,” said Yama
Nabi, son of Davud Nabi who greeted the shooter at the gate of the mosque with,
“Welcome brother.”
“Fifty-one
martyrs showed the beauty of Islam,” said Nabi, who was a guest of honor at the
symposium.
“Hello
brother, was the last words of my father to the shooter. This is what we
represent,” he added.
Activist
Osama Qashoo said being discriminated against puts Muslims in a powerful
position. “That is something that should empower us and make us unique,” he
said.
Qashoo
said he is in favor of action and information is nothing without action.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Chechen
leader explains why he backs Putin’s ‘military operation’ in Ukraine
March
15, 2022
GROZNY:
Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov has expressed support for Russian President
Vladimir Putin’s signing of the independence documents of the Ukrainian
provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as his launch of a “military
operation” in Ukraine.
He
hailed Putin’s signing of the independence documents of Donetsk and Luhansk as
a historic decision that will put an end to the bloodshed and violence that 4
million people have been subjected to in the two provinces for eight years.
In
an opinion article for Arabic news website Al-Ain published on Tuesday, Kadyrov
added that the Chechen people welcome citizens of the two independent and
recognized republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
The
article also included his views on international events, why Chechen forces
joined the conflict in Ukraine, and claims that there were Nazis in the
country.
“It
gives me great pain to face the fact that the brotherly and dear Ukrainian
people find themselves, after several decades, in the same tragedy that we,
only a short time ago, were able to overcome,“ Kadyrov wrote.
He
added: “The Chechen people have experienced a whole arsenal of malicious and
cunning actions of the West. We were engaged, without realizing, in an
imaginary adventure that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The West used our people in an attempt to destroy Russia.”
Kadyrov
said that with Putin’s help the Chechen people “managed to repel the enemies of
the country and the people and established a solid peace in the region.”
On
Ukraine, Kadyrov said: “Since the 1940s, there was an organization of Ukrainian
ultra-nationalists led by Stepan Bandera, and immediately after the collapse of
the Soviet Union, their ideological followers, who had been there all this
time, began to pursue an accelerated anti-Russian policy. Russophobia became a
national idea, and at the same time, Ukraine continued to receive loans, energy
sources at below-market prices and all kinds of concessions from Russia.”
He
added: “The liberal West turned a blind eye to all this, and anti-Russian
campaigns continued steadily and systematically, becoming more complex from
year to year, as they were lauded by liberal Europe and the US. Ukrainian Nazis
of various stripes, including those who were on the side of international
terrorists, fought in Chechnya, and contributed to the killing of defenders of
its honor and freedom.”
The
Chechen leader referred to the secret document that he revealed last year and
is kept in the British National Archives, saying: “This document is still
classified as ‘secret’, but there is no secret that will not be revealed at
some point. It turned out that this document is the minutes of a meeting
between the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of the US, Britain and the
Federal Republic of Germany, which was held in the German city of Bonn on March
6, 1991.”
He
said that the released minutes “reveal a serious contradiction in the history
that the West has long promoted. It turned out that NATO, the military alliance
of the Western countries, during negotiations on the unification of the Federal
Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic into a single German
state, made a clear promise to the head of the Soviet state of NATO’s strategic
military undertaking not to extend its influence to the countries of Eastern
Europe on the other side of the Oder river.”
Kadyrov
said that the US diplomat Raymond Seitz clearly stated: “We have made clear to
the Soviet Union that we do not intend to reap any benefits from the withdrawal
of Soviet forces from Eastern Europe, and NATO should not expand to the east,
either officially or unofficially.”
He
said that the same position was shared by the representative of the German
Foreign Ministry, Jurgen Chrobog, who stated that “during the 2 + 4
negotiations (on Germany’s post-unification situation), we made it clear that
NATO would not expand to the east. Thus, we cannot propose to Poland and others
to join NATO.”
Kadyrov
said that this promise was repeatedly violated by all the countries that took
part in the meeting referred to in the protocol.
In his
article, Kadyrov recounted events in Ukraine in recent years, beginning with
the 2014 coup.
“In
2014, as a result of an unconstitutional armed coup (the so-called “Maidan”)
with the support of the West, ultra-nationalists came to power. In the same year,
real Nazi massacres began, riots broke out in Odessa in the city center, and in
the same year, 2014, two regions of Ukraine (which are historically two Russian
regions), the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, opposed the authority
of ultra-nationalists, and as a result of the referendum, the majority of the
population voted in favor of independence.
“Since
then, the continuous bombing of these areas has included shelling with missiles
and bombs, which resulted in the deaths of about 13,000 people, according to
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Yet, the US and Europe
looked indifferently at this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.”
He
added: “Throughout the years of war in the Donbas region, the Ukrainian army
and ultra-nationalist battalions (Azov and Aidar), which are not actually under
official authority, were supplied with weapons by the US and NATO countries.
Ukraine was simply overflowing with Western weapons.
“For
eight long years, such crimes against the residents of the Lugansk People’s
Democratic Republic were committed by official Kyiv, and the government did not
make a single attempt to stop the bullying of people they considered their own
citizens.”
Kadyrov
also referred to the issue of Ukrainian nuclear weapons and said: “Recently,
officials in Ukraine, in general, have made explicit threats to produce nuclear
weapons, and Volodymyr Zelensky announced plans to withdraw from the Budapest
Memorandum that prevented Ukraine from acquiring nuclear weapons.
“These
intentions are disclosed at a time when Ukraine has enough capabilities and
means to make a so-called ‘dirty bomb,’ at least. In the event of the emergence
of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the time it takes for the missiles to reach
Moscow is reduced to only about four minutes. During this time, it is
impossible to ward off the attack.”
The
Chechen president endorsed his Russian counterpart’s decision to launch a
military operation in Ukraine, saying: “Because of these factors that pose a
threat to the strategic security of our country, the Russian president took not
only the completely natural and right decision but the only correct decision,
the recognition of the People’s Republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, and the
launch of a special military operation to remove the weapons of Ukraine and
uproot Nazism from it. In this way, Russia prevented the inevitable strike that
NATO planned to inflict on the Russian lands at the hands of Ukraine.”
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2043211/world
--------
Pakistan
OIC
moot: Pakistan to act as a bridge to promote Muslim unity
MARCH
16, 2022
Foreign
Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday said at the platform of the upcoming
48th meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad,
Pakistan would act as a bridge to promote unity among the Muslim countries and
contribute towards finding a way together on common issues facing the Islamic
world.
“Pakistan
wants to promote unity among Muslims on this occasion and address other issues,
particularly Islamophobia and hate speech,” he said while addressing a press
conference here at the Foreign Office, ahead of the OIC meeting of Council of
Foreign Ministers on March 22-24.
FM
Qureshi said Pakistan believed that the meeting was being held at a crucial
time and added that “we need to make the Muslim voice heard at the
international arena.”
He
said that so far, 48 confirmations had been received from the OIC member
countries and added that 100 resolutions were expected to be tabled and agreed
upon during the OIC-CFM meeting.
The
proposed theme of the 48th Session, “Partnering for Unity, Justice and
Development” fully encapsulates these priorities. We will seek to build
‘partnerships’ across the Islamic world, and build bridges of cooperation to
address the myriad of challenges confronting the Ummah,” he said.
Qureshi
said the OIC had taken a very firm stand on the issue of Palestine and Indian
Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. A meeting of the Kashmir Contact Group
will also be held on the sidelines of the OIC-CFM meeting, where Pakistan would
present observational reports on Kashmir, he said.
“Pakistan
intends to get a ministerial resolution passed on the issue of Jammu and
Kashmir,” he said.
The
resolution, he said, was aimed at sending a message to those elements who were
silent on the issue of Kashmir, despite knowing the ground reality. Also, he
said, the meeting would discuss the humanitarian aspect of the situation in
Afghanistan where millions were at risk of disease and hunger.
The
foreign minister said Pakistan desired to promote cooperation among Islamic
countries in the fight against corruption.
He
said the meeting would also review the implementation of the decisions of the
previous 47th meeting. “This upcoming OIC-CFM meeting is a reflection of our
shared aspirations to ensure peace and progress,” he added.
Qureshi
said Pakistan would like to further strengthen its relationship with the Muslim
Ummah.
“Pakistan
will continue to work with other OIC Member States, towards harnessing our
‘collective ambition’ into ‘concrete action’, and to take tangible steps to
further strengthen bonds of Islamic solidarity and cooperation,” he added.
He
mentioned his telephonic conversation with the United Nations Secretary-General
on Monday about the Indian missile fired towards Pakistan, where concern was
expressed on the situation.
He
said he had also written a letter to the UN Secretary-General and the President
of the Security Council in this regard.
The
foreign minister urged India to provide information regarding the
specification, route, and trajectory of the missile.
He
pointed out why India remained silent until Pakistan demanded an answer, adding
that the aftermath of the missile could trigger a war between two nuclear-armed
countries.
He
termed India’s investigation on the matter as “insufficient” and mentioned that
China had also raised the issue and called for an investigation.”We reject
India’s response because of being insufficient,” he added. FM Qureshi said
Pakistan had no aggressive designs against any country, however, stressed that
it would continue to highlight the issue of acts of terrorism against it.
He
said Washington was aware that there were no direct or indirect negotiations in
progress between Pakistan and India.
He
said the international community and the United States could play a role in
this regard to ensure peace and stability in the region.
Source:
Daily Times Pakistan
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://dailytimes.com.pk/901672/oic-moot-pakistan-to-act-as-a-bridge-to-promote-muslim-unity/
--------
Tahir
Ashrafi terms corruption, extremism twin threats
March
16, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) Chairman and Special Representative to Prime
Minister Pakistan on Religious Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir
Mahmood Ashrafi appealed to the leaders of the opposition to hold their
long-march after March 24.
While
talking to media after meetings with ambassadors of different Islamic countries,
PUC Chairman Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said that OIC Foreign Ministers' Council
Summit will be held as per programme and arrangements in this regard has been
completed.
He
said that Pakistan will continue its efforts for the unity and solidarity of the
Muslim Ummah. “From March 19, guests will start coming to Islamabad to
participate in OIC Foreign Ministers' Council Summit, which will be held on
22nd March 2022,” he said, adding that all the dignitaries of the Muslim world
will also attend 'Pakistan Day Parade' on 23rd March 2022.
He
said that the guests from all over the Islamic world will return on March 24.
“All the respective arrangements are being finalised under the supervision of
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi,” he said.
Meanwhile,
addressing the Young Parliamentarians Forum Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood
Ashrafi said that Pakistan has a right to all of us, with mutual respect and
affection, we can repay this right. He said that the beauty of Pakistani
society is that people of all religions live here, extremists are less than one
percent and the extremist elements can never succeed.
Earlier,
addressing a conference on promoting peace here on Tuesday, Hafiz Muhammad
Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi said that Pakistan has a right over all of us, we can fulfill
this right with mutual respect and love. “People of all religions live here in
peace and harmony,” he said.
He
said that only the moderate forces get popularity among the people, extremism
is a disease and the scourge of corruption is also in our country. He gave the
message to the young generation that they should play their role in this
regard, by recognising their role for the betterment of society and the
country. ”The young generation is the future of our country, no one will come
from outside to fix the problems of the country,” he said.
He
said the situation of interfaith harmony is much better here than in the
various foreign countries. “People from abroad and faithful of different
religions when visit Pakistan used to state that the image of Pakistan is not
presented properly outside,” he said.
Tahir
Mahmood Ashrafi said that our Prime Minister Imran Khan has raised voice
regarding 'Namoose-e-Risalat' in the United Nations which has also been
endorsed by the world leaders. He said that the state has been playing its role
for the elimination of sectarian and extremist elements, it is also the duty of
the common citizens to play their respective role in this regard. “Teachings of
Islam required us to promote unity, harmony and brotherhood,” he said.
Source:
The News Pakistan
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/941935-tahir-ashrafi-terms-corruption-extremism-twin-threats
--------
Pakistan
alarmed by ‘new low’ in Indian high court upholding hijab ban
March
16, 2022
BANGALORE:
An Indian court upheld a local ban on wearing the hijab in classrooms on
Tuesday, weeks after the edict stoked violent protests and renewed fears of
discrimination against the country’s Muslim minority.
Southern
Karnataka state was on edge for several weeks after a small group of girls in
their late teens were prevented from wearing the garment on school grounds at
the end of last year.
Meanwhile,
Pakistan on Tuesday expressed serious concern at the ruling of the Indian
court, saying the decision manifestly failed to uphold the principle of freedom
to religious practices and impinges on the human rights.
After
weeks of deliberations, Karnataka’s high court ruled that the wearing of hijab
“does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith”. The
judgement said schools had reasonable grounds to impose dress codes that
forbade the headdress in the interests of preventing divisions on religion and
other grounds.
“The
aim of the regulation is to create a ‘safe space’... and the ideals of
egalitarianism should be readily apparent to all students.”
Hundreds
of extra police officers were deployed around Karnataka on Monday ahead of the
ruling, though there was no sign of fresh protests by mid-afternoon.
Asaduddin
Owaisi, one of the country’s most prominent Muslim politicians, said Tuesday’s
verdict had “suspended fundamental rights to freedom of religion” and urged a
Supreme Court appeal.
“I
hope this judgement will not be used to legitimise harassment of hijab-wearing
women,” he wrote on Twitter.
The
state high court initially ordered a temporary ban on the wearing of all
religious symbols — including Hindu and Christian ones — in schools.
Schools
later reopened under heavy security with a ban on gatherings of more than four
people. In several instances, authorities made teachers and pupils take off
their hijab publicly at the school gate.
A number
of Muslim pupils told local media that they would rather go home than be made
to choose between their faith and education.
“My
daughter has been wearing the hijab since she was five years old. It is to
protect her dignity,” Nasir Sharif, 43, the father of a 15-year-old girl, told
AFP last month. “What they are asking us to do is humiliating.”
Pakistan
concerned at ruling
Pakistan
expressed serious concern at the Indian court’s ruling, with the Foreign Office
saying: “Equally sad is the fact that the judiciary in India, which is expected
to act as a bulwark against dehumanisation, stigmatisation and discrimination
against minorities, has completely failed to uphold the principles of justice
and equality.”
“This
decision marks a fresh low in the relentless anti-Muslim campaign where even
the pretext of secularism is being weaponised to target Muslims,” the statement
said.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1680229/karnatakas-high-court-upholds-ban-on-hijab
--------
Pakistan
readies Kashmir propaganda at OIC session amid members’ deepening ties with
India
16
March, 2022
Islamabad
[Pakistan], March 16 (ANI): Ahead of the 48th session of the Organization of
the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad this month, Pakistan has prepared a
draft resolution for adoption with ain aim to steer its anti-India propaganda
on Kashmir.
Representatives
of more than 40 Muslim countries have so far confirmed their participation in
the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in the capital city of Pakistan.
This OIC conference on March 22-23 will coincide with the Pakistan Day parade.
The
OIC foreign ministers will be guests of honour at the parade on March 23.
Pakistan has previously hosted four sessions of the OIC-CFM, during which it
has raked up the issue of Kashmir.
Experts
believe that OIC sees India as a great development partner as they diversify their
economy. The recent UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is
resounding evidence of the same.
The
CEPA has been described as a landmark partnership between two countries whose
political leaders and businesses share “very strong bonds going back many years
in history”.
Analysts
argue that the OIC countries can’t afford to jeopardize their longstanding ties
with an emerging global economic and political power like India.
Although
the countries like Saudi Arabia and UAE have remained conscious of Pakistan’s
prejudiced agenda, some countries like Turkey and Malaysia have taken a view on
Kashmir to cajole their own domestic constituencies, according to Islam Khabar.
Last
month, India had said that Islamic organisation continues to be hijacked by
vested interests to further their nefarious propaganda against India.
The
statement was issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in response to
media queries regarding the statement by the General Secretariat of the OIC.
Source:
The Print
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
4
FC personnel martyred, 10 injured in Sibi IED blast
Ghalib
Nihad
March
15, 2022
At
least four Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were martyred and 10 other personnel
were injured in a blast on an FC convoy in the Sangan area of Quetta's Sibi
district on Tuesday, officials said.
Sibi
Assistant Commissioner Sana Mahjabeen told Dawn.com that the blast was caused
by an improvised explosive device (IED).
She
said among the 10 injured personnel, the condition of six was critical, and
they were being treated at Sibi's Combined Military Hospital.
Meanwhile,
Adviser to the Balochistan Chief Minister on Home Mir Zia Langove condemned the
incident and said in a statement that the injured FC personnel should be
provided the best medical treatment.
He
also expressed grief over deaths caused by the blast.
"Terrorists
are making failed attempts at sabotaging peace in Balochistan through such
cowardly acts," he said.
Separately,
Balochistan government spokesperson Farah Azeem Shah also condemned the
incident and expressed sorrow over the loss of lives.
In
a statement, she said the sacrifices of the martyred FC personnel would not go
to waste, and that it was the government's top priority to "implement the
mission of martyrs who laid their lives" for the country's security.
"The
sacrifices of martyrs will surely bear fruit and the sinister designs of [our]
enemies will fail," the spokesperson added.
She
said the role of security forces in ensuring peace in Balochistan had been
"exemplary", adding that "anti-Pakistan forces were trying to
sabotage peace in Balochistan."
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1680117/4-fc-personnel-martyred-10-injured-in-sibi-ied-blast
--------
Pakistanis
prefer to go down with me than supporting 'three stooges': PM Imran Khan
Mar
15, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Facing a crucial trust vote in parliament, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
on Tuesday claimed that the entire nation was ready to go down with him rather
than supporting the corrupt opposition parties.
Addressing
the Pakistan Overseas Convention in Islamabad, Khan slammed three opposition
leaders — Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz President Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan
Democratic Movement (PDM) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Pakistan People's
Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari — as "three stooges" and said he
was thankful to them for filing a no-trust motion against him that had
strengthened his party.
Khan
said the opposition leaders were under the "false impression that the
people had forgotten their corruption", but they were wrong as now, they
had fallen into the "captain's trap".
"I
predict that not only is their no-confidence motion going to fail, but they
will taste defeat in the 2023 general elections as well," he said,
foreseeing the triumph of his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in the next polls.
Turning
to foreign policy issues, Khan said he was not anti-US, UK, and India.
"I
pray that a sensible leadership comes into power in India so that we can hold
talks with them after revoking the August 5, 2019, decision on Kashmir,"
Khan was quoted as saying by Geo News.
He
lamented that the Western nations had double standards as they do not allow
people to become the judge, jury, and executioners in their homeland.
"But
they (Western powers) were bombing on the Pakistani land and killing innocent
people [...] and they are responsible for this," he said, lashing out at
the previous governments of PPP and PML-N.
He
claimed that no government in the past had performed better than his
administration given the “unprecedented challenges” such as the Covid-19
pandemic.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
KP
cabinet okays Rs2m compensation for each Peshawar mosque blast victim
March
16, 2022
PESHAWAR:
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs2 million compensation for
each of those, who were killed in the suicide bombing of the Peshawar Shia
mosque earlier this month.
The
cabinet met with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair and ministers,
advisers and administrative secretaries in attendance.
Special
assistant to chief minister on information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif told
reporters that the cabinet discussed the payment of compensation of the heirs
of the victims of the Koocha Risaldar mosque attack.
He
said the cabinet approved the payment of Rs2 million each to the families of
those, who lost life in the bombing.
The
special assistant said the cabinet also approved the payment of Rs500,000 to
the critically injured people and Rs200,000 to those with minor injuries. He
said the chief minister directed the relevant officials to prepare compensation
cheques within three days for disbursement to the relevant families.
The
cabinet also approved Rs1 million compensation each for the families of six
people, who were killed by a recent landslide in Alpuri area of Shangla
district.
Mr
Mahmood ordered amendments to the Relief Act to increase compensation ratio,
while the cabinet’s committees on various matters were told to produce reports
on their affairs in the next cabinet meeting.
He
said the chief minister also ordered the inclusion of bone marrow treatment in
the Sehat Card healthcare programme.
He
said the cabinet also decided about the start of action against the government
employees moving court against inter-departmental issues regarding state land,
declaring allotment of the state land to the departments was the sole
prerogative of the government.
The
cabinet also directed the departments to immediately frame rules under the
approved laws. It conditionally approved the transfer of 1,200 kanals of land
in Mardan district to the science and information technology department for
establishing a special technology zone.
It
approved the transfer of the food department’s 25 kanals of land in Haji Camp
area of Peshawar to the science and information technology department for
setting up the Gandhara Digital Complex.
Barrister
Saif said the cabinet also approved the KP Education Monitoring Authority’s
Rules of Business, 2021, as well as service rules.
He
said the cabinet also approved the constitution of a settlement board to
conserve forests and environment to dispose of the cases regarding forestland.
The board will consist of the revenue collector, divisional forest officer and
a member from the local community.
The
CM’s aide said the cabinet approved declaring Koh-i-Suleman area of Dera Ismail
Khan district as a conservancy area to provide protection to the wildlife.
The
conservancy area was spreads over an area of 58,000 hectares and will ensure
the protection of wildlife, including markhors, cheetahs, foxes, bears,
jackals, snakes, hawks, eagles and owls.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
South
Asia
Cross-Border
Terrorism by Taliban Seeks To Destabilise Pak Democracy: Report
March
16, 2022
The
Taliban who were helped by Pakistan to rein in Afghanistan is now seeking to
destabilise Pakistan's democracy empowering the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP) that is battling Islamabad, working to launch a 'jihad' in Pakistan.
A
report in The Friday Times of March 13 showed hand-written leaflets distributed
by the TTP in Afghanistan seeking donations for waging 'Jihad' in Pakistan,
where it is outlawed. These 'donations' are being sought in Afghanistan's Khost
and Kunar provinces, where the group has managed to remobilise following the
Afghan Taliban's return to power.
Journalists
from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have reported that the TTP is
raising funds from southern Afghanistan. The social media is awash with their
circulation, causing concern among the local people, reported The Times of
Israel.
Confirming
the fundraising, a TTP source told journalist Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud,
"We're doing what our brothers (Afghan Taliban) used to do (collect
donations) in Pakistan".
What
really counts is the Taliban-TTP co-existence and collusion at Pakistan's
expense and also that of security and peace in the region.
More
than the money, the cause of concern to Islamabad is the rise of terror attacks
across Pakistan attributed to the TTP in recent months, confirming that not
only the TTP, but other terror groups are also reassembling in Afghanistan,
reported The Times of Israel.
Pakistan's
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid has acknowledged that the TTP had ramped up its
attacks across the country after a brief month-long ceasefire that collapsed on
December 9, 2021. Efforts to reach a peace pact since, with the help of Wazir,
Mehsud and Dawar tribes from North and South Waziristan have failed.
Thus,
an embarrassed Islamabad that advocates the Afghan Taliban's cause globally,
urging the latter to rush humanitarian aid, is having to deal with the Taliban
despite their tacit support to the TTP.
For
the first time early this year, Pakistan issued a formal statement charging the
Afghan authorities with allowing terror groups on its soil to operate. Kabul
promptly denied the charge.
The
hope was, with a new friendly government in Afghanistan, Pakistan would get
more help than in the past," said Michael Kugelman of the Washington
DC-based Wilson Center in an interview with FRANCE 24.
Instead,
"there are signs of intensified security risks. We're seeing a resurgence
of the Pakistani Taliban, as well as Baloch separatist groups intensifying
attacks," he noted.
The
Pakistani accusation of Afghan soil being used for cross-border terrorism came
days after a UN terrorism monitoring report said the Taliban had failed to take
"steps to limit the activities of foreign terrorist fighters in the
country".
The
report, by the UN Security Council's monitoring team for Al Qaeda, the Islamic
State (IS) group and their affiliates, noted that "On the contrary,
terrorist groups enjoy greater freedom there (Afghanistan) than at any time in
recent history."
To
the chagrin of Islamabad that had hoped to effectively tackle the TTP once the
Taliban took Kabul, the new rulers have washed their hands off saying it was
Pakistan's "internal matter," reported The Times of Israel.
Pakistan
in the past was able to partially tackle the TTP fighters hiding in Afghanistan
during the earlier regimes in Kabul with the American intelligence and the US
providing drone and missile strikes. Post the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan,
targeting the TTP is no longer an American priority.
Pakistan
cannot risk any action across the border -which is disputed and has been a
source of tensions ever since the Durand line was drawn by the British Indian
rulers in agreement with the then Afghan king, to demarcate their commercial
interests.
The
tribes of "Pashtunistan" who consider this line as a colonial relic
that divides their homeland, do not support Pakistan's army presence here.
Source:
Business Standard
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Bangladesh
eyes big investment deals as Saudi FM arrives in Dhaka
March
15, 2022
DHAKA:
Bangladesh was hopeful of signing a number of major investment deals with Saudi
Arabia during a two-day visit to Dhaka by the Kingdom’s Foreign Minister Prince
Faisal bin Farhan, officials said on Tuesday.
The
prince flew into the Bangladeshi capital on Tuesday afternoon and was scheduled
to meet the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday and lay the
foundation stone for the Arabic Language Institute of the Islamic Arabic
University in Dhaka.
Sirazul
Islam, executive chairman of the Bangladesh Investment Development Authority,
said projects worth billions of dollars would be discussed during Prince
Faisal’s trip.
“Most
of the Saudi Investment proposals are involving the public sector. Further
investments from Saudi Arabia will depend mostly on our success of handling the
investment proposals in the pipeline,” Islam added.
“At
the moment we can’t exactly predict the volume of investment as it depends on
the success of discussions. But we hope it will be billions (of dollars) and
there will be a whole gamut of discussions.”
The
projects are related to oil refineries, gas transmission, fertilizer
production, aviation, port management, construction, and hospitality.
Islam
said that among the Saudi companies that had expressed interest in investing in
Bangladesh were oil giant Aramco, transformer producer Engineering Dimensions,
utility provider ACWA Power, industrial conglomerate Al-Fanar Group, and
Al-Hokair Group, one of the largest entertainment and hospitality firms in the
Middle East.
The
Bangladesh Foreign Ministry’s director general for West Asia, Iqbal Hussain,
told Arab News that the Bangladeshi government would be seeking to strengthen
its ties with the Kingdom during the prince’s visit.
“We
are looking for stronger political and investment ties with the Kingdom as both
countries have very good bilateral relationships,” he said, adding that
Bangladesh was preparing more than 100 special economic zones for potential
investors. “Seeking investment from the Kingdom will be one of our top issues
as there is an ongoing campaign to attract more and more foreign investment in
the country.”
Dhaka
was also hopeful of increasing the number of migrant workers it sends to Saudi
Arabia, which is Bangladesh’s main labor market and already hosts more than 2.5
million Bangladeshi expats.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2043291/world
--------
Over
180 media outlets inactive in Afghanistan: media survey
16
Mar 2022
Afghanistan’s
National House of Journalists in its latest survey said that 180 media outlets
out of 475 have been closed in the past seven months in the country.
The
media body in a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday, March 15, 2022, said that
Afghan media outlets have been affected the most after the Taliban takeover as
a result only 290 media outlets are active in the war-torn country.
Head
of Afghanistan’s National House of Journalists Sayed Yaseen Mateen said that
reason behind the mass closure of media was economic woes and migration of
professional media workers in the country.
Apart
from the economic woes and stoppage of foreign support of the media in
Afghanistan, the lack of access to information cited by Afghan journalists is
said to be another big issue for media in the country.
On
the other hand, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has always denied the claim
and added that the closure of media outlets in Afghanistan is owing to the
stoppage of their donors. They denied having restricted Afghan journalists and
media.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/over-180-media-outlets-inactive-in-afghanistan-media-survey-65867567/
--------
Turkey’s
third humanitarian shipment arrives in Afghanistan
15
Mar 2022
Turkey’s
“Kindness Train” coordinated by Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management
Authority (AFAD) that left Afghanistan in February arrived in Afghanistan on
Monday, March 14.
The
shipment which is the third of its kind since the Taliban takeover in
Afghanistan consists of 994 tons of humanitarian aid that will be distributed
to people in need.
Ceremony
on the occasion of the arrival of the train was attended by Turkey’s
Consul-General in Herat Sinan Ilhan, officials from AFAD, the Turkish Red
Crescent (Türk Kızılay) and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency
(TIKA), and Afghan authorities Torghundi border crossing, in the western Herat
province.
The
new tranche consists of food, blankets, and clothing designated for people in
dire need in 17 provinces of Afghanistan.
Authorities
in AFAD said that the supplies will be packaged in Herat province and will then
be distributed among 500 families in the provinces.
The
added that aid arrived on the first train on February 7 has completely been
distributed.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/turkeys-third-humanitarian-shipment-arrives-in-afghanistan-7657876/
--------
Anti-Taliban
protest held in northern Afghanistan
16
March, 2022
Kabul
[Afghanistan], March 16 (ANI): An anti-Taliban protest took place on Tuesday in
northern Afghanistan which led to a blockade of a key highway for several
hours, media reports said.
Baghlan-Balkh
road was blocked by people demonstrating against Taliban officials. They closed
the northern highway to traffic for several hours.
Baghlan
residents said in a protest that they were fed up with the Taliban’s oppression
and detention in the province.
The
situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the
Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power in August last year.
Although
the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue
unabated.
The
Taliban have committed and continue to commit human rights violations including
extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture, arbitrary
detentions, a massive rollback of the rights of women and girls, censorship of
and attacks against the media.
Source:
The Print
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://theprint.in/world/anti-taliban-protest-held-in-northern-afghanistan/875427/
--------
Mullah
Baradar Attends Tree-Planting Campaign Ceremony
March
16, 2022
Mullah
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the first deputy prime minister, took part in a
tree-planting campaign in Kabul and called on citizens to take part in planting
greenery and seedlings in the country.
Mullah
Baradar said he considers planting saplings important for the greenery and
beauty of the country and asked the responsible institutions to plant saplings
in Kabul and other provinces.
“They
should continue to do such work in every province and district, and we support
them and will use all means possible to address their needs and problems,” said
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the first deputy PM.
In
addition to government officials, some diplomats from other countries also
participated in the program.
“I
hope that our government partners will make better efforts this year to grow
and maintain these trees, which will make the environment greener,” said Ali
Akbar, head of the Aga Khan Foundation.
Meanwhile,
the National Environmental Protection Agency announced the start of a
tree-planting campaign in Kabul's Qargha Dam, saying that in the first stage,
5,000 fruit-bearing and other seedlings will be planted.
“Fruit-bearing
and non-bearing seedlings will be planted according to weather conditions, their
location and their use,” said Ezatullah Siddiqi, deputy director of the
National Environmental Protection Agency.
According
to statistics, more than 25 million saplings are to be planted in 34 provinces
of the country this year.
Source:
Tolo News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://tolonews.com/afghanistan-177125
--------
Mideast
Top
Diplomat Underlines Iran's Universal Opposition to War
2022-March-15
Iran
explicitly condemns war anywhere, no matter it's in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Yemen
or anywhere else in the world, Amir Abdollahian said upon arrival in Moscow.
He
said that during his visit he is due to discuss several issues, including
Tehran-Moscow bilateral ties and pursuing agreements reached between Iran and
Russia during President Rayeesi's visit to Moscow.
Amir
Abdollahian also said that he will discuss the situation in Ukraine with the
Russian officials as well.
Iran
also condemns unilateral sanctions against nations, he added.
Vienna
negotiations will be discussed between the Iranian and Russian parties,
according to Amir Abdollahian.
Mahdi
Safari, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Diplomacy, Alireza Haqiqian,
Director General of the Eurasia Department of the Foreign Ministry, and Ali
Asqar Khaji, Iranian Foreign Minister's senior advisor in political affairs
accompany Amir Abdollahian on his visit to Moscow.
During
his visit to Russia, he is set to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
After
arriving in Tehran from Russia visit in January, President Rayeesi said that
development of relations between Tehran and Moscow will lead to more security
and prosperity for both nations and the entire region.
“Undoubtedly,
the development of relations with Russia will contribute to the security and
prosperity of the two nations. Certainly, such security-building cooperation
will be for the sake of the region,” Rayeesi said.
He
said that during his Russia trip, which began on Wednesday, the two sides
discussed steps to challenge the dominance of the US dollar and continue trade
in their national currencies.
“Our
oil minister had good agreements with Russian energy officials, the effects of
which will emerge later,” he said, adding that good agreements were also
reached on removing obstacles to boosting trade relations.
However,
the level of trade relations is “not acceptable”, the president stated.
Officials
have said the two sides seek to increase the current record $3 billion
bilateral trade.
"We
decided to increase the level of trade between the two countries to $10 billion
in the first stage," President Rayeesi said.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14001224000862/Tp-Diplma-Underlines-Iran's-Universal-Oppsiin-War
--------
Amir
Abdollahian: Tehran to Further Develop Ties with Moscow
2022-March-15
"The
Islamic Republic of Iran has always emphasized good relations with Russia as a
friend and neighbor," Amir Abdollahian said.
He
referred to the deepening of cooperation between the two countries in various
fields, and said, "Relations between Iran and Russia will develop
regardless of international developments."
"During
Mr. Rayeesi's recent visit and meeting with Mr. Putin, important agreements
were reached between the two countries," Amir Abdollahian noted.
He
also appreciated the Russian negotiating team in Vienna talks for their
constructive efforts to help come closer to an agreement to lift sanctions on
Iran.
"Today
is an important opportunity to discuss and consult on developments in Ukraine,
Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria and Palestine and other international issues,"
Amir Abdollahian added.
Lavrov,
for his part, pointed to the strong relations between the two countries,
saying, "Relations between Tehran and Moscow are expanding in all fields,
and a comprehensive document on long-term cooperation between the two countries
is currently being reviewed and finalized."
"Both
countries have common views on many international issues," he added,
referring to the significant increase in the volume of economic relations
between Iran and Russia.
"We
will discuss with you further coordination of the Syrian settlement within the
framework of the Astana format, as well as other crisis points in the Middle
East and North Africa, and, of course, we will also talk about the Afghan
settlement, which requires full attention," he said, adding, "I want
to note that we appreciate our trust-based dialogue and your objective position
on what is happening in Ukraine."
The
Russian foreign minister added that interaction on international affairs has
always occupied a significant place in the relations between Moscow and Tehran.
Lavrov
pointed out that despite all known factors, the trade turnover between Russia
and Iran is growing "at a record pace, exceeding $4 billion".
"I'm
sure the prospects are even more impressive, given that the agreement to resume
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to resolve the situation around
the Iranian nuclear program has reached the finish line," the minister
said.
Lavrov
also pointed to the regular high-level consultations between the two countries,
saying, "In today's talks, we will discuss in detail the Vienna talks, the
developments in Ukraine, the issue of Syria and Yemen."
After
arrival in Tehran from Russia visit in January, Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim
Rayeesi said that development of relations between Tehran and Moscow will lead
to more security and prosperity for both nations and the entire region.
“Undoubtedly,
the development of relations with Russia will contribute to the security and
prosperity of the two nations. Certainly, such security-building cooperation
will be for the sake of the region,” Rayeesi said.
He
said that during his Russia trip, which began on Wednesday, the two sides
discussed steps to challenge the dominance of the US dollar and continue trade in
their national currencies.
“Our
oil minister had good agreements with Russian energy officials, the effects of
which will emerge later,” he said, adding that good agreements were also
reached on removing obstacles to boosting trade relations.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14001224000884/Amir-Abdllahian-Tehran-Frher-Develp-Ties-wih-Mscw
--------
Lavrov:
Russia in Receit of Written Guarantee from US over Vienna Deal with Iran
2022-March-15
Speaking
in a joint press conference with his visiting Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir
Abdollahian in Moscow on Tuesday, Lavrov said, "We support a fast return
to abidance to the Iran nuclear deal."
He
further ruled out the US allegations against Russia of obstructing the Vienna
talks as baseless.
The
top Russian diplomat added that Moscow has received written assurances from
Washington that sanctions will not prevent cooperation [with Iran] within the
framework of the nuclear deal.
"We
have received a written guarantee and they will be included in the text of the
revived JCPOA," Lavrov said.
"In
this regard, reliable protection for all projects and activities, companies and
experts that were within the framework of the JCPOA, including cooperation
regarding the main project of Bushehr power plant is mentioned," he added.
"I
have heard too that the Americans are trying on a daily basis to accuse us of
blocking the agreement. This is a lie, the agreement has not yet been approved
by some capitals, and Moscow is not one of them," the Russian foreign
minister further said.
He
added that Iran and Russia have agreed to work jointly to tackle the sanctions.
The
Russian diplomat said that the two sides in the meeting explored ways to
strengthen their bilateral relations and are working on a draft of an important
agreement between the two countries in that regard.
He also
said that he had accepted Amir Abdollahian’s invitation to visit Tehran.
Amir
Abdollahian, for his part, said that “Russia will be no barrier to reaching an
agreement and there is no link between Ukraine developments and the Vienna
talks”.
He
added that "if we agree with the American side on some of the remaining
issues, which are considered to be the Islamic Republic of Iran's main red
lines, we will then reach a final agreement in Vienna. Based on the talks we
had today with Mr. Lavrov, Russia will continue to play a very positive and
constructive role".
Amir
Abdollahian further blamed the US for hindering the talks by making new
excessive demands just before writing the agreement, expressing the hope that
“the American side will stop making excessive demands in the near future and
that we will be able to announce a good and lasting agreement in the near
future with the support of all parties involved in the Vienna talks".
He
added that "the pause in the negotiations can pave the way for resolving
the remaining issues and the final return of all parties to their commitments
as per the JCPOA".
The
Iranian foreign minister reiterated that Iran has adopted an independent
foreign policy and seeks to ensure the Iranian people's interests.
As
regards Ukraine, the top Iranian diplomat said that Tehran opposes war and
wants a political and diplomatic solution to the issue.
Secretary
of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said on Monday
that his country will remain in Vienna talks until it earns a strong agreement.
"All
pillars of the Iranian state - in spite of all external and internal hype -
work hard to preserve and advance Iran's national interests," Shamkhani
wrote on his twitter page.
"We
will remain in the Vienna talks until we reach a 'strong agreement' that meets
all our legal and logical demands", he added.
The
US unilaterally left the 2015 Iran deal in 2018, and restored the sanctions
that had been lifted under the accord. Washington’s European allies in the
deal—France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—have been toeing the sanctions
line closely by ending their trade activities with Iran.
The
Vienna talks began last April between Iran and the remaining parties to the
JCPOA —Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — on the assumption that the
US, under the Biden administration, is willing to repeal the so-called maximum
pressure policy pursued by former president, Donald Trump, against Tehran.
Iran
says it won’t settle for anything less than the removal of all US sanctions in
a verifiable manner. It also wants guarantees that Washington would not abandon
the agreement again.
Iran
and the G4+1 group of countries on Friday announced a pause in the Vienna
talks, with Tehran saying that all relevant parties will concentrate on a “successful
conclusion” of the diplomatic process.
Iranian
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Twitter that the pause in
the Vienna talks could provide a “momentum” for resolving any remaining issues
and a “final return” to the negotiations, adding, “Successful conclusion of
talks will be the main focus of all [the parties involved].”
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
From
Gaza to Ukraine and back, war haunts Palestinian students
15
March ,2022
Samar
Aita lived through three wars in the Gaza Strip before moving to Ukraine four
years ago, never imagining her computer engineering studies would be
interrupted by a conflict far from home.
The
21-year-old Palestinian woman is now back with her family in Rafah, a town in
southern Gaza, after fleeing Kharkiv, a city in northeastern Ukraine.
“I
never expected I would go from one war into another, from bombardment to
bombardment, from displacement to displacement and from refuge to refuge,” Aita
said.
“Ukraine
was a very calm and safe place therefore, I never expected I would be forced to
escape or that my life would be in danger.”
In
2014, Aita lost several relatives when Israel bombed her neighborhood during a
50-day war with Gaza militants, scenes she and her mother recalled with the
first news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Knowing
your daughter is alone and you don’t know how dangerous it is there, made me
tense and I couldn’t sleep for a week,” said Aita’s mother Shadia.
Israel
and Gaza’s armed groups have fought four wars since 2008, including one last
May, and the area remains volatile.
Aita
said her life had been in danger several times during her escape from Ukraine,
including her exit from Kharkiv by train when it was forced to abruptly change
tracks during a bombing, turning a 12-hour trip into a 36-hour ordeal.
The
Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said it oversaw the
evacuation of 1,300 Palestinians, including 600 students, from Ukraine since
the start of the invasion.
Most
studied medicine, said Ahmed al-Deek, an advisor to the Palestinian foreign
minister. He said the Palestinian Authority would help those who fled Ukraine
to study in universities in the West Bank and Gaza instead.
In
Gaza’s Nusseirat refugee camp, Rabeea Abu Rabeea said his journey from Ukraine
took 11 days. In his fourth year at the Poltava State Medical University, he
had aimed to become a dentist like his father.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Israeli
forces kill two Palestinians in West Bank violence
15
March ,2022
Israeli
forces shot dead two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the
Palestinian Health Ministry said, in what Israeli border police described as
clashes that erupted during a raid to detain suspected militants.
The
Israeli border police said that during an operation in a refugee camp in the
northern West Bank, a gunman fired at undercover officers who shot back,
“neutralizing” him.
In
a second refugee camp near Jerusalem, border police said forces on a separate
arrest raid encountered hundreds of Palestinians who threw heavy objects from
rooftops, endangering the troops.
It
was not immediately clear whether the Palestinian killed there had taken part
in the clash.
The
Palestinian Health Ministry confirmed the fatalities. The Palestinian Ministry
of Foreign Affairs condemned the incidents as extra-judicial killings.
“These
crimes amount to war crimes and crimes against the international law that must
be punished by the international law,” it said in a statement.
In
Gaza, a spokesperson for the ruling Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Hazem
Qassem, said: “We are witnessing a new uprising, a new era of the struggle that
aims to end the existence of the occupation on this land.”
Israel
captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem - territories where
Palestinians seek statehood - in the 1967 war. The last round of peace talks
collapsed in 2014.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Turkiye
neutralizes 8 YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria
Ahmet
Gençtürk
16.03.2022
Turkish
security forces “neutralized” eight YPG/PKK terrorists in northern Syria, the
National Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
The
terrorists targeted were preparing to carry out an attack in the Operation
Euphrates Shield zone, the ministry said on Twitter.
Turkish
authorities use the term “neutralize” to imply the terrorists in question
surrendered or were killed or captured.
Since
2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across
its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and
enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch
(2018) and Peace Spring (2019).
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
5
killed in suicide bomb attack south of Yemen
Shukri
Hussein
15.03.2022
SANAA,
Yemen
Five
people were killed in a suicide bomb attack Tuesday in Yemen’s southern
province of Abyan, according to a local security source.
The
attack targeted the convoy of Abdul Latif al-Sayed, commander of the Security
Belt Forces (SBF) in Abyan, the source said on condition of anonymity because
he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“The
explosion took place as al-Sayed was on his way to the provincial capital
(Zinjibar)," the source added.
The
SBF are affiliated with Yemen's separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC),
which is backed by the United Arab Emirates.
The
source said three of those killed were SBF members.
The
other two were the attackers, who were hiding in the vicinity of the explosion
site, and were shot dead by SBF forces guarding al-Sayed after a brief fire
exchange, the source added.
He
suspected the attackers belonged to al-Qaeda terrorist group.
Five
other SBF forces were also injured in the attack.
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/5-killed-in-suicide-bomb-attack-south-of-yemen/2535672
--------
Africa
Tunisia
says it has dismantled ISIS-linked terrorist cell
16
March ,2022
Police
have broken up a militant cell linked to ISIS in the southern Tunisian city of
Tataouine, the interior ministry said on Wednesday.
Police
said the cell was planning attacks with explosives and trying to recruit young
people, according to the ministry statement.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Thousands
protest violence against protesters in Sudan
Barham
Abdelmoneim
15.03.2022
KHARTOUM,
Sudan
Thousands
demonstrated in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday to protest violence
against protesters and demand full civilian rule.
Protesters
gathered near the presidential palace in Khartoum, amid chants condemning the
use of force by security forces against demonstrators, according to an Anadolu
Agency reporter on the ground.
Protesters
also waved banners demanding full civilian rule and the release of political
detainees.
Tuesday’s
demonstration was called by the Resistance Committees, a protest group that led
demonstrations against the military.
Similar
protests were staged on Monday in Khartoum and other cities, during which 133
protesters were injured, according to the Central Committee of the Sudanese
Doctors.
There
was no comment from the Sudanese authorities on the report.
Sudan
has been in turmoil since Oct. 25, 2021, when the military dismissed Prime
Minister Abdalla Hamdok's transitional government and declared a state of
emergency, in a move decried by political groups as a “military coup”.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/thousands-protest-violence-against-protesters-in-sudan/2535917
--------
Southeast
Asia
Why
Did OKU Groups Come To Us For Help, Yeoh Asks Ministry
Dineskumar
Ragu
March
15, 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR: The women, family and community development ministry has been asked why
groups representing disabled people (OKU) were seeking the help of opposition
MPs if it had already met them to address complaints over a cashless payment
system.
Hannah
Yeoh (PH-Segambut) posed the question in the Dewan Rakyat today to deputy
minister Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff, who was asked about a protest by OKU groups
outside Parliament earlier this month calling for the ministry to scrap the
JKMPay system.
Yeoh
also wanted to know whether Siti Zailah or the minister, Rina Harun, had met
the groups to discuss the issue when they went to the ministry three times
after the protest.
“Why
couldn’t the minister or deputy minister meet with the OKU representatives?
Instead, these groups had to resort to Zoom meetings with opposition MPs to air
their grievances,” she said.
Siti
Zailah replied that neither she nor Rina could meet the groups because they
both were at meetings on the day of the protest.
However,
she said the ministry’s chief secretary, Maziah Che Yusoff, and her deputy, as
well as several senior officials, met the activists and she was briefed on the
protest.
Siti
Zailah also said she met the OKU groups at the ministry before their protest
outside Parliament.
“I
even prepared a feast for them,” she said, to which Lim Lip Eng (PH-Kepong)
interjected and asked Siti Zailah for photos of the meeting.
On
March 1, about 100 OKU representatives gathered outside Parliament to demand
that the government do away with the JKMPay scheme, which they said was
unfriendly, and reinstate the cash incentive allowance.
JKMPay,
launched last April by Rina, was a pioneer programme that had been undergoing
evaluation.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Umno
veteran Shahrir ’embarrassed’ over Hasni ouster
March
15, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: Umno veteran Shahrir Samad said he had been left embarrassed that despite
a landslide election victory, Hasni Mohammad would not be nominated to a second
term as menteri besar.
Shahrir
said Hasni’s statement yesterday, in which he called for a young person to lead
the state, inferred that another had been named to succeed him.
“So
I feel ashamed about attending the Umno assembly next weekend.
“Umno
can obtain the mandate, but cannot name a party leader to head the state
government,” he said in a Facebook post.
He
said that he had laughed at Perikatan Nasional and Pakatan Harapan in the
run-up to the Johor elections over their inability to name a prospective
menteri besar candidate.
He
had been certain that Hasni would be a shoo-in. “But apparently he is not fit,
and Johor Umno can’t do a thing.”
Shahrir
said he was also embarrassed by what had taken place after Hasni led the
coalition to a win in the elections.
Last
night, Onn Hafiz Ghazi, a great grandson of Umno’s founder, was being touted as
the next menteri besar, following Hasni’s call for a young person to lead
Johor.
Hasni
had been expected to be nominated for another term as menteri besar after BN
won 40 seats in the 56-member state assembly on Saturday.
A
report by Berita Harian speculated that Onn would replace Hasni, while
Malaysiakini reported that Onn, Hasni and Umno Supreme Council member Puad
Zarkashi were on a shortlist. Puad has since brushed off such talk.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Explain
‘extraordinarily stupid’ letter by Thomas on Sulu issue, Najib tells PH
March
13, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: Najib Razak has demanded that Pakatan Harapan (PH) explain whether
Cabinet approval was obtained for an “extraordinarily stupid letter” sent by
former attorney-general Tommy Thomas to lawyers representing descendants of the
Sultan of Sulu in 2019.
“As
this is a serious issue, I would like to ask former government leaders,
including Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Lim Guan Eng and Muhyiddin Yassin, whether this
extraordinarily stupid letter was approved by the Cabinet at the time or was it
just a letter from Tommy as the attorney-general,” said Najib on Facebook.
He
said the letter was used by the UK lawyer last week to dispute the contention
of the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) that the heirs’ identities were
doubtful.
The
lawyer, Elisabeth Mason, said the letter showed that the AGC and the foreign
ministry had known and formally recognised the claimants and their rights “for
years”, and had been directly and individually involved with them for just as
long.
In
the 2019 letter sighted by FMT, Thomas attached a copy of the judgment by North
Borneo High Court chief justice Charles F Macaskie in 1939 and said that
Malaysia did not dispute the identity of the individuals and their right to be
paid.
He
also regretted that payments ceased in 2013, adding that Malaysia was “now
ready and willing” to pay the Sulu heirs all arrears from 2013 to 2019
amounting to RM48,300.
In
his Facebook post, Najib asked: “Did Tommy and the PH government think that the
Sulu descendants would stop pursuing their case after being paid only RM48,300
in compensation?”
He
said that apart from the PH government not sending a representative to the
Spanish court, Thomas’s letter may be used as evidence and the main reason for
the lawyers of the Sulu descendants to win their case.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hijab-hind-isis-hindus-muslim-women/d/126584