Indonesia: Radical Cleric Rejects Violence, Denies Role in Bali Bombings
New
Age Islam News Bureau
20
February 2021
------------
• Muslim
scholar: Human rights policy needs to focus on religious scholars, not just
activists
• India
uses envoys’ visit to expose Pakistan’s terror role
• Islam
Stresses Peaceful Coexistence, Social Justice, Equality: CM
• Biden
won’t change hostile Iran policy in place since 1979: Analyst
• US
should consult Taliban on any Afghan pullout delay: Pakistani envoy
• ISIS
claims responsibility in killing of 4 Tunisia soldiers, beheading: US monitor
• Turkey
urges action against racism on anniv. of Hanau attacks
Southeast
Asia
• Indonesia:
Radical Cleric Rejects Violence, Denies Role in Bali Bombings
• Singapore,
Indonesia say ASEAN can play important role in Myanmar
• Indonesian
prosecutor wants 10 years for cleric's attacker
--------
Arab
World
• Muslim
scholar: Human rights policy needs to focus on religious scholars, not just
activists
• Will
Northeastern Syria Turn Into A Stand-Off Between The U.S. and Turkey?
• Lebanon:
UN seeks funds to extend tribunal investigating Rafik Hariri assassination
• Beirut
blast victims' families protest after lead investigator removed from role
• Saudi
Arabia to invest over $20 bln in domestic military industry over next decade
• Arabic
Language classes record enrollment surge amid COVID-19 pandemic: UAE experts
--------
India
• India
uses envoys’ visit to expose Pakistan’s terror role
• Metro
man’s first salvo: Hindus being tricked into marriage by ‘love jihad’
• Mosque
In UP's Gorakhpur Found Vandalised, Cops Deployed: Police
• Case
filed to remove mosque next to Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi
• 2
cops shot in Valley; 3 Badr terrorists killed
• Indo-Pak
Peace Calendar 2021 to be launched virtually on Feb 21
• Ahmedabad:
Anti-Terrorist Squad arrests Mumbai man in Rs 1-crore drug case
--------
Pakistan
• Islam
Stresses Peaceful Coexistence, Social Justice, Equality: CM
• Malala
questions Imran Khan, Pak Army over threatening post by Taliban terrorist
• Pakistani
American venture capitalist gets 12 years imprisonment
• 'Caught
red-handed': Maryam claims votes stolen in Wazirabad by-election for PTI
• Pakistan
committed to Afghan peace process, says Bajwa
• Five
soldiers martyred in South Waziristan attack
--------
North
America
• Biden
won’t change hostile Iran policy in place since 1979: Analyst
• US,
Pakistan military officials meet over troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
• Biden
says US, Europe must address Iran’s ‘destabilizing activities’ in Middle East
• US
informed Israel ahead of Iran policy announcement: Report
• Pentagon
says no decision made yet regarding US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan
• US
reporter held by al-Qaida-linked group in Syria released
--------
South
Asia
• US
should consult Taliban on any Afghan pullout delay: Pakistani envoy
• NATO
chief urges Afghan govt, Taliban to step up peace talks
• Myanmar’s
minorities show unity against coup after protester dies
• US
calls on Taliban to end violence in Afghanistan
• Afghan
police: 3 separate Kabul explosions kill 5, wound 2
• Bangladesh's
Chittagong Archdiocese gets new archbishop
--------
Mideast
• Iran
reacts to US talks offer: Lift sanctions before we reverse nuclear actions
• Rouhani
Asks EU to Stand against US Bullying Policies
• Dozens
of Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in West Bank
• US
will continue to dissuade countries from selling arms to Iran
• Equatorial
Guinea set to move embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds
• Battle
for Ma’rib: Yemeni army, allies make big advances on eastern front
• Independence-seeking
Yemen will never accept guardianship of US, Israel, Saudi Arabia: Houthi
--------
Africa
• ISIS
claims responsibility in killing of 4 Tunisia soldiers, beheading: US monitor
• Algeria
frees imprisoned journalist, pro-democracy activists
• Sudanese
refugee kills French immigration official after asylum request rejected
• Jordan
says troops kill two drug smugglers on border with Syria
• Morocco
suppressing activists in Western Sahara after deal with Israel
• Gunfire
erupts in Mogadishu as Somali government forces seal off streets
• At
least 18 killed in attacks in Burkina Faso and Mali
• Algeria
trial opens over kidnapping and murder of French tourist
--------
Europe
• Turkey
urges action against racism on anniv. of Hanau attacks
• BBC
unapologetic to Muslims but acknowledges concerns
• Teen,
16, arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences in Derbyshire
• Bestselling
new book tells story of Europe’s forgotten Muslims
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/indonesia-radical-cleric-rejects-violence/d/124358
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Indonesia:
Radical Cleric Rejects Violence, Denies Role in Bali Bombings
2021-02-18
Cleric
Abu Bakar Bashir on Thursday denied that he knew about the 2002 Bali bombings
ahead of time and said he opposed violence in Islam’s name, as counterterrorism
officials visited him as part of their monitoring of former terrorist inmates.
The
elderly Bashir spoke to officials from the National Counterterrorism Agency
(BNPT) as they dropped by at his home in Sukoharjo, Central Java, for the first
time since his release last month after serving a decade in prison on
terror-related charges. His lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said Bashir told the
officials he had never supported acts of violence in the name of religion.
“What
are you afraid of? I will not carry out a bombing, I will never carry out a
bombing,” Michdan quoted Bashir as saying.
The
82-year-old radical cleric had no prior knowledge of the 2002 Bali bomb plot
and claimed that no one told him about it or asked for his permission, Michdan
said.
“The
Bali bombing is straightforward, if they had told me or I found out, for sure I
would have said no,” Bashir said, according to his lawyer.
Bashir,
who co-founded Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the al-Qaeda-linked group blamed for
deadly attacks in Indonesia in the 2000s, was freed from prison on Jan. 8 after
serving nearly 10 years of a 15-year sentence for funding a militant training
camp. Authorities cut 55 months off his term for good behavior.
JI
was blamed for the October 2002 twin bomb attacks on Bali Island that killed
202 people. Most of the victims of Indonesia’s deadliest terrorist attack to
date were foreigners, including 88 Australians.
When
he received the news of Bashir’s release in January, Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison said his nation would have to respect the Indonesian justice
system’s decision.
“[T]his
is very distressing to the friends and families of the Australians, the 88
Australians who were killed in the Bali bombings of 2002. I still remember that
day very vividly, like I’m sure many Australians do,” he said, according to an
official transcript.
Australians
have called Bashir the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings even as the U.S.
Justice Department noted in 2005 that he was acquitted of a terrorism charge
related to the attack.
Morrison
said that he and his predecessors had always called for the perpetrators of the
Bali bombings “to face tougher, proportionate and just sentences in these
cases.”
However,
Bashir’s release was a matter of the Indonesia’s justice system, Morrison said.
“We
have made clear through our Embassy in Jakarta the concerns we have that such
individuals be prevented from further inciting others,” the PM added.
While
Indonesian prosecutors could not link Bashir to the bombings, a Jakarta court
found him guilty of falsifying documents and sentenced him to 18 months in
prison. The conviction was dismissed after an appeal.
He
was arrested in 2010 and sentenced in 2011 to 15 years on charges that he had
helped fund a training camp for Islamic militants in Aceh province and incited
extremists to carry out terrorist attacks.
Bashir:
Pancasila ‘good’
During
the one-hour meeting with Bashir, Irfan Idris, BNPT’s director for
de-radicalization asked the cleric for his opinion about the state ideology
known as Pancasila, to which Bashir replied that it was “good.”
“Pancasila
has elements of monotheism, acknowledging that there’s one and only God. It
would be better if the law is also God’s law, Islamic law,” Bashir said.
But
while he was in prison, Bashir refused to take part in deradicalization
programs or pledge allegiance to the state.
BNPT’s
head of community development, Col. Salahuddin Nasution, said the visit was in
line with the agency’s task of monitoring former terrorism convicts.
Indonesia
has no law that forces terrorism convicts to follow a de-radicalization
program, Nasution said.
“There
is no compulsion for convicts to accept deradicalization programs but guiding
them is our job. So we stay in touch with them and monitor them. That they
accept us is a good thing,” he said.
Michdan
said Bashir was planning to visit BNPT and meet with its director, Boy Rafli
Amar, to share views about fighting terrorism in Indonesia.
Irfan
said the agency would open its doors for Bashir.
‘A
victim of false information’
Authorities
had also accused Bashir of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State extremist
group in 2014, but his spokesman said at the time that the cleric was merely
expressing support for the creation of an Islamic caliphate in Indonesia, the
world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation.
A
photo of Bashir sitting with known Islamic State followers in a prison against
the backdrop of the IS flag circulated online at that time.
His
son, Abdul Rohim, said that his father’s views had softened after discussions
with family members and that he had received no visits by people known to
harbor radical views.
He
said Bashir had been misled into believing that the IS was a force for good.
“As
we’ve always said, he was a victim of false information,” Rohim told BenarNews.
Last
week, Bashir visited Gontor and Tebuireng, two of the most well-known moderate
Islamic boarding schools in his hometown in Jombang, a regency in East Java
province, where he prayed at the graves of clerics. Bashir himself is an
alumnus of Gontor.
Rohim
said the visit was part of the family’s commitment to distance Bashir from
radicalism.
“This
is also for the sake of re-establishing relationships that have been cut off
for a long time,” Rohim said.
Tebuireng
spokesman Teuku Azwani confirmed that Bashir had visited the boarding school
and met with its caretaker, cleric Abdul Hakim Mahfudz.
“He
came with his son and the conversation revolved around how they were doing,”
Azwani told BenarNews.
According
to a terrorism analyst at Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe, Al Chaidar,
Bashir’s trips to the boarding schools should be no cause for concern.
“He’s
old and he wanted to visit his old school and his friends,” he told BenarNews.
And
while Bashir remains a believer in establishing an Islamic state, he appears to
have eschewed violence, said Muhammad Taufiqurrohman, a researcher at the
Center for Radicalism and Deradicalization Studies (PAKAR).
“Muslims
of the world must unite under one leadership, the caliphate. There should be no
mass organizations and no political parties,” Bashir told his congregation in a
recorded January sermon heard by BenarNews.
Taufiqurrohman
said he believed that Bashir no longer recognized IS as the true caliphate by
acknowledging that there was no single Islamic state in the world.
“I
think his trips were intended to convey the message of unity,” Taufiqurrohman
told BenarNews.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/cleric-visit-02182021165002.html
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Muslim
scholar: Human rights policy needs to focus on religious scholars, not just
activists
February
16, 2021
By
Dr. James M. Dorsey
A
prominent Muslim scholar has warned that the West’s failure to include the
incarceration in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Muslim world of
pro-democracy religious scholars risks perpetuating autocratic rule.
“The
world manufactures the condition that it condemns. We don’t rise up to condemn
the persecution of Muslim democrats when it occurs, and we don’t go out of our
way to protect Muslim democrats. In fact, there is a deeply embedded hypocrisy
when it comes to the Muslim world,” said Khaled Abou el Fadel, a Kuwait-born University
of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Islamic law professor and human rights
activist.
Mr.
Abou el Fadel was speaking at a virtual conference, organized by the
Washington-based Arab Center for Law and Research to focus attention on Sheikh
Salman al Oudeh, a popular but controversial religious scholar, who is one of
several religious figures incarcerated since 2017 on terrorism-related charges.
Saudi prosecutors have demanded the death sentence for Mr. Al-Oudeh.
The
conference was held days after prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain
al-Hathloul was released after more than three years in prison as part of the
kingdom’s effort to blunt criticism from the Biden administration that has
pledged to make human rights a central plank of its foreign policy.
Mr.
Al-Oudeh was detained after he called in a tweet to his millions of followers
for reconciliation with Qatar in the wake of the economic and diplomatic
boycott imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on
the Gulf state.
A
long-standing Islamist proponent of reform in Saudi Arabia with an affinity for
the Muslim Brotherhood, Mr. Al-Oudeh has been in and out of prison as his
thinking evolved from a degree of support for jihadism against foreign
occupation to becoming a key figure in the government’s efforts to rehabilitate
militants and steer youth away from militancy.
In
the wake of the 2011 popular Arab revolts that toppled the leaders of Tunisia,
Egypt, Libya and Yemen, Mr. Al Oudeh became a proponent of peaceful revolution
to achieve social and political change, the importance of civil society,
humanist interpretations of Islam, contextualization of Islamic law, rejection
of theocracy, pluralism as opposed to sectarianism, minority rights, and
democracy.
He
laid out his thinking that was grounded in Islamic tradition in a book, Aislat
al-Thawra (Questions of Revolution),
that was immediately banned in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Al-Oudeh was initially barred
from leaving the kingdom and delivering sermons in mosques while his popular
television program was shut down.
Critics
charged that Mr. Al-Oudeh’s thinking represented a fusion of Western principles
with his Salafist background rather than a break with the ultra-conservative
school of thought. They also asserted that the scholar vacillated between
silence and reconciliation on issues of gender and minorities such as Shiites.
Mr.
Abou el Fadel, who has rejected repeated Saudi attempts to co-opt him,
positioned the importance of thinkers like Mr. Al-Oudeh and the need to include
them in Western support of human rights in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the
Middle East in the context of a sustained autocratic campaign to suppress any
call for political change that is rooted in Islamic theology.
“There
is a well-orchestrated, systematic assault against all forms of theological
thinking in Islam that is supportive of reconciling Islamic theology and ethics
with democratic governance, accountability in governance, limited power in
governance, rule of law in governance, and a system of rights… The only
democracy that can survive in the Islamic world is a democracy that reconciles
itself with Islamic values. The idea that a democracy that is antithetical to
Islamic values has no future in the Muslim world,” Mr. Abou el Fadel said.
“Those
that rule countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the Emirates know
that very well. And that is why…they are targeting the ideological thrust of
democracy itself. We must recognize that the idea of political despotism as an
unethical enterprise is well supported in the Islamic tradition… But it was
always recognized as a rather unideal situation, an ethical failure that can be
tolerated, but an ethical failure nonetheless,” he went on to say.
Targeting
Middle Eastern projections of a ‘moderate’ Islam that propagates absolute
obedience to the ruler, rejects political change, and endorses authoritarian,
if not autocratic rule, Mr. Abou el Fadel argued that “there is no way to
reconcile between despotism and monotheism and tawhid (the oneness of God). The
very notion of tawhid, the very notion of being a Muslim and submitting to God
means that you cannot submit to a mundane ruler absolutely and totally. No
mundane ruler has a moral claim to represent the rule of God.”
“It
is why the persecution of Salman al Oudeh must end. It is a blotch on the
conscience of the world. The world of human rights, the world of democratic
advocacy will remain in a perpetual state of hypocrisy as long as people like
Salman al Oudeh remain in prison and confront a very dark future,” Mr. Abou el
Fadel said.
By
implication, Mr. Abou el Fadl was arguing that Western governments and
activists were doing themselves a disservice by not putting equal emphasis on
getting secular civil society activists and religious dissidents sprung from
jail.
To
be fair, human rights groups like Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International,
ALQST, and Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) have highlighted the plight
of Mr. Al-Oudeh and other religious figures. Mr. Abou el Fadel serves on an
advisory board of Human Rights Watch.
Founded
by murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, DAWN counts Mr. Al-Oudeh’s son,
Abdullah Aloudh, a Washington-based scholar, among its senior executives.
While
Western governments, including the Biden administration, have largely remained
silent, analysts and activists appear at times to diverge on what the emphasis
of human rights pressure on Saudi Arabia should be.
Saudi
Arabia scholar Madawi al-Rasheed recently took issue with a suggestion by Bruce
Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar, former CIA official and ex-advisor on
South Asia and the Middle East to several US presidents, to focus in the wake
of the release of Ms. Al-Hathloul on the plight of former Saudi crown prince
and interior minister Mohammed bin Nayef.
Prince
Mohammed, a US darling widely viewed as a potential threat to Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman, was arrested a year ago on charges of treason and has been
held incommunicado since.
“Bruce
Riedel forgets the abysmal human rights record of MBN who consolidated the
Saudi police state that MBS came to benefit from. Instead of calling for
putting him on trial, he wants him free,” Ms. Al-Rasheed tweeted. She was
referring to the two Saudi princes by their initials.
In
a separate tweet, Ms. Al-Rashid added: “No piecemeal progress on the plight of
prisoners of conscience – all prisoners of conscience mean all prisoners.”
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/02/16/muslim-scholar-human-rights-policy-needs-to-focus-on-religious-scholars-not-just-activists/
--------
India
uses envoys’ visit to expose Pakistan’s terror role
Feb
20, 2021
NEW
DELHI: The visit by 24 foreign envoys to Jammu & Kashmir was meant to allow
the diplomats to witness, first-hand, J&K’s march on the path of inclusive
development and the “dynamism in grassroots democratic institutions” following
the successful conduct of local elections, the ministry of external affairs
said after conclusion of the visit.
In
a statement, the MEA said the envoys visited the Chinar Corps headquarter in
Srinagar where they got a briefing on the prevailing security situation,
including external threats, in J&K. India has also used the visit by
foreign envoys to counter the campaign by Pakistan to corner India over alleged
human rights violations and to expose Pakistan’s support to cross-border
terrorism. The government said there was an enhanced interest in the ongoing
political and democratic process, including strengthening of grassroots
democracy in J&K.
“Both
in Srinagar and Jammu, the group interacted with representatives from civil
society, including youth from different ethnic, religious and socio-economic
communities, local business and political members, civil administration and
representatives of mainstream media,” the MEA said, adding that the visiting
envoys were also made aware of the new industrial policy of J&K and were
invited to take part in the economic growth and development of UT. An EU
official said the EU had taken note of recent steps like election of district
development councils and the resumption of 4G internet services. He said the
right to freedom of expression online and offline was a key value for all
democracies. “The visit presented a chance to see the situation on ground and
interact with local interlocutors, as part of EU‘s outreach to all stakeholders.
We look forward to continuing our dialogue with India on this,” he said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/india-uses-envoys-visit-to-expose-pakistans-terror-role/articleshow/81120162.cms
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Islam
Stresses Peaceful Coexistence, Social Justice, Equality: CM
Muhammad
Irfan
19th
February 2021
LAHORE,
(UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Feb, 2021 ) :Punjab Chief Minister
Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that islam stressed peaceful coexistence, social
justice and equality as the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) had given the
message of ensuring justice with everyone.
In
his message on World day of social justice to be observed on February 20
(Saturday), the CM regretted the oppressed Kashmiris were facing the worst
conditions due to socio-economic injustices perpetrated by the Indian
government in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
India
had made the lives of the Kashmiris miserable and it was the worst example of
social injustice that Kashmiris were continuously deprived of even the basic facilities
of life, he deplored.
The
societies lacking social justice and equality fade away, the CM observed and
said the PTI government was the torch-bearer of social justice as a society
based on justice and equality was imperative for composite development, he
continued. Similarly, the government had prioritised ensuring justice for
establishing a better society and a composite policy was being followed by the
government in this regard, he added. The purpose of celebrating this day was to
highlight the importance of social justice, concluded the CM.
https://www.urdupoint.com/en/pakistan/islam-stresses-peaceful-coexistence-social-j-1172944.html
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Biden
won’t change hostile Iran policy in place since 1979: Analyst
20
February 2021
The
United States has been pursuing a hostile policy toward Iran since the Islamic
Revolution of 1979 and the administration of President Joe Biden is unlikely to
change that approach, says an American author and political commentator.
The
United States has been locked in a standoff with Iran over the fate of the
historic 2015 nuclear agreement, which it unilaterally withdrew from under
former president Donald Trump. Trump also reimposed the sanctions that were
lifted by the deal and unleashed what his team called a “maximum pressure
campaign” with the stated objective of forcing Iran to negotiate “a better
agreement.”
Trump’s
successor, Biden, has expressed a willingness to return to the nuclear accord,
formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, his
administration is demanding to see changes from Tehran before Washington
considers lifting the sanctions. Iranian officials insist that as the party
that has abandoned its international obligations; the US should take the first
step by removing the unlawful bans in a manner that could be verifiable by
Tehran.
Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that despite the shift in rhetoric, the
Biden administration has essentially maintained the maximum pressure policy of
the Trump team. “It has been a month now that the Biden administration has been
continuing Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ policy of lawlessness, one-upmanship, and
bullying,” he said on Wednesday.
“Now
Mr. Zarif knows full well that this is not just a continuation of Trump (and
Pompeo's policy) but a continuation of Reagan, Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama AND
Trump's policy,” John Steppling told Press TV in an emailed interview. “Not
much has changed, really, since the revolution. There was cosmetic reshuffling
of memes and optics, but little of substance has changed. The embargo began in
1995.”
In
a move that US officials framed as a significant step toward reviving diplomacy
with Iran, the Biden administration on Thursday appeared to be backing away
from a Trump administration effort to restore international sanctions on Iran.
Acting
US Ambassador Richard Mills told the UN Security Council on Thursday that the
United States was withdrawing a Trump administration assertion that all UN
sanctions had been reimposed on Iran in September.
However,
the move was largely symbolic as the Islamic Republic, along with the European
signatories and the UN secretary general, had already dismissed the Trump
administration’s claim as unfounded, arguing that the United States was in no
position to invoke a provision in the 2015 Security Council resolution
endorsing the JCPOA that allowed the “snapback” of sanctions because it was no
longer a party to the multilateral agreement.
Foreign
Minister Zarif urged the Biden administration on Friday to match its words with
action and unconditionally lift all the sanctions imposed by the Trump team.
“US unconditionally & effectively lift all sanctions imposed, re-imposed or
re-labeled by Trump,” he said in a tweet. “We will then immediately reverse all
remedial measures.”
Leader
of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has asserted that the
Islamic Republic would only return to its commitments in the nuclear deal once
the illegal sanctions were removed.
Following
the US withdrawal in May 2018, Iran waited for an entire year for the European
signatories to the JCPOA to hold up their end of their bargain and secure
Iranian business interests guaranteed by the deal in the face of US sanctions.
However, as the Europeans failed to deliver under US pressure, Tehran began to
scale back its commitments in several phases in retaliation.
The
White House said on Friday that the administration would take to additional
actions before negotiations with Iran and world powers about a possible US
return to the nuclear agreement. “There is no plan to take additional steps” in
advance of having a “diplomatic conversation,” White House spokeswoman Jen
Psaki told reporters.
“What
does the US hope to get out such policy? I think the answer is that they don't
really know. They simply know that Iran is 'uncooperative.' And any country who dares to disobey American
diktats will be disciplined,” Steppling said. “Iran is not going all along with
the program the way KSA or the UAE is, or the NATO countries.”
He
said Iranian leaders know that the Biden administration will not simply change
the hostile policy toward Iran that has been in place since the Islamic
Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed Pahlavi monarchy in the country.
Since
1979, Steppling said, the United States has engaged in a treacherous propaganda
campaign to blame Iran for “the worsening of relations.”
“This
is very typical of how propaganda works. Decontextualize facts. Omit key
elements, and erase history,” he noted.
“It’s funny how Iran is blamed for human rights abuses but Saudi Arabia
and Israel are not. Or the US itself. The real reason is buried in there,
however; Iran's growing influence. What is not listed is how the US fears any
regional power, and by extension how Israel fears it.”
Steppling
noted that that the United States and its allies have been recalibrating their
policy in the Middle East to fit in more broadly with their imperialist agenda
in the 21st century, adding that Iran stood in the way of that agenda.
“Iran
will be on the side of Russia, of course. And this scares the US,” he
explained. “Iran is closer to Africa,
geographically, and that’s dangerous because Africa is the big jewel in the
21st century Colonial crown.”
“It’s
really a new scramble for Africa. They have more minerals and resources than
any other place on earth. Africa in many ways is the future,” he concluded.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/20/645651/Biden-not-change-hostile-Iran-policy-
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US
should consult Taliban on any Afghan pullout delay: Pakistani envoy
FEB
19, 2021
The
United States should consult the Taliban on any extension of a May 1 deadline
for a full US troop pullout from Afghanistan and should not decide
unilaterally, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States said on Friday.
Ambassador
Asad Majeed Khan's comments come as the Biden administration conducts a review
of a February 2020 deal with the Taliban that is expected to determine whether
it will meet the deadline to withdraw the last US soldiers from America's
longest war.
US
and European officials say the Taliban have not fulfilled commitments they made
in the accord and that conditions are not conducive to advancing the peace
process amid a surge in violence blamed on the insurgents.
The
Taliban, seeking to reimpose Islamic rule in Afghanistan after their 2001
ouster at the hands of US-led troops, deny the charges and indicate they will
resume attacks on US and allied troops unless the May deadline is kept.
Khan
told an online forum sponsored by the Stimson Center that US officials should
consult the Taliban before deciding whether to maintain the last 2,500 US
troops in Afghanistan.
"That
is where the process should start," Khan said. "To present this as a
fait accompli, I think, will only create difficulty."
Khan's
comments were significant as Pakistan, which helped facilitate the US-Taliban
negotiations in Doha that clinched the February 2020 deal, wields considerable
influence with the insurgents.
The
insurgents have sanctuaries in Pakistan, whose main military-run intelligence
service gives them support, according to US and Afghan officials. Pakistan
denies the allegation.
"If
there is strong justification and reasoning to have an extension for logistical
or other reasons, the parties have overcome difficulties ... before in terms of
reaching common ground," Khan said. "It's really also a question of
the credibility of the United States."
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-should-consult-taliban-on-any-afghan-pullout-delay-pakistani-envoy-101613755088082.html
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ISIS
claims responsibility in killing of 4 Tunisia soldiers, beheading: US monitor
19
February ,2021
The
ISIS group has claimed responsibility for the February 3 killing of four
soldiers in a rugged region of central Tunisia, SITE Intelligence Group
reported.
The
US monitor of extremist groups said late on Thursday that the soldiers were
killed in three blasts ignited by its fighters near Mount Mghila and that a
“spy” was beheaded separately by ISIS.
The
defense ministry announced the losses the same day, saying the soldiers in “a
military unit tasked with carrying out a combing operation of Mount Mghila
looking for terrorist elements were killed by a mine” explosion.
Mount
Mghila, near the border with Algeria, is adjacent to Mount Chaambi, which is
considered a hideout for extremists.
Prime
Minister Hichem Mechichi said the incident “will not stop us from pursuing our
efforts to fight and defeat terrorism.”
ISIS
also said in its Al-Naba digital newspaper that extremists executed a spy for
the army on December 20 near Mount Selloum in the Kasserine region, also
central Tunisia.
Authorities
said at the time that the victim was a 20-year-old man named Oqba al-Dhibi,
identified on local radio as a shepherd tending his flock when he was attacked.
Tunisia
has seen a surge in extremist violence since veteran president Zine El Abidine
Ben Ali was ousted in the country’s 2011 revolution.
Dozens
of members of the security forces have since been killed in extremist attacks.
The
army has been battling militants in the Kasserine area since 2012.
Tunisia’s
central mountains are also a hideout for a local branch of extremist group
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2021/02/19/ISIS-claims-responsibility-in-killing-of-4-Tunisia-soldiers-beheading-US-monitor-
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Turkey
urges action against racism on anniv. of Hanau attacks
19
February 2021
Turkey
has called on Europe to take action against racism, xenophobia, and
Islamophobia, as the country is set to mark one year since terrorist attacks in
Germany’s western city of Hanau.
“The
ruthless attack in Hanau has shown that racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia
need to be addressed in a much more effective and serious manner and it is
about time to enhance international cooperation in this regard,” Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a statement on Friday.
He
said Turkey expected Germany to finalize the investigation into the Hanau
attacks in a fair and speedy manner.
Cavusoglu
urged all European countries to embrace the principles of peaceful coexistence
and not remain silent in the face of xenophobia, Islamophobia, and racism.
“Turkey
is ready to display international and bilateral cooperation against all types
of racism and xenophobia,” he said.
He
said authorities needed to refrain from the far-right and populist political
rhetoric that boosts xenophobia, Islamophobia, and racism in Europe.
In
February last year, two shootings targeted locations in Hanau, about 20
kilometers (12 miles) from Frankfurt, leaving at least nine people dead and
five others injured.
The
victims were young members of Germany’s minority Turkish community who had been
targeted by rising Islamophobia inside the country.
In
the wake of the attacks, Muslim groups demanded that the German government
offer their community more protection. They have faced a growing threat from
far-right groups in recent years.
Even
as a year has passed since the attacks rocked Germany, the Turkish community
still lives in fear.
“These
attacks need to end now,” Cavusoglu said. “Otherwise, this sick mentality will
not only pose a threat to foreigners and Muslims but everyone.”
The
Turkish foreign minister said that politicians had a tremendous responsibility
to make sure that populist, racist, and anti-migrant rhetoric does not take European
politics hostage.
“We
can only solve this issue through cooperation and by taking determined steps,”
he said, adding that Turkey would continue to stand by its citizens living
abroad.
This
comes as Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran is set to attend a
ceremony in Hanau to express solidarity with the victims of the attacks last
year.
The
event is limited to 50 participants due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will also be present at the event.
Speaking
on the eve of the anniversary, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that the
attacks could have been avoided considering the information gathered by
domestic intelligence in the years before.
He
said more than 33,000 right-wing extremists lived in Germany, 13,000 of whom
were willing to use violence, and the trend is rising.
“Why
aren’t we all hearing alarm bells?” he asked. “And how can it be that the
bereaved are still complaining about the disrespect and bureaucratic coldness
they face from the authorities?”
Maas
also spoke of “everyday racism in governmental and municipal offices, in shops,
in schools, buses, and trains,” which must be stopped.
Germany
has been targeted in recent years by several extremist attacks, one of which
killed 12 people in the heart of Berlin in December 2016.
But
far-right attacks have become a particular concern for German authorities. The
increase in hate crimes in recent months has prompted the country to expand a
crackdown on right-wing political violence.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645618/Turkey-Hanau-attacks-Germany-Islamophobia
--------
Southeast
Asia
Singapore,
Indonesia say ASEAN can play important role in Myanmar
February
18, 2021
SINGAPORE:
The foreign ministers of Singapore and Indonesia believe the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can play an important role in encouraging
dialogue and a return to normalcy in Myanmar, the city-state’s foreign affairs
ministry said.
The
statement was issued after Indonesia’s minister of foreign affairs Retno
Marsudi met her counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan in Singapore on Thursday.
The
pair discussed possible next steps for the 10-member ASEAN to address the
situation in Myanmar, where the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi was
overthrown in a coup on Feb. 1.
“They
also expressed strong support for a proposed informal ASEAN ministerial meeting
on Myanmar to be convened as soon as possible, to facilitate a constructive
exchange of views and identify a possible way forward,” according to the statement.
Myanmar
is a member of ASEAN and the statement said the talks covered how the bloc
“could foster inclusive dialogue with all key stakeholders, including its
external partners.”
Retno’s
Singapore visit comes after she met with Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah on
Wednesday to urge the ASEAN chair country to back dialogue among member states
on Myanmar. Malaysia has also been calling for a special meeting.
Arranging
a meeting could be a challenge, however, given ASEAN’s policy of
non-interference in its members’ domestic issues and their contrasting
responses to the army takeover.
Singapore’s
Balakrishnan spoke out on Tuesday about “alarming developments” in Myanmar but
said he did not support widespread sanctions on the country in response to a
coup there as these could hurt ordinary citizens.
The
United States and Britain are among countries that have announced or threatened
sanctions in response to the Myanmar coup.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1811541/world
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Indonesian
prosecutor wants 10 years for cleric's attacker
Katharina
R. Lestari
February
19, 2021
Prosecutors
in Indonesia have sought a 10-year jail term for a man accused of attempting to
kill a 44-year-old Saudi-born Muslim cleric last year.
Alpin
Andrian, 24, allegedly stabbed Syekh Ali Jaber in the shoulder while he was
delivering a sermon on Sept. 13 last year at a mosque in Bandar Lampung, the
largest city in Lampung province.
Police
said Andrian would likely have killed the cleric had he not been restrained by
several worshippers.
Attempted
murder carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years in prison or even the
death penalty.
However,
chief prosecutor Abdullah Noer Deny told judges during a virtual hearing at the
Tanjungkarang District Court in Bandar Lampung on Feb .18 that Andrian should
only serve 10 years.
Stories
Transform Lives
This
was because the defendant had shown remorse and apologized to the victim, he
said.
The
relatively light sentence recommendation came as a surprise to many as footage
of the attack went viral on social media, drawing widespread condemnation.
Police
said the motive for the attack still remains unclear as there were no signs
Andrian was suffering from mental illness despite claims from his family he was
mentally unstable.
Azas
Tigor Nainggolan, a Catholic lawyer and coordinator of the Indonesian bishops'
Advocacy and Human Rights Forum, said the proposed sentence “was too light.”
“A
sentence aims to stop a crime and provide a deterrent effect. Recommending too
low a sentence sends out the wrong signal,” he told UCA News.
However,
judges can choose to ignore prosecutors and impose a heavier punishment if the
evidence warrants it, he said.
The
attacker had a knife in the footage. “This indicates the attack was
premeditated.”
Ardiansyah,
the defendant’s lawyer, claimed the prosecutor’s sentence demand was too harsh,
saying his client only meant to wound the cleric.
If
he had meant to kill him, his client would have aimed for one of his vital
organs, he said, adding the crime only warranted a maximum five-year term.
The
victim, however, will not be able to testify at the trial. The prominent cleric
died in Jakarta on Jan. 14 following a 19-day battle against the coronavirus.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/indonesian-prosecutor-wants-10-years-for-clerics-attacker/91478
--------
Arab
World
Will
Northeastern Syria Turn Into A Stand-Off Between The U.S. and Turkey?
February
20, 2021
By
Ahmad al-Khaled
Last
November, the U.S. saw a rather dramatic presidential election that put a lot
at stake and in many ways was supposed to determine the vector of Washington’s
foreign policy.
The
new American administration under the Joe Biden leadership has repeatedly
signalled its intention to introduce a number of adjustments to the current
situation in the Middle East, recast the shape of relations with regional
powers such as Iran and Turkey, and reinvigorate cooperation with the
Kurdish-dominated Autonomous Administration of the North and East Syria
(AANES), the U.S. main ally in Syria.
Needless
to say, the White House’s ambitious endeavors did not receive a universal
welcome in the region. The main obstacle is the Turkish authorities who, unlike
Washington, show zero desire for changes in its policy towards the Syrian
Kurds. The AANES military wing, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF),
incorporates the Kurdish People Protection Units (YPG), an entity that Ankara
considers to be affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) listed as a
terrorist organization in Turkey. In this regard, the rising power of the SDF,
albeit under the protectorate of the U.S., runs counter to the interests of
Turkey and poses a serious threat to its national security as routinely stated
by Turkish officials.
Ankara’s
controversial foreign policy has recently secured it a fame of an aggressor
state in the MENA region. As a result, Turkey now has rather strained relations
with both European and Middle Eastern states. In turn, purchase of the Russian
S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems has caused a rift between the Turkish
leadership and the American authorities. Moreover, a number of U.S. congressmen
expressed concern over Turkey’s aggression in northern Syria and called on Joe
Biden to put pressure on the Turkish officials. This sentiment was shared by
the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said that Turkey “is not acting
like an ally” and called purchase of the Russian-made anti-aircraft missile
systems “unacceptable.”
In
a stark contrast to this generally negative attitude a recent statement by the
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price looked somewhat surprising. During a
briefing Price called Turkey an important NATO partner, and stressed that the
two states share common interests, including the matters related to the
settlement of the Syrian conflict. He also added that all present disagreements
with Ankara should be resolved within the framework of political dialogue.
Perhaps
seeing a narrow window of opportunity, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin
urged the U.S. President to cease support for the AANES and the Kurdish armed
units, while Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar confirmed Turkey’s readiness
to continue its “counter-terrorist” operations in northern Syria.
A
revealing trend in the coverage of the Syrian file in the Turkish media has
linked the rise in the activities of the Kurdish units with Joe Biden’s coming
to power. State-run Daily Sabah newspaper that is tasked with projecting
Turkey’s agenda in the West, has openly accused the Kurds of abusing
Washington’s protection in order to strengthen their positions.
To
add fuel to the fire, the areas of northern Syria controlled by the
Turkey-affiliated factions of the Syrian opposition are witnessing an increase
in terror attacks that are generally blamed on Kurdish sleeper cells. In the
latest example, a series of explosions hit the cities of Azaz, Afrin and
Al-Bab, resulting in death of over 20 civilians. After the incident the U.S.
State Department issued an unprecedented statement stressing that “those
responsible for perpetrating the violence should be brought to justice”, which
was a chilling surprise for the Kurds.
With
this in mind, the question is: does Recep Erdogan, despite his aggressive
rhetoric against the Kurds, actually have the audacity to confront and
potentially spoil relations with an obviously stronger NATO ally who supports
the SDF and trusts them to protect oil fields in eastern Syria? A web of
diplomatic challenges is closing in on the Turkish leader, pushing him into making
a choice between territorial claims and the fight against the Kurdish
administration on Turkey’s border on the one hand, and maintaining relations
with the key ally on the other.
It
is worth noting that before taking the chair Joe Biden was extremely critical
about Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the American troops from Syria and
regarded it a “betrayal” of the U.S. regional ally, the SDF. If Biden sticks to
this firm stance on the Kurds, Turkey is unlikely to get any concessions from
Washington.
It
is difficult to speak with certainty about the outcome of the escalating
confrontation between the U.S. and Turkey. However, by pursuing such a
belligerent policy in Syria and seeking to eliminate the “threat” from the
SDF/YPG/PKK, Turkey risks becoming not only a regional aggressor, but also a
rogue state. The months – or perhaps even days – to come will show whether
Erdogan is able to restrain his political ambitions in the interests of
maintaining a strategically important partnership with the U.S., or Turkey will
follow the path of a “final solution” of the Kurdish question, ignoring all
international laws and its allies.
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2021/02/20/will-northeastern-syria-turn-into-a-stand-off-between-the-u-s-and-turkey/
--------
Lebanon:
UN seeks funds to extend tribunal investigating Rafik Hariri assassination
19
February ,2021
The
UN Security Council has given a green light to keep the UN-backed tribunal
investigating the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister Rafik
Hariri operating and funded for at least this year.
UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a letter to the council circulated
Friday that the president of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Ivana
Hrdlickova, informed him in November that its work wouldn’t be finished by the
expiration of its mandate Feb. 28.
The
judge asked for a two-year extension “to significantly advance its work towards
completion,” Guterres said.
Guterres
said he intends to extend the mandate of the tribunal for two years starting
March 1, or until its cases are completed or available funds are exhausted “if
sooner.”
Lebanon,
which is mandated to pay 49 percent of the tribunal’s costs, faces a dire
financial situation which has left the tribunal with a serious funding
shortfall. The remaining 51 percent of the tribunal’s funding comes from
voluntary contributions.
Guterres
said he launched an urgent appeal to all 193 UN member states and the
international community on Dec. 20 to support the tribunal, but “unfortunately,
the appeal did not generate any new commitments of funds.”
Without
additional funding, he said, the UN was informed that the tribunal “may not be
able to carry out its mandate beyond the first quarter of 2021.”
“To
bring the ongoing judicial proceedings of the Special Tribunal to an abrupt
close in these circumstances would be unprecedented,” Guterres wrote. “A
premature closure would have a significant impact on international justice
efforts and would send a negative message to the people of Lebanon and to
victims of terrorism worldwide.”
After
consulting Lebanon’s government and Security Council members, Guterres said he
intends to request approximately $25 million from the General Assembly, called
a “subvention,” to cover the anticipated shortfall in funding from the Lebanese
government and donors in 2021. This would be temporary, while the tribunal
seeks additional funds, he said.
Britain’s
UN ambassador, Barbara Woodward, the current council president, said in a
letter to the secretary-general that members approved his intention to extend
the tribunal’s mandate and to request about $25 million in funds from the
General Assembly for 2021.
She
said this was with the understanding that the money will be reimbursed from
voluntary contributions the tribunal receives, and its voluntary funding
arrangements will not be changed.
“The
members of the council stress that contributions from Lebanon, as well as from
the donors, should remain a major source of funding for the Special Tribunal
and that additional efforts should be made to avoid reliance on the
subvention,” Woodward said.
Lebanon’s
economic and financial crisis, which began in late 2019, is the country’s worst
in modern history, with the economy contracting 19 percent in 2020. Tens of
thousands around the country have lost their jobs, and nearly half the
population of more than 6 million is living in poverty. The crash of the local
currency has led to triple-digit inflation.
In
early December, the World Bank said Lebanon’s economy faces an “arduous and
prolonged depression” because its politicians refuse to implement reforms that
would speed up the country’s recovery.
The
Valentine’s Day 2005 truck bombing on Beirut’s seafront that killed former
prime minister Hariri and 21 others and injured 226 sparked huge protests
against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Damascus denied involvement
but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon after 29 years there.
The
UN investigation into Hariri’s assassination was broadened to include 14 other
Lebanese killings.
The
Netherlands-based Special Tribunal sentenced Salim Ayyash, a member of the
Hezbollah militant group, in absentia to life imprisonment in December for his
involvement in Hariri’s assassination. Ayyash has never been arrested. Three
other Hezbollah members tried with him were acquitted.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/20/UN-seeks-funds-to-extend-tribunal-investigating-Rafik-Hariri-assassination
--------
Beirut
blast victims' families protest after lead investigator removed from role
19
February ,2021
Families
of people killed in the Beirut port explosion last August protested on Friday
for a second day after a court removed the lead investigator into the blast in
a severe setback to their campaign to hold those in power to account.
Around
70 people gathered in front of Beirut's Palace of Justice on Friday, some
burning tires to block roads or holding images of their dead relatives.
"Even
when the case now goes to another judge, we will not give them our complete
trust...the day that we discover a judge is being too lenient with the
investigation we will stand up to them no matter who they are," said Rima
al-Zahed, 41, whose brother Amin died in the blast.
Judge
Fadi Sawan charged three ex-ministers and the outgoing prime minister with negligence
over the blast in December, but the four did not appear for questioning and
accused him of overstepping his powers.
On
Thursday, the Lebanese court of cassation dismissed Sawan from the
investigation upon a request from two former ministers he had levelled charges
against. The court cited "legitimate suspicion" over Sawan's
neutrality, partly because his house was damaged in the blast which devastated
much of the capital.
"No
one in the political class wants an investigation like this," Mohanad Hage
Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center said.
"That
would open up a Pandora's box of justice and these are politicians used to
getting away with major crimes since the Lebanese civil war...the judiciary is
one of the most distrusted institutions in the republic."
Two
hundred people died in the August blast when a huge stockpile of ammonium
nitrate, stored unsafely for years, detonated at the capital's port.
Before
the investigation can resume, the ministry of justice will have to appoint a
new judge to lead it who will also need the approval of the higher judicial
council, setting the whole process back.
For
some the judge's dismissal is a blow, but Lebanese analyst Sarkis Naoum does
not believe a domestic investigation will ever deliver any real results.
"Our
state has become a failed state which means failed security agencies, failed
institutions, failed judiciary and failed everything so I never believed that
judge Sawan was going to reach anything," Naoum said.
The
Aug. 4 blast, the largest non-nuclear explosion to date, killed two hundred
people, injured thousands and destroyed entire neighbourhoods.
Documents
seen by Reuters showed both the president and prime minister had been warned
just over two weeks before the blast that the ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely
for years, could destroy the capital if it exploded.
Around
25 people are currently in jail pending investigation over the blast so far,
including the Beirut port chief and customs chief. No senior politicians have
been held accountable so far.
"Those
in jail they are the small fish," Naoum said.
With
the lead investigator appointed by Lebanon's executive, and the use of a court
of exception, the investigation does not lend itself to impartiality, said Lynn
Malouf, Amnesty International deputy regional director for the Middle East and
North Africa.
"I
wouldn't say this move took us back to square zero because we were always at
square zero from the very beginning," she said.
The
court of exception is a special court set up to have jurisdiction over cases
referred to it by the government such as assassinations of senior politicians
and cases linked to political violence and terrorism.
"It
was set up with the view of the politicians being the victims rather than the
perpetrators," Malouf said.
"A
domestic-led investigation cannot deliver on justice."
But
so far there has been little interest in an international investigation into
the blast. Hage Ali sees a different kind of search prevailing.
"A
search by the Lebanese political class for a scapegoat...no politician will be
indicted unless there is political consensus over a scapegoat," he said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/Beirut-explosion-Beirut-blast-victims-families-protest-after-lead-investigator-removed-from-role-
--------
Saudi
Arabia to invest over $20 bln in domestic military industry over next decade
20
February ,2021
Saudi
Arabia will invest more than $20 billion in its domestic military industry over
the next decade as part of aggressive plans to boost local military spending,
the head of the Kingdom’s military industry regulator said on Saturday.
The
Gulf state wants to develop and manufacture more weapons and military systems
domestically, aiming to spend 50 percent of the military budget locally by
2030.
“The
government has put a plan that we will be investing in excess of $10 billion in
the military industry in Saudi Arabia over the next decade and equal amounts on
research and development,” Governor of the General Authority for Military
Industries (GAMI) Ahmed bin Abdulaziz al-Ohali told a defense conference in Abu
Dhabi.
He
also said the Kingdom plans to increase military research and development
(R&D) spending from 0.2 percent to around 4 percent of armaments
expenditure by 2030.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/20/Saudi-Arabia-to-invest-over-20-bln-in-domestic-military-industry-over-next-decade
--------
Arabic
Language classes record enrollment surge amid COVID-19 pandemic: UAE experts
20
February,2021
Jennifer
Bell
Language
schools have recorded a surge in enrollment in Arabic language classes by
residents across the GCC, as more people look to upskill following the COVID-19
pandemic.
During
the height of the pandemic, Shireen Sinno, director of the Arabic Language
Center, a private business established in Dubai 40 years ago, said she
witnessed a record rise of interest in learning the mother tongue of the
region.
Enrolments
between April and December soared as people utilized more free time, she said.
“The
growth in student numbers may be attributed to several factors,” she told Al
Arabiya English. “With remote working, some students had a more flexible
schedule that enabled them to carve out some time for learning Arabic.”
As
some people lost their jobs at the start of the pandemic, they were unable to
continue their studies, according to Sinno.
“Others
decided to hone their professional skills, aiming to improve their employment
opportunities,” She added“Knowing a foreign language is usually regarded as an
asset by many recruiters, especially when it is the official language of the
host country.”
More
people also wanted to maintain “normalcy” by maintaining human interaction with
others, said Sinno.
“Particularly
during times of confinement that limited opportunities for networking and connecting
with others, people sought human interaction with one another.”
A
language spoken by more than 420 million people worldwide, the UAE has been at
the forefront of a push to preserve the Arabic language with a number of
initiatives to enhance Arabic language skills and bolster usage of the national
language.
This
has been especially evident withing school curriculums over fears the ability
to write and speak Arabic properly are being eroded, with Arab youth preferring
to speak English.
Sinno
said Arabic language in the center – which is one of the first Arabic language
schools in the Emirates - has seen interest from people of all ages and
nationalities in the UAE and wider GCC.
Witnessing
a revived interest in learning the Arabic language has, she says, been a
positive side of the pandemic.
“We
cannot but recognize the positive outcomes of the pandemic, despite its dark
side worldwide,” she said. “In our case, we sought a new teaching venue -
online teaching - which not only enabled us to sustain our teaching in a safe
manner, but also opened doors for a broader audience to reach.
“This
new venue also made it possible for many of our students who had to leave the
country to carry on with their courses from all over the globe.”
Sinno
said, as the pandemic prompted many people to reflect on their lives, find new
paths and set new goals, more people sought to learn a new skill to give their
lives purpose and focus.
As
with many businesses, the Arabic Language Center switched to online teaching
during the pandemic. Many students embraced the shift, she said.
The
center now offers both online and face-to-face classes.
“Students
have developed different learning preferences, and we ought to cater to these
preferences.
“Some
students identify themselves as “traditional learners,” who are more
comfortable with a physical classroom setting. On the other hand, some have
embraced online teaching, which according to them provided convenience, time
efficiency and safety.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/coronavirus/2021/02/20/Coronavirus-Arabic-Language-classes-record-enrollment-surge-amid-COVID-19-pandemic-UAE-experts
--------
India
Metro
man’s first salvo: Hindus being tricked into marriage by ‘love jihad’
FEB
20, 2021
Technocrat
E Sreedharan, popularly known as the Metro Man for his role in setting up the
Delhi Metro, said on Friday he was opposed to the notion of “love jihad”
because he had seen in Kerala that Hindu girls were tricked into marriage. His
comments came a day after he announced that he was joining the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP), months ahead of scheduled polls in the southern state.
The
88-year-old man told reporters that his aim was to help the party come to power
in Kerala and that he was open to the chief ministership. He also said the
focus will be on developing infrastructure if the BJP won the assembly polls
likely to be held in April-May this year.
Responding
to news channel NDTV on a question about “love jihad”, a term used by
right-wing groups to describe relationships between Hindu women and Muslim men,
Sreedharan said, “….Love Jihad, yes, I see what is happened in Kerala. How
Hindus are being tricked in a marriage and how they suffer... not only Hindus,
Muslim, the Christian girls are being tricked in a marriage. Now that sort of a
thing I certainly will oppose.”
His
comments came amid a fierce debate on “love jihad” and religious conversion,
specially after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh outlawed conversions by fraud,
coercion or marriage. Both states are ruled by the BJP.
“Personally,
I am a very very strict vegetarian. I don’t even eat eggs so, certainly I don’t
like anybody eating meat. That is certain…” he said, in response to a question
on beef eating in Kerala and the BJP’s campaign against cow meat.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/metro-man-s-first-salvo-hindus-being-tricked-into-marriage-by-love-jihad-101613779550726.html
--------
Mosque
In UP's Gorakhpur Found Vandalised, Cops Deployed: Police
February
19, 2021
Gorakhpur:
Tension prevailed in a Gorakhpur village in Uttar Pradesh after a mosque was
found vandalised on Friday morning, the police said.
The
incident took place on Thursday night in Lona Sonbarsa village in Jhangha
police station area of the district and came to light on Friday morning when a
villager, Usman Ali, reached the mosque to offer early morning prayers, station
house officer BB Rajbhar said.
Several
police teams were deployed in the village, he added.
After
Usman Ali entered the mosque and found some damages, he informed villagers
about the incident.
The
police too rushed to the spot after being informed about the incident, the
official said, adding a case was registered against unidentified people on the
complaint of another villager Jawed Ansari.
"Some
miscreants burnt religious books and a case against unidentified people was
registered," the official said.
The
case was registered under sections 452 (house-trespass) 427(causing mischief
and damage) and 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the
religion of any class) of the Indian Penal Code, Mr Rajbhar added.
Gorakhpur
Additional Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Awasthi asked the station house
officer to work out the case within 24 hours. "Several police teams have
been deployed and instruction has been given to work out the case within 24
hours. Whosoever is found involved in the act will be arrested and sent to
jail," he said.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/mosque-in-uttar-pradesh-gorakhpur-found-vandalised-cops-deployed-police-2374480
--------
Case
filed to remove mosque next to Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi
19th
February 2021
By
Namita Bajpai
LUCKNOW:
In a major development on Friday, a suit was filed in a Varanasi court seeking
restoration of pooja and darshan at an ancient temple on the premises of the
Gyanvapi Mosque complex adjacent to Kashi Vishwanath temple.
The
suit was filed for restoration of darshan, pooja, aarti, bhog, and performance
of rituals at 'sthan' of Lord Adi Visheshwar and of Goddess Maa Shringar Gauri
and other deities within this temple complex.
The
suit would be placed before the court of the civil senior divisional judge for
the hearing, said the petitioners' lawyer HS Jain, who is also involved in
moving the petitions pertaining to Krishna Janmabhoomi in Mathura.
The
lawyer for the Anjuman Intazamia Masjid's Committee of Management was also
present in the court from the respondents' side and sought time to file a
counter affidavit in the case.
"It
is a title suit," said the petitioners' lawyer. Property in question is
the temple complex known as "ancient temple" existing at settlement
plot No. 9130
within
the area of Dasaswamedh in Varanasi. The plaint has been filed through 10
individuals acting as next friends of the deities within the precincts.
Allahabad
High Court has already seized the matter and it is hearing a similar case on a
day-to-day basis.
The
Jyotirlinga, present on the same complex (Kashi Vishwanath temple), was damaged
in 1669 during the rule of Mughal ruler Aurangzeb but other deities continued
to exist within the temple complex which, the Muslims claim to be a part of the
Gyanvapi mosque, the petition says.
It
says that the ownership of the entire property in the periphery of five 'kos'
rests in the Asthan Adi Visheshwar and the deity is the owner of the entire
land. Forced possession of the religious place cannot change the nature of the
property and ownership rights of the existing deity. Petitioners also sought
the court to declare that the property belonged to the deity.
The
suit was filed by lawyer Ranjana Agnihotri on behalf of Goddess Maa Shringar
Gauri as her devotee and next friend, Jatinder Singh 'Vishen' as a devotee and
next friend of Asthan Lord Adi Visheshwar, Jyotirlinga in the radius of five
'kos', situated in city and district of Varanasi and eight others including Jan
Udghosh
Sewa Sansthan, a society registered under the Societies Registration Act, in
Lucknow making Union of India, Government of UP, State of UP, District
Magistrate, Varanasi, SSP, Varanasi, UP Sunni Central Waqf Board, Committee of
Management Anjuman Intazamia Masajid, and Board of Trustees of Kashi Vishwanath
Temple as a party.
The
petition said that every individual had the right to perform pooja and rituals
as per the tenets of his religion under Article 25 of the Constitution of
India. Any obstacle in this would mean denial of one's fundamental right to
religion.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/feb/19/case-filed-to-remove-mosque-next-to-kashi-vishwanath-temple-in-varanasi-2266197.html
--------
2
cops shot in Valley; 3 Badr terrorists killed
Feb
20, 2021
SRINAGAR:
Two unarmed policemen were shot dead by two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in
Srinagar’s Barzulla area on Friday, while three Al-Badr terrorists were killed
in an encounter earlier in the day in south Kashmir’s Shopian even as two of their
accomplices managed to flee, IGP Kashmir Range Vijay Kumar said.
He
added that Wednesday’s attack on the 22-year-old scion of Srinagar’s landmark
Krishna Vaishno Dhaba, which left the youth critically injured, was carried out
to instil fear among tourists on a day when a 24-member European Union
delegation was on a two-day visit to the Valley. During interrogation, the
newly-recruited trio that carried out the strike confessed that The Resistance
Front (TRF) commander Gazi had lured and tasked them with the crime.
Earlier,
the little-known Muslim Janbaz Force — which the South Asia Terrorism Portal
lists as a Pakistani outfit — had owned responsibility for the strike in a
statement, claiming it was in retaliation to “outsiders” being allowed to
settle in J&K under the new domicile rules.
On
Friday’s attack in Srinagar, Kumar said senior grade constable Mohammad Yousuf
from Kupwara and constable Suhail Ahmed from Anantnag, were “on a routine duty
and at a shop to purchase something” in Baghat Chowk when, according to
eyewitnesses, the Lashkar duo brandished AK-47 rifles that they had concealed
under their pherans (robes) and opened fire at the cops from behind. The
injured policemen were rushed to separate hospitals where they succumbed during
treatment.
Speaking
at the wreath-laying ceremony of the slain constables at DPL Srinagar, the IGP
said that the Lashkar ultras — one of them from Pakistan and another a local
terrorist named Saqib — had been identified and would be traced soon. “We will
go for a security review and plug the loopholes. Had the policemen carried
weapons, they could have retaliated,” he said, adding no one was detained or
arrested yet in the attack.
On
the south Kashmir encounter, the IGP said, “Late Thursday, security forces laid
a cordon in Shopian’s Imam Sahab area acting on intelligence inputs about the
presence of terrorists there. Early Friday, contact was established with holed
in ultras and in the ensuing fire exchange, three local Al-Badr terrorists were
killed.” Two AK-47 rifles and a pistol were recovered from the encounter site.
About
Wednesday’s dhaba attack, Kumar said, “We acted swifty and constituted teams
under the supervision of a DIG-rank officer that was headed by SP (south city).
A civilian informed the SP that the attackers were riding a bike, following
which we accessed CCTV footage and followed other inputs.”
A
joint police team from Srinagar and Anantnag subsequently arrested two youths
involved in the attack and seized the bike and pistol used in the crime. “During
interrogation, they revealed that a third person was involved in the attack,
and we arrested him too. All three — two from Pampore and another from Pulwama
— were newly-recruited terrorists and one of them was given pistol training in
Pahalgam’s forest area,” the IGP said.
TRF
commander Gazi instructed them to attack Krishna Vaishno Dhaba, which is open
even during strikes and always sees a rush of tourists. “We have recorded their
confession statement in a video to be produced before the court with the challan,”
Kumar said.
To
a question on whether security would be stepped up for the upcoming tourist
season, the IGP said more surveillance and deployment would be carried out in
Srinagar’s busy areas and elsewhere. “Additional bunkers may be set up if need
be. A close watch will be kept on elements who might attempt to disrupt peace.
Frisking will be intensified,” he added.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/2-cops-shot-in-valley-3-badr-terrorists-killed/articleshow/81116930.cms
--------
Indo-Pak
Peace Calendar 2021 to be launched virtually on Feb 21
Feb
19, 2021
BATHINDA:
Aaghaz-e-Dosti, an Indo-Pak friendship initiative run by youth volunteers of
India and Pakistan will release its 9th edition of Indo-Pak Peace Calendar
online on February 21. The cross-border initiative is a collection of paintings
by school students of India and Pakistan, 6 from each side, on the theme of
‘Indo-Pak Peace and Friendship’.
Ravi
Nitesh, Founder of Aaghaz-e-Dosti says, "Previously, each year we used to
organise separate launch events in both India and Pakistan. However, owing to
the COVID19-related situation in both countries, we are taking all necessary
precautions. Hence, we have decided to go with a virtual launch of the calendar
this year."
"A
virtual launch of the calendar has also provided us the opportunity to invite
audiences and speakers from both countries together, that was a limitation for
the physical launches in previous years because of visa issues", stated
Raza Khan, Convenor - Pakistan, Aaghaz-e-Dosti.
The
launch program will also involve an interaction of the winning and runner-up
students as an extension of our peace education activities. Through regular
interaction between the students, we hope to break stereotypes about people on
the other side of the border", said Tulika Bathija who is an educator and
team member.
Sheema
Kermani (Activist, Artist and Founder of Tehrik-e-Niswan, Pakistan) and former
JNU professor Saleem Kidwai will be keynote speakers. Tehrik-e-Niswan, an
organisation promoting art, women, and South Asian culture, has also
collaborated with Aaghaz-e-Dosti this year for the Indo-Pak Peace Calendar.
Paintings
came to us from various cities including Karachi, Lahore, Delhi, Hyderabad,
Bengaluru as well as Tier 2/3 cities like Ludhiana, Phillaur, Phagwara, Nagpur,
Koppal, Abbottabad, Paragon, and Shahjamal."
Madhulika
Narasimhan says "Owing to the COVID19 pandemic, the schools in the
subcontinent were closed and it was extremely difficult to reach out to
students or stoke interest them for yet another activity, since they were
already burdened with the load of online classes, and coping with changes in
schedule due to the pandemic. However, we got big response which reinforces our
hopes that despite the environment of political enmity between the two
countries, tiny saplings of peace are sprouting each year in the expanses of
the subcontinent."
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/indo-pak-peace-calendar-2021-to-be-launched-virtually-on-feb-21/articleshow/81115140.cms
--------
Ahmedabad:
Anti-Terrorist Squad arrests Mumbai man in Rs 1-crore drug case
February
20, 2021
A
month after the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested a man from
Shahibaug area in Ahmedabad with Rs 1 crore worth methamphetamine drugs, it
held another Mumbai resident for allegedly supplying the narcotics.
According
to ATS officials, the agency on January 20 had arrested Mohammad Sultan Shaikh,
a native of Jogeshwari East in Mumbai, outside a temple near Sarthi Apartments
in Shahibaug with a meth consignment weighing 1 kg and valued at Rs 1 crore.
Shaikh, the ATS officials said, was a courier and was here to hand over the
consignment to a man in Ahmedabad at the behest of Mumbai-based drug peddlers.
“We
have found Shaikh was provided the drugs’ consignment by one Shabbir Hanif
Khan, a resident of Jogeshwari in Mumbai. After receiving a tip-off, an ATS
team arrested the accused from his residence in Mumbai Thursday. He told us
that he has supplied the drug to couriers several times in the past who would
smuggle it to Ahmedabad. He has been booked under sections of the Narcotics
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act,” an ATS official said. ENS
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ahmedabad/anti-terrorist-squad-arrests-mumbai-man-in-rs-1-crore-drug-case-7196234/
--------
Pakistan
Malala
questions Imran Khan, Pak Army over threatening post by Taliban terrorist
FEB
18, 2021
A
terrorist outfit, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan's (TTP) former spokesperson
Ehsanullah Ehsan, who took the responsibility for having shot Malala Yousfzai
in 2012, has now threatened Nobel Laureate on Wednesday by posting on Twitter,
"next time, there would be no mistake."
The
threat by Ehsan prompted Yousafzai to question Pakistan's military (DGISPR) and
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Twitter to explain how her shooter, Ehsan, had
escaped from the government's custody.
"This
is the ex-spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan who claims responsibility
for the attack on me and many innocent people. He is now threatening people on
social media. How did he escape @OfficialDGISPR@ImranKhanPTI?," tweeted
Yousafzai.
Meanwhile,
Twitter has permanently suspended Ehsanullah's account on Wednesday.
Ehsanullah
Ehsan, ex-spokesperson of TTP nine years ago had shot and wounded Malala
Yousafzai.
The
escape of Ehsan in 2020 created an uproar in Pakistan where the opposition has
accused the government of "sheer incompetence".
In
an audio message released in Jan 2020, Ehsan could be heard saying that he has
succeeded in escaping from Pakistan's jail. Ehsan had escaped on January 11 but
no confirmation has been made by the Pakistan Army yet.
"I
am Ehsanullah Ehsan. I am the former spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
and Jamaatul Ahrar. I had surrendered to the Pakistani security authorities on
February 5, 2017, under an agreement. I honored this agreement for three years,
but the Pakistani authorities violated it and kept me in a prison along with my
children," Ehsan said.
Ehsan
said that he will release a detailed statement later in which he will mention
the agreement he made with the Pakistani security authorities.
"I
will also mention on whose approval this accord was made with me. And what were
the terms and conditions of the agreement and which prominent figure had
assured me that the agreement will be implemented," he said, adding that
he will also explain the conditions in which he and his family were held in
Pakistan.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/malala-questions-imran-khan-pak-army-over-threatening-post-by-taliban-terrorist-101613644967527.html
--------
Pakistani
American venture capitalist gets 12 years imprisonment
Anwar
Iqbal
February
20, 2021
WASHINGTON:
A US federal judge sentenced an American venture capitalist of Pakistan origin
to 12 years in prison for falsifying records to hide his work as a foreign
agent while lobbying high-level US officials.
Imaad
Zuberi, a California resident, was also fined $1.75 million and ordered to pay
$15.7 million in restitution.
In
December 2016, Mr Zuberi had donated $900,000 to the Trump inaugural committee.
He was a top fundraiser for president Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in
2012 as well.
He
donated at least $100,000 for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and
also raised funds for Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in 2014, and then-California
Attorney General Kamala Harris, now vice president, in 2015.
Mr
Zuberi, 50, was born in Pakistan, migrated to the United States with his
parents when he was three years old and eventually became an American citizen.
In
October 2019, he pleaded guilty to violating lobbying, campaign finance and tax
laws through campaign contributions to members of both Republican and
Democratic parties.
In
1996, he served in the US Army for about six months and was honourably
discharged because of a knee injury.
Mr Zuberi
grew up in Albany, New York, but earned a B.Sc in 1997 from the University of
Southern California and an MBA in 2006 from Stanford University.
“The
violations were part of a larger surreptitious effort to route foreign money
into US elections and to use it to corrupt the US policy-making processes,”
prosecutors said in a court filing.
They
urged the court to reject Mr Zuberi’s claim that funnelling money to influence
US policy-making and elections was the “way America works”.
Prosecutors
accused Mr Zuberi of soliciting foreign nationals and representatives of
foreign governments, offering to use his influence in Washington to alter US
foreign policy and to create business opportunities for his clients.
US
media outlets claimed that Mr Zuberi “went to great lengths to pull off his
scheme, hiring lobbyists, retaining public relations professionals and making
campaign contributions” to enhance his influence.
Prosecutors
claimed that illegal money was funnelled from foreign entities over five years
between 2012 and 2016, but did not reveal the source of those funds.
They
accused Mr Zuberi of soliciting members of the House of Representatives, the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee and other powerful politicians as well to
secure favours for his clients.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608357/pakistani-american-venture-capitalist-gets-12-years-imprisonment
--------
'Caught
red-handed': Maryam claims votes stolen in Wazirabad by-election for PTI
February
19, 2021
PML-N
Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Friday claimed that PML-N workers caught persons
working for the PTI "red-handed" allegedly stealing bagfuls of votes
cast in the by-elections for Punjab's PP-51 (Wazirabad) constituency.
"PTI
people caught red-handed stealing bagfuls of votes by PML-N MPA Adil Chatta and
Ataa Tarar. Seal was also broken. Police was a part of the plan to steal votes
for PTI," Maryam tweeted.
She
also shared a number of what she called "bombshell videos" showing
PML-N workers accosting a man who allegedly stole a bag of votes from a polling
station. Terming it "naked rigging", Maryam claimed the man was
acting at the behest of the PTI.
One
of the videos shared by the PML-N leader showed a man sitting in a car with
apparently a bag of votes placed next to him. "He was caught red-handed.
PML-N workers did not allow him to escape. Rangers also present," Maryam
said about the man in question.
Referring
to the same man in another tweet, she said PML-N workers caught the presiding
officer of the polling station located at Virtual University in Wazirabad
"running away with polling bag, the seal of which was broken". She
said the officer was presented before the district returning officer (DRO).
She
added that the man caught "red-handed" was trying to escape but was
stopped and detained. "All PML-N reps on the vigil are present there. They
are not letting him go. We won't let go like this. What happened in 2018,
happened. No more," Maryam said.
As
many as 162 polling stations and 423 polling booths had been established for
the by-elections in PP-51. There are 253,949 voters in the constituency.
By-polls
were also held for the NA-75 (Daska) constituency. The seat fell vacant after
the demise of PML-N MNA Sahibazada Syed Iftikharul Hassan Shah.
In
a tweet around 10:30pm, Maryam said the results of both NA-75 and PP-51
by-elections "have stopped coming for more than an hour now", terming
it a "replay of 2018".
"I
want to warn all those who have stopped the results from Daska & Wazirabad
and are trying to change the results, that THIS IS GOING TO COST YOU BIG
TIME," she wrote.
Earlier
in the day, at least two people were killed and three others injured in a
firing incident at a polling station in Daska in Sialkot.
One
of the victims was reportedly a member of the ruling PTI while the other
belonged to the PML-N. A PTI polling agent was also among the injured,
according to eyewitnesses and local media.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608277/caught-red-handed-maryam-claims-votes-stolen-in-wazirabad-by-election-for-pti
--------
Pakistan
committed to Afghan peace process, says Bajwa
February
20, 2021
ISLAMABAD:
Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Friday re-emphasised
Pakistan’s commitment to Afghan peace process.
He
was talking to US Centcom Commander Gen Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., who called on
him at the General Headquarters.
The
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) quoted Gen Bajwa as having told Gen
McKenzie that “Pakistan is committed to efforts for peace in Afghanistan as it
is important for peace in Pakistan”.
“Matters
of mutual interest and regional security situation with particular reference to
ongoing Afghanistan reconciliation process were discussed during the meeting,”
said the ISPR.
Gen
McKenzie has been appreciative of Pakistan’s role for peace in Afghanistan.
Speaking at the Middle East Institute on Feb 8, he had said: “They’ve helped us
in some ways.” He had, however on that occasion, added: “We sometimes wish they
would do more.”
The
Centcom commander believes that Pakistan, because of its location, has a key
role in Afghanistan. “Geography gives you certain facts you have to deal with.
And Pakistan is certainly one of those facts we’re going to have to deal with,”
he had said at the Middle East Institute.
Centcom
commander, Russian president’s envoy hold meetings with army chief
The
ISPR said both commanders agreed on the need for a political resolution of the
Afghan conflict.
“Visiting
dignitaries acknowledged Pakistan’s commendable efforts in the fight against
terrorism and ensuring regional stability,” the statement added.
Centcom,
meanwhile, said in a statement that closer coordination in a multilateral
approach to regional maritime security, especially in the Arabian Gulf, Strait
of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman, was also discussed.
“We
are committed to exploring new areas for collaboration in order to maintain
security, stability and prosperity within the region,” Gen McKenzie said.
Meanwhile,
Russian President’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov called on Army
Chief Gen Bajwa at the General Headquarters, according to the ISPR. “During the
meeting matters of mutual interest, regional security situation particularly
developments in Afghan peace process were discussed,” it added.
Gen
Bajwa said that peace in Afghanistan and Pakistan was in the greater interest
of the region.
Mr
Kabulov, the ISPR said, praised the role being played by Pakistan for Afghan
peace process.
Russian
efforts
Pakistan
on Friday expressed support for Russian efforts for peace and reconciliation in
Afghanistan.
“The
foreign minister underlined the importance of regional consultations and
appreciated the role of Four Party Talks in support of the Afghan peace
process,” the Foreign Office said after Mr Kabulov’s meeting with Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Mr
Kabulov was on a day-long trip to Islamabad. His trip took place amidst reports
that Moscow is planning to convene a meeting involving China, Pakistan, Iran
and the United States to deliberate on how to give a fresh impetus to
intra-Afghan negotiations that have made little headway since their start last
September.
The
talks in Doha are currently stalled because of the uncertainty created by the
Biden administration’s announcement that it was reviewing the agreement made
with Taliban in February last year.
Russian
foreign ministry’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova, at a briefing in Moscow on
Thursday, while emphasising the need for substantive intra-Afghan talks,
regretted that the dialogue had been bogged down in discussions on technical
issues instead of taking up bigger items like the future state system of governance
in the country and sustainable ceasefire.
Moscow
is also offering to host the intra-Afghan talks in the future.
Mr
Qureshi, during the meeting with Mr Kabulov, noted the convergence of Pakistani
and Russian positions on the reconciliation process.
The
Russian special envoy, according to Sputnik News Agency, recently condemned the
US for violating the agreement with Taliban and asserted that the insurgent
group was “flawlessly” adhering to it as no American soldier has been killed
since last February when the accord was signed.
Ahmed
Wali Massoud
The
head of Afghanistan’s Massoud Foundation, Ahmed Wali Massoud, who is visiting
Pakistan, met Foreign Minister Qureshi and discussed the Afghan peace process
and Pak-Afghan relations.
Mr
Qureshi said that Pakistan had no favourites in Afghanistan and its message to
all sides was to work together constructively for peace and stability.
He
appreciated the role of Massoud Foundation in social sectors and noted that it
could play an important part in promoting civil society and people-to-people
exchanges between the two countries.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608342/pakistan-committed-to-afghan-peace-process-says-bajwa
--------
Five
soldiers martyred in South Waziristan attack
February
20, 2021
SOUTH
WAZIRISTAN: Five soldiers were martyred and another was injured when terrorists
attacked a security check-post in the Sara Rogha area of South Waziristan
tribal district late Thursday night.
Police
said that the martyred soldiers belonged to 223 Wing of Frontier Corps, a
paramilitary force which has been fighting militants in the tribal districts.
Officials said that terrorists used light and heavy weapons in the attack.
The
martyred soldiers were identified as Naib Subaidar Shahid Anwar, Naik Ahmad
Khan, Lance Naik Shehryar and Sepoys Ayub and Shahzad and the injured as Shahid
Afzal.
No
group has accepted responsibility for the attack yet.
A
resident of Sara Rogha, Iqbal Mehsud, told Dawn that heavy firing started late
night and continued for a long time. The local people came out of their houses
after hearing gun shots.
Later,
police and paramilitary forces conducted a house-to-house search operation in
the area to arrest perpetrators of the attack.
Sara
Rogha was cleared of terrorists after security forces conducted Operation
Rah-i-Nijat in 2009.
However,
recently attacks have taken place on security forces in the areas of Ahmadzai
Wazir and Mehsud tribes of South Waziristan district. Two soldiers were
martyred and five others injured when an improvised explosive device hit their
vehicle and exploded near Wana, the administrative headquarters of South
Waziristan, on Sunday night.
Officials
said that militants had also suffered heavy casualties in clashes with the
security forces, which had resulted in the killing of 60 terrorists, including
10 key leaders.
Following
an attack on security forces, the district administration imposed curfew in
Wana and its adjacent areas on Wednesday.
Residents
said that the administration lifted curfew on Friday after negotiations with the
local elders. Earlier local people staged a demonstration near Wana to protest
against curfew.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1608331/five-soldiers-martyred-in-south-waziristan-attack
--------
North
America
US,
Pakistan military officials meet over troop withdrawal from Afghanistan
19
February ,2021
Senior
US and Pakistani military officials spoke in Islamabad on Friday about the
possibility of postponing the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, a
move currently under review by US President Joe Biden’s administration.
The
meeting comes with the US expected to announce in the coming days whether it
will stick with a plan to withdraw its military from the country at the
beginning of May, as agreed under a US-Taliban accord reached in February 2020
in Doha.
General
Kenneth McKenzie, head of the US Army Central Command (CENTCOM), thanked
Pakistan for its “contributions to the Afghan peace negotiations” and pledged
to explore “new areas for collaboration.”
Pakistan’s
military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa meanwhile reaffirmed his country’s
commitment to peace efforts, noting that peace in Afghanistan was important for
peace in Pakistan, according to a statement.
McKenzie
has indicated that conditions have not been met for a withdrawal, which he says
could create a jihadist group resurgence in the country, risking a collapse of
the Afghan government.
While
the Taliban had pledged to reduce violence under their deal with the US, they
have not done so, McKenzie said on the plane to Pakistan.
The
Taliban denies being behind escalated violence, saying those responsible are
other jihadist groups.
“Certainly
ISIS has launched some attacks. It pales against what the Taliban is doing,”
McKenzie said, denouncing violence against Afghan forces, and “targeted assassinations
in some of the urban areas.”
“This
is clearly the Taliban,” he said. “There is no way it’s anyone else. That’s
very clear.”
Pakistan,
which has encouraged Taliban negotiations with the Afghan government, would
welcome a postponement of the departure of foreign forces in Afghanistan,
Pakistani military sources said.
But
the postponement should be negotiated with the Taliban in order to avoid a
relaunch of conflict, said the officials, who requested anonymity.
They
were quick to point out that US forces have now gone a year without losing a
single soldier in combat in Afghanistan for the first time in 20 years.
The
US military has not taken a public stand on the withdrawal issue, as the
decision ultimately lies with the White House.
But
privately, US military officials have expressed concern that jihadist groups
will regain control of Afghanistan as soon as the US leaves.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/19/US-Pakistan-military-officials-meet-over-troop-withdrawal-from-Afghanistan
--------
Biden
says US, Europe must address Iran’s ‘destabilizing activities’ in Middle East
Joseph
Haboush
19
February ,2021
US
President Joe Biden said Friday that, in cooperation with European allies,
Washington needed to address Iran’s “destabilizing activities” in the Middle
East.
Biden’s
remarks came during a virtual speech at the Munich Security Conference, where
his German and French counterparts spoke as well.
Doubling
down on State Department officials' comments a day earlier about Washington’s
readiness to sit down with Iran for discussions on the now-defunct nuclear
treaty, Biden said his administration was prepared to reengage in negotiations
with Tehran.
The
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015 by the Obama
administration did not include or mention Iran’s proxies, some of which are
designated terrorist organizations or its ballistic missile program.
On
Friday, Biden said new negotiations “must address Iran’s destabilizing
activities across the Middle East.”
Going
forward on the Iran file, Biden said the US would work with European allies
“and other partners.” He did not elaborate.
Earlier
in his speech, Biden reaffirmed his commitment to NATO and the need for unified
transatlantic cooperation. “An attack on one is an attack on all. That is our
unshakeable vow.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/Iran-nuclear-deal-Biden-says-US-Europe-must-address-Iran-s-destabilizing-activities-in-Middle-East
--------
US
informed Israel ahead of Iran policy announcement: Report
19
February ,2021
The
Biden administration informed Israel in advance that it planned to announce on
Thursday it was ready to talk to Iran about Washington and Tehran returning to
the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, a person familiar with the matter told
Reuters.
Biden's
aides wanted to avoid blindsiding Israel, Iran's regional arch-foe, over the US
plans, which included telling the UN Security Council the new administration
was rescinding former President Donald Trump's assertion that all UN sanctions
had been reimposed on Iran in September.
But
President Joe Biden did not directly inform Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu about the shift in US/Iran policy when they spoke for the first time
on Wednesday, the source said.
Netanyahu
has made clear he strongly opposes a US return to the nuclear deal with Iran.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/US-informed-Israel-ahead-of-Iran-policy-announcement-Report
--------
Pentagon
says no decision made yet regarding US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan
20
February 2021
The
US says it has made no decision yet regarding the withdrawal of its troops from
Afghanistan, claiming that ‘violence’ must be reduced in the war-ravaged
country, where American forces are present for the past 20 years.
US
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the remarks on Friday, briefing Pentagon
reporters on the outcome of a NATO two-day virtual meeting held on Wednesday
and Thursday, whose top agenda was the fate of the alliance’s 9,600-strong
mission in Afghanistan.
“The
United States will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from
Afghanistan that puts [Afghan military] forces, or [NATO’s] reputation at
risk,” the new Pentagon chief said during his first briefing since taking
office last month.
“In
the meantime, current missions will continue, and of course commanders have the
right and the responsibility to defend themselves and our Afghan [military]
partners against threats,” Austin added.
Former
US president Donald Trump signed a deal with the Taliban militant group, which
controls large parts of Afghanistan, in February last year to withdraw troops
by May this year in exchange for the Taliban to halt attacks on foreign forces.
The
future of the NATO deployment will be largely determined by new American President
Joe Biden, who will either stick to the May withdrawal deadline or risk a
bloody backlash from the Taliban by staying in Afghanistan.
The
US along with its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the guise of
fighting terrorism and dismantling the al-Qaeda Takfiri terrorist group.
The
invasion — which has turned into the longest war in US history — removed the
Taliban from power, but the militant group has never stopped its attacks,
citing the foreign military presence as one of the main reasons behind its
continued militancy.
The
White House says it is reviewing the US-Taliban deal, while the Pentagon has
accused the group of not fulfilling promises.
Trump
reduced the number of US troops to 2,500 in January, their lowest figure since
the onset of the so-called war on terror.
Elsewhere
in his remarks, Austin said that he had assured NATO allies that they would not
be taken aback by Biden’s decision on the fate of the forces in Afghanistan,
whatever his verdict might be.
“We
will consult each other and consult together, decide together, and act
together,” he repeated what he had told
NATO allies, which were at times blindsided by mostly abrupt decisions
made during Trump’s administration.
During
the past several months, the Taliban has escalated attacks in Afghanistan amid
stuttering peace talks with the central government in Kabul. The Taliban also
warned NATO ministers against seeking a “continuation of occupation and war.”
“Clearly
the violence is too high right now and more progress needs to be made in the
Afghan-led negotiations,” Austin said. “I urge all parties to choose the path
towards peace. The violence must decrease now.”
The
United Nations says more than 100,000 civilians have been killed or injured
over the past decade across Afghanistan.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/20/645640/Afghanistan-US-pentagon-Austin-NATO-Trump-Biden-Taliban
--------
US
reporter held by al-Qaida-linked group in Syria released
By
Sarah El Deeb
Feb.
18, 2021
BEIRUT
— An American journalist, living in northwestern Syria for nearly a decade, has
been released, six months after he was captured by an al-Qaida-linked militant
group, Syrian opposition media reported.
Bilal
Abdul Kareem, a native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., has been living in the rebel-held
Syrian northwest since 2012, reporting on the Syrian government military
campaigns against areas in opposition hands.
He
had been detained last August, following a report he did about torture in the
prisons of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the al-Qaida-linked group that dominates the
area. Local prominent figures had appealed to the militants to release him.
Abdul
Kareem had reported and collaborated with Western news outlets, which had
largely stayed out of the war-torn country after a spate of kidnapping. He
later set up his own news network, On The Ground News.
The
U.S. State Department designated Hayat Tahrir al-Sham a terrorist groups in
2018 despite its move to publicly disassociate itself from al-Qaida the
previous year. Rights groups and the U.N.-backed Commission of Inquiry have
accused the group of detaining and torturing civilians and those who documented
the group’s abuse of Syrian protesters, journalists and women.
Syrian
opposition news outlets and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights reported Abdul Kareem’s release on Wednesday. The Observatory said local
mediation secured his release after a tribunal set up and run by the
al-Qaida-linked group had sentenced him.
Abdul
Kareem could not immediately be reached for comment. A statement by Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham confirmed he was released because of mediation and said Abdul Kareem
had been detained because of spreading false news, working with groups that
undermine security and incite against authorities in the opposition-controlled
areas.
Photographs
of Abdul Kareem were shared online after his release, in which he appeared to
have lost some weight. His wife gave birth to a daughter in January while he
was held by the militant group. He was allowed to see his family twice during
his six months in captivity.
Abdul
Kareem has spent years covering the Middle East. Born Darrell Lamont Phelps, he
converted to Islam, studied Arabic in Egypt and traveled to Libya to cover the
conflict there. He arrived in Syria in 2012. He had interviewed Syrian rebels
and jihadi groups, developing a reputation as a sympathizer.
He
survived a number of airstrikes in Syria, prompting him to file a lawsuit
against the U.S. government, demanding to know whether he was on a “kill list.”
In January, a federal court dismissed his case on the grounds that he did not
have standing to bring the claim.
Reprieve,
the U.K.-based legal rights group that represented him in the U.S. case, also
reported his release.
“Bilal’s
release is welcome news, and his quest for justice in the U.S. courts continues,”
said Jennifer Gibson, who leads Reprieve’s work on the case.
In
2019, he was wounded by shrapnel when he and a Sky News crew came under fire
from a Syrian government tank shell, an incident that was caught on camera.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/us-reporter-held-by-al-qaida-linked-group-in-syria-released/2021/02/18/7e197946-71ea-11eb-8651-6d3091eac63f_story.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019262_
--------
South
Asia
NATO
chief urges Afghan govt, Taliban to step up peace talks
February
19, 2021
NATO
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday urged the Afghan government and
the Taliban to step up the pace of peace talks amid doubts over whether the
military alliance will pull thousands of troops out of the country by a May
deadline.
NATO
has just under 10,000 troops in the war-ravaged country, helping to train and
advise the Afghan security forces. Most are not U.S. forces, but those troops
could not continue the NATO operation if American transport, logistics and
other support were withdrawn.
President
Joe Biden is reviewing his predecessor’s 2020 deal with the Taliban, which
includes a May 1 deadline for a final U.S. troop withdrawal. In Washington,
calls are mounting for the United States to delay the final exit or renegotiate
the deal to allow the presence of a smaller, intelligence-based American force.
“The
problem is that we are in a situation where we have a date — the 1st of May —
approaching and so far we have seen that the peace talks are fragile,”
Stoltenberg said after chairing a meeting of NATO defense ministers, including
new U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
“The
talks are fragile, and progress is slow. So, it is now imperative to
re-energize the peace process,” Stoltenberg said, referring to the stalled
negotiations in Qatar between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Violence
is also spiking and culprits include the Taliban, the Islamic State group,
warlords and criminal gangs. Earlier Thursday, two lecturers at Kabul
University were killed when a bomb attached to the car they were traveling in
went off. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
None
of the 30 NATO member governments has publicly argued that security conditions
are right for a withdrawal, and many allies would probably support a longer
stay if the U.S. requires it, diplomats say.
“At
this stage, we have made no final decision on the future of our presence,”
Stoltenberg said.
With
the U.S. review ongoing it’s unlikely that any firm decision on the future of
NATO’s operation will be made before the organization’s foreign ministers meet
in mid-March.
Asked
whether NATO might, on the contrary, increase troops numbers, Stoltenberg said
that “we will do what is necessary to make sure that our troops are safe. We
have adjusted the troop numbers before, but I will not speculate because now
the focus is on making sure that the peace talks are successful.”
NATO
took control of international security operations in Afghanistan in 2003, two
years after a U.S.-led coalition ousted the Taliban for harboring former Al
Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. It’s the military alliance’s longest, costliest,
and most ambitious operation ever.
https://indianexpress.com/article/world/nato-chief-urges-afghan-govt-taliban-to-step-up-peace-talks-7195207/
--------
Myanmar’s
minorities show unity against coup after protester dies
February
20, 2021
NAYPYITAW:
Members of Myanmar ethnic groups protested on Saturday in a show of opposition
to the coup that ousted the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, despite some
misgivings about her commitment to their aspirations for autonomy, community
representatives said.
Protests
against the Feb 1 coup that overthrew the elected government of the veteran
democracy campaigner have taken place across the diverse country, even though
the military has promised to hold a new election and hand power to the winner.
A
young woman protester died on Friday after being shot in the head last week as
police dispersed a crowd in the capital, Naypyitaw, the first death among
opponents of the coup in the demonstrations.
The
US was saddened by the death and condemned the use of force against
demonstrators, a State Department spokesman said.
The
army says one policeman has died of injuries sustained in a protest.
The
demonstrators are demanding the restoration of the elected government, the
release of Suu Kyi and others and the scrapping of a 2008 constitution, drawn
up under military supervision, that gives the army a decisive role in politics.
Ke
Jung, a youth leader from the Naga minority and an organiser of the Saturday
protest by the minorities in the main city of Yangon, said the protesters were
also demanding a federal system.
“We
can’t form a federal country under a dictatorship. We can’t accept the junta,” he
told Reuters.
The
protests have been more peaceful than the bloodily suppressed demonstrations
during nearly 50 years of direct military rule up to 2011.
But
police have fired rubber bullets several times to break up crowds, as well as
water cannon and catapults.
In
addition to the protests, a civil disobedience campaign has paralysed much
government business.
Myanmar
has experienced insurgencies by ethnic minority factions since shortly after
its independence from Britain in 1948 and the army has long held itself to be
the only institution capable of preserving national unity.
Suu
Kyi, 75, like the top generals, is a member of the majority Burman community.
Her
government promoted a peace process with insurgent groups but she came in for a
storm of international criticism over the plight of the Muslim Rohingya
minority after more than 700,000 fled a deadly 2017 crackdown.
‘Stand
together’
Ke
Jung said some minority parties were not committed to the movement against the
coup.
“It’s
a reflection of how Aung San Suu Kyi failed to build alliances with ethnic
political parties,” he said.
“However,
we must win this fight. We stand together with the people. We will fight until
the end of dictatorship.”
Salai
Mon Boi, a youth leader from the Chin minority, said the Saturday protest,
which happened to fall on Chin National Day, was focused on four demands:
getting rid of the constitution, ending dictatorship, a federal system and the
release of all leaders.
“There
are some people who don’t like NLD but we’re not talking about the NLD,” he
said, referring to Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD).
As
well as the colourful protest by minority members, several hundred people
chanting slogans gathered behind police barricades sealing of a main Yangon
protest site by the Sule Pagoda.
The
army seized back power after alleging fraud in Nov 8 elections that the NLD
swept, detaining her and others. The electoral commission had dismissed the
allegations of fraud.
The
US, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have announced limited sanctions, with a
focus on military leaders, including banning travel and freezing assets.
Japan
and India have joined Western countries in calling for democracy to be restored
quickly.
The
junta has not reacted to the new sanctions. On Tuesday, an army spokesman told
a news conference that sanctions had been expected.
There
is little history of Myanmar’s generals giving in to foreign pressure and they
have closer ties to neighbouring China and to Russia, which have taken a softer
approach than long critical Western countries.
Junta
leader Min Aung Hlaing was already under sanctions from Western countries
following the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya.
Myanmar’s
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said 546 people had been
detained, with 46 released, as of Friday.
Suu
Kyi faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as
charges of illegally importing six walkie talkie radios. Her next court
appearance has been set for March 1.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2021/02/20/myanmars-minorities-show-unity-against-coup-after-protester-dies/
--------
US
calls on Taliban to end violence in Afghanistan
By
William Roberts
19
Feb 2021
United
States defence secretary Lloyd Austin called for a reduction in violence in Afghanistan
and said more progress is needed in Afghan peace negotiations before Western
forces withdraw from the war-torn country.
“Clearly,
the violence is too high right now and more progress needs to be to be made in
the Afghan-led negotiations,” Secretary Austin said at a Pentagon news
conference on Friday.
“I
urge all parties to choose the path towards peace, and the violence must
decrease now,” Austin said a day after discussing Afghanistan with NATO defence
ministers in Brussels.
The
US “will not undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan” that
puts NATO forces at risk, Austin said, adding “no decisions about our future
force posture have been made.”
“In
the meantime, current missions will continue and, of course, commanders have
the right and the responsibility to defend themselves and their Afghan partners
against attack,” he said.
New
US President Joe Biden faces a thorny choice in Afghanistan: whether to
withdraw all US forces by the end of April – as promised to the Taliban by the
former Trump administration – or extend the US troop presence while trying to
sustain troubled Afghan peace talks.
Taliban
deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on February 16 called on the US to
honour its agreement regarding international troop withdrawals and warned that
the group would not allow continuing interference in Afghan affairs.
Pakistan’s
ambassador to the US said on Friday the Biden administration should negotiate
with the Taliban on any decision to keep troops in the country.
“The
first party that needs to be consulted is the Taliban. That is where the
process should start,” Ambassador Asad Majeed Khan told an online forum
sponsored by the Stimson Center.
“To
present this as a fait accompli, I think, will only create difficulty,” Khan cautioned,
according to the Reuters news agency.
In
Washington, meanwhile, there are increasing calls by foreign policy leaders and
members of Congress for a continuing US presence in Afghanistan.
The
bipartisan US Afghanistan Study Group, mandated by Congress, recommended a new
approach to Afghanistan earlier this month. Leaders of the group testified on
Capitol Hill on Friday.
“We
recommend that US troops remain beyond May 1,” said Kelly Ayotte, a co-chair of
the study group and a former Republican US senator.
“We
believe a precipitous withdrawal of US and international troops in May, would
be catastrophic for Afghanistan, leading to civil war and allow the
reconstitution of terror groups which could threaten the United States,” Ayotte
said.
The
US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 after the September 11 al-Qaeda attacks. At the
time, the Taliban controlled the country and had given al-Qaeda safe harbour.
Retired
General Joseph Dunford, a former chairman of the US military’s Joint Chiefs of
Staff under President Barack Obama, said the study group sees an opportunity
now for a “broader diplomatic effort in support of the Afghan peace
negotiations”.
“There
does in fact appear to be an end state that would satisfy all regional
stakeholders to include Pakistan, China, Russia, India, and others,” Dunford
said.
Both
Republicans and Democrats in Congress said they recognise the situation in
Afghanistan is fragile and withdrawing now could result in a loss of progress
made during the past 20 years.
“A
withdrawal made under current conditions will likely lead to a collapse of the
Afghan state,” said Representative Stephen Lynch, the Democratic chairman of a
House Government Oversight subcommittee.
Representative
Paul Gosar, a Republican, said he doubts the Taliban can be relied upon for a
durable peace agreement.
“Essentially,
we’re discussing war termination, and banking on the concept that US
involvement in the current civil war in Afghanistan will end when the primary
threat – the Taliban – has committed to peace,” Gosar said. “It seems rather
impossible.”
The
US and the Taliban reached an agreement in February 2020 – after months of
negotiations in Doha, Qatar – that called for a permanent ceasefire, peace
negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, and a withdrawal of
all foreign forces by May 1.
Peace
talks between the Taliban and Kabul government began in September but have been
marred by continuing conflict, attacks and Taliban-linked assassinations.
There
are about 2,500 US troops and 10,000 NATO troops in Afghanistan now. A US
decision to remain past May 1 would likely result in renewed conflict with the
Taliban and require the deployment of 2,000 or more US forces, Dunford said.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/19/us-calls-on-taliban-to-end-violence-in-afghanistan
--------
Afghan
police: 3 separate Kabul explosions kill 5, wound 2
Feb
20, 2021
KABUL:
Three separate explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at
least five people and wounded two others, a police official said, amid a surge
in violence in the war-torn country.
Kabul
police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said the first two explosions took place 15
minutes apart and a third targeting a police vehicle took place two hours
later.
No
group immediately claimed responsibility.
It wasn't
immediately clear what caused the blasts. The majority of bomb attacks in the
capital Kabul in recent months have been sticky bombs _ explosive devices with
magnets that are attached to vehicles and detonated by remote control or timer.
The
second explosion targeted a car in a northwestern Kabul neighborhood in which
national army soldiers were traveling, killing two soldiers. A civilian
passerby was also killed.
The
third explosion destroyed a police car in western Kabul killing two police
officers. Meanwhile, the first blast targeted a civilian car wounding both
travelers inside the vehicle.
Kabul
police said investigations were underway.
Afghanistan
has seen a nationwide spike in bombings, targeted killings and violence on the
battlefield as peace negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan
government have stalled.
The
Islamic State group's local affiliate has claimed responsibility for some of
the attacks, but many go unclaimed, with the government putting the blame on
the Taliban. The insurgents have denied responsibility for most of the attacks.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/afghan-police-3-separate-kabul-explosions-kill-5-wound-2/articleshow/81122457.cms
--------
Bangladesh's
Chittagong Archdiocese gets new archbishop
Rock
Ronald Rozario
February
20, 2021
Pope
Francis has appointed Holy Cross Bishop Lawrence Subrato Howlader of Barishal
as the new metropolitan archbishop of Chittagong Archdiocese in southeastern
Bangladesh.
Archbishop-elect
Howlader, 56, fills the post left vacant since Holy Cross Archbishop Moses M.
Costa died from a stroke following his apparent recovery from Covid-19 on July
13 last year at the age of 70.
Archbishop
George Kocherry, apostolic nuncio to Bangladesh, announced the appointment at
Our Lady of Holy Rosary Cathedral Church in Chittagong on Feb. 19.
Archbishop
Howlader is the second metropolitan archbishop and sixth bishop of Chittagong,
one of the country’s oldest Catholic strongholds.
He
was the auxiliary bishop of Chittagong from 2009 to 2015. He became the first
bishop of Barishal Diocese when it was erected on Dec. 29, 2015, by dividing
Chittagong Diocese.
Stories
Transform Lives
Born
on Sept. 11, 1965, in Nobogram of Barishal district, Archbishop Howlader
entered Holy Cross Congregation, the largest religious order in Bangladesh, in
1987. He pronounced his first and final vows with the Holy Cross in 1988 and
1993 respectively.
He
was ordained a priest on Dec. 31, 1994. He served in two Holy Cross-run
parishes and St. Paul’s Minor Seminary in Mymensingh Diocese from 1996 to 2000.
From
2000 to 2004, Father Howlader studied at the Gregorian University in Rome and
obtained a licentiate in depth psychology, spirituality and counseling.
He
was the novice master of Holy Cross Novitiate in Barishal from 2004 to 2009.
Pope
Benedict XVI appointed Father Howlader as the first auxiliary bishop of
Chittagong on May 7, 2009.
The
archbishop-elect has been serving as chairman of the Youth Commission of the
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB). Last year he was appointed
treasurer of the CBCB.
In
Barishal Diocese, he has been credited with prioritizing pastoral care and
social services, interreligious and ecumenical dialogue, and infrastructure
development.
He
also made efforts to revitalize religious and lay groups that offer a range of
services including education, health and socioeconomic development for people.
Cheers
and high expectations
Many
Catholics took to social media to convey their best wishes to Archbishop
Howlader.
Catholics
in Chittagong expressed joy and shared their expectations of the new prelate.
“Archbishop
Howlader is a relatively young prelate, and he will be able to serve us better.
I hope he will be able to empower the faithful spiritually, pastorally and socially,
especially those living in remote, hilly areas who face difficulties to access
to basic facilities like education, health and employment,” Francis Tripura,
49, secretary of the Pastoral Service Team in Bandarban hill district, told UCA
News.
Local
Catholics also need support for developing cooperatives, alternative employment
to agriculture and assistance to overcome land disputes and pressure from
people of other faiths, he added.
Martha
D’Silva, 50, a Catholic mother of three daughters from the Jamal Khan area of
Chittagong, said she knows Archbishop Howlader as a “good, pastoral-minded
prelate.”
She
said poor and poorly educated Christians in Chittagong like her family need
support from the Church. Her husband has been sick for more than a year, and
the family runs mostly on support from two married daughters.
“I
thank God that my husband has a house to live in. There are even poorer people
than us in Chittagong. I expect the Church under the new archbishop will reach
out and help them,” D’Silva told UCA News.
Stanley
Gomes, 53, a Catholic and private jobholder, welcomed the new prelate and
expects him to serve people by overcoming social and pastoral challenges.
“Chittagong
is a melting pot of people from diverse social status and ethnic backgrounds.
Often the poor and destitute are overlooked and discriminated. They require
more attention to attain education and empowerment properly to ensure equality
and fairness. There also divisions within the community, so he will need to
promote unity among them,” Gomes told UCA News.
“The
new archbishop will need to continue the long-held tradition of interfaith
harmony in Chittagong. He will also have to overcome financial constraints and
lack of resources of the local Church.”
A
cradle of Christianity
Chittagong,
Bangladesh’s largest port city and an economic hub, played a significant role
in the growth of Christianity in the country.
In
1517, Portuguese Christian traders landed at Chittagong port of East Bengal
(now Bangladesh) when it was part of India. The second contingent that arrived
in 1518 decided to settle down in Chittagong and nearby Diang, marking the
advent of first Christian settlements in the country. From 1518 to 1597,
Chittagong was part of Goa Diocese of India.
In
1598, Portuguese Jesuit priest Father Francesco Fernandez was the first
Catholic missionary to set foot in Chittagong. Two Jesuit priests — Father
Melchior de Fonseca and Father Andre Boves — and two Dominican priests followed
his footsteps in 1599, and a band of Augustinian priests turned up in the
1600s, when the first two churches were set up in Diang and Chittagong.
The
new Church faced a massive crisis and persecution amid a tug-of-war for
supremacy between the Mughal Empire and Kingdom of Arakan (now Rakhine of
Myanmar).
Hundreds
of Christians were massacred and newly built churches were destroyed by the
invading Arakan army between 1600 and 1625. Arakanese soldiers detained Father
Fernandez for his support of Portuguese Christian families. They assaulted,
blinded and incarcerated the priest, who died in captivity on Nov. 14, 1602,
becoming the first martyr of Bengal.
In
1845, Chittagong became the seat of first East Bengal Vicariate and the
territory was entrusted to Dhaka Diocese in 1886. Chittagong Diocese was
created in 1927 and covered territories of India and Myanmar. It was elevated
to an archdiocese on Feb. 2, 2017.
Chittagong
Archdiocese has about 30,000 Catholics in 11 parishes and four mission centers.
Most Catholics are ethnic indigenous people from the Chittagong Hill Tracts
area.
In
Muslim-majority Bangladesh with a population of more than 160 million,
Christians comprise less than half percent or an estimated 600,000. About
400,000 Catholics are in two archdioceses and six dioceses.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/bangladeshs-chittagong-archdiocese-gets-new-archbishop/91482
--------
Mideast
Rouhani
Asks EU to Stand against US Bullying Policies
2021-February-19
Rouhani
made the remark in a phone call with the European Council’s President Charles
Michel on Thursday evening.
He
described the JCPOA as an “important achievement for multilateral diplomacy”
and stressed the role of the EU's foreign policy chief in converging efforts
for planning future steps.
The
president underlined the need to develop relations with the EU, especially in
the field of economy, saying, "Given the recent developments in the world,
we must try to facilitate relations between Iran and the EU."
Michel,
for his part, emphasized the maintenance of the JCPOA as a global treaty and
stressed its full implementation by all signatories.
He
also referred to Europe's position to support the JCPOA after the US illegal
and unilateral withdrawal.
“The
Council of Europe must use the opportunity to maintain and fully implement the
UN Security Council by all parties, and the EU will play its role in this
regard,” Michel noted.
In
relevant remarks, Rouhani in a phone conversation with German Chancellor Angela
Merkel had said that there is no way for parties to the nuclear deal to save
the agreement but persuading the US to lift the inhumane sanctions against
Iran.
During
the conversation on Wednesday, Rouhani categorically dismissed the possibility
of injecting new items into the already negotiated nuclear deal, formally
called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was struck on July
14, 2015 between Iran and six world powers – the US, Britain, France, Germany,
Russia and China.
“The
JCPOA, as a document approved by the UN Security Council and a product of
sustained efforts by Iran and six major countries in the world, has a clear
framework and cannot be changed,” he told Merkel.
Hinting
at Europe’s lack of commitment to the JCPOA in the aftermath of the US
withdrawal, Rouhani said Iran should be able to see the effectiveness of the
nuclear deal in practice, and Europe should practically prove that it is really
after maintaining the JCPOA.
Rouhani
said his administration is committed to further reduce the country’s
undertakings under the JCPOA, unless the sanctions are lifted, in which case
“we will also completely implement our obligations within the framework of the
JCPOA”.
Merkel,
for her part, called on Iran to take steps to ensure its return to full
compliance to the JCPOA.
“She
expressed her concern that Iran continues to fail to meet its obligations under
the nuclear agreement,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.
“It
is now time for positive signals that create trust and increase the chances of
a diplomatic solution,” the chancellor said, according to Seibert.
Iranian
Government Spokesman Ali Rabiyee announced on Tuesday that the country will
stop the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the NPT due to
the US and other parties’ disloyalty to the nuclear deal.
“Based
on the sixth paragraph of the parliament’s bill and given the fact that
sanctions have not been removed so far, the government and the Atomic Energy
Organization of Iran (AEOI) are required to suspend the voluntary
implementation of the Additional Protocol which will decrease the supervisions
and inspections beyond the IAEA’s safeguards agreements,” Rabiyee told
reporters in a press conference.
He
noted that the measure does not take time and can be carried out rapidly, but
meantime, said Iran is still a member of the safeguards agreements, which means
that a major part of the inspections which are not within the framework of the
Additional Protocol will continue.
“Therefore,
stopping the voluntary implementation of the protocol does not mean terminating
cooperation with the Agency. This cooperation will continue and the Islamic
Republic of Iran will definitely inform the Agency of all its moves in advance
in a letter, as has been the case so far,” Rabiyee said.
“It
is clear that this new measure is against Iran’s will and was adopted due to
the US lagging in lifting sanctions and fulfilling its obligations under the UN
Security Council Resolution 2231. We continue to consider the nuclear deal a
creditable agreement and the best possible agreement, and we are ready to
immediately reverse all steps taken under paragraph 36 of the nuclear deal to
their original status as stated in the nuclear deal provided that the US and
other parties to the agreement revive their undertakings,” he added.
Rabiyee
expressed the hope that the US and three European members of the nuclear deal
(France, Britain and Germany) would take the closing window of opportunity to
keep diplomacy alive.
Iranian
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said that his country will halt
the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) next week in case other parties continue to defy
their nuclear deal undertakings.
“The
Iranian government is required to suspend the voluntary implementation of the
Additional Protocol next week, according to the parliament approval, if the
obligations of the other parties have not been fulfilled by that day. This move
does not take time and can be implemented in a day,” Khatibzadeh told reporters
in a press conference in Tehran on Monday.
“Accordingly,
inspections beyond the safeguards agreements will be stopped, and this means
the supervisions that Iran has accepted within the framework of the Additional
Protocol and it does not mean stopping all supervisions. Iran will keep
fulfilling some of the inspections, but the Additional Protocol will definitely
be stopped,” he added.
Yet,
Khatibzadeh underlined that Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) will continue and will inform the IAEA of its moves in a
letter, reiterating that all the actions done by Iran are easily reversible,
provided that the other parties return to their obligations.
“Unfortunately,
the US continues to follow the wrong path of the previous administration, and
what is happening today is no different from what was underway before January
20, and the maximum pressure and crime against the Iranian people and disregard
for international laws continues today too,” he added.
Last
month, Iranian Envoy and Permanent Representative to the UN Majid Takht
Ravanchi underlined that if Biden decides to return to the nuclear deal,
Washington should comply with all its undertakings in exact accordance with the
internationally-endorsed agreement.
“We
make decision and take reciprocal action considering Biden's moves vis a vis
the nuclear deal. We have repeatedly demanded the US to return to the nuclear
deal and this return should be complete and without preconditions, that is to
say, no issue related or unrelated to the nuclear deal should be put forward
for discussion,” Takht Ravanchi said.
“It
should only be clear that the US international undertakings cannot be
half-fulfilled. If they claim to return to the nuclear deal, this return should
be accompanied by the full implementation of their undertakings with no
hesitation or controversy,” he added.
Takht
Ravanchi stressed Iran’s clear position towards the nuclear deal, and said, “We
live up to our undertakings.”
He
referred to the parliament’s bill to take strategic measures to counter the US
sanctions against Iran, and said, “There is a timetable in the parliament’s
bill and we are moving in the same direction, so we (at the foreign ministry)
are not entitled to specify the period for how long we will wait. In the first
place, we make decisions based on national interests, and secondly, we should
act on the basis of and within the framework of the parliamentary bill.”
His
remarks came after Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) Ali
Akbar Salehi announced that the country is at present producing nearly half a
kilo of uranium enriched to the 20% purity level, meantime, saying that
Tehran’s steps to reduce nuclear deal undertakings after the West’s
disloyalties can all be backtracked.
“Based
on the latest news I have, they (the Iranian scientists at nuclear
installations) are producing 20 grams (of 20% enriched uranium) every hour;
meaning that practically, we are producing half a kilo every day,” Salehi said
in an interview with the Persian-language Khamenei.ir website released last
month.
“We
produce and store this 20% (enriched uranium) and if they return to the nuclear
deal, we will return to our undertakings too,” he added.
Asked
about the recent bill approved by the parliament to adopt strategic measures to
remove sanctions against Iran, Salehi said that the AEOI is required to
implement it.
“It
is a reality and both the government and the AEOI have declared that they do
not have any technical problems with implementation of the parliament’s bill
and we launched 20% enrichment within 24 hours,” he said.
Salehi
also underlined the need for Washington to remove all sanctions against Iran,
specially those which prevent the country’s oil sales and banking transactions.
Iranian
legislators had in January praised the AEOI for restarting enrichment of
uranium at 20-percent purity level, and called for the full implementation of
the recent parliamentarian law to counter the illegal US sanctions against the
country.
In
a statement, 190 legislators expressed their support for the AEOI’s resumption
of 20% uranium enrichment and urged the body to fully and precisely implement
the law ratified as a counteractive move to the sanctions illegally imposed on
the country, especially those by the United States.
The
lawmakers said the parliament approved the ‘Strategic Counteractive Plan for
Lifting Sanctions and Safeguarding Rights of Iranian People’ to highlight
Iran’s legitimate right to use peaceful nuclear technology and the importance
of lifting all cruel sanctions against the country.
The
Iranian parliamentarians in a meeting on December 1, 2020 ratified the
generalities of a bill to adopt strategic measures to remove sanctions against
the country and defend the nation’s interests.
The
lawmakers, in November, had given the green light to the single-urgency of the
strategic motion, but the plan turned into a double-urgency on Sunday after the
assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Iranian
nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh's car was targeted by an explosion and
machinegun fire in Damavand's Absard 40 kilometers to the East of Tehran on
Friday November 27, 2020.
Under
the bill, the AEOI is required to start in two months after the approval of the
present bill to produce at least 120 kg of 20%-enriched uranium annually at
Fordow nuclear site and store it inside the country, increase the enrichment
capacity and production of enriched uranium to at least 500 kg per month, start
the installation of centrifuges, gas injection, enrichment, and storage of
materials up to proper purity levels within 3 months, via at least 1000 IR-2m
centrifuges in the underground part of Shahid Ahmadi Roshan facility in Natanz,
transfer any enrichment, research, and development operations of IR-6
centrifuges to the nuclear site of Shahid Ali Mohammadi in Fordow, and start
enrichment operation via at least 164 centrifuges and expand it to 1000 by the
end of 20 March 2021 (end of the Iranian calendar year) and return the 40
megawatts Arak heavy water reactor to its pre-JCPOA condition by reviving the
heart (calandria) of the reactor within 4 months from the date of the adoption
of this law.
Also,
the government is required to suspend the nuclear deal-based regulatory access
under the Additional Protocol and beyond within 2 months after the adoption of
the law based on the articles 36 and 37 of the nuclear deal.
Iran
signed the JCPOA with six world states — namely the US, Germany, France,
Britain, Russia, and China — in 2015.
Trump,
a stern critic of the historic deal, unilaterally pulled Washington out of the
JCPOA in May 2018, and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against the
Islamic Republic in defiance of global criticism in an attempt to strangle the
Iranian oil trade, but to no avail since its "so-called maximum pressure
policy" has failed to push Tehran to the negotiating table.
In
response to the US’ unilateral move, Tehran has so far rowed back on its
nuclear commitments four times in compliance with Articles 26 and 36 of the
JCPOA, but stressed that its retaliatory measures will be reversible as soon as
Europe finds practical ways to shield the mutual trade from the US sanctions.
Tehran
has particularly been disappointed with failure of the three European
signatories to the JCPOA -- Britain, France and Germany -- to protect its
business interests under the deal after the US' withdrawal.
On
January 5, 2020, Iran took a final step in reducing its commitments, and said
it would no longer observe any operational limitations on its nuclear industry,
whether concerning the capacity and level of uranium enrichment, the volume of
stockpiled uranium or research and development.
Meantime,
Biden has recently said in a CNN article that he wants a renegotiation of the
contents of the deal before he agrees to rejoin the agreement.
“I
will offer Tehran a credible path back to diplomacy. If Iran returns to strict
compliance with the nuclear deal, the United States would rejoin the agreement
as a starting point for follow-on negotiations. With our allies, we will work
to strengthen and extend the nuclear deal's provisions, while also addressing other
issues of concern,” he wrote, mentioning that he wants changes to the contents
of the nuclear deal and guarantees from Tehran that it would be open for
compromise to strike multiple deals over its missile and regional powers as
well as a number of other issues that have been the bones of contention between
the two sides in the last four decades.
In
response, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had stressed that the
US has violated the nuclear deal and is in no position to ask for any
conditions for its return to the JCPOA, adding that it's Tehran that has its
own terms to allow the US back into the internationally endorsed agreement.
The
foreign minister has reiterated time and again that Tehran would not change
even a single word of the agreement, and cautioned the US that it needs to pay
reparations for the damage it has inflicted on Iran through its retreat from
the nuclear agreement and give enough insurances that it would not go for
initiating the trigger mechanism again before it could get back to the deal.
In
relevant remarks earlier this month, Spokesman for the AEOI Behrouz Kamalvandi
said his country enjoys the capability to produce 120 kg of uranium with 20%
purity in 8 months, that's 4 months faster than the one-year period required by
a recent parliament approval.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991201000057/Rhani-Asks-EU-Sand-agains-US-Bllying-Plicies
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Dozens
of Palestinians injured by Israeli forces in West Bank
19
February 2021
Israeli
forces have fired rubber bullets and teargas to disperse weekly anti-settlement
protests in several areas across the occupied West Bank, leaving dozens of
people injured.
Israeli
forces violently attacked hundreds of Palestinians participating in a peaceful
rally in the village of Beit Dajan, east of Nablus City, on Friday, according
to the Palestinian Quds News Network.
A
Palestinian was also injured during a weekly protest in the village of Kafr
Qaddum, near the city of Qalqilia, in the occupied West Bank.
“Despite
bad rainy weather, clashes broke out today between #Palestinian protesters and
Israeli occupation forces in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West
Bank, today,” the news network said in a tweet.
The
West Bank has long been a scene of weekly peaceful protests against the Israel
regime’s settlement expansion policy.
According
to a recent report by the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now, Israel
has advanced plans for the construction of 780 new illegal settler units in the
occupied West Bank.
According
to a recent report by the anti-settlement monitoring group Peace Now, Israel
advanced plans for the construction of 780 new illegal settler units in the
occupied West Bank.
More
than 600,000 Israelis live in over 230 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli
occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem
al-Quds.
All
Israeli settlements are illegal under international law as they are built on
occupied land.
Palestinians
want the West Bank as part of their future independent state with East Jerusalem
al-Quds as its capital.
Israel
releases body of Palestinian inmate
In
another development, Israel returned the body of a Palestinian inmate to his
family, five months after he passed away in the regime’s detention center.
Daoud
Talaat Khatib, 45 died of heart attack after 18 years in prison, in September.
He
was scheduled to complete his prison term and be released in December last
year.
Israel
holds the bodies of scores of Palestinians killed in years of violence,
refusing to return them to their families for burial.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645632/Israel-violence-rubber-bullets-tear-gas-Palestine-West-Bank
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US
will continue to dissuade countries from selling arms to Iran
19
February ,2021
The
United States will continue to persuade countries not to provide arms to Iran
after it decided to reverse the Trump administration’s stance that UN sanctions
against Iran snapped back due to its violation of the 2015 nuclear treaty.
“Reversing
the snapback position adopted by the previous administration ... strengthens
our position to engage the UN Security Council on Iran,” State Department
Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters.
Price
said that regardless of the recent decisions, “we will continue to use our
authorities to persuade countries not to provide arms to Iran.”
In
recent days and weeks, the Biden administration has made several moves in an
apparent sign to Iran that it seeks negotiations once again. Ties between
Washington and Tehran came to a halt during the Trump administration’s time in
office. Under Trump, the US withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA) and imposed crushing economic sanctions on Iran.
Although
Biden and senior White House officials have stated that Iran must make the
first move and come back into compliance with its commitments under the JCPOA,
sanctions against Iranian proxies have been lifted, among other decisions
easing the pressure on Tehran.
It
is unclear if Iran has made any concessions whatsoever.
On
Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed the Trump administration's
Iran policy had failed.
“We
have a policy in recent years of so-called 'maximum pressure' on Iran that has
not produced results. In fact, the problem has gotten worse. Iran is now much
closer to being able to produce, on short order, enough fissile material for a
nuclear weapon,” Blinken told BBC.
But
Blinken doubled down on previous comments by him and Biden: “If Iran returns to
its obligations under the nuclear agreement, the United States will do the same
thing,” he said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/Iran-nuclear-deal-US-will-continue-to-dissuade-countries-from-selling-arms-to-Iran
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Equatorial
Guinea set to move embassy to Jerusalem al-Quds
20
February 2021
Equatorial
Guinea is set to relocate its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem al-Quds, becoming
the second African country to join a very small number of states that have
pledged to move their embassies to the occupied city.
The
plan was announced by Guinea’s President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, during
his telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on
Friday.
It
is worth mentioning that Mbasogo is the world’s longest-serving president who
took power in a 1979 coup.
His
human rights log has been so bleak and according to the Human Rights Watch,
under President Mbasogo, “Corruption, poverty, and repression of civil and
political rights continued to undermine human rights in Equatorial Guinea”.
Ras
Mubarak, a Ghanian Member of the Parliament, said that “Equatorial Guinea is a
dictatorship; there is no democracy in the country. This is a country that does
not respect human rights, does not respect the rule of law, tying its apron
strings with another, which is Israel, which is practicing apartheid”.
Yotam
Gidron, author of 'Israel in Africa', said, "While Israel has been working
to persuade African countries to move their embassies to Jerusalem or, in the
case of those countries with no diplomatic ties, to normalize them, I think
that this specific announcement came as a surprise to many”.
Considering
the Israeli elections in a few weeks, Gidron interpreted the move “as a favor
or a gesture of support from Mbasogo to Netanyahu, perhaps mediated by Israeli
private actors operating in Equatorial Guinea.”
In
November, Malawi announced it would open a full embassy to Israel in the holy
city, becoming the first African nation in decades to do so.
Equatorial
Guinea's move comes almost four years after former US President Donald Trump
officially declared the occupied city as Israel's capital.
On
December 6, 2017, Trump said his administration would begin the process of
moving the American embassy in Tel Aviv to the holy city and in May 2018,
Washington officially announced the opening of its new embassy there.
The
Israeli regime considers the holy city as its eternal capital. It occupied the
east Jerusalem al-Quds in the Six-Day War of 1967, in a move not recognized
internationally.
According
to a statement released by Netanyahu’s office, the prime minister, in a
surprising move, boasted of establishing new ties with several Asian and
African countries which have eluded the Israeli regime over the conflict with
the Palestinians.
He
was pleased to add that "Israel is returning to Africa and Africa is
returning to Israel in a big way".
Israel’s
ties with the African countries date back to mid-1950s, with Ghana being the
first country to establish diplomatic relations with the regime.
Furthermore,
Israel has maintained its military training and arms exports to sub-Saharan
African countries since their independence and seems to strengthen its presence
in these countries by different means.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/20/645645/Equatorial-Guinea-Embassy-Jerusalem
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Battle
for Ma’rib: Yemeni army, allies make big advances on eastern front
20
February 2021
Yemeni
army troops and allied fighters from Popular Committees have made new advances
against Saudi-led coalition militants in Yemen's central province of Ma’rib,
flushing them out of several districts and edging closer to final victory.
Lebanon-based
Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television news network reported that the Yemeni
soldiers and their allies have wrested control over Raqwan district, and are
working to take over al-‘Alam al-Abyad and al-Nadhoud regions, which lie
northeast of Ma’rib city.
Local
sources said Yemeni army forces and fighters from Popular Committees have been
able to purge a number of positions from Saudi-led forces and militants loyal
to former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur, and have also laid a siege to
militants affiliated to al-Qaeda terror group on the outskirts of al-Nadhoud
district.
The
sources added that Yemeni forces are currently advancing towards the al-Wadiyah
border crossing with Saudi Arabia.
Moreover,
the Yemeni army troops and allies have seized several areas east of the Medghal
district after fierce clashes with pro-Hadi loyalists supported by Saudi-led
coalition military aircraft.
Dozens
of Saudi mercenaries were killed and wounded in the process. Among the dead
were Brigadier Ahmed Qaid al-Sha’rabi, commander of the Kasara Front and the
117th Brigade of Hadi loyalists, and a number of his close aides. They were
killed during confrontations in Malbouda area.
Serious
clashes are also going on between the Yemeni soldiers and pro-Hadi forces in
the southern flanks of al-Tala'a al-Hamra area.
Additionally,
Saudi-led coalition fighter jets have launched a series of airstrikes against
al-Zour area and other military sites, which were recently taken over by the
Yemeni army forces in the Sirwah district of Ma’rib province.
There
were no immediate reports about possible casualties and the extent of damage
caused.
Over
the past few weeks, Ma'rib has been the scene of large-scale operations by the
Yemeni troops and allied Popular Committees fighters, who are pushing against
Saudi-backed Hadi supporters.
The
Daesh Takfiri terrorist group issued a short statement on Wednesday, saying it
has carried out operations against the Yemeni armed forces in the province,
killing and wounding a number of them in the process.
The
Yemeni forces' advances have raised concerns in the Saudi-led coalition and
their allies, including the United States.
The
Houthi Ansarullah movement says this once again proved the US support for
terrorist elements in Ma'rib.
‘Coalition
of aggression opposed to end of Yemen war, peace establishment’
Mohammed
al-Bukhaiti, a senior member of Ansarullah’s political bureau, says members of
the Saudi-led coalition waging an atrocious military campaign on Yemen are
opposed to the cessation of hostilities and establishment of lasting peace.
Bukhaiti
told al-Mayadeen television news network that the Yemeni army troops and allied
fighters from Popular Committees are prepared to stop battles in Ma’rib once
the Saudi-led coalition ends its military operations completely.
“The
countries of aggression demand an end to fighting on fronts where they are
defeated, not on all fronts,” he said, emphasizing that the United States and
Saudi-led coalition “are preventing oil derivatives from reaching Yemen and
threatening the work of humanitarian facilities there.”
Bukhaiti
highlighted that “the coalition of aggression refuses to stop the [Yemen] war
and opposes achievement of comprehensive peace. We are assured of our victory
in this war.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/20/645653/Battle-for-Marib-Yemeni-army-allies-make-big-advances-on-eastern-front
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Independence-seeking
Yemen will never accept guardianship of US, Israel, Saudi Arabia: Houthi
20
February 2021
Yemen
wants to be a free and independent country, strongly rejecting guardianship
sought by the United States, Saudi Arabia, or any other foreign state, the
leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah movement says.
Abdul-Malik
al-Houthi made the remarks in a televised speech on Friday, saying the enemies
of Yemen wanted to control the country and its people, while Yemenis wanted to
be “free from the American hegemony.”
“We
do not want to be under the guardianship of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), the US, Israel, or any foreign country; we are free, and our
faith identity compels us to strive to achieve our independence,” Houthi
stressed, Yemen's Arabic-language al-Masirah television network reported.
He
added that the enemies imposed a years-long brutal war on Yemen since Yemenis
wanted to be free from the shackles of dependence on foreign states and wanted
to live as a free nation.
Saudi
Arabia and a number of its regional allies, including the UAE, launched a
devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 to bring former president Abd Rabbuh
Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, back to power and crush the popular
Ansarullah movement.
Yemen's
army, as well as allied popular forces, however, has gone from strength to
strength against the Saudi-led invaders, leaving the so-called military
coalition forces bogged down in Yemen.
Houthi
further said that Washington ultimately wanted to establish Israel’s dominance
over the region while Yemenis would gallantly fight for their independence.
“Our
goal is to confront aggression, refuse any foreign dominance over Yemen, and
confront those who have ambitions in our country,” he stressed.
Earlier
this month, Yemen's army soldiers and their allied fighters from Popular
Committees resumed an offensive to take control of oil-rich Ma’rib, Hadi’s last
urban stronghold in northern Yemen, which is some 120 km east of the capital
Sana’a.
Regarding
the Ma’rib offensive, Houthi stressed that this operation just like similar
ones in other areas of the country, including al-Jawf and Ta’izz, “is a
response to the aggressor who fought against our people because it wants
control and guardianship over them.”
He
added that very few people from Ma’rib are fighting in the ranks of militiamen
loyal to Hadi.
Regarding
the destructive role Takfiri terrorists play in parts of Yemen, Houthi said the
Takfiri mindset is completely different from that of the Yemeni nation.
Takfiri
elements “do not believe in the authenticity of our people, they regard true
Yemenis as non-believers,” he said.
In
conclusion, Houthi said that all military operations in all tracks by Yemeni
army troops and allied fighters come within the framework of confronting
“aggression that others have imposed" on Yemen.
The
Saudi war and siege on the Arabian Peninsula country has made at least 80
percent of the country's 28-million-strong population reliant on aid to survive
in what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
UN
agencies have already warned that around 400,000 Yemeni children aged under
five are in danger of losing life this year due to acute malnutrition.
The
war has also destroyed or closed half of Yemen’s hospitals and clinics, leaving
the people helpless particularly at a time when they are in desperate need of
medical supplies to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645637/Yemen-Houthi-US-Saudi-Arabia-guardianship-Israel
--------
Africa
Algeria
frees imprisoned journalist, pro-democracy activists
20
February ,2021
Algerian
authorities freed an imprisoned journalist and more than 30 other pro-democracy
activists Friday, in a conciliatory gesture ahead of the second anniversary of
their Hirak protest movement.
Chanting
“Free and Democratic Algeria,” dozens of people gathered at the prison where
journalist and activist Khaled Drareni had been held in Kolea, west of the
capital Algiers. Standing behind a police cordon, they cheered his release.
“I
thank all those who have shown solidarity with us in Algeria and abroad,
because of our combat as free and independent journalists and the fight of all
imprisoned journalists and all prisoners of opinion. We will all be free when
all the prisoners are free," Drareni said after his release.
Drareni
was imprisoned for “inciting an unarmed gathering” and “endangering national
unity,” charges linked to his coverage of the protest movement. His arrest drew
criticism outside Algeria as a threat to press freedom.
Drareni
founded the Casbah Tribune news site and worked for French TV channel TV5
Monde, among others, as well as for the international media watchdog Reporters
Without Borders.
“I’m
brought to tears, Khaled has just been freed!” said Mahrez Rabia, a friend and
radio journalist.
The
Hirak movement helped push out Algeria’s long-serving former president in 2019
and inspire new efforts to fight corruption.
But
protesters demand deeper change to Algeria’s secretive power structure, and new
demonstrations were expected Monday to mark two years since the birth of their
movement.
President
Abdelmadjid Tebboune announced this week he was pardoning 33 activists,
reshuffling the government and dissolving parliament to hold early elections,
partly in response to protesters’ demands.
The
justice minister said on Ennahar television that Drareni was released as part
of outreach by the president on the anniversary. The Justice Ministry said the
activists were all being pardoned for “their activities on social networks or
public gatherings.”
Tebboune
said that up to 56 or 57 activists would be released overall.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/20/Algeria-frees-imprisoned-journalist-pro-democracy-activists
--------
Sudanese
refugee kills French immigration official after asylum request rejected
19
February ,2021
A
Sudanese refugee stabbed and killed an employee at a centre for asylum seekers
in the southern French city of Pau on Friday after his request for political
asylum was rejected, authorities said.
A
police prefecture official said the asylum seeker had been living at the centre
for a while and the Pau mayor said he had earlier been in jail for acts of
violence, notably with a knife.
"This
is a terrible drama, all the more because the victim spent his entire
professional life helping migrants and asylum seekers," Pau mayor Francois
Bayrou said on France Bleu radio.
"The
man's asylum request had been rejected, and for good reasons. He then turned
against the head of the service, this is extreme and absurd violence,"
Bayrou added.
French
media reported the alleged assailant had been arrested.
French
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday he was heading to the asylum
seekers centre in Pau.
On
its website the Sudouest newspaper quoted the head of the centre as saying that
the victim was the head of the asylum service and that he had been stabbed in
the throat.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/Sudanese-refugee-kills-French-immigration-official-after-asylum-request-rejected
--------
Jordan
says troops kill two drug smugglers on border with Syria
19
February ,2021
Jordanian
troops clashed with drug smugglers on the border with Syria on Friday, killing
two people and seizing a shipment of hashish and amphetamines, the military
said.
The
military said it thwarted two attempts to “infiltrate a group of people and
smuggle quantities of drugs” into Jordan.
The
statement said “rules of engagement were applied, which resulted in the killing
of two people and the arrest of a third.”
It
said the others fled back into Syria following the incident.
The
amphetamines were labeled captagon, the street name for a drug whose chemical
base is fenethylline.
Jordan
is a close Western ally and the kingdom hosts more than 650,000 Syrian
refugees.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/19/Jordan-says-troops-kill-two-drug-smugglers-on-border-with-Syria
--------
Morocco
suppressing activists in Western Sahara after deal with Israel
19
February 2021
Activists
and ordinary people in Western Sahara are said to have been subjected to a
harsh crackdown and human rights abuses by the government in Rabat, weeks after
the United States recognized Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory
— where pro-independence sentiments run high — as a gift following its
normalization with Israel.
The
Middle East Eye news portal cited the activists as saying on Friday that
Washington’s decision on December 10, 2020, to recognize Morocco’s territorial
claim to Western Sahara had emboldened Rabat to harass ordinary people and
those critical of the move.
Mahmoud
Lemaadel, one of the activists, reported an “unprecedented” number of assaults
on activists and campaigners in Western Sahara over the past weeks.
“Since
that point (US recognition), Morocco has launched an arbitrary campaign
targeting human rights activists and also citizens who have nothing to do with
any type of activism,” Lemaadel said.
Following
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Sudan, Morocco became the fourth
Arab country late last year to reach a normalization agreement with Israel,
which was brokered by the administration of ex-US president Donald Trump during
its final days in office.
As
part of the contentious deal, Trump agreed to recognize Morocco’s authority in
Western Sahara, which has been at the center of a decades-old territorial row
between Morocco and the Polisario Front.
The
Algeria-backed movement has been fighting for the Sahrawi people’s aspirations
for independence from Moroccan rule and for a referendum on their
self-determination, something that has been pledged to the region in UN
resolutions.
Resource-rich
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, was claimed by Morocco in 1957, but
its indigenous population is firmly opposed to Moroccan control and has been
calling for independence from the North African country.
Elaborating
on Rabat’s campaign of suppression, Lemaadel said since last December, Sahrawi
citizens have been stopped in the streets and grilled about their views of
Morocco’s rule over the territory.
In
turn, Mohamed Elbaikam, another activist, revealed other repression tactics
used by the Moroccan government.
“Salaries
of human rights activists have been cut off or frozen, their family members are
often threatened and there have been several examples of phones hacked and
exposed,” he said.
‘People
in W Sahara under military siege’
Elbaikam
further rejected Trump’s claim that his decision was meant to provide the
locals with an opportunity to live a better life and said the recognition had
instead paved the way for a “stronger, more intense and continuous” repression
campaign against the Sahrawi people.
“Therefore,
the people of Western Sahara are under unprecedented military and security
siege and pressure these days, especially as the [Persian] Gulf countries have
shown support to the Trump proclamation,” he said.
Meanwhile,
Nazha el-Khalidi, an activist and journalist, warned that Trump’s move could
negatively impact the already conflict-stricken region.
“We
Sahrawi people do not want to be the scapegoat for any relationship that binds
one state to another... the bridge between Morocco and Israel has been built
over the blood of Sahrawi people,” she said.
“Trump’s
decision has given a green light to more violence towards Sahrawi people...
authorities are even transforming our houses into prisons. Right after Trump’s
proclamation, all houses of activists came under constant surveillance,” she added.
Meanwhile,
Lemaadel said Morocco had also stepped up its arrest campaign against activists
in recent weeks, saying those detained had faced “vague” or “made-up” charges
so that they could be kept in jail.
Disturbing
videos of several brutal arrests at the hands of Moroccan forces were widely
shared on social media platforms.
In
one such example of vengeful retaliation against the unarmed Sahrawis in the
occupied WS, is Sultana Khya. She has been under house arrest more than 87
days. Sultana & her family are everyday subjected to police brutality
because of their support to the independence of WS pic.twitter.com/0EzyX1EHXY
—
Nushatta Foundation (@Nushatta) February 16, 2021
The
Moroccan government has long been responding to pro-independence activism in
Western Sahara with an iron fist.
Last
December, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) slammed Rabat for having kept a “strong
lid on any manifestations of opposition to Moroccan rule in Western Sahara for
a long time.
The
leading New York-based rights group said Moroccan authorities “have prevented
gatherings supporting Sahrawi self-determination, beat activists in their
custody and on the streets, imprisoned and sentenced them in trials marred with
due process violations including torture, impeded their freedom of movement,
and followed them openly.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645624/Morocco-crackdown-activists-Western-Sahara-normalization-Israel-Trump
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Gunfire
erupts in Mogadishu as Somali government forces seal off streets
19
February 2021
Gunfire,
rocket fire and mortar blasts have been reported in the Somali capital,
Mogadishu, where opposition parties launched a protest rally despite a
coronavirus lockdown enforced by the government.
One
witness reported a heavy exchange of gunfire between security forces and armed
guards protecting opposition supporters who began their march along Mogadishu's
main airport road on Friday.
There
can be casualties but we are taking cover now I don't know exactly what
happened," Yusuf Mohamed told AFP.
"We
were peacefully walking along the airport road together with former prime
minister Hassan Ali Kheire, when the security forces opened fire on us,
creating mayhem," said another witness, Fadumo Moalim.
"Many
forces heavily attacked us, I am now on my chest in an alley. This is a
massacre," protester Farah Omar told Reuters by phone.
Turkish-trained
special forces of the Somali National Army (SNA), known as Gorgor, were said to
be among the government military forces attacking the protesters.
Earlier
on Friday, a hotel where two major opposition candidates were staying had come
under heavy gunfire.
Former
president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said the attack was ordered by outgoing president
Mohamed Farmajo. Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed is known as Farmaajo.
Another
candidate, Farmajo’s former deputy Hassan Ali Khaire, claimed the attack was an
assassination attempt.
"Tonight,
Farmajo attacked us with armored vehicles. That is dictatorship. He attacked us
and residents at Maida hotel," Ahmed tweeted after the attack.
"We
ask all civilians to come out and respond," Ahmed pleaded.
However,
Somalia's minister of security Hassan Hundubey Jimale accused the opposition of
starting the fighting.
"Armed
militia attacked government forces. We repulsed and overpowered the
militias," Jimale said in an overnight statement.
Somalia's
political scene plunged into chaos after an agreed-upon election date between
the Farmajo and the opposition elapsed on Feb. 8.
Observes
are worried that without mediation, the fighting could spread into the military
and split the armed forces.
Rivalry
along clan lines could strengthen the al-Qaeda-linked militant group
al-Shabaab, experts said.
"The
military is dissolving and many troops seemingly reverting to clan
loyalties," said Colonel Ahmed Abdullahi.
"It's
a mess" threatening the Horn of Africa country, warned a former commander
who goes by the one-word name, Sheikh.
"My
fear is that many SNA (Somali National Army) outstations will leave their bases
to come and participate in the fighting and give more ground to al-Shabaab.
This will really empower al-Shabab," Sheikh told Reuters.
Sheikh
warned that if political rivalries between the disputing sides escalate into an
open conflict, it will play right into the hands of the militants.
"Over
a decade’s worth of gains might be lost," according to Commander Sheikh.
Al-Shabaab
militants, who have fought successive Somali governments as well as neighboring
governments in Uganda and Kenya, have been wreaking havoc across Somalia.
The
militant group aims to oust the government in Mogadishu and drive out African
Union peacekeeping troops who came to Somalia in 2011 to help eradicate the
militants.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/19/645603/Somalia-Mogadishu-Protest-Shooting-Lockdown-Election-Impasse
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At
least 18 killed in attacks in Burkina Faso and Mali
FEBRUARY
19, 2021
OUAGADOUGOU/BAMAKO
(Reuters) - Suspected Islamists killed at least 18 people in attacks in
northern Burkina Faso and central Mali on Wednesday and Thursday, government
and security sources said.
Attacks
by militants with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State are common in the two
West African countries, where Islamists have expanded their reach in recent
years despite the presence of 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers and 5,100 French troops.
This
week Chad announced it would deploy 1,200 troops to the area to complement
France’s Barkhane counter-terrorism force, as leaders of the five Sahel
countries and their allies met to assess the security situation.
The
attack in Burkina Faso happened on Thursday morning between the towns of
Markoye and Tokabangou, where residents were ambushed on their way to a market
across the nearby border in Dolbel, Niger, government spokesman Ousseni
Tamboura said in a statement.
Eight
people died and nine were wounded, he said. A security source said that one
more person later died of injuries.
In
Mali, at least nine people were killed and others were missing or wounded in a
spate of attacks near Bandiagara in the central Mopti region, local government
sources said.
Gunmen
opened fire in two villages on Wednesday evening and ambushed several public
transport cars on the road between Sevare and Bankass on Thursday, two mayors
said.
Chad
will send its troops to the tri-border region between Mali, Burkina Faso and
Niger, the epicentre of attacks in the Sahel.
Since
the start of the year, over 150 civilians have been killed by militants in the
three countries, including 100 in an attack on two villages in Niger in early
January.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-burkina-security/at-least-18-killed-in-attacks-in-burkina-faso-and-mali-idUSKBN2AI2PL?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019262_
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Algeria
trial opens over kidnapping and murder of French tourist
18
Feb 2021
The
trial in the 2014 kidnapping and beheading of a French tourist claimed by an
armed faction affiliated to the Islamic State group has opened before an
Algiers court on Thursday.
Just
one of the alleged kidnappers of 55-year-old mountain guide instructor Herve
Gourdel was in court for the trial – the other seven are being tried in
absentia.
Members
of Gourdel’s family, including his partner Francoise Grandclaude, were in the
public gallery.
The
main defendant Abdelmalek Hamzaoui was brought to court by ambulance in a wheelchair
accompanied by a medical team and watched over by police special forces.
At
the request of defence lawyers, the trial opening had been delayed for two
weeks because of his ill health.
Hamzaoui
could face the death penalty if convicted.
Six
other defendants in court are accused of failing to inform authorities promptly
of Gourdel’s abduction.
Five
were Gourdel’s climbing companions and spent 14 hours in captivity along with
him.
The
sixth is accused of failing to promptly report the theft of his car by the
kidnappers to transport the captive Frenchman.
All
six face up to five years in prison if they are found guilty.
Gourdel’s
murder sparked outrage in both France and Algeria.
The
adventure enthusiast had travelled to Algeria at the invitation of his climbing
companions to try out a new climb.
His
kidnappers from the Jund al-Khilafa (Soldiers of the Caliphate) group demanded
an end to air raids against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria by a
US-led coalition that included France.
Three
days after abducting him, they released grisly video footage of his beheading.
A
few months after the beheading, the leader of the armed faction was killed by
Algerian special forces.
According
to Algeria’s defence ministry, Abdelmalek Gouri – also known as Khalid Abu
Suleiman – was killed in an ambush near Boumerdes, 50km east of Algiers in
December 2014.
Gourdel’s
body was not recovered until January the following year after an operation
involving some 3,000 Algerian troops.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/2/18/algeria-trial-opens-in-is-affiliate-beheading-of-french-tourist?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019262_
--------
Europe
BBC
unapologetic to Muslims but acknowledges concerns
Muhammad
Mussa
19.02.2021
LONDON
Britain's
BBC responded on Friday to calls for reform in its ranks, acknowledging
shortfalls in diversifying its staff but failing to apologize for an allegedly
hostile interview with the new head of a leading Muslim organization.
In
response to an open letter signed by more than 100 public figures, the
broadcaster's Director-General Tim Davie, said in a statement that it was among
the BBC's key priorities to improve staff representation and fulfil its duty to
"reflect the whole of the UK" in its staff and programs, a task he said
was "vitally important."
"I
want to assure you that improving the representation of our staff is a key
priority for me and my executive team. We have more work to do but we are
determined to get there. Only last week we launched our staff diversity census,
which will give our staff an opportunity to update their diversity data,
including on religion," Davie said
Davie,
however, failed to offer an apology for an interview in its Woman’s Hour
segment, in which interviewer Emma Barnet was accused in the letter of being
"strikingly hostile" to the new head of the Muslim Council of
Britain, Zara Mohammed.
Instead,
Davie supported a statement released by the program and has called on the
letter's authors to meet with senior officials within the BBC to discuss the
issues of concern raised in the letter.
Although
acknowledging low levels of Muslim representation in the BBC, which is lower
than the national average, Davie said Muslim representation "is not as low
as you suggest" and that the "latest figures, which are not complete,
suggest that just over 2.5% of the workforce identify as Muslim."
Yassmin
Abdel-Magied, one of the organizers of the open letter, accused the director of
failing to understand the concerns raised in the publication as it highlighted
shortfalls in the BBC Studios TV and radio production, as opposed to the
corporation as a whole.
"It
is frustrating that the BBC is using statistics regarding Muslim employees for
the whole of the corporation, as opposed to what we highlighted specifically at
BBC Studios TV and radio production. This includes the production of Woman's
Hour. Muslim representation in this crucial area of programming is negligible
and requires urgent addressing both at staff and leadership levels,"
Abdel-Magied said.
"It
is also unfortunate that they have failed to engage with the specifics of our
concerns over the content of the interview. However, we look forward to
discussing these issues further and welcome a constructive conversation with
both the director-general and senior executives at the BBC about these
important issues," she added.
The
head of the Muslim Council of Britain was interviewed on Feb. 4 in Woman's
Hour, where she was repeatedly asked on the number of female imams in the UK.
The
program was criticized in the open letter for re-enforcing dangerous and
damaging stereotypes of British Muslim women and of Islam in general.
Among
the signatories of the letter, published on Feb. 11, were members of parliament
from across the political divide.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/bbc-unapologetic-to-muslims-but-acknowledges-concerns/2150915
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Teen,
16, arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences in Derbyshire
February
19, 2021
A
16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences.
Derbyshire
Police said the teenager was detained by officers from Counter Terrorism
Policing East Midlands at a property in the north west area of the county at
07:20 GMT on Thursday.
The
boy - who cannot be named for legal reasons - is being held on suspicion of
possession of information relating to terrorism.
He
remains in custody while inquiries continue, the force added.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-56119139?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2019262_
--------
Bestselling
new book tells story of Europe’s forgotten Muslims
February
19, 2021
LONDON:
“Minarets in the Mountains” traces the roots of Europe’s little-known native
Muslim populations, and in telling their story cuts to the heart of what it
means to be a European and a Muslim in the 21st century.
Acclaimed
travel writer Tharik Hussain made a name for himself covering Saudi Arabia’s
hidden touristic treasures and tracing Britain’s ancient Islamic heritage, but
his latest book tells a very different story.
He
told Arab News that his new book is the very human tale of his family holiday
across the Balkans — a fun and light-hearted trip taken with his wife and
children, but one that prompts readers to contemplate and confront longstanding
myths about European and Muslim identity, and the relationship between the two.
“I
wanted to bring to the attention of the mainstream the idea that Europe has an
indigenous Muslim heritage,” Hussain said.
He
and his family toured Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and
Kosovo, meeting locals and exploring the roots of Muslim populations that date
back centuries.
But
unlike his previous European trips, such as to the south of Spain to write
about the long-lost Islamic civilization of what was then called Al-Andalus,
this trip was very different — it explored a Muslim culture “that’s alive and
thriving today,” Hussain said.
“The
common, accepted wisdom is that Europe is Judeo-Christian with pagan elements.
That’s a fallacy. Islam has been here in Europe since the very first century of
Islam.”
He
said indigenous Muslims in the Balkans have been “kept at arm’s length” by
being labeled East European and thus excluded from the accepted European
mainstream.
“Eastern
Europe,” to Hussain, is nearly synonymous with “Other Europe.” This, he said,
has contributed to the misconception that the continent does not have native
and indigenous Muslim populations. Ultimately, his book dispels that myth.
“As
a British Muslim, I’ve had to listen to political opportunists in veiled and
sometimes explicit ways saying that Muslims aren’t a part of the European
landscape and that there’s an ongoing invasion of Muslim refugees. That’s just
utter nonsense. There have been Muslims in Europe since the seventh century,”
he said.
“Minarets
in the Mountains” will be released on June 21, but in pre-sales alone it has
already become a bestselling travel book on Amazon.
Hussain
attributes this success to a combination of public hunger for travel writers
outside the mainstream, white, middle-class and male-dominated field, as well
as an appetite for work that provides an insight into untold stories and novel
takes on the continent’s history.
“I’m
not denying that there’s a Judeo-Christian heritage, nor that there’s a pagan
heritage. I’m saying this is also a history that needs to be brought forward
and understood,” he said. “The book’s success shows that people are responding
to that.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1812226/books
--------
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