Identifying ‘Spit-Free’ Hotels: Campaign of Far-Right Groups against Halal Food in Kerala
New Age Islam News Bureau
25 November 2021
A representational image.
(Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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• Identifying ‘Spit-Free’ Hotels: Campaign of
Far-Right Groups against Halal Food in Kerala
• Madrasas Will Teach Hindi Language, Indian
Religions; Jamiat ul Hidaya University Takes Initiative
• Executions of Child Offenders in Iran Must Stop, UN
Experts Say
• Buddhist Mother Who Embraced Islam Challenges Court
Decision on Kids’ Conversion
• Pakistani Police Arrest Four for ‘Blasphemy’ Over
Mosque Argument with Imam on Christian Funeral Announcement
• Shia Hazara Elders Pledge Support for Taliban Rulers
in Afghanistan
India
• Friday Namaz: Muslims to Approach Court to Uphold
Their Constitutional Right to Religious Freedom and Worship
• NIA Raids Multiple Locations in Kashmir in Al Qaeda
Case
• In veiled dig at Pak, Jaishankar says repeated
attempts made to bring bilateral issues into SCO in violation of norms
• Action sought against former Shia Waqf board
chairman over book controversy
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Europe
• Labelling of goods from occupied Palestinian land is
longstanding policy: Belgium
• Israel to return envoy to Poland amid cooling
tension
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Southeast Asia
• Indonesia’s Islamic Conservatives Overly Fixated on
Sex
• Home minister: Govt looking at Bangladesh, Indonesia
and the Philippines as new source for security service sector
• PM: Malaysia working with Asia-Europe Meeting
partners to establish VTL
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Pakistan
• Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council Urges Youth to
Spread Moderate Message of Islam for Eradicating Extremism, Terrorism, Dowry
Rituals
• WHO extends travel curbs to Pakistan as polio
endemic country
• Stability in Afghanistan vital to achieve target of
regional connectivity among SCO members: Qureshi
• Shaheen-1A ballistic missile test-fired
• Pakistan ‘welcomes’ second round of US-Taliban talks
in Doha
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South Asia
• Taliban Rulers Unable To Handle Law and Order,
Economic Crisis, Uncertain Security Situation in Afghanistan
• Protest paralyses Bangladesh capital after student
death
• Report: Blast near Gurdwara in Kabul
• Conflicts in Afghanistan leaves over half a million
internally displaced in 2021: Report
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Arab World
• Pope Francis Meets with PM Mikati, Promises To Help
Lebanon ‘Rise Again’
• Lebanon court rejects suits over Beirut blast by
former PM Diab, ministers
• Lebanon judges resign in protest against political
interference
• Egypt sentences 22 extremists to death: Judicial
source
• Saudi Arabia allows direct entry from Indonesia,
Pakistan, Egypt, India from Dec. 1
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Mideast
• Iran Asks for Using OIC Capacities to Stand against
Normalization of Ties with Israel
• 'Muslim World Needs Common Ground In $7 Trillion
Halal Economy'
• Israel plans to build 17,000 settlement units in
Jerusalem: Palestinian minister
• FM: Iran's Participation in Vienna Talks Aimed at
Reaching Good Agreement
• US General Acknowledges Iran’s Ballistic Missiles
Precision
• Arab Coalition conducts air strikes on military
camps, targets in Yemen’s Sanaa
• Arab Coalition conducts eight operations against
Iran-backed Houthis in Marib
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Africa
• Libyan Fighters Prevent Election Appeal from Saif Al-Islam’s
Lawyer
• Algeria ‘targeted’ in Israel defence minister’s
visit to Morocco: Official
• At least 43 killed in clashes in Sudan’s restive
Darfur: UN
• 3 soldiers killed in terror attack in Burkina Faso
• Libya's military judiciary demands arrest of
renegade Gen. Haftar
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North America
• Ethiopia’s Government Warns US against Spreading
False Information on War
• Turkey marks 5th anniversary of Colombia's
'historic' peace agreement
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/spit-campaign-right-halal-food-kerala/d/125847
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Identifying ‘Spit-Free’ Hotels: Campaign Of Far-Right
Groups Against Halal Food in Kerala
A representational image.
(Getty Images/iStockphoto)
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Nov 25, 2021
On Tuesday, a popular restaurant in Thiruvananthapuram
received an unusual call. After ordering a Thalassery (north Kerala) biryani
and another dish, the caller said: “Hope you will ensure spit-free food.”
It took some time for a restaurant employee to
understand that the caller was perhaps influenced by a campaign of far-right
groups against halal food.
Many Muslim-owned hotels have complained that they get
many similar inquiries. Social media are also abuzz with a campaign against
halal food with some calling popular dishes “thuppalshawarma”, “thuapplmandi”,
and “thuppal biryani”. Thuppal means spit in Malayalam.
Hotel owners allege some Christian outfits have also
joined the hate campaign and there are many WhatsApp groups identifying
“spit-free” hotels in particular areas. Many fake videos have also surfaced to
boost the campaign.
The latest campaign against halal food began after S J
R Kumar, the convener of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-backed
Sabarimala Karma Samiti, filed a petition in Kerala high court last week
questioning halal stamp on jaggery packets supplied to the Sabarimala Temple.
He wrongly claimed Muslim scholars have said “saliva is a necessary ingredient
for certifying halal preparations.” Kumar called it an insult to devotees who
take prasad made of this jaggery.
The temple board said the Maharashtra-based supplier
of the jaggery also exports it to West Asian countries and the halal
specification came up inadvertently. The plea is pending in court.
It later came to light that the supplier--a
Maharashtra-based sugar firm--is owned by a Shiv Sena leader from Pune.
The petition prompted the social media campaign
against halal food. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is finding it hard
to get a foothold in Kerala, jumped on the bandwagon. “We have not raked up the
issue. Many eating joints are showing halal boards prominently these days,
especially in north Kerala. Some fundamentalist outfits are setting a communal
agenda like the way they popularised the veil in the state,” said BJP state
president K Surendran.
BJP spokesman Sandeep Warrier, who wrote a post over
the issue, was forced to withdraw it. “Hindus and Muslims cannot survive by
boycotting each other in a state like Kerala,” he wrote.
On Sunday, BJP leader P Sudheer sought a ban on public
display of halal boards saying “it was unfit in a secular society”.
The Kerala Hotel and Restaurant Association has
requested chief minister PinarayiVijayan and state police chief Anil Kant to
rein in elements campaigning against halal food. “It will vitiate the
atmosphere and affect our businesses that are coming out of the pandemic shock
slowly. Halal supporters and haters are camping vigorously. It is really bad
for the hotel industry,” said G Jayapalan, the association secretary.
l V P SuhaibMoulavi, the prayers leader at
Thiruvanthamouram’sPalayam mosque, said halal simply means something that is
permissible. “Certain foods are not permissible. Blowing at food is against the
preaching of the Prophet,” he said.
Kerala Muslim Jammat secretary A Saifuddin Haji said
halal was only a symbolic gesture of seeking blessing and no spitting or
blowing were involved.
Muslim thinker Prof M N Karassery called the
controversy unwarranted. “Some groups from both sides are fanning trouble over
a non-issue. Problems start when you impose your customs and beliefs on others.
I feel Kerala society is mature enough to see designs of these forces,” he
said. He added it was also wrong to display halal boards.
Some Christian organisations have also pledged support
to the anti-Halal campaign. “An Arab food culture invaded the state in a decade
or so. We are not against it but many traditional cuisines are disappearing in
the process. And many hotels display halal boards prominently provoking others.
We are against invasion of particular food culture,” said Church Auxiliary for
Social Action, a Christian organisation supporting the campaign against halal
food.
The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI
(M) came down heavily on RSS affiliates saying their ploy to polarise society
will not succeed in Kerala. “Debate on halal was unnecessary and uncalled for
and it is aimed at destroying communal amity of the state. Progressive society
of Kerala will reject it with condemnation it deserves,” said CPI (M) Politburo
member KodiyeriBalakrishnan.
He asked the party’s youth wing to expose elements
trying to create a rift in society.
Activist Rahul Eswar, a grandson of Sabarimala chief
priest, said one cannot see politics everywhere. “In Sabarimala, there is a
small shrine of a Muslim saint Vavar Swami. Pilgrims first offer prayers there
before scaling 18 holy steps of the temple.”
Muslims account for 27% of Kerala’s population and are
politically, socially, and economically much better off than Muslims in the
rest of the country.
Source: Hindustan Times
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original story:
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Madrasas Will Teach Hindi Language, Indian Religions; Jamiat ul Hidaya University Takes Initiative
Photo: Siasat Daily
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25th November 2021
By Pervez Bari
Bhopal: Prof. Mohsin Usmani, former Dean, Faculty
of Languages, Eiffel University, Hyderabad, said that the prophets used to
speak in the language of the nation and Hindi is the national language of
India. Therefore, learning Hindi language and getting acquainted with Indian
religions is the social need and religious responsibility of the Ulema. The
above remarks were made by Prof. Mohsin in the consultative meeting which was
held at the K. A. NizamiCentre for Qur’anic Studies in Aligarh Muslim
University (AMU), to prepare a course in Hindi language and Indian religions
for the benefit of religious schools. JameaTul HidayaUniversity, Jaipur, has
taken the The meeting was presided over by Prof. Ali Muhammad Naqvi, Director,
Dara Shikoh Inter-faith Center.
It takes time to teach Hindi language and Indian
religion courses in madrasas and the superintendent of Jamiat ul Hidaya
University, Jaipur deserves congratulations for this initiative. The launch of
this course will provide a scholarly basis for inter-faith and sectarian
harmony. Such courses should be approved by Indian universities to be useful
for the students of the course. The study of religions is part of the Muslim
tradition and needs to be taken further.” These views have been expressed in
the meeting by Prof. Muhammad Saud Alam Qasmi, Dean, Department of Theology, in
AMU.
A press note issued said that the meeting was
convened at the invitation of Maulana Mohammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi,
Ameer-e-Jamea (Superintendent) of JameaTul Hidaya University. He said that
JameaTul Hidaya wants to prepare a two-year course for the students of
religious schools for specialization in Hindi language and Indian religions.
The knowledge and experience of the teachers of the Muslim University will be
used to create its curriculum and system.
Naseem Ahmad Khan, Director, Bridge Course, said
that the curriculum for religions and Hindi language should be included in the
curriculum taught in the universities for the benefit of the madrasas so that
the students would be able to move on.
Maulana Ashhad Jamal Nadwi, Secretary, Institute of
Islamic Research and Writing, said that teaching of Hindi language and Indian
religions is our religious and da’wah need. If the big madrasas take the
initiative then other madrasas will follow. Dr. Raza Abbas, a teacher at the
Women’s College, said that the study of other religions should be done in a sympathetic
manner instead of a demonstrative manner and expert teachers should be
appointed for this purpose.
Delivering the presidential address, Ali Muhammad
Naqvi said that before starting this course in madrasas, attention should be
paid to the purpose, procedure, syllabus and preparation of text books. This
work is very important and the Faculty of Theology, Hindi Department,
Inter-faith Center, NizamiCenter and Bridge Course Center of Aligarh Muslim
University will provide full support in this work. “We will also prepare
textbooks”, he added.
An outline of the curriculum was also prepared in
this meeting.
It may be pointed out here that JameaTul Hidaya is
a revolutionary step in the field of Islamic education taken by a well known
Islamic scholar as well as a great priest Maulana Mohammed Abdur Rahim
Mujaddidi. This great idea was introduced by Maulana Mohammed Hidayat Ali
Mujaddidi (a great priest of his era) 75 years ago and Maulana Mohammed Abdur
Rahim Mujaddidi gave it a practical shape He planted that sapling and then fed
it with his sweat, tears and blood.
It was not established all of sudden, but launched
after long discussions with great Islamic scholars like Maulana Syed Abulhasan
Ali Nadwi, and other erudite, distinguished personalities, this covered a
period of about 25 years.
Source: The Siasat Daily
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original story:
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Executions of Child Offenders in Iran Must Stop, UN Experts Say
FILE PHOTO aa.com
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Peter Kenny
25.11.2021
GENEVA
UN human rights experts on Thursday condemned the
execution of ArmanAbdolali, convicted for an alleged murder committed when he
was 17, and demanded that Iran stop sentencing children to death.
“We strongly deplore that the authorities proceeded
with the execution of juvenile offender Arman Abdolali, in violation of an
absolute prohibition under international human rights law,” the Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) quoted them as saying.
The experts are Javaid Rehman, special rapporteur
on the situation of human rights in Iran; MikikoOtani, chair of the Committee
on the Rights of the Child, Morris Tidball-Binz, special rapporteur on
extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Nils Melzer, special rapporteur
on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Abdolali was executed on Wednesday after being
transferred to solitary confinement the previous evening.
“This case is emblematic of the deep flaws of the
juvenile justice system in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and we call on the
Government to undertake reforms as a matter of priority,” the experts said.
“We call on the Government to commute all death
sentences issued against juvenile offenders, in line with its international
obligations.”
According to the press release, there are currently
over 85 juvenile offenders on death row in Iran, sentenced to death following
processes that "significantly violate international human rights
law."
It said that a majority of those sentenced to death
are from marginalized groups or are individuals who themselves have been
victims of abuse.
Source: AA.com
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original story:
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Buddhist Mother Who Embraced Islam Challenges Court Decision on Kids’ Conversion
Representational Photo
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V Anbalagan
November 25, 2021
PUTRAJAYA: A Buddhist mother who embraced Islam but
failed to convert her two children has gone to the Federal Court to challenge a
Court of Appeal ruling.
Lawyer ArhamRahimy Hariri, who is representing the
mother whose identity has not been disclosed, said a motion to obtain leave
from the apex court was filed yesterday.
He said the applicant had filed three questions of
law, one of which was whether Article 12(4) of the Federal Constitution had
been erroneously relied upon and/or applied in the case of Indira Gandhi Mutho
v PengarahJabatan Agama Islam Perak &Ors.
Article 12 (4) states that the religion of a person
under the age of 18 shall be decided by his parent or guardian.
Under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act
1964, the Federal Court would proceed to hear the merit of the appeal only if
an applicant succeeds in showing that the legal or constitutional questions
posed are novel and of public advantage.
On Oct 27, the Court of Appeal held the High Court
was right to allow a father of Buddhist faith to quash the unilateral conversion
of his children to Islam by their mother.
Judge MohamadZabidinDiah said the appeals court was
bound by the 2018 Federal Court decision in the case of kindergarten teacher M
Indira Gandhi, which held that a spouse of a civil marriage who embraced Islam
cannot unilaterally convert their children.
The other judges who sat in with Zabidin were S
NanthaBalan and Nordin Hassan.
In this case, the father filed a legal challenge in
2016, seeking to quash the unilateral conversion of his two children to Islam.
He also sought a declaration that the children’s
certificates of conversion to Islam were null and void, and that they were
unlawfully converted.
He claimed that his former wife had converted the
children with the intention of obtaining custody of them.
The woman converted to Islam in December 2015 while
she and her former husband were in the midst of a divorce.
She converted the children at the Federal
Territories Islamic religious department in May 2016.
Another Court of Appeal bench had also ordered that
the father be given custody of the children.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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original story:
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Pakistani Police Arrest Four for ‘Blasphemy’ Over Mosque Argument with Imam on Christian Funeral Announcement
Blasphemy/
Representational Photo
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25 Nov 2021
Pakistani police have arrested four men charged
with blasphemy after they argued with an ‘imam’ (religious cleric) over whether
a funeral announcement for a Christian neighbour could be made from a mosque,
officials say.
The case occurred in the village of KhodiKhushal
Singh, near the eastern city of Lahore, on November 18, a local police official
Faryad, who goes by one name, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
“The men have been detained and we have presented
them before the court,” he said.
The men, who were Muslim, argued with a local
cleric after he refused to make a funeral announcement for a Christian man from
his mosque, the initial police report says.
“As soon as they arrived [at the mosque], they
started cursing the mosque’s imam, they disrespected the mosque and they
insulted Islam,” reads the report.
Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in Pakistan, where
strict blasphemy laws prescribe a mandatory death penalty for certain forms of
the crime.
The four men were charged under sections 295 and
298 of Pakistan’s penal code, which carry penalties of up to two years in
prison.
Pakistan has never executed a convict under the
blasphemy laws, but accusations of the offence have increasingly led to murder
by mobs or individuals. Since 1990, at least 79 people have been killed in such
violence, according to an Al Jazeera tally.
Pakistani human rights activists have decried the
case against the four men as being unfounded.
“If there was a Muslim who in good faith wants to
have an announcement such as this made in the community, it’s not an attack on
someone’s faith, it’s a good cause,” said human rights activist and lawyer
Nadeem Anthony.
“So if someone announces [a funeral] on a
loudspeaker, how is it a religious violation?”
Source: Aljazeera
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/25/pakistan-arrest-blasphemy-mosque-argument-christian
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Shia Hazara Elders Pledge Support for Taliban Rulers in Afghanistan
Hazara women attending a
gathering in Kabul in which elders pledged their support to the Taliban.
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November 26, 2021
KABUL: More than 1,000 Shia Hazaras pledged their
support on Thursday to Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, saying that the “dark
period” of previous Western-backed governments had ended with the return of the
Islamists.
Afghanistan’s Hazaras have been persecuted by
Islamists for a long time, but on Thursday community elders gathered in Kabul
alongside Taliban leaders in a show of support.
Senior Hazara leader and former lawmaker
JafarMahdawi, who organised the gathering, said the previous government of
president Ashraf Ghani was the “darkest point” in the history of Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan had no independence and (foreign)
embassies ruled every aspect of the government,” he said. “Thank God, we have
now passed this dark period.”
A community leader says Afghanistan’s new rulers
have put an end to war, stopped corruption and increased security
Since the Taliban seized power in August, the new
rulers have put an end to the war, stopped corruption and increased security,
Mahdawi said.
But he called for a more inclusive government from
the Taliban and urged the new rulers to reopen schools for girls.
“In the coming weeks or months we hope to witness
an inclusive government that has representatives of all people,” Mahdawi said.
The current government, which the Taliban say is an
interim one, is made up almost entirely of the group’s Pashtun stalwarts and
does not include any woman.
Taliban leader and spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid
told the gathering that rebuilding the country was a priority.
“Our jihad against the foreign invaders has ended
and now we will start jihad for building the country,” he said.
Senior Hazara cleric Ayatollah WaezzadaBehsudi
called for reconciliation between all the ethnic groups of the country.
“Let’s forgive each other... If the current
government wants to be sustainable, it must have support from all the people,”
he said.
The Hazaras, who make up 10 to 20 per cent of
Afghanistan’s around 38 million population, have been persecuted for a long
time in the Sunni majority country.
The Islamists have carried out several mass
killings of Hazaras, including in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, where
Human Rights Watch says at least 2,000 mainly Hazara civilians were executed.
Several bomb attacks in recent years have also killed and wounded scores of
Hazaras in the country.
Some Hazaras who attended Thursday’s gathering
expressed fears that members of the militant Islamic State (IS) group would
carry out attacks against them.
“In these three months we have witnessed several
explosions and suicide attacks,” said Qari Mohammad Reza Haidari.
“People are worried about Daesh’s influence and
that they may get control of some parts of the country or challenge the
(Islamic) Emirate,” he said, referring to IS with its Arabic acronym.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1660301/hazara-elders-pledge-support-for-taliban-rulers
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India
Friday Namaz: Muslims to Approach Court to Uphold
Their Constitutional Right to Religious Freedom and Worship
Nov 26, 2021
With disruptions of Namaz gatherings in the open
continuing to take place every Friday in Gurugram, members of the Muslim
community on Thursday said they have no option left but to approach the court,
seeking relief from the continuous harassment and uphold their constitutional right
to religious freedom and worship.
cBut Muslim groups have maintained that the number
of mosques in the city is not adequate for Friday congregations.
As protests that started in Sector 37 spread to
Sector 12A and other areas, Gurugram administration earlier this month reduced
the number of public sites for Namaz from 37 to 20. But disruptions continued
even at these designated points until last Friday.
Muslims said apart from taking legal recourse, they
would also file complaints with the police against individuals and
organisations for hurting religious sentiments. “We have little hope from the
authorities, so we are planning to approach the court to enforce our
constitutional rights. We have also decided to lodge complaints against those
who have harassed our community members,” said Altaf Ahmad, founder, Gurgaon
Nagrik Ekta Manch, a citizens’ platform. He said they were still working out
the details of which court to approach and when, among others.
On Thursday, a few Hindu residents of Khandsa
Village submitted a memorandum to the district administration opposing Friday
prayers near KhandsaChowk.
Rajiv Mittal, spokesperson, Sanyukt Hindu Sangarsh
Samiti, an umbrella group of rightwing organisation opposing Namaz in the open,
said the protest in Khandsa will be led by residents but they will support it.
“The memorandum to oppose the Namaz has been
submitted by residents of Khandsa Village and those living in Sector 37. We
will support the protests and, if need be, gather there,” said Mittal, adding
that they have already given a deadline of December 4 for stopping such public
prayers.
HT has a copy of the memorandum received by the
administration but none of Khandsa residents, who submitted it, could be
reached for a comment.
Mittal also said around 30 persons from the Sikh
community are coming from Delhi and Amritsar to oppose the proposal of offering
gurdwara premises for Friday prayers.
Last week, Sikh community leaders offered the
premises of gurdwaras for Namaz, but withdrew the offer a couple of days later
under pressure from rightwing groups and also from those within their
community.
Sardar Raviranjan Singh, vice-president,
GurmatpracharJathaPanchKhalsa, said Sangat members will reach the gurdwara in
Sadar on Friday to prevent Namaz on the premises. “People from all community
are welcome to pray and share the langarprasad but we will not allow Namaz or
any other religious worship that is not permitted by the GurmatRehatmaryada,”
he said.
The Gurugram police, meanwhile, said personnel will
be deployed at all designated spots to maintain law and order. “Duties have
already been assigned and adequate deployment would be made to maintain law and
order so that there is no disturbance during Friday prayers,” said
SubhashBoken, police spokesperson.
Source: Hindustan Times
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text of the original story:
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NIA Raids Multiple Locations In Kashmir In Al Qaeda
Case
Nov 26, 2021
SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency raided
multiple locations in Srinagar and south Kashmir on Thursday morning.
The raids, assisted by paramilitary troopers and
the J&K police, raided multiple houses in Wachi area of Zainpora, Shopian,
and Nowgam area in Srinagar district. "During the searches … a large
number of incriminating documents and digital devices have been seized,"
an NIA spokesman said.
In Srinagar, NIA sleuths raided the residence of
Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) president ParvezAmroz but
his family denied that their residence had been searched.
Sources said that in Shopian the houses of PDP,
National Conference and Jamaat-e-Islami activists were searched, and some
arrests were made. The houses raided include those of Mohammad Sultan Kumar,
Mohammed Shafi Shah, Mohammad Shaban and Rashid Shah.
A few days ago the NIA had arrested well-known
human rights activist KhurramParvez under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)
Act.
"The case pertains to Umar Halmandi, an
Al-Qaeda operative who, along with other accused persons, had been radicalising
and recruiting vulnerable persons for AQIS (Al-Qaeda in the Indian
Subcontinent) and trying to raise AnsaarGajwatul Hind (AGH) to carry out
militant acts for which they had already arranged arms and explosive
substances," an NIA statement read.
The case was initially registered as FIR No.
10/2021, dated 11.07.2021, PS-ATS, Uttar Pradesh. The NIA had re-registered the
same as RC-02/2021/NIA/LKW on July 29, 2021.
Source: Times of India
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In veiled dig at Pak, Jaishankar says repeated
attempts made to bring bilateral issues into SCO in violation of norms
Nov 25, 2021
NEW DELHI: In a veiled dig at Pakistan, External
Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said there have been repeated attempts to
deliberately bring bilateral issues into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization
and noted that it violates the well-established principles and norms of SCO
Charter.
Addressing the 20th Meeting of the SCO Council of
Heads of Government, the minister said India considers the SCO as an important
regional group to promote cooperation in various fields based on universally
recognized international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness,
transparency and equality.
"It is unfortunate to note that there have
been repeated attempts to deliberately bring bilateral issues into SCO. This
violates the well-established principles and norms of SCO Charter. Such acts
are counterproductive to the spirit of consensus and cooperation that define
this organization and should be condemned," he said.
Pakistan has attempted to raise the Kashmir issue
at SCO meetings on several occasions in the last few years. Last year in
September, AjitDoval stormed out of the SCO's virtual meeting of national
security advisors after Pakistan showed a "fictitious" map violating
the agenda of the gathering.
In a reference to China's Belt and Road Initiative,
Jaishankar said any serious connectivity initiative must be consultative,
transparent and participatory and conform to principles of sovereignty and
territorial integrity.
He said India today is an emerging economic force
at the global level and despite the economic devastation caused by COVID-19, the
country's agile response in fighting the pandemic and ensuring economic
stability has been noteworthy.
He said India believes that greater connectivity is
an economic force-multiplier that has acquired greater salience in the
post-Covid era.
"However, any serious connectivity initiative
must be consultative, transparent and participatory. It must conform to the
most basic principle of international law - respect for sovereignty and
territorial integrity," Jaishankar said.
The minister said India has been taking steps to
operationalize the Chabahar port in Iran to provide secure and commercially
viable access to the sea for Central Asian countries.
"We have also proposed to include the Chabahar
port in the framework of International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC).
I would like to reaffirm India's commitment to cooperate, plan, invest and
build physical and digital connectivity in the SCO region," he said.
The minister, who addressed the event through video
conference, said the socio-political impact of COVID-19 is far from over and
has exposed the weakness of global institutions.
"This is the time to bring in much-needed
reforms to our global institutions, including the WHO, and rework our
development strategies to face a post-COVID-19 world. For this, we need a
Reformed and Reinvigorated Multilateralism that reflects today's realities,
which gives voice to all stakeholders, addresses contemporary challenges and
puts human beings at the centre of our thought and policies," he said.
Source: Times of India
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Action sought against former Shia Waqf board
chairman over book controversy
November 26, 2021
Members of the Muslim community in Dahod on
Thursday submitted a memorandum to the Prant officer of the district seeking
action against former Shia Waqf Board chairman Wasim Rizvi over his book titled
‘Muhammad’, which has sparked controversy for “objectionable comments” against
Prophet Muhammad.
Representatives of Dahod town’s Muslim community
submitted a memorandum to the Prant officer, in this regard.
“Wasim Rizvi, who has made hurtful comments about
the verses of the Quran in the past, has now spread false stories about Prophet
Muhammad through his book… the government must initiate strict action against
him and sentence him to capital punishment,” read the memorandum.
Representatives also held a symbolic protest march
chanting slogans against Rizvi, who has been at the centre of a controversy
with several bodies of the Muslim community across the country seeking FIRs
against him.
Source: Indian Express
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https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/baroda/action-against-wasim-rizvi-book-controversy-7641866/
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Europe
Labelling of goods from occupied Palestinian land is
longstanding policy: Belgium
Agnes Szucs
25.11.2021
BRUSSELS
Belgium on Thursday tried to downplay scuttled
meetings by a visiting top Israeli diplomat, insisting that the measures Tel
Aviv objects to are longstanding EU policy differentiating between Israel’s
pre-1967 boundaries and the occupied territories.
After arriving in Belgium, on Wednesday Idan Roll,
Israel’s deputy foreign minister, canceled official meetings after seeing media
reports on Belgium’s policy of labeling products from the occupied Palestinian
territories.
The Belgian Foreign Ministry expressed regret over the
canceled meetings, but said for years it has been applying the EU policy on
differentiated product labeling for goods made in the West Bank and other
Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
Belgian daily Le Soir reported this week that the
government decided to tighten the requirement on exporters to put different
labels on items produced in Israel on the one hand, and in Israeli settlements
in the occupied Palestinian territories of West Bank, Eastern Jerusalem, the Gaza
strip, and the Golan Heights, on the other.
“The Belgian policy hasn’t changed. The
differentiation has been applied for years, and it is even part of the
coalition agreement of the government,” the office of Belgian Foreign Minister
Sophie Wilmes told the newspaper after Roll canceled meetings with the ministry
and the federal parliament.
The ministry expressed regret “that the meetings
couldn’t take place” but said the Belgian government had been following the EU
policy and UN resolutions for years.
After finding it “very difficult to confirm the exact
origin of the products,” Wilmes’ office said, they ordered the economy and
finance ministries to carry out “in-depth examination” if the products are
“correctly labeled by exporters, in accordance with European regulations and
case law on the matter.”
Goods from occupied territories “can still be exported
to our country but without benefiting from a preferential tariff provided for
by the association agreement between Israel and the EU, because they do not come
from Israel,” the statement said.
The European Court of Justice ruled in 2019 that
“foodstuffs originating in the territories occupied by the state of Israel must
bear the indication of their territory of origin” so that EU consumers could
make “informed choices” when buying products from Israel.
The West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is seen as
occupied territory under international law, thus making all Jewish settlements
there illegal.
Like Turkey and much of the international community,
the EU does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories it has
occupied since 1967.
Since 2001, the EU has repeatedly called on Israel to
end all settlement activity and to dismantle the already existing ones.
Source: AA
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Israel to return envoy to Poland amid cooling tension
EnesCanlı
25.11.2021
JERUSALEM
Israel will return its envoy to Poland as tensions
have cooled between the two nations, according to media reports Wednesday.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that current
Israeli Chargés d’affaires to Poland, Tal Ben-Ari, will soon return to her post
after a four-month absence because of a fall-out between Jerusalem and Warsaw,
said Israeli news outlet Times of Israel.
Polish lawmakers passed a law on Aug, 11 that placed a
10-to 30-year cutoff date on contesting past administrative decisions on
restituting property lost during World War II.
In response to the legislation signed into law by
Polish President AndrzejDuda, Israeli Foreign Minister YairLapid called it
“anti-Semitic and immoral.”
Israel recalled its envoy to Poland and asked the
Polish ambassador to Israel, who was on vacation at the time, not to return.
Source: AA
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/israel-to-return-envoy-to-poland-amid-cooling-tension/2429902
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Southeast Asia
Indonesia’s Islamic Conservatives Overly Fixated on
Sex
By JOHN MCBETH
NOVEMBER 24, 2021
JAKARTA – Indonesia’s Islamic conservatives are back
on their moral high horse, jousting with youthful Education and Culture
Minister NadiemMakarim over his campaign against a disturbing explosion of
sexual harassment on university campuses.
In a baffling twist of logic, the opposition Justice
and Prosperity Party (PKS), the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Muslim
organization Muhammadiyah claim a regulation issued by the 37-year-old
minister, which defines sexual violence as the absence of consent, is promoting
sex among students.
A similar logic was applied to a campaign against
HIV/AIDS in the 1990s. When the government urged people to use condoms to
protect themselves, Islamic right-wingers accused it of encouraging sexual
promiscuity.
Commentators like Jakarta Post senior editor
EndyBayuni can only shake their heads in disbelief. “Who in their right mind
would oppose a regulation that seeks to protect students, particularly female
students, from being sexually attacked,” he wrote in a recent op-ed.
About 7.2 million students attend university in
Indonesia, including 2.9 million enrolled at the country’s 122 state
universities. All will be eligible voters in the 2024 presidential and general
elections when nationalists and Islamists will square off again.
Since the dawn of democracy in the late 1990s,
Indonesia’s religious and ethnic divide has always been brought into sharp
relief during presidential elections, largely because it is normally a simple
choice between two candidates.
During general elections, only 12-13% of the electorate
appear to vote along religious lines. But outside of PKS and the Islamic-based
United Development Party (PPP), parties are always well aware they must be
sympathetic to Muslim majority sentiment.
That explains why lawmakers removed “consent” from the
definition of sexual violence during recent deliberations of the separate
Sexual Violence Eradication Bill, saying it amounted to approval by the state
of extramarital sex.
Once maintaining an adherence to sharia law, PKS now
claims to recognize Pancasila, the state’s inclusive ideology, while defining
itself as Islamist and socially conservative, all in a contorted effort to
attract broader nationwide support.
The party won 50 seats in the 575-seat Parliament in
the 2019 legislative elections, mostly in West Java, Jakarta and West Sumatra,
and seven less than its best showing in 2009. The PPP captured only 19 seats.
PKS attacks on the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) movement get strong support from a majority of Muslim
voters, with surveys demonstrating that being young in Indonesia does not
always mean being progressive.
In fact, research firm Alvara’s 2019 Indonesian Muslim
Report showed that young Indonesians between 14 and 29 were the dominant age
group among those who identify as “puritan and ultra-conservative.”
However, the numbers reveal little about how young
people deal with religious diversity in their everyday lives and how student
councils might react to the issue of sexual violence being turned on its head
into a conversation about promiscuity.
he Harvard-educated Makarim, the founder of the Gojek
multi-service platform, father of three daughters and son of a prominent
Jakarta lawyer, issued the regulation in an urgent response to increasing
reports of sexual predators preying on female students.
“No learning can happen without a feeling of safety,”
he said, citing a 2020 survey in which 77% of college professors said they were
aware of sexual harassment on their campus. “We have to reach a higher ideal
from a protection standpoint.”
Under Indonesian law, sexual violence is only
considered a crime when intercourse occurs without consent. But requests for
sexual favors, acts of physical assault and verbal harassment escape punishment
or even censure.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that many complaints have
been ignored or covered up by college administrators and that some students who
reported harassment have been expelled or otherwise dissuaded from pursuing
their legal rights.
Issued last August, but only brought into force on
November 12, the ministerial decree directs all universities to form a task
force to investigate complaints of sexual impropriety, rather than brushing
them under the carpet to save the college from embarrassment.
Muhammadiyah’s position may have a lot to do with the
fact that until Makarim came along as a surprise choice in President Joko
Widodo’s second-term Cabinet, it had traditionally held the education
portfolio.
That was because of its early introduction of a
reformist platform, going back to the early 1900s, which mixed religion and
secular education as a way of promoting the upward mobility of Muslims. In
recent years, however, education has become bogged down in corruption.
“They (Muhammadiyah) are after his (Nadiem’s) job,”
Bayuni wrote in his November 20 commentary. “To the other Muslim groups,
however, Nadiem’s decree provided an opening in pushing their conservative
agenda in the ongoing cultural wars.”
The role of Islam in the modern state has long been
debated, going back to post-independence days. While a broad consensus has been
reached on that issue, today’s cultural war seems overly fixated on sexuality.
Indonesia’s largest mass Muslim organization,
Nahdlatul Ulama, has its own conservative elements – including Vice President
Ma’ruf Amin – but has always been more progressive on social issues as a
bulwark against extremism.
Amin is a former chairman of MUI, which is pushing for
provisions in a revised Criminal Code that prescribe jail terms for adultery,
pre-marital and homosexual sex, and inhibits the promotion of contraception and
the free flow of vital health information.
The controversial amendment remains stalled in
Parliament over those and other provisions that threaten freedom of speech.
But in the meantime, the legal system has found ways
to punish gays using the Criminal Code’s existing Article 296 on facilitating
fornication and Article 7 of the 2008 Pornography Law dealing with financing
and felicitating pornographic acts.
Only last year, nine young men were jailed for four to
five years for engaging in homosexual activity, with the court calling their
actions “inconsistent with community values.” One has since died in prison from
an untreated stomach ailment.
The MUI played a significant role in shaping policy
during the presidency of SusiloBambangYudhoyono, a period marked by the passage
of the misleadingly-titled pornography law and spiraling violence against
religious minorities.
Makarim has locked horns with religious conservatives
before. Last January, he signed a joint decree with the Home Affairs and
Religious Affairs ministries banning government schools from requiring students
to wear religious attire, particularly the head covering known as a jilbab.
The Supreme Court revoked the decree in May – but for
violating 2011 legislation which lays out a framework that ensures laws and
regulations are formulated in a “planned, integrated and sustainable manner” to
protect people’s constitutional rights.
Source: Asia Times
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of the original story:
https://asiatimes.com/2021/11/indonesias-culture-wars-overly-fixated-on-sex/
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Home minister: Govt looking at Bangladesh, Indonesia
and the Philippines as new source for security service sector
25 Nov 2021
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — The government is planning to
make Bangladesh, Indonesia and the Philippines as new source countries to fill
vacancies in the security service sector, Home Minister Datuk Seri
HamzahZainudin said.
He said the ministry would scrutinise the matter
before any decision is made and hold further discussions with the stakeholders
to ensure there were no issues cropping up in the future.
“I will announce this later after the engagement
session with the relevant parties, including the industry players and
government agencies such as the Foreign Ministry, Defence Ministry and others,”
he said after officiating a meeting with the security service industry and
private agencies here today.
Commenting further, Hamzah said this was to ensure
that those who are brought in really want to work in Malaysia and not for other
purposes.
“This involves national security and I am very
sensitive to this issue,” he said.
Hamzah disclosed that a total of 66 security service
companies have had their licences revoked since 2014 due to the lack of
security screening, misuse of firearms and hiring illegal immigrants.
He also urged all security service companies to renew
their licences on or before December 31 this year to avoid any actions.
Meanwhile, Hamzah said the Home Ministry would
establish a Security Service Industry Training Academy to enable security
guards to receive basic training like other authorities.
He said the academy would collaborate with other
agencies under the ministry such as the Royal Malaysia Police, People’s
Volunteer Corps (Rela) and Immigration Department. — Bernama
Source: Malay Mail
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PM: Malaysia working with Asia-Europe Meeting partners
to establish VTL
25 Nov 2021
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Malaysia is currently working
with a few Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) partners like Singapore and Indonesia to
establish the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) on the path of socio-economic
recovery.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail SabriYaakob said he
hoped the resumption of people movement between countries would help boost
economies, resuscitate livelihoods and refresh people-to-people contact.
“Our sincere goal is to save more lives, particularly
those vulnerable to the pandemic and living under challenging circumstances,”
he said at the 13th ASEM Summit held virtually today.
He said despite the negative impacts, the Covid-19
pandemic has presented the world with opportunities.
“Evidently, we have all been forced to scale up our
resources for digital transformation as we rebuild our socio-economic sectors
such as business, education and healthcare.
“We need to undertake concrete initiatives to steer
ASEM Connectivity closer to its objectives and principles,” he added.
Therefore, Ismail Sabri has called upon the ASEM
partners to facilitate and promote people-to-people access and to foster deeper
economic ties.
ASEM, an intergovernmental process established on
March 1, 1996 to foster dialogue and cooperation between Asia and Europe,
comprises 21 Asian countries, 28 European Union countries, two European
countries, the Asean Secretariat and the European Commission.
Malaysia joined ASEM in 1996 and has since actively
participated in all ASEM initiatives that benefit both regions.
This year’s theme, “Strengthening Multilateralism for
Shared Growth”, aligns with the current efforts undertaken by ASEM in tackling
pressing global challenges through effective dialogue cooperation. — Bernama
Source: Malay Mail
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Pakistan
Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council Urges Youth to Spread
Moderate Message of IslamForEradicating Extremism, Terrorism, Dowry Rituals
November 26, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Ulema Council and Special
Aide to Prime Minister on Religious Harmony and Middle East Tahir Mehmood
Ashrafi has said the young generation must come to the forefront to play their
role in eradicating extremism, terrorism, dowry rituals and spreading the
moderate message of Islam.
Addressing an event at the Barani University
Rawalpindi on Thursday, he said Islam is the guardian of the rights of the minorities
and there are no restrictions on religious freedom in Pakistan. The
Constitution of Pakistan is the protector of the rights of Muslims and
non-Muslims living in Pakistan.
He said the young generation must recognize the true
message of Islam. He said the Paigham-e-Pakistan is a major document, following
the Constitution of Pakistan and the basic objective of the Paigham-e-Pakistan
is that pursue the thinking of live and let live for a peaceful society.
“Islam considers cleanliness as half faith. The
cleanliness situation in our cities and villages today is in question,” he said
and added: “Only by obeying the teachings of prophet Muhammad (SAW), we can
become true lovers of the prophet.
There is no threat to Namoos-e-Risalat and belief in
the finality of prophethood in Pakistan.” He said prophet Muhammad (SAW)
allowed the Christians of Najran to worship in the Masjid-e-Nabvi, and it is
very clear from this instance that the heart of Islam is very wide.
He said conspiracies are being hatched to spread
anarchy in Pakistan through fanning sectarian violence and sowing seeds of
hatred against Pakistan's security institutions. He said daughter is a mercy of
Allah and those who mourn the birth of daughter are unblessed. He said: “The
fact is that we take the name of Islam but discourage girls' education and are
not ready to give inheritance rights to our daughters. When we follow the
teachings of Islam in reality, we become true Muslims.”
He said the leadership of all religious schools of
thought in Pakistan is united that the rights of the minorities will be
protected at all levels. He said the religious leadership should remain
steadfast to reform the people and society amidst prevailing circumstances in
the country.
Source: The News
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/911813-ashrafi-urges-youth-to-spread-moderate-message-of-islam
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WHO extends travel curbs to Pakistan as polio endemic
country
Nov 26, 2021
GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has
extended travel restrictions to Pakistan for another three months as
polio-endemic country.
The UN agency extended travel restrictions on the
South Asian country by three months due to it being listed among the last
polio-endemic countries, Daily Pakistan reported.
The 30th Polio IHR Emergency Committee noted the
completion of the surveillance review in Pakistan which found a high likelihood
that the current wild poliovirus (WPV1) detection is valid.
"The key challenge in Pakistan remains the
'persistently missed children' in the core reservoirs regarding which progress
is being made through innovative approaches such as deploying evening
vaccination teams, health camps, tracking of missed and not available children
after the SIA is completed, dealing with refusals before the campaign starts
and using pro-vaccination influencers," WHO said.
Aside from Pakistan, the UN committee stated that
Afghanistan failed to eradicate polio fully and may be responsible for the
virus's global spread.
The thirtieth meeting of the Emergency Committee under
the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) on the international spread
of poliovirus was convened by the WHO Director-General on November 3 with
committee members and advisers attending via video conference, supported by the
WHO Secretariat.
The Emergency Committee reviewed the data on wild
poliovirus (WPV1) and circulating vaccine derived polioviruses (cVDPV).
Technical updates were received about the situation in the following State
Parties: Afghanistan, China, Guinea Bissau, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan,
Senegal and Ukraine.
Source: Times Of India
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Stability in Afghanistan vital to achieve target of
regional connectivity among SCO members: Qureshi
Nov 25, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
said on Thursday that stability in the war-torn Afghanistan was vital to
achieve the target of regional connectivity among the countries of the Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
Qureshi represented Pakistan at the 20th anniversary
meeting of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG), which was held in a
virtual format and chaired by Kazakh prime ministerAskarMamin.
All SCO member states and observer countries were
represented at the level of prime ministers, vice presidents and foreign ministers,
foreign office said.
Qureshi described the 20th anniversary year of the
establishment of the SCO as an important juncture where leaders of the member
states need to collectively chart the future course of the organisation, it
said.
The foreign minister reaffirmed Pakistan's
"resolute commitment to continue to advance SCO's goals and
objectives," it said.
He underscored that “regional security was imperative
in fulfilling SCO's vision of regional prosperity and economic growth” and
stability in Afghanistan was of critical importance for all member states of
SCO to achieve that goal.
He said that Pakistan on its part would continue to
“play its role to assist our Afghan brethren in their hour of need by
contributing towards its socio-economic development” as well as engage with
regional and international partners to advance shared goals and objectives.
The foreign minister emphasised that projects aimed at
building regional connectivity as well as creating linkages between businessmen
and entrepreneurs were important to achieve regional economic growth.
The SCO, seen as a counterweight to NATO, is a nine
-member economic and security bloc and has emerged as one of the largest
transregional international organisations.
India and Pakistan became its permanent members in
2017. Iran became its member in 2021.
The SCO was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by
the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan.
The Council of Heads of Government is the second
highest forum in SCO that focuses primarily on cooperation among SCO member
states in socio-economic, trade and financial sectors.
Source: Times Of India
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Shaheen-1A ballistic missile test-fired
November 26, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday conducted the
successful test flight of Shaheen-1A surface-to-surface ballistic missile.
The test flight was aimed at re-validating certain
design and technical parameters of the weapon system, said an Inter-Services
Public Relations (ISPR) release.
The test was witnessed by the Strategic Plans
Division’s Director General Lt Gen NadeemZakiManj, NESCOM chairman Dr Raza
Samar, Commander of Army Strategic Forces Command Lt Gen Mohammad Ali and the
scientists and engineers of strategic organisations.
The director general Strategic Plans Division
congratulated scientists and engineers on successful conduct of flight test.
He appreciated the technical prowess, dedication and
commitment of scientists and engineers for their excellent contribution.
The president, prime minister, chairman joint chiefs
of staff committee and services chiefs congratulated the scientists and
engineers on this achievement.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1660308/shaheen-1a-ballistic-missile-test-fired
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Pakistan ‘welcomes’ second round of US-Taliban talks
in Doha
26 Nov 2021
Islamabad, Pakistan – Pakistan has “welcomed” a second
round of talks between the United States and the Taliban since the latter’s
takeover of Afghanistan earlier this year, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)
spokesperson says.
Addressing a weekly press briefing in capital
Islamabad on Thursday, MoFA spokesman Asim Iftikhar reiterated his country’s
position that the world community needs to engage with the Taliban’s
government.
“[The US-Taliban talks] would be welcome development,
as we have been saying, encouraging and advocating enhanced engagement of the
international community with Afghanistan in order to help address its
challenges,” said Iftikhar.
US Special Representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan
Tom West will arrive in the Qatari capital Doha for two days of talks with
Taliban officials next week, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on
Tuesday.
Price said the agenda for talks would be the US’s
“vital national interest” in Afghanistan, which “includes counterterrorism,
that includes safe passage for US citizens and for Afghans to whom we have a
special commitment, and that includes humanitarian assistance and the economic
situation of the country”.
On Thursday, the Afghan foreign ministry confirmed
that a delegation led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi had left for
Doha for the talks.
“A senior delegation led by Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir
Khan Muttaqi left for Doha this afternoon,” said foreign ministry spokesman
Abdul QaharBalkhi.
“The delegation consists representatives from
Ministries of Education, Health, Finance, Security, and Da Afghanistan Bank
[the Afghan central bank].”
International assistance
The Taliban’s interim government has repeatedly called
for international assistance to help combat a burgeoning humanitarian crisis
after its takeover of the country in mid-August.
The US froze $9.5bn in Afghan central bank assets
following the takeover, crippling the government’s ability to function in many
areas.
Afghan news organisation Tolo News quoted Balkhi as
saying the issue of frozen Afghan assets and the reopening of foreign embassies
in Kabul would be under discussion during the talks.
Next week’s talks will be the second round of direct
talks between the two sides in Qatar following the Taliban’s takeover, with a
previous round held in October, although West had not officially taken over as
the US special representative for the region at that time.
West replaced Zalmay Khalilzad in the role, and most
recently met with Muttaqi and other Taliban representatives on the sidelines of
an extended troika meeting, which also included Chinese and Russian officials,
in Islamabad on November 11.
Pakistan has urged international community not to
‘abandon‘ Afghanistan following Taliban’s return to power in August. Islamabad,
which hosts nearly 3.5 million Afghan refugees, fears that a humanitarian
crisis will have a spillover effect on it.
Earlier this week, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan
announced more than $28m medical, food and other humanitarian assistance for
its western neighbour.
Source: Aljazeera
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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/26/pakistan-welcomes-second-round-of-us-taliban-talks-in-doha
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South Asia
Taliban Rulers Unable To Handle Law and Order,
Economic Crisis, Uncertain Security Situation in Afghanistan
Nov 26, 2021
KABUL: The law and order remain fragile across
Afghanistan under the new Taliban regime, with a dwindling economy, uncertain
security situation for traders and civilians.
After failing to provide safety and security to Afghan
businessmen, the Taliban has allowed traders to carry weapons for protection.
Ministry of Interior Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan announced that they will allow Afghan traders to carry weapons
after resolving technical issues, according to Khaama Press.
Following the takeover of the Taliban on August 15,
all people and administrations have been disarmed and no one can carry weapons
except the Taliban.
In a statement, Saeed Khostai, spokesperson of the
Interior Ministry said that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is committed to
ensuring the security and safety of Afghan traders and investors and to
resolving their problems, reported Khaama Press.
Despite these measures, the one area where the Taliban
have failed consistently is the security of civilians, particularly the
minorities.
Di Valerio Fabbri, writing in Geopolitica.info, said
the Taliban is now facing its biggest test of managing the country's governance
as it struggles with the tag of being a 'rogue state', outcast by the
international community.
"Moreover, the mounting terrorist attacks by the
Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISKP) have raised questions over the Taliban's
ability and willingness to protect religious minorities and Afghan civilians.
Unless the Taliban steps up to tackle these challenges, Afghanistan is
undoubtedly destined to descend into civil war," Fabbri said.
The Afghan economy that is already going from bad to
worse since the Taliban's takeover of Kabul could shrink by 30 per cent or more
in the coming months warned International Monetary Fund (IMF).
As per a report published in Asia Times, since the
Taliban has overthrown the democratically elected government in Afghanistan,
the financial condition of the country is continuously moving towards a total
economic collapse.
Afghanistan is teetering towards what the UN warns
could be a catastrophic famine situation, Asia Times reported citing reports
from the IMF. The economic instability could be traced from the time when the
western forces decided to pull-out troops from the country.
Source: Times Of India
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Protest paralyses Bangladesh capital after student
death
Nov 26, 2021
DHAKA: Huge crowds blockaded busy streets and harassed
drivers in the Bangladeshi capital on Thursday to protest the death of a high
school student in a road accident.
Thousands of uniformed students brought traffic to a
standstill around Dhaka's main commercial district and near the national
parliament.
Others marched to the city mayor's office, demanding a
fast-track prosecution for the driver of a garbage truck accused of fatally
running over the pupil.
"We won't return home until we get justice,"
Sabit Bin Arif told AFP.
"We want justice. We want safety of our lives on
the roads. How can we sit back when our friend got killed by such
negligence?" the 18-year-old added.
Students were seen approaching vehicles -- including
police vans -- and asking those behind the steering wheel to show their driving
licenses.
In 2018, similar street protests sparked by the deaths
of two students in a bus accident grew into a nationwide movement that stopped
traffic around the country for a week, prompting a government crackdown.
Authorities later introduced a road law increasing
punishments for reckless driving, but students participating in Thursday's
protest said the measures did not go far enough.
"We won't return home until our rights are
ensured this time," IsratJahan Ivy, 17, told AFP. "We are not against
the government. We just want safety on roads."
Source: Times Of India
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Report: Blast near gurdwara in Kabul
Nov 26, 2021
A powerful explosion near gurdwara Kart-e-Parwan in
Kabul on Thursday led to panic among Sikhs and Hindus sheltering there while
waiting for visas to leave the country.
A Sikh resident of the gurdwara said after the blast
that the authorities had ordered them to close the gates and no one was allowed
to leave the premises.
“There is chaos on the gurdwaraKarte-Parwan road as
ambulances are rushing to the spot. As many as 70 to 90 Sikhs and Hindus are
currently living in the gurdwara while waiting for an electronic Indian visa,”
he said. “There have been several incidents of blasts, many of them unreported.
As the fight is not over here, there is a risk of a blast wherever there is a
gathering in Afghanistan,” sources said.
Source: Times Of India
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Conflicts in Afghanistan leaves over half a million
internally displaced in 2021: Report
26 Nov 2021
According to a newly released report by the UN IOM,
over half a million people in Afghanistan have been internally displaced as a
result of conflicts and insecurity in 2021.
The report which has been conducted between 11-21
November 2021, has found that only 667,900 people have been internally
displaced between January 1 and November 21.
The report has also identified the number of refugees
who have been returned back to Afghanistan during the current year from
Pakistan and Iran.
Over 1.146 million undocumented Afghan refugees have
been returned from Iran and Pakistan during the year 2021, the majority of whom
have returned from Iran.
This comes as, on the other hand, hundreds of
thousands of Afghans have also emigrated to Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, India,
Europe, England, US, and Canada in the last 100 days, since the Taliban took
over Afghanistan by force.
The country went into chaos as talks with expectations
to a political settlement failed following the flee of Afghan President
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.
Unverified reports suggest that over 95% of Afghan
citizens leave under the poverty line since August 15 and the country’s economy
has fallen by over 35% since then.
Many western countries launched an emergency
humanitarian evacuation program to help certain categories of Afghans in
fleeing the country to a safe place.
A number of Afghan women leaders, journalists, rights
activists, attorneys, and judges have been evacuated by the western countries.
Still, there are a large number of vulnerable Afghans
stuck in Afghanistan who are waiting to receive assistance.
Several women rights activists and journalists have
recently spoken to Khaama Press who are in Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif cities
waiting for flights out.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/conflicts-in-afghanistan-leaves-over-half-a-million-internally-displaced-in-2021-report-87687/
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Arab World
Pope Francis meets with PM Mikati, promises to help
Lebanon ‘rise again’
25 November ,2021
Pope Francis, meeting the prime minister of Lebanon,
on Thursday compared the country to a dying person and promised to do
everything in his power to help it “rise again”.
Francis and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who took
office in September after a year-long government vacuum, met privately for
about 20 minutes and discussed the country’s devastating economic and social
crisis, the Vatican said in a statement.
The fallout from Lebanon’s financial collapse in 2019
has left swathes of the nation in poverty and foreign donors are demanding an
audit of the central bank and financial reforms before they release funds.
UN agencies have warned of social catastrophes, with
one report saying that more than half of families in Lebanon had at least one
child who skipped a meal amid a dramatic deterioration of living conditions.
“Lebanon is a country, a message and even a promise
worth fighting for,” Francis told the extended Lebanese delegation after the
private meeting.
He then referred to the Gospel story of Jairus in
which Jesus raises up the man’s 12-year-old daughter, who was believed to be
dead. Jesus told the parents she was only sleeping and the girl rose up when
Jesus commanded.
“I pray that the Lord will take Lebanon by the hand
and say ‘arise’,” the pope said, adding that the country was going through a
“very difficult, ugly period” of its history.
“I assure you of my prayers, my closeness and promise
to work diplomatically with countries so that they unite with Lebanon to help
it rise again,” he said.
The seemingly never-ending crisis has sunk Lebanon’s
currency by more than 90 percent, caused poverty to skyrocket and led many
Lebanese to emigrate.
Mikati’s government was finally formed after a year of
political conflict over cabinet seats that only worsened the crisis.
In August, on the first anniversary of the huge
chemical blast at Beirut port that killed 200 people and caused billions of
dollars of damage, Francis promised to visit Lebanon as soon as the situation
permitted.
Source: Alarabiya
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Lebanon court rejects suits over Beirut blast by
former PM Diab, ministers
25 November ,2021
A top Lebanese court Thursday rejected lawsuits filed
by a former prime minister and three former ministers seeking to sue the state
over the conduct of the judge probing the deadly August 2020 Beirut blast, a
senior judicial source told Reuters.
The suits, filed over the past month, had paused Judge
TarekBitar’s investigation but he still remains unable to proceed due to a
separate judicial ruling that is still pending, lawyer NizarSaghieh of watchdog
group Legal Agenda told Reuters.
The general assembly of Lebanon’s Court of Cassation
rejected the suits filed by former Prime Minister Hassan Diab and former
ministers NohadMachnouk, Ghazi Zeaiter and Ali Hasan Khalil that alleged “grave
mistakes,” in the probe.
All have been charged in connection with the blast but
have denied any wrongdoing and have refused to be interrogated by Judge
TarekBitar, arguing he does not have the authority to prosecute them.
Bitar does not give public statements in line with
regulations for judges.
Families of Beirut blast victims who have visited
Bitar say he told them he would continue to seek to interrogate top officials until
he was removed from the case.
Source: Alarabiya
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Lebanon judges resign in protest against political
interference
25 November ,2021
Three Lebanese judges have resigned over interference
by politicians in the work of the judiciary, including a probe into last year’s
Beirut blast, a judicial source said Thursday.
In a country where political leaders determine
judicial appointments, including in top courts, there is little room for the
judiciary to work against Lebanon’s ruling elite.
A probe into last year’s monster port explosion has
exposed the extent of such interference, with top officials mounting a complex
web of court challenges to obstruct the work of lead investigator TarekBitar.
On Wednesday three judges, all women, handed in their
resignation “to protest...political interference in the work of the judiciary
and the undermining of decisions issued by judges and courts,” the judicial
source said.
The head of the country’s top court has yet to approve
the resignations and has called for the matter to be discussed in a meeting,
the source added.
The resignations came after officials filed dozens of
lawsuits against Bitar as well as other judges processing requests by lawmakers
demanding his removal.
Among those who resigned this week is a judge who
turned down a request by an official to remove the investigator.
She was consequently hit with a review questioning the
validity of her decision.
“The constant questioning of the judiciary’s decisions
is tarnishing its reputation,” the same court official told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
While it is the most prominent, the Beirut blast case
is not the only one to fall prey to interference by political leaders.
A probe into charges of tax evasion and illicit
enrichment brought against central bank chiefRiadSalameh has also been paused
over a lawsuit filed against lead investigator Jean Tannous.
Source: Alarabiya
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Egypt sentences 22 extremists to death: Judicial
source
25 November ,2021
An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced to death 22
extremists including a former police officer, a judicial source said.
The men were found guilty of committing 54 “terrorist
operations” across Egypt, including the killing of a senior police officer as
well as trying to assassinate former interior minister Mohamed Ibrahim.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Executions in Egypt for civilians are carried out by
hanging. Those sentenced to death include a former police officer, and the
verdicts cannot be appealed.
The 22 convicted were found guilty of being members of
the AnsarBeit al-Maqdis group, which pledged its allegiance to ISIS terrorist
group in 2014.
The Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appeals court,
also upheld prison sentences of 118 others in the same case, ranging from terms
of several years to life imprisonment.
Egypt has for years been fighting a bitter insurgency
in North Sinai that escalated after the army’s 2013 ouster of Islamist
president Mohamed Morsi.
In February 2018, the army and police launched a
nationwide operation against militants focused on North Sinai.
Around 1,073 suspected militants and dozens of
security personnel have been killed since the start of operations, according to
official figures.
Earlier this month, Egypt agreed with Israel to boost
its troop numbers around the border town of Rafah in order to quell ISIS
militants.
AnsarBeit al-Maqdis fighters in Sinai were led by
Hisham al-Ashmawy, an ex-special forces officer.
Ashmawy – once dubbed Egypt’s “most wanted man” –
split from the militants after they switched allegiance from Al-Qaeda to ISIS.
In 2018, Ashmawy was captured in the eastern Libya
city of Derna, and extradited to Cairo. He had been on trial with the 22 men
sentenced on Thursday, but had already been found guilty, and was executed in
March 2020.
Egypt, the most populous Arab country, recorded the
third most executions in the world – behind China and Iran according to Amnesty
International. In 2020, Egyptian authorities executed at least 107 people,
Amnesty said.
Source: Alarabiya
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Saudi Arabia allows direct entry from Indonesia,
Pakistan, Egypt, India from Dec. 1
25 November ,2021
Saudi Arabia will allow direct entry to travelers from
Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt and India starting December 1,
lifting a requirement that they first spend two weeks outside the six
countries, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Thursday.
Travelers are required to quarantine for five days in
government-approved accommodation after arriving, regardless of their COVID-19
vaccination status, the news agency reported citing an interior ministry
official.
“The source stressed the importance of adhering to the
application of all precautionary and preventive measures adopted,” SPA
reported. “He also said that all procedures and measures shall be subject to
continuous evaluation by the Kingdom’s competent health authorities, according
to the developments in the epidemiological situation globally.”
The announcement was issued based on the continuous
updates to the “epidemiological situation locally and globally” and the reports
submitted by the Saudi health authorities about the developments of the
pandemic and the health situation in several countries.
Source: Alarabiya
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Mideast
Iran Asks for Using OIC Capacities to Stand against
Normalization of Ties with Israel
2021-November-25
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh made the
remarks on Wednesday, elaborating on the latest situation of cooperation
between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the OIC.
He expressed hope that during the tenure of the new
secretary-general the OIC would witness further effort in line with serving
common interests of the Islamic Ummah and member states in the international
arena.
Khatibzadeh congratulated Hussein Ibrahim Taha on his
election as the new OIC Secretary-General and wished success for him.
He added that Ibrahim Taha has extended separate
messages to the Iranian president and foreign minister and has expressed
readiness for fostering cooperation with the Islamic Republic.
Khatibzadeh also lauded the endeavors made by the
former OIC secretary-general.
Last Friday, the OIC demanded accountability for
extrajudicial executions and crimes committed against Palestinians by Israel.
The OIC said in a statement that Israeli police shot
and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian named Omar Abu Asab on November 17 in
occupied East Jerusalem after accusing him of a stabbing attempt.
Underlining that increased Israeli violence and
attacks against Palestinians posed the risk of escalating tensions in the
region, the OIC strongly condemned Israel's crimes against Palestinians.
The statement also pointed out that Sami Umour, a
Palestinian inmate in an Israeli jail, died as a result of medical negligence
and inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners.
It said Israel should be held accountable for these
crimes, calling on the UN and other relevant international bodies to form
committees and investigate the deaths of both individuals.
It also urged the international community to intervene
and save Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails who are on hunger strike.
Source: Fars News
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https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14000904000165/Iran-Asks-fr-Using-OIC-Capaciies-Sand-agains-Nrmalizain-f-Ties-wih
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'Muslim World Needs Common Ground In $7 Trillion Halal
Economy'
NOV 25, 2021
The world halal economy, which was $4 trillion in
2017, has now reached $7 trillion, Turkey’s Vice President FuatOktay said
Thursday during the 7th World Halal Summit organized together with the 8th
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Halal Summit.
Oktay said that the summit hosts nearly 60 speakers
from over 20 countries and 400 companies from 35 countries operating in several
sectors, including food, cosmetics, medicine, chemistry, textile, tourism and
technology, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which demonstrates the interest in
halal products and services.
He said that the primary reason those products,
especially halal food, are preferred is the requirements of Islam; however,
non-Muslims are also interested in such products for several reasons, including
because they are healthy or clean.
Today, the largest halal-product manufacturing
countries are non-Muslim countries like Brazil, Australia, France, Germany and
New Zealand, he said.
Oktay said the industry occurred initially in Far East
countries like Malaysia or Indonesia with studies to ensure safety and halal
properties in food, and has gained a different momentum with the initiatives of
Turkey.
“Islamic Countries Standards and Metrology Institute
(SMIIC) was established in Istanbul under the leadership of our country and
continues its activities. In addition, as an institution operating according to
SMIIC standards, we established the Halal Accreditation Agency (HAK) three
years ago under our Ministry of Commerce,” Oktay said, informing that the
agency has evaluated the applications received from all over the world and has
taken over 640 halal certificates under the guarantee of accreditation. As a
result of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between HAK and SMIIC,
HAK has become a training base that provides trainings with worldwide validity.
With the trainings organized by HAK until today, “we
have provided competence to nearly 300 industry professionals from more than 20
countries and we continue these trainings without slowing down,” he said,
noting that they attribute great importance to ensuring that all Muslims,
including those in Turkey, do not have the slightest doubt about whether the
products and services they buy are halal or not.
However, Oktay continued, “the Islamic world should
now be able to speak a common language in terms of halal content, process and
service.”
“We cannot meet on a common ground and act together to
contribute to the halal economy,” Oktay said, emphasizing that the reliable and
global halal certified trade environment will result in benefits, health and
trust for “all of us, all Islamic countries and our private sector.”
Source: Daily Sabah
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Israel plans to build 17,000 settlement units in
Jerusalem: Palestinian minister
Abdel Ra'ouf D. A. R. Arnaout
25.11.2021
JERUSALEM
A Palestinian official on Thursday said Israeli
authorities are working to build more than 17,000 settlement units in different
parts of Jerusalem.
In a statement, Jerusalem Affairs Minister Fadi
al-Hadmi described the Israeli settlement plan as a "crazy tsunami."
He said the acceleration in the construction of
settlements through a series of projects eliminates "any possibility of a
two-state solution."
Al-Hadmi added: “The Israeli government is progressing
toward implementing a series of major settlement projects in the north, south,
and east of the city, with the aim of isolating it completely from its
Palestinian surroundings in the West Bank.”
The Palestinian minister said the projects include a
plan to build 10,000 housing units on the land of Jerusalem International
Airport, in Qalandia, in the northern part of the city.
Israeli authorities also plan to construct 3,500
housing units within the E1 area in eastern Jerusalem, 1,250 units within the
GivatHamatos settlement, 2,000 in the French Hill settlement and 470 in the
PisgatZeev settlement, he added.
“Since the beginning of this year, more than 140
buildings have been demolished in Jerusalem," al-Hadmi said, urging the
international community to "transform its words into actions, and work to
stop the settlement, annexation, demolition, displacement and forced eviction
of the population, and to save the two-state solution before it is too
late."
Source: AA
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israel-plans-to-build-17-000-settlement-units-in-jerusalem-palestinian-minister/2430687
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FM: Iran's Participation in Vienna Talks Aimed at
Reaching Good Agreement
2021-November-25
In a phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart
Wang Yi on Wednesday, Amir Abdollahian said the Islamic Republic was completely
willing to participate in the negotiations with the aim of reaching "a
good agreement".
Such an agreement, he added, could materialize shortly
if Washington and its European allies in the deal were likewise willing to
resume their commitments under JCPOA.
Elsewhere, Amir Abdollahian said that Tehran and the
UN nuclear agency have reached an agreement in principle to resolve their
outstanding issues.
Iran and the agency were seeking to "issue a
joint statement at the earliest opportunity", he added.
The comments came a day after the International Atomic
Energy Agency's Director General, Rafael Grossi ended a two-day visit to the
Islamic Republic, during which he held various meetings with senior Iranian
officials, including Amir Abdollahian himself.
In a tweet earlier on Wednesday, the top Iranian
diplomat described his talks with the IAEA chief as "cordial, frank and
fruitful" and said they "reached good agreements on continuing
cooperation".
"Yet, to work out a text, we need work on a few
words. Agreement is possible," he further said in his tweet, warning
"politicization of technical matters is unproductive".
He also said that a meeting will be held soon to
finalize the text of their agreement.
The Chinese official, for his part, rated Grossi's
trip to Iran as a "positive" development. He also considered the Islamic
Republic's standpoint on the JCPOA's potential revival to be "fair".
On Tuesday, Amir Abdollahian called on Washington to
stop its contradictory behavior to bring talks out of the current stalemate.
“The Americans on the one hand say they are interested
in returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but on the
other hand in two phases they imposed two sets of new sanctions against Iranian
persons and companies, which shows how contradictory the US behaviors are, as
one of the main obstacles in upcoming negotiations,” Amir Abdollahian said in a
phone conversation with his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis.
He added that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s judgment
about the US is based on its behaviors.
Amir Abdollahian also said that the negotiations to
terminate the anti-Iran sanctions will start in Vienna as of next week,
emphasizing that Iran is ready for a good, immediate and serious agreements,
but meanwhile the contradictory US behaviors generate mistrust.
The revival of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially
called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been on the agenda of
high-profile negotiations between Iran and the remaining signatories, known as
the G4+1 group (Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany), in the Austrian
capital since April.
The JCPOA was unilaterally abandoned by the US in
2018, when former US President Donald Trump decided to implement a “maximum
pressure” policy against Tehran.
US President Joe Biden promised to reverse Trump’s own
reversing of his predecessor Barack Obama’s decision to sign on to the JCPOA.
The Biden administration also argued on the sidelines of the Vienna talks that
Tehran and Washington should mutually return to their commitments under the
agreement.
Iran, however, has insisted that the US, as the party
that initially violated the pact by its 2018 withdrawal, needs to fully honor
its commitments first, after which Tehran will halt its nuclear energy
activities that go beyond the limits set by the JCPOA.
Iran and the G4+1 are due to hold the new round of
their talks in Vienna on November 29.
Source: Fars News
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US General Acknowledges Iran’s Ballistic Missiles
Precision
2021-November-25
Iran has shown its missiles have a proven ability to
strike targets with precision, Commander of US Central Command General Kenneth
McKenzie told Time.
In January 2020, just days after assassination of
Tehran's legendary anti-terror commander Lieutenant General QassemSoleimani at
the direct order of then-President Donald Trump, Ein Al-Assad, which houses US
troops in Iraq's Al-Anbar province, found itself under fire from volleys of
ballistic missiles launched from Iran, which is considered as the largest
ballistic missile attack against Americans in history.
“Those missiles hit within tens of meters of their
targets,” McKenzie said, adding, “The one thing the Iranians have done over the
last three-to-five years is they built a very capable ballistic missile
platform.”
US Soldiers Inside Missile-Showered Base Still Dealing
with Trauma 1.5 Year After Iran's “Sci-Fi Movie-Like”
Attackhttps://t.co/i19miBQH47 pic.twitter.com/20OSmUx4jV
— Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) August 9, 2021
Hours after Iran struck the American base, the United
States came to surprise everyone after it declared victory. But after days and
weeks of denial, Pentagon finally confirmed that at least 110 American forces
have sustained traumatic brain injury in Iran's missile strikes.
Gen. Soleimani and deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular
Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis were assassinated along with
their companions in a US attack authorized by White House near Baghdad
International Airport in early January 2020. Both commanders were admired by
Muslim nations for eliminating the Washington-sponsored Daesh (ISIL or ISIS)
Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.
The assassination has inflamed tensions between
Washington and Tehran, and drew a harsh rebuke from Baghdad, prompting the
Iraqi Parliament to pass a resolution ordering American forces to leave the
country.
Tehran reiterates that its strategic objective is
expelling the US troops from the region, naming it the true vengeance for the
terror attack on its most popular commander.
On the sidelines of the 1st anniversary of the
martyrdom of Gen. Soleimani in Tehran, Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
Top Commander Major General Hossein Salami said Iran is fully ready to take
revenge from the assassins of Gen.Soleimani, stressing that the very thought of
revenge has caused a constant nightmare for the Americans.
“We are ready to confront any US move against Iran in
the region,” Salami stated, adding, “We are prepared to avenge the blood of the
martyrs and liberate Muslims forever from the political, economic and cultural
hegemony of the US.”
“We assure our people that we will take revenge from
the perpetrators of the terror attack on Martyr Lieutenant General Soleimani
and his companions very harshly,” he stressed.
Source: Fars News
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Arab Coalition conducts air strikes on military camps,
targets in Yemen’s Sanaa
26 November ,2021
The Arab Coalition announced on Thursday that it had
conducted several air strikes on Houthi military camps and targets in the
Yemen’s capital Sanaa, according to a statement carried by the Saudi Press
Agency (SPA).
The operation in Sanaa targeted Houthi military camps
at the presidential residence in Sanaa, according to the Coalition. The
Coalition also said it monitored movements to transport weapons after the camp
was targeted.
“We have taken preventative measures to spare
civilians and civilian objects from collateral damage,” the statement said,
according to SPA. “The operation was conducted in accordance with international
humanitarian law and its customary rules.”
Earlier this week, the Arab Coalition said it launched
air strikes on Houthi drone sites in the capital Sanaa in the second such raid
in as many days after earlier targeting the Iran-aligned movement’s missile
capabilities.
Source: Alarabiya
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Arab Coalition conducts eight operations against
Iran-backed Houthis in Marib
25 November ,2021
The Arab Coalition on Thursday said it conducted eight
target operations against the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen’s Marib in
the past 24 hours, resulting in the deaths of 60 “terrorist elements,”
according to a statement.
The target operations also destroyed five military
vehicles.
“We support the Yemeni army and its goal to achieve
progress on the ground” and are keen to protect civilians, the Arab Coalition
said in a statement.
On Wednesday, the Arab Coalition conducted several air
strikes on Houthi military camps and targets in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa,
according to a statement.
The operation in Sanaa targeted Houthi military camps
at the presidential residence in Sanaa, according to the coalition.
Yemeni VP
Last week, Yemen’s Vice President General Ali Mohsen
Saleh expressed his appreciation for the Arab Coalition’s role in Yemen in
their battle against the “terrorist Iran-backed Houthi militia,” the official
Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Saleh thanked the coalition for their continuous
support to Yemen and its people and for “their common destiny in protecting
Yemen and the security and stability of the Arab region.”
He said the “terrorist attacks by the Houthi militia
and its continued escalation towards the liberated areas in Yemen and Saudi
Arabia” proves that the militia rejects peace, SPA reported.
Source: Alarabiya
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Africa
Libyan fighters prevent election appeal from Saif
al-Islam’s lawyer
NOV 25, 2021
Armed fighters have stopped the lawyer of Saif
al-Islam Gadhafi, son of Libya's late dictator, from making an appeal on
Thursday after the electoral commission rejected his candidacy.
Disputes about issues including the eligibility of
candidates are threatening to derail the election, set for Dec. 24, and with it
a U.N.-backed peace process aimed at ending a decade of chaos since Moammar
Gadhafi was toppled.
Interference by fighters from any faction will further
undermine confidence in a vote that many Libyans want, but that has also
triggered fears of new conflict.
Late on Wednesday, the elections commission
disqualified Saif al-Islam and 24 others out of a field of 98 presidential
hopefuls, subject to appeals.
Libya's judiciary will have the final say on the list
of candidates, the commission and U.N. Libya envoy Jan Kubis both said on
Wednesday.
Gadhafi's lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, said in a video
that armed men had raided the court in the southern city of Sebha, one of only
three registration centers, and stopped him entering to lodge his client's
appeal against disqualification.
The Justice Ministry in Tripoli said in a statement on
its social media pages that an armed group had forced everyone to leave the
court building.
Sebha is under the control of a group allied to the
eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) force commanded by putschist Gen.
Khalifa Haftar, another of the main candidates in the election.
Gadhafi's candidacy was rejected on the basis of his
conviction in absentia in 2015 by a court in Tripoli for war crimes committed
during the fighting that ousted his father in 2011.
He has spent the past decade in the mountain town of
Zintan, where his captors took him after he was seized trying to flee Libya
during the uprising, and would almost certainly be arrested if he went to
Tripoli.
Also on Thursday, the Supreme Judicial Council
reversed a ruling it had made only days ago and said that appeals over
eligibility for the election could only be lodged in the district where the
candidate had registered.
Analysts said the judiciary's ruling would also make
it very hard to lodge demands to disqualify candidates who were initially
passed as eligible if, like Haftar, they have armed forces that control the
area.
Source: Daily Sabah
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Algeria ‘targeted’ in Israel defense minister’s visit
to Morocco: Official
25 November ,2021
A top Algerian official on Thursday said the Israeli
defense minister’s visit to neighboring Morocco, with which Algiers has cut
diplomatic ties, “targeted” his country.
The visit by Israel’s Benny Gantz to Morocco this week
comes amid tensions between Rabat and Algiers, which are embroiled in a
standoff over disputed Western Sahara.
“The enemies are mobilizing more and more to undermine
Algeria” which is “targeted” by the visit, said Senate president Salah Goudjil.
Goudjil is the most senior official in Algeria after
the president.
He made the remarks a day after Gantz and Morocco’s
minister in charge of defense administration, AbdellatifLoudiyi, signed a
security agreement in Rabat.
The deal would make it easier for Rabat to acquire
hi-tech exports from Israel, and is the latest move between the two countries
which normalized ties last year.
Israel has several security accords with allied
nations, but the Morocco deal marks the first-of-its-kind agreement with a
majority Arab nation, an Israeli official has said, on condition of anonymity.
Morocco controls most of Western Sahara and considers
the former Spanish colony part of its sovereign territory.
Algeria backs Western Sahara’s Polisario Front
independence movement.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco in August,
citing “hostile actions” – a charge denied by Rabat.
Earlier this month, Algiers accused Rabat of killing
three Algerian civilians on a desert highway through the Polisario-held area of
Western Sahara in a strike on their trucks, raising fears of an escalation.
And Polisario head BrahimGhali said last week the
movement had decided to step up military operations.
Source: Alarabiya
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At least 43 killed in clashes in Sudan’s restive
Darfur: UN
25 November ,2021
At least 43 people have been killed in days of
fighting between herders in Sudan’s western Darfur region that has also seen
more than 1,000 homes set on fire, the United Nations said Thursday.
The violence broke out on November 17 between armed
Arab herders in the rugged Jebel Moon mountains close to the border with Chad,
said Omar Abdelkarim, Sudan’s Humanitarian Aid Commissioner in West Darfur
state.
“Initial reports indicate that at least 43 people have
been killed, 46 villages have been burned and looted, and an unknown number of
people were injured due to ongoing fighting,” according to the UN Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.
The majority of the 4,300 people affected by the
violence have been displaced, it said.
Abdelkarim said some had fled west and were seeking
safety across the border in Chad.
West Darfur governor KhamisAbdallah said the violence
was sparked by “a dispute over camel looting,” and that “military
reinforcements have been sent to the area and the situation has stabilized.”
The Jebel Moon mountain area is largely inhabited by
communities of farmers and animal herders, with an estimated population of
around 66,500 people.
Darfur was ravaged by a civil war which erupted in
2003, that pitted ethnic minority rebels complaining of discrimination against
the Arab-dominated government of Omar al-Bashir.
More than 300,000 people died and 2.5 million were
displaced, according to the United Nations.
Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal
Court to face charges of genocide in Darfur, was ousted and jailed in April
2019 following mass protests against his three-decade rule.
While the main conflict in Darfur has subsided, with a
peace deal struck with key rebel groups last year, the arid region has remained
awash with weapons and violence often erupts over land, access to agriculture
or water.
A UN peacekeeping mission wound up in the Darfur last
year.
The latest clashes come against a backdrop of political
turbulence, as Sudan reels from the aftermath of a military coup last month
that drew wide international condemnation and sparked mass protests.
On October 25, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
overthrew the country’s post-Bashir transitional government and detained the
civilian leadership.
On Sunday, Prime Minister AbdallaHamdok was freed from
effective house arrest and reinstated, after signing a deal with Burhan that
was viewed by critics as “whitewashing” the coup.
Source: Alarabiya
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3 soldiers killed in terror attack in Burkina Faso
Fatma EsmaArslan
26.11.2021
Three soldiers were killed and 10 injured in a terror
attack in northern Burkina Faso, according to authorities.
The Chief of General Staff said a military unit in
Yetanga province was attacked by gunmen and 11 terrorists were neutralized.
A total of 72 people were killed, including nine
gendarmes and 49 soldiers, in attacks on Nov. 14 and Nov. 22 in Sanmatenga
province and the Sahel region in Burkina Faso.
Source: AA
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/3-soldiers-killed-in-terror-attack-in-burkina-faso/2431069
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Libya's military judiciary demands arrest of renegade
Gen. Haftar
Muhammad Artima
25.11.2021
TRIPOLI, Libya
Libya's military prosecutor on Thursday demanded that
orders to arrest renegade Gen. Khalifa Haftar be carried out, according to
Libyan TV channel Al-Ahrar.
The Military Prosecutor's Office chaired by Mohammed
Gharouda conveyed a message to the Criminal Investigation Agency demanding
"implementation of arrest orders issued by the Public Prosecution by the
competent judicial officer” for five cases in 2019-2020.
The office did gave no more details on the five cases,
but it said Haftar violated military law by running for president as
"Haftar is an officer in the Libyan army and has performed the nomination
procedures for the High National Elections Commission."
It stressed that such violation “shall be punished
with imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years.”
Nearly 100 candidates have registered to run in
Libya’s Dec. 24 presidential elections, including Haftar, transitional Prime
Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and former strongman leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who was disqualified Wednesday by a Libyan court over
committing war crimes.
The presidential and parliamentary elections are set
to take place under a UN-sponsored agreement reached by Libyan political rivals
last November.
The application deadline for those wishing to run for
president was Nov. 22. Nominations for parliamentary polls remain open through
Dec. 7.
Libyans hope that the upcoming elections will help end
the armed conflict that has plagued the oil-rich country for years.
Source: AA
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North America
Ethiopia’s government warns US against spreading false
information on war
25 November ,2021
Ethiopia’s government has asked the United States to
stop spreading falsehoods against the country, the state minister of
communication KebedeDessisa said on Thursday, after the State Department issued
an alert about potential “terrorist attacks.”
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and rebellious
forces from the Tigray region in the north have been fighting for more than a
year, in a conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions in
Africa’s second most populous nation.
This week the Irish government said Ethiopia had
expelled four of six Irish diplomats from the country because of Ireland’s
stance on the conflict. Spokespeople for the Ethiopian government have also
warned against unnamed external threats and repeatedly criticized Western
governments for what they say is inaccurate coverage of the war.
Kebede, the state minister, was quoted by state
broadcaster EBC as telling a news conference that the US government should
refrain from disseminating “shameful fake news and defamation regarding
Ethiopia.”
He referred to a statement on Twitter on Wednesday by
the US embassy in Addis Ababa that urged its citizens to maintain a high level
of vigilance due to “the ongoing possibility of terrorist attacks in Ethiopia.”
Earlier this month, tens of thousands of Ethiopians
rallied in the capital to support the government, where they denounced the
United States for alleged interference in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.
Washington has urged its citizens to leave Ethiopia immediately while the
security situation still permits.
On Thursday, dozens of protesters took their anger to
the US embassy in the city, where they displayed banners saying “Interference
is Undemocratic” and “Truth Wins.”
Asked for comment, a US embassy official said the
safety of US citizens abroad is one of the highest priorities of the State
Department, adding: “We continue to urge US citizens in Ethiopia to depart now
using commercially available flight options.”
Tigrayan forces and their allies have threatened to
march on the capital Addis Ababa. They have also been fighting fiercely to try
to cut a transport corridor linking landlocked Ethiopia with the region’s main
port Djibouti.
On Tuesday, US Special Envoy Jeffrey Feltman warned of
an “alarming” increase in military operations and said both Abiy and the
Tigrayan forces seem to believe they are on the cusp of military victory.
Source: Alarabiya
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Turkey marks 5th anniversary of Colombia's 'historic'
peace agreement
JeyhunAliyev
26.11.2021
Turkey on Thursday marked the 5th anniversary of the
"historic" peace agreement signed between the Colombian government
and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group on Nov. 24,
2016, putting an end to more than five decades of conflict.
"Having strongly supported the peace process that
emanated from this historic agreement, Turkey attaches utmost importance to the
continuation of the environment of peace and stability in Colombia, a leading
partner for Turkey in the region and remain committed to continue to provide
all possible assistance to this peace process," Turkey's Foreign Ministry
said in a written statement.
On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
said that Colombia has a "moral obligation" to advance the peace agreement.
The 2016 peace deal brought a cease-fire after more
than five decades of armed conflict between the FARC guerrillas and the
Colombian government.
Under the deal reached in Cuba, rebel leaders and
government negotiators agreed on the creation of a new political party, which
was renamed the Common People's Party or the Comunes for short, and a political
future for the left-wing group.
Source: AA
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/spit-campaign-right-halal-food-kerala/d/125847