Hindu Texts, Sanskrit In Kerala Islamic School, Academy of Sharia and Advanced Studies to Inculcate Secularism And Democratic Ideas Among Its Students
New Age Islam News Bureau
17 January 2023
Representational image. File Photo.
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• Eiffel Tower Tribute To Mahsa Amini In Paris
• Saudi Arabia Preacher, Awad Al-Qarni, Facing Death Penalty Charged For Using
Twitter
• Isolated China Gives Up On UN Listing of LeT’s
Deputy Chief Abdul Rehman Makki As Global Terrorist
• Rights Experts- Who Report To The Human Rights
Council Urge Pakistan For Action On Coerced Religious Conversions, Child
Marriage
India
• BJP Plans To Mobilise 25,000 Muslim Participants For
PM Narendra Modi's BKC Address In Mumbai
• 'Pakistan Has Learnt Its Lesson ... ': Shehbaz
Sharif Calls For Honest Talks With PM Modi
• Mukarram Jah, last Nizam of Hyderabad, to be laid to
rest at Mecca Masjid on Wednesday
• Terrorist killed in Budgam encounter
• Rajouri grenade attack: Chargesheet against LeT duo
• Months after row over Hyderabad merger, KCR govt to
give state funeral to last Nizam
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Europe
• Hundreds Of Persecuted Kiwi Muslims To Gather To
Talk About Peace
• French Islamic State fighter and wife on trial in
Paris for terrorism
• For Britain's sake, we must unleash the potential of
Muslim civil society
• Türkiye slams Sweden's refusal to probe PKK terror
group's provocation against President Erdogan
• Israeli army detains Italian activist in occupied
West Bank
• Türkiye, Italy have 'close' cooperation on
migration, terrorism: Minister
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Arab World
• Saudi Arabia Calls For Stronger Action Against
Houthis As Militia Rejects Peace
• Saudi conference promotes culture of quality,
excellence in KSA
• Police question Lebanese relatives of 2020 blast
victims
• UN envoy encouraged by Yemen truce deal efforts,
warns against ‘piecemeal approach’
• OIC, IPHRC Chiefs Discuss Human Rights Issues
• Next Lebanese president must safeguard national
interests, withstand pressures: Senior Hezbollah lawmaker
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South Asia
• China Calls On Israel To Stop 'Provocations' Amid
Rise In Tensions In Palestinian Territories
• Afghan Women Live Under a Brutal Gender Apartheid
System: Canadian MPs
• UN Employ Technology to Stop Afghanistan’s Illicit
Opium Cultivation
• Oil deal with Taliban represents China’s growing
strategic interest in Afghanistan, says expert
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Pakistan
• Imran Khan hints at returning to Pakistan's National
Assembly
• Pakistan's largest province to hold snap polls in
win for former PM Imran Khan
• Karachi LG polls: JI emerges as kingmaker after PPP
rules out alliance with PTI
• Pakistan’s ruling coalition upsets Imran Khan’s
Tehreek-e-Insaf in Karachi vote
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Mideast
• 40 Nations Urge Israel To Lift ‘Punitive’ Sanctions
On Palestinians
• Sweden, Finland must send up to 130 “terrorists” to
Turkey for NATO bid: Erdogan
• Israel condemned for night raids against Palestinian
children
• 40 nations urge Israel to lift ‘punitive’ sanctions
on Palestinians
• Israel vows to protect its military from politics
• Iran responsible for 90% of Middle East's problems:
Israeli Premier Netanyahu
• UN envoy praises ‘intensification’ of diplomatic
activity in resolving Yemen conflict
• Iranian foreign minister due in Türkiye on Tuesday
for talks
• Palestinian child dies of wounds from Israeli raid
• Palestinian resistance forces will never give in to
Israeli aggressors: Islamic Jihad official
• Legal expert: West uses religious hate-mongering as
tool to foment extremism, terrorism
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Africa
• Islamic State Claims Responsibility for DR Congo
Church Bombing
• Somali military liberates strategic coastal town
from al-Shabaab terrorists
• Ankara, Moscow discuss measures to send Turkish-made
Russian flour to Africa
• Terror attack kills 5 soldiers in NW Mali
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North America
• Senior US Officials Make Quiet Stops In Iraq, Jordan
• UK And US Weapons Used In Yemen Make Them Complicit
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Southeast Asia
• Malaysian Festival Seeking to Promote Quranic Arts
in World: Organizer
• Six Islamic extremists surrender in Philippines
• Study: ‘Ultranationalist’ groups gaining traction in
Malaysian online space following Umno’s defeat in 2018 polls
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/hindu-sanskrit-sharia-secularism/d/128897
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Hindu Texts, Sanskrit In Kerala Islamic School,
Academy of Sharia and Advanced Studies to Inculcate Secularism And Democratic
Ideas Among Its Students
Representational image. File Photo.
----
January 16, 2023
Thrissur: Basic Sanskrit grammar in class 11 and 12
and then Bhagavad Gita as well as other Hindu texts in the 'Deva Bhasha' in
subsequent years of study is the structured syllabus prepared for its students
by an Islamic institute in Kerala's Thrissur district.
The new syllabus will come into operation from June
2023 when the new academic year starts.
The Academy of Sharia and Advanced Studies (ASAS) run
by Malik Deenar Islamic Complex (MIC) was in the news recently for setting an
example by teaching Sanskrit, also known as 'Deva Bhasha', to its students with
the help of Hindu scholars.
The decision, to come out with a structured syllabus
to teach the ancient and classical language, was taken to inculcate in the
students, knowledge and awareness about other religions, the institute said.
The MIC ASAS was teaching its students selective
portions of the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana in Sanskrit
for the last seven years.
Hafiz Aboobacker, one of the coordinators at the
institute, told PTI that the earlier Sanskrit syllabus was not very detailed.
The latest one is a syllabus for a eight-year course
starting from plus two till post graduation, he said.
The students will now also have the option to opt for
a degree or post-graduate course in Sanskrit, Aboobacker said.
He said the syllabus was a joint effort of Dr C M
Neelakandan -- a retired professor of Sanskrit Literature from the Sree
Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit -- and Dr Shamseer P C -- assistant
professor, department of Sanskrit, Kerala University.
The idea was not to just teach them a language, but to
also familiarise students with these ancient Hindu texts so that they
understand religion and can make informed decisions for themselves, he said.
"It will also help to build secular and
democratic ideas among students," he said.
According to the latest syllabus, in plus two, the
students would be familiarised with basic grammar, words, declensions, gender,
number and sentence construction in Sanskrit.
After that, during the first two years of their
undergraduate studies, they would be taught Mahakavya, basic grammar, Sanskrit
drama, computer, Sanskrit stotra, grammar, prose and Tarkasamgraha -- a
treatise in Sanskrit giving a foundational exposition of the ancient Indian
system of logic and reasoning.
In the final year, Bhagavad Gita, translation and
Sankhya would be taught to students, according to the syllabus shared by the
institute.
During post-graduation, syllabus would include Vedic
Suktas, Vedantasara, Dramaturgy, Upanishads, Natyasastra, yoga, Bhasa study and
Book review, it said.
The institution is primarily a Sharia college where
other languages, like Urdu and English are also taught besides a degree course
in Arts as it is affiliated to Calicut University.
Source: ND TV
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Eiffel Tower Tribute To Mahsa Amini In Paris
The landmark was lit up with
slogans paying tribute to Mahsa Amini
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January 16, 2023
PARIS: Some 5,000 people marched Monday to the EU
parliament in the French city of Strasbourg in support of Iran’s
anti-government protesters as Paris prepared an Eiffel Tower tribute to Mahsa
Amini, whose death in September prompted the demonstrations.
The Strasbourg march was organized by Iranians in
Europe on the 44th anniversary of the day when Iran’s last Shah, Mohammad Reza
Pahlavi, ailing and under growing pressure, left the country for ever. The
following month, the monarchy collapsed under the fervour of the Islamic
revolution that gave Iran its theocracy. Some of the demonstrators Monday
carried photos of the former king.
Last week, over 100 MEPs signed a letter calling for
the European Union to take a firmer stance against Iran.
The European parliament’s plenary session is to debate
the EU’s response this week to the protests and executions in the Islamic
Republic. A non-binding resolution is to be voted on Thursday.
The MEPs’ letter to Josep Borrell, the EU’s High
Representative for Foreign Affairs, called on the bloc to designate the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps “in its entirety as a terrorist organization.” The
IRGC was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the US in 2019.
Paris City Hall said in a statement that the words
“Woman. Life. Freedom.” and “#StopExecutionsInIran” will be displayed on the
Eiffel Tower on Monday and Tuesday evening to mark four months from the death
of Mahsa Amini, in a “homage to those who are bravely fighting for their
freedom as the (Iranian) regime is continuing executions of protesters.”
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and some deputy mayors are
expected to go to the Eiffel Tower Monday in a show of support. Paris
posthumously declared Amani an honorary citizen in October.
Iran has been rocked by protests since the Sept. 16
death of the 22-year-old, who died after being detained by the morality police.
The protests have since become one of the most serious challenges to Iran’s
leaders.
Source: Arab News
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original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2233526/middle-east
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Saudi Arabia Preacher, Awad Al-Qarni, Facing Death Penalty Charged For Using
Twitter
Saudi preacher Awad al-Qarni
(Screengrab)
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15 January 2023
The charges against a prominent Saudi Arabian preacher
facing the death penalty include the use of social media accounts and messaging
apps, according to court documents.
Awad al-Qarni, 65, had "admitted" to using a
Twitter account under his name "at every opportunity… to express his
opinions", the documents seen by the Guardian revealed on Sunday.
Qarni was arrested in 2017 in a sweeping crackdown on
preachers, academics, journalists, businesspeople and others.
The allegations against him also included the creation
of a Telegram account and sharing news considered "hostile" to the
kingdom in a WhatsApp chat.
Additionally, the law professor was accused of
praising the Muslim Brotherhood movement in a video.
Admissions and confessions during interrogations in
Saudi prisons are often taken after torture and mistreatment.
A year after his arrest, the public prosecutor called
for Qarni to face the death penalty along with Salman Odah and Ali al-Omari.
Qarni, Omari and Odah are independent religious and
media figures with a large following among Saudi Arabian and Arab youth.
The Saudi government has been accused by human rights
groups of a widespread crackdown on dissent and freedom of expression.
Repression has increased since Mohammed bin Salman
became crown prince and de-facto ruler of the kingdom in the summer of 2017.
Saudi officials say the kingdom does not have
political prisoners.
Despite promises by the government to reduce death
penalty sentences, a recent increase in the number of executions has raised
alarm among human rights groups.
Last year, the kingdom executed 147 people, including
the mass execution of 81 people in one day, according to the European Saudi
Organization for Human Rights.
The Germany-based group says at least 61 people are
facing the death penalty as of December 2022, adding that the actual number is
likely higher.
Some right groups fear the prisoners, including Qarni,
Omari and Odah, may be swept up in a mass execution.
Nasser al-Qarni, Awad's son, fled the country last
year and sought asylum in the UK after Saudi officials threatened him with jail
or execution if he spoke out about his father.
"We, inside Saudi Arabia, have exhausted all
possible means to release my father and stop the oppression he is subjected to,
but to no avail," he said in October.
"Unfortunately, my country is failing, not only
in terms of human rights but in all areas, socially, economically and
politically," he added.
Source: Middle East Eye
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-arabia-awad-qarni-death-penalty-using-twitter
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Isolated China Gives Up On UN Listing of LeT’s Deputy
Chief Abdul Rehman Makki As Global Terrorist
Lashkar-e-Toiba's kingpins
Haifz Saeed and his brother in law Abdul Rehman Makki.
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Jan 17, 2023
By Shishir Gupta
With India getting 14 out of 15 members of the UN
Security Council on its side, China today was forced to give up the “technical”
hold on the designation of Lahore-based Lashkar-e-Toiba’s deputy chief Abdul
Rehman Makki as a global terrorist by the 1267 UN Sanctions committee.
Brother-in-law of designated terrorist and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed, Makki used to
raise funds from the Middle East for the terror group under the garb of being
head of the foreign relations committee. The US Justice Department had put a
bounty of USD two million on Makki’s head in November 2010.
According to diplomats based in New York, China was
isolated in the UNSC over Makki as India made it clear that it would continue
raising the listing of the Lashkar terrorist and the role played by China in
providing cover to Pakistan-based groups till its objective was achieved.
China, as a permanent UNSC member, had put a technical hold on listing Makki as
a global terrorist in the 1267 committee in July 2022. India also wants 26/11
killer Sajjid Mir of LeT to be listed as a global terrorist by the same
committee.
Over the years, China has virtually worked as an agent
of Pakistan in the UNSC by blocking efforts made by the Narendra Modi
government with its allies US and France to get Pakistan-based terrorists like
Hafiz Saeed, Jaish-e-Mohammed Masood Azhar and his brother Rauf Azhar listed as
global terrorists by the ISIS and Al Qaida Sanctions Committee. Despite Masood
Azhar running a terror factory in Bahawalpur in Punjab and responsible for
major terror attacks in India, which could have even triggered a war between
the two neighbors, China blocked his designation four times before giving up.
The same was the case with LeT’s Hafiz Saeed, who planned and orchestrated the
26/11 Mumbai attacks with his lieutenants Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Sajjid Mir
with the full operational support of Pakistani intelligence. The clout of these
two terrorist groups in Pakistan is such that both Saeed and Azhar are feted by
the Pakistani intelligence and are considered force multipliers of the
Pakistani coercive tactics against India and the west.
While China has justified placing hurdles in listing
of known Pak terrorists and terror group by saying it is an Indo-Pak issue,
fact is that Beijing connived with Islamabad to get innocent Indians working in
Afghanistan designated as global terrorists by the same 1267 committee. All
such attempts were blocked by India’s close allies US and France.
By designating Makki as a global terrorist and
restricting his foreign travel, the LeT will face a crunch in collecting terror
funds in the name of Islam from the Middle-East and in the name of flood
relief. Lashkar terrorist group professes Salafi Islamic ideology and has close
links with other Salafi outfits in the Middle-East like Muslim Brotherhood and
other radical outfits in the region.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Rights Experts- Who Report To The Human Rights Council
Urge Pakistan For Action On Coerced Religious Conversions, Child Marriage
Unsplash/Shiza Nazir The
entrance of Delhi Gate, in Lahore, Pakistan.
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16 January 2023
In their appeal to the authorities to stop the alleged
abuse, the experts warned that teenagers had been “kidnapped from their
families, trafficked … far from their homes (and) made to marry men sometimes
twice their age”.
The rights experts - who report to the Human Rights
Council – cited reports suggesting the involvement of religious authorities and
the complicity of security forces and the justice system; although they also
acknowledged that Pakistan had already made efforts to pass legislation
prohibiting such illegal practices.
‘Immediate steps’ needed
“We urge the Government to take immediate steps to
prevent and thoroughly investigate these acts objectively and in line with
domestic legislation and international human rights commitments. Perpetrators
must be held fully accountable,” the experts said.
In a statement urging Pakistan to uphold the rights of
women and children, the group of nearly a dozen independent experts and Special
Rapporteurs, maintained that Pakistan’s courts had enabled the perpetrators by
accepting “fraudulent evidence” from them, regarding the age of the victims and
their willingness to marry and convert to Islam.
‘Justifying’ abuse
They noted that the courts had also sometimes “misused
interpretations of religious law to justify victims remaining with their
abusers”; the police had also failed victims’ families by refusing to register
the abductions, or dismissing them as “love marriages”.
Threat of violence
They said they were “very concerned” that marriages
and conversions have taken place “under threat of violence to these girls and
women or their families.”
“Abductors force their victims to sign documents which
falsely attest to their being of legal age for marriage as well as marrying and
converting of free will. These documents are cited by the police as evidence
that no crime has occurred.”
The experts said it was imperative that all victims,
regardless of religious background, are afforded access to justice and equal
protection under the law.
Adopt and enforce the law
“Pakistani authorities must adopt and enforce
legislation prohibiting forced conversions, forced and child marriages,
kidnapping, and trafficking, and abide by their international human rights
commitments to combat slavery and human trafficking and uphold the rights of
women and children,” they said.
Special Rapporteurs and other independent experts –
such as the five endorsing Monday’s statement from the Working Group on
discrimination against women and girls – are part of the Special Procedures of
the Human Rights Council.
The are not UN staff, do not receive any salary, and
are independent of any government or organising, serving in their own
individual capacity.
Source: News UN
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original story:
https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/01/1132482
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India
BJP Plans To Mobilise 25,000 Muslim Participants For PM Narendra Modi's BKC Address In Mumbai
Jan 17, 2023
MUMBAI: BJP state secretary and ex-chairman of Maulana
Azad Minorities Finance Development Corporation Haider Azam has said that he
and his party workers would ensure at least 25,000 Muslims attend the January
19 meeting which PM Narendra Modi is scheduled to address at the BKC ground.
"We are mobilising Muslim participants from minority pockets, like
Mohammed Ali Road, Bandra, Kurla, Mira Road, Malad-Malvani, Mumbra and
Bhiwandi.
Source: Times Of India
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'Pakistan Has Learnt Its Lesson ... ': Shehbaz Sharif
Calls For Honest Talks With PM Modi
Jan 17, 2023
NEW DELHI: Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif has called for
an honest talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on various burning issues like
Kashmir. Sharif, in an interview with a Dubai-based Arabic news channel,
stressed that Pakistan has learnt its lesson and wants to live in peace with
India.
"My message to the Indian leadership and Prime
Minister Modi is that let's sit down on the table and have serious and sincere
talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir. It is up to us to live
peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and
resources," Sharif said.
The Pakistan PM said that it is up to both the nations
to live peacefully and progress or quarrel with each other.
"We have had three wars with India, and they have
only brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment to the people. We have
learnt our lesson, and we want to live in peace with India, provided we are
able to resolve our genuine problems," Sharif said in the interview that
was aired on Monday.
Pakistan, which is battling a severe economic crisis,
public discontent against the ruling regime due to flour crisis and fuel
shortage among others is also faced with rising instances of terror attacks by
the proscribed outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which had ended a
ceasefire with the country's security forces late last year.
"India is our neighbour country, we are
neighbours. Let's be very blunt, even if we are not neighbours by choice we are
there for ever and it is up to us for us to live peacefully and progress or
quarrel with each other and waste time and resources. That is up to us,"
Sharif said in the interview.
Bringing u up the subject of Kashmir, he said,
"Pakistan wants peace but what is happening in Kashmir should be
stopped."
"Pakistan does not want to waste resources on
bombs and ammunition. We are nuclear powers, armed to the teeth, and if God
forbids, a war breaks out, who will live to tell what happened?" Sharid
said.
Source: Times Of India
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Mukarram Jah, last Nizam of Hyderabad, to be laid to
rest at Mecca Masjid on Wednesday
January 17, 2023
The mortal remains of Mukarram Jah, the titular eighth
Nizam of Hyderabad, will reach the city Tuesday evening and the public will be
allowed to pay their respects at Chowmahalla Palace between 8 am and 1 pm
Wednesday, a statement issued by his office on behalf of the family said.
Arrangements are being put in place at the iconic Mecca Masjid for the final
rites of the last Nizam on Wednesday.
Jah, 89, the successor and grandson of the seventh
Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, passed away on Saturday night in Turkey’s
Istanbul where he had been living. His mortal remains are being brought to
Hyderabad as per his desire to be laid to rest in his homeland.
The Telangana government has decided to accord full
state honours to Mukarram Jah. “In recognition of Mukarram Jah’s social
services in the fields of education and medicine for the poor as the successor
of the Nizam, the Chief Minister directed chief secretary Shanthi Kumar to
conduct Jah’s last rites with the highest state honours,” a statement from the
Chief Minister’s Office said.
Born in France on October 6, 1933 to Prince Azam Jah
and Princess Durru Shehvar, the daughter of the last Caliph of the Ottoman
empire Sultan Abdul Mejid II, Mukarram Jah was coronated as Asaf Jah the Eighth
on April 6, 1967 after the passing away of Mir Osman Ali Khan in February 1967.
“The mortal remains of H.E.H. the VIII Nizam late Nawab
Mir Barkat Ali Khan Walashan Mukarram Jah Bahadur will be brought from Turkey
and will arrive at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad at 05.00 PM
IST, 17.01.2023. The mortal remains will be brought directly to Chowmahalla
Palace,” a statement issued by his office on behalf of the family said.
The family, its trustees, staff and close friends will
be allowed to pay their final respects to the last Nizam between 7 pm and 10 pm
on Tuesday at the Chowmahalla Palace, according to the statement.
On Wednesday at around 4 pm, “the mortal remains will
be carried to Mecca Masjid and arrangements have been made such that a maximum
number of people are able to give ‘Kandha’ to H.E.H. the VIII Nizam. After Asar
prayers, H.E.H. the VIII Nizam will be laid to rest by his immediate family,”
the statement added.
While the Nizam’s Dominion of Hyderabad ceased to
exist after it acceded to the Indian union in 1948, the seventh Nizam Mir Osman
Ali Khan served as the Raj Pramukh of the state from January 26, 1950, when it
accepted the Indian Constitution, till October 31, 1956, when parts of the
Hyderabad state were merged with neighbouring regions to form Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka and Maharashtra. In June 1954, Osman Ali Khan wrote to the Union
Government to recognise Mukarram Jah as his successor and the request from the
former monarch was accepted by the Centre in 1964.
Following the passing of Osman Ali Khan in 1966, Jah
continued to hold the title of the Nizam of Hyderabad till November 1971 when
the government abolished the privy purse and royal titles. He moved to Perth in
Australia the next year and bought a sheep farm spread across 5 lakh acres and
visited Hyderabad occasionally.
Source: Indian Express
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Terrorist killed in Budgam encounter
Jan 17, 2023
SRINAGAR: An unidentified terrorist was killed in an
encounter with security forces in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday,
officials said here.
An Army official said soldiers set up a mobile vehicle
check point at Budgam following information about movement of terrorists in the
area.
"A cab was signalled to stop for check but the
terrorists inside opened fire on the security forces, which was
retaliated," the official said.
He said one terrorist was killed, while the operation
was still in progress.
Source: Times Of India
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Rajouri grenade attack: Chargesheet against LeT duo
Jan 17, 2023
SRINAGAR: J&K police on Monday filed chargesheet
against two persons, accused to be associates of Lashkar-e-Taiba, in connection
with a grenade throwing case in Rajouri district in which a minor was killed
and six people injured in 2021.
“Police Rajouri filed a charge sheet in case FIR No.
542/2021 U/S 307/120-B/121/122 IPC, 3/4 Explosive Act, 13-ULA (P) of P/S
Rajouri before the court of 3rd Additional Sessions Judge Jammu against 02
accused namely Altaf Hussain Shah of Draj, Tehsil-Koteranka District Rajouri
and absconding accused namely Mohammad Qasim alias Suleiman Gujjar of Angrala
Tehsil Mahore District Reasi presently in PoK,” police said in a statement .
“The accused person threw a grenade in the house of
one Romesh Singh son of Lal Chand at o Khandli Chowk and due to explosion one
child aged 03 year old Veer Singh died and several others including Romesh
Singh, wife Siya Devi, his sons Jasbir Singh and Balbir Singh, Arjun Singh ,
and Karan Singh sustained serious injuries.”
Source: Times Of India
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Months after row over Hyderabad merger, KCR govt to
give state funeral to last Nizam
by Sreenivas Janyala
January 17, 2023
The last titular Nizam of Hyderabad, Mukarram Jah, who
died in Turkey on Saturday night will be buried with full state honours at the
city’s Mecca Masjid on Wednesday.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, popularly known as
KCR, has expressed condolences and directed Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari to
make arrangements. Government advisor A K Khan, a former IPS officer, has also
been asked to coordinate with Jah’s family to arrange the funeral. The body
arrived in Hyderabad on Sunday and was shifted to Chowmahalla Palace, where
pre-burial rituals were performed on Monday. Mukarram Jah, as per his final
wishes, will be laid to rest by the side of his predecessors from the Asaf Jahi
dynasty.
The KCR-led government’s decision on Sunday to accord
state honours to Mukarram Jah — the grandson of the last reigning Nizam, Mir
Osman Ali Khan — comes months after his party, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi
(BRS), and the BJP engaged in a war of words over the legacy of the rule of the
Nizam’s and Hyderabad state’s integration with India. The two parties will lock
horns later this year for the Assembly elections, with the BJP trying its best
to expand its electoral footprint in the state.
Last September, the BRS, then the Telangana Rashtra
Samithi, and the BJP squared off over the commemoration of the merger of the
erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad merged with India on September 17, 1948.
The KCR-led party had never observed September 17 during its rule but its hand
was forced after the BJP-led Union government announced it would observe
September 17 as Hyderabad State Liberation Day. In response, the Telangana
government observed the day as Telangana National Unity Day.
The BJP accused KCR of not observing September 17 to
avoid upsetting Asaduddin Owaisi and his party, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul
Muslimeen (AIMIM), and his party’s Muslim supporters. For the BRS and KCR,
anything related to the Nizams is akin to walking a tightrope. KCR has nurtured
the support of Muslims and has benefitted from minority votes in constituencies
where the AIMIM does not contest. The AIMIM and the BRS are officially not
allies but both parties are understood to have an understanding with each
other.
For the BJP, the sore point is the private militia
known as Razakars who were born out of the Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (MIM).
The Razakars in the 1940s were unleashed by the Nizam against peasant
protesters who were inclined to join the Union of India during discussions
about independence. But the Owaisi-led party says that the MIM ceased to exist
after September 17 and has nothing to do with the AIMIM.
At the time of the controversy last year, state BJP
chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar said the BJP places a lot of importance on
commemorating September 17 because of the history of violence that preceded
Hyderabad’s merger with India. “It is emotional because the Nizam’s men
unleashed brutality on people and not celebrating their liberation so as not to
hurt someone’s sentiments is not acceptable,’’ he said.
The Opposition party has not yet reacted to Mukarram
Jah’s death or the state government’s decision to lay him to rest with state
honours. The Congress, meanwhile, has supported the government’s decision.
Former state minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir said Jah served the people of
Hyderabad through several charitable trusts and institutions.
Source: Indian Express
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Europe
Hundreds Of Persecuted Kiwi Muslims To Gather To Talk
About Peace
17 January 2023
Hundreds of people from across New Zealand will attend
the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s 34th Annual Convention, or Jalsa Salana, at
Alfriston College on the 20th and 21st of January 2023.
The event, held by local Ahmadi Muslims the world
over, serves as a forum to learn about various religious and contemporary
topics; the theme this year is religion and societal peace.
“The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has always championed
peace,” explains Imam Mustenser Qamar. “In fact, the Caliph of the Community,
his Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, has addressed leaders at parliaments across
the world, preaching peace and tolerance and condemning all forms of violence
and unrest.”
National President of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community,
Mr Bashir Khan said:
“Many of the attendees are former refugee, some of
whom have recently been settled in New Zealand. For them, this will be the
first time they are peacefully and freely able to gather and practice what our
faith preaches.”
“In the past year, hundreds of those members of our Community
who have managed to flee the state-backed persecution we face in Pakistan, have
been settled here and made New Zealand their new home. They’ve been settled
mainly in Nelson, Masterton and Wellington. A large number of them will be
making the journey to Auckland to attend this blessed two day event.”
The National Vice-President and head of the
arrangements for the Jalsa Salana, Mr Yunus Hanif, mentioned:
“This year is unique for our community. We have many
community members arriving from across the country. However, this event is not
just for the community. We have a special guest session on Saturday 21st
January from 11am, where everyone is welcome. Numerous political, religious and
community leaders, as well as members of the wider public are expected to
attend. The session will include the keynote presentation, which aims to
highlight the role Islam plays in promoting societal peace, and will conclude
with lunch for all attendees.”
All members of the public wishing to attend can RSVP
through the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community New Zealand Facebook page.
Source: Scoop
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French Islamic State fighter and wife on trial in
Paris for terrorism
17/01/2023
Frenchman Jonathan Geffroy is accused of terrorist
offences in Syria, as are his wife and mother. Geoffroy has provided valuable
information for French anti-terrorism investigators.
Geffroy, 40, sits alone in the prisoner's box at the
Paris Special Criminal Court.
His two co-accused - his wife, Latifa Chadli, and his
mother - are under judicial control and are free to sit in the open court, on
the seats just outside the glass-walled high security box.
The couple's now eight-year-old child is a civil
plaintiff in the case, and is represented by a victims' support organisation.
Geffroy and Chadli, who arrived in the Syrian war zone
in early 2015 with their then 2-month-old child, were arrested by members of
the anti-Assad Free Syrian Army in 2017, and subsequently handed over to the French
authorities.
Links to Bataclan killers
Originally from Toulouse, Geoffroy converted to Islam
in 2007, and met and married Chaddi in Morocco.
On their arrival in Syria in February 2015, Geffroy
was assigned to the fighting brigade known as Anwar al-Awlaki.
Members were predominantly French-speaking, and the
group was dominated by the brothers Jean-Michel and Fabien Clain, also from
Toulouse, who worked as propagandists for the Islamic State armed group and
were both sentenced to life in prison for their part in planning and promoting
the November 2015 Paris attacks.
Geoffroy fought in the city of Ramadi under another
French leader, Abdelilah Himich, who helped plan the Bataclan attack, where 90
people were killed.
Child soldiers
In November 2016, Geffroy contacted French
anti-terrorist police, saying he wanted to escape with his family from Syria.
He has since been described as a precious source of
information for French investigators.
He revealed Islamic State plans to use child soldiers,
the so-called "Caliphate cubs", to undertake suicide terrorist
missions in Europe.
He also detailed plans for an attack targeting a
French nuclear reactor and provided the police with the names of dozens of
French nationals who had joined the ranks of Islamic State.
The trial got underway on Monday and will wrap up on
23 January.
Geffroy and Chadli face thirty years in jail if found
guilty of associating with terrorists.
Source: RFI
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For Britain's sake, we must unleash the potential of
Muslim civil society
Usaama al-Azami
16 January 2023
Monday marks the release of the British Muslim Civil
Society Report 2023 at a launch event backed by the All-Party Parliamentary
Group on British Muslims.
Based on a year of on-the-ground research, as the
author of this report I explored the significant contributions made by
Britain’s Muslims to the charity sector. It is the first report specifically
dedicated to this theme, and its recommendations are directed at a range of stakeholders
in the Muslim community as well as the wider civil society space.
The cost-of-living crisis and a new winter of
discontent have put a spotlight on just how essential civil society is when
public institutions such as the NHS, to take just one example, are under
unprecedented pressure. While charitable institutions cannot make up for
shortfalls in state funding, they are essential for staving off even worse
outcomes from repeated crises.
Civil society, sometimes called the third sector, is
made up of the charities and voluntary organisations that run our youth and
community associations, our soup kitchens, our advocacy groups and our places
of worship. They are the indispensable bedrock of a vibrant democracy.
The Muslim contribution to this sector is decades old
and increasing in importance.
Recently released census data indicates that Muslims
now make up 6.5 percent of the population of England and Wales, up from 4.9
percent at the time of the last census in 2011.
There are now 3.9 million Muslims in England and
Wales. This population tends towards youthfulness and will bear a
disproportionate degree of the nation’s economic burdens in the coming decades
as our population ages. The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has described this
aspect of Britain’s Muslims as “a strategic national asset” for Britain.
Civic duty grounded in faith
In its analysis of 2021 census data, the MCB has also
highlighted that several important local authority districts in England now
have very substantial proportions of Muslims. Roughly 30 percent of
Birmingham's population, 22 percent of Manchester's and 15 percent of London’s
are now Muslim.
Indeed, one London borough, Tower Hamlets, had the
highest proportion of Muslims of any local authority in the country, at 40
percent.
As the focus groups that have informed this report
indicate, many Muslims are driven to contribute to civil society out of a sense
of civic duty that arises from their Islamic faith. Muslims feel that their
faith calls on them to serve their communities and their neighbours of all
faiths and none.
Additionally, studies have indicated that the Muslim
population maintains its commitment to faith to a greater extent than the wider
society. As recent census data has indicated, Britain is now a minority Christian
country, with no particular faith commitment (including those who identify as
having no religion) crossing the 50 percent mark. Britain is now truly a
diverse landscape when it comes to religion.
In this context, it is especially valuable for Muslims
to continue to cultivate what I witnessed was a widespread value in our
communities: a faith-based motivation to serve humanity at large.
Furthermore, this should remind stakeholders in the
charitable and public sectors that although secularisation is the dominant
tendency of our societies, we should be wary of a one-size-fits-all approach to
faith in public life.
Any such approach, especially one that seeks to
marginalise faith from the public sphere in anything other than a symbolic
form, could unwittingly end up marginalising voices that have much to
contribute to our civil society spaces. Instead, we can broaden the
conversation about the nature of civil society and public life in our
increasingly diverse socio-cultural landscape.
High levels of poverty
Ironically for a religious community that was referred
to by a past prime minister as Britain’s “biggest donors” who “give more to
charity than any other faith group”, Britain’s Muslims themselves suffer
disproportionate levels of poverty.
MCB analysis indicates that 40 percent of the Muslim
population lives in the most deprived 20 percent of local authority districts.
Further research they have shared with me indicates that roughly two-thirds of
those Muslims (30 percent of British Muslims overall) live in the most deprived
10 percent of local authority districts in the country.
Yet, as my analysis indicates, Muslims have
historically tended to send significant proportions of their charitable
largesse overseas.
As I argue in the report, if such funds were strategically
deployed in the UK, this may result in better outcomes both domestically and
internationally. This would require Muslims to undertake regular exercises in
introspection and critical self-reflection as a community in order to adopt a
more strategic outlook on their charitable endeavours.
Partnerships with the public and private sectors
Part of a more strategic outlook would entail
exploring how to form effective partnerships by cultivating supportive partners
in local and national government, as well as within the business community.
A healthy society requires that the public, private
and third sectors work in mutually supportive ways to contribute to better
outcomes overall for our societies.
This report thus calls for closer partnerships between
these three sectors.
Whether it is through the Faith Covenant, which calls
on local government and religious groups to work more closely in addressing
crises, or by encouraging successful Muslim businesses to create philanthropic
foundations, Britain’s Muslims can find innovative ways to empower civil
society and make their charitable endeavours go the extra mile at a time when
Britain most needs it.
Efforts like the British Muslim Civil Society Report,
which we hope will become a regular publication, can help provide an
opportunity to step back and take stock of how the Muslim community in Britain
can reflect on its civil society engagement.
Source: Middle East Eye
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https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/uk-british-muslim-civil-society-country-sake-unleash-potential
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Türkiye slams Sweden's refusal to probe PKK terror
group's provocation against President Erdogan
Merve Aydogan
16.01.2023
Türkiye on Monday strongly criticized Sweden for
refusing to prosecute supporters of the PKK/YPG terror group for last week’s
provocative demonstrations against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the
capital Stockholm.
“Once again, the silence of those who claim to
champion democracy, pluralism, and freedom in the face of this vile terrorist
act means nothing but supporting terrorism,” Omer Celik, spokesman for the
Justice and Development (AK) Party, told reporters in the capital Ankara.
Actions depicting the murder of a country’s head of
state would not be regarded as freedom of expression anywhere in the world,
Celik said, reiterating that what PKK/YPG supporters did last week “has nothing
to do with freedom of speech.”
The Swedish prosecutor’s decision not to punish the
perpetrators means “a terrorist group can take any action it wants in Sweden;
it can threaten the heads of states of friendly countries,” he said.
Celik called out Sweden for becoming a “propaganda
center of these terrorists.”
He warned that the ambiguous stance of Swedish
politicians and judiciary on terrorism and counterterrorism issues poses a
threat to the country’s own national interests.
“During our negotiations in Türkiye, they (Swedish
officials) said that they would work seriously to revise their laws on
terrorism and make them stronger,” said Celik, who was speaking to journalists
after a meeting of the AK Party’s Central Executive Board.
“Although they have taken some steps, the situation
remains same,” he added.
He urged Swedish authorities to honor the pledges on
anti-terrorism efforts it made to gain NATO membership.
Sweden and Finland formally applied to join NATO in
May, abandoning decades of military non-alignment, a decision spurred by
Russia’s war on Ukraine.
But Türkiye – a NATO member for more than 70 years –
voiced objections, accusing the two countries of tolerating and even supporting
terror groups, including the PKK and Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO).
Last June, Türkiye and the two Nordic countries signed
a memorandum to address Ankara’s legitimate security concerns, paving the way
for their eventual membership in the alliance.
Türkiye has praised some steps taken by Sweden and
Finland but says the countries need to do more to show their firm stance
against terrorism and terror groups that threaten Türkiye.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against
Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US and EU
– has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women,
children, and infants.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Israeli army detains Italian activist in occupied West
Bank
Awad al-Rujoub
16.01.2023
RAMALLAH, Palestine
The Israeli army on Monday detained a foreign activist
from the Dheisheh refugees camp, in the southern Bethlehem city of the occupied
West Bank.
The official Wafa news agency identified the activist
as Italian named Stefania in her fifties.
It added that she was detained from the home of
Palestinian journalist Nidal Abu Aker who is being held in Israeli jails.
Speaking to Anadolu, Hazem Abu Aker, one of the
residents whose home was stormed by the Israeli forces in the Dheisheh refugees
camp, said the Italian activist was detained after searching several homes
where the Israeli forces checked the IDs of the women to arrest her.
The Palestinian Prisoners Society, an NGO, confirmed
that the Israeli forces raided the home of journalist Abu Aker, harassed his
family and detained a foreign activist.
Abu Aker served nearly 18 years in Israeli jails most
of the time he was placed under the administrative detention without charge or
trial. His last arrest was in August.
The policy of administrative detention allows Israeli
authorities to detain anyone for six months without charge or trial, which can
be extended indefinitely.
During the raid on the Dheisheh refugees camp, a
Palestinian boy, 14, was shot in his head by the Israeli forces, and was later
pronounced dead.
There was no statement from the Israeli army regarding
the developments in the West Bank.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/israeli-army-detains-italian-activist-in-occupied-west-bank/2789233
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Türkiye, Italy have 'close' cooperation on migration,
terrorism: Minister
Diyar Guldogan
16.01.2023
Türkiye and Italy have been coordinating in many areas
including migration, organized crime and terrorism, Turkish Interior Minister
Suleyman Soylu said on Monday.
"Apart from the fight against migrant smuggling
and migration flow, there is a close cooperation and relationship between Italy
and Türkiye in the fight against organized crime, cross-border crimes and
drugs, and the fight against terrorism," Soylu told a news conference with
his Italian counterpart Matteo Piantedosi in the capital Ankara.
Soylu said the security teams of Türkiye and Italy are
in such contact with each other that they have the ability and capacity to
intervene immediately in case of criminal activity.
During Piantedosi's visit, a memorandum of
understanding was signed on the temporary assignment of experts from the
Turkish general directorate of security to Italy.
Stressing that the ministries endeavor to fortify and
strengthen friendly bilateral relations, Soylu said: "We continue our
fight against illegal immigration with a common mechanism with Italy. In 2022,
we all put forth a very strong effort in this regard."
Piantedosi, for his part, said Türkiye and Italy are
two countries facing onto the same sea and have a lot in common in many ways.
Upon the arrest of Italy’s most-wanted mafia boss
Messina Denaro, Piantedosi said: "Today has been a very important day for
us, but also in our own country ... I received the news of the arrest of a
fugitive, a leading name of a very important criminal organization, who had
been hiding for many years."
Denaro, 60, was detained in a private clinic in the
Sicilian city of Palermo early Monday.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Arab World
Saudi Arabia calls for stronger action against Houthis
as militia rejects peace
EPHREM KOSSAIFY
January 17, 2023
NEW YORK CITY: Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative
to the UN on Monday called on the Security Council to take stronger action
against the Houthis if the Iran-backed militia continues “to stall and reject
peaceful solutions” to the conflict in Yemen.
Ambassador Abdulaziz Alwasil said that designation of
the group as a terrorist organization has become an urgent demand among the
people of the region, “who want to live in peace.”
His comments came during a Security Council meeting to
discuss the latest developments in Yemen.
Hans Grundberg, the UN’s special envoy to the country,
who briefed the council from Sanaa, highlighted the recent “intensification of
regional and international diplomatic activity to resolve the conflict” and
reiterated his “appreciation for the efforts of Saudi Arabia and Oman in this
regard.”
“We are witnessing a potential step change in the
trajectory of this eight-year conflict,” Grundberg told the council. He added
that “the ongoing dialogues are a possibility that should not be wasted and
that demands responsible actions.”
However, he cautioned that “without an agreement that
includes a shared vision for the way forward, the state of uncertainty will
persist, and with it an increasing risk of military escalation and a return to
full-blown conflict.”
The Swedish diplomat urged all parties involved in the
conflict to make the most of the opportunity for dialogue provided by the pause
in large-scale fighting, and to “work
expeditiously toward a shared vision with concrete, actionable steps.”
Alwasil commended Grundberg for his “relentless,
unique and quality efforts to ensure peace in Yemen.” He also reiterated his
country’s support for the efforts of the UN’s humanitarian chief, Martin
Griffiths, “to alleviate the suffering of the brotherly Yemeni people.”
The Saudi envoy told the Council that although the
Houthi militias refused to extend a ceasefire agreement in October last year,
the UN — as represented by Grundberg and in cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the
UAE and Oman, and with Yemen’s presidential leadership council — continues in
its efforts to secure a comprehensive political solution that ends the
suffering of the Yemeni people.
“The Houthi militias did not extend the truce for
political reasons,” Alwasil said. “They reneged on their commitment at the last
minute and canceled most items agreed upon.
“They proposed new demands, including paying the
salaries of militiamen in US dollars. They refused to implement their
commitment to deposit the profits of Al-Hodeidah port in the Central Bank so
that they can be used to pay the salaries of all Yemenis. Neither did they lift
the siege that has been imposed on Taiz since the coup.”
The legitimate government, on the other hand, has put
the interests of the Yemeni people first, Alwasil said, and has not reneged on
its “noble humanitarian and national commitments.”
It “did not renege on the concessions” it had made, he
added, pointing out that “Sanaa Airport continues to work; commercial and
humanitarian flights continue; main ports are working smoothly and naturally.”
On the other hand, the Houthis, he said, continue to
break international laws by “disseminating terrorist and extremist ideologies
in schools, recruiting children, sending them forcibly to fight, besieging the
city of Taiz, arbitrarily detaining activists and journalists, killing
opposition leaders, imposing taxes on humanitarian work, looting international
assistance and sending it to those who do not deserve it, including to the
Houthis themselves, as well as planting mines arbitrarily, leading to the
killing and injury of innocent civilians.”
Last month, Gen. Michael Beary, who heads the UN
Mission to Support the Hodeidah Agreement, narrowly survived a bomb blast when
his armored convoy hit a landmine while he was traveling with members of the
Houthi militias to oversee the decommissioning of explosives.
Alwasil said that the Houthis also inflict collective
punishment on the civilian population, depriving areas outside their control of
basic services and amenities, and targeting the export of natural resources,
the profits from which should be used to pay civil servants and teachers.
He added that since the coup in 2014, the Houthis have
held the Yemeni population hostage and weaponized the dire humanitarian
situation in the country in an attempt to blackmail the international
community, all while threatening the security of the wider region and the
world.
“They are also targeting neighboring countries (and)
deliberately impeding UN observers from carrying out inspections,” Alwasil
said.
“Hodeidah remains full of mines (making) the port a
threat to international peace and security.”
Alwasil thanked the US, whose Navy last week seized
from a ship in the Gulf of Oman more than 2,100 assault rifles officials
believe originated in Iran and were bound for the Houthis.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2233671/middle-east
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Saudi conference promotes culture of quality,
excellence in KSA
HEBSHI ALSHAMMARI
January 16, 2023
RIYADH: A two-day conference aimed at promoting a
culture of quality and excellence among Saudi individuals and organizations was
on Tuesday due to open in Riyadh.
The sixth Quality and Excellence Best Practice Forum,
organized by the King Abdulaziz Quality Award under the patronage of King
Salman, was being staged in the presence of Riyadh Gov. Prince Faisal bin
Bandar.
Held under the title “Excellence in the Pursuit of
Universality,” the meeting will highlight the role of quality and institutional
excellence in achieving the objectives of the Saudi Vision 2030 reform plan,
while focusing on successful regional and international experiences that have
contributed to the promotion of a culture of quality and institutional
excellence in society.
Secretary-general of the King Abdulaziz Quality Award,
Saad Al-Qasabi, said the award sought to encourage all sectors to raise
performance levels, improve internal processes, and satisfy customer and client
expectations.
He added that the awarding of special honors would
contribute to creating an environment that fostered competition between
sectors, promote excellence in performance, and support the national economy.
Hadi Tijani, general coordinator of the Sheikh Khalifa
Award for Excellence, was due to attend the forum’s first session on the role
of leadership and strategic planning in achieving institutional excellence.
Officials from the Prince Sultan Military Medical City,
National Industrial Training Institute, and Social Development Bank were
expected to partake in the second session discussing excellence in human
capacity development, highlighting the role of human resources.
Day two of the forum will include a panel discussion
on excellence in operations management and design, chaired by Deputy Minister
of Industry and Mineral Resources Osama Al-Zamil, with King Fahd Medical City
and the Al-Ahsa cancer charity association taking part in another session on
excellence in beneficiaries.
Hassan Al-Sarhan, general manager of quality and
operational excellence at the National Center for Environmental Compliance,
said: “There is undoubtedly an important and significant role for such
conferences in improving many aspects of life by increasing the efficiency and
effectiveness of the services provided by individuals and organizations … and
learning about the most important future directions in order to achieve
excellence commensurate with the developments of the times.”
He pointed out that the quality of any facility was
the responsibility of its employees, and goals were achieved through a culture
of enterprise, and integrated and effective oversight systems.
Al-Sarhan noted that interaction and positive
participation were the driving forces behind the consolidation of a culture of
quality in the workplace.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2233601/saudi-arabia
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Police question Lebanese relatives of 2020 blast
victims
16 January ,2023
Several relatives of the victims of the massive 2020
explosion at Beirut’s port showed up on Monday to answer questions by police
after they were accused of rioting and vandalism during protests over the
stalled investigation into the blast.
The rioting last week saw the relatives hurl rocks at
the Beirut Justice Palace and burn tires outside the building, decrying years
of what they say is political interference in the probe.
The Aug. 4, 2020 explosion killed more than 215
people, injured 6,000 and devastated entire neighborhoods of the Lebanese
capital after hundreds of tons of highly explosive ammonium nitrate, a chemical
used in fertilizers, detonated in a port warehouse.
It later emerged the chemical was shipped to Lebanon
in 2013 and stored improperly at the warehouse. A handful of senior political
and security officials knew of its presence and the threat it imposed on the
city but failed to take action to remove it.
Judge Tarek Bitar’s investigation into the disaster
has been frozen since December 2021 after politicians he had charged in the
case filed legal challenges to the probe. No one has been tried or convicted
over the blast.
The families of the port blast victims have long
campaigned for an uninterrupted investigation and have frequently protested and
held monthly vigils. Some of the families and Lebanese activists, as well as
human rights organizations have urged the United Nations to investigate the
blast.
On Monday, 13 relatives of blast victims showed up to
answer police summons over the rioting. As they were being questioned inside
the police compound, hundreds of other relatives of the blast victims,
activists, and some lawmakers protested outside and condemned the country’s
ruling elite. They say the elite’s lock on power has kept its members immune
from accountability.
William Noun, who lost his brother firefighter Joe in
the blast, has been an outspoken activist. Summoned Monday, he later claimed
the authorities are trying to exhaust and intimidate the families. Security
forces raided his home and detained him overnight on Saturday, after he spoke
in a TV interview and criticized the judiciary.
“We want justice, and we want everyone who blew up the
port to be held accountable, regardless of their political affiliation,” he
said as he walked into the compound.
Among the protesters outside was the mother of Ahmad
Kaadan, who was killed in the blast. She held a poster of her son and decried
what she said was Lebanon’s “failed state and judiciary.”
“Instead of bringing in the officials with arrest
warrants, they’re going after the families wanting to know who killed their
children,” Um Ahmad told reporters. “In this country, those on the side of
justice are getting arrested while the criminals are enjoying their lives.”
Some reformist lawmakers backing Bitar’s investigation
and victims’ families were also at the protest.
Source: Al Arabiya
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UN envoy encouraged by Yemen truce deal efforts, warns
against ‘piecemeal approach’
16 January ,2023
The United Nations envoy for Yemen said on Monday he
was encouraged by intensified efforts for an expanded truce deal but stressed
they should seek an inclusive process for a sustainable political settlement.
Hans Grundberg, addressing a UN Security Council
briefing more than three months after an initial truce pact expired, said “we
are witnessing a potential step change” in the conflict's trajectory though the
situation remained “complex and fluid”.
The eight-year-old conflict in Yemen has killed tens
of thousands of people, wrecked the economy and pushed millions into hunger.
A UN-brokered truce deal agreed in April and rolled
over twice delivered the longest stretch of relative calm that has largely held
since its expiry on Oct. 2, though the two sides stepped up an economic war.
The United Nations has been pushing for an extended
and broader deal encompassing a mechanism to pay public sector wages, which the
Houthis had criticized for not including armed forces members.
Grundberg, speaking from the Houthi-held capital
Sanaa, thanked Saudi Arabia and Oman for their diplomacy and said discussions
in the past month have developed “options for mutually acceptable solutions to
outstanding issues”.
But he advised against a “piecemeal approach” focused
on individual needs, saying talks on short-term steps should be part of a
broader approach toward a sustainable resolution of a multifaceted conflict in
which several parties are vying for power.
The head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council,
Mahdi al-Mashat, said in remarks on Houthi-run media on Monday that the talks
with a Omani team were positive and, departing from past rhetoric, stressed the
movement's desire for regional stability.
Source: Al Arabiya
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OIC, IPHRC chiefs discuss human rights issues
January 17, 2023
JEDDAH: Hissein Brahim Taha, the secretary-general of
the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, recently met Noura Al-Rashoud,
executive director of the OIC’s Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission,
in Jeddah.
During the meeting, Taha congratulated Al-Rashoud on
her appointment as the first woman to the position since the establishment of
the commission.
Taha expressed his confidence in Al-Rashoud to carry
out her duties and offer consultations on human rights issues of concern to the
organization, mainly the Palestinian cause, the rights of women and children,
Islamophobia, Muslim minorities, the right to development and the permanent
mechanism for monitoring the human rights situation in the Jammu and Kashmir
region.
The OIC chief also expressed his appreciation for the
achievements of the IPHRC during previous years and the efforts made by its
working team under its prior leadership.
He stressed the OIC’s aim to achieve further progress
related to the promotion of human rights, fundamental freedoms, the rule of law
and democracy in accordance with the charter of the OIC and its 10-Year Program
of Action 2025, as well as to represent the OIC in international forums, especially
in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
For her part, Al-Rashoud reiterated her keenness to
achieve the objectives of the commission and work with the OIC to further serve
the interests of the Islamic world.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2233731/saudi-arabia
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Next Lebanese president must safeguard national
interests, withstand pressures: Senior Hezbollah lawmaker
16 January 2023
Amid the failure of Lebanon's parliament to elect a
new president due to deep divisions over a replacement for Michel Aoun, a
Lebanese lawmaker says the next head of state must defend national interests and
be capable of standing up to unrelenting political pressures.
“Lawmakers are trying to reach consensus on the next
president. We have listed some characteristics for the right candidate to fill
the position. In our opinion, the disagreements over a successor to Aoun whose
term expired at the end of October last year should be respected as we are
trying to work out a proper equation out of such differences,” Mohammad Raad,
head of Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc – the political wing of the Hezbollah
resistance movement – in the Lebanese parliament, said on Monday.
“We clearly want a president who can respond to the
legitimate and reasonable demands of the Lebanese nation, and maintain the
balance between political blocs and various strata of the society. Moreover,
the next Lebanese president must be strong-minded enough to dispel the illusion
that enemies can count on his weakness or cooperation for the benefit of the
Israeli regime,” Raad stressed.
He noted, “The president whom we are looking for is
someone who can withstand pressures, and safeguard national interests. He
should not have businesses abroad and be preoccupied with the profits and
losses of his own firms.”
Moreover, Hussein Jashi, another legislator from the
Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, stated that the consequences of leaving the
presidency vacant for la long time will adversely affect the interests of
Lebanon, as well as the nation and its international prestige.
“Presidential vacancy will erode others’ trust in us.
Therefore, we call for a serious and honest dialog in order to elect a new
president as quickly as possible.”
He emphasized that heavy reliance on foreigners has
brought the country to the brink of collapse, arguing that Western and Arab
countries have failed in recent years to honor their financial pledges and
alleviate the crippling economic crisis facing Lebanon.
“We urge certain Lebanese political parties to either
talk to their American, Western and Saudi allies to help Lebanon, or else let
others seek assistance from Iran, Russia and China,” Jashi pointed out.
Lebanon’s presidency has seen stalemate several times
since the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has also had only a caretaker
government since last May.
The Arab country has been mired in an economic crisis
that the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in recent history, which comes
amid crippling sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of
its value on the black market since 2019.
According to the United Nations, the ongoing financial
crisis in Lebanon has caused poverty rates to reach more than 80 percent of the
population, and food prices have risen by an astonishing 2,000 percent.
Source: Press TV
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South Asia
China calls on Israel to stop 'provocations' amid rise
in tensions in Palestinian territories
16 January 2023
China’s Foreign Minister says Israel must stop “incitements
and provocations” against Palestinians, particularly in al-Quds amid rise in
tensions in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Qin Gang said, “We urge the Israeli side to stop
incitement and provocations and to avoid any unilateral move that may aggravate
the situation.”
He made the remarks at a joint press conference with
his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo.
Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on
Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result of
these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others
have been arrested.
The United Nations has marked 2022 as the deadliest
year for Palestinians in the West Bank in 16 years.
Israeli forces killed at least 171 Palestinians in the
West Bank and occupied East al-Quds last year, including more than 30 children.
At least 9,000 others were injured as well.
Qin Gang reiterated that, “China’s President Xi
Jinping has recently stressed that the historic oppression the Palestinian
people are subjected to should not continue indefinitely and that the
Palestinians’ legitimate, national rights should not be compromised.”
He also urged the international community to push for
“peace negotiations” between the Palestinians and Israelis and to find a “just
and urgent solution to the Palestinian cause based on the two-state solution.”
Source: Press TV
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Afghan Women Live Under a Brutal Gender Apartheid
System: Canadian MPs
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
January 17, 2023
A group of Canadian Members of Parliament has jointly
asked their government to take immediate action to bring eight Afghan women MPs
who are left behind in complete desperation in Kabul.
The living conditions have become extremely hard for Afghans,
particularly for women and girls under the Taliban-run administration. With
each passing day, a new set of restrictions are imposed barring women from
participating in education, employment, sports, and public spaces.
Worst of all, Afghan women Members of Parliament from
the previous government who remained in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in
August 2021, now face immediate threats.
Kabul Police said on Sunday that former Afghan MP
Mursal Nabizada and her bodyguard were killed by unknown gunmen in her house in
the heart of Kabul. Nabizada was one of the few MPs who remained in Kabul after
the Taliban returned to power.
Kabul police Molvi Hamidullah Khalid that
investigations into her death are underway, with no one or party claiming the
responsibility as of now.
Six Canadian MPs in a joint statement saying that they
have worked together for more than a year to bring the eight remaining Afghan
women MPs to Canada.
“We urge the Canadian government to act on this matter
urgently and take immediate actions to assist in getting these women to
safety,” the statement says.
The statement also adds that Afghanistan is not safe
for women and girls, particularly for these brave women PMs, who led the way
for Afghan women during the former regime in Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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UN Employ Technology to Stop Afghanistan’s Illicit
Opium Cultivation
By Fidel Rahmati
January 16, 2023
On Monday, a British University, Cranfield, released a
statement indicating a research partnership with United Nations. The report
said that the researchers from the University would work on a research project
to help the United Nations develop artificial intelligence (AI) to support the
monitoring of illegal opium production in Afghanistan.
In this research program, the researcher will use
artificial intelligence to interpret satellite imagery, tracing where the crops
are used for drug production in Afghanistan. The partnership between the
University and UN lasts until July 2023, said Daniel Simms, Cranfield
University lecturer.
The report shows that Afghanistan is still the largest
producer of poppy cultivation globally. The total area is estimated at 233,000
hectares, mainly concentrated in the southwestern parts of the country,
approximately 73-80%, Reported by UNODC in 2022.
The research programs will automate the process using
AI, enabling the monitoring of the extent and evolution of poppy cultivation in
the country and helping the government tackle the issue of these crops.
The United States government has invested more than
$8.62 billion in counternarcotics operations in Afghanistan over the past 20
years. Despite the investment, the country continues to be the world’s top
producer of opium, according to SIGAR.
The drug trade, on the other hand, is regarded as one
of the major barriers to rebuilding and development in the country and has
weakened security by funding insurgent organisations, according to the
research.
The report shows that since the Takeover of
Afghanistan by the Taliban (IEA) in August 2021, opium cultivation increased by
32%, or 56,000 hectares, compared to the previous year, UNODC.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/un-employ-technology-to-stop-afghanistans-illicit-opium-cultivation/
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Oil deal with Taliban represents China’s growing
strategic interest in Afghanistan, says expert
17 January, 2023
Washington [US], January 17 (ANI): The Taliban earlier
this month announced a deal with a Chinese company to enable oil extraction in
the Amu Darya basin in northern Afghanistan, raising alarm bells in the west.
The signing ceremony of the over USD 500 million deal
took place on January 5 in the presence of the Chinese envoy to Afghanistan
Wang Yu, and other high-ranking Taliban officials, including Abdul Ghani
Baradar, the acting deputy prime minister for economic affairs.
“The agreement, the Taliban’s first major energy
investment contract since its 2021 takeover, represents China’s growing
strategic interest in the Islamic Emirate,” wrote, Washington-based researcher
Kyle Sajoyan in the “19fortyfive” publication.
“Despite the growing number of terrorist attacks
targeting Chinese nationals in the region, the PRC is showing no signs of
stopping its global imperial project in the Muslim world,” he added.
Sajoyan, who is a researcher at the American Foreign
Policy Council in Washington, DC, said “this recent deal is a prelude to closer
economic and security cooperation between Kabul and Beijing, a partnership that
will jeopardize Washington’s vested interests in the region while limiting
America’s ability to respond.”
This deal comes amid rising violence against Chinese
nationals in Taliban-run Afghanistan. Last month, gunmen from ISIS-K targeted a
Kabul hotel popular with Chinese businessmen.
Despite the growing terrorist threat targeting
Beijing, it signed a massive deal to exploit the country’s oil reserves.
According to a Washington-based expert, part of it is China’s growing demand
for crude oil as the country reopens after three years of zero-COVID.
“The Amu Darya Basin in northern Afghanistan where the
extractions are to take place contains an estimated 87 million barrels worth of
crude oil. But outside of Beijing’s energy needs is the resource gold mine that
Afghanistan sits on,” Sajoyan wrote 19fortyfive.
Earlier, the Khaama Press News Agency reported that
oil will be produced in the northern provinces of Faryab, Jowzjan and Sar-e
Pol, starting with 1,000 tonnes a day. The Taliban-run administration will
initially have a 20 per cent stake in the project, which will be gradually
increased to 75 per cent to match the rising output.
The Afghan news agency added that the Taliban expects
to create 3,000 jobs with this project.
Source: The Print
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Pakistan
Imran Khan hints at returning to Pakistan's National
Assembly
Jan 16, 2023
LAHORE: For the first time, opposition Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan on Monday hinted at returning to the
National Assembly to be part of the consultative process of a caretaker set-up
for general elections later this year. Following Khan's ouster as prime
minister through a no-confidence motion in April last year, the 131 PTI members
of the National Assembly had resigned. However, the NA speaker has yet to
accept their resignations and called in all the PTI lawmakers to verify if
their resignations are "genuine and voluntary".
Talking to journalists at his residence here on
Monday, Khan said: "If we don't return to the National Assembly then the
PML-N led coalition government will form the caretaker set-up (after completion
of its tenure this August) in consultation with handpicked opposition leader
Raja Riaz. We don't let this happen."
This is the first time Khan spoke his mind about going
back to the National Assembly since his ouster as premier.
Khan has also said that President Arif Alvi will soon
ask Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to secure a vote of confidence from the
National Assembly.
"We are going to test Shehbaz Sharif. He is going
to have sleepless nights as we are in contact with PML-N MNAs. He will struggle
to prove majority in the house," he said.
On the other hand, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said
the federal coalition has required numbers in the lower house if the President
asks Shehbaz to take a vote of confidence.
Pakistan's Punjab Assembly has already been dissolved
by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi of PTI-PMLQ on Khan's
insistence.
Khan said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly will be
dissolved this week as well to push the federal coalition to announce the snap
polls.
Source: Times Of India
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Pakistan's largest province to hold snap polls in win
for former PM Imran Khan
Jan 16, 2023
LAHORE: A snap local election will be held in
Pakistan's most populous province, officials said, after the provincial leader,
an ally of ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, triggered the poll, putting
pressure on the government ahead a planned general election.
Holding local elections in a province with 110 million
people, around half Pakistan's population, would be an expensive, logistically
complicated exercise for a government dependant on foreign aid and reeling from
the impact of last year's devastating floods.
By bringing forward a local poll, political analysts
say it could pressure the national government into holding a countrywide
election earlier to avoid the huge double cost of two votes.
Punjab is one of two provinces ruled by a coalition
partner of Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party.
Khan has been demanding general elections since he was
ousted in April after losing a parliamentary vote of confidence. The
70-year-old former international cricketer has also led nationwide protests
against his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
Sharif has repeatedly rejected Khan's demands, saying
elections will be held as scheduled later this year. As for the provincial
assembly elections, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said the government will
hold snap polls as necessary.
Punjab government spokesman Mussarat Cheema told
Reuters the process to choose a caretaker government to oversee the polls had
started. "We want this process to be completed as soon as possible so that
we head toward elections," he said.
According to the constitution, the local assembly was
automatically disbanded 48 hours after Punjab's chief minister called for it to
be dissolved late on Thursday. The constitution also stipulates that elections
must be held within 90 days.
Source: Times Of India
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Karachi LG polls: JI emerges as kingmaker after PPP
rules out alliance with PTI
January 17, 2023
KARACHI: Although the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has
emerged as the largest political party in Karachi after the local government
polls, it has failed to secure a simple majority in the City Council, due to
which all eyes are set on the runner-up, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), whose decision
of alliance will determine the next mayor of the city.
According to the official results of the Karachi local
government elections announced by the ECP, the PPP, JI and Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf have become the three largest parties of the City Council of
the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation after having won 93, 86 and 40 union
committees (UCs) respectively.
As the PPP has ruled out any possibility of forming a
coalition with the PTI, the JI has become the kingmaker in Karachi as its
decision to ally itself either with the PPP or the PTI will determine the new
local government setup of the city.
PPP Karachi President Saeed Ghani in a press
conference on Monday stated in unambiguous words that the PPP would not hold
any talks with the PTI for coalition in the City Council. He added that the
party was however open to talks with the JI.
Meanwhile, in a late-night press conference, Karachi
JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman claimed that the elections were rigged and the
first position of the JI was snatched. He declared that the next mayor of
Karachi would belong to the JI.
The PTI also alleged that the elections were rigged,
and its leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi said the PTI could consider conditionally
supporting the JI. Of the 246 union committees (UCs) in Karachi, the elections
were held in 235 as some candidates in the remaining 11 UCs had passed away.
According to the ECP’s official results, the PPP became the largest party after
winning 93 UCs, the JI trailed behind with winning 86 UCs and the PTI ranked
third with 40 UCs.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) won seven
UCs, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) three UCs, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) two
UCs, and Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) won one UC. Three UCs were also won by
independent panels.
The PPP will also elect 32 City Council members on the
reserved seats for women, five on the reserved seats for youths, five on the
reserved seats for labour, five for the reserved seats for non-Muslims and one
each for the reserved seats for persons with disabilities and transgender
persons, after which the party will have 142 seats in the City Council.
The JI will elect 30 women, five youths, 5 labourers,
five Non-Muslims and one person with disabilities and one transgender person on
the reserved seats. The PTI on resaved seats will elect 14 women, two youths,
two labourers, and two non-Muslims. The PML-N, JUI, TLP, and independents will
elect a total of five women on the reserved seats.
Due to delay in the announcement of results of Karachi,
the JI and PTI raised concern and criticised the Sindh government and ECP.
Responding to the allegations, the ECP maintained in its statement that the
results were being compiled in a transparent manner, while the PPP’s Sindh
government also rejected rigging allegations.
Imdad Soomro adds: By Monday night, the authorities
had released the results of only 116 UCs of the total 160 UCs of the Hyderabad
Municipal Corporation (HMC), with each UC comprising four wards. Of the total
of 800 constituencies in Hyderabad, the elections were held on 599 because of a
large number of candidates won unopposed. Deaths of some candidates also led to
the cancellation of elections in over a dozen seats.
The delay in the issuance of Hyderabad results by the
ECP made political parties impatient and many minor incidents of fighting and
intimidation were reported in various parts of the city.
PPP and PTI supporters fought outside the election
cell set up outside the Public School Hyderabad as their patience ran out while
waiting for the official announcement of election results. As per updated
official results, the PPP was leading in Hyderabad, bagging the seats of
chairmen and vice chairmen of 58 UCs. The PPP was followed by the PTI that won
at least 39 seats.
Some 10 UCs of the HMC have so far gone to independent
candidates while the JI and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan have won from one UC
each. Unofficial figures suggest that the PPP has won a majority of seats in
the HMC, which is divided into nine town municipal corporations named Nerunkot,
Mian Sarfaraz, Preetabad, Tando Jam, Tando Fazal, Sachal Sarmast, Shah
Latifabad, Hussainabad and Qasimabad.
The PPP’s candidates, as per the available official
results of the ECP, have secured 13 seats from Neronkot, one from Mian Sarfaraz,
two from Preetabad, eight from Tando Jam, six from Hussainabad, and 14 each
from Tando Fazal and Sachal Sarmast.
The PTI’s candidates have won four seats each from
Mian Sarfaraz and Sachal Sarmast, two from Nerunkot, 13 from Preetabad, 14 from
Shah Latifabad, and two from Hussainabad. The TLP bagged one seat from Nerunkot
and the JI’s candidates returned successfully from a UC in Shah Latifabad.
Source: The News
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Pakistan’s ruling coalition upsets Imran Khan’s
Tehreek-e-Insaf in Karachi vote
17 January ,2023
Pakistan Peoples Party, a major partner in the
country’s ruling coalition, won a majority of seats in local government
elections in Karachi, the country’s largest city, to upset former Prime
Minister Imran Khan in his stronghold.
The party co-led by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari secured 93 seats of the 235 up for grabs in the southern port city
polls held on Sunday, followed by hard line religious group Jamaat-e-Islami
with 86 seats, according to results announced by the Election Commission late
Monday evening. Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf trailed behind in the third position
with 40 seats.
The results are seen as a setback for Khan who has been
confident in his public support and secured multiple by-elections victories
since he was removed from power in a no-confidence vote in Parliament in April.
Khan’s party, which is now ruled out of the race for installing its mayor in
Karachi, had swept the city’s majority seats in the 2018 general elections.
The runner-up party said the elections were rigged, a
charge denied by the Election Commission. Karachi’s biggest ethnic party,
Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan boycotted the election, while multiple parties
included in the ruling coalition contested the Sunday’s election against each
other.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Mideast
40 nations urge Israel to lift ‘punitive’ sanctions on
Palestinians
January 17, 2023
UNITED NATIONS: Some 40 countries on Monday called on
Israel to lift sanctions it imposed on the Palestinian Authority earlier this
month over its push to get the UN’s top court to issue an advisory opinion on
the Israeli occupation.
On December 30, the UN General Assembly passed a
resolution requesting an opinion from the International Court of Justice on the
issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
In retaliation, Israel announced a series of
sanctions, including financial ones, on January 6 against the Palestinian
Authority to make it “pay the price” for pushing for the resolution.
In a statement to journalists Monday, some 40 United
Nations member states, reaffirming their “unwavering support” for the ICJ and
international law, expressed “deep concern regarding the Israeli government’s
decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership
and civil society following the request by the General Assembly” to the court.
“Regardless of each country’s position on the
resolution, we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an
advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, and more broadly in
response to a General Assembly resolution, and call for their immediate
reversal,” the members said.
The statement is signed by countries that voted for
this resolution (Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Ireland, Pakistan and South
Africa, among others) but also by some that abstained — Japan, France and South
Korea — and others that voted against, like Germany and Estonia.
“This is significant as it shows that regardless of
how countries have voted, they are united in rejecting these punitive
measures,” the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said in a
statement.
Asked about the members’ statement, a spokeswoman for
the UN secretary-general reiterated Antonio Guterres’s “deep concern” about
“recent Israeli measures against the Palestinian Authority,” stressing that
“there should be no retaliation” in connection with the ICJ.
A UN Security Council meeting on the Palestinian issue
is scheduled for Wednesday.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2233686/middle-east
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Sweden, Finland Must Send Up To 130 “Terrorists” To
Turkey For NATO Bid: Erdogan
17 January ,2023
Sweden and Finland must deport or extradite up to 130
“terrorists” to Turkey before the Turkish parliament will approve their bids to
join NATO, President Tayyip Erdogan said.
The two Nordic states applied last year to join NATO
following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but their bids must be approved by all
30 NATO member states. Turkey and Hungary have yet to endorse the applications.
Turkey has said Sweden in particular must first take a
clearer stance against what it sees as terrorists, mainly Kurdish militants and
a group it blames for a 2016 coup attempt.
“We said look, so if you don’t hand over your
terrorists to us, we can’t pass it (approval of the NATO application) through
the parliament anyway,” Erdogan said in comments late on Sunday, referring to a
joint press conference he held with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson last
November.
“For this to pass the parliament, first of all you
have to hand more than 100, around 130 of these terrorists to us,” Erdogan
said.
Finnish politicians interpreted Erdogan's demand as an
angry response to an incident in Stockholm last week in which an effigy of the
Turkish leader was strung up during what appeared to be a small protest.
“This must have been a reaction, I believe, to the
events of the past days,” Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto told public
broadcaster YLE.
Haavisto said he was not aware of any new official
demands from Turkey.
In response to the incident in Stockholm, Turkey
cancelled a planned visit to Ankara of the Swedish speaker of parliament,
Andreas Norlen, who instead came to Helsinki on Monday.
“We stress that in Finland and in Sweden we have
freedom of expression. We cannot control it,” the speaker of the Finnish
parliament, Matti Vanhanen, told reporters at a joint news conference with
Norlen.
Separately on Monday Swedish Prime Minister
Kristersson said that his country was in a “good position” to secure Turkey’s
ratification of its NATO bid.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Israel condemned for night raids against Palestinian
children
MOHAMMED NAJIB
January 16, 2023
RAMALLAH: Israel has been condemned for its use of
night raids against Palestinian children in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli Human Rights organization HaMoked said that
Israeli security forces arrest hundreds of children a year in planned raids
that cause trauma for all involved.
In “On Flimsy Grounds: Israel’s Pervasive Night
Arrests of Palestinian Children,” published on Jan. 16, the group said that the
practice was often a first recourse, even when a child was only detained for a
short time and released without charge.
In 125 cases it examined last year, The group found
that not one Palestinian family received a summons before Israeli forces
stormed their homes.
It said that Israel’s refusal to reduce the use of the
tactic suggests that it is purposefully used to intimidate the Palestinian
population.
The latest accusation against Israeli forces came as
the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that a 14-year-old Omar Lotfi Khumour
was shot in the head and killed on Monday by Israeli soldiers in Dheisheh
refugee camp in Bethlehem.
Crowds of Palestinians massed outside the hospital
where the teenager was taken, chanting protests against Israel.
The death raised the number of Palestinians killed by
Israel since the start of the year to 14, including four children.
HaMoked’s report was based on information from 294
families who contacted it to locate their child after his detention. Of these,
125 were concerned with an arrest operation in the middle of the night.
“Israel’s conduct toward Palestinian children wanted
for questioning constitutes a severe violation of its international legal
obligations,” the report said.
In a High Court petition in 2021, the group had forced
the Israeli military to introduce a “procedure for summoning suspected minors
before planned arrest.”
HaMoked has appealed to reassert its challenge. The
hearing is scheduled in March.
The research shows that night arrests are used even on
children suspected of minor offenses.
The group said that the vast majority of cases it
reviewed were back home with their
families within weeks of arrest, most with no charges filed. Many were detained
for a few days or even for just a few hours.
“Night arrests should be the last option, and Israel
should use all other options before they reach the point of a huge group of
soldiers bounding on a family home in the middle of the night,” Jessica
Montell, executive director of HaMoked, told Arab News.
“This is a hugely traumatic experience both for the
boy being arrested and for his whole family.
“While Israel has introduced this new procedure to
issue a summon instead of a night arrest, HaMoked research from the past year
shows there is no improvement in the situation.
“We documented 125 night arrest cases last year, and
no one case was summoned.”
Ayed Abu Qtaish, director of the Accountability
Program at Defense for Children International, told Arab News that it was clear
Israeli forces were ignoring previous court rulings on the use of unannounced
arrests.
Abu Qtaish also said that most of the arrests happened
at night while the children were asleep, accompanied by the violent storming of
homes by heavily armed forces, waking them up and taking them to interrogation
centers, which causes psychological trauma.
The forces hand the family a summons request for
investigation only If they do not find the child to be arrested at the house,
he said.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2233491/middle-east
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40 Nations Urge Israel To Lift ‘Punitive’ Sanctions On
Palestinians
January 17, 2023
Some 40 countries on Monday called on Israel to lift
sanctions it imposed on the Palestinian Authority earlier this month over its
push to get the UN’s top court to issue an advisory opinion on the Israeli
occupation.
On December 30, the UN General Assembly passed a
resolution requesting an opinion from the International Court of Justice on the
issue of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
In retaliation, Israel announced a series of
sanctions, including financial ones, on January 6 against the Palestinian
Authority to make it “pay the price” for pushing for the resolution.
In a statement to journalists Monday, some 40 United
Nations member states, reaffirming their “unwavering support” for the ICJ and
international law, expressed “deep concern regarding the Israeli government’s
decision to impose punitive measures against the Palestinian people, leadership
and civil society following the request by the General Assembly” to the court.
“Regardless of each country’s position on the
resolution, we reject punitive measures in response to a request for an
advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice, and more broadly in
response to a General Assembly resolution, and call for their immediate
reversal,” the members said.
The statement is signed by countries that voted for
this resolution (Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, Ireland, Pakistan and South
Africa, among others) but also by some that abstained — Japan, France and South
Korea — and others that voted against, like Germany and Estonia.
“This is significant as it shows that regardless of
how countries have voted, they are united in rejecting these punitive
measures,” the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said in a
statement.
Asked about the members’ statement, a spokeswoman for
the UN secretary-general reiterated Antonio Guterres’s “deep concern” about
“recent Israeli measures against the Palestinian Authority,” stressing that
“there should be no retaliation” in connection with the ICJ.
A UN Security Council meeting on the Palestinian issue
is scheduled for Wednesday.
Source: Dawn
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Israel vows to protect its military from politics
January 16, 2023
JERUSALEM: Israeli leaders vowed on Monday to keep the
country’s conscript military free of politics after Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu gave far-right coalition partners increased control over security
forces and settlements in the occupied West Bank.
While Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party retained
the Defense Ministry, which runs the authority that coordinates policy in the
West Bank, it ceded some settlement policymaking to hard-line politician
Bezalel Smotrich. Ultranationalist Itamar Ben-Gvir commands border police as
national security minister.
The coalition make-up has raised questions about
authority over a military that is designed in part to serve as a melting pot
for a fractious Israeli society, as well as how it will handle tinderbox
territories where Palestinians seek statehood.
“I will ensure that outside pressures — political,
legal and others — stop with me and do not reach the gates of the IDF (Israel
Defense Forces),” Defense Minister Yoav Galant said at the appointment ceremony
for the new top general, Herzi Halevi.
Source: Arab News
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Iran responsible for 90% of Middle East's problems:
Israeli Premier Netanyahu
Abdel Raouf Arnaout
16.01.2023
JERUSALEM
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday
accused Iran of being “responsible for 90% of the Middle East’s problems.”
Israel is working relentlessly “to limit the presence
of Iranian forces in Syria” and thwart Tehran’s “attempts to transfer weapons
to Syria and Lebanon,” Netanyahu said at a ceremony where he appointed Maj.
Gen. Herzi Halevi as the new military chief of staff.
“We will not wait for a sharp sword to be placed on
our necks. We will act,” he asserted.
Halevi said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “will
prepare for war in arenas far and near,” including by boosting recruitment.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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UN envoy praises ‘intensification’ of diplomatic
activity in resolving Yemen conflict
Rabia Iclal Turan
16.01.2023
The UN special envoy for Yemen on Monday said he sees
an “intensification of regional and international diplomatic activity” while
urging the warring sides for a “shared vision” to avoid a return to a
“full-blown conflict”.
“I, therefore, urge the parties to make the most of
the space for dialogue provided by the absence of large-scale fighting,” Hans
Grundberg told the UN Security Council in a video message.
Recalling that he has been in continued contact with
the parties and regional countries, Grundberg said: “We are currently seeing an
intensification of regional and international diplomatic activity to resolve
the conflict in Yemen.”
He thanked Saudi Arabia and Oman for their diplomatic
efforts, and added: “We are witnessing a potential step change in the
trajectory of this eight-year-conflict.”
Although Grundberg said the overall military situation
in Yemen has remained “stable,” he also cited “some limited military activity
around frontlines in particular in Marib, Taiz, Dali, Hodeida and Lahj provinces”.
Such military activities also resulted in civilian
casualties, according to the UN special envoy.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths, who is a
former UN envoy to Yemen, also briefed the UN Security Council regarding the
recent situation in the war-torn country, saying: “Humanitarian needs remain
alarmingly high as the country's economy continues to weaken”.
Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability
since 2014 when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country,
including the capital Sanaa.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Iranian foreign minister due in Türkiye on Tuesday for
talks
Faruk Zorlu
16.01.2023
The Iranian foreign minister will pay a visit to
Türkiye on Tuesday for talks on various issues, the Turkish Foreign Ministry
said on Monday.
Hossein Abdollahian will meet Turkish Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu, as the top diplomats are expected to address current regional
and international matters as well as bilateral issues, the ministry said in a
statement.
Meanwhile, Cavusoglu said on Twitter that he met with
the UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, and reaffirmed Ankara's
support to "UNSCR 2254, political process & Constitutional
Committee."
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Palestinian child dies of wounds from Israeli raid
Awad al-Rujoub
16.01.2023
RAMALLAH, Palestine
A Palestinian child on Monday died of wounds he
sustained in a raid by Israeli forces on the Dheisheh refugee camp in the
southern Bethlehem city of the occupied West Bank.
In a statement, the Palestinian Health Ministry said
14-year-old Omar Khmour was critically injured by a live bullet in his head and
transferred to hospital before he was pronounced dead.
Israeli authorities have yet to comment on the
incident.
Israeli forces almost on daily basis carry out raids
and incursions to Palestinian areas under the pretext of searching for
"wanted Palestinians," during which the Israeli forces clash with
Palestinians.
Earlier on Monday, three Palestinians were wounded by
Israeli army bullets during raids on the cities of Bethlehem and Jenin in the
West Bank.
“A 14-year-old child is in a critical condition after
being shot in the head by the Israeli army amid a raid on the Dheisheh refugee
camp in Bethlehem,” the Palestinian Health Ministry said in an earlier
statement.
The Voice of Palestine radio station reported that two
Palestinians were injured during the Israeli army's raid on the town of
Qabatiya, south of Jenin.
There was no statement from the Israeli army regarding
the operations in the West Bank.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Palestinian resistance forces will never give in to
Israeli aggressors: Islamic Jihad official
16 January 2023
A senior official from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad
resistance movement has vehemently censured the increase in violence by the
Israeli military, saying Palestinians will never surrender to the Israeli
aggressors.
“The rise in the number of retaliatory operations in
the West Bank explicitly attests to the fact that Palestinians will not accept
the status quo,” said Sheikh Nafez Azzam, a member of Islamic Jihad’s political
bureau who lives in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, on the desert border with
Egypt, on Sunday evening.
“Residents of the occupied West Bank have always been
a source of national pride,” he said. “They will never surrender to the
occupying regime’s attempts to change the realities on the ground. The young
Palestinian generation conveyed the message to the Tel Aviv regime and the
whole world that the Palestinian cause is alive and nothing can undermine it.”
The remarks come while instability hangs low over life
for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and there is an expectation that the
situation on the ground is going to implode at some point in the near future.
Sheikh Azzam said the Palestinian nation “will neither
let their rights forego nor allow desecration of their sanctities, in spite of
the Arab world’s feeble position and the international community’s apathy and
inaction.”
The senior Islamic Jihad official also reaffirmed that
the Palestinian nation will not retreat one iota from its legitimate rights,
and will continue its struggle.
“Nothing can dent our people’s strong willpower, and
we will emerge victorious eventually,” he said.
Israeli forces launch raids on various cities of the
occupied West Bank almost on a daily basis under the pretext of detaining what
it calls “wanted” Palestinians. The raids usually lead to violent
confrontations with residents.
Over the past months, Israel has ramped up attacks on
Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories. As a result
of these attacks, dozens of Palestinians have lost their lives and many others
have been arrested.
The United Nations marked 2022 as the deadliest year
for Palestinians in the West Bank in 16 years.
Israeli forces killed at least 171 Palestinians in the
West Bank and occupied East al-Quds last year, including more than 30 children.
At least 9,000 others were injured as well.
Source: Press TV
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Legal expert: West uses religious hate-mongering as
tool to foment extremism, terrorism
16 January 2023
A senior Iranian legal expert says the West uses
religious hate-mongering as a tool to foment extremism and terrorism in other
countries.
Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, who is also a former spokesman
for Iran’s Constitutional Council, made the remark in a Monday tweet in
reaction to recent sacrilegious cartoons by France’s Charlie Hebdo magazine,
which took aim at Iran’s national and religious values.
“Religious hate-mongering is the West’s political tool
to create violence, extremism and terrorism,” he said.
The expert added, “This is why resolutions adopted by
the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly to ban insult to religious
sanctities have been met with the negative votes of the US and French
regimes."
His remarks came after Charlie Hebdo released several
sacrilegious cartoons that contained insult to Muslim sanctities as well as
Iran’s religious and national values. The controversial right-wing magazine had
in early December announced a competition for the cartoons.
In a post on his Twitter account earlier this month,
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian strongly condemned the
“insulting” act by the controversial French magazine, warning of a “decisive”
response.
“The insulting and indecent move by a French
publication in publishing cartoons against the religious and political
authority will not go without an effective and decisive response,” the minister
tweeted.
Thousands of Iranian people across the country took to
the streets on Friday to condemn a French magazine’s insulting cartoons.
The demonstrators attended the rallies after Friday
Prayers in major cities, including the capital Tehran, voicing support for
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and chanting
slogans against Western states and their hostile acts toward Iran and Islam.
Source: Press TV
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Africa
Islamic State Claims Responsibility for DR Congo
Church Bombing
January 16, 2023
KASINDI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO —
Islamic extremists claimed responsibility Monday for a
bombing of a church in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo as authorities said
that the toll from Sunday's attack had risen to at least 14 dead.
The Islamic State group and its Aamaq news outlet
issued statements saying that its militants had planted an explosive device
inside the Pentecostal church in Kasindi and detonated it while people were praying.
“Let the Congolese forces know that their continued
attacks on the Mujahideen will only bring them more failure and losses,"
the group said in its statement.
The extremists claimed the bomb killed 20 Christians.
Congolese authorities put the toll Monday at 14 dead and at least 63 wounded.
The injured were evacuated to Beni General Hospital by
the U.N. peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO, authorities said.
Violence has wracked eastern Congo for decades as more
than 120 armed groups and self-defense militias fight for land and power.
Nearly 6 million people are internally displaced, and hundreds of thousands are
facing extreme food insecurity, according to the U.N.
Fighters with the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel
organization which is believed to have links to the Islamic State group, have
carried out several attacks in Kasindi, which is located on the border with
Uganda.
Troops from Uganda’s army have deployed to eastern
Congo to try to stem the violence, but the attacks have increased and spread.
Source: VOA News
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Somali military liberates strategic coastal town from
al-Shabaab terrorists
Mohammed Dhaysane
16.01.2023
MOGADISHU, Somalia
Somali national army (SNA), backed by local clan
militias, on Monday liberated the strategic town of Haradhere from the
terrorist group al-Shabaab.
Haradhere is a historic coastal town that located 491
kilometers (305 miles) northeast of the capital Mogadishu that has been under
the terrorist control for years.
“The Somali National Army has taken over the town of
Haradhere in the Mudug region,” the army said in a brief statement on Twitter.
Defense Minister Abdulkadir Mohamed Nor has also
confirmed the takeover of the Haradhere that was the last al-Shabaab’s
stronghold in Mudug region.
The army also liberated Galcad, another strategic town
in Galmudug state.
Galmudug state President Ahmed Abdi Karie Qoorqoor has
confirmed it in a statement saying, “We commend our brave SNA and local forces
for advancing the operations against AS in the east of Galgaduud region over
the past weeks and capturing Galcad town today”.
He added that the people of Galmudug are committed to
the liberation with the support of federal government and international
partners.
Somali national army backed-by locals have been
battling the terrorist group al-Shabaab since Somali President Hassan Sheikh
Mohamud declared an “all-out war” against the terrorist last year.
Somalia has been plagued by insecurity for years, with
al-Shabaab and Daesh/ISIS being among the main threats.
The UN has warned of growing instability in the
country, issuing periodic reports last year that detailed attacks by al-Shabaab
and pro-Daesh/ISIS terror groups.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Ankara, Moscow discuss measures to send Turkish-made
Russian flour to Africa
Faruk Zorlu
16.01.2023
The Turkish and Russian presidents on Monday discussed
steps to start making flour in Türkiye out of grain from Russia to send to
Africa.
"Concrete steps were discussed in the project of
turning Russian grain into flour in Türkiye and sending it to African countries
in need," said a statement by the Turkish Communications Directorate on
the phone call between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin.
The Black Sea grain corridor to allow ships to export
goods from Ukraine and export of ammonia from Russia, along with the latest
developments in the war in Ukraine, were also on the two leaders' agenda, the
statement added.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Terror attack kills 5 soldiers in NW Mali
Aurore Bonny
16.01.2023
Five soldiers were killed and three wounded in a
terror attack on a road security mission in northwestern Mali, the army has
said.
Terrorists attacked a security mission on the Kwala-Mourdiah
road on the Gomitra-Kwala axis on Sunday morning, killing five soldiers and
wounding three, according to a military statement after the attack.
The Malian armed forces (FAMA) subsequently deployed
air reinforcements and killed 15 terrorists, the statement said.
No information on the identity of the terror group was
shared.
Terror attacks have been recurrent in the northern and
central regions of the West African country, which has been plagued by
terrorism for the past decade.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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North America
Senior US officials make quiet stops in Iraq, Jordan
16 January ,2023
US President Joe Biden’s top White House adviser on
the Middle East is in the region as part of a trip to patch up widening rifts
between traditional allies of Washington.
Brett McGurk, the White House National Security
Council’s Middle East policy coordinator, has made stops in Iraq and Jordan
over the last 24 hours, according to sources familiar with his travel.
He is also expected to head the delegation to Israel
in the coming days, sources told Al Arabiya English.
Jordan’s Royal Hashemite Court said that McGurk met
with King Abdullah II to discuss “means of enhancing strategic partnership”
between Washington and Amman.
The state-run Petra news agency reported that McGurk
met with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. Amos Hochstein, Biden’s
special coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security, was also in
the meeting.
Hochstein had already been in the region after taking
part in the Atlantic Council Global Energy Forum in Abu Dhabi.
Petra reported that the talks between the American
officials and Safadi tackled regional issues, including in Palestine and Syria,
the fight against terrorism, and support for Iraq and Lebanon.
“Safadi underlined Washington’s central and leading
role in efforts to breathe new life into the Palestinian-Israeli peace process
to solve the conflict on the basis of the two-state solution and in line with
the international law and approved references,” Petra said.
Al Arabiya English has reached out to the White House
for comment.
Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Washington-based
Middle East Institute, said the US officials were in Amman as part of the Biden
administration’s efforts to get Jordan to join the Negev Forum and concerns
over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Abdullah is expected to visit Washington in the coming
months.
Last week, around 150 officials from Bahrain, Egypt,
Israel, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates attended the American-led Negev
Forum summit, which the Biden administration created as it looks to continue the
progress made by the Trump administration on peace efforts between Israel and
its neighbors.
And although the above countries have normalized ties
with Israel, along with Jordan, Amman refuses to participate in the forum as
long as the Palestinians are omitted.
But Jordan’s king also raised eyebrows in a recent
interview in which he warned of severe consequences if the new far-right
Israeli government continues its provocative policies in al-Aqsa, Slim said.
In last month’s interview with CNN, Abdullah said
there were concerns about a “next intifada,” warning that this could lead to a
complete breakdown of law and order.
In Iraq, McGurk and Hochstein met Iraqi Prime Minister
Mohammed al-Sudani. Over the weekend, Sudani told the Wall Street Journal that
he favored the continued presence of American troops in the country.
The US Embassy in Baghdad said officials confirmed
President Biden’s commitment to the Strategic Framework Agreement “with special
emphasis on coordination and programs to support the Government of Iraq’s
reforms in the areas of energy, infrastructure, and climate to benefit the
Iraqi people.”
“The delegations also welcomed recent progress in
resolving differences between the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional
Government with respect to revenue sharing and energy exports,” the embassy
said.
McGurk reaffirmed the US’s commitment to helping Iraqi
forces in their fight against ISIS.
The embassy’s readout added that Iraqi FM Fuad Hussein
is expected to visit Washington next month for strategic framework talks.
McGurk also was reported to have met with Kurdish
figures, including President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud
Barzani, and other officials from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK).
Tensions have been on the rise between the KDP and
PUK, especially after last year’s assassination of an intelligence officer with
ties to both parties.
The US has been concerned about the deteriorating ties
between the Kurdish sides, its negative impact on the fight against ISIS, as well
as the ability of Iran to capitalize on these tensions and spread influence.
Source: Al Arabiya
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UK and US weapons used in Yemen make them complicit
16 January 2023
An Oxfam report, which analyzed 1727 attacks on Yemeni
civilians since the start of 2021, shows that at least 839 civilians were
killed and 1775 others were wounded during this time. 87 of the deaths were
caused by airstrikes alone.
The aircraft used in the attacks, over half of which
were British made, used cluster bombs, the use of which is banned by
international law.
The fatalities were due to artillery strikes, missile
barrages, drone attacks, landmines, road side bombs and the use of light arms.
According to another report by an American think tank,
the American Thinker, Saudi Arabia spends some $200 million per day to hire
mercenaries and maintain the arms supply.
A large portion of this money goes to the UK for
purchasing Typhoon and Tornado aircraft, Paveway bombs, as well as Brimstone
and Storm Shadow missiles, making the UK fully complicit in the crimes
committed against Yemeni civilians, as stated by the International Development
Committee of the UK.
Given that the UK has a long history of defense
exports to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners, and considering the
evidence, it seems inevitable that any violations of international humanitarian
and human rights law by the coalition have involved armaments supplied from the
UK.
These arms have also been used by the Saudi led
coalition to bomb health facilities on 19 separate instances which constitutes
war crimes.
Oxfam's policy adviser, Martin Butcher, called on the
UK government to immediately cease its arm sales to the Saudis. He also pointed
out the hypocrisy of UK sanctions against Russia over alleged war crimes in
Ukraine while turning a blind eye to the blatant war crimes of the Saudi
coalition in Yemen.
Mr Butcher also highlighted the fact that the UK
Government still continues to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, being its second
biggest arms supplier, which will, inevitably, be used in the war against
Yemen.
He revealed that the UK government have not only been
arming Saudi Arabia but have also been very reluctant to use their position on
the United Nations Security Council to push for peace.
Saudi Arabia is the biggest importer of arms in the
world second only to a country with 40 times the population of the KSA. In the
year 2020 alone, the Kingdom imported nearly $1 billion worth of arms, the
majority of which came from the US.
This however, does not stop the US from parroting a
tired narrative of pushing for peace in Yemen, when, in reality, they even
hesitate to call it a war. This is apparent by President Biden's initial
pledges to end the war during his presidential campaign while continually
supplying arms to the kingdom to this very day.
Let me begin first by reiterating our commitment, the
commitment of the United States, to helping improve Yemeni lives, creating the
space for Yemenis to collectively determine their own future, and to advance a
durable resolution that ends the conflict in Yemen.
Timothy Lenderking, US Special Envoy to Yemen
However the weapons fragments, emblazoned with US and
UK branding, paint a starkly different picture. The six months United Nations
sponsored truce which was supposed to be the grounds for longer standing
solutions, was also very quickly, and repeatedly, violated by Saudi Arabia.
This is what Yemen's Ansarullah Resistance Movement
sees as the reason for the temporary truce:
The Saudi led coalition's main goal out of (sic) the
truce was to stop the Houthi Ansarullah forces from carrying out retaliatory
military operations against targets deep inside Saudi Arabia. Moreover, the
crippling sea, land, and air, blockade on Yemen has created a humanitarian
disaster in the country.
Ansarullah Resistance Movement, Yemen
With all options exhausted the Ansarullah Movement has
now said that it will inevitably launch missile strikes deep inside Saudi and
UAE territories. This comes amid reports that the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed
bin Salman, is looking to find a way out of the incredibly costly Yemen war.
The Lebanese Al Akbar newspaper wrote "Riyadh is
now showing a lot of flexibility during negotiations is currently has no
concern other than getting security guarantees that strategic facilities deep
inside the country would not be hid. It has abandoned the illusion of turning
Yemen into a country under its tutelage and has instead sufficed for security
assurances". However, this report needs further corroboration.
Source: Press TV
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Southeast Asia
Malaysian Festival Seeking to Promote Quranic Arts in
World: Organizer
January 16, 2023
Organized by the Restu Foundation and Nasyrul Quran
Complex with the cooperation of foreign partners, including the Iranian
Cultural Centre in Malaysia, the festival is set to be held from January 20 to
29 in Putrajaya.
“After three years of Covid problems in the world, we
are back,” Chairman of Restu Foundation, Datuk Haji Abdul Latif Mirasa, told
IQNA in an exclusive interview on Monday.
“We want to promote Quranic arts and also the
Malaysian art, especially the Islamic arts, not only for Malaysians but also
for the world,” he stressed.
According to a released program book by the
organizers, the event allows visitors to witness special exhibitions, and
interact with the Quran and Islamic arts and Islamic products entrepreneurs
while also trying to improve the image of Islam as an inclusive and peaceful
religion.
Introducing the preservation and prosperity of the
Quran, glorifying the teachings of Islam, inviting the community to love
knowledge and scholars, utilizing modern technology as an effective preaching
medium, and trying to return the Muslim community to their true identity have
been named among other objectives of the event.
“We have lots of activities,” the prominent Quranic
activist said, noting that the festival seeks to especially attract “children
and families” so that they become familiar with what the Restu Foundation does.
The event, according to Mirasa, will put on display
beautiful copies of the Quran, works of Islamic arts such as Tazhib
(illumination), calligraphy, tiles, as well as decorations that are used in
digital editions of the Holy Quran.
The 10-day festival also includes funfairs and food
fairs, he added.
Restu Foundation is the only non-profit organization
in the whole world that has organized such an event, he said while also
acknowledging that the Malaysian government has backed them “very strongly”.
Four countries will participate in this year’s event,
said the head of Restu Foundation, adding that several other countries were
also interested to come to Malaysia but they had problems, including with the
required funds. He hoped that more countries would attend the event in the
coming editions.
On cooperation with Iran
He named Iran as the “best country” in terms of
cooperation in the festival, hailing the Iranian embassy and public for the
joint work.
“Inshallah maybe after holding this event in Malaysia,
we may come to Iran to share our ideas of the exhibition of Islamic arts,”
Mirasa noted.
There are “many areas” of cooperation between Iran and
Malaysia with a focus on the Holy Quran because Iran is a “very rich country in
the Islamic tradition,” he said, adding, “in fact, we are learning a lot from
Iranian public.”
He also pointed to an Iranian delegation that is
slated to go to Malaysia for the event which includes artists, reciters, and
Quran activists.
He pointed to some Iranian arts, such as tile works
and Muqarnas, and said these are “very strong traditions of Iranian culture”,
noting that the festival will put on display some Iranian artworks.
“I’m happy to say that some of these people coming
from Iran will have a kind of public lecture to teach the people about Islamic
arts,” Mirasa added.
He also appreciated the efforts of the Iranian
cultural center in Malaysia for cooperation on this festival.
Promoting Quran across the world
Mirasa pointed to the need to explain the Holy Quran
to non-Islamic countries, noting that Islamic countries are “doing well” for
offering the Quran.
He referred to the need to translate the Quran into
other languages other than Arabic.
“But the beauty of our Quran is not only about
translation and tafsir but also the beauty of illumination, how we identify the
beauty of that country in the Quran and the Quran towards the country.
So it is a very important process to make the people
feel they are very close to the Quran. That is what we do.”
One of the objectives of the festival is to introduce
the role of Nasyrul Quran Complex to local and international visitors. The
complex, according to its website, is the world’s second-largest Quran
production center after the King Fahd Quran Printing Complex in Medina. The
foundation, which is located in Putrajaya, a city near the Malaysian capital of
Kuala Lumpur, is also a tourist attraction visited by those who love the Quran
and Quranic arts from around the world.
The 10-day festival will have various exhibitions such
as artifacts of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his companions, Kaaba Kiswa, Quran
village, the largest seerah book in the world, and exclusive Restu products.
Restu Global Quranic Arts Festival will also include a
host of other events such as Halal hub, sale bazaar, animation festival, kids
activities (Batik painting), and bidding on art pieces.
Visitors can also take a tour of the Holy Quran
printing factory while also receiving services for disposing of the Quran and
other Islamic books.
Source: IQNA
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Six Islamic extremists surrender in Philippines
January 16, 2023
Six members of the Muslim extremist group Bangsamoro
Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) surrendered their weapons to the military
forces at Maguindanao province in Mindanao, a restive, conflict-scarred region
in the southern Philippines.
The fighters of the state-declared terrorist group
laid down their arms to the military’s Western Mindanao Command on Jan. 15,
said a top military commander.
“As a sign that they had indeed abandoned the cause
they were fighting for, the BIFF members also gave their one 60mm mortar, one
M16A1 rifle, one Garand rifle, one Carbine rifle, one long magazine, one
rocket-propelled grenade launcher with one ammunition and one improvised
explosive device,” Brigadier General Arturo Rojas told reporters.
The Philippine army has reported that the extremist
group was exhausted due to the continued military operations in the Maguindanao
region.
“We have been conducting raids and house arrests for
suspect members of the extremist groups based on intelligence reports. Of
course, we do it legally under a search warrant or a warrant of arrest… members
of the group got tired, so they surrendered instead of hiding for their
safety,” Rojas added.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines said although
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has ordered an offensive attack against the
rebels, humanitarian protocols were in place for those who surrendered.
“We welcome the former violent extremists and extend
our assistance to them as they return to mainstream society. Rest assured that
we will keep them safe as they prepare themselves to become productive members
of their respective communities," Lieutenant General Vicente Bacarro, the
army’s chief of staff, told reporters on Jan. 16.
Bacarro praised local communities for helping them
track down trails of suspected terrorists particularly in navigating the
forests of the Mindanao region.
"We, the Armed Forces, share all our gains and
successes with our partners and stakeholders, the local government units, and
the populace. Let us continue to strengthen our collaborative efforts to end
terrorism and sustain stability here in Mindanao," Bacarro added.
Caritas Philippines had worked with government
officials for the surrender of the Muslim extremists, especially for their
rehabilitation.
“We provided them with rice and financial aid. Mostly,
people join these (extremist) groups because of poverty. So, we need to address
it first. Then we will provide them with livelihood,” Mindanao Caritas
Chairperson Father Roel De Guzman told UCA News.
The priest said they were in the process of profiling
each member so they could reach out to their local community and families.
“They lacked communication with their loved ones
because they are afraid that government forces would torture their family
members to extract information about their whereabouts. But if they see that
church and government make the first efforts to bring them to their family
members, then somehow there is hope they’d trust the process again,” Father De
Guzman added.
The army’s data revealed 4 out of the 6 rebels were
coconut farmers in the Visayas region. They had pending warrants of arrest for
the alleged bombing of a bus in January last year.
A child had been killed while six others were wounded
after a bomb exploded on a passenger bus in Cotabato City in Mindanao.
“They had pending warrants. But they will be given
lawyers to make sure justice will be served and their rights will be
protected,” Mindanao lawyer Chris Logibao told UCA News.
For their security, the Philippine army has opted not
to divulge the identities of the members of the BIFF group. The extremist group
did not issue a statement since the surrender.
For decades, the Mindanao region has been known as a
conflict zone due to the fighting between Islamic extremists and the military
that claimed thousands of lives. The main extremist outfit, the Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) has long battled for greater autonomy for the region.
The outfit disarmed thousands of its fighters after
the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Basic Law in 2018 to offer
greater autonomy for Muslims in Mindanao. However, many of its fighters have
reportedly joined other extremist outfits including Aby Sayyaf which is still
active in the region.
Analysts blame widespread poverty in the region with a
population of 24 million for breeding extremism. Mindanao is known as the
breadbasket of the Philippines thanks to its promising agriculture sector and
natural resources.
Source: UCA News
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Study: ‘Ultranationalist’ groups gaining traction in
Malaysian online space following Umno’s defeat in 2018 polls
By Keertan Ayamany
17 Jan 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 17 — A report by the regional think
tank Asia Centre has suggested that hate speech and ultranationalist groups are
gaining significant influence in the Malaysian online space recently, promoting
their agenda that revolves around the “3R”, or race, religion and the royalty.
According to the report titled “Internet Freedoms in
Malaysia: Regulating Online Discourse on Race, Religion and Royalty” released
yesterday, there is an immediate need for action to be taken to protect victims
of the groups which have been operating with impunity.
"More exclusive and more right-wing groups use
social media to propagate their agendas. These groups are able to silence
people,” Dr Hew Wai Weng, a research fellow at the Universiti Kebangsaan
Malaysia, was quoted as saying in the report.
"They used their ‘freedom of speech’ to limit the
freedoms of other people, especially those of minority background — be it
gender, ethnic or religious minorities. For example, they campaigned against
LGBT people. They monitor LGBT activism online and offline.
"These right-wing groups are not necessarily
state actors. There can be preachers, NGO leaders, and opinion leaders who
propagate Malay Muslim insecurity,” he added.
The report also said that these groups became
especially prevalent after Malay nationalist party Umno’s defeat in the 2018
general election which saw its coalition Barisan Nasional lose for the first
time in six decades, which created a "vacuum where Malays need to defend
Malays”.
Umno is currently part of the coalition government
with former political enemies Pakatan Harapan led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Anwar Ibrahim.
The report also pointed out that although
ultranationalist groups existed before the internet, the arrival of the
internet enabled these groups to promote their agenda at a low cost to a bigger
audience.
This comes as 89.6 per cent of the total 32 million
population in Malaysia have internet access in 2022.
The report detailed traits and tactics used by the
groups, such as patrolling and monitoring the internet to promote their agenda,
doxxing and attacking critics of the 3R discourse using hate speech, lodging
reports with the police and internet service providers, and sometimes even call
to violence.
It also noted that although Pakatan Harapan has
promised to look after the rights of non-Malays, after its success in the 15th
general election, the coalition’s leader Anwar has made pledges that the
position of the Malays, Islam and the Royalty will not be questioned.
Meanwhile, Wathshlah Naidu, executive director of the
Centre for Independent Journalism said that human rights activists and
defenders of the internet have experienced online harassment to the point of
withdrawing from participation in both online and public spaces.
"They experienced emotional and psychological
impacts leading to the impact of public participation. The internet environment
is contributing to a kind of spiral impact that is not only yourself but also
your life in public," she said.
The think tank said the rise of ultranationalist
groups was among the four impacts on internet freedoms that resulted from an
ecosystem of laws used to ensure the special position of the Malays, Islam, and
the monarchy, and to suppress progressive 3Rs narratives with fear.
Other impacts included website blocking by
authorities, requesting social media platforms to remove content, and
investigation and prosecution of critics.
The report then made several recommendations, among
which was for Malaysia to sign and ratify the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) — which saw intense backlash
from some in the Malay-Muslim lobby since 2018.
It also called for the repeal of Sections 298 and
298(A) of the Penal Code, which criminalises content or actions that
authorities consider an insult to religion, as well as the repeal of the
Sedition Act and the Official Secrets Act.
It also asked for a review and an amendment of Section
233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act to clearly define what are the
improper uses of network facilities or network services that it criminalises.
Source: Malay Mail
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