ISIL Beheading Runaway UAE Soldiers in Yemen's Maarib
New Age Islam News Bureau
9
Sept 2015
Children: The youngsters, known as 'cubs of the caliphate', are taught how to become terrorists (stock photo)
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Mideast
• ISIL Beheading Runaway UAE Soldiers in Yemen's Maarib
• Yemen: Dozens Killed in Saudi Air Raids
• 2 PJAK Terrorists Killed, 5 Arrested in Border Clashes in Western Iran
• Turkey deploys troops into Iraq to hunt down PKK rebels
• Israel reassessing Syrian fallout amidst Russian military build-up
• U.S. puts three Hamas leaders on terror blacklist
• Saudi Soldiers Killed in Yemeni Retaliatory Attacks
• Yemeni Troops Target Saudi Forces in Ma’rib
• Emiratis Stage Protest against UAE Military Deployment in Yemen
• Israel is only true defence Europe has against radical Islam, Netanyahu says
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Arab World
• 45 Kyrgyz Nationals Slain In Fighting For Daesh in Iraq, Syria
• Toll from Egypt Army's Anti-Daesh Operation Reaches 56
• ISIS Kidnaps 127 Children in Mosul Intending To Turn Them Into Blood-Thirsty Killers
• Syrian Kurds Recruit More Arabs to Fight ISIL
• Syrian Army, Hezbollah Tightening Noose on Militants in Zabadani Region
• Baghdad gunmen kidnap Iraq’s deputy justice minister
• Iraq’s deputy justice minister kidnapped in Baghdad
• Nusra Front in Syria takes last army base in Idlib
• Amnesty urges ‘drastic change’ to EU refugee policy
• France carries out first surveillance flights over Syria
• Saudi to treat UAE, Bahraini soldiers killed in Yemen as citizens
• Syrian Information Minister: No Russian Troops in Syria
• Flights diverted as sandstorm-hit Jeddah gropes in the dark
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Europe
• Jihadi John Tops ‘Kill List’ Of British ISIS Fighters: Report
• France Says Taking All Refugees Would Be Victory for ISIS
• Cyprus joins list of EU states with preference for non-Muslim refugees
• Another Imam Shot Dead in Russia's North Caucasus
• Migrant crisis adds to Europe’s anxiety about Islam
• How a handful of people came together to form Regina's Muslim community
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India
• Over 1,000 Indian Muslim Clerics Back Fatwa against ISIS
• All India Muslim Personal Law Board Plans Campaign to Oppose ‘Hinduisation’
• Meat Ban In Mumbai For Eight Days: Does India Want To Be A Saudi Arabia?
• Pakistan accuses India of reverse infiltration; charge may mar DG talks
• Yemen air strike: 13 out of 20 Indian crew members safe, 7 missing, MEA says
• Give Hindu Immigrants Citizenship, Muslim Ones Can Slog: Assam Guv
• Non-Muslim immigrants should be given citizenship: Assam Governor
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South Asia
• Taliban Leader Mullah Mansoor Dadullah Joined ISIS, the Terror Group Claims
• Sayyaf Declare Jihad against Taliban, Regrets for Not Killing Mullah Omar at First
• Two soldiers martyred in landmine explosion in Kalakan District of Kabul
• US officials to investigate air strike in southern Afghanistan
• Taliban eyed full control of Afghanistan by 2014-end: Abdullah
• To help climate migrants, Bangladesh takes back land from the sea
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Africa
• Instead Of Islamic Books, We Usually Find Condoms, Sex Drugs in Boko Haram Camps — Nigerian Army
• Islamists Retake Somali Towns As Kenya Shakes Up Anti-Shabab Security
• US warns of possible terrorist attack in South Africa
• Nigerian army arrests several Boko Haram suppliers
• Nigeria imposes horse ban to stop Boko Haram attacks
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Pakistan
• Senior Journalist Loses Life in Karachi Gun Attack
• Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal 'Not Against Anyone': PM Nawaz
• Tahir-ul-Qadri: From preacher to politico and back again
• Pakistan to give ‘befitting response’ in case of aggression: Aziz
• Resistance to police action is terrorism, senators told
• Pakistan Rangers delegation leaves for talks with India's BSF
• Seven RAW and Afghan intelligence agency-linked terrorists arrested in Dalbandin
• Marian feast as popular with Muslims as with Catholics
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Southeast Asia
• Christians Call on Indonesia’s President to Combat Islamic Extremism
• Why not tackle picture-stomping the Islamic way, asks Art
• China, Muslim countries reach tourism deals
• Indonesia to Host “Islam, Mercy for the World” Int’l Conference
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North America
• Americans Still Pay Dearly for George W. Bush’s Crusade against Islam
• Proposed mosque in Detroit suburb draws sharp opposition
• US Pastor Helping Muslim Syrian Expats Care for Refugees in Turkey Says Many Feel Hopeless
• Obama may not need veto to save Iran nuclear deal
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Mideast
ISIL Beheading Runaway UAE Soldiers in Yemen's Maarib
Sep 08, 2015
"ISIL militants in coordination with the Saudi intelligence beheaded UAE soldiers after abducting tens of Emirati military men who had fled the war in Maarib province," a Yemeni security source told FNA on Tuesday.
He said the ISIL also kidnapped tens of runaway Emirati troops in Hadhramaut region, "but - unlike those abducted in Maarib - gave them an option to choose between returning to war or being decapitated".
The source pointed to Saudi Arabia's role in orchestrating ISIL's abduction of Emirati troops, and said, "The Saudi intelligence directors run and supervise these abduction operations."
On Monday, the Yemeni forces killed a sum of 300 foreign troops in a Friday attack on al-Safer military base in Eastern Yemen.
"The death toll of the UAE, Saudi and Bahraini officers and soldiers killed in Friday's arms depot blast at a military base in al-Safer in Ma'arib province stood at 300," Yemeni security sources declared on Monday.
The revolutionary forces in Yemen said they fired a rocket at a weapons cache in a camp used by "the Saudi-led aggressors" in Ma'arib area.
The sources noted that large death toll among the foreign troops was the result of the ballistic missiles blast caused by the Yemeni missile attack.
The Saudi-led coalition troops have admitted losing some 85 troops in the attack.
Earlier today, A large number of Emirati people held rallies across the UAE on Tuesday to shout protest against the country's military operation in Yemen, urging Abu Dhabi to bring the military forces back home after they sustained tens of casualties in a Friday attack in Maarib.
The Emirati protesters called on the UAE government to bring back home the troops before it becomes too late.
The UAE protests, which faced severe censorship in Abu Dhabi and western media outlets, condemned the UAE's aggression against the Yemeni civilians, mostly children and women.
They called on Abu Dhabi to take immediate action to pave the way for the return of the UAE soldiers after the country's army lost more than 65 soldiers in the Yemeni forces' attack on Al-Safer military base in Maarib.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940617001556
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Yemen: Dozens Killed in Saudi Air Raids
Sep 09, 2015
On Tuesday, the Saudi airstrikes targeted several areas in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, including a police academy and the security services headquarters, killing at least 10 people.
Witnesses said many people were wounded during the attacks, most of them by flying glass when the blasts shattered windows.
An earlier attack hit several houses in the capital, including those of the senior members of the Houthi Ansarullah movement, leaving at least two children dead and three women injured.
Yemen’s Saba news agency put the death toll from the Tuesday attacks at 15, saying at least 77 were injured in the raids.
Meanwhile, more than 20 Yemenis were killed in Saudi air raids on the town of Beihan in the province of Shabwah.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 168 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 5,788 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries of the Houthi movement.
Despite Riyadh’s claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi warplanes are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940618000459
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2 PJAK Terrorists Killed, 5 Arrested in Border Clashes in Western Iran
Sep 08, 2015
The clashes erupted at Khoy border region in West Azarbaijan province.
No further detail has been released, but reports said the IRGC killed two PJAK terrorists and arrested five others, while two of its members were also killed in the clashes.
In another event late August, the IRGC forces in West of Iran destroyed an anti-revolutionary cell.
The officials at IRGC's regional Najaf Ashraf headquarters announced that the positions of the "arrogant powers' hirelings and anti-revolutionary elements" in Western Iran were destroyed.
During the operations, a number of anti-revolutionary forces were killed and injured and a considerable amount of their weapons and ammunition were seized.
Also one of the IRGC forces named Seyed Abdolhamid Hosseini was martyred in the operations.
Also in April, the IRGC disbanded a terrorist cell in the Southeastern Sistan and Balouchestan province, killing all its members.
"On Monday morning, a terrorist group affiliated to the foreign spy agencies was disbanded in Qasr-e Qand and Nikshahr regions in Southeastern Iran with the decisive action of the forces deployed at the IRGC Ground Force base in the region, and all its (the terrorist group's) members were killed," the public relations department of the IRGC Ground Force's Quds base said in a statement on April 6.
The statement added that the operations were carried out after a series of reconnaissance and chase operations in recent days during which a large cache of weapons, munitions and communication tools were also discovered and seized by the IRGC forces.
In a relevant development in January, Iranian police forces disbanded a terrorist network in Sistan and Balouchestan province.
"After a number of sabotage operations in the Southern part of Sistan and Balouchestan province, 18 members of a terrorist grouplet were arrested in Eastern Iran as a result of three months of round-the-clock efforts by the police forces and the good cooperation of the people in the province," Commander of the Law Enforcement Police in Sistan and Balouchestan Hossein Rahimi told reporters.
Elaborating on the police operations which led to the capture of the terrorists, he said at first two members of the terrorist group were apprehended and their confessions led to the capture of the other members of the group.
"They confessed that they had conducted different operations against the people and the police and received money from a person an Arab state," Rahimi said.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940617000346
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Turkey deploys troops into Iraq to hunt down PKK rebels
Sep 09 2015
ANKARA: Turkey deployed ground forces across the border into northern Iraq on Tuesday for the first time since 2011, stepping up its battle against Kurdish rebels who have stung the Turkish military with a string of attacks in recent weeks.
The move, however, could frustrate the US-led alliance’s efforts against the self-styled Islamic State because Turkey is now hunting down the very fighters who are trying to hold back the militant group from taking more territory in Syria and Iraq.
Turkish authorities haven’t given a specific timeframe for the operation in northern Iraq, although one official said it was a “short-term” offensive to root out rebels. Turkish jets also carried out more air strikes against rebel camps in the region.
The cross border operations came amid a wave of attacks by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, that killed at least 31 soldiers and police since Sunday.
Turkey, a Nato ally, signed up for a more active participation in the US-led coalition, after a deadly suicide bombing in July blamed on IS. It has allowed US warplanes and drones to take off for missions against IS in Syria and its jets have struck IS targets near its border, in Syria. But the country’s main focus has been its fight against the PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency for Kurdish autonomy.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said in comments reported by the Turkish media that IS is a lesser threat to Turkey than the PKK.
Turkey’s ground and aerial incursions against the PKK pose a predicament for the US-led coalition. The Kurds are doing much of the fighting against IS across the border in Syria and in northern Iraq. The PKK, which maintains bases in northern Iraq, has fought alongside Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga forces, notably in Shingal, a predominantly Kurdish town which was taken by IS during last year’s blitz.
“Turkey could not have helped Daesh more if it had tried,” said Nazmi Gur, a former legislator who is in charge of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish party’s foreign relations, in reference to Tuesday’s ground incursion in pursuit of the PKK. He was using an alternative acronym for IS.
Critics accuse Erdogan of re-igniting the fighting with the Kurds, after more than two years of peace efforts, for electoral gains. Opponents say he aims to rally nationalist votes around the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and discredit a pro-Kurdish party whose electoral gains in an election in June deprived the AKP which he co-founded of its parliamentary majority.
Erdogan denies the accusation. However, the Turkish leader has also suggested that strong single-party rule after a new election called for Nov. 1 would help end the turmoil.
The Turkish troops crossed the border as part of a “hot pursuit” of the PKK rebels, who were involved in a roadside bomb attack that killed 16 soldiers on Sunday, the government official said.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2015
http://www.dawn.com/news/1205765/turkey-deploys-troops-into-iraq-to-hunt-down-pkk-rebels
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Israel reassessing Syrian fallout amidst Russian military build-up
September 08, 2015
Herzliya: Indications of increased Russian involvement in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad are prompting a reassessment in Israel about how to handle fall-out from the conflict without risking a clash with Moscow.
Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Israel has occasionally fired across the Golan Heights in response to spillover shelling or bombed advanced arms it suspected were to be transferred to Assad's Lebanese guerrilla allies, Hezbollah.
U.S. and regional reports that Moscow's diplomatic and logistical support for Assad is shifting into major military backing has raised the prospect of Israel and Russia accidentally coming to blows.
"There could be ramifications for us, certainly," Ram Ben-Barak, director-general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry, told Reuters when asked if Russian intervention in Syria might necessitate new Israeli rules of engagement.
He was speaking at a security conference organised by the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, where Russian policy in Syria was described both as an effort to shore up Assad and mobilise with other world powers in suppressing Islamic State insurgents.
"We have been informed that the Russians are entering into active intervention, the Americans are attacking ... The West and now, in fact, the Russians and the whole world are trying to unite against them (Islamic State)," Amos Gilad, senior adviser to Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, said in a speech.
In separate remarks to Reuters, Gilad said it was too early to know how extensive Moscow's military involvement in Syria would be and whether it might clip Israel's wings operationally.
"I don't know, because the scale is not yet clear. They haven't started working. They are just building up the capability," Gilad said of the Russian activity.
Asked if Israel was communicating with Russia in a bid to head off any unintended confrontations between their forces, he said only: "There are ways. They are not our enemies today."
In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she had no information about any communication between Israel and Russia.
"LOOKING ANEW"
Israel has sought to stay out of the Syrian civil war, seeing enemies on all sides. It says it intervenes militarily only when fired upon from Syria or to prevent Hezbollah operatives reinforcing Assad there from gaining advanced weapons that could pose a threat to it from Lebanon in the future.
Past Israeli strikes in Syria killed Syrian troops as well as Hezbollah fighters, according to both countries and the guerrilla group - though the exact number remains unclear.
In recent days, Moscow has reaffirmed its military backing for Damascus but said it was premature to talk about Russian participation in military operations in Syria.
U.S. authorities have detected "worrisome preparatory steps", including transport of prefabricated houses for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield, that could signal Russia is readying for deployment of heavy military assets, a senior U.S. official told Reuters last week.
Syria has not formally responded to the reports. But one of its military officials has spoken of a "big shift" in Russia's military support for Damascus.
Amos Yadlin, an Israeli air force ex-general and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's former military intelligence chief, said Israel and Russia were unlikely to find themselves pitted against each other in Syria as they had different areas of interest.
"I don't think there is any reason for the sides to collide, as we are not fighting the same enemy. I assume that we will be very careful, and so will they," said Yadlin, now director of Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies.
He predicted Russian forces would avoid the Golan, near Israel's northern front, and Israel would think twice about carrying out air strikes where Russians might be harmed.
"My assumption is that we don't attack any site on the ground in Syria unless we have an excellent picture of who is or isn't there," Yadlin said.
A senior U.S. official briefed on Israel's actions in Syria shared Yadlin's assessment, but cautioned: "Nothing is fool-proof, so I can anticipate the Israelis will be looking anew at their risk-assessments now."
Syria's ageing air force is largely Soviet-supplied, posing a possible scenario where similar models of jets and choppers could be flown by local and Russian pilots.
Sam Gardiner, a retired U.S. air force colonel who runs wargames for various Washington agencies, said Israel would likely be able to spot Russian-operated aircraft in good time.
"Russian aircraft would probably have a different 'signature' - even if they're the same airplane they wouldn't be equipped with the same electronics," he said, theorising that the Israelis would know which Syrian airbases were being used by Russia and be able to trace Russian-language radio communications to the jets or helicopters they came from.
http://nation.com.pk/international/08-Sep-2015/israel-reassessing-syrian-fallout-amidst-russian-military-build-up
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U.S. puts three Hamas leaders on terror blacklist
8 September 2015
The United States on Tuesday put three senior members of the Palestinian movement Hamas, including two freed by Israel in exchange for captive soldier Gilad Shalit, on its terror blacklist.
The State Department said Hamas operatives Yehia Sinwar and Rawhi Mushtaha along with military commander Mohammad Deif had been named “specially designated global terrorists” under U.S. law.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/08/U-S-puts-three-Hamas-leaders-on-terror-blacklist.html
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Saudi Soldiers Killed in Yemeni Retaliatory Attacks
Sep 09, 2015
On Tuesday, the Yemeni forces fired a barrage of rackets at a Saudi border guard headquarters in Dhahran al Janub.
No reports of possible casualties and the extent of damage inflicted were immediately available.
The Yemeni forces also targeted Saudi Arabia's Khojrah military site in the Saudi Jizan border region, leaving a number of Saudi soldiers killed and wounded.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 168 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 5,788 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940618000380
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Yemeni Troops Target Saudi Forces in Ma’rib
Sep 09, 2015
The Yemeni forces fired Katyusha rockets at the Saudi forces in the area of Sahn al-Jin in Ma’rib, 250 kilometers (150 miles) East of the capital, Sana'a.
A number of Saudi military vehicles were destroyed and some other items of military equipment were damaged in the attacks.
The Yemeni forces also fired rockets at a number of Saudi military bases in the Southwest of the Persian Gulf kingdom.
Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen for 168 days now to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 5,788 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940618000788
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Emiratis Stage Protest against UAE Military Deployment in Yemen
Sep 08, 2015
The Emirati protesters called on the UAE government to bring back home the troops before it becomes too late.
The UAE protests, which faced severe censorship in Abu Dhabi and western media outlets, condemned the UAE's aggression against the Yemeni civilians, mostly children and women.
They called on Abu Dhabi to take immediate action to pave the way for the return of the UAE soldiers after the country's army lost more than 65 soldiers in the Yemeni forces' attack on Al-Safer military base in Maarib.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940617001504
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Israel is only true defence Europe has against radical Islam, Netanyahu says
September 9, 2015
Prime Minister Benjamin Neanyahu on Wedneday called on the European Union to "cease pressuring and attacking Israel...which is the only true defense that Europe has against the rising tide of radical Islam."
The premier made the remarks as he was boarding his flight to the United Kingdom, where he is due to meet with his counterpart, David Cameron, at 10 Downing Street in London.
"We are ready to act together with Europe in Africa and other places to fight extremist Islam, but this requires a change in attitude," Netanyahu said. "This change will take time, but we will put it into practice."
Netanyahu said that this issue will be "the focus" of his discussions with Cameron.
"We need to fight radical Islam not just within our borders, as we have been doing, but also within our territories," he said. "Once I return to Israel, I will hold an additional wrap-up meeting that will deal with reinforcing our security presence, bolstering enforcement of laws, instituting minimum penalties, destroying the homes of suicide bombers, and other steps that we are determined to carry out against anyone who tries to do us harm from within Israel."
"My policy is one of zero tolerance of terrorism, and that is what we will do," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu on Monday told European Council President Donald Tusk that the EU must stop pressuring Israel to enter dangerous agreements that threaten the future of the Jewish state.
Europe “seeks to unilaterally press Israel into agreements that will endanger our very existence and therefore your very defense,” Netanyahu publicly told visiting European Council President Donald Tusk prior to holding a private discussion with him.
Full report at:
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Israel-is-only-true-defense-Europe-has-against-radical-Islam-Netanyahu-says-415690
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Arab World
45 Kyrgyz nationals slain in fighting for Daesh in Iraq, Syria
Sep 9, 2015
Kyrgyzstan says more than 40 nationals from the Central Asian country have been killed while fighting alongside Daesh Takfiri terrorists in Iraq and Syria.
Speaking at a press conference in the capital, Bishkek, on Tuesday, Rahim Salimov, an official with Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Ministry, said more than 400 Kyrgyz citizens have gone to either of the two Arab countries to join Daesh ranks.
He added that 122 women and 83 children are among the Kyrgyz citizens who are currently living in Daesh-led territories in Iraq and Syria.
According to a report by the UN Security Council released last October, some 15,000 foreigners have flocked to Syria and Iraq to fight alongside Daesh extremists or other foreign-sponsored terrorist groups.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/09/428390/Kyrgyzstan-Daesh-ISIL-Takfiri-terrorists-Iraq-Syria
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Toll from Egypt army's anti-Daesh operation reaches 56
Sep 9, 2015
Egypt’s army has released a new statement, saying it has slain 56 militants with the Takfiri terrorist group, Daesh, in the Sinai Peninsula.
The Tuesday statement said the fatalities came after a "major military operation" that Egyptian forces launched against the group a day earlier. A roadside bomb also killed an army officer and a soldier and wounded four, it added.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/09/428373/Egypt-army-Daesh-Velayat-Sinai-militant
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ISIS kidnaps 127 children in Mosul intending to turn them into blood-thirsty killers
September 9, 2015
Baghdad: The Islamic State (IS) militants have kidnapped 127 children in IS-held Iraqi city of Mosul recently to train them in the ranks of the terror group, media reported on Tuesday.
IS has kidnapped 127 children aged 11-15 over the past few days, Iraqi News quoted Saeed Mamouzini, an official from Kurdistan Democratic Party, as saying, Xinhua reported.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/news/127-children-kidnapped-isis-iraq-832485/
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Syrian Kurds Recruit More Arabs to Fight ISIL
Sep 09, 2015
The Syrian armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the YPG is recruiting more Arabs to address the mass-immigration of local Kurds, and the lack of fighters, BasNews reported.
In Tel Tamr, the first YPG battalion was formed with the Sharabiya tribe contributing 26 fighters. The unit is named after commander Sores Xinis, who was killed on 16th April in operations to capture villages in the province of Hasaka.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940618000685
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Syrian Army, Hezbollah Tightening Noose on Militants in Zabadani Region
Sep 09, 2015
The source said that the Syrian Army’s 63rd Brigade of the 4th Mechanized Division, in coordination with Hezbollah, National Defense Forces (NDF), and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) – continued their advance inside the Al-Ghabiyah district, capturing the Al-Maas Neighborhood after intense clashes with the rebels of Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham and Al-Nusra Front.
Following the capture of the Al-Maas Neighborhood, the Syrian Armed Forces and Lebanese Resistance stormed the Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham defenses lines at the Al-Jisr Mosque, killing 11 enemy combatants and destroying two 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun turrets.
On Monday, Military sources said that the Syrian Armed Forces alongside the Lebanese Hezbollah Resistance Movement are pushing back the rebel groups from entire neighborhoods and districts in Zabadani region.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940618000368
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Baghdad gunmen kidnap Iraq’s deputy justice minister
8 September 2015
Gunmen kidnapped Iraq’s acting deputy justice minister Abdulkarim Fares in the Binook area of northeastern Baghdad on Tuesday, officials said.
A police colonel said black-clad kidnappers in several vehicles stopped his car and that his driver was wounded by gunfire when he tried to intervene.
An interior ministry official confirmed the kidnapping had taken place, without providing details.
A justice ministry official identified the man seized as Fares, saying he is also director general for financial and administrative affairs at the ministry.
The kidnapping came just four days after gunmen abducted 18 Turkish employees of a major construction firm in Sadr City, south of Binook.
The identity of the kidnappers in both cases is unknown.
Kidnappings for political reasons or money are a persistent problem in Baghdad, with Shiite militias or their affiliates seen as the main culprits.
Baghdad turned to mostly Shiite volunteer forces for support as the Islamic State group advanced towards the capital in June last year, and they have played a key role in halting and then reversing the jihadists’ gains.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/08/Gunmen-kidnap-Iraq-deputy-justice-minister-officials.html
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Iraq’s deputy justice minister kidnapped in Baghdad
Sep 09 2015
BAGHDAD: Iraq’s acting deputy justice minister was kidnapped from his vehicle on Tuesday by black-clad gunmen in northern Baghdad, security sources said, the second high-profile abduction in the capital in less than a week.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Baghdad has seen a proliferation in recent years of well armed criminal gangs that carry out contract killings, kidnappings and extortion.
Some members of powerful Shia armed groups, which are seen as a critical deterrent against militants of the self-styled Islamic State, have also been accused of kidnapping people for political or criminal purposes.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1205766/iraqs-deputy-justice-minister-kidnapped-in-baghdad
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Nusra Front in Syria take last army base in Idlib
September 9, 2015
Syrian affiliate has seized control of the last military base held by the regime in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitoring group said on Wednesday.
Al-Nusra Front and allied Islamist groups had captured nearly all of the Abu Duhur military airport after a siege that lasted two years, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Syrian state television also announced “the retreat of the army... which had protected the airport during a two-year-siege”.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/09/Nusra-front-in-Syria-take-last-army-base-in-Idlib-.html
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Amnesty urges ‘drastic change’ to EU refugee policy
9 September 2015
Amnesty International on Wednesday called for a drastic change in the handling of the refugee crisis sweeping Europe and criticised the response of state leaders as "piecemeal and incoherent".
Ahead of the expected announcement Wednesday by the European Commission of proposals for mandatory quotas for EU states, the rights group launched a five-point plan to help ease the crisis.
"The level of suffering facing refugees fleeing violence and human rights violations has reached a level unseen in Europe since the Second World War," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's Director for Europe and Central Asia.
"The response to the refugee crisis in Europe has been piecemeal and incoherent at a time when the need for clear-sighted leadership and radical reform of Europe's collapsing asylum system has never been greater."
The human rights group urged leaders to increase support for frontline EU member states, ensure access to EU territory for refugees arriving at border states and use an emergency relocation scheme to relieve pressure on border countries.
They should also revise EU laws that limit the freedom of movement of successful asylum seekers within the EU while frontline member states must refrain from ill-treatment and excessive or unnecessary use of force against the refugees, said Amnesty.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/09/Amnesty-urges-drastic-change-to-EU-refugee-policy-.html
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France carries out first surveillance flights over Syria
8 September 2015
France carried out its first surveillance flights over Syria on Tuesday to prepare possible attacks on Islamic State jihadists, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
“These surveillance flights will determine what action can be taken when the time comes,” Fabius told reporters.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/08/France-carries-out-first-surveillance-flights-over-Syria-.html
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Saudi to treat UAE, Bahraini soldiers killed in Yemen as citizens
8 September 2015
Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said Emirati and Bahrain soldiers who were “martyred” in Yemen will be treated as Saudis “materially and morally,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Tuesday.
The Crown Prince vowed that the blood of “our martyrs will not go in vain.”
He also said “the [Saudi-led] coalition will continue its operations with determination to defeat the [Houthi] rebels and their supporters who tampered with the future of the brotherly people of Yemen and their attempt to destabilize the region.”
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/08/UAE-and-Bahraini-soldiers-killed-in-Yemen-to-be-treated-as-Saudis.html
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Syrian Information Minister: No Russian Troops in Syria
Sep 09, 2015
According to the minister, "this hostile campaign is aimed at creating the impression that the Syrian state has become so weak that it has to seek direct military assistance from its friends", Itar-Tass reported.
Full report at:
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13940618000313
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Flights diverted as sandstorm-hit Jeddah gropes in the dark
9 September 2015
JEDDAH: A massive sandstorm that enveloped much of the Middle East on Tuesday sent Jeddah into total darkness at 6 p.m.
The storm lasted for 40 minutes with sand-laden winds so ferocious that one could hear the rattling of windows in many neighborhoods.
Abdul Hameed Abal-Ari, a senior official at King Abdul Aziz International Airport in Jeddah, told local media that flights were suspended briefly. “Incoming flights were diverted to nearby airports, while some departures were suspended.”
He said seven flights were diverted to Madinah, Yanbu and Taif. “By 7 p.m., things were back to normal,” he said.
“It all happened in a matter of minutes,” said Sadiya Haneef, a resident of Al-Sulaimaniya district. “I could see from my balcony a mushroom-like apparition on the horizon. I thought it was smoke billowing from a faraway district,” she said.
Soon it was clear to her that it was a sandstorm. “I had to literally struggle to close the door to my balcony. The gusty winds had sent everything into darkness,” she said.
The experience in another neighborhood was equally bad. “My mother noticed dark clouds when she was seeing off my sister for evening classes,” said 13-year-old Mohammed Tareq.
“Within minutes, everything was hazy in Al-Aziziyah district and there was literally no visibility. It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever experienced. It seemed apocalyptic.”
Civil Defense personnel received distress calls from residents who wanted to know what was happening.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/803456
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Europe
Jihadi John tops ‘kill list’ of British ISIS fighters: Report
September 9, 2015
London :The UK government is believed to have drawn up a so-called “kill list” of British Islamic State fighters in Syria, topped by the dreaded Jihadi John.
The National Security Council, which is chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron and meets weekly, has reportedly authorised a list of about 10 extremists from his country including the Britons killed in a drone attack in Syria last month.
According to the ‘Evening Standard’, Mohammed Emwazi, or ‘Jihadi John’ as he is referred to, is at the top of the list after he was filmed carrying out barbaric murders of a number of British hostages.
The secret killing of Cardiff-born Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen in Scotland, was announced by Cameron in the House of Commons yesterday, triggering widespread debate here as it was the first time that the UK government targeted a British citizen in a foreign country.
“If we have no other way of preventing an attack that’s likely to take place on our streets other than using a military strike to prevent it, then that’s what we’ll do,” UK defence secretary Michael Fallon said today, as he gave more information about the drone strike at a media briefing.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/news/jihadi-john-tops-kill-list-british-isis-fighters-report-832482/
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France says taking all refugees would be victory for ISIS
8 September 2015
France warned on Tuesday that it would be a mistake for Europe to take in all refugees persecuted by Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants in Syria and Iraq, and called for a plan to ensure the Middle East’s diversity remained despite the crisis.
About 60 countries, including ministers from Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon, met in Paris on Tuesday to agree measures aimed at easing the return of refugees, encouraging regional governments to bring minorities into the political fold and ensure no impunity for those guilty of crimes against humanity.
“It’s very difficult, but if all these refugees come to Europe or elsewhere, then Daesh has won the game,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told RTL radio, using an Arabic name for ISIS.
“The objective (of this conference) is that the Middle East remains the Middle East, that means a region of diversity where there are Christians, Yazidis, etc,” he said.
Speaking after the conference, Fabius said several countries would announce financial pledges in the coming months for projects ranging from reconstruction of infrastructure to restoring basic services or training local police.
He said France had decided to give a further 25 million euros of aid on top of the 100 million euros ($112 million) it already gives. The money will be used for projects including mine clearance in the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani or housing in Erbil in the autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.
Full report at:
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/09/08/France-says-taking-all-refugees-would-be-victory-for-ISIS.html
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Cyprus joins list of EU states with preference for non-Muslim refugees
September 9th, 2015
European Union member Cyprus said Monday it was willing to take in up to 300 Middle East refugees to help ease the crisis facing the EU, but preferred them to be Christians.
It thus joined a growing list of EU nations which have expressed a preference for Christians, rather than Muslims, in their acceptance of asylum seekers.
“We have already stated that 260, a maximum of 300, people can be taken in” by the small eastern Mediterranean island, Interior Minister Socrates Hasikos told state radio.
“We would seek for them to be Orthodox Christians … that’s what we would prefer,” he said, adding that this would allow them to “integrate better” with the island’s predominantly Greek Cypriot population.
Hasikos later issued a statement clarifying that other EU members have also said they would prefer to take in Christians and that Cyprus has in the past rescued and received refugees “without discrimination on ethnicity or religion.”
Those other EU members include Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Estonia and possibly Poland. All have claimed their policies are not discriminatory but rather an effort to maintain cultural cohesion.
Slovakia said in August it would not accept non-Christian refugees, with a government spokesman explaining Muslims would not feel at home in the country, the BBC reported.
“We could take 800 Muslims but we don’t have any mosques in Slovakia so how can Muslims be integrated if they are not going to like it here?” Interior ministry spokesman Ivan Netik said.
Full report at:
http://www.albawaba.com/news/cyprus-joins-list-eu-states-preference-non-muslim-refugees-740976
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Another Imam Shot Dead In Russia's North Caucasus
September 09, 2015
An imam in Russia's Daghestan region in the North Caucasus has been killed.
The Investigative Committee of Russia says two masked men shot dead Magomed Khidirov early in the morning of September 9 while he was on his way to a mosque in Novy Kurush.
The village is located in Daghestan's western Khasavyurt district bordering Chechnya.
The killing of Khidirov, 34, came three weeks after another Islamic cleric, Zamirbek Makhmutov, 32, was shot dead in Russia's Stavropol region neighboring Daghestan.
Full report at:
http://www.rferl.org/content/daghestan-imam-killed/27234801.html
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Migrant crisis adds to Europe’s anxiety about Islam
Tony Barber
September 8, 2015
mong Britain’s best-loved sportsmen of the 1970s was a mild-mannered heavyweight boxer named Joe Bugner. Born Jozsef Kreul Bugner in southern Hungary, he fled to Britain as a child with his parents after a Soviet invasion in 1956 crushed an anti-communist uprising.
The Bugner family were among 21,000 Hungarians who arrived in Britain. These refugees formed part of a wave of more than 200,000 Hungarians who crossed the Iron Curtain and found shelter in western countries. Everywhere they benefited from spontaneous donations of clothes, bedding and household goods from the general public.
Europe’s refugee and migrant crisis is striking not just for the reluctance of most EU governments to open doors on the scale of 1956. A motif of cultural self-defence, of Europe as a Christian fortress justifiably barred to Muslim hordes, runs through their rhetoric.
Syria’s savage civil war has generated 4m registered refugees in the Middle East and beyond. But a person following Europe’s debate might wonder if the clock has reverted to 1529 and the armies of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultan, are at the gates of Vienna.
These anxieties are found in southern, central and western Europe. Socratis Hasikos, Cyprus’s interior minister, said unashamedly on Monday that his government would accept 300 refugees but wanted them to be Orthodox Christians; that is, of the same faith as Greek Cypriots.
Like most public policy issues in Cyprus, this preference needs to be seen against the backdrop of the island’s division, following Turkey’s 1974 military invasion, into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north. For many, the line that divides the island is a frontier between Orthodox Christianity and Islam, just as the Berlin Wall was a frontier between freedom and communism.
In the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, different political calculations and prejudices are at work. In the communist era, when Czechoslovakia was a single state and Poland’s borders had been moved west at Soviet insistence, these countries were far more ethnically homogenous than they had been in 1918-1939.
The Nazis had annihilated the region’s Jews in the second world war, and the western Allies and Moscow had countenanced the flight and expulsion of millions of ethnic Germans after the war. After communism collapsed in 1989, the reborn states of central Europe tended to view the lack of large ethnic minorities as a healthy factor that favoured political stability and civic loyalty to the post-communist order.
Tensions occasionally surfaced, and still do, between Hungary and its neighbours over the status of Hungarian minorities in Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. But by and large they have proved manageable. What unites Viktor Orban and Robert Fico, the Hungarian and Slovak prime ministers, is the view that non-European Muslims are fundamentally alien, and that there are political rewards to be gained from portraying them as a sort of 1529-type threat, albeit non-violent, to the identities and wellbeing of their societies.
Full report at:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/177b87fa-561c-11e5-9846-de406ccb37f2.html#axzz3lEmrxkS3
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How a handful of people came together to form Regina's Muslim community
SEPTEMBER 8, 2015
Everyone's story is important and should be shared so it is not forgotten says one former Regina resident.
A former Regina couple adds a chapter to Regina's history book.
Naiyer Habib and his wife Mahlaqa Naushaba Habib arrived in Saskatchewan in 1973 from India.
"We came to Canada not for the sake of dollars but for the sake of democracy," he said.
The couple left their country during a tumultuous time.
"My wife is from Pakistan and I am from India and I couldn't take my wife to India easily and I didn't want to settle in Pakistan,' he said.
So rather than let politics come between them, they immigrated to Canada.
In 1973, they arrived in Saskatoon.
Three years later, Naiyer and Mahlaqa moved to Regina after he was appointed the head of cardiology for the Plains Health Centre by the University of Saskatchewan to establish the cardio-science program for southern Saskatchewan.
For the next three decades, the couple put down roots in Regina.
While working and raising a family, they also worked to maintain their Muslim identity.
It was no easy task. In 1976, there were only seven or eight other Muslim families in Regina.
The Habibs have chronicled their story in a book called, History of the Muslims of Regina, Saskatchewan: A Cultural Integration.
Naiyer retired from medicine in 2004 and in 2011 they moved to Abbotsford, B.C. It was while in retirement, the Habibs felt compelled to tell their story.
They believe history is important not only for today's generation but for future generations. "People come and go and no one remembers them, what they did and what their life was like," said Naiyer.
"I wanted them to realize what we were. When I say 'we' I mean all the people who were there at that time. We wanted the people to know what we were, what we went through and how we established ourselves and how we interacted with society at large to develop a very friendly and respectful relationship."
It took hard work and commitment to build the vibrant Muslim community that exists in Regina today, said Naiyer.
Full report at:
http://www.leaderpost.com/handful+people+came+together+form+regina+muslim+community/11346143/story.html
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India
Over 1,000 Indian Muslim Clerics Back Fatwa against ISIS
September 9, 2015
More than 1,000 Muslim clerics across the country have ratified and backed Mumbai-based cleric Mufti Manzar Hasan Khan Ashrafi Misbahi’s fatwa against Islamic State (IS), branding the terror group as un-Islamic. Misbahi’s 1,100 page fatwa tries to demolish the claims of IS that it is working on the principles of Islamic law. “IS has claimed that it has set up an Islamic Caliphate. However, for that you need to adhere to Islamic principles. My fatwa speaks about how the IS is un-Islamic and demolishes its claims that it is adhering to the principles of our religion,” said Misbahi. Misbahi currently runs a madrasa called Darul Uloom Ali Hussaini in Saki Naka in suburban Mumbai. He is known to travel across the country and speak about terrorism being perpetrated in the name of religion. The fatwa came after a petition was submitted by a community leader, Abdur Rahman Anjaria, seeking opinion on whether the actions of ISIS were Islamic. Misbahi then took more than four months to draft the fatwa.
Full report at:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/over-1000-clerics-back-fatwa-against-is/
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All India Muslim Personal Law Board Plans Campaign to Oppose ‘Hinduisation’
September 8, 2015
Hyderabad: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board said on Saturday it would start a nationwide campaign to protest what it called the government’s moves to impose a particular religious culture.
The board has sought the support of other minority groups ranging from the so-called depressed classes in its campaign called, “Deen Aur Dastur Bachao,” or “Save Religion and Constitution.”
Deleon - Branding - 300x250
AIMPB General Secretary Maulana Sajjad Nomani told reporters the campaign would include public meetings, seminars and symposiums to raise public awareness.
He cited a threat to Muslim faith and culture as attempts were being made to impose yoga, Surya Namaskar and Vande Mataram.
Full report at:
http://www.indiawest.com/news/india/muslim-group-plans-campaign-to-oppose-hinduization/article_817bdbaa-55fe-11e5-8524-83fa50ad7a90.html
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Meat Ban In Mumbai For Eight Days: Does India Want To Be A Saudi Arabia?
SAIF AHMAD KHAN
09-09-2015
Prior to the arrival of the Muslim holy month of fasting i.e. Ramzan in June 2014, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) officially urged non-Muslims to respect the feelings of Muslims. A statement issued by the interior ministry of KSA said, "Non-Muslim expatriates should respect the feelings of Muslims by not eating, drinking or smoking in public places such as streets and workplaces. They should not think that they are exempted from this because they are followers of other faiths."
Saudi Arabia has set many shameful records as far as violation of human rights are concerned but the above mentioned statement of the interior ministry was particularly ridiculous. What has a non-Muslim got to do with Ramzan? Just like a non-Muslim should recognise the right of a Muslim to fast during Ramzan from dawn to dusk without consuming even a drop of water, the government of Saudi Arabia should have also recognised the right of non-Muslims to carry on with their routine lives in the month of Ramzan. Non Muslims cannot be made to go hungry or thirsty during a month considered as holy by Muslims.
Why should a Muslim get offended if he sees a non-Muslim consume food at a public place? The non-Muslim is obviously not thrusting anything inside the Muslim's mouth to break his fast. Therefore, it was preposterous of the Saudi Arabian government to suggest that the religious feelings of Saudi's Muslims will be hurt if they come across a non-fasting non-Muslim. Saudi Arabian authorities should have acted with some wisdom and refrained from bullying non-Muslim expatriates in this manner. But sanity is something one shouldn't expect from the Saudis as they don't recognise the religious rights of non-Muslims and prevent them from doing something as basic as building their places of worship.
#TheDailyToast: When Sonam Kapoor freed misogyny from gender
Let's now move from so-called Islamic state of KSA in west Asia towards east Asia wherein the People's Republic of China (PRC) is situated. China happens to be ruled by an atheistic, communist regime. In June 2015, Chinese authorities banned civil servant, students and teachers from fasting during Ramzan in the Muslim majority province of Xinjiang. This decision of the Chinese government was as mindless as the one taken by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The state of China has a particular ideology which does not consider religion as something of very high value but that doesn't mean that people with certain religious beliefs would be victimised and students prevented from going to mosques and attending religious activities.
Full report at:
http://www.dailyo.in/politics/meat-ban-maharashtra-mira-bhayander-municipal-corporation-jains-paryushan-saudi-arabia-ramzan/story/1/6142.html
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Pakistan accuses India of reverse infiltration; charge may mar DG talks
Sachin Parashar
Sep 8, 2015
After the collapse of the NSA dialogue, India and Pakistan will seek to start afresh on Wednesday as a 16-member team from the neighbouring country arrives here for talks between Pakistan Rangers and BSF.
In what could queer things a little though, Pakistan has accused India of carrying out reverse infiltration from Punjab and Rajasthan as part of its agenda for the BSF-Pakistan Rangers talk starting Wednesday. The accusation is a part of the official agenda Pakistan has given to the Indian side.
Accusing BSF of facilitating infiltration, Islamabad has said this is being done to carry out "sabotage activities" in Pakistan. Pakistan sources said this was going to be their "main point" in the talks.
While India is going ahead with the talks, government sources here said Pakistan seemed more interested in making false allegations than addressing the issue of high civilian casualties in ceasefire violations. Indian authorities said Islamabad owed an explanation over the 100-odd ceasefire violations by its troops since the Ufa engagement.
As with the dialogue between the NSAs, this meeting too was agreed to by India and Pakistan when PM Narendra Modi met his counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa on July 10.
The two sides are expected to discuss at length the spurt in ceasefire violations across the International Boundary in Jammu. While the Pakistan delegation will be led by DG Rangers Major General Umer Farooq Burki, it will also comprise an additional secretary rank official from the Pakistani interior ministry.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Pakistan-accuses-India-of-reverse-infiltration-charge-may-mar-DG-talks/articleshow/48875632.cms
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Yemen air strike: 13 out of 20 Indian crew members safe, 7 missing, MEA says
Sep 9, 2015
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of External Affairs on Wednesday said that reports about killing of 20 Indians in a Saudi-led alliance in air strikes on fuel smugglers at a Yemeni port on Tuesday are untrue.
"Out of 20 crew members, 13 are alive and 7 are reported to be missing," Vikas Swarup, MEA spokesperson said.
"We've seen media reports about the death of Indian nationals in Yemen. The Indian embassy in Djibouti is in touch with local contacts. We have ascertained that two boats came under aerial attack, boats were carrying a total of 20 Indian crew members," Swarup said.
MEA spokesperson said that no other information is currently available regarding the identity of the Indian nationals.
On Tuesday, there were reports that about 20 Indians were reportedly killed in airstrikes on fuel smugglers by Saudi Arabia-led forces at Hodeidah Port in Yemen.
The incident took place at al-Khokha near Hodeidah Port when two boats were hit in airstrikes.
Full report at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Yemen-air-strike-13-out-of-20-Indian-crew-members-safe-7-missing-MEA-says/articleshow/48880955.cms
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Give Hindu Immigrants Citizenship, Muslim Ones Can Slog: Assam Guv
SEP 08, 2015
All non-Muslim immigrants should be given Indian citizenship with voting rights while those from the Muslim religion can "slog and stay" in the country, Assam Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya today said.
"Hindus have the birth right to get Indian citizenship and voting rights here. Any non-Muslim immigrant should be given Indian citizenship," Acharya told reporters here.
The non-Muslim immigrants from countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority nations have come to India under compulsion and "they have lost every thing," he said.
Full report at:
http://www.outlookindia.com/news/article/give-hindu-immigrants-citizenship-muslim-ones-can-slog-assam-guv/912233
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Non-Muslim immigrants should be given citizenship: Assam Governor
September 9, 2015
Guwahati: All non-Muslim immigrants should be given Indian citizenship with voting rights while those from the Muslim religion can “slog and stay” in the country, Assam Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya today said.
“Hindus have the birth right to get Indian citizenship and voting rights here. Any non-Muslim immigrant should be given Indian citizenship,” Acharya told reporters here.
The non-Muslim immigrants from countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority nations have come to India under compulsion and “they have lost every thing,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/news/non-muslim-immigrants-should-be-given-citizenship-assam-governor-832501/
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South Asia
Taliban leader Mullah Mansoor Dadullah joined ISIS, the terror group claims
Sep 08 2015
The affiliates of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group in Afghanistan have claimed that the senior Taliban commander Mullah Mansoor Dadullah has pledged allegiance to the terror group.
An ISIS supporter who claims to be spokesman for the terror group said Tuesday Mullah Dadullah was rescued from an offensive by the Taliban militants involving 2,100 fighters in southern Zabul province.
He said at least 230 ISIS fighters were deployed to Zabul from western Farah province to engage the Taliban militants and rescue Mullah Dadullah.
He also claimed that Mullah Abdul Manan, the brother of the Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Omar, prefers to join the ISIS group rather than pledging allegiance to the newly appointed Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansoor.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/taliban-leader-mullah-mansoor-dadullah-joined-isis-the-terror-group-claims-1488
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Sayyaf declare jihad against Taliban, regrets for not killing Mullah Omar at first
Sep 09 2015
The former prominent jihadi leader Abdul Rab Rasool Sayyaf rejected the Taliban group movement as ‘Un-Islamic’ and declared jihad against the group’s militants.
Speaking during a gathering to commemorate the Week of Martyr, Sayyaf said the Taliban movement is neither Afghan-led nor there is any religious justification for their movements.
He suggested that the Taliban militants should immediately free themselves from the ongoing ‘Un-Islamic’ movement, insisting that those who lose their lives fighting for the group will never be granted the status of martyr.
Recalling the remarks of Mullah Mansoor Dadullah regarding the appointment of Taliban’s leader by Pakistani military intelligence (ISI), Sayyaf said the neighboring countries of Afghanistan with a mentality to destroy Afghanistan must understand that they will be destroyed first.
Sayyaf is one of the most influential jihadi leaders and has been harshly criticizing the Taliban group for their insurgency activities.
He once again took a hard stance against the group following a series of deadly attacks in capital Kabul earlier last month which left scores of people dead and nearly 400 others wounded.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/sayyaf-declare-jihad-against-taliban-regrets-for-not-killing-mullah-omar-at-first-1490
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Two soldiers martyred in landmine explosion in Kalakan District of Kabul
Sep 09 2015
Two soldiers from the Afghan National Army (ANA) embraced martyrdom in a landmine explosion in northern part of Kabul this morning.
Rahmatullah Faqirzada, governor of Kalakan District said that the soldiers were on their routine duty when their vehicle struck a roadside landmine leaving two of them martyred and three others wounded.
Soon after the explosion security forces cordoned off the area and shifted the fallen and wounded soldiers.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/two-soldiers-martyred-in-landmine-explosion-in-kalakan-district-of-kabul-3885
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US officials to investigate air strike in southern Afghanistan
Sep 09 2015
US officials in Kabul say they will investigate the air strike conducted by their forces in southern Afghanistan on September 6, states a statement released by USFOR-A PUBLIC AFFAIRS on Tuesday.
“Based on information we received today, we feel it is prudent to investigate the airstrike our forces conducted in Kandahar on 6 September,” says Brig. Gen. Wilson Shoffner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications in the statement.
“We will complete the investigation in close coordination with our Afghan partners and in a transparent, timely and thorough manner. We will release further details regarding this incident as they become available.”
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/us-officials-to-investigate-air-strike-in-southern-afghanistan-3883
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Taliban eyed full control of Afghanistan by 2014-end: Abdullah
Sep 09 2015
The Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdullah Abdullah said Wednesday that the Taliban group eyed full control of Afghanistan and had prepared to install their government thinking that the current government would collapse.
Speaking during a gathering to commemorate the Week of Martyrs, CEO Abdullah said the group was assuming that the current government would fall by the end of 2014.
The remarks by CEO Abdullah comes amid deteriorating security situation across the country with the Afghan national security forces in full lead of the security responsibilities in the ongoing fighting season.
The Afghan forces have been independently leading fight against terrorism since the NATO-led coalition security forces formally concluded their combat mission last year.
Abdullah also pointed towards the growing instability and economic issues the country is facing and admitted that the people are satisfied with the government of national unity performance.
Full report at:
http://www.khaama.com/taliban-eyed-full-control-of-afghanistan-by-2014-end-abdullah-1489
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To help climate migrants, Bangladesh takes back land from the sea
By Rafiqul Islam
Sep 09 2015
DHAKA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Bangladesh is going ahead with an ambitious plan to reclaim land from the sea to help relocate people who have lost their homes to sea level rise, erosion and extreme weather.
Climate change-linked natural disasters are common in Bangladesh, with cyclones and storm surges displacing huge numbers of people.
"River erosion alone claims about 20,000 acres of land in Bangladesh every year,” said Water Resources Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud.
That leaves up to 200,000 people homeless each year, according to a 2013 study by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit at the University of Dhaka and the Sussex Centre for Migration Research at the University of Sussex in Britain.
Now Bangladesh is taking back some of that land. The government plans to use the natural movement of sediment through the country’s rivers to build new land on which to house displaced communities.
In June, the government signed a deal with the government of the Netherlands – another low-lying nation – to cooperate on land reclamation efforts. Under the partnership, the Netherlands will conduct a feasibility study, and develop and implement land reclamation programs in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh’s three major rivers – the Padma, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna – carry large amounts of silt with their water.
According to a study by the Dhaka-based Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), about 1 billion tonnes of silt flow through the country’s river channels every year, most of it eventually settling in the southern coastal area of the Bay of Bengal.
According to Malik Khan, the CEGIS deputy executive director, if sediment can be directed into low-lying areas of the coastal Noakhali district through a system of cross dams – walls constructed between islands – and polders – land surrounded by embankments – new land will emerge from the sea.
"There is a potential for land reclamation through the displacement of the sediment the rivers carry,” he said.
Cross dams catch sediment as it travels downstream, holding it back before it reaches the Bay of Bengal. As it collects behind the dams, sediment can build up into solid landmasses large enough to live on, experts say.
Zahirul Haque Khan, director of the Coast, Port and Estuary Division at the Dhaka-based Institute of Water Modelling (IWM), notes that many small islands, called chars, have already emerged naturally in the coastal areas near Nijhum Dwip and Monpura islands.
With the tide bringing large sediment deposits to the areas around Urir Char in Noakhali and Sandwip in the Chittagong district, hundreds of square kilometers of land could be reclaimed from those areas through the construction of cross dams, he said.
LEARNING FROM THE PAST
Bangladesh has worked for over two decades to reclaim land from the sea. One of the first systematic efforts to study the potential for land reclamation was the Netherlands-supported Land Reclamation Project launched in 1977.
Full report at:
http://news.yahoo.com/help-climate-migrants-bangladesh-takes-back-land-sea-084936374.html
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Africa
Instead of Islamic books, we usually find condoms, sex drugs in Boko Haram camps — Nigerian Army
September 9, 2015
The Nigerian Army said Tuesday it usually find condoms, hard drugs and sex-enhancing drugs in camps captured from Boko Haram insurgents by its troops.
The spokesperson for the Army, Sani Usman, said the findings underlined the military’s belief that most Boko Haram militants were not grounded in Islam and were not driven by Islamic ideology.
Mr. Usman, a colonel, said a lot of insurgents so far arrested could not even recite the Quoran, the holy book of Muslims.
He said those arrested by troops of Nigerian Army’s 3rd Division Tuesday turned out to be suppliers of hard drugs and other stimulants to terrorists.
They were nabbed between Depchi and Geidam, Geidam Local Government Area in northern part of Yobe State, he said.
Mr. Usman added, “The arrested persons were also engaged in the supply of fuel in addition to hard drugs such as Cannabis (Indian Hemp), Chlorofone substance (AKA Madaran suck and die) and Tramol, amongst others.
Full report at:
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/more-news/189699-instead-of-islamic-books-we-usually-find-condoms-sex-drugs-in-boko-haram-camps-nigerian-army.html
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Islamists retake Somali towns as Kenya shakes up anti-Shebab security
08 September 2015
Islamist militant group al-Shebab have regained control of three towns in Somalia, after attacking two African Union convoys in the south of the country last week. Meanwhile, Kenya has shaken up is security services in an attempt to stop cross-border recruitment and attacks.
Two of the captured towns, El Saliindi and Kuntuwarey, are along key routes to Indian Ocean ports in the south. The third is outside the Islamists’ stronghold, the large town of Buqda, an economic hub in the centre of the country.
Reports suggest that Buqda was taken peacefully by al-Shebab just weeks after Amisom, the African Union Mission in Somalia whose troops are tasked with neutralising the group, had captured it from them.
Amisom kept a force in town for a few weeks after capturing it but lack the troop numbers needed to keep a military presence in retaken towns. Last week they left to fight another battle elsewhere and al-Shebab simply returned with no resistance.
Anneli Botha, a researcher at the Institute for Security Studies who has been conducting interviews with al-Shebab recruits, told RFI the group can never be defeated militarily.
"The military will only be effective in creating some form of stability within a particular area,” she said, addding that they cannot combat the underlying reasons that drive young men to join the group.
Some of the local residents who are not necessarily aligned to the Al-Qaeda-affiliated group’s political aims are welcoming their return. In some places where services are not provided by the government, al-Shebab have stepped in to provide things like education and access to resources. Botha believes that, as long as the government is unable or unwilling to provide such services, the organisation will continue to see rising support.
It has seen rising recruitment across the border among Kenyans. President Uhuru Kenyatta has shaken up the country’s security forces, in a measure that Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery said will "strengthen efforts to combat the threat of terrorism and the creeping threat of violent extremism”.
Full report at:
http://www.english.rfi.fr/africa/20150908-islamists-retake-towns-somalia-kenya-shakes-security-services-combat-shabab
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US warns of possible terrorist attack in South Africa
September 9, 2015
Johannesburg: The US Embassy in South Africa warned in a statement released on Tuesday of a possible terrorist attack by extremists against US interests in South Africa.
The embassy confirmed that it has received information that extremists may be targeting US interests; however, it did not elaborate on “additional information as to timing or potential targeting,” Efe reported.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/news/us-warns-possible-terrorist-attack-south-africa-832392/
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Nigerian army arrests several Boko Haram suppliers
Sep 9, 2015
Nigerian military says it has arrested a number of people in the country’s embattled northeastern state of Yobe, who were purportedly transporting fuel and drugs to Boko Haram Takfiri militants.
"Following...directives to troops in the northeast for a painstaking search of motorists and cargoes, troops of the 3 Division Nigerian army have intercepted and arrested some kingpins and foot soldiers of suppliers of Boko Haram terrorists with hard drugs and other stimulants," the army said in a statement released on Tuesday.
It added that the seizure was made on Tuesday in an area located between the towns of Depchi and Gaidam, 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of the state capital, Damaturu.
The statement, however, did not say how many people were arrested in the operation.
Also on Tuesday, Nigeria’s military imposed a ban on the use of horses in the country’s northeastern state of Borno in a bid to stop deadly raids by Boko Haram terrorists.
Rescuers work at the scene of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast at Gomboru market in Maiduguri, Borno State in northeastern Nigeria on July 31, 2015. (© AFP)
Colonel Tukur Gusau, the military spokesman for Borno, said the measure was taken in order to prevent militant attacks against remote communities across the region.
“Military authorities have banned the use of horses in the entire Borno state to stave off Boko Haram terrorist attacks,” Gusau noted.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/09/428372/Nigeria-army-detention-suppliers-Boko-Haram-militants-Yobe
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Nigeria imposes horse ban to stop Boko Haram attacks
Sep 8, 2015
Nigeria’s military has banned the use of horses to stop deadly raids by the Takfiri Boko Haram militant group in the country’s northeastern state of Borno.
Colonel Tukur Gusau, the military spokesman for Borno, said on Tuesday that the ban was imposed in order to prevent militant attacks against remote communities across the region.
“Military authorities have banned the use of horses in the entire Borno state to stave off Boko Haram terrorist attacks,” media outlets quoted Gusau as saying.
The Nigerian official added that the measure was taken after talks with the council of traditional chiefs and the state government.
In recent weeks, Boko Haram terrorists have used the horseback tactic for attacks in remote communities in the region.
The spokesman said the state-wide ban on horse riding will allow the military troops to “distinguish locals from terrorists.”
“We know that only the terrorists will flaunt this ban and our troops will take the appropriate action when they come across such terrorists in accordance with the rules of engagement.”
Malam Ba’Kura, a local chief, told AFP that the ban had been endorsed by the state’s most influential chief and religious figure.
“The Shehu (of Borno) summoned and briefed all traditional chiefs under the Kanem Borno emirate on the ban on horses, which was decided to stop Boko Haram attacks on villages in northern Borno,” said Ba’Kura, adding, “We welcome this ban and we have spread the news to all our subjects who are also happy with it because it is aimed at ending the new wave of attacks by Boko Haram gunmen riding horses.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Gusau said the Nigerian military has made fresh gains against militants on several fronts across the volatile region.
Full report at:
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2015/09/08/428326/Nigeria-horse-riding-ban-Boko-Haram-Borno-State
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Pakistan
Senior journalist loses life in Karachi gun attack
September 9, 2015
KARACHI: Senior journalist Aftab Alam was killed in a gun attack near his home in Karachi's North Karachi neighbourhood on Wednesday, television reports said.
Unknown assailants opened fire on Alam near his home in North Karachi's Sector 11-C. Alam was rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where doctors declared him dead.
The shooting took place near Sir Syed market and within the remits of the Sir Syed police station.
Alam, 42, has previously worked with Geo News and was also associated with Samaa TV at one point.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1205891/senior-journalist-loses-life-in-karachi-gun-attack
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Pakistan's nuclear arsenal 'not against anyone': PM Nawaz
September 9, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that Pakistan would continue to maintain minimum nuclear deterrence for security purposes, but that these weapons are 'not against any one".
The prime minister was briefed on the strategic and nuclear assets of the country during a meeting of the National Command Authority (NCA) in the capital.
The meeting was held to discuss matters pertaining to national security and defence, Radio Pakistan reported.
PM Nawaz chaired the meeting which was held at JSHQ in Chaklala. He expressed satisfaction over the security and safety of nuclear weapons and observed that an efficient nuclear control and command system is in place.
The premier was given a comprehensive briefing by the Director General Strategic Plans Division (SPD) Lt-Gen Mazhar Jamil, who said that a security force of 30,000 is protecting the nuclear arsenal.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.
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Tahir-ul-Qadri: From preacher to politico and back again
September 9, 2015
Lahore: A year after leading major street protests aimed at toppling the Pakistani government, populist preacher Tahir-ul-Qadri says he has turned back to religion, but remains prepared to re-launch his “revolution” when the time is right.
Weeks of sit-in protests by supporters of Qadri and opposition politician Imran Khan reached a climax in early September 2014 as protesters clashed with police and stormed the state broadcaster.
For a few hours it looked as if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government might fall, but the crisis abated and eventually the protesters went home.
Qadri, a mercurial figure who also brought Islamabad to a standstill with mass protests in early 2013, wanted Sharif to resign and demanded sweeping changes to the country’s political and welfare system.
The protests fizzled out and Qadri left Pakistan for medical treatment. Earlier this year he quietly returned, this time to lead not rumbustious street protests but a 10-day prayer vigil during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Thousands of his followers of all ages gathered in two vast compounds in the eastern city of Lahore to pray, fast, sleep and eat together.
The 64-year-old began leading the annual vigil in Lahore three decades ago and it formed the basis of his Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) political movement, founded in 1989.
He describes the event as “an exercise to discipline the followers for a revolution to run the country in the lines of the system introduced by the holy Prophet Mohammed 14 centuries ago”.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/news/tahir-ul-qadri-preacher-politico-and-back-again-832433/
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Pakistan to give ‘befitting response’ in case of aggression: Aziz
September 9, 2015
ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security, Sartaj Aziz, said categorically on Tuesday that Pakistan would give a ‘befitting response’ in the event of an aggression by India.
Talking to reporters after inaugurating the fourth Regional Technical Group (RTG) meeting on Disaster Management and Confidence Building Measures, he said the Modi government won the election on the basis of ‘anti-Pakistan platform’ and was pursuing the same policy from day one.
“They want better ties, but on their own terms,” Mr Aziz said.
He was responding to a statement made by Indian Information Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who said his government would explore every possible means, including carrying out a covert or a special operation, to neutralise Dawood Ibrahim or Hafiz Saeed.
Mr Aziz said if there was any such thing, “a befitting response will be given”.
“If anyone has this notion that after such an attempt they can get away with it, it is their wishful thinking.”
The adviser, who also looks after the country’s foreign affairs, said Islamabad’s stance was clear that unless Pakistan and India discussed all issues, including Kashmir, there was no use of holding any dialogue.
“This has been conveyed to them [Indians] and the international community supports our stance that unless there is a talk on all outstanding issues, and no solution is sought, how can the situation improve?”
He said the director general of Rangers and officials of the Indian Border Security Force would meet on Wednesday and discuss the 2003 ceasefire agreement. Pakistan would take up the issue of unprovoked firing by India along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary, he added.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1205800/pakistan-to-give-befitting-response-in-case-of-aggression-aziz
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Resistance to police action is terrorism, senators told
JAMAL SHAHID
September 9, 2015
ISLAMABAD: A city police officer surprised a Senate committee by justifying the arrest of slum dwellers under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) for resisting the recent bulldozing of the Sector I-11 katchi abadi.
“Police is an instrument of the government and were providing security cover to the Islamabad administration which wanted the illegal settlement cleared. The law is clear on resisting government actions,” DIG headquarters Khalid Khattak told the Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat on Tuesday.
But the members of the committee were baffled rather than impressed by his defence of the heavy-handed action, which uprooted some 10,000 inhabitants of the slum on July 31.
“This is not why the anti-terror act was enacted. It cannot be used at free will,” said Senator Kalsoom Parveen, with other committee members nodding in unison.
The administration and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) conducted the demolition operation in the name of clearing the area for developing residential sectors and fighting crime.
An adjournment motion moved by Senator Sitara Ayaz, critical of the rationale and ‘brute force’ the administration, CDA and the police used in carrying out the operation, brought the issue before the Senate committee. None of the committee members agreed to DIG Khattak’s plea to appreciate the support the police extended to the administration in carrying out the operation.
Chairman of the committee, Senator Mohammad Talha Mehmood, said the forum supported clearing of the slum but could not endorse the police invoking the ATA for such purposes.
“The government evicted people and razed their houses. Anyone would resist in such a situation,” he said.
Though the committee members agreed that the Anti-Terrorism Act was wrongly used in the operation, they somehow missed the loaded remark of DIG Khattak during the heated discussion that “I will do it again if required.”
Police were fired upon during the operation, the officer asserted. However, the committee promptly rejected his assertion, especially Senators Kalsoom Parveen and Sitara Ayaz who were witness to the operation.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1205848/resistance-to-police-action-is-terrorism-senators-told
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Pakistan Rangers delegation leaves for talks with India's BSF
MATEEN HAIDER
September 9, 2015
ISLAMABAD: A 16-member delegation of Pakistan Rangers, headed by Rangers (Punjab) Director General Maj Gen Umar Farooq Barki, left from Wagah border Wednesday for routine annual talks with Border Security Force (BSF) officials in New Delhi.
The delegation comprises officials from Pakistan Rangers (Punjab and Sindh), Ministry of Interior, Survey of Pakistan and the Anti-Narcotics Force.
BSF Director-General Devendra Kumar Pathak will represent India at the meeting, which will last for four days (Sept 9-12).
A Rangers spokesman told DawnNews that the Rangers-BSF talks are held alternatively in India and Pakistan.
Editorial: Working Boundary violence
The spokesman said both border guarding forces will discuss professional matters in relation to border management.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1205888/pakistan-rangers-delegation-leaves-for-talks-with-indias-bsf
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Seven RAW and Afghan intelligence agency-linked terrorists arrested in Dalbandin
September 09, 2015
QUETTA - Balochistan Home Minister, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti has said that security forces conducted raid at an illegal communication centre in Dalbandin and arrested seven terrorists who had links with the Indian intelligence agency Raw and Afghan intelligence agency.
He along with Home Secretary, Cap. (retd) Akbar Hussain Durrani was addressing a press conference, here on Tuesday.
"The culprits had established a communication centre in Dalbandin, which was being used by militants belonging to banned militant organisations including Tehreek-e-Taliban Afghanistan, Al-Qaida, Jundullah and others who had links with Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies," he said.
"The illegal communication centre was established at hilltop of mountain of Dalbandin, of which PTCL V Phone numbers were being used by Indian intelligence agency's agents, militants and drug smugglers," he added.
He said that this communication centre was under surveillance of our intelligence agencies and when, we received information about presence of some culprits there, security forces raided it and arrested seven terrorists.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/national/09-Sep-2015/seven-raw-linked-terrorists-arrested-in-dalbandin
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Marian feast as popular with Muslims as with Catholics
September 9, 2015
A popular pilgrimage to celebrate a Marian feast in Pakistan is as popular with Muslims as with Catholics.
"I gave two goats as offerings for St. Mary also revered in the Quran," said Malik Rasheed Mushtaq one of the Muslim sponsors for the food for the pilgrims.
His gesture was in keeping with the Muslim tradition to offer niyaz (food offered on special religious occasions).
His first daughter was born after six years of his marriage after he beseeched the Blessed Mother's help. "Since then I have been giving niyaz every year. I do not tell my family about it as it's a personal thing," added Mustaq, father of three.
Hundreds of thousands of Catholics and Muslim devotees joined in the 66th annual pilgrimage to the National Marian Shrine for the Sept. 8 feast of the Nativity of Mary. They started pouring into Mariamabad village, 260 kilometres south of Islamabad on Sept. 4. Tents were erected for those staying in the compound.
Many young people cycle or arrive on foot despite the summer heat from their homes, a journey that may often take them some days. Several organizations held medical camps to treat pilgrims usually suffering from swollen feet, dehydration and high blood pressure.
In keeping with tradition, thousands of Muslims also took part, out of their personal devotion to Mary, whom the Quran honors as the mother of Jesus, considered a prophet.
Devotees come from all over Pakistan come to the shrine to pray and intercede with the Blessed Mother for special favors, candles, incense sticks and covering the statue of the Blessed Mother with colorful embroidered dupattas (long scarfs).
"All religions teach peace and love," stated a banner sponsored by a Muslim organization that was among the other colorful hangings around the shrine.
Father Mushtaq Mushtaq Pyara, secretary of the pilgrimage committee said he meets many Muslim and Sikh families during the three-day celebrations at the shrine who come to pray around the clock.
"An Muslim elderly woman refused to leave the prayer stage until our catechist blessed her," he said. "Many come and share the miracles in their life during the testimony sessions,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.ucanews.com/news/marian-feast-as-popular-with-muslims-as-with-catholics/74230
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Southeast Asia
Christians call on Indonesia’s president to combat Islamic extremism
Sept. 8, 2015
The president of Indonesia needs to do more to combat Islamic extremists’ persecution of Christian minorities, a new report states.
The World Evangelical Alliance said Aug. 31 that though President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, wants to check growing Islamic extremism in the majority Muslim country, his methods have not succeeded.
“Since the beginning of his presidency, Jokowi has been implementing a cautious bottom-up strategy, which is needed to promote tolerance and moderation, while avoiding a direct confrontation with extremist groups. This perhaps explains why he has not been taking enough top-down measures required to improve law and order. And extremist groups seem to have little fear of action by the government yet,” the report stated.
Indonesia has the highest per-capita Muslim population in the world, but legally guarantees religious freedom to people of four other religions, including Christianity. Because of increasing persecution, many supported Jokowi’s candidacy in 2014. His agenda included human rights, freedom, and opposition to religious intolerance.
The deputy director of Asia for Human Rights Watch recently credited Jokowi for publicly admitting Indonesia has a religious intolerance problem. He said militant Islamists have increasingly targeted Christians, along with Shiite and Ahmadiyya Muslims, with intimidation, threats, and violence. As many as 500 Muslims from Indonesia have joined ISIS, according to The Jakarta Post. In 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) openly recruited in Indonesia, prompting government concern about the threat to religious diversity within the country.
In recent years, Indonesian Islamists have threatened and intimidated people, vandalized and burned down churches, and forced congregations underground. Catholic Online reported that since 2007, more than 200 churches have been destroyed.
Rebuilding can be nearly impossible, in part because of government inaction.
Christians already must go through numerous difficult steps, including soliciting support from Muslim neighbors in their communities, just to get government permission to create new churches. Even when they succeed, radical Muslims often challenge their legal status, forcing them to close down while authorities investigate the charges.
Full report at:
http://www.worldmag.com/2015/09/christians_call_on_indonesia_s_president_to_combat_islamic_extremism
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Why not tackle picture-stomping the Islamic way, asks Art
September 9, 2015
PETALING JAYA: Rather than make a “huge noise” over the behaviour of some “rude and uncouth” Bersih 4 rally goers who stomped on the picture of Prime Minister Najib Razak, lawyer and activist Art Harun has suggested that Malaysian authorities use an Islamic approach to deal with the issue instead.
In a Facebook post, Art asked if picture-stomping was considered a crime in the first place, then said, “We profess to be an Islamickque (sic) country. So we’d better follow the sunnah lah. The Prophet was even thrown camel poo at him and he just smiled.” He also related how the Prophet had said he saw angels running away and devils taking their place to stand beside Abu Bakar when the latter chose to retaliate after a woman had insulted him.
“So, we Islam this we Islam that. Why don’t we follow Islam this time?” he asked regarding how the authorities were tackling the picture-stomping issue.
According to a Bernama news report, police had offered a reward to anyone with information about the picture-stompers. On September 7, two individuals, a 14-year-old schoolgirl and a 21-year-old construction site supervisor surrendered themselves at the Bukit Aman police headquarters to facilitate further investigation into the case.
Art however said that when a cow head incident took place in Shah Alam, the authorities’s handling of it was altogether different.
Full report at:
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/09/09/why-not-tackle-picture-stomping-the-islamic-way-asks-art/
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China, Muslim countries reach tourism deals
2015-09-09
YINCHUAN, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Tourism authorities and enterprises in northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, a predominantly Muslim area, have signed business deals with counterparts from Arab countries and Malaysia at a trade fair in regional capital Yinchuan.
The four-day China-Arab States Tour Operators Conference opened on Tuesday in the run-up to the China-Arab States Expo, scheduled to open on Thursday. The conference has drawn hundreds of tourism officials and travel agents from 21 countries including Jordan, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt, Malaysia and the Republic of Korea.
Under the agreements, government agencies and airlines will work together to launch direct flights linking Yinchuan with Amman and Kuala Lumpur.
Hunter International Travel & Tourism, LLC, a travel service in the UAE, agreed to set up a marketing center in Dubai to draw more Middle East tourists to Ningxia.
Travel agencies in China and Arab countries also agreed to offer discounts to tourists from each other's countries.
Full report at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-09/09/c_134607132.htm
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Indonesia to Host “Islam, Mercy for the World” Int’l Conference
September 8, 2015
An international conference titled “Islam, Mercy for the World” will be held from October 13 to 16 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
According to the website of the Islamic Culture and Relations Organization, this was announced in the opening ceremony of an international exhibition held as a sideline program of the conference at Nihzat al-Ulama Central Building in the city.
The ceremony was attended by Ma’rouf Amin, head of the executive council of Nihzat al-Ulama Organization, Aqeel Siraj, head of the organization, Dhulkifli Hassan, head of the People’s Consultative Assembly, members of the assembly, scholars and ambassadors of different countries and Iranian cultural attaché in Indonesia.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Haj Mansour Ramli, head of the organizing committee of the conference said that the international event aims to introduce Islam as a mercy for the world.
Two scholarly seminars titled “Strengthening Islamic Economic and Financial Systems for the World” and “Radical Terrorism Damages Islam, the Mercy for the World” will be held on the sideline of the conference.
Full report at:
http://en.abna24.com/service/east-asia/archive/2015/09/08/709847/story.html
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North America
Americans Still Pay Dearly For George W. Bush’s Crusade Against Islam
September, 8th, 2015
Congress reconvenes after a very generous 5-week paid vacation courtesy of beleaguered American taxpayers’ largesse, their first order of business is passing a spending bill for fiscal 2016. Of course, part and parcel of that process will include religious Republicans attempting to defund Planned Parenthood because fetus, hatred of women, and that “bizarre, inbred abortion posing as Christianity.” The other major obstacle besides attempting to control women is the Republican predilection to maintaining sequestration’s austerity spending levels for domestic programs while increasing funding for the military way beyond the 2015 levels. As a reminder, the 2015 budget included approximately 60 percent for war and about 40 percent for domestic spending; during peacetime.
This is important because although America is officially in peacetime, Americans are still paying dearly for George W. Bush’s war of aggression against innocent Iraqi Muslims at the behest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is beyond dispute that there is a clear and present threat to innocent civilians in the Middle East from Islamic State (IS, ISIL, or ISIS) extremists, but it is also beyond refute that without Bush’s “crusade” against Muslims in Iraq, there would be no such thing as the Islamic State. In fact, there would be no such thing as a “civil war” in Syria if America did not assist Iraqi Shias drive millions of Iraqi Sunnis, Baathists, and Saddam’s military commanders out of Iraq and into Syria. In brief, George W. Bush and company created ISIS and since America created the mess, it is unfortunate, but it is its responsibility to clean it up.
Even though Bush’s religious crusade against Islam will eventually cost Americans well over $6 trillion dollars according to conservative estimates made in 2011, that figure will surely increase drastically due to interest payments on borrowed money, the expense to care for thousands of permanently injured American soldiers for the rest of their lives, and the continuing military cost to deal with George W. Bush’s special creation ISIS. Last week some concerned Americans outraged at the decrepit state of the nation’s infrastructure posed a valid question; “How much is it costing taxpayers for each air strike against known ISIS targets?” The figure is staggering to say the least; particularly when that number is multiplied by the increasing number of isolated, single-target air strikes that occur much more frequently than any American realizes.
Full report at:
http://www.politicususa.com/2015/09/08/americans-pay-dearly-bushs-crusade-muslims.html
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Proposed mosque in Detroit suburb draws sharp opposition
September 8, 2015
STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. — The nation’s largest concentration of Iraqi Christians, many driven from their homeland by persecution at the hands of Muslim groups, is mounting an intensive campaign to block a proposed mosque in Sterling Heights, Michigan — sometimes by deploying public anti-Islam invective unusual in its bluntness even in this post-9/11 era.
The 20,500-square-foot mosque, to be built on four acres by the American Islamic Community Center (AICC), is to stand 60 feet tall along a major thoroughfare in a middle-class neighborhood if the Sterling Heights Planning Commission approves the plan at its meeting this Thursday. Opponents have dubbed it a “mega-mosque,” while Muslim leaders say it is of average size for houses of worship, including some nearby churches.
American leaders of the Chaldeans, an ancient Christian sect also known historically as ethnic Assyrians and originating from Iraq, have insisted in recent days that their opposition is based on concerns about traffic and property values, not religious enmity.
Yet a parade of speakers at a four-hour Sterling Heights City Council meeting on Aug. 13 offered vicious accusations that the group behind the mosque planned to use it to plot terrorist attacks and store weaponry, and attacked women who wear headscarves as scary to children. More of that sort of ire is being spewed on popular Chaldean group pages on Facebook and in signage and comments to local reporters at recent street-side protests near the proposed mosque site.
“This mosque is going to bring people like this. I do not want to be near people like this,” one resident, Saad Antoun, said at the City Council meeting as he held up a photo of women in burkas. “This is not humanity. … It is not right to live with people like this. This is not acceptable at all because these people are scaring the public. And they don’t care. … Can we prohibit this kind of public thing? We see them at the mall every day. We see them at shopping. Can we prohibit this? Can we make law against this? It’s scary and disgusting.”
Another resident, who refused to give his full name and address because he said he was harassed the last time he did so at a City Council meeting, said: “My grandfather built a house that backs up to this so-called mosque, worship, whatever it is. These guys are forcing out of this neighborhood. I have young children, they watch the news and now they’re getting scared. … These people who are coming in are not beneficial to this area at all. Worship, no worship, whatever it may be. This facility is to store weapons, training, whatever it is.”
Jeff Chehab, an AICC board member who is part of the group behind the mosque, did not return calls or emails requesting comment. At the City Council meeting, he defended the plan by saying the mosque would greet about 100 members for Friday prayers and services during Ramadan. “We just want a mosque in our city to call our own,” Chehab said. “We don't plan on being a nuisance to any residents and we are very well-financed.”
Chaldean activist Zina Rose, a lawyer whose family fled Baghdad when she was an infant and who grew up near Sterling Heights, rejected the notion that the opposition is based on anti-Muslim sentiment. Rose pointed to concerns that that a mosque would erode property values.
Still, the long history between Chaldeans and Muslims was also not far from her mind. “I personally see this as being the start of pushing the Chaldean community out of this area of Michigan and shifting the demographics of the area,” she wrote via e-mail. “Given that many of the Chaldeans living in this area are refugees themselves who in the last few years fled persecution in Iraq, I am deeply concerned about their property values going down and if they will be forced to leave this area due to parking, noise issues. Many of these residents … have put any and maybe all of their finances into buying new homes in the U.S. I will not stand by and just allow the little equity they possibly have to disappear due to this project.”
Rose added, “Is it insensitive to build a mega German cultural center in the middle of a heavily concentrated Jewish residential area? Not only would it be insensitive but indecent and appalling.”
Full report at:
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/9/8/proposed-mosque-in-detroit-suburb-draws-sharp-opposition.html
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US Pastor Helping Muslim Syrian Expats Care for Refugees in Turkey Says Many Feel Hopeless
September 8, 2015
A New York City pastor who also travels internationally as a missionary recently shared with The Christian Post the kinds of stories he has been hearing from refugees who fled war-torn Syria while volunteering alongside Muslim expatriates at a clinic in Turkey.
William Devlin, who also goes by PB or Pastor Bill, is co-pastor of Infinity Bible Church in New York City's South Bronx. He is also president of grassroots organization REDEEM! and co-chair of Right To Worship NYC, which advocated for the city to allow Christians to conduct church services in public schools during off-hours.
The Christian Post previously reported on Devlin's humanitarian trips to Sudan to meet with persecuted Christian Meriam Ibrahim and to Iraq to aid Yazidis fleeing Islamic State persecution. More recently, Devlin was briefly detained by authorities during a prison visit with two Presbyterian pastors in Sudan. A network of donors provide the financial support for Devlin's global outreach and the medical supplies he delivers to those in need, the minister previously told CP.
Devlin informed CP via email on Sunday that he has been volunteering his time at a clinic since traveling to Turkey last week. The pastor granted CP's request to conduct a brief interview via email about what he has learned while working with refugees along the Syrian border near Reyhanli, Turkey, where some have fled since the start of their country's devastating civil war in 2012.
A transcript of the interview is below. It has been edited for clarity.
New York City pastor William Devin is seen with new friends in the Syrian border town of Reyhanli, Turkey. Devlin has been volunteering at a clinic aiding refugees fleeing war-torn Syria. This photo was shared with The Christian Post on Sept. 6, 2015.
New York City pastor William Devin is seen with new friends in the Syrian border town of Reyhanli, Turkey. Devlin has been volunteering at a clinic aiding refugees fleeing war-torn Syria. This photo was shared with The Christian Post on Sept. 6, 2015.
CP: What have you been hearing from the folks fleeing Syria and who you've been helping?
Devlin: I have interviewed dozens of Syrian refugees — all have had family members murdered and jailed either by [the] Syrian government or by ISIS. Syrian refugees have a sense of hopelessness, a sense that their country is "lost" and will "never recover." All the refugees I spoke with — doctors, surgeons, professionals, elderly, children, middle-aged, teenagers, (and) children — have experienced psychological war trauma similar to PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). Nightmares, sleeplessness, high anxiety, nervousness, panic attacks, fear — all the standard symptoms of PTSD (seen) in all [and] both genders, from children to [the] elderly.
Full report at:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/u-s-pastor-helping-muslim-syrian-expats-care-for-refugees-in-turkey-says-many-feel-hopeless-144713/
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Obama may not need veto to save Iran nuclear deal
September 9, 2015
Washington: President Barack Obama again warned the Republican controlled Congress that he would veto any move to derail the landmark Iran nuclear deal, but with several more senators backing it, he may not have to wield his pen.
The deal between Iran and six world powers led by the US has now gained the support of 42 senators – enough to bottle up a resolution of disapproval in the 100 member senate with a filibuster and spare Obama the need to overturn it.
White House, press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration felt
“gratified” by the growing support for the Iran nuclear deal He suggested that the White House expects Democratic supporters to filibuster the vote to disapprove the accord.
Supporters “should take the necessary steps in Congress to prevent Congress from undermining the agreement,” Earnest said.
Even as Obama stood on the brink of a legacy defining foreign policy victory, opponents kept up their tirade against the deal with former Vice President Dick Cheney denouncing it as “madness” and “shameful”.
Calling it a “capitulation” by world powers, he said it “strengthens our adversaries, threatens our allies and puts our own security at risk.”
Meanwhile, the White House warned the Congress as it returned from its summer recess that the enactment of a joint “resolution would greatly undermine our national security interests on multiple fronts.”
It would also “deal a devastating blow to America’s credibility as a leader of diplomacy and could ultimately result in the exhaustion of alternatives to military action.”
In selling the deal to the lawmakers, the Obama administration has time and again invoked the support of India saying countries which have paid a hefty economic price would not back the sanctions again if the deal was killed by the Congress.
The new warning came even as four more senators joined the supporters of the deal, taking their number to 42, all of them Democrats or independents who caucus with Democrats.
Announcements in support of the deal Tuesday came from senators Richard Blumenthal, Maria Cantwell, Gary Peters and Ron Wyden, ensuring that the Republicans would not have the 60 votes necessary to close debate on the disapproval resolution.
But Senator Joe Manchin III Tuesday became the fifth Democrat to announce he would vote to disapprove of the deal.
Full report at:
http://www.siasat.com/news/obama-may-not-need-veto-save-iran-nuclear-deal-832481/
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