‘India Is Land Of Diverse Religions’: Madras HC Says Muslim Policemen Can Keep Trimmed And Tidy Beard On Duty

New Age Islam News Bureau

17 July 2024

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court. | Official website.

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·         ‘India Is Land Of Diverse Religions’: Madras HC Says Muslim Policemen Can Keep Trimmed And Tidy Beard On Duty

·         Having ‘4 Begums, 36 Children’ Wrong: Rajasthan BJP MLA Targets Muslims On “Population Control”

·         NASA, Saudi Space Agency Sign Agreement On Civilian Space Exploration

·         Columbia Students Want ‘I’m With Hamas & Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad’ Prof Back In Classroom

·         Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Arabic Inscription On Naira Nigerian Notes

 

India

·         ‘Love Jihad’, A Campaign By Hindu Right-Wing Groups, Drove Out Muslims From Purola, Uttarakhand, In Court, It Turned Out To Be A Hoax

·         Madras HC Quashes Punishment Of Muslim Policeman Over Beard

·         Shivaji Descendant Blamed For Violence Against Muslim ‘Encroachers’ At Fort, Denies Communal Link

·         BJP won’t allow BC quota to Muslims in Haryana: Amit Shah

·         10th day of Muharram: Muslim community across Mumbai to observe ‘Ashura’ today

·         Amid terror uptick in Jammu, a concern among security establishment: Crumbling road network

·         ‘Soldiers bearing brunt of BJP’s wrong policies’: Rahul Gandhi hits out at Centre over terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir

·         Security forces exchange fire with militants who killed 4 Army soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda

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Arab World

·         Gaza Is Worst Human Catastrophe In Modern History, Saudi Envoy Tells UN Security Council

·         Saudi Cabinet reiterates calls for immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza

·         Muscat Mosque Shooting: Indian Among Six Killed; Three Perpetrators Shot Dead

·         Pakistanis Among 6 Killed In Rare Oman Shooting Near Shiite Mosque

·         Isis claims rare mass shooting of Shia Muslims in Oman

·         Saudi Arabia part of global audit conference

·         Saudi regulations permitting additional floors in villas come into effect

·         Saudi citizen convicted of issuing fraudulent checks estimated at $3.2m

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North America

·         Iran rejects accusations implicating it in plot to kill Donald Trump

·         Majority of Islamic State Group Attacks Target African Countries

·         Virginia Court Orders American Muslims for Palestine to Produce Records Requested by Attorney General Miyares

·         American Muslims for Palestine Ordered To Turn Over Potentially Damaging Donor Documents in Virginia Terror Financing Probe

·         Biden says cooling political rhetoric doesn’t mean he’ll ‘stop telling the truth’ about Trump

·         Iran's Islamist rulers silent on attempted assassination of Trump

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Africa

·         Suicide Bombings In Nigeria: Tactic Is Back After A Four-Year Break – Security Researcher Offers 3 Possible Reasons

·         Halt protests and give dialogue a chance, Muslim clerics ask Gen Z

·         Niger clarifies report on slapping of Islamic cleric

·         One killed, journalist shot in Kenya fresh protest

·         DRC: At least 70 dead in militia attack in Kinsele

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Southeast Asia

·         Islamophobia Needs To Be Addressed Holistically - PM Anwar

·         International Community Needs To Force Israel To Face Justice, Says MAHAR

·         Indonesia’s Largest Muslim Group Rebukes Members For Meeting With Israel’s President

·         Too good to be true? Unpacking Jemaah Islamiyah’s self-declared disbanding

·         MADANI Govt’s approach ensures more inclusive, successful policies - PM Anwar

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Pakistan

·         Imam Hussain’s Sacrifices Inspire Resistance Against Oppression: PM Shehbaz

·         NA Speaker condemns terrorist attack on Imam Bargah in Oman

·         Ashura being observed across country amid heightened security

·         PPP disowns views of party leaders opposed to action against PTI

·         38 booked for attacking Muharram security team in Bahawalpur

·         Processions end in Quetta under tight security

·         Ashura processions staged across country amid tight security

·         Two soldiers, five civilians embrace martyrdom in DI Khan gun attack on health centre

·         Eight soldiers martyred, 10 terrorists killed in Bannu Cantt attack

·         Multilateral cooperation vital for addressing challenges: Usman

·         Govt committed to make Pakistan economic power: Dar

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Europe

·         British Leaders Slam Vance For Calling UK ‘An Islamist Country’

·         U.K. Deputy PM Dismisses 'Islamist' Nuclear State Jibe By Trump VP Pick Vance

·         Former Tory MP Says Trump Running Mate's Claim UK Is An 'Islamist Country' Was 'A Joke'

·         Islamic finance can address barriers to achieve SDGs says IFAC, MIA, and World Bank in new report

·         ‘Root causes’ of Ukraine conflict should be eliminated – Lavrov

·         Bounty offered for first F-16 downed in Ukraine conflict

·         Russia responds to Trump ally’s Ukraine proposal

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Mideast

·         Iranian President-Elect Honoured With Flag From Imam Hussein's Shrine

·         Iran’s Shiite Muslims Commemorate The Mourning Day Of Ashoura With Processions

·         Iraqi Islamic Party urges Baghdad to cooperate with Türkiye against PKK

·         Türkiye ‘deeply saddened’ over mosque attack in Oman

·         Hundreds of war crimes committed in October 7 attack: HRW

·         As Gaza’s doctors struggle to save lives, many lose their own in Israeli airstrikes

·         Amid new photos, families of Israel hostage soldiers plead for deal

·         Gaza city says water treatment stops, 700,000 face health ‘crisis’

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South Asia

·         Italy And Spain Considering Reopening Embassies In Afghanistan

·         Islamic Emirate Plans to Expand Public Meetings to Address Concerns in Remote Regions

·         General Directorate of Passport Reports 12 Billion Afghanis Revenue, Plans for Capacity Expansion with New Centers

·         China Delivers First Tranche of 100 Million Yuan Aid to Support Afghan Displaced Families and Returnees

·         UN Strives to Foster Trust Between Afghanistan and the World

·         ‘Ashura brings message of unity to Islamic Ummah’

·         Taliban plans to distribute 6,000 passports daily in Kabul

·         Taliban shuts down Kabul telecom network during Ashura

Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau

URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/india-land-religions-madras-hc-muslim/d/132728

 

‘India Is Land Of Diverse Religions’: Madras HC Says Muslim Policemen Can Keep Trimmed And Tidy Beard On Duty

17-07-24

The Madurai bench of the Madras High Court. | Official website.

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The Madras High Court held in an order earlier this month that Muslim policemen in Tamil Nadu are allowed to maintain trimmed and tidy beads on duty.

Justice L Victoria Gowri passed the ruling on July 5 while hearing the case of a police constable, G Abdul Khadar Ibrahim, who was punished for appearing before a superior officer with a beard after he returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca. The order was made public on Tuesday.

Ibrahim’s counsel argued before the court that as per the Madras Police Gazette of 1957, Muslim officials were allowed to keep a beard. The court accepted the argument, and said that the authorities could not punish Muslim policemen “for maintaining a beard which they do throughout their lives by following the commandments of Prophet Mohammed”.

Justice Gowri remarked: “India being a land of diverse religions and customs, the beauty and uniqueness of the land vest in the diversity of the citizen’s beliefs and cultures.”

Ibrahim was in 2018 granted leave for 31 days so that he could go on a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites of Islam. When he returned to India, he asked for his leave to be extended because of an infection in his left leg. An assistant commissioner, however, refused to extend his leave and questioned him about his beard.

A year later, the deputy commissioner of police framed charges against Ibrahim for not reporting back to duty after his leave ended, and for keeping a beard – allegedly in violation of the Madras Police Gazette.

In 2021, the deputy commissioner of police directed that Ibrahim’s increment be stopped for three years and future increments be postponed as punishment. The constable then appealed before the Madurai commissioner of police. The city police chief, in an order passed on June 10, 2021, reduced the punishment, halting Ibrahim’s increments for two years, after which normal pay would be given.

Ibrahim then approached the High Court challenging the commissioner of police’s order.

The High Court said on July 5 that the punishment imposed by the city police chief was “shockingly disproportionate” and quashed his order. It remanded the matter back to the commissioner and directed the officer to pass appropriate orders according to the law.

Source: scroll.in

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://scroll.in/latest/1070745/india-is-land-of-diverse-religions-madras-hc-says-muslim-policemen-can-keep-beard-on-duty

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Having ‘4 Begums, 36 Children’ Wrong: Rajasthan BJP MLA Targets Muslims On “Population Control”

July 17, 2024

Rajasthan MLA Balmukundacharya said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there are countless schemes for the welfare of the poor and they are getting the benefits without any discrimination. (FB)

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Rajasthan MLA Balmukundacharya has said people in “a particular community” have “four begums and 36 children”, the second such remark on “population control” in recent days by a BJP leader in the state.

Reacting to the remarks, Congress legislator on Tuesday said the ruling party’s intention is just to target the Muslim community.

“There is a huge problem of increasing population. There is a particular community which has ‘Char Begum Aur Chhatis Bacche’. There are countless such cases. This is wrong. There should be equal laws for everyone, otherwise how will the country move forward,” the BJP MLA was heard saying in a video that surfaced Monday.

Talking to reporters in the state assembly building on Tuesday, the BJP MLA insisted that the population control law was a necessity.

“There is nothing wrong in the population law. The way the population is increasing, there is a need for more food and housing. This (population) is a hurdle in growth. If we want to become a prosperous and developed country, there should be collective agreement on this and population control law should be made, it will be beneficial for all,” he said.

The BJP leader said he once talked to an e-rickshaw driver in his constituency who had 13 children.

“A sister came to my office and said she was the third wife of her husband and now he was going to bring a fourth. I told her that now there is a law against it and she should go to police,” he said.

“It is not a matter of government or non-government benefits. The point is that in the country, some families say ‘hum do hamare do’, while some say whatever (birth) is happening, let it happen as it is God’s will. There is a need to look into this,” he said.

The MLA said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there are countless schemes for the welfare of the poor and they are getting the benefits without any discrimination.

He said it was Modi who solved the triple talaq issue.

“After Modi came, development is happening without appeasement and discrimination,” he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Urban Development and Housing Minister Jhabar Singh Kharra said efforts are being made at the level of the central government to ensure that couples who have more than two or three children do not get any benefit of government facilities.

“It is a bitter truth that when the population increases and the resources decrease, problems will arise. And that is why efforts are being made at the level of the central government. There is a thought that couples who have more than two or three children should not get any benefit of government facilities,” he said.

Reacting to the comments, Congress MLA Harimohan Sharma on Tuesday said the intention of the BJP government in the state is only to target a particular community instead of having a concern regarding population.

He said the Congress would welcome a population control law but the BJP’s motive was just to target a community.

“A particular community is being targeted. If population law is to be brought, Congress would support it but the BJP’s intention is to target the Muslim community instead of bringing the law,” he told reporters.

“The BJP government talks from a political point of view and from the point of view of targeting a particular community,” he said.

The legislator also suggested the state government take care of the Hindus who are underprivileged or those who have to sell their daughters instead of targeting a community.

Source: indianexpress.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/jaipur/having-4-begums-36-children-wrong-rajasthan-bjp-mla-targets-muslims-9458071/

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NASA, Saudi Space Agency sign agreement on civilian space exploration

July 16, 2024

Saudi Arabia and the US signed a framework agreement on Monday to increase cooperation between the two countries on civilian space exploration and research. (SPA)

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RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the US signed a framework agreement on Monday to increase cooperation between the two countries on civilian space exploration and research, Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson signed on behalf of the US, and CEO of the Saudi Space Agency Mohammed bin Saud Al-Tamimi signed on behalf of the Kingdom.

The agreement was titled “Framework Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Cooperation in Aeronautics and the Exploration and Use of Airspace and Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes.”

It will establish a legal framework to facilitate and strengthen collaboration between the two countries.

Abdullah Al-Swaha, chairman of the Saudi Space Agency, said that the agreement represented a “turning point in the Kingdom’s journey toward building a strong and prosperous space sector,” and noted that it reflected Saudi Arabia’s commitment to progress and innovation in the field of space travel.

The agreement also acknowledged the importance of the Artemis Accords — which the US signed in October 2020 and Saudi Arabia signed in July 2022 — reflecting their commitment to the transparent, safe and responsible exploration of space, a State Department statement said.

Source: arabnews.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2550766/saudi-arabia

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Columbia students want ‘I’m with Hamas & Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad’ prof back in classroom

JULY 16, 2024

Had taught course on decolonialism and queerness

Students at Columbia’s Union Theological Seminary want the rehiring of a professor who posted “I’m with Hamas & Hezbollah & Islamic Jihad” on social media shortly after the October 7 attack against Israel.

According to the students’ petition, modern Arab studies professor Mohamed Abdou’s statement merely was an expression of “support of the movement to liberate Palestine.”

At a congressional hearing in April, Columbia President Minouche Shafik said Abdou “will never work at Columbia again,” the Columbia Spectator reports.

Indeed, Abdou (pictured) told a media outlet in mid-May that his teaching contract with Columbia was set to expire at the end of that month anyway.

The petition contends the “targeting” of Abdou by Columbia “is in keeping with the broader trend, whereby people of color, especially Muslims, Arabs, and those not afforded the protections of tenured employment are most vulnerable to the McCarthyist backlash against pro-Palestinian speech.”

“Part of the legacy of [the Union Theological Seminary] is how it has been a meeting point and place of cultivation for many progressive movements in theology and its intersection with the public square,” the petition continues. “Black Theology, Latin American Liberationist Theology, Womanism, Feminism, and Queer Theologies have grown in the UTS community, and students come here for the opportunity to journey into how their faith can be active in the world around them.”

This past spring Abdou taught the graduate-level “Decolonial-Queerness and Abolition in SWANA” (“SWANA” being a “decolonial” term for “South West Asian/North African”), a course on “(neo)colonial/(neo)imperial Euro-American informed modernity.”

According to the course description, the class delved into

[…] the continuing impact, since 1492, of a (neo)colonial/(neo)imperial Euro-American informed modernity animated by (neo)liberal-Enlightenment values (free will/humanity, secularism, racial capitalism) and individualist identity politics on past and contemporary conceptualizations of family, kinship, and friendship in Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities within the context of settler-colonial societies (as the U.S./Canada) as well as in postcolonial nations and regions (as Southwest Asia, Africa, and the Middle East) that arguably never underwent adequate decolonization.

The course was highlighted earlier this year by The Daily Wire as one of the more “bizarre” 2024 college spring semester offerings.

For more insight into Abdou’s views, check out @thestustustudio’s video compilation of his remarks at this spring’s “CUNY 4 Palestine Teach-in.”

Source: thecollegefix.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://www.thecollegefix.com/columbia-students-want-im-with-hamas-hezbollah-islamic-jihad-prof-back-in-classroom/

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Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Arabic Inscription On Naira Nigerian Notes

17th July 2024

Federal High Court, Lagos

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The Federal High Court in Lagos, on Tuesday, dismissed a suit praying that the Arabic inscriptions on naira notes be removed.

Justice Yellin Bogoro declared that the Lagos-based lawyer, Chief Malcolm Omirhobo, who filed the suit, failed to prove that the use of Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes by the Central Bank of Nigeria was in bad faith.

The lawyer had in 2020 filed the suit, contending that having Arabic inscriptions on the naira notes portrayed Nigeria as an Islamic state, contrary to the country’s constitutional status of a secular state.

Omirhobo, who said he did not know what the Arabic inscriptions meant, prayed the court to order the CBN to replace the Arabic inscriptions with either English language, which is Nigeria’s official language, or any of the country’s three main indigenous languages – Hausa, Yoruba or Igbo.

According to him, with the Arabic inscriptions on the naira note, the CBN has been violating sections 10 and 55 of the Nigerian Constitution, which make the country a secular state.

He asked the court to restrain the CBN from “further approving, printing and issuing naira notes with Arabic inscriptions, bearing in mind that Nigeria is a secular state.”

But the CBN filed a counter-affidavit in opposition to the suit.

In the counter-affidavit deposed to by one Abiola Lawal, the CBN maintained that contrary to Omirhobo’s claim “the Ajami inscriptions on some of the country’s currencies do not connote any religious statements or Arabian alignment.”

The CBN also tackled the lawyer on the claim that the Arabic inscriptions were a threat to Nigeria’s secular status.

“The inscriptions on the country’s currencies do not and at no time have they threatened the secular statehood of the nation nor have they violated the Constitution of Nigeria, as every design and inscription was finalised with the approval of the relevant government bodies,” the apex bank said.

The CBN explained that the “Ajami inscriptions” on the naira notes dated back to the colonial era “and they do not imply that Arabic is an official language in Nigeria.”

The apex bank said, “The naira notes retained the inscriptions with Ajami since 1973 when the name of the Nigerian currency was changed to naira from pounds.

“The Ajami was inscribed on the country’s currency by the colonialists to aid those without Western education in certain parts of the country, who, back then, constituted a larger part of the populace.

“The Ajami is not a symbol or mark of Islam but an inscription to aid the populace uneducated in Western education in ease of trade.”

While urging the court to reject Omirhobo’s suit, the CBN pleaded that removing the Arabi inscriptions from the naira notes “would cost the tax-paying Nigerians and the Federal Government colossal sum of money to discard the existing naira notes and print new ones in satisfaction of the plaintiff.”

In his judgment on Tuesday, Justice Bogoro said though Omirhobo had the locus standi to file the suit, he “failed to prove that the 1st defendant designs, issues, prints and distributes the naira notes with Arabic inscription in bad faith,” and accordingly dismissed the suit.

According to Omirhobo, though the judge dismissed the suit, he advised the CBN to “remove the Arabic inscription on  the N200, N500 and N1,000  notes since it has been removed from  the N5, N10, N50 and N100 noted.”

The judge reasoned that the Arabic inscriptions should be removed since “ Nigeria is a secular  state and that no religion is superior to the other.”

“The court noted that Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and religious country and that to ethnic group or religion is superior to the other. The court noted that the Arabic language is not Nigeria’s official Language and advised that for Nigerians to coexist in harmony,  it is high time the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Federal Government removed the Arabic inscription on the N200, N500 and N1,000  naira notes since it has been removed from the N5, N10, N50 and N100 notes,” Omirhobo said.

Meanwhile, the lawyer filed a similar suit against the Nigerian Army, seeking the removal of Arabic inscriptions from the logo of the Nigerian Army.

Like the CBN, the Army also opposed Omirhobo’s suit and urged the court to throw it out.

Source: punchng.com

Please click the following URL to read the text of the original Story

https://punchng.com/court-dismisses-suit-challenging-arabic-inscription-on-naira-notes/

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India

 

‘Love Jihad’, A Campaign By Hindu Right-Wing Groups, Drove Out Muslims From Purola, Uttarakhand, In Court, It Turned Out To Be A Hoax

Ayush Tiwari

17-07-24

In June last year, Purola, a small town in Uttarakhand, was in tumult.

A campaign by Hindu right-wing groups demanding that the town be cleared of Muslims had made national headlines. At least 41 families left, with six of them permanently relocating to different parts of Uttarakhand almost overnight.

At the heart of this push by Hindutva groups was the allegation that two men, one of them Muslim, had tried to abduct a 14-year-old girl under the “ruse of marriage” and convert her to Islam.

The campaign kicked off an anti-Muslim frenzy across the Uttarkashi district, where Purola is located, as Hindutva outfits accused the two men – 22-year-old Uvaid Khan and his 24-year-old friend Jitendra Saini – of “love jihad”.

“Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory that accuses Muslim men of being part of an organised plot to trick unsuspecting Hindu women into romantic relationships to ultimately convert them to Islam.

Khan and Saini were not only booked for kidnapping and procurement of a minor under sections of the Indian Penal Code but also for sexual assault under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, or Pocso.

Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs the state, stirred up the communal pot with insinuations about “outsiders from a certain community” swamping the hills.

A year later, however, the case against Khan and Saini has collapsed. On May 10, a court in Uttarkashi acquitted both men after it found that the allegations against them were false.

The court’s judgement raises questions over the role of the police in whipping up the hysteria against Muslims. During the trial, the 14-year-old girl told the court that the police had tutored her to accuse Khan and Saini of trying to abduct her.

The court also found inconsistencies in the statement of the sole eyewitness in the case – Aashish Chunar, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

How it started

Nearly 99% of Purola’s 35,000 residents are Hindus. Over the years, a few dozen Muslim families had moved to the hill town from the plains of western Uttar Pradesh to run businesses.

One of them was the family of Uvaid Khan, who had arrived in Purola from Bijnor in 2011. They owned shops dealing in furniture, mattresses and ice-cream on the town’s Kumola Road. Across the road was the shop of Jitendra Saini, a mechanic who, too, had moved to the hill town from Bijnor in 2021.

Khan and Saini were friends. Their social media profiles show them travelling together and flaunting pictures from a gym located two floors above Uvaid’s shops.

But their lives were about to change.

On May 31, the Times of India reported an “alleged ‘love jihad’ case” in Purola involving two young men, “including one from a minority community”.

“Both were caught while allegedly trying to elope with a Hindu girl” on May 26, the report said.

The two men in question were Khan and Saini. The minor was an orphan from a Hindu family, looked after by her uncle and aunt.

The other theory, The Print reported, was that the men had “allegedly abducted a minor girl in Purola town”.

Within days, Hindutva groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Devbhoomi Raksha Abhiyan held large protests against Muslims in Purola and in the neighbouring town of Barkot, calling them “jihadis”.

Pawan Nautiyal, the general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttarkashi, mobilised Purola’s Hindu traders and told them that Muslims “initiate conversations with innocent women here, mislead them and take them away”, The Morning Context reported.

Television news channels added fuel to the fire. India TV, for instance, reported that “the moment the two [Khan and Saini] tried to push the minor into the car, she began screaming very loudly. Hearing the girl’s scream, the mother came outside the house and saved her along with other shopkeepers who arrived at the spot.”

“The audacity and foolishness of the love jihadis have fired up Hindutva groups,” added the reporter.

An anchor on News18 UP Uttarakhand claimed that there was a “sudden spurt” in “love jihad” cases in the hill state. “It is now clear that love jihadis are playing a dirty game in the mountains,” she added.

Fearing for their safety, Muslim families shut their shops. In June, Newslaundry reported that 35 families left the town temporarily and six families moved out permanently.

Saini and Khan were sent to the Tehri district jail. In July last year, when the cameras panned away from Purola, a district and sessions court judge in Uttarkashi, Gurubaksh Singh, granted bail to the two men.

What the court found

The trial against Uvaid Khan and Jitendra Saini stretched over 19 hearings between August 2023 and May 2024.

The allegations of kidnapping, procurement of a minor and sexual assault against the duo turned out to be false, beginning with the details of the incident on May 26, 2023 that upended their lives.

The main eyewitness of the incident was Aashish Chunar, a 27-year-old RSS member who runs a computer shop in the town.

At 3.07 pm that day, Chunar called the minor’s uncle, informing him that two men near the town’s petrol pump were trying to get his niece to climb into a tempo, according to the first information report filed by the uncle at Purola police station. The men were trying to take her to Naugaon, a town 18 km away, Chunar had said.

They fled after Chunar intervened, according to the complaint. The RSS worker then brought the girl to his shop.

In the complaint, the uncle described what his niece had purportedly told him. Khan and Saini had brought her to the petrol pump through deceit. Khan had introduced himself as Ankit. At the petrol pump, they called a tempo driver and tried to lure her into marriage and take her away when Chunar and another person saw her and rescued her, the complaint said.

During the trial, when the minor’s uncle was cross-examined by the defendants’ advocates, he told the court that his niece “did not tell him anything about the incident” and that he wrote the complaint “on Aashish Chunar’s instruction”.

“I wrote what Aashish Chunar told me,” the court’s judgement quotes him as saying.

During cross-examination, the girl’s aunt also told the court that her niece “did not tell her about the incident and did not name the accused”. “She only said that she had left the house to get some clothes stitched and that Aashish Chunar then took her to his shop,” said the judgement.

Khan and Saini were produced before Chunar during the trial. Chunar told the court that on May 26, he saw two men talking to the minor. But Khan and Saini, he added, were not those two men.

Chunar told Scroll that he had joined the RSS in 2017 as a media in-charge in Uttarkashi. “That day, I saw her talking to two men from a distance,” he said. “But I don’t know if they were Saini or that other Muslim boy.”

Chunar denied the allegation that the minor’s uncle wrote the police complaint on his instruction.

Finally, the minor’s account in court contradicted her statement made on May 27, 2023 to a civil judge under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

In that statement, a copy of which was seen by Scroll, the minor said that after she had asked them for directions to the tailor’s shop, Khan and Saini took her to the petrol station and called a tempo. “They held my hand and tried to make me sit inside the tempo,” she said. “I said let go of my hand. Then my relative Aashish Chunar came. The two men ran away once they saw him. He [Chunar] sat me down in his shop and called my family.”

During her cross-examination, the minor told court that the police had tutored her to make the statement implicating Khan and Saini. “Before I gave the statement, the police had explained to me what all I had to say and that is what I told madam [civil judge],” she said. “I did not read the statement but only signed it.”

In court, she recounted what had happened that day. “She mostly said that she asked the accused about a tailor’s shop,” the judgement said. “She went to the tailor’s shop with the accused. She also said that the accused were not taking her anywhere. Upon cross-examination, she said that the accused had not followed her.”

Judge Gurubaksh Singh noted that the prosecution had not put forth any statement or evidence to prove that Khan and Saini had touched the minor with sexual intent.

Taking all this into account, Judge Singh acquitted Khan and Saini.

“Considering the material available on the record, this special court has come to the conclusion that from all the oral and documentary evidence presented by the prosecution, the prosecution of accused Uvaid Khan and Jitendra Saini is not proven beyond reasonable doubt,” he wrote in the judgement.

The police officials who handled the case refuted the girl’s allegation that they had tutored her. “What would the police get out of doing that?” asked KC Chauhan, the then station house officer of the Purola police station. “The girl must be lying. She was not mentally sound anyway,” he told Scroll.

Chauhan is now posted in the state’s vigilance establishment, which works with the government in cases of corruption, bribery, misconduct, and misbehaviour involving public servants.

Deepti Jagwan, the investigating officer in the case, declined to comment.

The conspiracy

Halim Baig, the advocate who represented Khan and Saini, told Scroll that both men had moved back to Bijnor after the incident.

“Even today, I do not know how this story about these two men trying to abduct the girl came about and then became national news,” said Baig. “To me, it seemed like a planned conspiracy. Khan’s family ran a very successful business in the town. Many people did not like that.”

In June 2023, this reporter had written in The Morning Context about how the anti-Muslim rhetoric in Purola was stoked in a WhatsApp group of the town’s traders and shopkeepers, which included local journalist Anil Aswal.

The minor’s uncle had told Newslaundry that Aswal had urged him to file a “fake complaint” with the police alleging his niece had been a victim of “love jihad” and blame Khan, but he had refused. The complaint he filed did not make any mention of “love jihad”.

Nevertheless, on the evening of May 26, Aswal published a story on his website bbckhabar.in that spun the incident as a “love jihad” conspiracy. He said that he had written a similar story for the Hindi newspaper Amar Ujala the following day.

Aswal’s stories put the traders in the WhatsApp group on a mission to teach Purola’s Muslims a lesson. “There is still time. Wake up everyone,” one of them wrote to the group. “If we spare them today, then these people will grow more confident tomorrow. Going ahead, don’t let them become powerful.”

The vitriol against Muslims also came from Uttarakhand’s BJP leaders. Purola MLA Durgeshwar Lal ranted against Muslim traders and “those who funded them” in a video interview that has more than 1.2 lakh views on Facebook.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told the press that “love jihad will not be tolerated” in the state, and that what happened in Purola was a “crime” that was “being committed as part of a conspiracy”.

The frenzy ultimately fizzled out in court, but it wrecked livelihoods. Zahid Malik, who owned a cloth shop in Purola for nearly two decades, had to permanently leave the town with his family after the Hindutva protests in June 2023. They moved to Dehradun.

“I never went back to Purola after that incident. We had a good business there. But all that is gone now,” Malik told Scroll. “My cloth business in Dehradun did not take off. I had to borrow money and we have accumulated a debt of Rs 15 lakh. The loan sharks visit and ask for money every now and then. We have been ruined.”

Source: scroll.in

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Madras HC quashes punishment of Muslim policeman over beard

Jul 17, 2024

The court was hearing the petition filed by G Abdul Khadar Ibrahim of Madurai, a Grade I police constable.

The petitioner is working as a police constable in Madurai and belongs to the Muslim community. He keeps a beard (/topic/beard) according to his religious beliefs

He went on vacation to Makkah and Madinah for 31 days from November 9 to December 9, 2018. Later, he requested the Assistant Commissioner of Police extend his leave on December 10 due to an injury to his left leg.

However, as his leave was not extended, a departmental inquiry was held seeking an explanation regarding the beard (/topic/beard). Subsequently, the policeman's pay increment was reduced by two years as punishment for growing a beard (/topic/beard).

The petitioner pointed out that policemen and even members of the Muslim community are allowed to keep neat beard (/topic/beard)s while on duty. This is also permissible under the Police Act.

"The petitioner has applied for leave with a medical certificate. He should be granted leave. On the contrary, it is shocking that the Madurai District Police Commissioner ordered his pay increment to be withheld. Therefore, the order suspending the increase in pay of the petitioner is set aside," the court said.

The court concluded the case by commenting that the Madurai PoliceCommissioner should issue an appropriate order in this matter within eight weeks. (ANI)

Source: aninews.in

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Shivaji descendant blamed for violence against Muslim ‘encroachers’ at fort, denies communal link

Sambhajiraje claims he took matters in own hands as govt failed to clear illegal structures, father and Congress MP flays violence but raises questions over govt’s ‘delayed action’

Written by Alok Deshpande

July 17, 2024

mosque vandalism, mumbai, indian expressThe vandalism happened in a village called Gajapur, located 3 km from the fort, whose residents say they have no link to the encroachments at the fort. (Express/ Screengrab)

IN JULY 1660, the firing of a cannon thrice from the Vishalgad Fort in Kolhapur district had come as a sigh of relief for the Maratha forces, who were battling the army of Bijapur’s sultanate, as it signalled that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had entered the fort safely.

Exactly 364 years later, on July 14, a descendant of Shivaji again made news at the fort. That day, on the call of Chhatrapati Sambhajiraje, a former Rajya Sabha MP, his supporters who call themselves “Shiv bhakts” gathered to remove encroachments allegedly harming the sanctity of the fort. Violence followed, resulting in the vandalisation of properties owned by Muslim residents and a local mosque.

The vandalism happened in a village called Gajapur, located 3 km from the fort, whose residents say they have no link to the encroachments at the fort.

After the violence, Sambhajiraje himself reached the spot and announced that he would not leave till the encroachments were removed. He claimed that there were 158 encroachments in total, of which only six were under litigation in court. “Why is no action being taken against the rest?” he asked.

Finally, it was after a phone call from Chief Minister Eknath Shinde assuring Sambhajiraje of action that he left. Later that evening, Shinde himself visited Kolhapur to take stock of the situation.

While the Mahayuti government, which proclaims itself the true claimant to Shivaji’s legacy, was quick to act, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi was left with red faces as Sambhajiraje’s father Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj is the Congress Lok Sabha MP from Kolhapur.

While condemning the violence and demanding action against the perpetrators, Shahu Maharaj blamed the administration and police for it, saying they had failed to take the issue “seriously”. “Had the administration acted earlier on the direction to remove the encroachments, the violence could have been avoided,” he said.

Shivaji has always been at the heart of Maharashtra’s political discourse, with his life, historical events and forts often dragged into it.

The issue of encroachments at the Vishalgad Fort, including shops, hotels and private residences, has been raging for a few years now. The most contentious structures are those around the Malik Rehan Dargah, located about a kilometre from the fort, which dates back to the 14th century and is visited by devotees of all religions. Earlier, animal sacrifice was held at the dargah, but it has been discontinued since an order of the Bombay High Court.

Having sanctioned Rs 1.17 crore for the purpose of clearing the illegal structures at the fort, the Mahayuti government of the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP claimed in December last year that it had managed to remove encroachments at its base.

A staffer at the Kolhapur District Collector’s office claimed that after a number of residents who had earlier lived in these structures moved out following the ban on animal sacrifice, which robbed many of their livelihood, these structures had been taken over by miscreants. They had received frequent complaints regarding the misuse of these premises by alcoholics, the official said.

On July 9, Sambhajiraje announced that he and his supporters would act against the encroachments, as the administration had failed to do the same.

Following Sambhajiraje’s announcement, a Hindu right-wing outfit performed a ‘maha aarti’ at the base of the fort. Its members have denied being a part of the July 14 violence.

Sambhajiraje has said there was no communal angle to what happened that day. “We want to remove all encroachments, including those by Hindus and Muslims. I know what secularism is and nobody needs to teach me that,” he said.

His father Shahu Maharaj, who got the ticket over Sambhajiraje in the Lok Sabha elections, said he stood firmly against any act of violence. “It is my responsibility to stand with those who face injustice,” he said, announcing that he will be visiting areas affected by the violence.

Several of his colleagues in the Congress have also come out against the violence. The party announced that a delegation led by Naseem Khan will be visiting Maharashtra DGP Rashmi Shukla demanding strict action in the matter. Leader of the Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar claimed that such incidents were being “orchestrated” ahead of the coming Assembly polls.

Prior to the Lok Sabha elections, it was rumoured that Sambhajiraje may contest on the ticket of his newly formed outfit, Swarajya. While he stayed out then, there is talk again that he could contest the coming Assembly polls.

Former Lok Sabha MP and AIMIM leader Imtiyaz Jaleel has announced a protest march in Kolhapur later this week.

On whether the incident showed differences between his father and him, Sambhajiraje said his father was only fulfilling the responsibility of an elected representative, and that he too denounced violence in any form. “Had the administration acted in time, nothing of this sort would have happened,” Sambhajiraje reiterated.

Source: indianexpress.com

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BJP won’t allow BC quota to Muslims in Haryana: Amit Shah

Jul 17, 2024

The Congress has consistently been anti-backward classes (BCs) and opposed reservation to BCs even as Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi introduced a 27% quota for BCs in premier educational and medical institutes, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday and targeted former Haryana Congress chief minister (CM) Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his “Haryana Maange Hisaab” campaign.

Addressing the state-level Backward Classes Samman Sammelan in Mahendragarh district of Haryana, the Union home minister alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka had reallocated BC reservations to Muslims and warned that similar actions could occur in Haryana if Congress is voted back to power in assembly election due in October.

“The Congress government gave reservation to Muslims in the backward class in Karnataka. If they come to power in Haryana, they will do the same here,” Shah warned, urging the gathering to support the BJP in the assembly elections due in October.

“I want to assure you that we will not allow Muslim reservation in Haryana,” he added.

Repeatedly emphasising the BJP’s commitment to the BC community, Shah reminded the audience that Modi’s government is dedicated to Dalits, the poor, and BCs, noting that 27 Union ministers are from these communities, including two from Haryana.

Hitting out at the Congress for not implementing the Kaka Kalelkar Commission’s recommendations for OBC reservations in the 1950s and accusing the Congress of stalling the Mandal Commission in 1980, Shah urged the BC community to wholeheartedly support the BJP in the upcoming state assembly elections. He asserted that the BJP will form a majority government in Haryana for the third consecutive time.

“In 1980, former PM Indira Gandhi kept the matter of reservation to OBCs in cold storage, and later in 1990, PM Rajiv Gandhi stoutly opposed Mandal Commission. Rajiv Gandhi delivered a more than two-and-a-half-hour long speech and opposed OBC reservation,” Shah said, pointing out that on the other hand, BJP took a series of pro-BCs steps like increasing annual income limit from ₹6 lakh to ₹8 lakh for identifying persons in the creamy layer among the BCs for reservation in public employment and educational institutions.

‘BJP will demand10-year account from Congress’

Lashing out at Hooda and the Congress for their campaign, Shah challenged Hooda to account for their 10 years of governance compared to the BJP’s. He said the BJP has ensured transparency and development in the state, while corruption flourished when Hooda was CM.

“We are fully prepared to apprise people of the steps the BJP government has taken in 10 years for the development of the state. When the Congress was in power in Haryana, corruption of the highest order prevailed,” Shah said, challenging Hooda to give an account of what he did as CM of the state.

“The Congress in Haryana has done nothing in the name of development. It has only divided people on caste lines... Hooda sahab, you have to give an account of 10 years of misgovernance and depriving Haryana of development,” Shah said in a frontal attack on the Congress, which on Monday launched the campaign, under which it will target the ruling BJP on several fronts, including unemployment and law and order, ahead of the assembly polls.

“Hooda starts chanting ‘BC-BC-BC’ when elections are near,” said Shah, adding “In contrast, BJP granted constitutional rights to the BCs and PM Modi introduced 27% reservation for OBCs in Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, Sainik Schools and NEET examinations for the first time.”

Calling upon the people, including BJP workers, to go from village to village and demand an account of how much money was spent on development works during the 10-year rule of Congress, the Union home minister said the BJP workers will visit all 6,225 panchayats to present an account of the development works carried out by the BJP.

He said BJP workers will also demand an account of the development works done by Congress for the people of Haryana over the past 10 years. Asking Hooda to come forward with statistics, he said. “What account will he ask from us? We will provide the account. The people of Haryana will demand an account from Congress.”

‘Saini continues to be a common man’

Praising Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini for his simplicity and accessibility, Shah said despite becoming chief minister, Saini continues to be a common man. “Saini CM to bana hai, par chief minister nahi bana hai...He is a common man and his doors are open round the clock for all,” Shah said, urging the crowd to give an assurance that they will support the BJP in the assembly elections.

‘Haryana makes country self-sufficient’

Paying homage to the great freedom fighter Rao Tula Ram, the Union home minister said the entire country remembers Haryana for three things. First, Haryana has the highest representation in military services. Second, out of the 10 medals India wins in the country’s sports tally, seven are brought home by the “Dhaakad” athletes of the state. Third, it is the farmers of Haryana who make the country self-sufficient in food.

It was Shah’s second visit to Haryana in less than three weeks and the Union home minister urged the crowd to back the BJP in the forthcoming elections, reaffirming the party’s commitment to the state’s development.

A battery of front-line leaders of the BJP in Haryana and at the Centre were present on this occasion.

Source: hindustantimes.com

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10th day of Muharram: Muslim community across Mumbai to observe ‘Ashura’ today

July 17, 2024

MuharramShia Muslims mourn on this day to commemorate the martyrdom of prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain, who was killed in the Battle of Karbala. (File Photo/Shashi Ghosh)

MUSLIM COMMUNITY across the city will observe “Ashura”, the 10th day of Muharram, on Wednesday. Shia Muslims from across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) usually congregate in Dongri area of south Mumbai where they participate in Majlis (sermons) and recite nauhas (elegies) remembering the battle of Karbala in which the prophet’s grandson Imam Hussain and several members of his family were killed.

While Dongri was earlier the hub where Shias are headed to during Ashura, now there are several places like Bandra, Mira Road, Mumbra, Versova that see congregations which gather for mourning.

Zuhair Rizvi, a Bandra resident said, “While for the other nights, we attend religious sermons held in Bandra, for Ashura My family and I go to Dongri where we attend Majlis. We stay there till morning prayers after which we leave for our Bandra residence. This has been a tradition for over a decade.”

While Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar, the sighting of the new year moon marks the period of mourning for the Shia community. In several areas, “sabeels” distributing water come up as soon as the month of Muharram begins.

Shias mourn the battle of Karbala, fought in 680 AD at Karbala — located in present day Iraq — that led to the death of the prophets grandson Imam Hussain and several of his family members who refused to swear allegiance to Umayyad caliph Yazid I as the next caliph.

Shias dress in black clothes, disheveled hair to feel the agony that the prophets grandson and his army of 72 felt nearly 1400 years back.

Apart from religious sermons and nauhas being recited, there are several processions that are carried out in several parts of the city. In order to ensure that there are no traffic snarls due to these processions, the Mumbai police have issued an advisory with a list of traffic diversions for the movement of vehicles in Mumbai for Muharram processions on Wednesday.

According to the advisory, Taziya processions will be carried out in the area of Dharavi from Dharavi 60 ft. road, 90 ft. road, Mahim Sion Link road, Sant Rohidas Road and other adjoining areas.

The traffic arrangements on a temporary basis will be placed from 3pm on July 17 till midnight.

No entry routes: Sion Mahim Link Road will be closed for vehicular traffic from S.L. Raheja Route Junction to T-Junction; St. Kabir Marg (60 feet road) will be closed for vehicular traffic from Kemkar Junction to Kumbharwada Junction and K.K. Krishna Menon Marg (90 feet road) will be closed for vehicular traffic from Ashok Mill Naka to Kumbharwada Junction.

Source: indianexpress.com

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Amid terror uptick in Jammu, a concern among security establishment: Crumbling road network

Police sources say that between Rajouri and Poonch, both NH-144A and Defence Road are in a poor condition in view of ongoing road-widening works

Written by Arun Sharma

July 17, 2024

jammu, security, indian expressThe poor condition of both these roads means that it takes time for security forces and police to reach the site of an attack even when it happens on the road itself. (Representational Photo)

With the Jammu division seeing a rise in militant attacks over the last three years, many in the security establishment believe that bad roads have been one of the major challenges in the fight against the militant threat.

A senior officer in the Jammu and Kashmir Police said that between Rajouri and Poonch districts, both National Highway 144A and the alternate defence road looked after by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) are in poor condition in view of ongoing road-widening works.

Significantly, he pointed out, the private contractor hired by the BRO for widening the defence road abandoned the work after the entire stretch from Thanamandi to Buffliaz and then Surankote was dug up.

On December 21 last year, two Army vehicles were attacked by militants near Topa Pir village between Buffliaz and Dera Ki Gali (DKG) in Poonch district. From both Buffliaz and DKG, where security forces have their camps, the attack site was hardly five kilometres, but the reinforcements took nearly 40 minutes to reach due to the poor condition of the defence road.

Those coming from Surankote and Thanamandi took another 50 minutes to 100 minutes to cover the 15-20 km distance to the attack site. By then, the militants had shot a video of the attack, collected weapons of the deceased soldiers, and fled the scene.

This defence road not only provides an alternate connection between Rajouri and Poonch districts as it joins NH-144A at Surankote, it also connects these two border districts with Shopian district in the Kashmir Valley as it touches the Mughal road at Buffliaz.

Regarding the Mughal Road, another senior police officer recalled that his bullet proof official vehicle had broken down while moving on its uneven and broken surface.

Between October 11, 2021 and December 21, 2023, a total of 19 soldiers, including two JCOs, have died in terrorist attacks in areas on the Mughal Road and NH-144A, or areas falling in their close proximity. The poor condition of both these roads means that it takes time for security forces and police to reach the site of an attack even when it happens on the road itself.

The work on the new Mughal road started in October 2005, and it was opened for light vehicles in August 2012. It was around the same time that the Pir Panjal region, comprising Rajouri and Poonch districts, was freed of terrorism by police and security forces, said Shafiq Mir, former chairman of the Buffliaz Block Development Council.

By 2020-21, the BRO allotted the contract for widening of the Rajouri-Thanamandi-DKG-Buffliaz-Surankote road to a private contractor who, however, abandoned the work after digging up the entire stretch by 2022. It is around the same time that terror activity resurfaced in the area, he pointed out.

A senior officer in the Poonch district administration attributed the bad condition of the roads to the shifting of the BRO’s focus towards Line of Control (LoC) after the Pir Panjal region was declared militancy free. “Not only this defence road, they silently abandoned even some other roads in interior areas that they had earlier built to connect our villages during the peak period of terrorism,” the officer said.

“When the condition of those roads worsened and the administration contacted the BRO, it replied that it had handed these over to the civil administration for maintenance many years ago,” the officer said.

The importance of the roads in the fight against militancy was also brought up by some public representatives, including members of District Development Councils, who met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during his visit to Rajouri in the aftermath of the killing of four soldiers in a December 21 militant attack.

Shafiq Mir also pointed out that most of the terror attacks in Rajouri and Poonch districts have taken place in areas falling in close proximity to NH-144A and the Thanamandi-DKG-Buffliaz-Surankote defence road.

The road in Kathua district’s Badnota village, where militants ambushed an Army convoy, killing five soldiers and injuring five others, was also in poor condition. This meanth thatreinforcements from nearby Machedi took time to reach the attack site. Sources said, however, that despite this, soldiers fought valiantly and fired relentlessly, eventually forcing the militants to flee.

Source: indianexpress.com

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‘Soldiers bearing brunt of BJP’s wrong policies’: Rahul Gandhi hits out at Centre over terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir

The Jammu region, which remained relatively peaceful between 2005 and 2021 after security forces wiped out decades-long terrorism, witnessed 11 attacks in the last 78 days.

July 16, 2024

doda encounter, rahul gandhiSecurity personnel during an anti-terror operation in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (PTI Photo)

The Congress on Tuesday hit out at the Centre after four army personnel, including a Major-rank officer, were killed in an encounter in the Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday night.

Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi blamed the continuous loss of lives on BJP’s “wrong policies”, adding that the incidents were “sad and worrying”.“It is the demand of every patriotic Indian that the government should take full responsibility for the repeated security lapses and take strict action against the culprits who harm the country and the soldiers, “ wrote Rahul on X.

“These repeated terrorist attacks are revealing the poor condition of Jammu and Kashmir. Our soldiers and their families are bearing the brunt of BJP’s wrong policies,” he added.

The encounter in Doda comes a week after a similar terrorist ambush in the remote Machedi forest belt of Kathua district claimed the lives of five soldiers and injured as many. There has been a spurt in incidents of terror attacks in the Jammu division lately, prompting the police and security forces to launch joint combing and search operations at a massive scale.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also expressed his condolences on platform X. “The Modi government is acting as if everything is ‘business as usual’ and nothing has changed,” wrote Kharge. “They must know that increasingly the Jammu region is bearing the brunt of these attacks,” Kharge said. He urged the Centre to not endanger national security.

Highlighting the frequency of such terrorist attacks in the region, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh attacked Prime Minister Modi saying, “While we must demonstrate an effective collective response cutting across political parties, the question must also be asked: what happened to all those grand claims made by the self-anointed non-biological PM and the self-styled Chanakya?”

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, too, expressed her condolences and wishes to the bereaved families.

Congress leader Pawan Khera stated that the country wants answers. “Countries are not run on just slogans,” Khera said in Hindi on X.

Moreover, Congress leader Harish Rawat said the government would be supported in their steps to counter terrorism.  “There is no place for violence in politics and democracy,” he said  in a statement.

The Monday night encounter was the third major incident between security forces and terrorists in the Doda district in the past three weeks, PTI reported. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s office said he had spoken to the Chief of Army Staff and has been apprised of the ongoing anti-terror operation in the area.

Source: indianexpress.com

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Security forces exchange fire with militants who killed 4 Army soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda

Massive searches are underway in Doda to track the militants.

Written by Arun Sharma

July 17, 2024

Encounter in DodaDoda: Security forces personnel during and encounter with terrorists in Desa forest area, in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir, Tuesday, July 16, 2024. (PTI Photo)

The militants who are believed to have escaped after killing four Indian Army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda on Monday night had a brief exchange of fire with security forces during the early hours of Wednesday in a forested area of the district.

According to sources, the exchange of fire between the security forces and the militants took place around 1 am when they opened fire on the search parties in the Bhatta Dessa forests of Doda. The security forces then retaliated, and after a brief exchange of fire, the militants fled. While escaping, they came across a Village Defence Group (VDG) and had a brief exchange of fire with it before absconding to the upper reaches of the area.

Massive searches by security forces, Jammu Kashmir Police, and Central Armed Police Force personnel are underway in the area, said officials

On Monday night, militants attacked a joint search party of the Army and police personnel in the forest area killing a Captain among four soldiers. They are believed to be the same group who had fled after attacking the security forces and police in Foda district’s Sezan forests on the evening of July 9.

The security forces and Jammu and Kashmir Police have been conducting a series of joint and coordinated operations to eliminate militants who they believe to have infiltrated from across the border and are moving in the upper reaches of Udhampur, Doda, and Kishtwar districts.

Searches in Doda forests have been underway since terrorists attacked a patrol party killing an SPO on April 28 in Udhampur’s Basantgarh area which borders Bhaderwah’s Seij Dhar area.

Source: indianexpress.com

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Arab World

 

Gaza is worst human catastrophe in modern history, Saudi envoy tells UN Security Council

July 17, 2024

NEW YORK CITY: The global order is in one of the most dangerous phases it has experienced since the end of the Cold War, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the UN said on Tuesday.

Abdulaziz Alwasil blamed this on “some major powers” putting their own interests ahead of the principles on which the UN was built, as a result of which the organization is unable to uphold its responsibilities because its agencies and mechanisms are “shackled with procedures and rules that allow a small number of states to control the destiny of helpless peoples and countries.”

Speaking during a meeting of the Security Council, Alwasil said: “The blatant violations being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip are a prime example of the inaction of the current global order and the failure of its most important body, tasked with the maintenance of international peace and security, to fulfill the hopes that have been pinned on it.”

This, he added, has allowed “the Israeli war machine to kill and injure thousands of Palestinians without accountability or deterrence, so that the world stands witness to the worst human catastrophe of our modern history.”

In recent years the world has seen a growing number of increasingly severe crises, Alwasil said, and so it is more important than ever that a new multilateral system be established that is more fair, more cohesive, and has more effective mechanisms to help establish peace and security.

“We’re currently witnessing a phase of a transition to a new multilateral global order, whose features have not solidified yet,” he added.

“This requires us all to enhance our joint and global efforts to protect ourselves from the dangers of conflict and war, especially as we see increasing signs of fragmentation in policy and economics and digitization, and as we see increasing fears of nuclear annihilation and world war three.”

The pursuit of peace and security is the founding principle of the UN, Alwasil said, and he vowed that Saudi Arabia would continue to strive to achieve “the goals or purposes of the United Nations and the maintenance of international peace and security.”

He underscored the important need for “comprehensive reforms” of the Security Council and other UN bodies to better enable them “to perform their duties effectively and in accordance with the principles of the organization, international law and international humanitarian law.”

More than 50 states, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, attended the high-level Security Council open debate, titled “Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order.”

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2550976/saudi-arabia

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Saudi Cabinet reiterates calls for immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza

July 16, 2024

RIYADH: The Saudi Cabinet on Tuesday condemned the “continued genocidal massacres” against the Palestinian people amid Israel’s battle with Hamas in Gaza, Saudi Press Agency reported.

During Tuesday’s session, which was headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Cabinet also renewed calls for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and for providing protection for civilians in the occupied Palestinian territories, SPA added.

It also stressed the need to activate international accountability mechanisms regarding the continued Israeli violations of international humanitarian law and international legitimacy resolutions.

The Cabinet reviewed recent meetings between Saudi and regional and international officials and stressed the importance of strengthening the existing international system to be a “strong fortress against chaos and conflicts,” as well as the need to provide a “framework for cooperation and peaceful coexistence between countries, in light of the challenges and crises the world is witnessing,” SPA reported.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2550926/saudi-arabia

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Muscat Mosque Shooting: Indian Among Six Killed; Three Perpetrators Shot Dead

17-07-24

An Indian national was among six people killed in an attack on the Ali bin Abi Talib mosque in Muscat, the capital city of Oman. The Indian embassy in Muscat informed about the casualty and also stated that another Indian had been injured in the gun attack on the night of July 16.

Islamic State, the Sunni Muslim dominated militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The incident took place in the Al Wadi Al Kabir area on Monday night. The Indian Embassy in Muscat’s statement on the incident read, “Following the shooting incident reported in Muscat city on 15 July, the Foreign Ministry of the Sultanate of Oman has informed us that one Indian national has lost his life and another is injured. The Embassy offers its sincere condolences and stands ready to offer all assistance to the families.”

As per the Oman News Agency, three attackers have been killed. The Royal Oman Police (ROP) and the military and security services announced the conclusion of procedures for addressing the shooting incident, the Oman news agency said.

Four Pakistanis and a policeman were among those killed, and at least 28 other people from different nationalities were injured. The injured have been transferred to health institutions for treatment, it said, adding that investigations into the circumstances of the incident have begun.

The Times of Oman reported an eyewitness account at the time of the shooting: “The hall of the mosque was packed with hundreds of worshippers and the atmosphere was heavy with tension as the sound of panicked, labored breathing grew louder. The relentless firing of bullets echoed for over an hour, eventually becoming sporadic, but for nearly three hours, death loomed over us,” the Oman publication cited an eyewitness.

The expatriate recounted that around “500-600 people” were in the mosque courtyard when they first heard sounds that “resembled fireworks” and there were cries of “Bhaago, Bhaago [run, run].”

The Royal Oman Police expressed its condolences and sympathies to the families of the deceased, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Such an attack is rare in Oman, a frequent regional mediator with a low crime rate. It comes during the Muslim day of Ashura, when Shia Muslims commemorate the seventh-century battlefield martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad. Many Shias mark Ashura by performing a pilgrimage to Imam Hussein’s shrine in the Iraqi city of Karbala. Sunni Muslims commemorate the day through fasting.

Source: ddnews.gov.in

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https://ddnews.gov.in/en/muscat-mosque-shooting-indian-among-six-killed-three-perpetrators-shot-dead/

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Pakistanis among 6 killed in rare Oman shooting near Shiite mosque

July 17, 2024

MUSCAT/ ISLAMABAD   -  At least six people, including four Pakistani citizens, were killed and 28 others injured in a rare shooting attack near a Shia mosque in Oman’s capital, Muscat.

Police said on Tuesday  four people, including a policeman, were killed and multiple others wounded in a shooting near a Shiite mosque in the Omani capital Muscat, a rare attack in the otherwise stable Gulf sultanate. Shiites make up a small minority of Oman’s overwhelmingly Muslim population. Most Omanis follow the Sunni or Ibadi branches of the faith. Islamabad said four Pakistanis were martyred and thirty others were hospitalised with gunshot wounds after a terrorist attack targeted the Imambargah, Ali bin Abi Talib, in Muscat’s Wadi Kabeer area.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Foreign Office spokesperson quoted the latest information from Omani authorities, stating that the Pakistan Embassy in Oman was coordinating with local authorities to identify and repatriate the remains of Pakistani martyrs.

A helpline has been set up to assist the Pakistani community in Oman and Ambassador Imran Ali was visiting local hospitals to monitor the condition of injured Pakistani nationals.

Monday’s mosque attack, which has yet to be claimed, came as Shiites this week mark Ashura, an annual day of mourning that commemorates the seventh-century death in battle of Imam Hussein, regarded by Shiites as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammed.

“The Royal Oman Police have responded to a shooting incident that occurred in the vicinity of a mosque in the Al-Wadi Al-Kabir area” of the capital, police said in a statement.

The force gave an initial toll of four killed and “several” wounded.

Two Pakistanis were among those killed in the attack on the Imam Bargah Ali bin Abu Talib mosque, the foreign ministry in Islamabad said, adding that Omani authorities have “neutralised” the gunmen.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the dastardly terrorist attack,” it said in a statement.

“We are heartened that the government of Oman has neutralised the attackers.”

There were also Pakistanis among the wounded, the embassy in Muscat said, adding that the number had yet to be confirmed.

Pakistani ambassador Imran Ali visited some of the wounded in hospital, the embassy posted on social media platform X.

In a video message, Ali urged Pakistani residents to cooperate with Omani authorities and avoid the area around the mosque which was hit.

“I have visited three or four hospitals. By the grace of God, all those injured are safe,” Ali said.

“We are in touch with Omani authorities as well as hospitals. Our officers are on standby for emergency blood donations in the embassy,” he added, saying a hotline has been set up to assist the wounded and their relatives.

The US embassy in Muscat issued a security alert following the shooting and cancelled all visa appointments Tuesday.

“US citizens should remain vigilant, monitor local news and heed directions of local authorities,” the embassy posted on X.

Footage verified by AFP shows people fleeing the Imam Ali Mosque, its minaret visible, as gunshots ring out.

A voice can be heard saying “oh God” and repeating “oh Hussein”.

- Ashura -

Police said “all necessary security measures and procedures have been taken to handle the situation” following the attack.

“The authorities are continuing to gather evidence and conduct investigations to uncover the circumstances surrounding the incident,” police added on X.

The area was cordoned off on Tuesday, with journalists unable to access the mosque, an AFP photographer reported.

Oman has a population of over four million, more than 40 percent of whom are expatriate workers, according to government figures.

The sultanate has repeatedly played the role of a mediator in regional conflicts, especially the war in Yemen between Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the internationally recognised government propped up by Saudi Arabia.

While several attacks on Shiite mosques have roiled the Gulf in recent years, Tuesday’s attack is a first for Oman.

A 2015 suicide attack on a Shiite mosque in Kuwait killed at least 27 worshippers and wounded more than 200. It was claimed by the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group.

That same year, Saudi Arabia saw two attacks on Shiite mosques in the space of a week. The twin assaults killed at least 25 people and were again claimed by IS, which regards Shiites as heretics.

In 2005, a former teacher opened fire inside a government building in Muscat, killing two people and wounding several others, before shooting himself.

Source: nation.com.pk

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https://www.nation.com.pk/17-Jul-2024/pakistanis-among-6-killed-in-rare-oman-shooting-near-shiite-mosque

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Isis claims rare mass shooting of Shia Muslims in Oman

17-07-24

The Isis militant group has claimed responsibility for the killing of at least nine people in a rare attack on a Shia mosque in the wealthy Gulf state of Oman.

About 28 others also sustained injuries late on Monday when several gunmen stormed into the Ali bin Abi Talib mosque in the Wadi al-Kabir neighbourhood of the capital Muscat, located around 500 metres from an international school.

Four Pakistanis, an Indian national and a police officer were among those killed in the gun attack, the authorities said.

The Sunni extremist group claimed responsibility on Tuesday through an affiliated news agency, without providing evidence. It represents the first time Isis has purported to be behind an attack in Oman, where only 5 per cent of Muslims are believed to belong to the Shia sect.

A video showed a crowd running for cover inside the mosque as gunmen opened fire on believers gathered on the eve of Ashura — an annual period of mourning, where Shia Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Imam Hussein, and his 72 companions in the battle of Karbala in the seventh century in present-day Iraq.

Believers could be heard crying "Oh god" and "Oh Hussein" as gunshots rang out in the background.

“There were nearly 500-600 people in the courtyard when we first heard sounds that resembled fireworks,” an unnamed Pakistani expatriate told Times of Oman.

The firing continued for more than an hour and a half as everyone tried to rush inside the mosque, the eyewitness recalled.

“We were instructed to stay silent in the hall. In that moment of despair, I messaged my friend, thinking I might not live to see the dawn. Death seemed imminent.

“We felt like hostages for nearly two-three hours before ROP (Royal Oman Police) officers finally made their way into the building,” he added.

The extremist group said three of its "suicide attackers" fired on visitors to the mosque on Monday evening and exchanged gunfire with Omani security forces until morning. It said the gunmen attacked a gathering of Shia Muslims who were "practising their annual rituals".

Police in Oman have not said whether they have identified a motive for the attack or made any arrests.

Pakistan identified four of the dead as its citizens. "This is a very unprecedented event ... the likes of it we have not seen in Oman's history," Pakistan's ambassador to Muscat, Imran Ali, said after visiting some victims in hospital.

Pakistan's prime minister Shehbaz Sharif offered condolences and "instructed the Pakistan embassy in Muscat to extend all possible assistance to the injured". "Pakistan stands in solidarity with the Sultanate of Oman and offers full assistance in the investigation," he added.

Nearly two million migrants, mostly from South Asia, help power Oman's economy by filling low-skilled jobs in construction and other fields.

The US embassy in Muscat issued a security alert following the shooting and asked its citizens to remain vigilant and monitor local news.

Analysts described the rare shooting as the latest example of Isis returning to carrying out random international attacks after losing its fief in Iraq and Syria.

"It makes them more resilient in some ways," Aaron Y Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told the Associated Press. "It's part of their reorganisation from being a group with most of its actions in Iraq and Syria to using their resources in a global network."

Isis have long targeted Shia Muslims in their violent attacks and propaganda, describing them as heretics. The group claimed responsibility for an attack in Shia-majority Iran that killed 84 people in January.

In March, the group said it was behind an attack that killed more than 140 people at a concert hall near Moscow.

Source: independent.co.uk

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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/oman-shooting-mosque-isis-ashura-deaths-b2581043.html

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Saudi Arabia part of global audit conference

July 16, 2024

RIYADH: The International Conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors  2024 began on Monday in Washington with a strong Saudi presence.

The three-day event is being attended by a delegation of 100 participants from the Saudi Association of Internal Auditors, including leading internal audit professionals and service providers.

The delegation is led by Dr. Hussam bin Abdulmohsen Al-Angari, president of the General Court of Audit and chairman of SAIA’s board of directors.

SAIA is participating as a “diamond sponsor” of the conference. Additionally, five speakers nominated by the association will contribute to conference sessions, discussing the 2035 vision for the profession, the importance of advisory roles in internal auditing, integrated assurance processes across defense lines, and audit considerations in construction projects.

These sessions aim to highlight Saudi Arabia’s leadership role in the field of internal auditing, both regionally and internationally.

Al-Angari emphasized Saudi Arabia’s pioneering status across various fields, particularly in internal auditing. He noted the profession’s development in line with technological advancements, especially artificial intelligence and its impact on the industry. 

The International Conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors 2024 is being attended by 2,300 internal auditors from various countries worldwide.

Throughout the event, 55 speakers will address seven main topics related to internal auditing and the development of its practices in the workplace.

Key focus areas include artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, fraud and crime, sustainability, global internal auditing standards, governance and leadership, board relations, and human and social capital.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2550876/saudi-arabia

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Saudi regulations permitting additional floors in villas come into effect

July 16, 2024

RIYADH: New regulations allowing residential villas to build additional basement floors have come into effect in Saudi Arabia.

The government has increased the permissible building percentage for the ground and first floors of residential villas from 70 percent to 75 percent, aimed at expanding residential supply in the Kingdom.

The regulations, which have been approved by Saudi Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Majid Al-Hogail, apply to new construction permits and took effect from July 15.

The ministry had previously posted the residential building regulations on its consultation platform to gather feedback until Feb. 21.

The move forms part of the nation’s push to increase home ownership to 70 percent by 2030, up from 63.74 percent in 2023, under the Housing Program, a Vision 2030 initiative.

In addition, floors in residential villas can now be separated into independent housing units, each with its own entrance, provided that a parking space is available for each unit within the property boundaries.

The ministry also allows the removal of the front wall facing the street to utilize the set back area for parking spaces for the villa’s residential units, thereby increasing the number of parking spaces.

Each residential villa with an area of 400 sq. meters or less must provide one parking space within the property, while villas exceeding 400 sq. meters must provide two parking spaces.

The new guidelines also allow the ground floor of a multi-story residential building to be used for parking, which will not be counted as part of the official number of floors.

In addition, the amendments permit an increase in the housing percentage in upper floor annexes to 70 percent and the use of basements for housing in both residential villas and buildings, provided that natural ventilation and lighting are ensured, according to Saudi Building Code requirements.

The regulations follow international best practice to enhance quality of life. They encourage investment, improve the urban landscape, and regulate development, positively impacting the urban environment and the fabric of Saudi cities.

The amendments stipulate that the minimum width of a driver or domestic worker’s bedroom should be 2.1 sq. meters and the area not less than 6.5 sq. meters.

The placement of air-conditioning units and all types of extensions on facades facing roads and main streets is prohibited.

The new building regulations do not apply to hotels and lodges on highways outside urban areas, hotels, and hotel apartments. They also exclude senior citizens’ and disabled centers, rest houses, high-rise towers, and communal housing for individuals.

Existing buildings and those under construction can benefit from the increased building percentages, heights, and all updates mentioned in the decision, ensuring the building’s safety without harming neighboring properties.

The regulations encompass spatial planning requirements, which outline how land and space should be allocated and utilized.

They also cover technical specifications such as architectural design, structural integrity, and electrical systems, as well as mechanical installations, plumbing standards, and fire prevention and protection measures.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2550786/saudi-arabia

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Saudi citizen convicted of issuing fraudulent checks estimated at $3.2m

July 16, 2024

RIYADH: A Saudi citizen was convicted of issuing 22 fraudulent checks worth approximately SR 12 million ($3.2 million) after an investigation was initiated by the Public Prosecution’s financial fraud unit.

The Saudi Public Prosecution announced on Tuesday that the citizen was convicted of violating the financial fraud and breach of trust law, as well as the commercial papers system.

The checks had no compensation and were issued in a way that prevented their disbursement, thus defrauding the victims by misleading them.

After arresting the accused, referring him to the competent court, and presenting evidence of his accusation, a ruling was issued against him.

He was sentenced to a five-year imprisonment and a fine of SR 300,000 and must return the amounts to their owners.

Lawyer Naif Al-Malik told Arab News: “Article Two of the law on combatting financial fraud and breach of trust stipulates that the accused shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years, or a fine not exceeding SR 3 million, or both penalties.”

The law includes penalties for those who unlawfully seize the property (money in this context) of others and that which is entrusted to them.

This is in addition to penalties for those who incite others to commit the crimes stipulated in this law.

The Public Prosecution has strongly urged the public to beware of all types of financial fraud.

It stressed that anyone who commits such acts will face severe criminal penalties.

Source: arabnews.com

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North America

 

Iran rejects accusations implicating it in plot to kill Donald Trump

July 17, 2024

TEHRAN: Iran on Wednesday rejected what it called “malicious” accusations by US media implicating it in a plot to kill former US president Donald Trump.

CNN reported Tuesday that US authorities received intelligence from a “human source” weeks ago on an alleged Iranian plot against the former president, prompting his protection to be boosted. Other US outlets also reported the alleged plot.

CNN said the alleged plot was not linked to Saturday’s shooting at a Trump campaign rally in Pennsylvania, in which the former president was wounded and a supporter killed.

The US National Security Council said it had been “tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years” after Tehran threatened revenge for the 2020 killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in neighboring Iraq.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations called the accusations “unsubstantiated and malicious.”

Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said Iran “strongly rejects any involvement in the recent armed attack against Trump.”

He added however that Iran remains “determined to prosecute Trump over his direct role in the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani.”

Soleimani headed the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, overseeing Iranian military operations across the Middle East.

Trump ordered his killing in a drone strike just outside Baghdad airport.

Source: arabnews.com

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Majority of Islamic State Group Attacks Target African Countries

Jul 16, 2024

The Islamic State group (IS) claims that it committed 788 attacks globally in the first half of 2024. Of those attacks, 536 were in Africa, where the terror group killed 2,142 people.

More than half of the continent’s total deaths from IS violence — 1,115 — were recorded in West Africa, where the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) are prominent.

These statistics highlight the IS group’s continued expansion across Africa, where it has constantly sought to recruit and train new fighters since losing ground in the Middle East.

“The group’s expanding footprint in Africa has profound implications for regional and global security,” wrote HumAngle researcher

Aliyu Dahiru

. “The continent’s vast ungoverned spaces, porous borders, and socio-political challenges provide fertile ground for militant groups to thrive.”

According to IS information reviewed by Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper, ISWAP launched 232 attacks that killed 609 people in Nigeria and 40 in Cameroon between January and June.

Although ISWAP operates primarily in northeast Nigeria, it also seeks to disrupt local governance and control territory in Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Recent ISWAP propaganda touted suicide attacks on military positions and included images of a dead person it suspected of working as a spy for the Nigerien military, HumAngle reported. Analysts say that IS affiliates often use suicide missions as a last resort when faced with formidable military offensives.

The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), composed of Soldiers from Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria, announced in early June that its operation in the Lake Chad Basin killed 140 Boko Haram fighters while 176 more surrendered.

The force’s commander, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Ali, said the MNJTF recovered 796 rounds of ammunition, one machine gun, five AK-47 rifles, two motorcycles, eight magazines, and other arms, ammunition and other items. Ali said his forces also destroyed logistic bases and staging areas crucial to Boko Haram operations.

“Since April 23, the dedicated troops have been relentless in their efforts, recently clearing some locations such as Doron Naira, Zanari, Bagadaza and other key terrorist’s strongholds in the Lake Chad area,” Ali said in an African Perceptions report.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP) staged 135 attacks that resulted in 762 deaths in the first half of the year, according to IS.

The IS portrays the Allied Democratic Forces, which also operates in Uganda, as its main Central African branch. Allied Democratic Forces killed nearly 150 people in the eastern DRC between June 1 and June 11, according to local authorities and civil groups.

The group’s June DRC operations included about 15 attacks on civilians near Beni in North Kivu province. A civil society leader, Seba Paluku, said some victims were tied up and decapitated.

“The bodies are lying still on the ground,” Paluku told Agence France-Presse. “There’s no means of transporting them because vehicles can’t get there.”

A month earlier, IS killed more than 10 people near Beni, torched their homes and confiscated their property, common tactics of the terror group.

Congolese and Ugandan forces conduct joint operations against the Allied Democratic Forces in North Kivu and the neighboring Ituri province but have not stopped the group from attacking civilians.

IS claimed that its affiliates in Mozambique killed 137 people in 68 attacks, while its affiliate in Somalia killed 128 people in 14 attacks.

Since December 2023, the IS has been resurging in Mozambique, where it targets Christians through its “Break the Cross” campaign.

In May, the group staged its boldest attack in Mozambique in years when it ambushed Macomia, where hundreds of South African Soldiers have been based since 2021. Macomia is in the conflict-torn Cabo Delgado province, home to a long-delayed multibillion dollar liquefied natural gas project.

Mozambique’s government said its forces repelled the attack after 45 minutes. Portuguese news agency Lusa reported that more than 100 IS fighters were involved.

Source: adf-magazine.com

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https://adf-magazine.com/2024/07/majority-of-islamic-state-group-attacks-target-african-countries/

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Virginia Court Orders American Muslims for Palestine to Produce Records Requested by Attorney General Miyares

Miyares Investigating Allegations the Non-Profit Violated Virginia Charitable Solicitation Laws

RICHMOND, Va. – Attorney General Jason Miyares today announced that a Virginia court ordered the AJP Educational Foundation, Inc., also known as American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), to produce records requested by a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) issued by his office. The Court denied AMP’s petition to set aside the CID.

Under Virginia law, the Office of the Attorney General has the jurisdiction to investigate possible violations of the Commonwealth’s charitable registration and solicitation laws. In October 2023, the Virginia Office of the Attorney General issued a CID to AMP seeking information regarding its compliance with Virginia’s charitable registration and solicitation laws.

The AJP Educational Foundation Inc. is a public nonprofit with its headquarters located in Falls Church, Virginia.

The Office of the Attorney General has no further comment as this investigation remains ongoing.

Source: oag.state.va.us

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https://www.oag.state.va.us/media-center/news-releases/2758-july-16-2024-virginia-court-orders-american-muslims-for-palestine-to-produce-records-requested-by-attorney-general-miyares

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American Muslims for Palestine Ordered To Turn Over Potentially Damaging Donor Documents in Virginia Terror Financing Probe

Adam Kredo

July 16, 2024

RICHMOND, Va.— A Virginia judge on Tuesday ordered American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a prominent anti-Israel advocacy group, to disclose its funding channels as part of an investigation by Republican attorney general Jason Miyares into allegations of terrorism financing.

AMP, a nonprofit group that is driving anti-Israel protests across the country, will now have to provide Miyares with access to its donor records and funding streams, which the state argues could show evidence that the U.S.-based organization is providing material support to overseas terrorist groups.

The case pivots around AMP’s failure for seven years to properly file basic tax forms allowing it to solicit donations in Virginia. Miyares used this lapse to initiate a wide ranging investigation into AMP, alleging in an October 2023 press statement that the group "may have used funds raised for impermissible purposes under state law, including benefitting or providing support to terrorist organizations."

The judge in Richmond’s circuit court agreed with the state’s arguments, saying that Miyares "acted in good faith" when he requested AMP’s financials and that the ask "was entirely in [his] statutory authority" to ensure the group is complying with state laws that bar support to terror groups and their affiliates. The ruling also noted AMP’s admittance that it failed to file the proper paperwork, though the organization said it has since rectified what it called an unintentional oversight.

The decision sets the stage for Miyares to obtain potentially years' worth of funding documents, including its donors and transaction records. The case has garnered national attention due to AMP’s status as one of the country’s leading anti-Israel forces, responsible for a wave of anti-Semitic protests on college campuses that have featured violence and vocal support for Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.

The case is also certain to increase public pressure on AMP as congressional Republicans probe the group’s funding streams for terrorism financing. AMP is also being sued by Israeli terror victims who allege the group and its allies serve "as collaborators and propagandists for Hamas."

Miyares touted the court’s decision in a press release, saying it affirms his office’s "jurisdiction to investigate possible violations of the Commonwealth’s charitable registration and solicitation law."

"I am pleased with the Court's decision," Miyares told the Washington Free Beacon.

In asking to have the case dismissed, AMP lawyer Christina Jump said the nonprofit group is now "in full compliance with Virginia law" and that Miyares’s broad request for donor documents violates the First Amendment. Jump describes the state’s case as "wide ranging and inflammatory," arguing that "there is no evidence" to indicate any financial support to terrorist groups abroad.

"The attorney general doesn’t have free reign to seek everything and anything it wants," Jump said, adding that AMP is happy to provide limited records related to its initial failure to properly register as an active nonprofit. "There is simply no validity to what the attorney general seeks here."

"Allegations from others" about AMP’s activities, Jump added, "doesn’t show that AMP has done anything inappropriate."

The judge, however, rejected that argument, paving the way for Miyares to obtain the full docket of requested documents, which include: "AMP’s finances, organizational structure and governance, its solicitation activities, and its potential ties to terrorist organizations," according to the attorney general’s initial legal filing.

Following the judge’s ruling, Jump told the Free Beacon that the court must clarify exactly what records Miyares will be allowed to access.

AMP, she said, "wants to clarify what compliance means and it's not clear what that means now."

"If compliance means providing information about every single donor and every single transaction," that would likely be opposed by the group and need to be taken up during a possible appeal.

AMP’s finances have long been dogged by accusations of alleged terrorism financing. The group has made national waves in the wake of Israel’s war on terror by driving campus unrest and fomenting anti-Israel fervor across the country. Demonstrations organized by the group have featured calls for violence, anti-Semitic rhetoric, and support for Hamas and its massacre.

In May, congressional investigators ordered the Treasury Department to turn over any so-called Suspicious Activity Reports pertaining to AMP and around 20 other nonprofits at the center of anti-Israel unrest. Lawmakers suspect these internal government documents could indicate that U.S. nonprofits are engaged in money laundering or terrorism financing. Republicans have also petitioned the IRS to pull the tax exempt status for many of these groups.

AMP is described by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as "the leading organization providing anti-Zionist training and education to students and Muslim community organizations in the country." It "promotes extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans about ‘the just cause of Palestine and the rights of self-determination.’"

AMP, the ADL says, "seeks to delegitimize and demonize the Jewish state. Its materials are prominently featured at its events and conferences, in its publications and through materials available on its website."

The group is led by executive director Hatem Bazian, also a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. He has promoted anti-Semitic cartoons depicting Jews celebrating murder. Bazian also has "advanced the conspiratorial claim that AIPAC wields undue influence in pressuring in the U.S. to back Israel, while claiming that Hamas has the right to resist Israel by resorting to violence against ‘the colonizer,’" according to the ADL.

Source: freebeacon.com

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https://freebeacon.com/national-security/american-muslims-for-palestine-ordered-to-turn-over-potentially-damaging-donor-documents-in-virginia-terror-financing-probe/

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Biden says cooling political rhetoric doesn’t mean he’ll ‘stop telling the truth’ about Trump

July 17, 2024

LAS VEGAS: President Joe Biden returned to the campaign trail on Tuesday for the first time since the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, continuing his calls to calm the divisive rhetoric on both sides but also arguing that doing so “doesn’t mean we should stop telling the truth” about his Republican rival.

Addressing the NAACP convention in Las Vegas, Biden said curbing political violence in the country should mean combating all kinds of bloodshed — including reducing police brutality and banning weapons like the AR-style rifle used in the weekend attack on the former president.

“Our politics have become too heated,” Biden said.

That didn’t stop him from tearing into Trump, though, listing why the former president’s administration was “hell” for Black Americans, including his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, skyrocketing unemployment amid early lockdowns and attempts to, as Biden put it, erase Black history.

“Just because we must lower the temperature in our politics as it relates to violence doesn’t mean we should stop telling the truth,” Biden told the crowd that often broke into chants of “Four more years!”

The president is aiming to showcase his administration’s support for Black voters who are a tentpole of the Democratic coalition and of his personal political support. As part of his swing in Nevada, he’ll also participate in an interview with BET and address the Hispanic advocacy group UnidosUS, another crucial Democratic-leaning bloc.

For the NAACP crowd, Biden seized on Trump recently referencing “Black jobs,” drawing big applause by joking, “I love the phrase.”

“I know what a Black job is. It’s the vice president of the United States,” Biden said of Vice President Kamala Harris, who he added “could be president.” He also referenced Barack Obama as the nation’s first Black president, and his own appointment to the Supreme Court of its first Black and female justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Biden’s trip comes as Democrats have been engaged in a weeks-long crisis of confidence over his candidacy after his devastating debate with Trump last month. The president’s shaky performance inflamed voter concerns about his age, fitness for office and capacity to defeat Trump once again.

Republicans, for their part, are demonstrating that they are more coalesced than ever around Trump amid their national convention in Milwaukee.

The 81-year-old Biden has rejected a flurry of calls from within his party to step aside, restating his belief that he is the best-positioned Democrat to beat Trump. He has relied heavily on his support among Black and Latino elected officials, and was set to appear with many of them in Nevada.

The president made indirect reference to unrest in his own party on Tuesday, recalling President Harry S. Truman famously saying, “If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.”

“After the last couple of weeks, I know what he means,” Biden said. He said later, “hopefully, with age, comes a little bit of wisdom.”

Biden also promised to use the first 100 days of a second term to oversee congressional approval of a dramatic expansion of voting rights — something he’s been unable to so far. He also renewed earlier promises to “end medical debt,” saying he was working with states to settle outstanding bills for care for “pennies on the dollar.”

“I know the good Lord hasn’t brought us this far to leave us now,” Biden told the convention, offering overtly religious tones.

Trump has tried to appeal to both Black and Latino voters, hoping to capitalize on Biden’s sagging favorability. While it’s not clear that the loss of enthusiasm for Biden has helped Trump’s approval with those groups, any marginal loss of support for Biden could prove pivotal in a close race.

The president and his campaign hit pause on their criticisms of Trump in the immediate aftermath of the shooting Saturday at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, where the Republican candidate was injured in the ear, a rallygoer was killed and two others seriously injured.

In an Oval Office address on Sunday night, Biden called on Americans to reject political violence and for political leaders to “cool it down.” In a Monday interview with NBC News he allowed that he made a ” mistake ” when he told campaign donors that he wanted to put a “bull’s-eye” on Trump, but argued that the rhetoric from his opponent was more incendiary.

“Look, how do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Biden said. “Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody?”

NAACP President Derrick Johnson, in an interview with the AP, sidestepped questions about whether Biden should step aside as the Democratic nominee and whether the president, who often credits his place in the Oval Office to Black voters, could still inspire people to turn out for his candidacy.

Johnson instead focused on the need for Black voters to hear “solutions” on issues like inflation, education and attacks on civil rights, which are among the top concerns for Black communities in this election.

“We want to focus on the policy goals of whoever occupies the White House in the next term,” Johnson said. He added that Black voters would dismiss candidates “concerned with personality and sound bites.”

Later, speaking at an economic summit hosted by Congressional Black Caucus Chair and Rep. Steven Horsford at the College of Southern Nevada’s campus in North Las Vegas, Biden announced that the regional housing authority and municipal officials would receive a $50 million federal grant to build 400 affordable housing units — playing up his attempts to lower rents in a state where housing costs are a critical political issue.

The president also talked about his administration’s efforts to ease the effects of extreme heat on the workforce, while continuing to lay into his opponent in November’s election.

“Trump says he doesn’t believe climate change is real. Maybe he should step out here in Vegas, where it’s 120 degrees, in his bare feet,” Biden said as the crowd hooted.

Biden is also proposing to cap rent increases at 5 percent for tenants whose landlords own over 50 units. If landlords hiked rents by more than that, they would lose access to some tax write-offs. But doing that would require congressional approval that Biden is unlikely to receive with a House Republican majority.

Trump has also used Nevada to float new economic policies. He said he would end taxes on the tips received by workers in the service-industry focused state, a concept that has since been endorsed by Nevada’s Democratic senators, Jacky Rosen and Catherine Cortez Masto.

Source: arabnews.com

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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2551006/world

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Iran's Islamist rulers silent on attempted assassination of Trump

July 16, 2024

WASHINGTON —

Iran's Islamist rulers have made no public comment on the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump in the three days since the shooting attack on the man whom they have long seen as their nemesis and targeted with threats of vengeance since he left office.

The only references in Iranian state media to Saturday's attack on Trump have been articles citing details of the shooting at his election rally in Pennsylvania, showing images of the aftermath and amplifying conspiracy theories about whether it was real or staged.

Iran has threatened revenge against Trump and his key aides for carrying out the January 2020 assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in a Baghdad drone strike. It was part of what Trump called a campaign of "maximum pressure" against Tehran for its nuclear and other perceived malign activities.

Since then, one of the most explicit threats against Trump has come from Amir Ali Hajizadeh, aerospace chief of Iran's top military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He told state TV in February 2023 that "we are looking to kill Trump" to avenge Soleimani.

There is no indication of Iranian involvement in the Trump rally shooting, with U.S. authorities naming only one suspect, the 20-year-old American male shooter whom U.S. Secret Service personnel shot and killed at the scene.

CNN reported on Tuesday that the Secret Service had increased security around Trump "in recent weeks" in response to an alleged Iranian assassination plot that U.S. authorities purportedly learned about from intelligence attributed to an unidentified "human source."

The Washington Post and New York Times published their own reports on the alleged Iranian threat, sourcing it to unnamed U.S. officials.

Iran's U.N. Mission in New York told VOA the accusations are "unsubstantiated and malicious."

"Trump is a criminal who must be prosecuted and punished in a court of law for ordering the assassination of General Soleimani. Iran has chosen the legal path to bring him to justice," the mission said in a statement.

U.S. Secret Service communications chief Anthony Guglielmi responded to the CNN report by telling VOA that his security agency and others are "constantly receiving new potential threat information and taking action to adjust resources, as needed."

"We cannot comment on any specific threat stream other than to say that the Secret Service takes threats seriously and responds accordingly," Guglielmi wrote.

One of the Iranian state media reports highlighting conspiracy theories about Saturday's incident was published by the IRGC-run Tasnim news agency on Sunday.

It published a collage of photos of the bloodied former president with a superimposed three-word headline in Persian: "Blood and pig."

Other state media articles published photos of Trump defiantly raising and pumping his fist to his supporters after Secret Service agents helped him to get back on his feet.

Shahram Kholdi, an Iranian Canadian teacher of Middle East history at Canada's University of Waterloo, discussed Iran's state media coverage of the shooting in the Tuesday edition of VOA's Flashpoint Global Crises program.

The following interview transcript is edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Why would Iran allow its state media to publish photos of the wounded former president showing what many Americans see as his triumphant stance in the face of danger?

Shahram Kholdi, University of Waterloo, Canada: The Iranian regime's hardcore supporters in the Basiji paramilitary force and the IRGC — the people who are willing to kill and die to keep this regime in power — they don't see what you see as a positive. They see the weakness, they see division in the American masses, they see fractures in the U.S. democratic system. And the regime actually uses those pictures of Trump to reinforce this propaganda trope that the U.S. is a facade of a democracy, that there is something more sinister happening behind the scenes.

We should not be surprised to see the Iranian regime's propaganda machine focus on such sinister scenarios in the next few weeks. Even though their propaganda machine is heavily equipped and well-manned, it has been only a few days since the shooting, and it takes time for them to churn out these kinds of stories.

VOA: Given Trump's record of being tough on Iran, does the Iranian leadership have any fear that highlighting his survival of an assassination attempt will boost his election prospects and return him to power?

Kholdi: Iranian officials are fearful of that. There has been an atypical restraint by officials who are generally quick to react and make all sorts of preposterous statements on such occasions. They did not do so this time. They are on their toes right now.

The regime's Chinese and Russian allies may have assured Tehran that if Trump is reelected, they will protect its interests in any negotiations with him.

President Joe Biden's failure to stop U.S.-sanctioned Iranian oil being from exported to China, and to stop Iran from assisting Russia's war effort in Ukraine, also has emboldened the regime.

But on the other hand, given the prospect of the Islamic republic once again facing the massive pressure campaign that Trump previously imposed on it, with a massive reduction in Iranian oil production and exports and interceptions of tankers, I think the regime is erring on the side of caution in its response to the assassination attempt. But the Chinese and Russians may have advised them to do so. I wouldn't attribute that to any impeccable wisdom on their part.

Source: voanews.com

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https://www.voanews.com/a/iran-s-islamist-rulers-silent-on-attempted-assassination-of-trump/7701337.html

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Africa

 

Suicide bombings in Nigeria: tactic is back after a four-year break – security researcher offers 3 possible reasons

July 16, 2024

Nigeria’s first suicide bombing since 2020 took place in June 2024 with four coordinated attacks that killed at least 30 people.

The attacks took place in Gwoza, a town in Borno State, north-east Nigeria. Gwoza was once the seat of the Islamic Caliphate declared by Boko Haram insurgents in 2014. Boko Haram is an extremist sect which aims for Islamic rule in Nigeria and an end to secular governance.

The first of the three well-coordinated attacks targeted a crowd attending a wedding in the town. The second and third incidents occurred hours later. The fourth incident had no casualties beyond the lone bomber, who killed herself by detonating her improvised explosive device. In all, four suicide bombers died.

No group has officially claimed responsibility for the attacks. But they followed the pattern associated with the mainstream Boko Haram prior to its splintering. Boko Haram split into two factions following internal doctrinal and administrative style disputes with its then leader, Abubakar Shekau. A faction which calls itself the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) emerged after pledging allegiance to ISIS.

The Gwoza incident suggests that the group Boko Haram or its splinter may be re-tooling its campaign of terror. The Nigerian military says the insurgents may have raised an army of suicide bombers.

Since 2003, Boko Haram insurgents have used mass abductions, suicide bombing and other forms of gun violence. They have aimed at both soft (civilian) and hard targets (military/law enforcement).

I have been doing research and consulting on aspects of national security and counter-terrorism for over two decades. In this article I set out three hypothetical scenarios that could explain the latest suicide bombings.

First, they could be an act of desperation on the part of the insurgents. Second, they could signal a strategic shift of tactics. And lastly, they could be a form of strategic communication by the insurgents.

Significance of the attacks

The Gwoza attacks are significant in a number of ways. First, they were the first in Nigeria after a four-year hiatus.

Secondly, the attacks occurred in a town that is relatively fortified by combatant military personnel involved in the fight against insurgency.

Thirdly, the attacks were dramatic and well-coordinated, indicating that they must have been carefully planned and executed.

The attacks have raised concerns about the success and sustainability of Nigeria’s fight against insurgency. Counter-insurgency in Nigeria has relied on military might and tactics. This has failed to yield the desired result.

The government has claimed success. Two days before the attacks a spokesperson of the military authority told journalists that they had significantly undermined the insurgents.

What’s behind the attacks

I have come to understand that terrorists use suicide bombing for a number of reasons, including inflicting maximum harm and injury, stoking widespread fear and terror, drawing attention or publicity to a cause, disrupting social and economic life of society and seeking revenge.

The goal of suicide bombing can vary from context to context, reflecting the motive of the groups behind it and their strategic logic and priorities.

Three hypothetical scenarios could explain the resurgence of suicide bombing in Nigeria.

First, it could be an act of desperation by the insurgents, who have suffered immense pushback by the military in the recent months. They might have resorted to such attacks in a desperate bid to spite the military and portray their resilience.

Second, it could be a strategic shift, caused by organisational changes resulting from the loss of some commanders and critical infrastructure.

Third, it is possible that the attacks are a form of strategic communication or messaging. Suicide terrorism is considered effective not only because of its lethality; it is also believed to be sending a message that the cause being fought by the terrorists is so dire that death is a better outcome than life for the terrorist.

Part of the strategic message seems to aim at increasing public fear and anxiety and disrupting the narrative that government is winning the counter-terrorism fight.

Whatever the case, future developments will reveal more. But the level of planning and coordination tends to suggest the possibility of a new strategic logic in the insurgents’ campaign of terror.

Implications and the way forward

The government forces have had some successes, for example reclaiming territories that were occupied by the insurgents, particularly in the north-east. But more needs to be done.

Terrorism thrives on tactical opportunism, and suicide bombing serves as a key strategy in that respect. A resurgence of suicide terrorism in Nigeria would signal a major setback in the fight against terrorism in the country.

Already, it has brought about public apprehension as to the possibility of a similar attack elsewhere in the country.

Three things need to happen:

a pragmatic repositioning of the country’s counter-terrorism efforts. More emphasis should be laid on the non-military approach, such as penetrating intelligence and undercover operations that enlist civilian participation.

reducing the insurgents’ capacity for suicide terrorism. This can be achieved by denying them access to sites, resources and recruits for that purpose. Clearing their various operational bases and hideouts will be a step in the right direction.

better crowd control and safety at events. Citizens should be advised about how to detect and prevent suicide terror attacks in crowded situations.

Source: theconversation.com

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https://theconversation.com/suicide-bombings-in-nigeria-tactic-is-back-after-a-four-year-break-security-researcher-offers-3-possible-reasons-234427

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Halt protests and give dialogue a chance, Muslim clerics ask Gen Z

16 July 2024

The Council of Imams and Preachers of Kenya have now pleaded with the Gen Z to halt their countrywide protests and give dialogue a chance.

CIPK organising secretary Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa said the President has listened to and acted on some of the demands of the Gen Z, and it is time the Gen Z also showed good will by halting the protests.

Another round of protests were witnessed in Mombasa as youth who lit bonfires and blocked the Mombasa-Malindi highway at Bombolulu were repulsed by police.

By the time of going to press, another group of youth were gathering at the famous Pembe za Ndovu in readiness for protests as police took  vantage positions to repulse acts of violence.

Speaking at the CIPK offices, Sheikh Khalifa said although it is a constitutional right to protest, it must be peaceful.

“We have witnessed goons taking advantage of the protests to rob people, prevent them from travelling and conducting their business,” the cleric said.

Peace, he said, is key for development in any part of the world.

“These are our children and when they go to the streets, our hearts skip a beat, not knowing whether they will come back home alive,” he said.

Sheikh Khalifa said already there are signs of changes in the country that signify a move towards the path that every Kenyan expects.

The acting Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanji has acted in good faith by transferring all police officers at the Kware police station in Mukuru slums, Nairobi where at least 10 female bodies were recovered, Khalifa said.

“We are waiting for the completion of the investigations to know whether the killings are related to freemasonry, thuggery, cultism or any other things,” he said.

CIPK also wants the next Cabinet to be appointed devoid of politics.

Party politics and loyalty should not be the basis for appointment of cabinet secretaries, the clerics said.

Appointment should be based on merit to avoid having incompetent people lead ministries.

“We heard the President castigate his own Cabinet one day saying his cabinet secretaries didn't know what they are doing or what is happening in their dockets,” Sheikh Khalifa said.

CIPK treasurer Sheikh Hassan Omar said Kenya is undergoing a hard political time and only peace will help the country move forward.

Sheikh Omar lauded ODM leader Raila Odinga for his move to meet President Ruto, saying it helped calmed things a bit because he has a huge following.

“That is how a statesman acts. He does not look at party or position. He looks at the country and where it is heading,” Omar said.

He said Ruto has shown signs he wants to change things but the Gen Z are adamant to continue with protests and this is taking the wrong direction.

“Now the whole world is talking about Kenya. Violence cannot bring solutions. Only dialogue can bring solutions. When the country burns, no one will be safe,” Omar said.

However, the cleric warned that the conduct of governors in the country is fuelling the anger of the Gen Z.

“They were elected to be servants of the people but they behave like kings. Today, getting an appointment with a county chief is hell. You wonder whether they were elected as kings or as servants."

“In Europe, you see leaders travel by public means but here they travel like the US president,” he said.

Source: the-star.co.ke

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https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2024-07-16-halt-protests-and-give-dialogue-a-chance-muslim-clerics-ask-gen-z/

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Niger clarifies report on slapping of Islamic cleric

16th July 2024

The Niger State Government has clarified a viral video of the state governor, Mohammed Bago, seen ordering security personnel to slap a man during the Fidua prayer for the late wife of the deputy governor, Zainab Yakubu.

The video which went viral on Saturday captured Bago speaking in Hausa and ordering a security operative to slap the man and arrest him.

The Special Adviser to the governor on Print Media, Aisha Wakaso in a statement on Tuesday said the cleric was only an impostor who attempted to play the role of an Imam.

Wakaso stated that the man had since apologised to the governor and forum of Imams for his misconduct, saying that he was neither slapped nor arrested by the security operatives.

“The attention of the Niger State Government has been drawn to an editorial in the Daily Trust Newspaper of 15th July 2024, titled “Bago: Let Temperance Reign”. This editorial and many other reports did not only misrepresent the incident that took place during the three-day Fidau Prayers for the late wife of the Deputy Governor, Hajiya Zainab Garba, wherein the Governor ordered security agents to remove an individual who attempted to take over the spiritual duties of the Imams gathered at the Deputy Governor’s residence, it also came up with some fictitious claims.

“While the state government preferred not to engage in the controversy currently celebrated on social media and other platforms, especially when the state was in a mourning period due to the demise of the deputy governor’s wife, it has become necessary to set the record straight and correct the misconceptions about the Governor’s actions.

“The governor considers the three days Fidau Prayers as a very sensitive and important event that should be presided over by an Imam or any renowned Islamic Scholar, not by an unqualified individual. The governor’s decision to ask the individual to leave the venue of the prayer is based on maintaining the sanctity and solemnity of the occasion.

 “He found the act of the person not just as disrespectful to the dead and the reason for the gathering but also as insensitive which led to him requesting that he be taken out by the security agents. The continued attacks on the Governor’s character by some. media outlets over this issue are unfortunate and uncalled for, especially since the Governor’s actions were meant to curb the excesses of unruly individuals and prevent the Fidau prayer from being reduced to a mere spectacle or a child’s play,” Wakaso stated.

The Special Adviser, who disclosed that the fake cleric had been a fan of the governor whom the governor had tried to empower several times, merely showed his overzealousness to get noticed by the governor.

“The individual involved not only denied being slapped by the security agents who ordered him out of the deputy governor’s residence in a video but has publicly apologized to the Imams and the governor, acknowledging his overzealousness and inappropriate actions. He has shown remorse and requested forgiveness from both the governor and the forum of Imams.

“The Governor’s actions were driven by respect for the deceased, the purpose of the gathering, and the need to preserve the sanctity of the Fidua Prayer,” she added.

Source: punchng.com

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https://punchng.com/niger-clarifies-report-on-slapping-of-islamic-cleric/

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One killed, journalist shot in Kenya fresh protest

17th July 2024

At least one person was killed in fresh anti-government protests across Kenya on Tuesday, Reuters reported, as police clashed with demonstrators demanding that President William Ruto step down.

Youth-led protests that broke out a month ago against proposed tax hikes have continued even after Ruto withdrew the legislation and fired almost all of his cabinet. A top police chief also resigned amid the protests.

CNN reporter Larry Madowo on X posted a video of the media outfit’s photojournalist who was sprayed with teargas.

Activists say they want Ruto to resign and are calling for systemic changes to clean up corruption and address poor governance.

At least 50 people have been killed in the protests to date, the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights said on Tuesday.

In Kitengela, a town on the southern outskirts of the capital Nairobi, police fired repeatedly in the direction of hundreds of protesters, some of whom were throwing rocks, Reuters TV footage showed. The protesters also burned tyres, waved Kenyan flags and chanted “Ruto must go!”

A Reuters reporter saw the body of one protester lying on the ground with blood oozing from a head wound. The national police spokesperson declined to comment.

In a statement, the interior ministry did not directly address events on Tuesday, but said security agencies were under instructions to exercise restraint.

The demonstrations on Tuesday appeared to be some of the biggest since Ruto withdrew the tax increases on June 26.

During the protests in Nakuru, three people, including a journalist, were shot.

According to local report by The Star, Wanjeri wa Kariuki, who is a journalist, was shot three times in the thigh and was taken to a private hospital for treatment.

Witnesses said the police allegedly shot at the reporter even though she had a press card and jacket.

The second person was shot in the leg, while the third one had a gunshot in the back as the police engaged protesters in running battles.

Source: punchng.com

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https://punchng.com/one-killed-journalist-shot-in-kenya-fresh-protest/

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DRC: At least 70 dead in militia attack in Kinsele

At least 70 people, including nine soldiers and the wife of a soldier, have been killed when gunmen attacked a village in western Democratic Republic of Congo, local authorities said, as violence escalates between two rival communities.

The attack took place on Saturday in the village of Kinsele, about 100 km east of the capital, Kinshasa. Due to insecurity and poor infrastructure in the area, deadly attacks can take several days to be reported.

Kinsele is located in Kwamouth territory, where for the past two years a conflict has raged between two local communities - Teke and Yaka - resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. As the DRC battles armed groups in the east, violence has also intensified in the west of the country.

The attackers were members of the Mobondo militia , an armed group that presents itself as the defender of the Yaka people.

"As of this morning (Monday, July 15), 72 bodies have already been recovered and the search is continuing for more bodies in the bush ," David Bisaka, Kwamouth Territory MPP, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Security services on the ground are continuing to search for bodies "after the army managed to rout this militia" for the second time in a week, Bisaka said. The Mobondo militia first attempted to attack the same village on Friday.

After Saturday's attack, the bodies found included those of nine soldiers and one woman, the wife of a soldier, the head of a nearby village, Stanys Liby, told U.N.-funded Radio Okapi .

The conflict over land and customary claims in the Kwamouth territory erupted in June 2022 between so-called "indigenous" and "non-indigenous" communities , according to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch .

Tensions erupted in June 2022 over land rights and customary taxes between the Teke, the region's historical inhabitants, and farmers from various other ethnic groups, including the Yaka, who have more recently settled near the Congo River.

Despite a ceasefire concluded in April 2024 in the presence of Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi , clashes between the two communities have continued and even intensified in recent weeks, without the Congolese army managing to suppress the violence.

The military is also struggling to contain violence in the east of the country, which has been torn apart by decade-long fighting between government forces and more than 120 armed groups seeking a share of the region's gold and other resources.

Violence in the east of the country has worsened in recent months as security forces battle militias. Earlier this month, a militia attack on a gold mine in northeastern Congo killed six Chinese miners and two Congolese soldiers.

Source: africanews.com

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https://www.africanews.com/2024/07/17/drc-at-least-70-dead-in-militia-attack-in-kinsele/

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Southeast Asia

 

Islamophobia needs to be addressed holistically - PM Anwar

17-07- 2024

KUALA LUMPUR: Islamophobia needs to be dealt with holistically and effectively by involving the efforts of various parties to correct perceptions caused by xenophobia and ignorance, in addition to improving the method of teaching Islam.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this was agreed by local and foreign scholars and thinkers including from Azerbaijan, Bosnia, England and Turkiye when he met them for a discourse at Seri Perdana, Putrajaya, yesterday afternoon.

“Our discussion covered various matters related to the problems of the ummah that are getting worse. “Efforts to foster empathy and understanding between different religions and cultures should continue to be strengthened and will be supported by the government,“ he said in a post on Facebook today.

The meeting was also attended by Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan.

The Prime Minister also expressed his appreciation to the thinkers of the Centre for Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies (CPPFS), the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and ISTAC-IIUM for the hard work in ensuring that the efforts do not just end at forums or conferences, but to take concrete steps in facing the system through education.

Source: thesun.my

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https://thesun.my/local-news/islamophobia-needs-to-be-addressed-holistically-pm-anwar-CH12735979#google_vignette

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International community needs to force Israel to face justice, says MAHAR

17-07- 2024

PETALING JAYA: MAHAR has once again called on the international community to force Israel to face justice, cease all attacks with immediate effect and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

“Let’s not continue to normalise the brutal actions of a country that goes beyond all limits of humanity.

“It is time we brought Israel to justice and rejected the narrative of a two-state solution that simply condones land grabbing, apartheid treatment and ongoing genocidal attacks with the support of world powers,“ said Malaysian Humanitarian Aid and Relief (MAHAR) honorary advisor, Nurul Izzah Anwar.

She said the Israeli regime’s genocidal attacks have entered its eighth month, and as of June, this year, an estimated 138,000 Palestinians (or possibly more) have been killed.

The latest attacks on the Al-Awda School in Abasan have claimed dozens of lives and injured hundreds of others.

A few days after the massacre, the Israeli regime again attacked other refugee camps, namely Mawasi camp in Khan Younis and Shati camp in Gaza City, she said.

Izzah said the brutal killing of civilians, especially children, is an act that goes beyond all boundaries of humanity.

“Israel has blatantly used starvation and forced displacement as weapons of war - violating all forms of basic humanity against civilians in Gaza,“.

She pointed out that Gaza was almost devastated with 90% of its buildings destroyed and health services nearly paralysed.

“The humanitarian aid route through Rafah is closed, leaving Gazans short of food and medicine.

“The spread of infectious diseases exacerbates an already severe humanitarian crisis,“ she added.

For the past 57 years, Izzah said Israel has evicted thousands of Palestinians from their land and illegally used it to build settlements inhabited only by Israeli settlers.

“Israel’s brutal actions involving land grabs, illegal settlements, and evictions have resulted in systematic human rights violations against the Palestinian people.

“Military attacks, never-ending land grabs, economic sanctions and infrastructure damage make it even more difficult for Palestine to form a stable and functional state.

“It is time we brought Israel to justice and rejected the narrative of a two-state solution that simply condones land grabbing, apartheid treatment and ongoing genocidal attacks with the support of world powers,“ added the PKR vice-president.

Source: thesun.my

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https://thesun.my/local-news/international-community-needs-to-force-israel-to-face-justice-says-mahar-EH12734330

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Indonesia’s largest Muslim group rebukes members for meeting with Israel’s president

2024.07.16

Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), on Tuesday apologized for what it said was an unsanctioned meeting between some youth wing members and Israel’s president, which has angered many in the staunchly pro-Palestinian Southeast Asian nation.

Indonesia does not have diplomatic relations with Israel and successive governments including the current administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo have been vocal supporters of nationhood for the Palestinians.

NU Chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf said the Muslim organization’s leadership had no links to the early July meeting  at Israeli President Issac Herzog’s Tel Aviv residence, as Israel’s air and ground attacks on Gaza had entered the ninth month, having killed nearly 38,000 Palestinians.

“I apologize to the public that there were some individuals from Nahdlatul Ulama who recently went to Israel and engaged there,” Yahya Cholil told reporters.

Jokowi has condemned the Israeli strikes on Gaza following Palestinian group Hamas’ attacks on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,100 people, according to Israel.

A photograph posted July 7 on Instagram by an NU participant at the meeting, Zainul Maarif, which was geotagged  as having been taken on the same date in Tel Aviv, featured at least five people from the Southeast Asian country.

“Direct discussion with the president of Israel,” Zainul’s Instagram post said, highlighting the sentence with capital letters.

Zainul’s post also said: “Rather than demonstrating in the streets and boycotting, I choose to engage in discussion and share ideas.”

The post went viral on Indonesian social media, leading to a widespread public backlash including intense criticism from netizens, Muslim leaders and politicians.

Yahya said that the young leaders had traveled to the Jewish state at the invitation of an NGO there, which he claimed operates to burnish the image of the Israeli government.

The plan was for the five NU scholars to participate in an interfaith dialogue and a session with Herzog was included unexpectedly.

“Israel hoped that these youths can help it to spread messages that align with its interests,” Yahya said without naming the NGO.

NU spokesman Ishaq Zubaedi Raqib told BenarNews that the organization had established protocols for its members’ international engagements on strategic issues.

“All discussions must officially represent the NU board of leadership, particularly on sensitive matters such as those involving Gaza and Israel,” he said.

The Tel Aviv meeting was highly inappropriate, local media quoted Lukman Hakim Saiffudin, an MP from the National Awakening Party (PKB), as saying on Tuesday.

“I don't know what their purpose was in going to Israel. But in my opinion, their meeting with the president of Israel was not proper,” Lukman said. “The meeting could hurt the feelings of the wider public who believe that independence is the right of all nations, including the right of the Palestinian people.”

Contacted by BenarNews, Zainul said he had written an opinion piece clarifying his position on the issue and sent it to a local media outlet that had yet to publish it. He declined to comment further.

Meanwhile, Jokowi reaffirmed Indonesia’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, when asked by reporters about the controversy.

“Indonesia remains committed to a world order founded on independence, lasting peace and social justice,” he said.

Indonesian President-elect Prabowo Subianto, who is set to assume office in October, voiced support last month for Palestinian independence during a speech at an international conference in Jordan on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

He also offered to treat up to 1,000 Gazan patients in Indonesian hospitals and expressed his country’s readiness to send United Nations-mandated peacekeepers to Gaza.

‘NU becomes a kind of target’

Analysts said the group’s meeting with Herzog was part of Israel’s outreach to Indonesian Muslims in an effort to mitigate a lack of global trust stemming from its military actions in Gaza, which have been widely condemned by countries across the world.

NU’s influence is seen as significant by Israel as a potential means to improve its international image, said Yon Machmudi, an NU member and international relations lecturer at the University of Indonesia.

“NU becomes a kind of target to be utilized in raising Israel’s image,” Yon told BenarNews.

Hasbi Aswar, a researcher at the Islamic University of Indonesia, said that Israel hopes Indonesia will be the next Muslim-majority nation to establish diplomatic relations after the so-called Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations in 2020.

 “A key strategy in this process involves engaging with influential Islamic organizations like NU,” Hasbi told BenartNews.

Israel has historically engaged with NU, with the initiative dating back to 1994 when Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, the group’s chairman who would later become Indonesia’s fourth president, was invited to visit the Jewish state.

Back then, Gus Dur had suggested the Indonesian government consider establishing diplomatic ties with Israel, a position that resulted in allegations that he was a Zionist agent.

More recently, in 2018, current NU chairman Yahya, then secretary general and a member of the presidential advisory council, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel.

That meeting,  at the invitation of the American Jewish Committee, was also widely criticized in Indonesia.

Source: benarnews.org

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https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/nahdlatul-ulama-meet-with-israel-president-slammed-07162024155540.html

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Too good to be true? Unpacking Jemaah Islamiyah’s self-declared disbanding

2024.07.10

At an event organized last month by the Indonesian counter-terrorism agency (BNPT), Abu Rusydan and 15 other leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah announced their group’s dissolution.

JI, the Southeast Asian affiliate of al-Qaeda, had carried out a string of devastating attacks in the 2000s, including Indonesia’s deadliest-ever terror attack – the 2002 Bali bombings. But now it was “ready to actively contribute to Indonesia’s progress and dignity,” Abu Rusydan declared as he read from a prepared statement during the event on June 30.

This is not the first time that a militant group has disbanded itself. The Provisional Irish Republican Army unilaterally broke up in 2005, throwing itself solely into legal activities through its political arm, Sinn Féin. In 2018, the Basque separatist organization ETA also unilaterally disbanded.

But Jemaah Islamiyah’s announcement surprised many people, and left others feeling skeptical.

There are three interrelated questions that need to be asked about the move by JI: How did we get here? Is this for real? And what does this mean for regional security?

How did we get here?

Jemaah Islamiyah, which has its roots in the Darul Islam movement, was founded in Malaysia in 1993, when its two founders, Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Bashir, were on the run from Suharto’s New Order government in Indonesia.

While in Malaysia, they served as a way-station for several hundred militants who traveled to Pakistan to join the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan, putting them in direct contact with al-Qaeda.

In 1996, a charter (the PUPJI) created the group’s organizational structure and codified JI’s Salafi ideology. At the time, the group also reached an agreement with the Philippine armed separatist organization, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, to allow al-Qaeda to establish training camps in the southern Philippines.

In Indonesia, JI perpetrated terrorist attacks on Christian churches and established two paramilitary organizations to wage sectarian conflict in the Maluku Islands and Central Sulawesi province.

Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the al-Qaeda leadership called for diversionary attacks. One of these was the twin Bali bombings that killed 202 people a year later.

Between 2002 and 2007, JI perpetrated a major attack almost every year. But each attack left the organization weaker as counterterrorism forces became more adept and better resourced.

This led to an ideological split in the organization between proponents of the line of targeting the “far enemy,” versus those who wanted to foment sectarian conflict in order to rebuild their depleted ranks.

The government legally banned JI in 2008, but allowed it to operate as an entity as long as it refrained from violence.

In 2010, more than 100 JI members were swept up, including Abu Bakar Bashir, breaking the organization’s back. JI’s last terrorist act took place that year.

Yet, from 2020-2023, Indonesian counter-terrorism efforts were as focused on JI as it was on the pro-Islamic State umbrella group, Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD). Security forces originally saw JI as an off-ramp for the more radical JAD, but attitudes hardened.

In 2019, when counterterrorism police arrested JI’s emir, Para Wijayanto, they were shocked by the group’s size and national reach. Its madrassas and charitable arms had grown, while its corporations and publishing arms had created a steady revenue stream. As many JI members were arrested in 2021 and 2022 as JAD suspects.

Indonesian counter-terrorism forces have applied a softer approach. Though seemingly campy, they’ve held mass rallies where former militants pledge allegiance to the republic.

Former militants have established madrassas for the children of incarcerated militants, so they are not raised in JI or JAD-run schools, breaking terrorist social networks.

They’ve gotten leaders, including the JAD Emir Aman Abdurrahman, who is on death row, and Umar Patek, to publicly renounce violence.

Meanwhile the conflict in Poso, which served as a rallying point for all militant groups in Indonesia, has been stamped out.

Internationally, there has been more cooperation amongst the regional security services. And while ungoverned space and institutional weakness remains in the southern Philippines, militant groups are no longer attracting JI and other foreign militants.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front continues to implement the peace process and build up institutions that will help the autonomous Muslim region transition to self-governance. There has been an unprecedented sustained attack on the Abu Sayyaf, which is now fighting for survival.

Is this for real?

While JI has not been in a position to engage in terrorism, until now, it has never renounced violence. Many in the organization were simply waiting for the right circumstance to resume operations.

It’s easy to be cynical about the group’s prepared statement, especially at an event stage-managed by the BNPT. Some of those who were on hand had been arrested and gone through government disengagement programs.

To young radicals, they’re sell-outs, and past their prime. The average age of the men who renounced violence was in the late 50s or older.

To what degree will younger members follow the leadership and pursue a legal-political alternative?

In many ways, this is more promising. JI’s campaign of militancy failed to bring about the establishment of an Islamic State governed by Sharia. Democratic politics have advanced their political agenda more effectively.

It’s not that Islamist parties do terribly well at the national level. Indeed, in Indonesia’s 2024 general election, they collectively represented about 20% of the electorate and won 101 of 580 seats. But they are important members of political coalitions, which tend to give them a disproportionate voice.

It’s at the local level where we see faith-based parties make their mark, especially in the passage of public policy and Sharia compliant codes, which the majority of provinces and districts now have.

Islamist parties are riddled with rivalries and have never formed a cohesive bloc. 

Perhaps for that reason, JI saw an opening for a tactical shift. In May 2021, JI established the Indonesian People’s Dakwah Party (PDRI). Yet, counter-terrorism forces arrested its founder, Farid Ahmad Okbah, that November for being a senior member of JI. Two others were arrested.

The PDRI did not contest the 2024 elections. But it seems likely that with JI’s dissolution, the government will give former members more political space.

What does this mean for regional security?

JI’s manpower and locus were largely-Indonesian based, but it remains a Southeast Asian organization.

Some affiliates gravitated elsewhere. Darul Islam Sabah, for example, went from facilitating JI and the movement of foreign militants in and out of the southern Philippines to working with the JAD and other groups.

There has always been more fluidity between Southeast Asian militant groups than those in the Middle East or South Asia. Abu Bakar Bashir defected from being pro-al Qaeda to being pro-Islamic State, with large numbers of acolytes, without consequence.

As such, many younger militants who are committed to using violence to achieve their political aims are likely to defect to other groups.

What those groups may be, though, is unclear. The JAD is decimated and leaderless, though to be fair, it was always far more horizontally structured. It has not executed a major terrorist attack since 2019.

At present there is no apparent charismatic leader for militant Salafists to coalesce around. And while one would expect external events, such as the war in Gaza, to serve as a catalyst, to date it has not.

JI still runs a network of madrassas, including some very large ones like al-Mukmin and Pesantren Hidayatullah in Balikpapan. These continue to be ideological incubators and hate factories.

It’s hard to see state educational personnel intervene and change their curriculum. But Indonesian security forces have not let up, despite the decline in organizational strength or the tempo of operations.

Terrorism will be a persistent but manageable threat in Indonesia. JI’s dissolution makes it more so, providing a legal-political alternative that is more moral, but also proven to be more effective.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or BenarNews.

Source: benarnews.org

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MADANI Govt’s approach ensures more inclusive, successful policies - PM Anwar

17-07- 2024

KUALA LUMPUR: The MADANI Government’s approach in formulating national policies that involve all departments and ministries is aimed at ensuring more inclusive and successful policies, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said.

As such, he said government departments and ministries must not work in silos, as underlined in the MADANI Economy framework.

“As the Prime Minister, I am committed to seeing the biotechnology industry grow in an inclusive and sustainable way, where technological and economic advancements do not compromise human values.

“This is the true meaning of Bioeconomy For All – a vision where advancements in biotechnology bring welfare and justice to all segments of society,” he said in his keynote address at the launch of National Bioeconomy Showcase 2024 here today.

The Prime Minister said he has also asked Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation Chang Lih Kang to list 100 scientists in the field of biotechnology to organise programmes aimed at attracting students’ interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in 100 schools across Malaysia.

Anwar also wanted a report on the matter to be sent to him within two weeks.

“I have informed Lih Kang to work more closely with the Ministry of Education so that the organising of the programmes can be accelerated and increase the interest of young people in STEM.

“My concern is that we are talking about digitilisation, artificial intelligence (AI) and bioeconomy, and we want to make that our approach reaches as many people as possible.

“So can biotechnology companies, agencies and the relevant ministries go down to schools and give some exposure to the students like once a month, just two or three hours?” he said.

Meanwhile, Anwar also announced that the government will provide an additional allocation of RM2 million for the implementation of the Bio-based Accelerator (BBA) programme this year in order to help the bio-based industry become more innovative and technologically savvy and further increase the workforce in STEM.

“With the encouragement from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and the cooperation of Bioeconomy Corporation, BioNexus and BBA companies can ensure Malaysia has a highly qualified STEM workforce to drive innovation and sustainable development in the bioeconomy sector.

“That’s why, I fully support MOSTI and Bioeconomy Corporation to further improve the BBA programme and BioNexus status,” he said.

Source: thesun.my

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Pakistan

 

Imam Hussain’s sacrifices inspire resistance against oppression: PM Shehbaz

July 17, 2024

ISLAMABAD   -   Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif stated that the supreme sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) serve as a reminder, inspiring humanity to stand against falsehood and oppression, reaffirming the unwavering commitment to truth on this significant occasion of Youm-e-Ashur.

In his Youm-e-Ashur message, the prime minister highlighted its profound significance, noting that the grandson of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and his companions sacrificed their lives in a decisive battle between truth and falsehood at Karbala, illustrating the eternal strength of truth over falsehood through their martyrdom. The prime minister emphasized that the tragic events of Youm-e-Ashur resonate deeply within believers, serving as an enduring reminder of the sacrifices for truth and justice. He highlighted Imam Hussain’s (RA) courageous stand against Yazid’s oppressive rule in Karbala, illustrating his unwavering perseverance. The Holy Qur’an states, “Do not think of those who have been killed in the way of Allah as dead. They are alive with their Lord, receiving provision” (Surah Al-Imran, 3:169). This verse captures the essence of sacrifice demonstrated by Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions.

In the contemporary world, it is evident that the people of Palestine endure great hardships and make substantial sacrifices for a just cause. They continue to strive for their rights and freedom, especially to protect Jerusalem, the first Qibla. Likewise, the residents of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir suffer under oppressive forces.

The prime minister underscored that Pakistan was currently facing substantial economic challenges. In such trying times, exhibiting patience, unity, and brotherhood was essential. The prime minister emphasized that Yazidism embodies a doctrine that aims to enforce oppression and target innocent individuals for its malicious goals. On Youm-e-Ashur, it is crucial to evaluate which groups were working to undermine our social cohesion and unity for their own interests. Therefore, we must rise above racial, occupational, linguistic, and other differences, fostering qualities like selflessness, equality, tolerance, unity, and discipline within our society.

The prime minister encouraged everyone to draw inspiration from the sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions, urging them to display bravery and steadfastness in times of adversity.

The prime minister expressed his hope that Allah Almighty would empower us to follow in the footsteps of Hazrat Imam Hussain, working towards the advancement of Islam and Pakistan, and liberating our nation from all forms of hardship and adversity.

PM strongly condemns terrorist attack on RHC in DI Khan

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday strongly condemned a cowardly terrorist attack on a rural health center (RHC) in Kirri Shamozai, Dera Ismail Khan.

The prime minister expressed his deep grief over the shahadat of two children, two lady health workers, a guard and the security personnel including Naib Sobedar Muhammad Farooq and Sepoy Muhammad Javaid Iqbal who also embraced martyrdom while fighting with terrorists and sending them to hell, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release. The prime minister prayed for the eternal peace of the departed souls and for the bereaved families to bear the losses with fortitude.

He also reiterated the resolve to root out the specter of terrorism from the country, adding the people of Pakistan were standing shoulder to shoulder with their armed forces to eliminate terrorism. The prime minister also expressed that those supporting the terrorist elements would be taken to their logical end, adding such cowardly activities could not deter the strong resolve the nation.

Source: nation.com.pk

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NA Speaker condemns terrorist attack on Imam Bargah in Oman

July 17, 2024

ISLAMABAD   -  Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday strongly condemned the terrorist attack on Imam Bargah Ali bin Abu Talib in Muscat, Oman, which resulted in multiple casualties including the death of two Pakistanis.  In his message the NA Speaker said, “This cowardly act of mass shooting is extremely reprehensible. I am deeply saddened to learn about the martyrdom of multiple people including two Pakistanis and a large number of wounded ones.”  He said, “I on behalf of the Parliament of Pakistan and of myself extend sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured. Terrorism in any form and anywhere is totally unacceptable. It’s a global challenge and requires collective action to eliminate it.” Pakistan, he said, stands in complete solidarity with the people, parliament and government of the Sultanate of Oman in this hour of grief. Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Syed Mir Ghulam Mustafa Shah, also strongly condemned the shooting incident in the premises of a mosque in Wadi Al-Kabir, Muscat, Oman, which tragically claimed multiple precious lives, including the lives of 2 Pakistanis. He emphasised that such violence is unacceptable and against humanity. He also conveyed heartfelt condolences from the Parliament of Pakistan to the victims’ families and assured them of Pakistan’s solidarity. He urged Pakistani authorities to assist the Omani authorities in relief efforts.

Source: nation.com.pk

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Ashura being observed across country amid heightened security

July 17, 2024

Mourners will take out processions nationwide on Wednesday to observe Yaum-i-Ashura amid heightened security arrangements on Wednesday.

Yaum-i-Ashura is observed every year on Muharram 10 with solemnity to pay homage to Imam Husain — the grandson of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) — and other martyrs of Karbala.

President Asif Ali Zardari said that the martyrs of Karbala had given a lesson to the Muslim Ummah to remain steadfast in the face of all kinds of brutalities and raise their voice against all evils, state-run Radio Pakistan reported.

He appealed to the nation to stand for forbearance, hard work and justice, besides realising the requirements of the poor and the needy.

Zardari also stressed the need for unity and facing the forces of cruelty and evil with steadfastness while learning lessons from the incident of Karbala.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif echoed a similar sentiment and advised to draw inspiration from the values of fortitude and courage from the martyrs of Karbala and show perseverance in trials, Radio Pakistan reported.

He urged equality, tolerance, unity and discipline within ourselves to deal the internal and external threats facing the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said that the philosophy of Imam Hussain “is a torch for all humanity”.

“The grandson of the Prophet Imam Hussain (RA) along with his family members and companions drank the cup of martyrdom for the sake of the truth,” Dar was quoted as saying by the Ministry of Interior in a post on X.

“The incident of Karbala is the greatest story of the exaltation of truth and truth.”

The interior ministry has approved army deployment across the country to ensure peace and security during the holy month of Muharram. It also banned the use of drones during processions and majalis till Ashura across the country.

Meanwhile, as many as 59,000 Sindh policemen will provide security to all processions across the province. There is also a ban on pillion riding across the province today and a complete ban on carrying licensed weapons.

Lahore

Lahore’s main procession will set out from Nisar Haveli in the Mohalla Chillah Bibian in the morning and culminate at the Karbala Ghamay Shah Imambargah.

The Lahore Traffic Police said six circle officers, 210 senior traffic wardens, 140 patrolling officers and over 1,000 wardens have been appointed for duties.

Karachi

In Karachi, the main procession will depart from Nishtar Park and conclude by reaching Hussainiya Iraniyan Imam Bargah through its traditional fixed routes.

For security reasons, MA Jinnah Road will remain closed from Guru Mandir to Tower.

The traffic plan issued by the local authorities said people coming from Nazimabad can go towards their destination from Lasbela Chowk towards Nishtar Road via Garden.

People coming from Liaquatabad can take Teen Hatti to Lasbela Chowk and take a left turn towards Central Jail (Martin Road).

People going to PP Chowrangi from Hassan Square can go to Shahrah-i-Quaideen from Kashmir Road and from Jail Flyover to Nishtar Road (Lasbela Chowk) from Tin Hatti.

Meanwhile, visitors travelling from Sharea Faisal to Shahrah-i-Quaideen (Noorani Kebab) to Numaish can take a right at the society light signal and take Kashmir Road towards their destination.

Those going from Central Jail Gate (Jamshed Road) towards Guru Mandir MA Jinnah Road can proceed towards their destination from Bahadur Yar Jung Road (Soldier Bazar) from Guru Mandir.

Traffic going from Garden Zoo to MA Jinnah Road can go towards its destination from Anklesaria to Gul Plaza on the right and Coast Guard Holy Family Hospital on the left.

Meanwhile, all heavy/commercial traffic going towards MA Jinnah Road from Super Highway and Gulbarg will be diverted from Liaquatabad No. 10 to Nazimabad Chowrangi No. 2 via Habib Bank Flyover, State Avenue Road, Shershah.

The traffic plan said it will be possible to reach Mauripur with the same route for returning.

It said that all heavy/commercial traffic going towards the city from National Highway will be routed via Sharea Faisal or via Rashid Minhas Road, Stadium Road, Sir Shah Sulaiman Road, Hassan Square, Liaquatabad No. 10, Nazimabad Chowrangi No. 2, Habib Bank Flyover, State Avenue Road, Shershah and will be allowed to go to Mauripur, adopting the same route for return.

The traffic plan said that all kinds of small or big traffic will not be allowed to ply the procession route beyond Guru Mandir Chowk and will be diverted towards Bahadur Yar Jung Road (Soldier Bazar).

It added that entry of all types of vehicles is prohibited on MA Jinnah Road, except vehicles with a sticker to join the procession. To join the procession, vehicles with stickers will be allowed to enter through Shahrah-i-Quaideen, Society Light Signal.

The traffic plan outlined the following routes for participants in the processions:

Participants coming from Nazimabad Lasbela, Albela, right side Garden Jamaat Khana, Soldier Bazar No. 3 Light Signal to Nimaish.

Liaquatabad, Tin Hatti, Jahangir Road, Guru Mandir to Numaish.

Society Light Signal to Numaish.

Gulistan-i-Jauhar and Gulshan-i-Iqbal, University Road, old Sabzi Mandi, Kashmir Road, Society Light Signal to Numaish.

Source: dawn.com

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PPP disowns views of party leaders opposed to action against PTI

July 17, 2024

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a key ally of the ruling coalition, has distanced itself from the statements issued by some party stalwarts opposing the government move to ban the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) as a political party, terming it their “personal” opinion.

Talking to Dawn here on Tuesday after issuing a formal brief statement disowning the remarks of former senator Farhatullah Babar on the matter, PPP Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bokhari said since the proposal of banning the PTI had not been discussed at any level in the party, whatever the party leaders had stated, should be taken as “their personal viewpoint”.

Mr Bokhari’s comments came a day after Federal Information Minister Ataullah Tarar in a news conference announced that the government had decided to ban the PTI as a political party and initiate trial of its leaders under Article 6. Hours after the information minister’s presser, a number of leaders belonging to other political parties, including the PPP, opposing the move complained they had not been consulted by the ruling PML-N on the matter.

PPP’s veteran MNA from Suk­kur Syed Khursheed Shah told DawnNews he heard the government decision as others did. “We should do politics only because such decisions don’t address iss­ues,” he asserted before clarifying that he would stand along with his party and its policy on the matter.

Bokhari says PPP to make collective decision after in-house talks, only if ‘N’ formally takes them on board

On the other hand, former PPP senators Raza Rabbani and Farhatullah Babar openly opposed the idea of banning the PTI and warned that such a move would cause more chaos in the country.

Mr Rabbani said banning a party was against the norms of democracy and urged the government to refrain from taking such a decision, stating that such a step would add political chaos and bog down the economy. “The government, if aggrieved by the judgement of the full court, should follow the constitutional way and file a review petition. The step of banning a political party in Pakistan’s history has always been unsuccessful and been thrown into the dustbin of history,” he observed.

Earlier, another PPP stalwart Farhatullah Babar had termed such a move ‘rubbish’. “Talk of banning a political party or trial of a political leader for treason is rubbish. Unsustainable. Compounding political crisis… Pakistani democracy, indeed state itself, is unlikely to sustain this self-imposed crisis. Be warned,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Mr Bokhari, however, said since the government had not taken the PPP onboard on the subject matter, therefore, there was no need for the party to make any official statement at this point of time. He said they were not taking the minister’s announcement seriously. They would consider it a serious move only when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif or his brother Nawaz Sharif would officially contact and inform President Asif Ali Zardari or PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari about it, he added.

The PPP secretary general, who assumed the position after the resignation of Mr Babar in November last year, said when the PML-N would formally apprise his leadership about such a move, they would hold an in-house consultation on the matter either at the platform of the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) or the core committee. He said the meeting could be convened after the return of the party chairman from the United States and, if needed, the meeting could also be held through a video conference.

Referring to the statement of Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar that the decision to ban the PTI was “not final”, the PPP leader said contradictory statements were also coming from within the ruling PML-N.

Mr Bokhari preferred silence when he was reminded of a press conference in the past in which Mr Bhutto-Zardari as the country’s foreign minister had opposed the move to ban the PTI. He said the party would come out with a “collective decision” on the matter.

Speaking at a news conference in Karachi on May 12, last year, the PPP chairman had described the violent protests by the PTI supporters after the party chief’s arrest on May 9 as acts of “treason” and “terrorism” and comparing it with militant outfits, he had turned down suggestions to ban the PTI.

But he had warned that if Imran Khan’s party insisted on an “armed rebellion”, it would lead to the point “where we will be forced to ban such an organisation”.

Responding to a question about PTI’s future after the May 9 attacks, he said: “It won’t be my decision that there should be a ban [on PTI] or not. They [PTI] need to decide first whether they have really decided to now take up armed resistance in Pakistan. But if they still claim to be a political party and disown all those elements involved in the violence, then I don’t see why there should be any ban.

“But if they decide that they are going to do an armed rebellion against the state of Pakistan, then absolutely there will be circumstances where we will be forced to ban such an organisation”.

Earlier, in reply to a similar question, he had called himself “the last person to support a ban on any political party” and recalled PPP’s “victimisation” under dictatorial rule and when it was even deprived of its electoral symbol. Due to those curbs, he said, the party was still not allowed to contest the polls under the banner of the PPP, and it went into elections under the PPP-Parliamentarian.

Source: dawn.com

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38 booked for attacking Muharram security team in Bahawalpur

July 17, 2024

BAHAWALPUR: Saddar police on Tuesday registered a case against 38 people, including three nominated motorcyclists and 35 unidentified men, for allegedly attacking a police team during Muharram security duty and damaging an official vehicle and their gadgets at Bindra Pulli here on Multan Road on Monday night.

According to the first information report registered under sections 353, 379, 186, 506, 427, 148, and 149 of Pakistan Penal Code, complainant ASI Muhammad Abid Qazi stated that three motorcyclists Muhammad Waqas, Ehtesham, and Muhammad Hamza, along with other bikers attempted to break the police cordon and remove barriers installed for the safe passage of a Muharram rally, trying to disrupt the security measures. When resisted by the police, they allegedly used abusive language and left.

However, after a short while, these motorcyclists, accompanied by about thirty-five unidentified accomplices, returned and allegedly attacked the police officials on duty. They assaulted the officials with clubs, tore the uniforms of constables Shehzad Muddasir and Ibrar Hussain, and stole their cash.

The police have so far made no arrests.

KIDNAP: Three men allegedly abducted a young girl from her house at village 2011/EB in the limits of Gaggoo police station in Vehari district.

According to police sources, Ghulam Murtaz Rehmani along with his two unidentified accomplices in the absence of her father Hanif allegedly abducted Khadeja (23) at gunpoint and bundled her into a car and managed their escape.

The Gaggo police have registered a case.

STAY ORDER: The Multan bench of Lahore high court (LHC) on Monday stayed the transfer of 89 traffic wardens and sought a report from additional Inspector-general (establishment).

According to counsels Mahar Muhammad Ilyas, Ms. Nadira Noor and Aftab Khan of petitioners Khalil Ahmed, Muhammad Shafiq, Rizwan Salim and others belonging to Vehari district, they submitted to the high court that the cadre of wardens has been changed and they are working under district traffic police officer and as such their transfers couldn’t be ordered on provincial level.

The LHC suspended the orders of AIG and sought a report from him.

Source: dawn.com

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Processions end in Quetta under tight security

July 17, 2024

QUETTA: The 9th Muharram procession was taken out in the provincial capital and other cities of Balochistan amid tight security, on Tuesday.

Thousands of security personnel lined up the processions’ routes which were completely sealed with all shops, shopping plazas, markets, businesses and hotels closed.

Guests staying in the hotels along processions’ routes were shifted to other hotels by the owners.

Before the processions, bomb disposal squads combed the route in the presence of senior police and judicial magistrates.

While briefing the media, Quetta Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat said over 5,000 security personnel, including police, Levies and Frontier Corps, will guard Ashura processions for three days.

“All security arrangements have been completed to ensure peaceful processions,” he said, adding that the army will remain on alert during the procession while helicopters will monitor the procession from the air.

Mobile and data service will remain completely suspended from 7th Muharram in Quetta and other cities. A control room had been set up in the Central Police Office to monitor the entire city through CCTV cameras installed under the Quetta Safe City Project.

Source: dawn.com

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Ashura processions staged across country amid tight security

July 17, 2024

Ashura processions, in remembrance of the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions at Karbala, began across the country on Wednesday with thousands of mourners in attendance.

Youm-e-Ashur, the tenth of Muharram-ul-Haram, is observed to pay homage to Imam Hussain (RA) and his devoted companions for their sacrifice in the Battle of Karbala.

This day is a poignant reminder of the unwavering resilience of Imam Hussain (RA), the beloved grandson of the Prophet (PBUH), his family, and devoted companions, who valiantly defended Islam in the face of opposition and cruelty.

The government suspended the mobile and internet services in a bid to prevent any untoward incident. Moreover, Pakistan Army troops and Civil Armed Forces (CAF) have been deployed along the routes of the main procession.

In his message on Ashura, President Asif Ali Zardari stressed upon the need of display of unity and facing the forces of cruelty and evil with steadfastness while learning lessons from the incident of Karbala.

He appealed to the entire nation to stand for forbearance, hard work and justice, besides realising the requirements of the poor and the needy.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stressed to promote equality, tolerance, unity and discipline within ourselves to deal the internal and external threats facing the country.

Advising to draw inspiration from the values of fortitude and courage from the martyrs of Karbala, the premier said everyone should forget the racial, professional, linguistic and other differences to make our country stronger.

Karachi

The mourning procession in the country's biggest city kickstarted from Nishtar Park, in which not only men, but women, children, and the elderly are also participating.

Allama Shehanshah Hussain Naqvi addressed the mourners at the begining of the procession.

To ensure security, the mourners are allowed to enter the designated procession areas after a thorough check.

The people, who walk for around 9-10km, will start from Numaish and continue until Memon Masjid in Kharadar.

The mourners, to show their love for those who lost their lives in Karbala, also donate blood, in light of which several blood donation camps have also been set up.

Strict security arrangements have been made for the metropolis' procession and an official informed Geo News that more than 10,000 police personnel have been deployed for the main procession's safety.

The MA Jinnah Road and its nearby streets have been blocked, while only those mourners who have 'passes' will be allowed to enter the procession route with their cars.

Lahore

The mourning procession started at around 8am from Nisar Haveli. The mourners had last night prayed "Namaz-e-Ali Akbar", following which they rested and then began their procession today.

The procession will go through its traditional route, in which a swarm of people are participating. In light of the people's participation, stalls have been set up by volunteers for food and water (niaz and sabeel).

For security purposes, all the roads coming towards Mochi Darwaza have been closed using containers and barbed wires. At the main gate, a security check has been set up, where people are allowed to enter after being checked thoroughly.

Peshawar

About 12 processions will be held in Peshawar today with the first one starting from Imam Bargah Syed Ali Shah Rizvi at 11am.

Keeping in view the security situation in the city, around 14,000 police officers have been deployed while bomb disposal unit personnel are present to clear the passageways of the procession.

All the procession routes have been blocked while mobile phone services are suspended. The mourning processions are being monitored through CCTV cameras.

Multan

In the city of saints, the central procession started from Imam Bargah Hira Haideri in the early hours of the day. When the believers reached Chowk Ghala Godam, they not only mourned but also resorted to "zanjeer zani".

The procession will then go through its usual route, crossing Lakkar Mandi Chowk, Ghanta Ghar, Water Works Road, and other areas. It will end on Namaz-e-Maghrib at Dargah Shah Shams Tabrez.

The small processions will also join the central procession. In all, 116 Youm-e-Ashur processions and over 130 majalis will be staged in Multan, for which more than 6,000 security personnel — apart from volunteers — have been deployed.

CCTV monitoring is being conducted of all prominent processions and CPO Multan Sadiq Ali Dogar told Geo News that to enter the procession, there's only one way — and it's allowed after a three-layered security check.

Rawalpindi

The first central mourning procession will depart from Imambargah Ashiq Hussain Teli Mohalla in Rawalpindi.

According to the police, mobile phone service will remain partially suspended in surrounding areas while police jammers will be present along the traditional routes.

Metro bus service will remain suspended in Rawalpindi but will be restored from from Faizabad to Federal Secretariat.

More than 6,000 policemen and 900 traffic police personal have been deployed across the city.

Quetta

The Ashura procession started from Alamdar Road in Quetta at around 9am while phone services have been suspended.

Hyderabad

Strict security arrangements have been done for Ashura in Hyderabad with over 4,000 personnel and officers deployed for the security of the procession.

All the streets and shops on the route of the procession are closed, said the senior superintendent of police, adding that a control room has been set up to monitor the procession.

Source: thenews.com.pk

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Two soldiers, five civilians embrace martyrdom in DI Khan gun attack on health centre

July 16, 2024

Terrorists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Dera Ismail Khan district launched a gun attack on Rural Health Center (RHC) situated in Kirri Shamozai area leaving seven people including two army soldiers and five civilians including children martyred, the military's media wing said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the civilians who lost their lives in the gun attack were the staff of RHC, including two lady health workers and a watchman of the facility, besides the two children.

"On the night between July 15 and 16, the terrorists carried out a cowardly attack on Rural Health Center (RHC), Kirri Shamozai in Dera Ismail Khan District and opened indiscriminate fire on RHC staff," the ISPR said in a statement after the incident.

"Security forces in vicinity were immediately mobilised for clearance operation in RHC and in ensuing fire exchange, own troops effectively engaged the terrorists as a result of which three terrorists were sent to hell."

Meanwhile, the security forces personnel who were martyred during the intense exchange of fire were identified as Naib Subedar Muhammad Farooq, 44, and Sepoy Muhammad Javed Iqbal, 23.

The military's media wing stated that sanitisation of the area was being carried out to eliminate any other terrorists found in the area.

"The perpetrators of this heinous and cowardly act targeting innocent civilians, especially women and children, will be brought to justice," it added.

This is the second terrorist attack in a period of 24 hours as eight soldiers were martyred while trying to foil a terrorist infiltration into Bannu Cantonment in the wee hours of July 15.

As per the ISPR, all 10 terrorists who tried to enter the Cantt were killed as they rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the cantonment when their attack failed.

The suicide blast, the ISPR said, led to the collapse of a portion of the wall and damaged the adjoining infrastructure, resulting in the martyrdom of eight brave sons of soil.

The attacks come as Islamabad time again called on the Afghan Taliban administration in Kabul to prevent its soil from being used by various banned outfits for terrorist attacks against Pakistan.

Last month, the government approved the launching of operation "Azm-e-Istehkam", a renewed national anti-terror drive, in light of the surge in terrorist attacks in the country in recent months.

The country, during the second quarter of 2024 witnessed 380 violence-linked fatalities and 220 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, resulting from as many as 240 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations, said a Security Studies (CRSS) Annual Security report.

This includes 236 fatalities among civilians and security forces personnel, the report said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, both of which share borders with neighbouring Afghanistan, have faced the brunt of the terrorist attacks and reported nearly 92% of all fatalities and 87% of attacks — wherein the former suffering 67% and the latter 25% of all fatalities in Q2, 2024.

Source: thenews.com.pk

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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1210372-two-soldiers-five-civilians-embrace-martyrdom-in-di-khan-gun-attack

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Eight soldiers martyred, 10 terrorists killed in Bannu Cantt attack

July 16, 2024

RAWALPINDI: As many as 10 terrorists were killed when they tried entering the Bannu Cantonment, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Tuesday, with eight soldiers also martyred in the incident.

In a statement, the ISPR said the group of 10 attacked the Bannu Cantonment in the early hours of July 15, but their attempt to enter the facility was effectively thwarted by the security forces personnel.

However, when their attack failed, the terrorists rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the cantonment, the military's media wing said.

The suicide blast, the ISPR said, led to the collapse of a portion of the wall and damaged the adjoining infrastructure, resulting in the martyrdom of eight brave sons of soil.

They were identified as:

Naib Subedar Muhammad Shehzad, 44, resident of Poonch district, AJK

Havildar Zil-e-Hussain, 39, resident of Khushab district

Havildar Shahzad Ahmed, 28, resident of Neelum district, AJK

Sepoy Ashfaq Hussain Khan, 30, resident of Muzzafarabad district, AJK

Sepoy Sobhan Majeed, 22, resident of Muzzafarabad district, AJK

Sepoy Imtiaz Khan, 30, resident of Karak district

Sepoy Arsalan Aslam, 26, resident of Bahawalpur district

Frontier Constabulary's Lance Naik Sabz Ali, 34, resident of Lakki Marwat

"This timely and effective response by the security forces prevented a major catastrophe, saving precious innocent lives. The gallant and selfless action of the security forces is a testament to their unrelenting resolve in the fight against terrorism," read the statement.

The attack, as per the military's spokesperson, was carried out by the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group operating from Afghanistan and has used the neighbouring country's territory to carry out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan in the past as well.

The statement further reiterated the security forces' resolve to defend the country from the menace of terrorism and will take all necessary measures as deemed appropriate against these threats emanating from Afghanistan.

It is to be noted that Pakistan, back in November 2023, had summoned the head of the Afghan diplomatic mission in Islamabad and demanded the extradition of terrorist Gul Bahadur — the leader of a faction of the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Bannu Cantt attack comes as Islamabad time again called on the Afghan Taliban administration in Kabul to prevent its soil from being used by various banned outfits for terrorist attacks against Pakistan.

Last month, the government approved the launching of operation "Azm-e-Istehkam", a renewed national anti-terror drive, in light of the surge in terrorist attacks in the country in recent months.

The country, during the second quarter of 2024 witnessed 380 violence-linked fatalities and 220 injuries among civilians, security personnel, and outlaws, resulting from as many as 240 incidents of terror attacks and counter-terror operations, said a Security Studies (CRSS) Annual Security report.

This includes 236 fatalities among civilians and security forces personnel, the report said.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, both of which share borders with neighbouring Afghanistan, have faced the brunt of the terrorist attacks and reported nearly 92% of all fatalities and 87% of attacks — wherein the former suffering 67% and the latter 25% of all fatalities in Q2, 2024.

Source: thenews.com.pk

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https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1210326-eight-soldiers-martyred-10-terrorists-killed-in-bannu-cantt-attack

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Multilateral cooperation vital for addressing challenges: Usman

July 17, 2024

Pakistan has termed the multilateral cooperation as indispensable for addressing contemporary challenges.

Speaking during the UN Security Council Open Debate on “Multilateral cooperation in the interest of a more just, democratic and sustainable world order” in New York, Pakistan's Acting Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Usman Jadoon rejected any world order which is dominated by a few powerful states, arguing that such an arrangement contradicts the principle of sovereign equality among nations.

He said a just, democratic and sustainable world is achievable only through consistent adherence to the fundamental principles of the UN Charter.

Ambassador Usman Jadoon reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to comprehensive multilateral cooperation, emphasizing multilateral cooperation must be comprehensive, inclusive and equitable.

Source: radio.gov.pk

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https://www.radio.gov.pk/17-07-2024/pakistan-terms-multilateral-cooperation-indispensable-for-addressing-contemporary-challenges

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Govt committed to make Pakistan economic power: Dar

July 17, 2024

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his team are making sincere efforts to make Pakistan an economic power.

Speaking at annual ghusal ceremony at Data Darbar in Lahore, Ishaq Dar said with the grace of Allah, Pakistan diplomatic ties with other countries are in a right direction.

He said the country's integrity should be on top priority as nothing is acceptable over national interest.

Ishaq Dar said things would be discussed with the leadership and allies, adding that each and every step would be taken as per law.

He said the NESPAK has been directed to complete extension project of Data Darbar at the earliest.

Source: radio.gov.pk

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https://www.radio.gov.pk/17-07-2024/govt-making-sincere-efforts-to-make-pakistan-economic-power-dar

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Europe

 

British leaders slam Vance for calling UK ‘an Islamist country’

17-07-24

Donald Trump’s choice for vice-president has provoked fury by describing the UK under Labour as an “Islamist country” with nuclear weapons.

Author and Ohio Senator JD Vance was announced as Trump’s running mate on Monday, just two days after an attempt to assassinate the former president, who is challenging Joe Biden for the White House in November.

Politicians from across the spectrum have condemned Vance’s comments, with former Tory co-chair Sayeeda Warsi suggesting the special relationship between the UK and the US has “become no more than a racist joke”. Writing for The Independent, she added: “It bodes for really dangerous times ahead.”

Labour MP Rosie Duffield said Vance had made “obviously a pretty ignorant and racist comment”, while Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: “We need to call that out for what it is, it’s Islamophobic.”

In a speech for the National Conservatism Conference in Washington DC, Vance recounted a conversation with a friend.

“I was talking about, you know: what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon?” he said. “Maybe it is Iran, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we finally decided that it’s actually the UK — since Labour just took over.”

Even Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a supporter and friend of Trump, disagreed but warned: “The truth is that Islamists are not within Labour but without and that will cost them the next general election.”

Vance’s comments met with a chorus of laughter from the crowd.

Vance told the audience: “American leaders should look out for Americans... and for the Brits, UK leaders should look out for citizens of the UK or subjects or whatever you guys call yourselves.”

He said the Labour government has left Britain as the “first truly Islamist country that will gain a nuclear weapon”.

“To our Tory friends, I have to say, you guys have got to get a handle on this,” he said.

The intervention came just weeks after Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Vance in the US.

In a promotional clip, Lammy said he was “meeting senior White House officials and meeting friends” before being filmed embracing and shaking hands with Vance.

Baroness Warsi, the first Muslim to serve in a British Cabinet, said Vance’s comments represented “the everyday Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism which is casually thrown around by some of the most powerful in our societies”.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think he said quite a lot of fruity things in the past as well.

“Look, I don’t recognise that characterisation. I’m very proud of the election success that Labour had recently. We won votes across all different communities, across the whole of the country. And we’re interested in governing on behalf of Britain and also working with our international allies.

“So I look forward to that meeting, if that is the result and it’s up to the American people to decide.”

She added: “I think political leaders across the world all have different opinions but we govern in the interests of our countries. And the US is a key ally of ours, and if the American people decide who their president and vice-president is, we will work with them, of course we will.

“And I’m sure they’ll have opinions on what we do and suggest, and we’ll work together constructively and I look forward to those meetings and being able to do that. That’s grown-up politics. That’s what we do.”

'Quite offensive'

Shadow Veterans Minister Andrew Bowie told Times Radio: “I disagree with the Labour Party fundamentally on many issues, but I do not agree with that view, quite frankly. I think it's actually quite offensive, frankly, to my colleagues in the Labour Party.”

Green co-leader Carla Denyer told the BBC’s Politics Live: "We need to call that out for what it is: it’s Islamophobic. It's worrying that the US could end up with a president who's a convicted criminal and a vice-president who's more aligned with Russian foreign policy than with supporting Ukraine."

Treasury Minister James Murray said: “I genuinely heard that comment, and I don’t know what he was driving at in that comment, to be honest. I mean, in Britain, we’re very proud of our diversity.

“I’m very proud that we have a new government. I’m very proud that our Labour government is committed to national security and economic growth.”

Norwich South Labour MP Clive Lewis told The Independent: “I think it shows we now need to prepare for the worst-case scenario of a Trump/Vance presidency.

“We are seeing this sort of far-right politics, not just in America but across Europe whether it is the National Rally in France, Meloni in Italy, what’s happening in the Netherlands, or Reform in the UK.

“There is no doubt that Vance’s comments were aimed at the sort of Islamophobic sentiments we have seen online and elsewhere aimed at Sadiq Khan in particular. We have seen it from Reform.”

He said Labour needs to prepare the country’s institutions to ensure they are “robust and strong enough to be able to withstand an onslaught from the far right should they win power”.

He added: “We need to take a lead role internationally to show that social democratic values work and remain strong.

“Of course, we have seen the likes of Suella Braverman at the same conference as Vance spoke at and Liz Truss failing to push back on comments praising Tommy Robinson. Indeed she is at the Republican National Convention this week.”

Muslim Council of Britain secretary general Zara Mohammed said: “They serve as a stark reminder of how populist, Islamophobic sentiment is used to garner votes.

“Closer to home, we have seen this language mirrored by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former deputy chair of the Conservatives and current Reform MP Lee Anderson.

“Such inflammatory speech has no place in our politics and should be called out for what it is by our government."

Creating fear among Muslims

Suella Braverman was among the other speakers at the NatCon conference.

Last year, Braverman was accused of inciting the far right when she decried the pro-Palestine demonstrations in the UK as “hate marches” and called for the protesters to be banned from action on Armistice Day, when a far-right mob assembled and was involved in skirmishes with police.

A spokesperson for the Muslim Association of Britain told The Independent at the time that Braverman’s comments had created “quite a lot of fear among some Muslim communities” who viewed it as a direct attack on their solidarity with Palestinians, many of whom are also Muslim.

Reform MP Lee Anderson, who was kicked out of the Tories over allegedly Islamophobic remarks about London mayor Sadiq Khan, said: “We are not an Islamist country but we do have Islamists living here, which is a massive concern. I genuinely worry for the future of our country as these extremists grow in number. We are sleepwalking into dangerous territories.”

Source: gulftoday.ae

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https://www.gulftoday.ae/news/2024/07/17/british-leaders-slam-vance-for-calling-uk-an-islamist-country

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U.K. Deputy PM dismisses 'Islamist' nuclear state jibe by Trump VP pick Vance

Mr. Vance said that Britain was the "first truly Islamist country" to have nuclear weapons following the Labour Party's victory in a July 4 election

July 17, 2024

Britain's Deputy Prime Minister on July 16 played down comments by U.S. vice presidential contender J.D. Vance that Britain was an Islamist nuclear-armed country, saying he had a history of making "fruity" remarks.

Britain would work with whoever won November's U.S. presidential election, Angela Rayner added.

At a conference earlier this month, Mr. Vance, who Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump named as his running mate on July 15, said that Britain was the "first truly Islamist country" to have nuclear weapons following the Labour Party's victory in a July 4 election, to laughs in the audience.

Mr. Vance said he had been discussing with a friend which country would be the first "truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon".

"And we sort of finally decided maybe it's actually the U.K., since Labour just took over," he said, in reference to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's party.

Ms. Rayner, Mr. Starmer's Deputy in both the Labour Party and as Prime Minister, told broadcaster ITV that Mr. Vance had said "quite a lot of fruity things in the past," and added, "I don't recognise that characterisation".

"We're interested in governing on behalf of Britain, and also working with our international allies," she said.

Several senior Labour figures have criticised Mr. Trump since his first election in 2016. His proposals to restrict Muslims from travelling to the United States earned criticism from London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who Trump labelled a "stone cold loser".

But senior figures had sought to repair bridges in the run up to the election as polls showed they were set for victory.

Britain's new Foreign Minister David Lammy, who in 2018 protested against a Mr. Trump visit to London, met in March with Mr. Vance, who himself was once a Trump critic. Mr. Lammy said the Ohio senator's bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" had parallels to his own upbringing.

Ms. Rayner played down her own previous criticism of the former president, saying Labour would be different in government compared to the opposition and work constructively with whoever wins the November election.

"The U.S. is a key ally of ours, and if the American people decide who their President and Vice President is, then we will work with them, of course we will."

Source: thehindu.com

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https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/uk-deputy-pm-dismisses-islamist-nuclear-state-jibe-by-trump-vp-pick-vance/article68412744.ece

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Former Tory MP Says Trump Running Mate's Claim UK Is An 'Islamist Country' Was 'A Joke'

17/07/2024

JD Vance made the remark last week - just days before he was chosen by Trump as his pick to be vice-president if he wins the US election in November.

Speaking at a National Conservatism conference in Washington DC, Vance said: “I was talking with a friend recently and we were talking about one of the big dangers in the world is nuclear proliferation, though of course the Biden administration doesn’t care about it.

“I was talking about what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon. We were like ‘maybe it’s Iran, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts’.

“And we sort of finally decided maybe it’s the UK, since Labour just took over.”

Vance’s remarks have been condemned by both Labour and Conservative frontbenchers.

But appearing on GB News, Miriam Cates - who was one of nearly 200 Tory MPs who lost their seats in the general election - defended the comments.

She said: “If you watch the whole speech, which is actually a fantastic speech and I would highly recommend it, he was actually making a joke.

“Now your viewers might think it’s not a very good taste joke, but if you watch the whole speech he was just kind of having a little dig at the UK. The NatCon conference does like to make headlines, and actually the rest of his speech is about his vision for America.”

Source: huffingtonpost.co.uk

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https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/former-tory-mp-says-trump-running-mates-claim-uk-is-an-islamist-country-was-a-joke_uk_66975c71e4b076f190eaad7b

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Islamic finance can address barriers to achieve SDGs says IFAC, MIA, and World Bank in new report

Jun 10, 2024

Unleashing the Potential of Islamic Finance: Global Perspectives on Achieving the SDGs with Islamic Finance Tools & Concepts, a new report from the International Federation of Accountants, Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) and the World Bank Group Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Finance Hub in Malaysia (World Bank) looks at the opportunities presented by Islamic finance, practical examples of its usage from Malaysia, and future pathways towards addressing challenges and unlocking the full potential of Islamic finance to support the SDGs.

The report was released today at Innovation in Sustainable Development: Islamic Finance Paving the Way hosted by MIA in Kuala Lumpur featuring a keynote address from IFAC President Asmâa Resmouki.

In recent years, addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has become increasingly challenging. The worldwide economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the already significant USD4.2 trillion funding gap to achieve the SDGs. As countries worldwide strive to finance the ambitious scope and scale of the SDGs, they also face the complex task of serving financially underserved communities. Advancing Islamic finance has the potential not only to serve usually underbanked Muslim communities but has broader application considering its synergies with the SDGs.

A major tenet of Islamic finance is the protection of people, planet, and prosperity, and its underpinnings can contribute to fresh thinking on sustainable development paradigms, interpretations, and approaches. The SDGs create opportunities for Islamic finance growth, just as Islamic finance can drive greater sustainable development.

Malaysia has become a pioneer of Islamic finance, attributed in part to its strong governance, supportive regulatory ecosystem, and the pivotal role of a local professional accountancy organization, MIA, in education and stakeholder outreach. Though every jurisdiction’s use of Islamic finance would work differently, Malaysia and MIA can serve as examples to learn from.

“Professional accountancy organizations are playing a key role in advancing sustainable financing, and given the profession’s commitment to support the SDGs, principles of Islamic finance should be considered a viable approach,” said Asmâa Resmouki, IFAC President. “We encourage all IFAC members to look towards best practices such as those cultivated in Malaysia, and seize opportunities presented in their own jurisdictions.”

Learn more about Islamic finance and download the report.

About IFAC

IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 180 members and associates in more than 135 jurisdictions, representing millions of professional accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

Source: ifac.org

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https://www.ifac.org/news-events/2024-06/islamic-finance-can-address-barriers-achieve-sdgs-says-ifac-mia-and-world-bank-new-report

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‘Root causes’ of Ukraine conflict should be eliminated – Lavrov

16 Jul, 2024

The world should address the “root causes” that led to the “crisis” in Europe and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a ministerial summit at the UN Security Council on Tuesday. Ending the standoff between Moscow and Kiev should be accompanied by the removal of the threat posed by the West to Russia’s security, he said.

Conditions for a “sustainable peace” between Russia and Ukraine had already been presented by Russian President Vladimir Putin, the top diplomat noted. In June, Putin outlined Moscow’s terms for initiating a ceasefire. They involved a full withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from all Russian territories, including the republics of Donetsk and Lugansk, and the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye, as well as a legal commitment from Kiev never to join NATO.

Any final deal should be recognized in Western capitals and pave the way to lift sanctions against Russia, Putin added. Both Kiev and its Western backers dismissed the offer.

Any “political and diplomatic settlement [of the Ukraine conflict] should be accompanied by specific steps aimed at removing the threats to the Russian Federation posed by the [West],” Lavrov told the UNSC as he listed the measures needed to “restore trust and stabilize the situation” on the international arena. “The root causes of the crisis that has broken out in Europe should be dealt with once and for all.”

Russia and the West need mutual “guarantees and agreements,” the minister stated, adding that “new geostrategic realities on the Eurasian continent” should be taken into account as well. According to Lavrov, a new “pan continental architecture of truly equal and indivisible security” was being formed on the continent.

“The global and regional balance of power should be restored as well, along with repairing injustices in the world economy,” he said. A multipolar world should not have any monopolies in the financial or currency regulation, trade or technologies, he said, calling on the World Trade Organization to be reformed to reflect the “real weight” of non-Western centers of growth and development.

Moscow has long blamed the hegemonic aspirations of Washington and its allies for various crises in recent decades. In June, Putin said the world had missed an opportunity to create a better, more just and secure international order in the 1990s. The US and other Western nations believed they had “won the Cold War and refused to respect the interests of others,” he said at that time.

That approach manifested itself in NATO’s policy of resolving conflicts that came down to “accusing the party they dislike of all sins and crushing it,” Putin stated. Such an approach proved to be a disaster, according to the Russian president. He also denied that Russia was the main threat to Europe, arguing that the greatest danger to European nations comes from their massive dependence on the US.

Source: rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/russia/601170-russia-ukraine-conflict-causes-un/

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Bounty offered for first F-16 downed in Ukraine conflict

16 Jul, 2024

The first Russian soldier to destroy one of the US-made F-16 fighter jets that Western nations are about to hand to Kiev, will receive a substantial reward, the private company Fores has announced.

The manufacturer of ceramic proppants has previously paid out bounties for Western equipment taken out by the Russian military.

The US, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, and Netherlands have pledged to provide the Ukrainian military with at least 60 F-16s by the end of this year. In early July, the Dutch government announced that the transfer of the first jets out of a batch of 24 was imminent.

“There will be a reward for destroying the F-15 and F-16 fighter jets,” the Fores deputy CEO, Ilya Potanin, said in a video published by the Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday. The bounty for the first downed aircraft will amount to 15 million rubles ($170,000), the executive stated, adding that such plans were confirmed by his company CEO at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) earlier this summer.

Ukraine claims that it needs F-16s to defend against Russian long-range missiles and to challenge Moscow’s air superiority over the frontline.

Moscow has said F-16s will not change the outcome of the conflict, just as other Western weapons provided to Kiev have failed to do. The Russian military will destroy the planes as it has done with other Ukrainian hardware, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this year.

A decision by Washington and its allies to supply Ukraine with Western-made heavy armor in early 2023, including the US-made Abrams and German-made Leopard tanks, prompted Russian businesses and officials to place bounties on such equipment, captured or destroyed on the frontline.

According to Potanin, Fores has paid out similar bounties on seven occasions. The last time, the firm paid out rewards to Russian soldiers and officers from various units, including artillery and drone warfare, for destroying “some 17 Abrams and Leopards.” The servicemen received 500,000 rubles ($5641) for each such piece of equipment, according to the Fores deputy CEO.

The soldiers and officers that were also filmed by the Defense Ministry while getting their rewards said that the Western heavy equipment pieces were just “regular” targets for them. They also said the money they received would be spent on new equipment that would make them even more effective on the battlefield.

In March, Russian soldiers recorded a video, in which one of them mockingly thanked US President Joe Biden for supplying Kiev with Abrams tanks and giving the Russian troops an opportunity to earn some extra cash by destroying them. The man also asked Biden to send even more such heavy armor pieces to Ukraine, adding that there are currently not enough for each Russian servicemen to get their bonus.

Source: rt.com

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https://www.rt.com/russia/601173-bounty-f-16-downed-ukraine/

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Russia responds to Trump ally’s Ukraine proposal

16 Jul, 2024

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dismissed the idea of creating “autonomous regions” in Ukraine, floated by Trump ally Rick Grenell, as too little, too late.

Grenell was one of the few trusted operatives in President Donald Trump’s administration, serving first as ambassador to Germany and then as acting director of National Intelligence.

“Autonomous regions can mean a lot of things to a lot of people, but you got to work through those details,” Grenell said on Monday during a Bloomberg News roundtable on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He also said Ukraine should not become a member of NATO any time soon.

“Where were you, Rick, when the Minsk agreements dedicated to exactly this were on the table of the international community, and Russia did its best in support of them and called for finding a form of federalization of Ukraine to preserve its integrity?” Zakharova said on Telegram, reacting to Grenell’s proposal.

“You were the US ambassador in Berlin at the time and called on the Germans to abandon the construction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, grossly interfering in the internal affairs of Russia and Germany. Now the Germans are without gas, and the Ukrainians are without a country and a stable future,” she added.

Grenell would likely have a senior role in a second Trump administration, and Bloomberg interpreted his comments as a possible Republican proposal to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, he repeatedly claimed he had not discussed the matter with Trump and did not speak on his behalf.

Multiple regions in Ukraine rose up in response to the US-backed coup in Kiev in early 2014. While neo-Nazi militias crushed uprisings in Kharkov and Odessa, Donetsk and Lugansk declared themselves people’s republics and sought to join Russia. The two Minsk agreements – in August 2014 and February 2015 – envisioned autonomy for the two Donbass republics within Ukraine. Russia had endorsed the agreements, which were brokered by Germany and France.

In late 2022, however, former German and French leaders claimed that the Minsk agreements had been a ploy to buy time for the West to arm Ukraine. By then, Russia had accepted the vote by the Donbass republics to join the federation, alongside the former Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporozhye. Moscow has since said their status is non-negotiable.

The current US government has endorsed Vladimir Zelensky’s “peace platform,” which envisions Russia giving up all territory claimed by Ukraine, submitting to a war crimes tribunal, and paying reparations, among other things. Moscow has dismissed Zelensky’s plan as unserious and regards him as illegitimate, since his presidential term expired in May.

Source: rt.com

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Mideast

 

Iranian President-Elect Honoured With Flag From Imam Hussein's Shrine

July 16, 2024

TEHRAN - On Ashura day, the flag of the dome of Imam Hussein's shrine was presented to President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian.

According to IRNA, Pezeshkian and Brigadier General Ismail Qaani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, attended a mourning ceremony in Tehran amidst a large gathering of people and lovers of Imam Hussein.

Following the mourning, the flag of Imam Hussein's shrine was handed over to Masoud Pezeshkian, accompanied by wishes for success in his government.

Source: tehrantimes.com

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Iran’s Shiite Muslims commemorate the mourning day of Ashoura with processions

Jul 17, 2024

TEHRAN, Iran — Shiite Muslims in Iran and elsewhere on Tuesday commemorated Ashoura, a remembrance of the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, Hussein, that gave birth to their faith.

Over 1,340 years after Hussein’s death, Tehran and other cities across Iran were adorned with symbols of piety and repentance. Red flags represented Hussein’s blood, black funeral tents and clothes indicated mourning, and processions of chest-beating and self-flagellating men expressed fervor. Some sprayed water over the mourners in the intense heat.

Iranian state TV reported that 6 million Iranian pilgrims traveled to the Iraqi city of Karbala, where Hussein is entombed in a gold-domed shrine.

In the Omani capital of Muscat, a shooting at a Shiite mosque killed five people and wounded dozens on Monday night. Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack.

Shiites represent over 10% of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims and view Hussein as the rightful successor to the Prophet Muhammad. Hussein’s death in battle at the hands of Sunnis at Karbala, south of Baghdad, ingrained a deep rift in Islam and continues to this day to play a key role in shaping Shiite identity.

In some of Pakistan's largest cities, thousands of Shiite Muslims rallied and were seen beating their chests and flagellating themselves with knives attached to chains. Authorities deployed additional police along the routes where processions will pass on Wednesday.

Shiites are a minority in predominantly Sunni Muslim Pakistan, and Sunni militants view them as apostates deserving of death. Shiites have been attacked by extremist Sunni militants in recent years.

This story corrects the day of the shooting in Oman. Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Source: hindustantimes.com

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Iraqi Islamic Party urges Baghdad to cooperate with Türkiye against PKK

17.07.2024

BAGHDAD

The Iraqi Islamic Party, expressing concern over the increasing terrorist activities of the PKK in the country, called on the Baghdad administration Tuesday to cooperate with Türkiye on the matter.

"The Iraqi Islamic Party is closely monitoring the increase in terrorist activities of the banned terrorist organization PKK in Iraq. These activities pose a great political and security threat and need to be resolved," it said in a statement.

The statement emphasized that Türkiye's operations against the presence of the terrorist organization in Iraq are a natural response to the spread of the terrorist group, which creates a "dangerous security gap," and noted that regional developments filled with conflicts and instability also affect Iraq’s fragile state.

"The continued presence of the terrorist organization PKK in Iraq and its ongoing terrorist activities against neighboring country Türkiye will hinder the development of political and economic relations with Türkiye.

"We strongly condemn the ongoing terrorist activities of the PKK against Türkiye. Iraq needs to move from the stage of 'not accepting its territories to be used as a base for attacks against other countries' to the stage of solving the issue (of the PKK's presence in Iraq) through a joint plan and cooperation with Türkiye without any hesitation," the statement added.

*Writing by Gizem Nisa Cebi from Istanbul

Source: aa.com.tr

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Türkiye ‘deeply saddened’ over mosque attack in Oman

16.07.2024

Türkiye is “deeply saddened” over mosque attack in Muscat, the capital of Oman, which resulted in death of at least six people.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of six people and the injury of many others in an armed attack on a mosque in Muscat, the capital of Oman,” said the country’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.

The ministry conveyed its condolences to the families of the people who lost their lives in the attack and also to the “brotherly people of Oman.”

It also wished a speedy recovery for those injured.

At least six people were killed and 28 others injured by gunfire near a mosque in Muscat, police said on Tuesday.

A police statement said three attackers and a policeman were also killed in the attack that took place in the Wadi al-Kabir area.

An investigation has been launched into the circumstances of the shooting, it said.

Source: aa.com.tr

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Hundreds of war crimes committed in October 7 attack: HRW

July 17, 2024

JERUSALEM: Hamas led other Palestinian armed groups in committing hundreds of war crimes in the surprise October 7 attack on Israel that set off the Gaza war, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday.

One of the most in-depth international studies on the unprecedented incursion into southern Israel outlined a host of potential war crimes cases.

“It’s impossible for us to put a number on the specific instances,” HRW associate director Belkis Wille told a news conference, adding that “there were obviously hundreds on that day.”

The crimes include “deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects; willful killing of persons in custody; cruel and other inhumane treatment; sexual and gender-based violence; hostage taking; mutilation and despoiling (robbing) of bodies; use of human shields; and pillage and looting,” said the report.

The report focuses on violations of international humanitarian law, rules mostly rooted in the Geneva Conventions for conduct in war.

Although Palestinian Islamist group Hamas is recognized as the orchestrator of the attack, the report lists other armed groups that committed war crimes on October 7, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“The reality is that it really wasn’t civilians from Gaza who perpetrated the worst abuses,” said Wille.

“That was a claim made very early on by Hamas to distance itself from the events, and by Israel to justify its retaliation operation.”

Wille pointed to the “incredibly organized and coordinated nature” of the assault on cities, kibbutz communities, and military bases around Gaza.

“Across many attack sites, fighters fired directly at civilians, often at close range, as they tried to flee, and at people who happened to be driving vehicles in the area,” said the report.

“They hurled grenades and shot into safe rooms and other shelters and fired rocket-propelled grenades at homes.

“They set some houses on fire, burning and suffocating people to death, and forcing out others who they then captured or killed.”

HRW said it “found evidence of acts of sexual and gender-based violence by fighters including forced nudity, and the posting without consent of sexualized images on social media.”

The report quoted a team of the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict who said they interviewed people “who reported witnessing rape and other sexual violence” including “rape and gang rape, in at least three locations.”

But it said the full extent of sexual and gender-based violence “will likely never be fully known” as victims had died, or stigma would stop them talking out, or Israeli first responders “largely” did not collect relevant evidence.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants seized 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the military says are dead.

Israel responded with a military offensive that has killed at least 38,664 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data provided by the Gaza health ministry.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to destroy Hamas and bring back all hostages.

The report only covered the events of October 7, not the subsequent war.

The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor has asked court judges to issue arrest warrants against Hamas leaders including its political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The prosecutor has also sought warrants against Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges ranging from “starvation of civilians” to “extermination and/or murder” as crimes against humanity.

Source: arabnews.com

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As Gaza’s doctors struggle to save lives, many lose their own in Israeli airstrikes

July 17, 2024

BEIRUT: Dr. Hassan Hamdan was one of the few trained plastic surgeons in Gaza, a specialist in wound reconstruction. His skills were vitally needed as Israel’s military onslaught filled hospitals with patients torn by blasts and shrapnel, so the 65-year-old came out of retirement to help.

Earlier this month, an Israeli airstrike killed him along with his wife, son, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, six grandchildren and one other person, as his family sheltered in their home in an Israeli-declared “safe zone.”

Israel’s 9-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza has decimated the territory’s medical system. It has not only wreaked physical destruction on hospitals and health facilities, it has devastated Gaza’s medical personnel. More than 500 health care workers have been killed since October, according to the UN.

Among them were many specialists like Hamdan.

Dr. Ahmed Al-Maqadma, also a reconstructive surgeon and a former fellow at UK Royal College, was found shot to death alongside his mother, a general practitioner, on a street outside Gaza City’s Shifa hospital after a two-week raid on the facility by Israeli forces in April.

One of Gaza’s most prominent fertility doctors, Omar Ferwana, was killed along with his family in a strike on his home in October. The territory’s only liver transplant doctor, Hamam Alloh, was killed in a hit on his home in Gaza City.

Israeli strikes in November on a northern Gaza hospital killed two doctors working with Doctors Without Borders. They are among six staffers killed from the international charity, which focuses on reconstructive and orthopedic surgeries, physiotherapy and burn care in Gaza.

Israel has detained doctors and medical staff. At least two have died in Israeli detention, allegedly of ill-treatment: the head of Shifa’s orthopedics department, Adnan Al-Bursh, and the head of a women’s hospital, Iyad Al-Rantisi. Israel has not returned either man’s body. Hundreds of other medical workers have been displaced or left Gaza altogether.

Along with the personal toll, their deaths rob Gaza’s medical system of their skills when they have become crucial.

Since the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7 — which left some 1,200 people dead and 250 kidnapped — Israel’s campaign has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza and wounded more than 88,000, according to local health officials. Malnutrition and disease have become widespread as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians cram into squalid tent camps.

Dr. Adam Hamawy, a former US Army combat plastic surgeon who volunteered in Gaza in May, said Hamdan’s death “leaves a significant void that will be hard to fill.”

Like many in Gaza, he believes Israel is deliberately destroying the health system, pointing to how Israeli forces have raided hospitals, destroyed medical complexes, fired on medical convoys and hit ambulances. Israel says it is targeting Hamas, which it says uses hospitals as command centers and ambulances for transport. The military has provided limited evidence for its claims.

Twenty-three of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are out of service, and the rest are only partially functioning, according to the latest UN figures. Only five field hospitals out of nine are operational. And more than 60 percent of Gaza’s primary health facilities have shut down.

Hamdan’s death leaves only one other specialist in reconstructive plastic surgery in Gaza. Other doctors have had to learn the skills of repairing major wounds on the job amid relentless daily waves of maimed patients.

Hamawy saw firsthand the need during his work in Gaza as part of an international medical team that came to help the territory’s health workers.

During three weeks at the European General Hospital in Khan Younis, he said he performed 120 surgeries, more than half of them on children, and all but one of them for treatment and reconstruction of war wounds. Two colleagues at the hospital were killed in strikes on their homes while he was there, and he spoke to doctors who had been released from Israeli detention and described being tortured, he said.

Hamawy said a general surgeon at the hospital stepped in to fill the demand for plastic surgeons, but he had no formal training. Five medical students volunteered with him.

They “are doing their best to fill in the gap,” Hamawy said.

On July 2, the European General Hospital evacuated its staff and patients, fearing it would be attacked. That left Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah and a field hospital in Rafah as the only facilities able to offer reconstructive surgery, said Dr. Ahmed Al-Mokhallalati, Gaza’s last reconstructive plastic surgery specialist.

Al-Mokhallalati said he has been rushing between hospitals, at one point overseeing treatment for 400 patients in one and 500 in another. At the Rafah field hospital, he was doing up to 10 surgeries a day.

“It is a very critical situation,” he said.

Hamdan founded the burns and plastic surgery department in Khan Younis’ Nasser Medical complex in 2002, after serving at the territory’s first such unit, at Shifa hospital. He headed the department at Nasser until 2019, when he retired.

When the Israeli army invaded Hamdan’s home city of Khan Younis in December, he returned as a volunteer at Nasser, Gaza’s second largest hospital, said his son Osama Hamdan, an orthopedic surgeon. His colleagues said he was cool under pressure. “The smile never left his face,” said Dr. Mohamad Awad, a surgeon who worked with him.

Soon after, Israeli forces besieged and raided Nasser Hospital, forcing its evacuation. Hamdan was displaced, taking shelter in the home of one of his daughters in Deir Al-Balah, further north.

Troops occupied Nasser hospital for weeks, wreaking extensive damage. After they withdrew, the facility was rehabilitated. In mid-June, Hamdan returned home and was discussing returning to work with hospital officials.

On July 2, Israel ordered another evacuation of Khan Younis. Hamdan and his family fled again, returning to his daughter’s home in Deir Al-Balah.

Only hours after they arrived, an airstrike hit the building on July 3 – “a direct hit with two rockets on my sister’s apartment,” Osama Hamdan said. He said no one in the family was affiliated with militant groups.

The Israeli military did not respond to requests for comment on the strike.

Osama was on duty in the emergency room at Nasser hospital when he received the call. His wife and two sons – 3 and 5 years old – were among those killed.

“I was only able to collect some body parts of my kids and their mother because of how huge the explosion was,” he said.

One of his sisters died days later in the hospital from her wounds. Another sister remains in intensive care.

Osama is feeling partially responsible. “I had pressed him to leave Khan Younis,” he said in a text message, marked with two broken hearts emojis.

Source: arabnews.com

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Amid new photos, families of Israel hostage soldiers plead for deal

July 17, 2024

TEL AVIV: The families of five Israeli women soldiers held hostage in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Tuesday pleaded with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make an accord for their release before he goes to Washington next week.

Facing mounting international and domestic criticism, Netanyahu is set to speak to a joint meeting of the US Congress on July 24 and to meet President Joe Biden. The families released new pictures of the detainees to increase pressure on Netanyahu.

“Prime Minister, we are begging, we are asking you, please make the deal happen. It can be before the Congress, it can be during the Congress while you’re giving your speech, but the deal must happen now,” said Sasha Ariev, the 24-year-old sister of 19-year-old hostage Karina Ariev.

“First a deal, and only then you can fly. Every day is critical for our daughters and all the hostages. We need you here,” added Shira Elbag, the mother of Liri Elbag.

The families spoke at one of an increasing number of events they organize to keep the hostages in the Israeli public spotlight.

Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas, 116 of whom are still in Gaza including 42 the Israeli military says are dead. Many are soldiers taken by the militants when they crossed into southern Israel.

Qatar and Egypt have been leading US-backed mediation efforts for several months in a bid to secure a ceasefire and a release of some hostages in return for Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

But Hamas has accused Netanyahu of seeking to torpedo a ceasefire deal with his vows to destroy Hamas amid Israel’s fierce military onslaught in Gaza.

On Sunday, a day after a massive Israeli strike aiming to kill Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif, a senior Hamas leader told AFP that the group was withdrawing from the ceasefire talks but could return if Israel’s attitude changed.

Netanyahu said on Tuesday, however, that he wanted to “increase pressure” on Hamas.

The families of the five hostages, part of the Hostages Families Forum, authorized the release of two undated photos of the five women in detention. The images appear to be of the soldiers in the first days of their detention. Some have bruises and cuts.

“Nine months have passed since my Daniela and the other girls have been held in these conditions, the conditions that can be seen in the photos we published,” said Orly Gilboa, the mother of Daniela Gilboa.

“This is my daughter. Look into her eyes, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister. Meet with us immediately so we can make her voice heard,” said Ayelet Levy, mother of Naama Levy, who appeared to be held separately from the other four. The picture of Levy showed her with one eye closed up and bruised.

“We are waiting for a face-to-face meeting with you to ensure that the negotiations are moving toward a signed deal that will bring Naama and all the hostages back,” said the senior Levy.

Source: arabnews.com

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Gaza city says water treatment stops, 700,000 face health ‘crisis’

July 16, 2024

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Wastewater pumping stations in one of Gaza’s main cities stopped working on Tuesday because fuel had run out, the local authority said, expressing fears that disease could rapidly spread.

Tens of thousands of people displaced by the Israel-Hamas war have sought shelter in Deir Al-Balah, and city authorities said more than 700,000 people could be at risk from a “health and environmental crisis.”

“Deir Al-Balah municipality announces the halt of water waste pumping stations because stocks of fuel necessary for their functioning are exhausted,” said a city statement.

It predicted that “roads will be flooded by waste water” and “diseases will spread.”

Gaza has had no electricity supplies since the war was unleashed by the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. The fuel-powered waste plants treat water that is then put into the Mediterranean.

“Nineteen pits and two large reservoirs are unusable in Deir Al-Balah,” Ismail Sarsour, an official with the city’s emergency committee, said ahead of the release of the statement.

He said the stations handle wastewater for more than 140 points of shelter where tens of thousands of people have taken refuge.

The Palestinian Authority’s water department, the PWA, which is based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said recently it had arranged for tens of thousands of liters of fuel to enter Gaza.

But Palestinian experts said the water crisis is so deep that the fuel alone would not help. Sarsour and the experts said there was also a critical shortage of spare parts to repair damaged infrastructure.

Israel said this month that, with help from the UN children’s agency UNICEF, it has connected one desalination plant in southern Gaza to its electricity network. It is unclear if the plant has started working.

The Palestinian Authority also said Tuesday that it expected electricity supplies to start again in central Gaza in “coming days” to power public infrastructure. Israeli authorities have not confirmed the move.

Israel’s military offensive since October 7 has killed at least 38,713 people, mostly civilians, according to figures from Hamas-run Gaza’s health ministry.

The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Source: arabnews.com

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South Asia

 

Italy and Spain considering reopening embassies in Afghanistan

July 17, 2024

Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that Italy and Spain are considering reopening their embassies in Kabul.

Some European countries are examining similar actions, but French, German, and British officials have denied such plans.

Italy recently sent an intelligence team to Kabul to assess security and current conditions.

Italy’s Foreign Minister confirmed that their ambassador, currently stationed in Doha, Qatar, visited Kabul.

Antonio Tajani, speaking at the NATO summit in Washington, stated, “We are working on this issue. A mission by our ambassador has been launched.”

Tajani also mentioned existing human rights issues in Afghanistan, describing their solutions as complex and time-consuming.

Spain is among the countries considering sending back its ambassador to Afghanistan.

Jose Manuel Albares, Spain’s Foreign Minister, stated, “As soon as minimal security conditions are met, I will send back our ambassador.”

Spain had been ready to send its ambassador to Afghanistan since a month ago but delayed after the ISIS attack on foreign tourists in Bamiyan.

Albares added that Spain’s ambassador had a brief visit to Kabul following this attack.

No European country operates its embassy inside Afghanistan, but the EU delegation remains active in Kabul.

Many countries, including the United States, manage their diplomatic representations for Afghanistan from Doha.

However, no countries officially recognize the Taliban regime since the group took power in August 2021.

These developments reflect ongoing deliberations among European nations regarding their diplomatic presence in Afghanistan, balancing security concerns with commitments to human rights and strategic engagement.

The decision-making process underscores the complexities involved in re-establishing diplomatic relations amidst evolving geopolitical dynamics and ongoing security challenges in Afghanistan.

Source: khaama.com

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Islamic Emirate Plans to Expand Public Meetings to Address Concerns in Remote Regions

2024-07-17

KABUL(BNA): The Deputy Prime Minister for Political Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has emphasized the need to extend joint meetings between Islamic Emirate officials and citizens to remote areas.

According to a statement released by ARG, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, the Deputy PM for Political Affairs, held a meeting with Mawlawi Noorullah Noori, the Acting Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs.

During the meeting, Mawlawi Noorullah Noori provided an update on the achievements of the ministry. He noted that a series of large public meetings have been initiated in central provinces, which have been effective in strengthening the relationship between the Islamic Emirate and the people, bridging gaps, and addressing public concerns.

He further highlighted the ministry’s initiative that successfully resolved grazing land disputes between the Hazara and Kochi communities through a mutually agreed-upon plan. He also mentioned that the ministry has resolved numerous ethnic tensions and family feuds in various districts and regions, and this process is ongoing.

For his part, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir commended the ministry’s efforts, particularly its focus on resolving ethnic issues, which he deemed crucial. He stressed the importance of prioritizing the resolution of ethnic tensions and acknowledged the positive impact of the ministry’s initiatives.

In addition, Mawlawi Abdul Kabir underscored the necessity of extending joint meetings between government officials and citizens to more remote areas to ensure broader engagement and problem-solving. He also issued directives on various other matters to the Acting Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs highlighting the need for continued efforts in these areas.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

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General Directorate of Passport Reports 12 Billion Afghanis Revenue, Plans for Capacity Expansion with New Centers

2024-07-17

KABUL(BNA): The General Directorate of Passport has reported generating approximately 12 billion Afghanis in revenue from passport issuance over the past year, according to Mawlawi Abdul Karim Hasib, the General Director of Passport.

In a press conference, Mawlawi Abdul Karim Hasib stated that the distribution process is normal in 15 provinces, and efforts are underway to normalize it in other provinces. The daily passport issuance capacity has reached 12,000 across the country. Over 2 million passports were issued last year, and around 2.5 million new passports have been imported.

He stated that, to further increase capacity, three new centers will open in Kabul, each serving up to 2,000 applicants daily. additionally, the directorate has also facilitated visa extensions for foreign nationals, adding over one million US dollars to the government treasury.

Other key activities include issuing passports to 23,000 Hajj pilgrims, providing daily appointments for 20,000 online applicants, and combating administrative corruption.

Mawlawi Abdul Karim Hasib also mentioned that approximately 1.5 million people had registered for passports, with 99% receiving their documents. Those awaiting their appointments should check the system and visit the directorate accordingly.

It is reported that in 15 days, the central passport office’s online site will open weekly to address all pending applications within a week.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

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China Delivers First Tranche of 100 Million Yuan Aid to Support Afghan Displaced Families and Returnees

2024-07-17

KABUL(BNA): China has delivered the first tranche of its pledged 100 million yuan aid to Afghanistan’s internally displaced persons and returnees. The aid was officially handed over in Kabul by Chinese Ambassador Zhao Xing to Khalil Rahman Haqqani, the Acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriation.

During the occasion, Acting Minister Khalil Rahman Haqqani expressed his gratitude for the Chinese support and called for the continuation of such aid. He urged other nations to also contribute to helping the internally displaced and returning Afghans.

Minister Haqqani further assured that the ministry is committed to ensuring that the aid reaches the needy and deserving individuals promptly.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Zhao Xing reaffirmed China’s commitment to supporting Afghan refugees in their resettlement efforts. He acknowledged the severe impact of prolonged conflict in Afghanistan, which has displaced many residents, and stressed that China will continue to provide necessary assistance.

The aid package includes 80 small vehicles such as Hiluxes, ambulances, water tankers, and freight trucks, over 6,000 large and small tents, and 5,100 blankets.

It’s worth mentioning that, this delivery marks the beginning of China’s pledged 100 million yuan support to help Afghanistan’s displaced population.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

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UN Strives to Foster Trust Between Afghanistan and the World

2024-07-17

KABUL(BNA): In a promising meeting with Kandahar’s Deputy Governor Haji Mullah Mohammad Sadiq Inqilabi, Alexander, the UN representative in southwestern Afghanistan, stated that the United Nations is striving to increase the level of trust between Afghanistan and the international community.

He added that by accurately portraying the ongoing developments in Afghanistan, United Nations aims to convince other nations of the progress and services being rendered in the country.

Meanwhile, Deputy Governor Mawlavi Inqilabi expressed his appreciation for the services and assistance provided by the UN and related agencies, noting that the United Nations serves as a bridge between Afghanistan and the world.

He further emphasized that the UN should fulfill its responsibilities effectively and share the positive image and achievements of Afghanistan with the international community.

Source: bakhtarnews.af

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‘Ashura brings message of unity to Islamic Ummah’

16 Jul 2024

KABUL (Pajhwok): Participants of the Ashura procession in the capital Kabul have expressed happiness about the security arrangements and said the Ashura Day brought the message of unity, brotherhood and solidarity between Muslims.

The 10th of Muharramul Harram marked the martyrdom day of Hazrat Imam Hussain, the grandson of Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH).

Imam Hussain and his 72 companions were ruthlessly martyred on this day back in the 61st Hijri Qamari year in Iraq’s Karbala City.

Strict security measures have been put in place for the Ashura procession in the capital Kabul. Mobile networks remained off as part of the security arrangement.

Gatherings in this regard took place in different places with the main event organised at Kabul City Khatamun Nabeen Mosque.

Shaikh Shahabuddin Dilawar, head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), while addressing a gathering said Ashura Day brought the message of the Islamic Ummah unity.

He said: “Each companion had his own characteristics, the characteristic of Imam Hussain (RA) was to stand against falsehood, not to surrender to martyrdom and to the oppressor, this is a lesson for us, we Afghans stood against the Soviet Union and turned the Soviet Union into Russia, we sacrificed hundreds of thousands of martyrs, as a result of which the invaders left Afghanistan and humiliated.”

Shaikh Dilawar said disunity was promoted amongst Afghans in the past 47 years under the name of Shia, Sunni, south, east, west and north but now with the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan the environment of brotherhood had been established nationwide.

Shakh Niamatullah Ghafari, the member of the Shia Association, said the Ashura Day brings the message of unity, solidarity and brotherhood amongst Muslims.

He, however, said: “Unfortunately, in some cases Sunni and Shia sects followers mocked their religious sacraments.”

The Ashura precession ceremony was telecasted live from Tamandon TV.

According to the report 13,000 security personnel have been deployed nationwide to ensure law and order, a group of Khawaraj militants have been arrested with weapons and explosives in the fifth Police District of Kabul, another group, including some women arrested while bringing the Ashura-related flags down.

He said: “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan told us that removing flags is not our duty.”

Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has expressed his condolences to the people and Muslims of the world on the occasion of the 10th of Muharram and prayed for the soul of Imam Hussain (RA) and other martyrs of Karbala.

“The teachings of the holy religion of Islam are the axis of unity and brotherhood of our people, which played a fundamental role in strengthening the unity and harmony of our nation, so that Afghanistan is recognized as a successful example of unity among Islamic countries.”

He expressed confidence that the countrymen will strive for a developed, awakened and self-sufficient Afghanistan with complete unity and brotherhood by taking advantage of the virtues and blessings of this day.

Source: pajhwok.com

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https://pajhwok.com/2024/07/16/ashura-brings-message-of-unity-to-islamic-ummah/

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Taliban plans to distribute 6,000 passports daily in Kabul

July 17, 2024

The General Passport Office of Afghanistan has established three passport distribution centers in Kabul: Darul Aman, Qala-e-Zaman Khan, and Tangi Tarkhil.

Abdul Karim Haseeb, the head of the General Passport Office, stated that these centers were inaugurated on Wednesday, July 17th.

Mr. Haseeb mentioned that these centers would provide services for up to 2,000 applicants daily.

He emphasized that the office has addressed 99% of applicants’ requests, and the capacity for passport distribution in the centers and provinces is set to increase to 12,000 passports per day.

According to the statistics of this office, over two million passports were distributed across the country last year, generating revenues of up to 12 billion Afghanis in this area.

The first center, Darul Aman, is located near the former Parliament building, the second center, Qala-e-Zaman Khan, is in Shadab Zafar City, and the third in Tangi Tarkhil, previously associated with the Legal Directorate of the Ministry of Justice.

Meanwhile, the number of passport applicants has significantly increased over the past two years, with thousands of people visiting these centers in Kabul and provinces nationwide to obtain passports.

According to the report, a significant portion of Afghanistan’s population has expressed a desire to leave the country since the Taliban assumed power. This sentiment stems from various factors, including the lack of financial stability and job opportunities under the current regime.

Additionally, many cite oppressive policies imposed by the Taliban as a contributing factor driving people to seek refuge elsewhere.

The deteriorating economic conditions and stringent social restrictions imposed by the Taliban have created an environment of uncertainty and hardship for Afghan citizens. As a result, many people feel compelled to consider migration as a means to secure a better future for themselves and their families amidst concerns about the country’s economic prospects and personal safety.

Meanwhile, since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, embassies abroad have halted the distribution of passports, leaving many Afghans outside the country unable to obtain this essential document.

Source: khaama.com

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https://www.khaama.com/taliban-plans-to-distribute-6000-passports-daily-in-kabul/

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Taliban shuts down Kabul telecom network during Ashura

July 16, 2024

Simultaneous with the observance of Ashura ceremonies, reports indicate that the Taliban have completely shut down all telecommunications networks in Kabul, the capital city.

According to the reports, Taliban forces have also blocked all roads in western Kabul, claiming to ensure security.

The telecommunications networks have been down in Kabul since Tuesday morning, according to sources.

Meanwhile, the Taliban forces have prohibited the movement of residents in western Kabul along with the telecom shutdown.

In previous years, the Taliban have also disrupted telecommunications networks in some Afghanistan cities during Ashura.

The Taliban have not officially commented on the telecommunications and internet services shut down.

Meanwhile, the Taliban’s actions during Ashura underscore ongoing security challenges in Kabul, impacting communication and movement in the capital.

The situation raises concerns about broader implications for civilian life and operations in the city amid escalating tensions and security measures.

Source: khaama.com

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https://www.khaama.com/taliban-shuts-down-kabul-telecom-network-during-ashura/

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