Iraq: Differences Intensifying amongst ISIL Terrorists over Appointment of Successor to Baghdadi
New Age Islam News Bureau
9
Apr 2017
Photo: Intelligence sources reported that disunity and differences have intensified among ISIL commanders over the appointment of a successor to the terrorist group's Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
• Blasts Hit Egypt's Coptic Churches; 36 Dead, Over 100 Injured
• Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Alliance’s Main Objective to Serve Islam: Minister
• Mosque Throws 'Best of British' Tea Party in Response to EDL March
• No Deadline for Introduction of Sharia Banking: RBI
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Arab World
• Iraq: Differences Intensifying amongst ISIL Terrorists over Appointment of Successor to Baghdadi
• Syria-Iran-Russia Joint Operations Room Warns of Crushing Response to Any Further US Attack
• Warplanes strike Syrian town hit by chemical attack
• Several Sudanese, UAE Troops Killed in Yemen's Rocket Attacks in Ta'iz Province
• Dara'a: Tens of Terrorists Killed in Failed Attack on Syrian Army Positions
• Syrian rebels fight off Islamic State suicide attack
• Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urges Bashar al-Assad to step down
• Defected Militant: Turkey Not Serious about War on ISIL in Syria
• Police say brought down 60% of IS defenses around Mosul landmark mosque
• Sovereign fund to invest in new Saudi entertainment city
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Africa
• Blasts Hit Egypt's Coptic Churches; 36 Dead, Over 100 Injured
• Only Muslims Can Effectively Fight Terrorism, Says Sheikh Gumi
• ISIS Claims Responsibility for Church Attacks in Egypt's Tanta and Alexandria
• Antiquities Minister holds opening ceremony at Islamic Art Museum
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Pakistan
• Saudi Arabia, Pakistan Alliance’s Main Objective to Serve Islam: Minister
• Pakistan PM Wants Ulema to Counter Propaganda against Islam
• Unity, Peace in All Islamic Countries to Bring Peace In The World: Imam E Kaaba
• Siraj for formation of Muslim World’s IUN
• Professor from Ahmadi community gunned down in Lahore
• Pak political parties slam last two Army chiefs
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Europe
• Mosque Throws 'Best of British' Tea Party in Response to EDL March
• France Expels Swiss Imam with 'Extremist' Views
• Juncker’s party calls for EU-wide ban on Muslim veil
• Stockholm truck attack suspect interested in IS, residency rejected: Police
• After Nice and Berlin - why would a lorry-driving attacker target Stockholm?
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India
• No Deadline for Introduction of Sharia Banking: RBI
• Hindus Abolished Dowry and Sati; It's Time for Muslims to Stop Triple Talaq: Union Minister
• Threats to Kill Rohingyas In Jammu — What About West Pakistan Refugees Asks Kashmir Inc
• PM Modi promises Sheikh Hasina early solution to vexed Teesta water dispute
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South Asia
• At Least 25 Islamic State Militants Killed In East of Afghanistan
• 3 Al-Qaeda network members killed in Paktika province of Afghanistan
• Bangladesh Islamists to hang after president rejects pleas
• Afghanistan reacts at Pakistani allegations over India’s destructive role
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Southeast Asia
• Indonesia's Police Kill Six Suspected Islamic Militants
• Syria In Urgent Need Of Food, Water, Medicines - Islamic Relief Malaysia
• Myanmar's Long-Suffering Rohingya Muslims Hoped That Aung San Suu Kyi Would Make Them Full Citizens. They Were Wrong
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Mideast
• Iran: Probe into Syria Chemical Attack Brings another Scandal to US
• 228 Iranian Lawmakers Condemn US Missile Strikes on Syria
• Iranian President Blasts Supporters of US Missile Strike on Syria
• Turkish President Erdogan holds giant rally week ahead of referendum
• Israeli Authorities Issue Orders Preventing 15 Palestinian From Entering Al-Aqsa Mosque
• Positive outlook for Islamic REITs in the region
• Fresh Gaza protests after Palestinian pay cut
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North America
• The Newly Launched #IslamophobiaisRacism Syllabus Is an Extremely Useful Primer for Teaching and Learning about Anti-Muslim DiscriminationUS vows to keep up pressure on Syria after missile strikes
• US readying more sanctions against Syria
• 'Osama's head had to be put together for identification'
• Qatari man launches new Islamic art initiative in New York
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Iraq: Differences Intensifying amongst ISIL Terrorists over Appointment of Successor to Baghdadi
TEHRAN (FNA)- Intelligence sources reported that disunity and differences have intensified among ISIL commanders over the appointment of a successor to the terrorist group's Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The sources reported that rifts have widened among senior commanders of ISIL after the terrorist group's Consultative Assembly introduced Abu Hafsa al-Mouseli, the deputy governor of Nineveh province, as the successor to Baghdadi.
The sources went on to say that al-Mouseli is one of the blood-minded members of ISIL that has been installed in several military, administrative and religious positions in the terrorist group.
They went on to say that differences and disunity among ISIL members in Western Mosul have intensified after the spread of the news about an attack on terrorists' meeting in al-Qa'em town West of Anbar province that injured Baghdadi seriously.
Eye-witnesses reported on Saturday that ISIL executed tens of civilians in Mosul, adding that the terrorist group also carried out chemical attack on Iraqi forces' positions and residential areas in the newly-liberated districts of the city.
The sources said that tens of civilians that tried to leave Mosul for government-controlled regions were killed by the ISIL terrorists, adding ISIL has hanged a number of bodies of executed civilians up power poles across the city.
They added that ISIL has again used chemical weapons against the Iraqi forces and civilians in Mosul.
In the meantime, Iraqi Kurdistan's Security Council informed that 140 civilians were killed by the ISIL in Mosul in recent days.
Meanwhile, Mosul municipality Chief Abdul Sattar Habbo said that the ISIL militants used poisonous gas against civilians in Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday.
"The Daesh (ISIL) used shells with poisonous gas against civilians and government troops in the districts of Yarmouk and Matahin that had already been liberated," Habbo said.
He added that there was no information about the number of the victims of the chemical attack.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120001062
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Blasts hit Egypt's Coptic churches; 36 dead, over 100 injured
PTI | Apr 9, 2017
CAIRO: At least 36 people were killed and over 100 others injured on Sunday in twin blasts targeting Coptic churches packed with worshippers who had gathered for Palm Sunday mass in Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria.
The first blast took place in the Coptic church of Mar Girgis, also known as St George, in the Nile delta city of Tanta, about 120 kilometres from Cairo, killing 25 people and injuring 71, according to a statement by the Health Ministry.
Security sources said the primary investigations suggest that a person put an explosive device inside the church during the Christian prayers celebrating the Palm Sunday.
However, other sources suggest that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
Hours later, the second explosion took place in Alexandria's Manshyia district when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near Saint Mark's Church.
Citing eyewitnesses, Ahram Online said that an explosion has been heard near Saint Mark's Church in Manshyia district near downtown Alexandria.
At least two were killed and 21 injured in the blast near Saint Mark's Church in Manshiya, state TV reported.
Egypt's Coptic church said Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria, was leading Palm Sunday Mass just before the explosion.
Local media reported that most of the injured are from security forces outside the church and passersby.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for a National Defence Council meeting in response to the attack.
The National Defence Council is made up of the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, the minister of defence and the commanders of the Egyptian armed forces, and is chaired by the president.
President El-Sisi ordered the opening of military hospitals to receive the injured.
Al-Azhar, the world's highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, strongly condemned the attacks, calling it an "outrageous crime" against all Egyptians.
"This terrorist attack is devoid of all the principles of humanity and civilisation," it said in a statement.
The explosion come weeks before the visit of Pope Francis to Egypt on April 28-29.
Palm Sunday falls on Sunday before the Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels.
Coptic Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 85 million.
Egypt's Christian minority has often been targeted by Islamist militants.
Egypt has seen a wave of attacks by militants since 2013 when the military toppled president Mohammed Morsi, an elected leader who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, and launched a crackdown against Islamists.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/blasts-hit-egypts-coptic-churches-27-dead-over-100-injured/articleshow/58094601.cms
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Saudi Arabia, Pakistan alliance’s main objective to serve Islam: Minister
ARAB NEWS | Published — Sunday 9 April 2017
Islamic Affairs Minister Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh.
RIYADH: Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh highlighted the deep relations linking Pakistan with Saudi Arabia at a conference held by the Pakistani Association of Muslim Scholars in Peshawar on the occasion of its first anniversary.
These relations are distinguished, powerful and strong, and cover the political, economic, military, cultural, scientific and social fields, he said, adding that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are “one country” working for the benefit of Islam and Muslims.
“They are working to preserve the sanctities of Muslims threatened by ill-intended people who want to deprive ordinary people of the safe haven offered by Makkah and Madinah,” he said, adding that the rulers of these two big countries are leading by the strengths of Muslims and the Islamic alliance, which makes Islam strong and safe in the face of threats and preserves it dignity and sanctity.
He said that in these trying times, there is need of a united Muslim stand and teachings that are according to the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as respect for scholars and Ummah.
Al-Sheikh said Muslims’ taking part in an Islamic coalition is important to counter terrorism, its roots and perpetrators.
He added that the fight against terrorism is a fight against tyranny and stupidity, and against those who have plans against Islam and want enemies of Islam to take over Muslim countries.
He stressed that the Kingdom and Pakistan can work together in the Islamic Alliance to serve Islam and to counter terrorism and ruthless terrorists who shed blood.
The minister thanked the Association of Muslim Scholars for organizing this ceremony, as well as its chairman, Fadlurrahman Mufti Mahmoud and all scholars and members of the assembly for their hospitality and attendance, saying: “I ask God to sustain the power and greatness of the assembly and to serve and protect Islam.”
Al-Sheikh also paid tribute to the government and people of Pakistan for whom the people of the Kingdom have great affection.
At the end of the opening session of the conference, Sheikh Saleh bin Talib, imam and sheikh of the Grand Mosque, led participants in the Friday sermon and prayers.
The delegation comprised Al-Sheikh, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Ammar and Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Zaid, advisers in the office of the minister, and the undersecretary of the ministry, assistant to Islamic Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Ameri, Sheikh Mohammed bin Saad Al-Dosari, as well as the special secretary to the minister, Suleiman bin Omar Al-Husayn.
arabnews.com/node/1081496/saudi-arabia
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Mosque Throws 'Best of British' Tea Party in Response To EDL March
9 APRIL 2017
A Birmingham mosque has thrown a Best of British tea party in response to an EDL march in the city.
Birmingham Central Mosque joined forces with West Midlands Police ahead of the far-right rally attended by around 100 people.
Who looks like they have power here, the real Brummy on the left or the EDL who migrated for the day to our city and failed to assimilate?
He added in a Facebook post: “When the English Defence League is protesting and trying to divide the community, we are holding this party just to prove to them that Birmingham is a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith community.
“We are all united and they will not be able to divide us and create hatred.”
Protestors during a demonstration in the city of Birmingham, in the wake of the Westminster terror attack CREDIT: PA
West Midlands' elected Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, who attended the party, said the EDL “are spreading a message of hatred”.
He added: Every citizen has the right to peacefully protest but I feel the demos on Saturday will bring little more than division to our city and demand to our police force.
“I’d much rather see people at the tea party enjoying themselves with their neighbours.”
telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/09/mosque-throws-best-british-tea-party-response-edl-march/
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No deadline for introduction of Sharia banking: RBI
April 9, 2017
Sharia banking is a finance system in which charging interest rates is prohibited under Islam
No deadline has been set for introduction of Sharia or interest-free banking in India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is prohibited under Islam.
The RBI had earlier proposed opening of "Islamic window" in conventional banks for gradual introduction of Sharia- compliant banking.
Responding to an RTI application, the RBI said it has not taken any step to introduce Islamic window in banks for gradual introduction of Sharia-compliant interest-free banking in India.
"RBI has not set any deadline for introduction of interest-free banking," the central bank said in response to the RTI query filed by PTI.
However, on the instruction of the central government, an Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) set up in RBI has examined the legal, technical and regulatory issues for introducing interest-free banking in India and has submitted its report to the government, it said.
The RBI had in February last year sent a copy of the IDG to the Finance Ministry.
"In our considered opinion, given the complexities of Islamic finance and various regulatory and supervisory challenges involved in the matter and also due to the fact that Indian banks have no experience in this field, Islamic banking may be introduced in India in a gradual manner," the central bank had told the Ministry in a letter.
In late 2008, a committee on Financial Sector Reforms, headed by former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, had stressed on the need for a closer look at the issue of interest-free banking in the country.
"Certain faiths prohibit the use of financial instruments that pay interest. The non-availability of interest-free banking products results in some Indians, including those in the economically disadvantaged strata of society, not being able to access banking products and services due to reasons of faith," the committee had said.
business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/no-deadline-for-introduction-of-sharia-banking-in-india-rbi-117040900106_1.html
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Arab World
Iraq: Differences Intensifying amongst ISIL Terrorists over Appointment of Successor to Baghdadi
TEHRAN (FNA)- Intelligence sources reported that disunity and differences have intensified among ISIL commanders over the appointment of a successor to the terrorist group's Chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The sources reported that rifts have widened among senior commanders of ISIL after the terrorist group's Consultative Assembly introduced Abu Hafsa al-Mouseli, the deputy governor of Nineveh province, as the successor to Baghdadi.
The sources went on to say that al-Mouseli is one of the blood-minded members of ISIL that has been installed in several military, administrative and religious positions in the terrorist group.
They went on to say that differences and disunity among ISIL members in Western Mosul have intensified after the spread of the news about an attack on terrorists' meeting in al-Qa'em town West of Anbar province that injured Baghdadi seriously.
Eye-witnesses reported on Saturday that ISIL executed tens of civilians in Mosul, adding that the terrorist group also carried out chemical attack on Iraqi forces' positions and residential areas in the newly-liberated districts of the city.
The sources said that tens of civilians that tried to leave Mosul for government-controlled regions were killed by the ISIL terrorists, adding ISIL has hanged a number of bodies of executed civilians up power poles across the city.
They added that ISIL has again used chemical weapons against the Iraqi forces and civilians in Mosul.
In the meantime, Iraqi Kurdistan's Security Council informed that 140 civilians were killed by the ISIL in Mosul in recent days.
Meanwhile, Mosul municipality Chief Abdul Sattar Habbo said that the ISIL militants used poisonous gas against civilians in Iraqi city of Mosul on Friday.
"The Daesh (ISIL) used shells with poisonous gas against civilians and government troops in the districts of Yarmouk and Matahin that had already been liberated," Habbo said.
He added that there was no information about the number of the victims of the chemical attack.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120001062
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Syria-Iran-Russia Joint Operations Room Warns of Crushing Response to Any Further US Attack
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syria-Iran-Russia joint operations room in charge of war strategy and coordination in Syria warned in a statement issued on Sunday that any fresh aggression by Washington against Syria will be given a lethal response.
"We will respond to any aggression powerfully, as Russia and Iran would never allow the US to dominate the world," the statement said on Sunday.
Describing the recent US missile strike on an airbase in Syria's Homs province as yet "another miscalculation" by Washington, the statement said, "We believe that the events (chemical weaopns use) in Khan Sheikhoun have been plotted by certain states and bodies to be used as a pretext to attack Syria."
The statement stressed that supporters and trainers of the terrorist groups, including the ISIL and al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board) are not entitled to introduce themselves as advocates of human rights, and blasted the US for its disrespect for the UN members through its unilateral move against Syria before any official investigation into the chemical incident in Idlib.
Elsewhere, the allies of Syria underscored that "we are not unaware of what the US seeks to be materialized in Northern Syria and Northwestern Iraq".
In relevant remarks on Sunday morning, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani underlined that the result of investigations by a fact-finding committee on the chemical attack in Syria will bring another disgrace for the US which attacked the country before any probe.
"In case an international fact-finding committee is set up and the realities behind the issue (chemical attack against Idlib) are studied, another scandal will be registered in the US record of international security violations," Shamkhani said in a phone conversation with Director of the Syrian National Security Bureau General Ali Mamlouk.
He reiterated Tehran's continued support for the Syrian government and people's fight against terrorists, and said the US missile strike against a Syrian airbase in Homs province was an attempt to boost the terrorists' morale.
Shamkhani also underscored that Iran, Russia and Syria are strongly determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.
Mamlouk, for his part, appreciated Iran for its supports and aids, and stressed the Syrian government, nation and armed forces' resistance against the terrorist groups and their advocates.
The phone conversation was made one day after Shamkhani and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev exchanged views on Washington's missile attack on Syria.
During the phone conversation on Saturday, Shamkhani underlined the necessity for the formation of a fact-finding committee to clarify the aspects of the suspicious chemical attack in Idlib, and said given the fact that Syria has been disarmed of chemical weapons in the past, the attack has been definitely launched by a third party to create a pretext for military aggression against Syria.
He also warned of impacts of the US aggressive and illegal moves in the region, and said, "Such measures boost the terrorists' morale and disrupt the trend of war on terrorism which is pursued through cooperation among the Russian, Syrian and Iranian governments under the UN supervision."
Yet, Shamkhani underscored that the decisive battle and suppression of terrorist streams will continue through strategic cooperation among Iran, Syria, Russia and the resistance front.
Patrushev, for his part, condemned the US missile strike against Syria as a sovereign state, describing it as an aid to the terrorists and against the international laws.
On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in al-Shayrat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
Russia described the attack as an aggression against a sovereign state. Following the US military action, Russia decided to suspend its memorandum of understanding on air safety over Syria with the United States, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Syrian opposition claimed Tuesday forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had used a chemical gas on people in the Northwestern province, killing nearly 80 and injuring 200. Assad argued his government has no chemical weapons after agreeing to have them destroyed in 2013. He also ruled out having used chemicals against own people.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120001532
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Warplanes strike Syrian town hit by chemical attack
AP | Apr 8, 2017, 11.05 PM IST
BEIRUT: Warplanes on Saturday struck the Syrian town where a chemical attack had killed scores of people earlier this week, as Turkey warned that a retaliatory US missile strike on a Syrian air base would only be "cosmetic" if greater efforts are not made to remove President Bashar Assad from power.
The airstrikes on the opposition-held northern town of Khan Sheikhoun, where 87 people were killed in the chemical attack earlier this week, killed a woman and wounded her son, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, an activist collective.
Elsewhere in Syria, US-led airstrikes killed at least 21 people, including a woman and her six children who were fleeing on a boat across the Euphrates River near the Islamic State group's self-styled capital, Raqqa, the target of a major offensive by US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces, activists said.
Near the central city of Homs, a bomb exploded aboard a bus carrying workers, killing a woman and wounding more than 20, according to state TV and the Observatory.
The chemical attack prompted the US to launch nearly 60 Tomahawk missiles on a Syrian air base early Friday, which killed nine people and marked the first time Washington has directly targeted Syrian government forces since the war began in 2011.
The move was welcomed by the Syrian opposition and its main backers, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, but harshly condemned by Russia and Iran, who back Assad and said striking his forces would complicate the struggle against extremist groups.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the US strike should be the start of a renewed effort to end the civil war, which has killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced half of Syria's population.
"If this intervention is limited only to an air base, if it does not continue and if we don't remove the regime from heading Syria, then this would remain a cosmetic intervention,'' he said.
He said the best outcome would be a peace agreement that leads to a transitional government accepted by all Syrians, followed by elections in which all Syrians, including those living abroad, could vote for new leadership. For that to happen, he said, "this oppressive Assad needs to go.''
Iran, which has provided crucial military and political support to Assad, meanwhile called for a fact-finding mission to determine what caused the chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun. State television quoted Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as saying the committee should be impartial and ``must not be headed by Americans.''
Rouhani said ``neutral countries should come and assess to make it clear where the chemical weapons came from.''
Syria's government has denied carrying out any chemical attack, and Russia's Defense Ministry said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons arsenal and munitions factory.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson canceled a planned trip to Russia because of fast-moving events in Syria. Johnson said the situation in Syria has changed ``fundamentally'' following the chemical attack and the US response.
Johnson condemned Russia's continued defense of Assad ``even after the chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians.''
He had planned to travel to Russia Monday on a trip intended to start a fresh dialogue with Moscow.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meanwhile plans to meet with G-7 foreign ministers in Europe next week before going on to Moscow. Johnson said Tillerson will be able to give a ``clear and coordinated message to the Russians.''
In Damascus, dozens of Syrian students gathered outside the offices of the United Nations to protest the US missile attack.
The protesters in the capital held banners and chanted ``Death to America'' and ``Death to Israel.''
One of the banners they carried read: ``The Iraqi scenario will not be repeated in Syria.'' They were referring to the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq after Washington said Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction _ a belief that later turned out to be incorrect.
University student Ashraf Fadel said he came to denounce ``the unjust American aggression against Syria.'' He added that the United Nations was ``created to support America instead of serving the wronged people.''
Elsewhere in Syria, activists opposed to the Islamic State group said a US-led coalition airstrike hit a boat carrying civilians fleeing across the Euphrates River. The groups Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently and Sound and Picture said the attack killed a woman and her six children. The attack occurred in the Shuaib al-Zeker area, near where US-backed Syrian fighters have been on the offensive against IS under the cover of coalition airstrikes.
Activists and state media said a separate airstrike by the US-led coalition on the northern IS-held village of Hneida killed at least 14 civilians, including children. The Observatory said 15 people, including four children, were killed in the airstrike. The Sound and Picture group said the airstrike hit an internet cafe, killing 14 people.
In Saudi Arabia, the official Saudi Press Agency reported that US President Donald Trump has spoken by telephone with King Salman about the U.S. missile strike on Syria.
The news agency reported that during the Friday phone call, the Saudi monarch congratulated Trump for his ``courageous decision.''
Saudi Arabia said the missile launch was the right response to ``the crimes of this regime to its people in light of the failure of the international community to stop it.''
The kingdom is among the most vehement opponents of Assad and supports Sunni rebel groups fighting to oust him. The Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia are in a power struggle for regional dominance with Iran's Shiite government.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/warplanes-strike-syrian-town-hit-by-chemical-attack/articleshow/58085371.cms
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Several Sudanese, UAE Troops Killed in Yemen's Rocket Attacks in Ta'iz Province
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Yemeni army and popular forces pounded the Saudi-led troops' military positions in Ta'iz province with Katyusha rockets, killing a number of Sudanese and Emirati soldiers.
The Saudi-led troops' concentration centers and military positions in Ta'iz province's al-Mukha region were hit by several Katyusha rockets which resulted in the death of a number Sudanese and UAE troops.
The Yemeni forces' attacks came in response to the ongoing airstrikes by the Saudi-led fighter jets on civilians across Yemen.
In relevant remarks on Wednesday, informed military sources disclosed that the Yemeni army and popular forces had hunted down tens of Saudi-led forces in the Southern part of the kingdom over the past three months.
"At least 120 Saudi troops have been shot dead by snipers of the Yemeni army and Ansarullah in Jizan, Najran and Assir provinces in January, February and March," the Arabic-language al-Massira TV network quoted an informed military source as saying.
The Yemeni snipers killed 74 Saudi-led troops in 22 military bases in Jizan, another 35 forces in nine military bases in Najran and another 10 Saudi-led troops in eight military bases in Assir province.
In a relevant development in late March, the Yemeni army and popular forces inflicted heavy losses on the Riyadh-led troops in an attack on their military base in the Southern part of the kingdom.
"A large number of the Saudi-led forces were killed and injured in the Yemeni forces' attacks on al-Beit al-Aswad in Jizan province," the Arabic-language media quoted an informed source as saying.
The source noted that al-Qavieh and al-Beit al-Abyaz military bases in Jizan province also came under Yemeni army attacks.
Also in late March, the official spokesman of the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Sharq Luqman, underlined that the country is in possession of advanced missiles which can hit the Saudi capital.
"We have been able to develop our weapons and make progress so that they can hit the Saudi capital," Luqman told al-Mayadeen news channel.
Noting that Borkan-2 missile was the first missile which could target King Salman airbase, he said that new missiles are underway.
Luqman said that after hitting Riyadh, the war in Yemen will enter a new stage and all equations will change.
Reports said earlier in March that Yemen's popular forces and their allies in the country's army fired a long-range ballistic missile at an airbase in the Saudi capital Riyadh, marking the second such attack on the city.
The Borkan-2 missile accurately struck King Salman Air Base.
In a statement carried by Yemen's official Saba news agency, a Yemeni military official close to the Ansarullah group said the missile attack came in retaliation for the criminal Saudi war on Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni army pledged that missiles would target the Saudi territory until the regime’s bombing campaign stops.
It further announced that 108 ballistic missiles have been fired at positions held by Saudi invaders inside and outside Yemen so far.
Separately, Yemeni popular fighters targeted with a Zelzal-1 missile a gathering place of Saudi mercenaries in the al-Ramzah district in the kingdom’s Southwestern Jizan region.
They also launched a missile attack against positions held by the mercenaries in al-Maton district of Yemen’s Northern Jawf province.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120000954
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Dara'a: Tens of Terrorists Killed in Failed Attack on Syrian Army Positions
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian Army troops, backed up by the country's Air Force, warded off another massive attack of Al-Nusra Front (also known as Fatah al-Sham Front or the Levant Liberation Board) in the Southern city of Dara'a, killing over 75 terrorists, including senior commanders.
The army soldiers engaged in tough battle with Al-Nusra Front terrorists that had launched a large-scale attack on government forces' positions in al-Manshiyeh neighborhood with six bomb-laden suicide vehicles, hundreds of explosive gas containers and missiles, killing over 75 terrorists, including suicide attackers and militants from Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Several senior commanders, including Commander of Majd al-Islam Battalion Mohammad Abazeid nom de guerre Abu Moslem and Salim Mohammad Shatiwi, were among the terrorists killed in the battle.
Military sources said that simultaneous with the clashes between the army men and terrorists in Dara'a city, Khalkhaleh airbase went on red alert and several army aircraft carried out combat flights over the Al-Nusra's defense lines and movements in al-Manshiyeh.
The sources, meantime, rejected reports alleging terrorists' advances in al-Manshiyeh, saying the army had in some cases conducted tactical retreating, but now the army soldiers are carrying out counterattack and taking back lost positions.
Relevant reports said on Saturday that the missile and artillery units opened heavy fire at the positions and defense lines of Al-Nusra in Busra al-Sham in Eastern Dara'a, destroying one of their main command posts, and killing the entire militants in there including several commanders.
The army soldiers engaged in heavy fighting with a group of terrorists in Tariq al-Saad (way to dam) neighborhood in Dara'a al-Balad district, killing a number of militants.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120001179
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Syrian rebels fight off Islamic State suicide attack
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi | AMMAN
Syrian rebels repelled on Sunday a suicide attack by Islamic State militants on a military base near a border crossing into Iraq and a rebel convoy headed to the base, leaving at least four dead and several injured, rebel sources said.
The midnight attack on a heavily defended base near the al Tanf border crossing involved at least one explosive-laden vehicle that rammed an entrance to the base. At least two people were killed and scores wounded, a rebel source said.
The militants also staged a suicide attack on a convoy of rebel fighters from the Western-backed Osoud al Sharqiya rebel group, who had sent reinforcements from their outpost near the Rukban refugee camp further south-west. Two of their fighters were killed in the ambush.
Islamic State "staged a suicide attack and there were clashes inside Tanf. Two were killed and several injured. They also attacked our convoy but it's over and matters are under control," said a senior rebel source from Osoud al Sharqiya who requested anonymity.
U.S.-led coalition planes were involved in the operation, which went on into the early hours of dawn, to track down the militants who staged the hit-and-run attack and apparently fled, a rebel commander involved in the operation said.
Both Tanf and Rukban are near the joint Syria-Iraq-Jordan border. Osoud al Sharqiya, one of the main groups in that area fighting Islamic State militants, is part of the Free Syrian Army of rebels financed and equipped by a Western coalition.
Jordan, a U.S. ally, backs the moderate rebel groups aligned with the so-called Southern Front supported by an Arab-Western coalition, who trying to prevent opposition-held southern Syria from falling to Islamic State.
The rebels took the border crossing of Tanf last year from the ultra-hardline militants and tried unsuccessfully to drive the militants out of the Syrian border town of Bukamal on the Euphrates, further north-east, a major supply conduit for the militants between their strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
In recent weeks, the militants in the Syrian desert near the Jordanian border have regrouped further north to reinforce their Raqqa stronghold, after major defeats in Syria and Iraq.
A Western intelligence source told Reuters that U.S. and British special forces are expanding the Tanf base to use it as a major launching pad for operations in coming months to oust militants from Bukamal, a major militant stronghold.
Diplomats say plans are underway to stage new coalition strikes on Islamic State fighters in the south, including an area to the west of the southern city of Deraa. Militants entrenched in the Yamouk River Valley near the Israeli border have recently made gains.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, editing by Larry King)
in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-border-idINKBN17B095?rpc=401&
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Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr urges Bashar al-Assad to step down
By Pavitra Dwibhashyam
April 9, 2017
Iraqi Shia radical leader Muqtada al-Sadr speaking to the media at Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, Iraq on 13 July 2016REUTERS/Wissm al-Okili
Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and external parties to withdraw so as to restore peace in the world.
"All the external parties and their forces must withdraw from Syria. I also call on Bashar al-Assad to resign," Rudaw news agency quoted him as saying.
Sadr became the first Iraqi political leader to call on Assad to resign even as he condemned the US for the missile strikes on a Syrian airfield on Friday (7 April).
In a statement he said: "I think it would be fair for President Bashar al-Assad to offer his resignation and step down in love for Syria, to spare it the woes of war and terrorism ...and take a historic, heroic decision before it is too late."
He added that the US intervention would drag the region further into war and could play a role in the expansion of Islamic State militant group.
Shia-led Iraqi governments have maintained good relations with the Syrian government over the course of the last six years and Sadr is one of the only Shia leaders to have maintained distance from Iran, who backed Assad along with Russia.
On Friday, the Iraqi government condemned the chemical attack without naming Assad and called for an investigation. The statement also rebuked the "hasty intervention" by the US, which launched missiles on the Syrian airbase following the chemical attack.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley said in an interview that there could not be a political solution in Syria if Assad remained in power. Her comments come two days after she addressed an emergency meeting at the UN Security council meeting where she said that the US is prepared to take further action.
ibtimes.co.uk/iraqi-shia-cleric-muqtada-al-sadr-urges-bashar-al-assad-step-down-1616164
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Defected Militant: Turkey Not Serious about War on ISIL in Syria
TEHRAN (FNA)- One of the defected members of militant groups affiliated to the Turkey-led Euphrates Shield Operation disclosed that fight against ISIL has never been the main objective of Ankara's military operation in Northern Syria.
Yaser al-Mustafa, who has cut ties with the Euphrates Shield Operation, disclosed that "when the Turkish army forwarded us to the border town of Jarabulus under the pretext of war on ISIL we captured the town without firing even one bullet", adding that the same adventure happened in al-Bab town in Northern Aleppo.
He further added that after the occupation of al-Bab, the Turkish government pointed the gun at the town of Manbij without any previous warning.
Al-Mustafa said Jarabulus has been turned into a Turkish town and the Turkish army has appointed a Turkish governor for it.
He said that the Turkish soldiers are now the occupiers that have "occupied Jarabulus and the Turkish army has dispatched all its allied militants to other fronts".
In the meantime, websites affiliated to the terrorist groups reported that the Turkish government has prevented one of the rescue organizations from rendering services to the gunmen who have been relocated from al-Wa'er district in Northwestern Homs to areas near Jarabulus.
Field reports said that Turkey intends to put gunmen under pressure to persuade them to join its allied militants.
Syrian Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said last week that Damascus considered the Turkish troops, remaining in Syria after the completion of the Euphrates Shield campaign was announced, as occupants.
The Syrian Ambassador said Turkey continued to occupy the Syrian territory despite announcing the end of its operation there, urging sides fighting terrorism to coordinate their actions, Sputnik reported.
"Turkey has not withdrawn its troops and we consider them occupants. Turkey announced that the operation was complete, but… Turkey has still not withdrawn its troops, it is the occupation of our territory," Haddad said.
On March 29, the Turkish National Security Council said that the Turkish military successfully completed Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria.
"As for other forces… regarding the United States, as we have already said, the Syrian government agrees to unite its efforts with those, who are fighting against terrorism. But those who really want to fight against terror must coordinate their actions with the Syrian government," the ambassador said.
The conflict in Syria has been lasting for around six years with government troops fighting against numerous opposition factions and terror organizations such as al-Nusra Front, also known as Fatah al-Sham Front and ISIL.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120000987
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Police say brought down 60% of IS defenses around Mosul landmark mosque
by Mohamed Mostafa
Apr 9, 2017
Al-Hadbaa (leaning) minaret in the Grand Nuri al-Kabir mosque in western Mosul.
Mosul (IraqiNews.com) The Iraqi Federal Police command said Sunday troops brought down 60 percent of Islamic State defense lines around central Mosul’s strategic mosque.
The service’s commander, Lt. Gen. Shaker Jawdat, said in a statement his forces destroyed 60 percent of IS defenses and supply channels in the vicinity of Nuri al-Kabir Mosque, the Old City’s landmark spot where IS supreme commander, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared the establishment of the group’s rule in Iraq in 2014.
Jawdat added that reinforcements continue for troops at the frontline preparing to invade the mosque which has been under police siege over the past few weeks.
The Grand Nuri al-Kabir mosque in western Mosul (Google Maps)
Jawdat said his forces killed six senior IS members in offensives on al-Khousar area, located at the nearby 17 Tamuz (July 17th) district.
Those killed, according to Jawdat, included Hareth Suleiman, aka Abu Usama al-Askari, a former army officer, Majid (Abu Anfal) Mahgoub, a commander at IS’s Jaish al-Osra subdivision, Fares al-Saudi, a security commander for western Mosul, Abu Harun al-Masry, area commander for the 17 Tamuz district, Rafea al-Hayyali, aka Abu Anas al-Hegazi, IS’s administrative official for Nineveh, and Hassan Zeidan, a senior intelligence official.
Jawdat said Saturday his forces had killed 512 IS members and took over at least 60 areas since operations launched in February to retake western Mosul.
iraqinews.com/iraq-war/police-say-brought-60-defenses-around-mosul-landmark-mosque/
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Sovereign fund to invest in new Saudi entertainment city
Sun Apr 9, 2017
Saudi Arabia announced plans on Saturday to build a 334 square kilometer "entertainment city" south of the capital Riyadh, to feature sports, cultural and recreational facilities including a safari and a Six Flags theme park.
The kingdom's Public Investment Fund will be the main investor in the project, which will break ground in 2018 and open in 2022, according to a statement by Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman carried by state news agency SPA.
Other local and international investors will also provide capital, the statement said, without elaborating on the size of the investment.
"This city will become, by God's will, a prominent cultural landmark and an important center for meeting the future generation's recreational, cultural and social needs in the kingdom," said Prince Mohammed in a statement.
US-based Six Flags announced in June that it had begun talks with the Saudi government to build theme parks as part of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 efforts to expand its entertainment sector and diversify the economy.
Chief Executive Jim Reid-Anderson said later in the year that the company aimed to build three parks in Saudi Arabia, with each costing between $300 million and $500m.
The Vision 2030 reform programme contains plans to shed the kingdom's austere reputation, wean the economy off oil and create jobs for young Saudis.
But developing a leisure sector is fraught with difficulties in the Islamic kingdom, which adheres to a strict social code where women are required to wear loose-fitting robes, cinemas and alcohol are banned and public spaces are gender-segregated.
dawn.com/news/1325921/sovereign-fund-to-invest-in-new-saudi-entertainment-city
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Africa
Blasts hit Egypt's Coptic churches; 36 dead, over 100 injured
PTI | Apr 9, 2017
CAIRO: At least 36 people were killed and over 100 others injured on Sunday in twin blasts targeting Coptic churches packed with worshippers who had gathered for Palm Sunday mass in Egyptian cities of Tanta and Alexandria.
The first blast took place in the Coptic church of Mar Girgis, also known as St George, in the Nile delta city of Tanta, about 120 kilometres from Cairo, killing 25 people and injuring 71, according to a statement by the Health Ministry.
Security sources said the primary investigations suggest that a person put an explosive device inside the church during the Christian prayers celebrating the Palm Sunday.
However, other sources suggest that the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
Hours later, the second explosion took place in Alexandria's Manshyia district when a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near Saint Mark's Church.
Citing eyewitnesses, Ahram Online said that an explosion has been heard near Saint Mark's Church in Manshyia district near downtown Alexandria.
At least two were killed and 21 injured in the blast near Saint Mark's Church in Manshiya, state TV reported.
Egypt's Coptic church said Pope Tawadros II, Pope of Alexandria, was leading Palm Sunday Mass just before the explosion.
Local media reported that most of the injured are from security forces outside the church and passersby.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for a National Defence Council meeting in response to the attack.
The National Defence Council is made up of the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, the minister of defence and the commanders of the Egyptian armed forces, and is chaired by the president.
President El-Sisi ordered the opening of military hospitals to receive the injured.
Al-Azhar, the world's highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, strongly condemned the attacks, calling it an "outrageous crime" against all Egyptians.
"This terrorist attack is devoid of all the principles of humanity and civilisation," it said in a statement.
The explosion come weeks before the visit of Pope Francis to Egypt on April 28-29.
Palm Sunday falls on Sunday before the Easter. The feast commemorates Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels.
Coptic Christians make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 85 million.
Egypt's Christian minority has often been targeted by Islamist militants.
Egypt has seen a wave of attacks by militants since 2013 when the military toppled president Mohammed Morsi, an elected leader who hailed from the Muslim Brotherhood, and launched a crackdown against Islamists.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/blasts-hit-egypts-coptic-churches-27-dead-over-100-injured/articleshow/58094601.cms
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Only Muslims Can Effectively Fight Terrorism, Says Sheikh Gumi
April 9, 2017
John Shiklam in Kaduna
Renowned Islamic Scholar, Sheikh Ahmed Gumi has asserted that only Muslims can effectively fight terrorism. Gumi spoke at the graduation of students of the Centre for the Study of Christian – Muslim Relation in Kaduna yesterday.
The Centre was founded in 2004 by the Secretary General of the Global Anglican Communion, the Most Rev. Idowu-Fearon, who was then the Archbishop of the Kaduna Diocese of the Anglican Church.
Gumi said it was unfortunate that when Saudi Arabia wanted Nigeria to join a coalition of Muslim countries to fight terrorism, Nigerian Christians saw the move as a plot to Islamise the country.
According to him, one of the problems of religious intolerance, especially in the North is ignorance and poverty from both adherents of the two religions. He said mutual suspicion between the two religious groups has denied the country the opportunity to benefit from other countries.
According to him, “Saudi Arabia, which is the heart of Islam, wanted a coalition of Muslim state to fight terrorism. Terrorism destroys Muslims more than any other people. This terrorism is mentioned 1,400 years before it happens. The prophet said before the end of time you will find youths, claiming Islam, using the Qur’an, killing people. So it is even mentioned in Islamic books that terrorism is coming.”
“Fighting terrorism, I am telling you, can only be effectively be done by the Muslim themselves. So when you see Muslims coming together to fight terrorism, then you hear Christians voices saying Nigeria should not join this force, because if we join this force, it means we are Islamising Nigeria. This is wrong!”
Speaking further, he said “We need the Muslims to come together to fight this terrorism, but we don’t get the cooperation of our Christian citizens because of lack of understanding of what Islam is all about. We want the Christians to open up their mind allow Muslims (to fight terrorism).
“This coalition, which Saudi Arabia is trying to put together, is to fight extremism and fanaticism. Also, Saudi Arabia is aware that the poverty in the region is one of the contributory factors, therefore they want to come in, build schools, hospitals, lift up the economic status of the nation.
“But we find that in Nigeria, we don’t have our Christian brothers assisting us in this type of association with other Muslims so that we can eradicate terrorism. I am happy that a centre like this is created that will promote the relationship between Christians and Muslims” the Islamic scholar added.
Kaduna state governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, who was the special guest at the occasion, urged the graduands to use their knowledge to advance the cause of peace and harmony.
“My message to all the graduating students today, is that you should use your knowledge to advance the course of peace and harmony. Let us all resolve to strengthen a constituency of religious people that are truly religious and strongly committed to upholding the right of every citizen, celebrating our diversity and upholding peace and harmony in our state.
“Your job will not be easy, people in this state prefer extremist to those that search for common ground. You will be more popular when you adopt extremist stand, but your training and education should help you search for common grounds in our two religions. There is a lot in common,” the governor said.
He commended the founder of the Centre, the Most Rev. Idowu-Fearon for the establishment of the centre, noting that the centre is an important intervention in promoting interfaith relations.
“We thank the Secretary General of the Global Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Idowu-Fearon for promoting peace and harmony in our state for the decades he served as the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Kaduna and the legacies he has left behind for improving relations between the two major religions. The work being done by the Kaduna Centre for Muslim – Christian relations is an important intervention in promoting interfaith relations,” the governor said.
thisdaylive.com/index.php/2017/04/09/only-muslims-can-effectively-fight-terrorism-says-sheikh-gumi/
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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Church Attacks in Egypt's Tanta and Alexandria © REUTERS/ Mohamed Abd El Ghan
09.04.2017
The Daesh terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attacks on churches in Egypt on Palm Sunday. The attacks left dozens of people dead.
A general view is seen as Egyptians gather by a Coptic church that was bombed on Sunday in Tanta, Egypt, April 9, 2017
Egypt's Security Forces Detain Man Allegedly Linked to Tanta Church Blast
On Sunday, an explosion hit a church in Tanta and another one a police station in the same city.
Later, a suicide bomber exploded near the entrance of Saint Mark's church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
The attacks took place on Palm Sunday, a Christian feast commemorating the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem. There were lots of people in both churches.
On December 11, a strong blast hit the Coptic Christian cathedral complex in Cairo, killing 25 and wounding 49 people. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.
sputniknews.com/middleeast/201704091052464951-daesh-tanta-alexandriachurch-attacks/
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Antiquities Minister holds opening ceremony at Islamic Art Museum
Sun, 09/04/2017
Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anany held an opening ceremony at the Islamic Art Museum on Saturday, to mark new opening hours for visitors from 5-9 pm on Saturdays.
Also in attendance were Culture Minister Helmy al-Namnam, Social Solidarity Minister Ghada Wali, Religious Endowments Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa, actress Layla Elwy, several MPs, foreign ambassadors and heads of foreign institutes in Egypt.
“The Islamic Art Museum, which has been restored after a terrorist attack, will receive visitors tonight, allowing students and employees entrance. Most importantly, opening the museum in downtown Cairo to visitors is considered victory against terrorism,” Anany said, indicating downtown Cairo as a safe place for tourists.
He added that Minister Gomaa oversaw the measures taken ahead of this step that will be applied to protect archaeologically-significant mosques.
Meanwhile, Elham Salah, head of the museums sector, said the decision to open the museum in the evening came after the great success achieved when the Egyptian Museum was opened for two evenings a week several months ago.
The ministry will allow evening entrance to several archaeological sites and museums soon in order to promote incoming tourists as well as to allow employees and students to visit in the evening.
egyptindependent.com//news/antiquities-minister-holds-opening-ceremony-islamic-art-museum
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Pakistan
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan alliance’s main objective to serve Islam: Minister
ARAB NEWS | Published — Sunday 9 April 2017
Islamic Affairs Minister Sheikh Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh.
RIYADH: Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh bin Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh highlighted the deep relations linking Pakistan with Saudi Arabia at a conference held by the Pakistani Association of Muslim Scholars in Peshawar on the occasion of its first anniversary.
These relations are distinguished, powerful and strong, and cover the political, economic, military, cultural, scientific and social fields, he said, adding that Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are “one country” working for the benefit of Islam and Muslims.
“They are working to preserve the sanctities of Muslims threatened by ill-intended people who want to deprive ordinary people of the safe haven offered by Makkah and Madinah,” he said, adding that the rulers of these two big countries are leading by the strengths of Muslims and the Islamic alliance, which makes Islam strong and safe in the face of threats and preserves it dignity and sanctity.
He said that in these trying times, there is need of a united Muslim stand and teachings that are according to the Qur’an and Sunnah, as well as respect for scholars and Ummah.
Al-Sheikh said Muslims’ taking part in an Islamic coalition is important to counter terrorism, its roots and perpetrators.
He added that the fight against terrorism is a fight against tyranny and stupidity, and against those who have plans against Islam and want enemies of Islam to take over Muslim countries.
He stressed that the Kingdom and Pakistan can work together in the Islamic Alliance to serve Islam and to counter terrorism and ruthless terrorists who shed blood.
The minister thanked the Association of Muslim Scholars for organizing this ceremony, as well as its chairman, Fadlurrahman Mufti Mahmoud and all scholars and members of the assembly for their hospitality and attendance, saying: “I ask God to sustain the power and greatness of the assembly and to serve and protect Islam.”
Al-Sheikh also paid tribute to the government and people of Pakistan for whom the people of the Kingdom have great affection.
At the end of the opening session of the conference, Sheikh Saleh bin Talib, imam and sheikh of the Grand Mosque, led participants in the Friday sermon and prayers.
The delegation comprised Al-Sheikh, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Ammar and Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Zaid, advisers in the office of the minister, and the undersecretary of the ministry, assistant to Islamic Affairs Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al-Ameri, Sheikh Mohammed bin Saad Al-Dosari, as well as the special secretary to the minister, Suleiman bin Omar Al-Husayn.
arabnews.com/node/1081496/saudi-arabia
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Pakistan PM wants ulema to counter propaganda against Islam
09-Apr-17 302
ISLAMABAD: Imam-e-Kaaba Sheikh Saleh bin Muhammad Bin Talib called on Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif on Saturday.
The PM welcomed the cleric to Pakistan and said that the Pakistanis attach great religious and spiritual attachment with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to the Kaaba.
The PM said, “Although Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are geographically located apart but mutual Islamic and cultural values have kept our hearts together.” He said that relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have become closer and stronger and the people of both the countries have lot of respect for each other.
The PM emphasised that Islam is the message of love, peace, patience, forgiveness and respect for humanity and it is the need of time to spread this message all over the world.
The PM said that religious leaders and scholars should unanimously counter negative propaganda being wrongly portrayed against Islam.
Imam-e-Kaaba thanked Nawaz for the warm welcome accorded to him at Pakistan.
Habeebullah Al-Bokhari, acting ambassador of Saudi Arabia and Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Yousaf were also present.
Separately, President Mamnoon Hussain called for establishing an international group, comprising of clerics who should present true picture of Islam to bring the misled back to normal life.
He was talking to Imam-e-Kaaba who called on him at the Presidency, read a press release.
He called for making concerted efforts to remove misperception about Islam, adding Muslim Ummah should stand united in defeating terrorism and extremist mindset.
Mamnoon said Pakistan was committed to protect the sanctity of the Two Holy Mosques and any aggression against Saudi Arabia would be considered an aggression against Pakistan.
He said the people and the Government of Pakistan have the greatest regard for Saudi Arabia.
The president said the relations between the two brotherly countries were embedded in strong bonds of friendship, religion, fraternity, shared history and cultural ties.
He noted that Saudi Arabia has always supported Pakistan on all important issues at the regional and international forums including Kashmir dispute.
He expressed his gratitude that Saudi Arabia stood by Pakistan in every difficult hour and rendered assistance during natural calamities which was greatly valued by the people of Pakistan.
Mamnoon thanked the kingdom on restoring 20% Hajj quota for Pakistan and lauded the Kingdom for making excellent arrangements for Hajj and Umrah every year.
During the meeting, Imam-e-Kaaba offered special prayers for the unity, harmony, stability, progress and prosperity of Muslims.
dailytimes.com.pk/pakistan/09-Apr-17/pm-wants-ulema-to-counter-propaganda-against-islam
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Unity, peace in all islamic countries to bring peace in the world: Imam e Kaaba
April 9, 2017
ISLAMABAD, Apr 9 (APP): Imam-E-Kaaba Sheikh Saleh Bin Mohammad Al Talib has said that unity and peace in all Islamic countries will bring peace in world.
In an exclusive interview with a private news channel, he said that all
the 38 member countries joined hands to eradicate terrorism from world.
He also stressed that, Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood and this Muslim army alliance will only strengthen the ties between the member countries and Ummah.
He said that “Pakistan is now a peaceful country as it curb the menace of terrorism bravely and all the credit goes to government of Pakistan and people of Pakistan”, Imam-E-Kaaba added.
app.com.pk/unity-peace-in-all-islamic-countries-to-bring-peace-in-the-world-imam-e-kaaba/
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Siraj for formation of Muslim World’s IUN
April 9, 2017
Ameer, Jamaat-e-islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has said that the Muslim world must form an Islamic United Nations to counter the proxy war thrust on the Muslim states by the colonial powers and the enemies of Islam.
Commenting on the use of chemical weapons in Syria and the subsequent US missile attack there, he said in a statement that the tyranny of Bashar al Asad on the Syrians was not something new as his father had also killed lakhs of Syrian Muslims and had set numerous habitations on fire.
Sirajul Haq said that the arms and ammunition being manufactured in the west was being tested in the Muslim countries. The US, he said, had ransacked Iraq after accusing Saddam Husain of having WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) and lakhs of Iraqis Muslims were put to death. Subsequently, the US and NATO forces attacked Afghanistan and lakhs of Afghans were killed.
The JI chief said that the colonial powers were repeating the same story in Kashmir, Burma, Palestine, Syria but unfortunately, the attitude of the Muslim rulers was most deplorable.
Sirajul Haq said that in the prevailing situation, it was the duty of the Muslim rulers to sit together and chalk out a common line of action to foil the enemy designs and for the security of each and every Muslim. He said that in Arakan (Burma), the Muslims’ habitations and mosques and madrissahs were being torched. Hundreds of Ruhangya Muslims were being killed in Arakan every day but the United Nations and Human Rights bodies were silent.
He said that in Held Kashmir, India was perpetrating untold brutalities for the last seventy years while in Palestine, Israel was continuing the genocide of the Palestinians but the UN was not taking any interest in the liberation of Kashmir and Palestine although hundreds of resolutions and memoranda had been moved on these issues.—SABAH
pakobserver.net/siraj-formation-muslim-worlds-iun/
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Professor from Ahmadi community gunned down in Lahore
Omer Farooq Khan | TNN | Apr 9, 2017
ISLAMABAD: A retired professor belonging to the Ahmadi community was killed in a faith-based attack in Lahore, local media reported on Saturday.
Dr Ashfaq Ahmad, 68, a nutritionist by profession and former professor at the Lahore University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, was travelling in a car with two of his relatives to offer Friday prayers, when an unknown attacker on a motorbike shot him in the head.
Saleemuddin, spokesperson for the community, said, "Dr Ashfaq was killed because of his faith."
He added that an organised hate campaign was going on against the Ahmadi people.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/professor-from-ahmadi-community-gunned-down-in-lahore/articleshow/58088561.cms
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Pak political parties slam last two Army chiefs
Omer Farooq Khan | TNN | Apr 8, 2017
ISLAMABAD: In an intriguing development, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif-led Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Imran Khan-led opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) slammed two previous army chiefs, Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani and Gen Raheel Sharif.
While PML(N) said Gen Sharif got a larger-than-life projection through a credulous media, PTI spokesman held Gen Kayani responsible for rigging the 2013 general elections. While Gen Kayani is living a retired life, Gen Sharif is on his way to lead a 29-Muslim-nation-coalition led by Saudi Arabia to fight against terrorism.
Muhammad Zubair, Sindh's governor appointed by Sharif, said, "The credit for Karachi operation should go 100% to PM Nawaz Sharif and not to Raheel Sharif," he said, adding that Karachi is peaceful only because of the PM's efforts.
He then slammed the media, saying, "Media always gives credit to former Army chief Raheel Sharif regarding Karachi operation. He was a normal man and regular general. He is a part of our past now." He further taunted journalists saying they portray Gen Sharif envisioning peace in Karachi as Allama Iqbal dreamt of Pakistan.
In Pakistan, serving military chiefs are rarely criticized but in recent years, it has become the norm among politicians -- many of who had served and closely worked with military dictators.
Naeemul Haq, PTI spokesperson, told at a TV talk show that his party lost the last elections because of Gen Kayani. Haq said that a grand scheme was hatched between Pakistan, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Kayani to make Sharif win the 2013 election.
The statement was subsequently disowned by PTI but not before creating a huge kerfuffle within the military establishment.
Lt Gen (retd) Tariq Khan posted on his Facebook page: "I was responsible for most of interior Punjab during the 2013 election. Had there been any rigging by the Army, not only would I have been instructed to do it but I should be held responsible for it as well. No COAS needs to answer the rants of a frustrated political party and its disillusioned workers. There was no rigging done by the Army."
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pak-political-parties-slam-last-two-army-chiefs/articleshow/58082611.cms
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Europe
Mosque Throws 'Best of British' Tea Party in Response To EDL March
9 APRIL 2017
A Birmingham mosque has thrown a Best of British tea party in response to an EDL march in the city.
Birmingham Central Mosque joined forces with West Midlands Police ahead of the far-right rally attended by around 100 people.
Who looks like they have power here, the real Brummy on the left or the EDL who migrated for the day to our city and failed to assimilate?
He added in a Facebook post: “When the English Defence League is protesting and trying to divide the community, we are holding this party just to prove to them that Birmingham is a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-faith community.
“We are all united and they will not be able to divide us and create hatred.”
Protestors during a demonstration in the city of Birmingham, in the wake of the Westminster terror attack CREDIT: PA
West Midlands' elected Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, who attended the party, said the EDL “are spreading a message of hatred”.
He added: Every citizen has the right to peacefully protest but I feel the demos on Saturday will bring little more than division to our city and demand to our police force.
“I’d much rather see people at the tea party enjoying themselves with their neighbours.”
telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/09/mosque-throws-best-british-tea-party-response-edl-march/
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France expels Swiss imam with 'extremist' views
France's interior ministry said it has expelled a Swiss Islamic preacher with 'extremist' views to his home country.
The ministry said Hani Ramadan was arrested Saturday in Colmar, in eastern France, as he was taking part in a conference, and police escorted him to the Swiss border.
It said Ramadan is "known in the past to have adopted a behavior and made comments which pose a serious threat to public order on the French soil."
In 2002, Hani Ramadan was banned from teaching in a Swiss school because he had publicly defended the stoning of adulterers.
He is the brother of Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan. The pair are grandsons of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's now-banned Islamist group.
dawn.com/news/1325919/france-expels-swiss-imam-with-extremist-views
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Juncker’s party calls for EU-wide ban on Muslim veil
Published time: 8 Apr, 2017 18:20
The EU Parliament’s biggest group, the European People’s Party, has expressed support for a Europe-wide ban of the Muslim veil citing both cultural and security concerns.
“The EPP calls for… A ban on full-face veils (i.e. the burqa or niqab) in public places, both for reasons of security and because seeing one another’s faces is an integral part of human interaction in Europe,” the EPP’s resolution stated, as cited by The Independent.
The party, which currently holds 216 seats of the 751-member European Parliament, has adopted such a measure as official policy under a resolution entitled, "For a cohesive society: Countering Islamic extremism."
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The EPP adopted the measure at its congress in Malta this week.
“We want a total ban of face covering in the EU” said Manfred Weber, the group’s leader in the European Parliament, as cited by the The Express. Weber is a member of Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU alliance in Germany with whom the EPP is affiliated.
Other provisions contained include “the avoidance of concentrating thousands of third-country nationals in any one location” and “mandatory integration requirements” for welfare recipients.
While the resolution is nonbinding, an EPP spokesperson called for an EU-level discussion on the matter but admitted that it doesn’t align with current EU policy objectives, reports The Independent.
The EPP boasts both President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker and Hungarian PM Viktor Orban as members.
The issue of Muslim veils is being hotly debated elsewhere in Europe, with France passing a contentious ban on Muslim face coverings in 2010, while several areas of Switzerland have adopted similar measures.
rt.com/news/384062-epp-eu-wide-burqa-ban/
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Stockholm truck attack suspect interested in IS, residency rejected: Police
AFP | Apr 9, 2017, 05.26 PM IST
STOCKHOLM: The suspected Stockholm truck attacker had shown interest in extremist groups and had his permanent residency application rejected in June 2016, Swedish police said on Sunday.
"We know that he showed interest for extremist organisations like IS," police chief Jonas Hysing told reporters, adding that two Swedes, one Briton and a Belgian were killed in the attack.
The suspect, who has only been officially identified as a 39-year-old man from Uzbekistan, "applied for a permanent residency permit in 2014," Hysing said.
"The Migration Agency rejected it in June 2016 and also decided that he was to be expelled," he added.
"In December 2016, he was informed by the Migration Agency that he had four weeks to leave the country. In February 2017, the case was handed over to the police to carry out the order, since the person had gone underground," he said.
But police apparently never found the man.
On Friday, the suspect is alleged to have barreled a stolen beer truck several hundred metres (yards) down the bustling pedestrian street Drottninggatan in the heart of Stockholm.
The vehicle mowed down shoppers before slamming into the facade of the busy Ahlens department store.
The motive for the attack is not known.
Thousands of people were to gather in central Stockholm on Sunday for a "Lovefest" vigil against terrorism.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/stockholm-truck-attack-suspect-interested-in-is-residency-rejected-police/articleshow/58094444.cms
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After Nice and Berlin - why would a lorry-driving attacker target Stockholm?
Lizzie Dearden | The Independent | Apr 8, 2017, 09.00 PM IST
"Sweden has been attacked," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters. "Everything indicates that this is a terrorist attack." While a man was arrested last night claiming responsibility for yesterday's attack, police gave out few details as to any motive. However, suspicion quickly turned to Isis following the attacks in Nice and Berlin where terrorists ploughed lorries into crowds of people. The incident came just weeks after a suspected Isis supporter killed five people in London before being shot dead by police. Khalid Masood rammed his car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, then stabbed a police officer to death at the entrance to the Houses of Parliament.
Isis propaganda has continued its attempts to incite terror attacks in Europe, the US, Australia and other countries supporting military operations against its fighters. An issue of its Rumiyah magazine published in November advised jihadis to launch vehicle attacks in an article citing the Nice lorry attack that killed 86 people as a "superb demonstration". "Having a secondary weapon, such as a gun or a knife, is also a great way to combine a vehicle attack with other forms," it reads. Little over a month later, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker hijacked a lorry and ploughed it into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 11 people.
The most recent attack in Stockholm was in 2010 when an Iraqi-born Swede killed himself while detonating two bombs days before Christmas, which failed to cause any other fatalities. The perpetrator, Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, who studied at the University of Bedfordshire and lived in Luton for almost a decade, supported al-Qaeda and named his son after Osama bin Laden. He used a car bomb and pipe bombs in the explosions at the intersection of Bryggargatan and Drottninggatan, near yesterday's attack. Minutes before the blast, an email threat had been sent to Swedish security services, referring to the country's troops in Afghanistan and cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. His wife later uploaded audio messages to YouTube.
There have been several other plots in Sweden; one saw a suspected Isis supporter arrested after planning a pressure cooker bombing in February 2016. A separate plot in 2011 targeted an art festival in Gothenburg that was to be attended by a Swedish artist who had drawn controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, with three men charged with intending to stab him to death. Isis claimed responsibility for a firebombing in Malmo in October at a building used as an assembly hall by Shia Muslims. The group has declared the sect of Islam apostates and have targeted followers with terror attacks around the world, although no one was injured in the Swedish attack. A 30-year-old Syrian man was charged with terror offences over the arson attack last month, after prosecutors found he had affiliated himself with Isis.
The national threat level in Sweden has been set at number three - "elevated" - on a scale of one to five since 2010. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said there was a "general threat from terrorism" for British travellers and urged people to follow police advice and temporarily avoid central Stockholm following yesterday's events. Earlier this year, the head of the country's counter-terror force said the biggest threat emanated from "lone wolves" inspired by Islamist groups including Isis and al-Qaeda. "The biggest risk we're seeing is the individual player, who has been inspired and perhaps radicalised, almost on their own," said NCT head Mats Sandberg. "In our view that risk is greater than a major coordinated attack with several actors similar to Paris for example."
Around 140 Swedish foreign fighters are believed to have returned from Syria and Iraq, out of at least 300 who travelled to the region to join Islamist groups. The expected influx has sparked the creation of controversial rehabilitation programmes offering former militants housing, employment, education and financial support. The country is believed to have one of the highest Isis fighters per capita in Europe, although it sits far behind France, the UK, Belgium and Germany in terms of numbers. Methods of dealing with returning jihadis has been a subject of fierce debate as the terrorist group continues to lose territory across Syria and Iraq, with fears of an influx of militants fleeing a major offensive in Mosul. Around one fifth of the group's militants - 3,700 people - are residents or nationals of Western Europe, a King's College London study estimated last year.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/after-nice-and-berlin-why-would-a-lorry-driving-attacker-target-stockholm/articleshow/58084594.cms
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India
No deadline for introduction of Sharia banking: RBI
April 9, 2017
Sharia banking is a finance system in which charging interest rates is prohibited under Islam
No deadline has been set for introduction of Sharia or interest-free banking in India, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said.
Islamic or Sharia banking is a finance system based on the principles of not charging interest, which is prohibited under Islam.
The RBI had earlier proposed opening of "Islamic window" in conventional banks for gradual introduction of Sharia- compliant banking.
Responding to an RTI application, the RBI said it has not taken any step to introduce Islamic window in banks for gradual introduction of Sharia-compliant interest-free banking in India.
"RBI has not set any deadline for introduction of interest-free banking," the central bank said in response to the RTI query filed by PTI.
However, on the instruction of the central government, an Inter-Departmental Group (IDG) set up in RBI has examined the legal, technical and regulatory issues for introducing interest-free banking in India and has submitted its report to the government, it said.
The RBI had in February last year sent a copy of the IDG to the Finance Ministry.
"In our considered opinion, given the complexities of Islamic finance and various regulatory and supervisory challenges involved in the matter and also due to the fact that Indian banks have no experience in this field, Islamic banking may be introduced in India in a gradual manner," the central bank had told the Ministry in a letter.
In late 2008, a committee on Financial Sector Reforms, headed by former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan, had stressed on the need for a closer look at the issue of interest-free banking in the country.
"Certain faiths prohibit the use of financial instruments that pay interest. The non-availability of interest-free banking products results in some Indians, including those in the economically disadvantaged strata of society, not being able to access banking products and services due to reasons of faith," the committee had said.
business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/no-deadline-for-introduction-of-sharia-banking-in-india-rbi-117040900106_1.html
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Hindus Abolished Dowry and Sati; It's Time for Muslims to Stop Triple Talaq: Union Minister
Sun, 9 Apr 2017
Asserting that like the Hindu society which abolished practices like child marriage, dowry and sati, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said that Muslims should mull over putting an end to the triple talaq divorce system.
Naidu said it is high time that the Muslim society should introspect and have a healthy discussion on the triple talaq issue in order to give justice to their women.
"Triple talaq is not allowed and everybody knows it, yet there are few people who are doing injustice with Muslim women. Its high time that the Muslim society should witnesses change,"Naidu told the media here.
"Like the Hindu society changed a lot, we abolished child marriage, dowry, sati. I believe that there should be a healthy discussion in the Muslim society regarding this issue and that they should chalk out a solution," he added. The Allahabad High Court had in December 2016 held that the practice of triple talaq is 'cruel' and raised an issue whether the Muslim Personal Law could be amended to provide relief to the Muslim women. The High Court also stated that the form of 'instant divorce' is 'most demeaning'. The Supreme Court is to hear multiple pleas challenging the validity of triple talaq, 'nikah halala' and polygamy practices among the Muslims community on May 11.
Earlier on March 27, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) told the apex court that the pleas challenging such practices among the Muslims were not maintainable as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary. Meanwhile, Naidu while commenting on the Ram temple issue said the government hails the Supreme Court's order in the regard, adding it is to be seen how amicably both sides can churn out a solution.
"The Supreme Court has asked us to amicably decide over the matter. It is a very good thought, but till what extent this matter can be discussed to churn out a solution is yet to be seen," said Naidu The apex court had earlier described Ram temple as a ''sensitive and sentimental'' issue and called for an amicable settlement of the dispute by all concerned parties. Earlier on March 21, the apex court had suggested an out-of-court settlement in the highly vexed case. The top court had set March 31 as the deadline for all parties involved to present their stance on the issue. While most of the parties including the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and BJP have welcomed the apex court's suggestion, the Babri Masjid Action Committee (BMAC) had rejected the idea.
dnaindia.com/india/report-hindus-abolished-dowry-and-sati-it-s-time-for-muslims-to-stop-triple-talaq-venkaiah-naidu-2391549
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Threats to kill Rohingyas in Jammu — what about West Pakistan refugees asks Kashmir Inc
Published Online: Apr 09, 2017
Srinagar: A day after Jammu Chamber of Commerce & Industry (JCCI) threatened to ‘identify, catch and kill’ Rohingya refugees in Jammu, the issue has snowballed into a major controversy with Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Inc) threatening of dire consequences. The Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has assured action against JCCI leaders for threatening and intimidating Rohingya refugees.
Terming the statement “irresponsible and divisive” Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Inc) has warned that same could be applicable to the West Pakistan refugees as well. Urging Jammu chamber to withdraw its statement, the Kashmir Chamber, in a statement here on April 8, said, “Instead of involving itself in activities beneficial for trade and commerce, JCCI has taken upon itself the role of vigilantalism. KCCI urges Jammu Chamber to immediately withdraw the statement, otherwise be ready to face consequences.”
Awami Itihaad Party (AIP), led by Er Rashid, on April 8 registered a formal complaint here against Jammu Chamber for intimidating Rohingya refugees. The complaint seeks action as warranted under criminal law against JCCI for spreading terror and threatening peace of Jammu province. CPI(M) leader and MLA Kulgam Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (April 8) urged the government to deal with the situation as per the law. “Refugee issue is always a human issue and must be dealt with humanely. There are different types of refugees in our state and they are all outcome of tragedies. The highly provocative statement of Jammu Chamber smells communal and it has the potential to turn the situation communal. It can create new controversies in the state which will have serious and harmful implications for the state.”
Even the High Court Bar Association here, April 8, described the threat by JCCI president as “intemperate, arbitrary, ruthless and barbaric.” Bashir Sidiq, General Secretary of the Bar, maintained that at a time when “ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims at the hands of Myanmar National Army and Buddhist goons is going on and thousands of Rohingya Muslims have taken refuge in boats near the sea-shore and the so-called democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of National League for Democracy in Myanmar, is not even prepared to condemn the brutal killings of Rohingya Muslims, the threat by JCCI president to launch an agitation under the name “identify and kill movement” by describing these innocent and persecuted Muslims as criminals and drug traffickers is highly horrifying and shameful.”
The Bar Association further maintained that there are about a million West Pakistan Refugees, residing illegally and unlawfully in Jammu from 1947 and besides them, thousands of Punjabis, Bengalis, Biharis, Nepalese and Tibetans have been allowed to settle in different parts of Jammu unauthorizedly and even state subject certificates have been issued in their favour, fraudulently. “Asking a few thousand of Rohingya Muslims, whose presence in Jammu is protected by United Nations credentials, to leave Jammu or else they will be identified and killed, is clearly a communal plot, orchestrated at the behest of the saffron brigade, which deserves to be denounced by one and all.” The statement emphasized that appropriate protection ought to be provided to the Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi nationals living in Jammu by the state machinery.
The Kashmir Economic Alliance chairman Haji Mohammad Yasin Khan, while speaking to the local news-gathering agency KNS, April 8, said if JCCI feels unsafe due to Rohingya and Bangladeshis, why it was silent over the issue of West Pakistan refugees. The JCCI statement, according to Khan, seems to be part of a deep-rooted conspiracy.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, while addressing a gathering in Dak Banglow Khanabal in south Kashmir, April 8, assured action against JCCI leaders for threatening and intimidating Rohingya refugees. “All those who will try to take the law into their hands will face action. All those who will try to threaten or intimate them (Rohingya Muslims) will face action.” she added.
JCCI president, Rakesh Gupta, had on Friday in Jammu threatened to launch an “identify and kill” campaign against Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshis to force them to leave Jammu and other areas of the state where they are living temporarily. Gupta has been quoted as saying, “If this is not done, we would be left with no option but to launch a movement of “identify and kill” against foreign settlers who are criminals across the state. It would not be an offence if they are pushed to death (maut ke ghaat utaray gain)since they are not citizens of this state.”The JCCI president added that they would be doing it as part of their corporate social responsibility. “Neither the government of Jammu & Kashmir is signatory to any United Nation’s treaty nor Article 370 allows illegal foreign settlers for any permanent settlement in the state. We won’t let them survive here on our land and the owners on whose land these foreign settlers are living should be booked under PSA.”
The Chief Minister, who is also the home minister of the state, had said in January this year in a written reply to a question by BJP MLA Rajesh Gupta in the state Assembly that there are around 5,700 Rohingya refugees in Jammu. “No Rohingyas has been found involved in militancy-related incidents. Seventeen FIRs have been registered against 38 Rohingyas for various offences including those related to illegal border crossings,” she was further quoted in the reply.
milligazette.com/news/15519-threats-to-kill-rohingyas-in-jammu-what-about-west-pakistan-refugees-asks-kashmir-inc
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PM Modi promises Sheikh Hasina early solution to vexed Teesta water dispute
TNN | Updated: Apr 9, 2017
India announces $4.5 billion line of credit to BangladeshIndia announces $4.5 billion l...
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday promised an early solution to the vexed Teesta water dispute with Bangladesh.
"I firmly believe that it is only my government and excellency Sheikh Hasina, your government that can and will find an early solution to Teesta water sharing," he told the visiting Bangladeshi Prime Minister, who is India's staunch ally against terrorism.
Given that Hasina would go in for polls in 2018, Modi's statement has been interpreted to mean that a Teesta pact may be a reality within months.
Mamata Banerjee, prime opposition to the pact, was present during the summit and had a quiet dinner with Hasina and President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday raising hopes that a breakthrough may be possible.
A joint statement said the two countries would start negotiations on sharing waters of the Feni, Manu, Muhuri, Khowai, Gumti, Dharla and Dudhkumar rivers.
India has positioned itself as Bangladesh's premier development partner, investing in the country's development and prosperity.
The two nations signed 22 agreements and India extended a $4.5-billion line of credit to Bangladesh.
They also reaffirmed an old alliance — one that had helped liberate Bangladesh from Pakistan. As Hasina honoured seven Indian soldiers who lay down their lives during the 1971 war, the significance of the gesture was not lost on anyone.
Modi said, "Every Indian takes pride... that Indian soldiers and "vir muktijodha' fought together to liberate Bangladesh from the reign of terror."
$4.5 billion line of credit for Bangladesh
India on Saturday openly celebrated its role in Bangladesh's war of liberation, as well as a much closer relationship with Bangladesh, described as "exceptional... fraternal relationship" by foreign secretary S Jaishankar.
The two countries signed five defence cooperation agreements, including a $500 million line of credit for defence purchases from India.
"The chemistry between the two leaders was very visible," said foreign secretary, S Jaishankar, briefing journalists.
The defence framework agreement is an enabling pact for all others. India and Bangladesh also signed a civil nuclear agreement.
India will play a supporting role in training and supplying components when Bangladesh buys its first nuclear reactor from Russia.
Connectivity was one of the main themes of the summit. As Modi noted, "We have added several new links to our growing connectivity."
India also announced a $4.5 billion line of credit, for which both countries have already identified 17 new projects, including development of three ports (Payra, Mongla and Chittagong), railway and roads.
The other key MoUs inked were on passenger and cruise services on the coastal and protocol route, cooperation on cyber security and cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
"We want to build cooperation in new areas, especially some high-technology areas, that have a deeper connect with the youth in both our societies," said Modi.
India and Bangladesh came out strongly against terrorism. A joint statement issued this evening reiterated the "strong commitment to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stressed that there can be no justification whatsoever for any act of terror. ... the fight against terrorism should not only seek to disrupt and eliminate terrorists, terror organisations and networks, but should also identify, hold accountable and take strong measures against states and entities which encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups, and falsely extol their virtues".
"We in India rejoice in our ties with Bangladesh. Ties that have been forged in blood and generations of kinship. Ties that seek a better and secure future for our people," Modi said at the joint media event with Hasina.
The two countries also agreed to confront challenges of terrorism with deeper security and defence cooperation with Modi terming spread of radicalism as a "grave threat", not only to the two countries but to the entire region. India has also liberalised visas for Bangladeshis.
Bangladesh citizens will now be able to visit India for medical diagnosis in addition to hospitalisation.
Energy security, Modi said, was an important dimension of the two-way development partnership.
"Today, we added an additional 60 Mega Watt of power to the 600 Mega Watt of power already flowing from India to Bangladesh.
The supply of another 500 Mega Watt has already been committed from the existing inter-connection. We have also agreed to finance the diesel oil pipeline from Numaligarh to Parbatipur.
Our companies are entering into a long-term agreement for the supply of high speed diesel to Bangladesh. We have also agreed on a time table for regular supply till the pipeline is constructed," he said.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pm-narendra-modi-promises-sheikh-hasina-ally-against-terror-teesta-pact/articleshow/58087753.cms
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South Asia
At least 25 Islamic State militants killed in east of Afghanistan
09 Apr 2017
At least 25 Islamic State militants killed in east of Afghanistan
Kabul: At least twenty five militants of the ISIS group were killed during the ongoing security operations in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, Khaama Press reported on Sunday.
According to the local government officials, the militants were killed in a series of ground operations and airstrikes.
The operations were conducted in the vicinity of Achin district during the past 24 hours.
The Afghan forces also confiscated a heavy machine and some other types of light weapons during the operations.
thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/09/04/2017/At-least-25-Islamic-State-militants-killed-in-east-of-Afghanistan
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3 Al-Qaeda network members killed in Paktika province of Afghanistan
By KHAAMA PRESS - Sun Apr 09 2017
At least three Al-Qaeda network members were killed during an airstrike in southeastern Paktika province of Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) spokesman Dawlat Waziri said the airstrike was carried out in the vicinity of Jani Khel district.
This comes as the US Department of Defense confirmed the death of a high level Al-Qaeda network leader who was killed in Paktika province last month.
The Al-Qaeda leader killed in the airstrike was identified as Qari Yasin with the Department of Defense saying he was a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, had ties to Tehrik-e Taliban and had plotted multiple al Qaida terror attacks, including the Sept. 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of innocent people, among them U.S. Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryant.
In the meantime, Gen. Waziri said at least eight ISIS militants were killed in another airstrike in eastern Nangarhar province while eight Taliban insurgents were killed in a similar operation in northern Kunduz province.
khaama.com/3-al-qaeda-network-members-killed-in-paktika-province-of-afghanistan-02537
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Bangladesh Islamists to hang after president rejects pleas
AFP | 09 April, 2017
A top Islamist extremist under sentence of death has lost his last hope of avoiding the gallows after Bangladesh's president rejected a mercy plea, an official said Sunday.
Bangladesh's highest court last month upheld a 2008 death sentence on Mufti Abdul Hannan and two associates for an attack on a shrine that left three people dead and injured the British high commissioner at the time.
Last month the trio wrote to President Abdul Hamid seeking clemency.
"But the president has rejected all three mercy petitions," his press secretary Joynal Abedin told AFP.
Jail authorities would now go ahead with the executions, deputy inspector general of prisons Touhidul Islam told AFP.
Authorities have not announced a date but the executions are expected sometime this month.
Hannan headed the Harkat-ul Jihad Al Islami (HuJI) group. The attack on the British ambassador in 2004 was among the most high-profile of a series of assaults by the group across Bangladesh in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The decision to reject clemency comes just weeks after militants attempted to free Hannan by hurling bombs at police vans as police transferred him between prisons.
By the time Hannan was arrested in late 2005 more than 100 people had been killed in attacks by HuJI on a church, secular gatherings and mosques used by Islam's minority sects.
Bangladesh has suffered a spate of attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities in recent years.
Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility in some cases but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's secular government has pinned the blame on local outfits.
There has been a resurgence of Islamist extremist attacks in recent weeks, with at least three being claimed by IS.
The fatalities included the head of intelligence of an elite security force tasked with tacking Islamist militancy across the Muslim-majority country.
Police and army commandos have arrested scores of suspected extremists and killed more than 60 people since an attack on a Dhaka cafe last year that left 22 dead.
timeslive.co.za/world/2017/04/09/Bangladesh-Islamists-to-hang-after-president-rejects-pleas
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Afghanistan reacts at Pakistani allegations over India’s destructive role
By GHANIZADA - Sun Apr 09 2017
The Afghan defense officials reacted at the allegations of a Pakistani official regarding the alleged destructive role of India, calling it as baseless.
General Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense in response to the allegations of the Pakistani official, said that New Delhi has no military presence in Afghanistan, rejecting the misunderstanding of Islamabad claiming that the country is fuelling anti-Pakistan feelings with its presence in Afghanistan.
He said India is only providing training and study opportunities to the Afghan army cadets and that New Delhi has military
presence in Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif, on Thursday, said that the state was serious about improving relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Speaking to a private news channel, the minister claimed the strained relations between the two countries was due to Indian influence on Afghanistan’s side, according to The Express Tribune newspaper.
India has played a major role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime and has invested over $2 billion in various reconstruction and infrastructure projects.
The construction of the major Salma Dam, the new Afghan parliament building, Zaranj-Delaram highway, and some other projects are among the key investments India has done so far in the country.
khaama.com/afghanistan-reacts-at-pakistani-allegations-over-indias-destructive-role-02536
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Southeast Asia
Indonesia's police kill six suspected Islamic militants
Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia's police shot dead six suspected IS-linked militants in a gunfight on Java island over the weekend, a police spokesman said on Sunday.
Seven men drove up to a traffic police post on Saturday and fired shots at the officers. Nobody was injured but a car chase ensued.
The seven men then abandoned their vehicle and fled into an agricultural area in Tuban, in East Java.
"When the local police swept through the area, a gunshot was heard. A gunfight took place after and six of the men died," said national police spokesman Rikwanto, who goes by one name.
Police arrested one member of the group alive.
Police claim the attackers were part of the of IS-linked Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) network, which has been blamed for a series of recent attacks in Indonesia including one in Jakarta last January.
Numerous recent IS-linked plots in Indonesia have been botched or foiled, with analysts saying that many of the country's militants lack the capacity to launch serious attacks.
Indonesia has suffered a series of Islamic militant attacks in the past 15 years, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
A sustained crackdown weakened the most dangerous networks but the emergence of IS has proved a potent new rallying cry for radicals.
thestar.com.my/news/regional/2017/04/09/indonesias-police-kill-six-suspected-islamic-militants/#7UXhoL44g4DlstEp.99
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Syria In Urgent Need Of Food, Water, Medicines - Islamic Relief Malaysia
April 9, 2017
According to non-governmental organisation, Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM), these make up Syria's current most pressing needs.
Its chief executive officer, Zairulshahfuddin Zainal Abidin said although that country was under the supervision of the Islamic Relief Syria (IRS) since 2012, Malaysians could contribute to IRM for distribution to the IRS.
According to him, following the latest attacks in the Idlib province, two hospitals assisted by the IRS were severely damaged.
"However, we will continue efforts to help in this emergency situation as those in Syria really need food, water and medicines," he said.
Zairulshahfuddin was speaking to reporters after flagging off about 500 participants in the charity run, jointly organised by IRM and the International Islamic University Malaysia here today.
The charity run is aimed at raising funds for mushroom cultivation project in Lombok, Indonesia.
Zairulshahfuddin said Islamic Relief (an international relief and development charity/non-governmental organisation with United Nations Economic and Social Council consultative status since 1993) branches had been operating in Syria's neighbouring countries, namely Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.
"In January 2012, we made the critical decision to go in Syria and help... we must remember Syria is a war zone country," he noted.
On the mushroom cultivation project, he said the fund from the charity run would be distributed to the Islamic Relief Indonesia to assist the Women Farmers Group comprising 20 single mothers and those from poor backgrounds in Lombok to earn an income.
-- BERNAMA
bernama.com/bernama/v8/ge/newsgeneral.php?id=1345911
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Myanmar's Long-Suffering Rohingya Muslims Hoped That Aung San Suu Kyi Would Make Them Full Citizens. They Were Wrong
It is just an ID card, sky blue and gently creased, but it is Mohammad Siddique’s greatest source of shame.
The indignity arises not from its routine details — his name, date of birth, photo, thumbprint — but from what it omits. Unlike documents held by citizens of Myanmar, there is no mention of Siddique’s race or religion.
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To him it is an identity card that erases his identity.
Siddique, 25, is a Rohingya Muslim, a stateless minority of more than 1 million people who live in apartheid-like conditions in the overwhelmingly Buddhist nation of 53 million previously known as Burma.
We took a look at some of the calorie counts from movie-theater popcorn sold at national theater chains, and the results are pretty shocking.
After a half-century of military rule, human rights activists and Myanmar’s international allies hoped that Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi would loosen the restrictions when her civilian government took office a year ago. But she has refused to restore citizenship to the Rohingya or recognize them as an ethnic group — a sign of the army’s enduring influence as well as the deep antipathy that many Myanmar Buddhists, including leaders of Suu Kyi’s own party, feel toward Muslims.
In a limited step, Suu Kyi has adopted a plan to issue the Rohingya ID cards that acknowledge they are residents and start a process to consider their citizenship claims, with no assurances.
But many Rohingya oppose the cards, saying the omission of ethnicity is part of a continuing effort to eradicate any record of their existence here.
“This government doesn’t want to accept us as citizens of Myanmar,” Siddique said at his home in U Yin Thar, a Rohingya village of tidy wooden shacks outside the coastal town of Sittwe. As a downpour lashed the tin roofs, children scurried barefoot through muddy lanes and Siddique’s voice grew faint.
“They just want to kick us out of this country,” he said.
The ID push comes as the United Nations’ Human Rights Council prepares to investigate reports that the Myanmar army indiscriminately killed, raped and abused Rohingya civilians during a crackdown that began last October in northern Rakhine state, 60 miles from Sittwe.
“Trust has been eroded for decades” between the Rohingya and the government, said Matthew Smith, co-founder of Fortify Rights, an advocacy group in Southeast Asia. “It’s lunacy to think that soldiers could commit atrocity crimes with impunity on Monday and have civilians happily cooperate with the [ID] scheme on Tuesday.”
“There is no meaningful difference between the previous and current regimes on this issue,” he said.
Myanmar has long viewed the Rohingya — who share physical, cultural and linguistic similarities with South Asian ethnic groups — as foreigners from neighboring Bangladesh, even though many families have lived here for generations.
In 1982, the army enacted a law that dialed back full citizenship to include only members of 135 “national races” that purportedly existed in Burma before British colonialists invaded in 1824. The Rohingya were not included.
Under the law, the best they could hope for was naturalization and a limited set of rights granted through a verification process that has proved slow and opaque.
“You’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere on the planet that privileges particular ethnicities the way Myanmar does,” said Ronan Lee, a researcher at Australia’s Deakin University who has studied the Rohingya.
In 2014, when the former government introduced the ID cards, it ordered the Rohingya to identify themselves as “Bengali,” a label they oppose. Last year, Suu Kyi relaunched the effort, but tried to skirt the issue of ethnicity by eliminating race and religion from the document.
By early February, officials said they had issued 6,202 cards in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state, home to most of the Rohingya population. Rohingya leaders say many of those were the result of coercion.
Siddique said he was tricked into accepting the card as a condition of his release last month from jail.
He had served 17 months for violating travel restrictions that have been strictly enforced since clashes erupted between Buddhists and Muslims in 2012 and the government confined more than 120,000 Rohingya to swampy displacement camps at the edge of Sittwe.
Unable to work or study freely, thousands have attempted to escape on overcrowded fishing boats bound for Thailand and Malaysia.
In October 2015, Siddique took his chances by slipping into the back of a car headed south toward the city of Yangon, but was quickly intercepted by police and arrested.
The day before he was freed, he was brought to a room where a prison guard took his picture and told him to sign and leave a thumbprint on one side of what Siddique thought was a prisoner release form.
When he folded the card over, his heart fell. “Identity Card for National Verification” was printed in bold letters.
At home, he reluctantly showed his family the document, holding it by the edges, as if it were soiled. Although officials said the card would give him freedom of movement, police at the checkpoint that seals off his village wouldn’t let him leave.
“Why did you take it?” his mother asked.
He told her he had no choice, that guards had kicked him with their boots and called him kalar, a slur for dark-skinned.
“I worry that the card will be used to persecute him,” said his aunt, Zurah Khatu.
Siddique was born in the same village as his father, who once worked for the army. No one in the family has held a job since 2015, when authorities bowed to the demands of Buddhist nationalists and revoked the temporary IDs that had allowed the Rohingya one of their last basic rights: to vote.
Unlike other controversial provisions enacted under military rule — such as blocking Suu Kyi from the presidency because she had a foreign spouse, or reserving one-quarter of parliamentary seats for the military — there is little support in Myanmar for changing the citizenship law. With Buddhist nationalists and extremist monks fanning anti-Muslim sentiment, Suu Kyi has remained largely silent on the Rohingya question.
U Nyan Win, a spokesman for Suu Kyi’s party, said the government supported expanding citizenship criteria — to a point.
“We want to see citizens, not ethnic groups,” he said. “But there is no such ethnic group as the Rohingya in our history.”
Even Suu Kyi’s modest step has triggered protests in Rakhine state among hard-line Buddhists who complain that making Rohingya eligible for citizenship risks “Islamizing” the country — even though it’s more than 90% Buddhist.
“The government should be conscious of the security of the country,” said U Aung Htay, leader of a Buddhist civil society group in Sittwe. He pointed to the deaths of nine police officers in northern Rakhine last October at the hands of alleged Rohingya militants, a series of attacks that prompted the army crackdown.
“If that kind of attack happens again, people will suffer,” he said. “And you can assume the Bengali people are responsible.”
Rohingya say that even if they accepted the new ID, many would have little chance of meeting the law’s onerous requirements for regaining citizenship, including “conclusive evidence” of lineage in Myanmar.
In the Maw Thi Nya displacement camp outside Sittwe, 63-year-old Abdul Shafi held out his battered old citizenship card — nullified by the 1982 law — that he rescued from the 2012 clashes.
Shafi said officials had visited the camp multiple times in recent months to promote the new card, and he worried the government would use their refusal as a pretext to expel Rohingya from the country. As a group of men around him nodded vigorously, he remained defiant.
“We will not take this card,” he said. “Even if they kill us, we will not accept it.”
latimes.com/world/la-fg-myanmar-rohingya-2017-story.html
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Mideast
Iran: Probe into Syria Chemical Attack Brings Another Scandal to US
TEHRAN (FNA)- Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani underlined that the result of investigations by a fact-finding committee on the chemical attack in Syria will bring another disgrace for the US which attacked the country before any probe.
"In case an international fact-finding committee is set up and the realities behind the issue (chemical attack against Idlib) are studied, another scandal will be registered in the US record of international security violations," Shamkhani said in a phone conversation with Director of the Syrian National Security Bureau General Ali Mamlouk on Sunday morning.
He reiterated Tehran's continued support for the Syrian government and people's fight against terrorists, and said the US missile strike against a Syrian airbase in Homs province was an attempt to boost the terrorists' morale.
Shamkhani also underscored that Iran, Russia and Syria are strongly determined to cooperate in the fight against terrorism.
Mamlouk, for his part, appreciated Iran for its supports and aids, and stressed the Syrian government, nation and armed forces' resistance against the terrorist groups and their advocates.
The phone conversation was made one day after Shamkhani and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev exchanged views on Washington's missile attack on Syria.
During the phone conversation on Saturday, Shamkhani underlined the necessity for the formation of a fact-finding committee to clarify the aspects of the suspicious chemical attack in Idlib, and said given the fact that Syria has been disarmed of chemical weapons in the past, the attack has been definitely launched by a third party to create a pretext for military aggression against Syria.
He also warned of impacts of the US aggressive and illegal moves in the region, and said, "Such measures boost the terrorists' morale and disrupt the trend of war on terrorism which is pursued through cooperation among the Russian, Syrian and Iranian governments under the UN supervision."
Yet, Shamkhani underscored that the decisive battle and suppression of terrorist streams will continue through strategic cooperation among Iran, Syria, Russia and the resistance front.
Patrushev, for his part, condemned the US missile strike against Syria as a sovereign state, describing it as an aid to the terrorists and against the international laws.
On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in al-Shayrat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
Russia described the attack as an aggression against a sovereign state. Following the US military action, Russia decided to suspend its memorandum of understanding on air safety over Syria with the United States, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Syrian opposition claimed Tuesday forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had used a chemical gas on people in the Northwestern province, killing nearly 80 and injuring 200. Assad argued his government has no chemical weapons after agreeing to have them destroyed in 2013. He also ruled out having used chemicals against own people.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif strongly condemned the US cruise missile attack on Syria's military base, and said that Washington is backing the terrorist groups in that country and Yemen.
"The US is fighting on the same side of Al-Qaeda and the ISIL terrorist groups in Yemen and Syria," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account on Friday.
He reiterated that as the only recent victim of massive use of chemical weapons (by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein in the 1980s, Iran condemns use of all weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) by anyone against others.
Zarif reiterated that Washington helped Saddam in its chemical weapons attack against Iran, but the US has twice in the current millennium used "bogus" chemical weapons allegations to use military force, including in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the current strikes against Syria.
The top Iranian diplomat added that it is high time to stop “hype and cover-ups”.
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120000626
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228 Iranian Lawmakers Condemn US Missile Strikes on Syria
TEHRAN (FNA)- A majority of Iranian lawmakers in a statement on Sunday condemned the recent US cruise missile attacks on Syria’s Shayrat airbase.
“The illegitimate move of the US was in the direction to support terrorists and boost their morale,” part of the statement read.
It also said that undoubtedly as the UN has also acknowledged all Syrian government chemical weapons have been demolished last year and the US in a move contrary to international law and in the absence of a fact-finding committee made a pretext to support terrorists and prevent victory of the Syrian army.
“We condemn US missile attack against Syria and violation of national sovereignty of an independent state and ask international community to respond it,” the Iranian lawmakers added.
In relevant remarks earlier on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lambasted the countries that have rendered support for the US missile strike against a Syrian airbase in Homs province, warning that they might be the target of a similar illegal attack in future.
"In today's world, how can the US president assume to be entitled to fire missiles from its naval fleet against al-Shayrat airbase in an independent country in the volatile Middle-East region without the UN permission, the UN Security Council's meeting and even the US Congress approval? Who has authorized the US to lead the world," Rouhani said, addressing a ceremony to commemorate the National Nuclear Technology Day in Iran on Sunday.
"Worse than that is the countries, unfortunately in our region, which cheer for the US aggression and sound applaud. (They should be told that) their turn might arrive some time (soon). Why do you hurry? Why do you applaud the oppressor and approve illegality," he added.
Rouhani said that the terrorists who behead people and children and burn them alive in cage were also among those who were pleased by the US attack on Syria.
On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in al-Shayrat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
Russia described the attack as an aggression against a sovereign state. Following the US military action, Russia decided to suspend its memorandum of understanding on air safety over Syria with the United States, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Syrian opposition claimed Tuesday forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had used a chemical gas on people in the Northwestern province, killing nearly 80 and injuring 200. Assad argued his government has no chemical weapons after agreeing to have them destroyed in 2013. He also ruled out having used chemicals against own people.
In his Saturday remarks, Rouhani asked for setting up a fact-finding committee to study the recent chemical attack against Khan Sheikhoun region in Syria's Idlib province.
"The (fact-finding) delegation should be formed without the US presence and heading, and it should study who has supplied the chemical weapons used in Syria, and from where," President Rouhani said, addressing a forum in Tehran.
"Based on the UN announcement, the Syrian government has no chemical weapons, therefore, it should be clarified from where these weapons have been brought," he added.
President Rouhani also condemned the US missile strikes against a Syrian army airbase in Homs province, and said, "The Americans think that they are the world's police and judges and they have made the decision themselves and judged who was the culprit (behind the chemical attack) and then taken action themselves."
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120001439
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Iranian President Blasts Supporters of US Missile Strike on Syria
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Hassan Rouhani lambasted the countries that have rendered support for the US missile strike against a Syrian airbase in Homs province, warning that they might be the target of a similar illegal attack in future.
"In today's world, how can the US president assume to be entitled to fire missiles from its naval fleet against al-Shayrat airbase in an independent country in the volatile Middle-East region without the UN permission, the UN Security Council's meeting and even the US Congress approval? Who has authorized the US to lead the world," Rouhani said, addressing a ceremony to commemorate the National Nuclear Technology Day in Iran on Sunday.
"Worse than that is the countries, unfortunately in our region, which cheer for the US aggression and sound applaud. (They should be told that) their turn might arrive some time (soon). Why do you hurry? Why do you applaud the oppressor and approve illegality," he added.
Rouhani said that the terrorists who behead people and children and burn them alive in cage were also among those who were pleased by the US attack on Syria.
On Thursday night, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at the Syrian military airfield in al-Shayrat, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the city of Homs. US President Donald Trump said the attack was a response to the alleged chemical weapon use in Syria's Idlib on Tuesday, which Washington blames on the Syrian government.
Russia described the attack as an aggression against a sovereign state. Following the US military action, Russia decided to suspend its memorandum of understanding on air safety over Syria with the United States, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Syrian opposition claimed Tuesday forces loyal to President Bashar Assad had used a chemical gas on people in the Northwestern province, killing nearly 80 and injuring 200. Assad argued his government has no chemical weapons after agreeing to have them destroyed in 2013. He also ruled out having used chemicals against own people.
In his Saturday remarks, Rouhani asked for setting up a fact-finding committee to study the recent chemical attack against Khan Sheikhoun region in Syria's Idlib province.
"The (fact-finding) delegation should be formed without the US presence and heading, and it should study who has supplied the chemical weapons used in Syria, and from where," President Rouhani said, addressing a forum in Tehran.
"Based on the UN announcement, the Syrian government has no chemical weapons, therefore, it should be clarified from where these weapons have been brought," he added.
President Rouhani also condemned the US missile strikes against a Syrian army airbase in Homs province, and said, "The Americans think that they are the world's police and judges and they have made the decision themselves and judged who was the culprit (behind the chemical attack) and then taken action themselves."
en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13960120000795
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Turkish President Erdogan holds giant rally week ahead of referendum
AFP | Apr 8, 2017
ISTANBUL: Tens of thousands packed one of Istanbul's biggest public spaces Saturday as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hosted a giant rally seeking votes in next week's referendum on enhancing his powers.
Lambasting Turkey's enemies and taking pot shots at his opponents, Erdogan said a 'Yes' vote in the April 16 referendum would give the country more stability and power.
"On April 16, do you want to say 'Yes' to a strong Turkey?" Erdogan asked the crowd, who waved a sea of red and white crescent moon Turkish flags.
"Do you want a great Turkey? Do you want to say 'Yes' to stability? Will you be there Istanbul?" he added, as the crowd roared back 'Yes!".
Erdogan arrived by helicopter to cheers at the vast open ground in Istanbul's Yenikapi district, on the shores of the Sea of Marmara.
It was here last August that he held a mass rally calling for national solidarity in the wake of the failed July coup blamed on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, and Erdogan clearly wanted to capture the spirit of that day.
Erdogan said the likes of Gulen, who denies being behind the coup, and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) wanted to see a 'No' vote.
And he charged that 'No' voters were also against his bid to transform Turkey through modern infrastructure projects such as bridges and tunnels.
"They said 'No' to the bridges. They say 'No' to a modern Turkey," he roared, prowling around a walkway that extended from the stage like at a rock concert.
Analysts see the referendum as tightly contested, despite the domination of the 'Yes' campaign in the media.
If approved, the new system will see the scrapping of the post of prime minister, the creation of vice presidents and the empowering of the president to appoint ministers.
The changes will also allow the president to be affiliated with a party, allowing Erdogan to restore his ties with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) that he co-founded and helped sweep to power in 2002.
Supporters say the new system will create an efficient US-style structure but critics argue the lack of checks-and-balances risks handing Erdogan one-man rule.
Wearing headbands with "Tayyip Erdogan - commander in chief" written on them and some even sporting Erdogan face masks, supporters said giving the president greater powers was essential to Turkey's development.
"We want Turkey to grow, we want Recep Tayyip Erdogan to remain our leader. Without him Turkey is not herself," said 'Yes' supporter Nahil Unal.
Erdogan also prompted boos by mentioning his opponent, the leader of the secular Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who claimed this week that the failed putsch was a "controlled coup" which the government knew about in advance.
Analysts say that the outcome in Turkey's largest city Istanbul -- whose diversity is fairly representative of the hugely complex country -- will be critical to the result of the referendum.
The 'No' campaign suffers from a lack of a clear figurehead and vastly fewer resources but is hoping to rally substantial numbers of secularists, Kurds and nationalists to its cause.
On the other Asian side of the city across the Bosphorus, the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) held a rally pushing a 'No' vote.
Both the party's co-leaders are jailed on charges of backing the PKK, which the party argues is punishment for daring to oppose the presidential system.
Senior HDP lawmaker Sirri Sureyya Onder told the rally: "In this referendum our co-leaders, our MPs, our youth, our friends are facing the greatest oppression in our history."
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/turkish-president-erdogan-holds-giant-rally-week-ahead-of-referendum/articleshow/58086680.cms
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Israeli Authorities Issue Orders Preventing 15 Palestinian From Entering Al-Aqsa Mosque
April 9, 2017
The Israeli authorities issued, Sunday, orders against fifteen Palestinians from occupied East Jerusalem, denying them entry into the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and its courtyards, for periods varying between 15 days and six months.
The Palestinians were detained during several previous Israeli military invasions and searches of homes, in different parts of Jerusalem, mainly in the Old city.
They were all released last night, and at dawn Sunday, after the orders were issued against them, denying them access to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
The orders are similar to ones taken by Israel last week, denying many Palestinians, including Aqsa Mosque workers, access to the holy site, and its courtyards.
Furthermore, Israel closed occupied Jerusalem to all Palestinians from the West Bank, starting from today until April 17th, while it celebrates the Jewish Pesach.
Also on Sunday at dawn, the soldiers invaded and searched many homes in Jerusalem, and abducted at least seventeen Palestinians.
In related news, several Israeli military jeeps invaded Doha town, west of Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, and abducted a Palestinian child.
imemc.org/article/israeli-authorities-issue-orders-preventing-15-palestinian-from-entering-al-aqsa-mosque/
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Positive outlook for Islamic REITs in the region
April 9, 2017
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have been in existence for more than 50 years, ever since US President Eisenhower activated the REIT Act title in the Cigar Excise Tax Extension in 1960. These products fundamentally seek to provide investors with exposure to real estate at very low minimum investment amounts. REITs are essentially income-generating structures that either own real estate properties (Equity REITs), have financing exposures to real estate properties (Mortgage REITs) or operate under a combination of both (Hybrid REITs). REITs usually receive significant tax benefits that are unavailable to regular companies, but one of the major requirements to qualify as a REIT is to distribute at least 90 per cent of the taxable income annually to shareholders as dividends.
The US REIT market has witnessed significant growth and as of the end of 2015, the FTSE NAREIT All REITs index had a market capitalisation of $939 billion (Dh3.4 trillion), with equity REITs comprising 94.4 per cent of the index. Since the economic crisis of 2008, the market capitalisation of the FTSE NAREIT All Equity REITs has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 26 per cent, from $176 billion to $886 billion. Despite the lower demand for real estate during the crisis, this growth in REITs is not surprising. The reasons for this are mainly that they provide attractive risk-return profiles when using returns data over the past 20 years (as shown below) and that REITs have historically generated higher dividend yields when compared to the 10-year constant maturity US treasury yield. In addition, REITs have been regarded as having a relatively low correlation with other instruments, such as stocks, although recent trends suggest that these correlations are increasing; albeit still imperfectly.
Regulatory guidelines
With the continuous growth of Islamic banking in the GCC and the significant interest of investors in the region’s real estate market, products such as Islamic REITs (I-REITs) have started to emerge. While Malaysia has been the pioneer of I-REITs, as it was the first country to issue regulatory guidelines in 2005, several GCC countries, such as Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, have subsequently issued REIT regulations. As a result, Al Mahrab Tower REIT became the first private I-REIT in Kuwait in 2007. Following that, Dubai launched its first I-REIT (Emirates REIT) in 2010 and Bahrain listed its first public I-REIT (Eskan REIT) in 2017. Emirates NBD has also recently listed “ENBD REIT” and due to strong demand the offer was oversubscribed. Even though the I-REIT industry is still in its infancy, there are strong signals that indicate a rising demand for these products, such as the oversubscribed listing of Al-Salam I-REIT by Johor Corp Bhd in 2015. Firms responded to this growing demand, including IdealRatings, which launched its first Sharia-compliant REIT index in 2015. This comprised of approximately 45 REITs that comply with Sharia principles across different sectors and countries in Asia.
A study performed by Case and Wachter in 2011 calculated that REITs provided an inflation hedge in portfolios 66% of the time, using six-month investment periods. This ranked second, after commodities, which provided a hedge 70% of the time. As oil prices remain low with the S&P revising oil forecasts until 2018, down to $40-50 per barrel, oil-producing tax-free governments such as the GCC countries will earn lower oil revenues. As a result, they may resort to the reduction/removal of subsidies, in addition to the implementation of taxation — such as VAT or some form of corporate fees — as a means to cover the shortfall in government revenues. Such actions may naturally lead to higher inflation levels in the GCC over the next few years, which is expected to increase the local demand for products that provide strong hedges against inflation, such as I-REITs.
International demand
Having said that, it is not only local demand that is expected to drive the growth of I-REITs in the GCC, but rather a combination of local and increased international demand in the region’s real estate. Studies have found that including international real estate, rather than just local real estate, in a portfolio reduces portfolio risk from 5-10 per cent to 10-20 per cent. JLL’s 2014 MENA Investor Sentiment Survey showed that the UAE’s residential real estate market has the highest demand among regional investors. However, it also indicated that the Saudi Arabian residential sector has the highest potential for future growth and, therefore, the region is expected to witness an increase in international demand for its real estate.
While the future of I-REITs may seem positive, there are many challenges that lie ahead which I-REIT asset management firms should address. In addition to building campaigns that increase investor awareness for I-REITs, it is important for asset management firms to devise efficient and logical I-REIT investment methodologies. This needs to be supplemented by sound ethical principles in order to increase trust in these products and ensure the sustainable growth of I-REITs in the region.
Hamed Yousef Mashal, CFA, Member of CFA Society Bahrain
gulfnews.com/business/sectors/banking/positive-outlook-for-islamic-reits-in-the-region-1.2008204
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Fresh Gaza protests after Palestinian pay cut
April 9th, 2017
GAZA CITY: Fresh protests against civil service pay cuts broke out in Gaza on Saturday, as pressure builds on Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas to tackle the crisis.
The decision this week by the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority to slash the salaries of civil servants in the Gaza Strip has sparked days of protests.
Tens of thousands took to a square in central Gaza City on Saturday in the largest protest since the 30-per cent cut was announced, with demonstrators calling on PA leader Abbas to sack his government.
A handful of protesters announced they would begin a hunger strike, a spokesman said.
Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs Gaza, has been at loggerheads with Abbas’s Fatah party since the former seized the Strip in a near civil war in 2007.
Fatah runs the West Bank, the other part of the Palestinian territories separated from Gaza by Israeli territory.
After Hamas seized power, around 70,000 PA employees in Gaza lost their posts but they were kept on its payroll nevertheless.
Hamas set up its own parallel administration with 50,000 staff, whose salaries the PA refuses to pay.
The Fatah-run PA announced the pay cuts earlier this week, saying they were necessary because its budget has been hit by falling foreign aid.
In 2014, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a unity government that was meant to resolve their dispute but it has remained stillborn, with no real control in either territory.
Local elections set for May have also been suspended in the Gaza Strip after infighting between Fatah and Hamas, though they are expected to take place in the West Bank.
UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov said he was “deeply concerned by the growing tensions in Gaza.” Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2017
dawn.com/news/1325802/fresh-gaza-protests-after-palestinian-pay-cut
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North America
The Newly Launched #IslamophobiaisRacism Syllabus Is an Extremely Useful Primer for Teaching and Learning about Anti-Muslim Discrimination
Inspired by similar projects created for other contemporary social justice movements, such as Black Lives Matter and the Standing Rock protests, a group of academics have put together an open-source syllabus on the long-standing and ongoing problem of anti-Muslim discrimination in America. The primary purpose of the #IslamophobiaisRacism syllabus, is to “reframe ‘Islamophobia’ as ‘anti-Muslim racism’ to more accurately reflect the intersection of race and religion as a reality of structural inequality and violence rooted in the longer history of US (and European) empire building.” The widespread use of the term “Islamophobia,” according to the syllabus’s creators, “frames these forms of discrimination and their roots solely as a problem of religious discrimination. Calling this a ‘phobia’ suggests that this discrimination is solely a problem of individual bias, which obscures the structural and systemic production of anti-Muslim racism.”
The compilers of this resource all work broadly within Islamic Studies, but come to the topic from a wide variety of angles. As a result, the #IslamophobiaisRacism syllabus covers an impressive array of subjects. The five main sections of the syllabus cover race, empire, and Islam; the production and reproduction of anti-Muslim racism; the impact of anti-Muslim racism; policing, security, surveillance, and anti-Muslim racism; and resisting anti-Muslim racism. The materials provided in each of these sections, to say nothing of the breadth of the topics themselves, are enough to fill an entire semester course.
The diverse backgrounds, both academic and otherwise, of the people behind the syllabus is also reflected in the variety of sources and formats included in it. The syllabus’s recommended readings range from traditional academic journal articles to Huffington Post pieces. The visual media in the syllabus is even more varied, including everything from the classic film The Battle of Algiers, to video clips of the National Poetry Slam Finals to rapper Mos Def demonstrating how Guantanamo Bay prisoners were force fed.
Even well-meaning non-Muslims can fail to grasp how deeply racialized Islam is in America, and how institutional structures create and perpetuate anti-Muslim discrimination. The #IslamophobiaisRacism syllabus is a crucial resource for anyone- professors, students, and activists alike- looking to dismantle the anti-Muslim culture poisoning American society.
muftah.org/newly-launched-islamophobiaisracism-syllabus-extremely-useful-primer-teaching-learning-anti-muslim-discrimination/#.WOoryEWGN1t
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US readying more sanctions against Syria
PTI | Apr 8, 2017, 11.56 AM IST
WASHINGTON/PALM BEACH: The US will soon impose more sanctions on Syria in response to a chemical attack blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's regime after an "overwhelming" successful military operation, the Trump administration officials said on Saturday.
"We will be announcing additional sanctions on Syria as part of our ongoing effort to stop this type of activity and emphasise how significant we view this," Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said from President Donald Trump's golf resort in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
"We expect that those will continue to have an important effect on preventing people from doing business with them," Mnuchin said in response to a question.
The Treasury Department has very important functions in terms of sanctions and other financial intelligence functions, he said.
The US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the missile strike took out 20 per cent of the Syrian air force.
"In terms of the strikes themselves, it's my understanding that they took out something like 20 per cent of the entire Syrian air force. So it was huge not just in terms of number of planes but relative to the scale of their air force," Ross said.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claimed that the military operation launched on Friday was a success.
"It was an overwhelming success. I think the performance our military and the expertise and the power of what the U.S. military is able to execute on a fairly short planning window was extraordinary," Tillerson told reporters.
Tillerson also acknowledged that the missile strike could not damage the Syrian runways.
"The runways were not the target due to the nature of the construction of those runways. Our military estimate was that we could not do serious damage to the runways," he said.
"They are very thick and they're constructed in a way that the ordnance that were used, while the damage would have been easily repaired in a matter of hours. So the targeting was selected very deliberately to render the airbase essentially inoperable as an operating base, and that means taking out all the infrastructure, the fuelling capability, all the support infrastructure, hangars," he said.
"So the fact that planes may be landing in and out of there, they're not refuelling and they're not able to certainly initiate any activity from that airfield today," he said.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/us-readying-more-sanctions-against-syria/articleshow/58078385.cms
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'Osama's head had to be put together for identification'
PTI | Updated: Apr 9, 2017
An ex-Navy SEAL revealed that Osama's head was so severely destroyed that it had to be pressed back together for identification.
In his book, Robert O'Neill lays out the details of what went down that night inside the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Reuters file photo of Osama bin Laden.Reuters file photo of Osama bin Laden.
NEW YORK: An ex-Navy SEAL, who claims to have killed Osama bin Laden, has revealed that the al-Qaeda chief's head was so severely destroyed by his gunfire that it had to be pressed back together for identification.
Ex-Navy SEAL team shooter Robert O'Neill has reasserted his claim that he alone pumped three bullets into Osama, killing the architect of the 9/11 attacks, in a new book.
In 'The Operator: Firing the Shots that Killed Bin Laden', the former Navy SEAL Team 6 shooter lays out the details of what went down that night inside the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the New York Daily News reported.
While controversy still swirls around O'Neill's version of the May 2, 2011, raid, much of it centers on his breaking the Special Ops code of silence.
O'Neill, in his book, makes the gruesome claim that Osama's head was so severely destroyed by his gunfire that it had to be pressed back together for identification photographs.
In O'Neill's version, he was trailing five or six other SEALs climbing the stairs to the compound's second floor when Osama's son Khalid appeared on the half-landing with an AK-47.
The agents were able to lure Khalid from where he was hiding behind a banister by calling to him in Arabic, saying: 'Khalid, come here.'
He shouted in response: 'What?' and emerged from his hiding spot, and was immediately shot in the face, the report said.
Once upstairs, the men spread out to search the rooms. In the compound with Osama were three of his four wives and 17 children.
O'Neill kept his hand on the point man's shoulder. The two were alone on the stairway, convinced that whoever was on the third floor was strapping on a suicide vest for an explosive last stand.
O'Neill recounts that finally he decided to take action. He squeezed the point man's shoulder, the signal to charge and then burst past the curtain.
The point man tackled two screaming women to the floor.
Bin Laden stood near the bed, his hands on the shoulders of the woman in front of him. She was later identified as Amal, the youngest of his four wives, the report said.
"In less than a second, I aimed above the woman's right shoulder and pulled the trigger twice," O'Neill writes.
"Bin Laden's head split open, and he dropped. I put another bullet in his head. Insurance," he writes.
According to O'Neill, the other members of the team rushed into the room only after he placed a 2-year-old boy found covering in a corner alongside Osama's widow on the bed.
A harrowing 90-minute flight returned the squadron to camp in Afghanistan.
O'Neill's book comes five years after "No Easy Day," fellow SEAL Mark Bissonnette's account of the operation.
He agreed to surrender the $6.8 million in proceeds from the book for his use of classified information and violation of a non-disclosure deal.
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/osamas-head-had-to-be-put-together-for-identification/articleshow/58094390.cms
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Qatari man launches new Islamic art initiative in New York
A Qatari man hoping to promote cross-cultural understanding and debunk myths about Muslims is launching a new Islamic art museum in downtown New York next month.
Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani told Doha News that he hopes the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA) will “challenge stereotypes and grant artist, curators and writers from the region an opportunity to engage with a broader audience.”
The institute will present three to four temporary exhibitions a year.
They will feature artists from the Arab and Islamic world, with the aim of “enabling them to join a broader global conversation,” the IAIA’s website states.
Its first exhibition will go live on May 3 and involve Islamic architecture and geometry, Al Thani told Doha News.
“Though there are foundations in the US that engage in Arab and Islamic Art, the narratives presented and the exhibitions curated by these foundations are not quite reflective of our societies and cultures,” he added.
A graduate of Georgetown University in Qatar’s School of Foreign Service, Al Thani has worked for the UN and Qatar Foundation.
Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Al-Thani, founder of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA)
He is currently writing a dissertation on Cezane and the advent of Fauvism and Cubism.
The IAIA is a non-profit organization funded by several donors from around the world, but does not have ties to governments, Al Thani said.
Five Qataris, including Mohammed Al Rabban, Sheikh Nasser Al-Thani, Sheikh Rashid Al-Thani, Safiya Al-Ghaith and Sheikha Sharifa Al-Qubaisi, are listed on the museum’s website as its founding benefactors.
Program
In addition to exhibitions, the institute also plans to launch a residency program. This will be for artists, critics and curators who are interested in engaging with a New York audience.
Residents will be provided housing and workspace, as well as learn about different artistic movements that originated in New York. They will also present work and projects at the IAIA.
Another goal of the institute is to increase knowledge of Islamic civilization and history.
It plans to do this by engaging writers and scholars in translations and publications, the museum’s website states.
Finally, the IAIA is planning to host an outreach program with schools and universities through collaborations with Arab cultural center across the US, Al Thani said.
Thoughts?
dohanews.co/qatari-man-launches-new-islamic-art-initiative-in-new-york/
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