It’s Lord Ram’s Will That I Attend Bhoomi Pujan: Babri Case Litigant Iqbal Ansari
New Age Islam News Bureau
4
Aug 2020
• Amid Bhopal
Lockdown, Muslim MLA Gets Rakhis Delivered To 20,000 Women
• Muslim Groups
in The USA Said Ad Company Refused to Run Ads for Hindu Groups Planning to
Showcase Images of Lord Ram in Times Square
• Terrorists
‘View Prison as An Opportunity’, Report Warns as Government Pushes to Increase
Sentences
• No One
Understands Spirit of Sacrifice Better Than A Soldier, Says Gen Bajwa
• Hezbollah's
History of Attacks on Saudi Arabia, Region Detailed in New Database
• Turkish
General who Discovered Qatar’s Funding of Extremists, ISIS Oil Smuggling is
Executed
India
• It’s Lord
Ram’s Will That I Attend Bhoomi Pujan: Babri Case Litigant Iqbal Ansari
• Amid Bhopal Lockdown,
Muslim MLA Gets Rakhis Delivered To 20,000 Women
• Pakistan nerve
centre of terrorism, home to largest number of designated terror entities:
Indian envoy to UN
• Nearly 150
militants killed in J&K this year, only 17 of them from Pakistan
--------
North America
• Muslim Groups
in The USA Said Ad Company Refused to Run Ads for Hindu Groups Planning to
Showcase Images of Lord Ram in Times Square
• Mike Pompeo,
Taliban negotiator discuss Afghan peace process: Taliban spokesman
• Exclusive:
U.S. proposes house arrest for 'most dreaded' Taliban prisoners, to end
stalemate
• Trump
Officials Reconsider Prosecuting ISIS ‘Beatles’ Without Death Penalty
--------
Europe
• Terrorists
‘View Prison as An Opportunity’, Report Warns as Government Pushes to Increase
Sentences
• BBC invites
ridicule with sloppy Iran COVID-19 disinformation
• German court
starts retrial of 3 pro-Palestine activists for criticizing Israeli crimes
• Lisa Smith
sent forward for trial on terrorism charges
--------
Pakistan
• No One
Understands Spirit of Sacrifice Better Than A Soldier, Says Gen Bajwa
• Pak PM Imran
Khan hopes for early start of Intra-Afghan talks
• Pakistan asks
UK to hand over Shehbaz’s son-in-law
• Efforts Still
Under Way for Mediation Between Iran, Saudi Arabia: PM
• Opposition has
reached consensus on PTI’s ouster: Nasir Shah
• 6 PTI media
cell members join info ministry at top positions
--------
Arab world
• Hezbollah's
History of Attacks on Saudi Arabia, Region Detailed in New Database
• UAE Mosques to
Open At 50 Per Cent Capacity but Friday Prayers Remain Suspended
• Iraqi-born
Hala Jarbou appointed as US federal judge
• Hezbollah,
Israel jostle in Syria, Lebanon
--------
Mideast
• Turkish
General who Discovered Qatar’s Funding of Extremists, ISIS Oil Smuggling is
Executed
• Big Powers’
Miscalculations Root Cause of Surge in Extremism In West Asia: Iran FM
• Iraqi
Telecommunication Firm Accused of Collaboration in Assassination of General Soleimani
• US oil deal
with Kurdish-led Syrian forces ‘unacceptable’: Turkey
• Israeli army
claims killing four planting bombs along Syria frontier
• Iran sanctions
former aide to ex-US national security adviser
• Israeli
warplanes launch fresh air raids in Gaza Strip
• Russia: Iran’s
nuclear capacity 'absolutely legitimate'
• Iran says it
has arrested head of US-based 'terrorist group'
--------
South Asia
• More Than 300
Prisoners At Large After Daesh Attacks Prison In Afghanistan's Nangarhar
• 18-Hour Long
Fight Between Afghan Forces, Terrorists End, 29 Killed
• Ghani and
Pakistan’s PM discuss peace efforts, other issues of bilateral interest
• Ghani and Modi
discuss evolving security situation in the region and bilateral interests
• Taliban
release details of video teleconference between Pompeo and Mullah Baradar
--------
Africa
• Nigeria Boko
Haram: Governor Says Battle Against Militants Being Sabotaged
• Muslim World
League delivers Eid meat to needy Sudanese families
• Al-Qaeda-Linked
Group Claims Attack on French Forces in Mali
• Suspected Boko
Haram Militants Kill 16 in Northern Cameroon
--------
Southeast Asia
• Health
Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Says Initially Wanted To Become Mufti, But
Advised To Pursue Medicine
• Indonesia must
tackle corona-driven growth in anti-Chinese xenophobia
• Muslims Across
Asia Perform Bayram Prayers with Social Distancing, Masks
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/its-lord-rams-that-i/d/122544
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It’s Lord Ram’s will that I attend bhoomi pujan: Babri case litigant Iqbal Ansari
August 3, 2020
“Our Prime Minister is
coming. I will meet him and give him a ‘Ramnami’ stole (with Ram’s name written
on it) and Ramcharitmanas as a present,” Mr. Ansari, centre, said. File | Photo Credit: PTI
-----
Iqbal Ansari,
who was a litigant in the Ayodhya land dispute case, has decided to gift a ‘Ram
nami’ stole and a copy of the Ramcharitmanas to Prime Minister Narendra Modi
when he attends the bhoomi pujan ceremony for the Ram temple here on Wednesday.
“Yes, I have
received the invitation from Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the
bhoomi pujan ceremony. I will certainly attend it. The dispute is over now
after the court’s verdict,” Ansari, 69, told PTI.
“Our Prime
Minister is coming. I will meet him and give him a ‘Ramnami’ stole (with Ram’s
name written on it) and Ramcharitmanas as a present,” Ansari said.
His father
Hashim Ansari, the oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi land
dispute case, died at the age of 95 in 2016 after which the son started
pursuing the case in the court.
Talking about
Wednesday’s ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction
of a grand Ram temple here, Ansari said, “I belong to Ayodhya. All this
(temple’s construction) will change the fate of Ayodhya. We all want our child
to get better opportunities”. He further said, “I respect sadhus and saints. I
am happy to have received the invitation for the ceremony. I think it is Lord
Ram’s will that I attend it”.
When asked what
he would have done had the court decided the case in his favour, Ansari said he
had wanted the construction of a school and a hospital on the disputed land. “I
feel the city needs development. The future of our children should be safe and
secure and they should get employment. Dispute in the name of religion should
end now and we should let the city witness a new beginning,” he said.
The Supreme
Court had in November last year paved the way for the construction of a Ram
temple by a Trust at the disputed site of the Babri Masjid’s demolition in
Ayodhya, and directed the Centre to allot an alternative 5-acre plot to the
Sunni Waqf Board for building a new mosque at a “prominent” place in the holy
town in Uttar Pradesh.
The state
government has allotted a five-acre land in Dhannipur village in Sohaval Tehsil
of Ayodhya for the mosque’s construction.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/its-lord-rams-will-that-i-attend-bhoomi-pujan-babri-case-litigant-iqbal-ansari-6537721/
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Amid Bhopal
lockdown, Muslim MLA gets rakhis delivered to 20,000 women
By Sravani
Sarkar
August 03, 2020
A collage of the rakhis and
Arif Masood | Via Twitter
-----
In a nice gesture,
the MLA of Bhopal Central constituency, Arif Masood, has sent out rakhi strings
and related auspicious material to doorsteps of about 20,000 Hindu women,
mainly in poor settlements of his constituency, on the eve of Rakshabandhan
festival being celebrated on Monday.
The MLA has said
that he decided to get the rakhi threads and other material delivered to homes,
so that women were not disappointed during the auspicious occasion due to
economic crunch and inflation induced by the COVID-19 lockdown, apart from the
fact shops were closed.
A total lockdown
was clamped in Bhopal on July 25 and is to continue till Tuesday morning, a day
after Rakshabandhan. Normally, rakhi strings and related material are purchased
right on the eve of the festival and the lockdown has hampered this.
Masood got the
free packets of rakhi strings along with coconuts and handkerchiefs—used by
sisters as offerings for their brothers while tying the sacred thread to
them—delivered to doorsteps of residents through Congress workers. Interestingly,
the rakhi strings are of bracelet designs with the ‘Om’ sign—considered sacred
by Hindus—etched on the central panel.
The MLA has said
that Rakshabandhan is an auspicious occasion where sisters tie the sacred
thread to the wrist of their brothers and the brothers promise to protect them.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a lockdown since the past three
months and people are facing a lot of difficulties including economic crunch.
Also as shops are closed due to the current phase of lockdown in Bhopal,
sisters have not been able to purchase rakhi and other necessary material. So,
I decided to get these things delivered to their doorsteps,” Masood said.
Masood added
that he celebrates the festival with the sisters (women) in his constituency
every year and could gauge their distress due to the current situation.
Masood, one of
the two Muslim MLAs of Congress in the state (both from Bhopal), often courts
controversy with his statements, several times against his own party too. He
had threatened to resign his seat in February this year if the then Congress
government decided to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and go
ahead with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Madhya Pradesh.
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2020/08/03/amid-bhopal-lockdown-muslim-mla-gets-rakhis-delivered-to-20k-women.html
--------
Muslim Groups in
The USA Said Ad Company Refused to Run Ads for Hindu Groups Planning to
Showcase Images of Lord Ram in Times Square
August 4, 2020
The images of the words ‘Jai
Shri Ram’, Lord Ram’s portraits and videos as well as pictures of the laying of
the foundation stone will be displayed across billboards in Times Square,
organisers had said.
------
There will be no
display of images of Lord Ram on some of the main billboards in New York’s
iconic Times Square on August 5 as the temple’s groundbreaking ceremony takes
place in Ayodhya.
An ad company,
which manages main billboards, has reportedly refused to run the campaign after
a Muslim coalition in the US asked the agency not to display Lord Ram’s images
in Times Square.
A group of
Muslim groups in the USA said ad company ‘Branded Cities’, which manages
digital advertisement board for Nasdaq in Times Square and runs prominent
digital boards, refused to run ads for Hindu groups planning to showcase images
of Lord Ram on its billboards in Times Square, a report in Clarion India said.
The giant Nasdaq
screen and the 17,000-square-foot wrap-around LED display screen, considered
among the largest continuous exterior displays in the world, were among
prominent billboards that were to be leased for the occasion.
A report in
Clarion India said ImanNet, one of the Muslim groups part of the coalition, in
a statement claimed they had been “urging putting pressure on the mayor of New
York, the City Council of New York , the governor, senators and members of
House of Representatives to stop the right wing Hindu groups from advertising
on Times Square billboards”.
Dr Shaik Ubaid,
the President of ImanNet said the ad company refusing to run advertisements to
celebrate the groundbreaking ceremony is “a great victory for pluralism, human
rights and rule of law”.
Last week, there
were reports that to celebrate a one-of-a-kind and historic event, groups in
the US had said they would make arrangements for beaming of images of Lord Ram
across the giant billboards in the iconic Times Square on August 5.
Community leader
and President of the American India Public Affairs Committee Jagdish Sewhani
had told news agency PTI that this was part of arrangements to celebrate the
historic moment.
Sewhani told PTI
that among the prominent billboards that were being leased for the occasion
will be the giant Nasdaq screen.
Beginning 8 am
on August 5 till 10 pm, images of the words ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in Hindi and
English, Lord Ram’s portraits and videos, 3D portraits of the temple’s design
and architecture as well as pictures of the laying of the foundation stone by
PM Modi will be displayed across several billboards, he had added.
Sewhani added
that the Times Square commemoration was being made possible with the help and
support of the community and sponsors.
AUG 5 CEREMONY
Prime Minister
Modi had announced the formation of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra
Trust in February.
The Trust has
invited Modi to lay the foundation stone of the grand Ram Temple.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi is scheduled to lay the foundation stone for construction of the
Ram Temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday.
https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/lord-ram-images-times-square-muslim-groups-petition-ad-company-new-york-1707609-2020-08-04
--------
Terrorists ‘View
Prison As An Opportunity’, Report Warns As Government Pushes To Increase Sentences
Lizzie Dearden
August 02, 2020
Armed police at the scene
after the Streatham attack this year ( PA )
----
Jailed
terrorists may see their time in prison “as an opportunity” to become more
extreme and prepare for attacks, a report has warned as the government pushes
to increase sentences.
Research by the
International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) found that at least
five terror attacks have been plotted or carried out by serving and released
prisoners in Britain since 2016.
They include the
stabbings at Fishmongers’ Hall and Streatham, as well as a plot by a cell who
met inside prison.
The report,
which covers 10 European countries including the UK, warned that jihadis were
“increasingly turning prisons into a theatre of conflict and confrontation”.
“There is an
emerging view among extremists that prison is an opportunity, not necessarily
just to recruit or network, but to also work on themselves,” it said.
“Imprisoned
recruiters learn psychology to become better recruiters, for example, while
imprisoned ideologues learn Islamic and jihadist history to become better
ideologues.
“At the same
time, they see prison as a test of their commitment to the cause and a place to
recover from Isis’s battlefield losses and the wider upheaval in the jihadist
scene.”
The report was
published after the House of Commons passed a set of controversial laws aiming
to increase prison sentences for terrorists.
The
Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Bill contains a range of powers to increase
both the punishment for terror offences and the proportion of a sentence spent
inside jail.
The ICSR’s Rajan
Basra, who co-authored the report, told The Independent: “Increasing sentences
may be a popular idea, but if that’s not matched with investment in prisons to
avoid basic issues such as overcrowding and understaffing, then it’s just a
partial measure and is only shifting the problem to the prison setting.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/terror-attacks-prisons-report-counter-terrorism-bill-sentencing-a9637101.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
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No one
understands spirit of sacrifice better than a soldier, says Gen Bajwa
04 Aug 2020
RAWALPINDI:
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Saturday said that
Pakistan was aware of the enemy’s design to destabilise the country and the
region, adding that the army was fully prepared and capable of thwarting any
such “covert or overt undertakings”.
According to
Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), he said this while visiting troops
deployed on frontlines along the Line of Control (LoC) in Khuiratta Sector as
the nation celebrates Eidul Azha.
“No one
understands this spirit of sacrifice better than a soldier,” he said while
interacting with troops, adding that Eidul Azha epitomises the essence of
unconditional sacrifice.
“Let us also
reiterate our pledge to always stand by our Kashmiri brethren braving Indian
atrocities for their right of self-determination despite all odds,” ISPR quoted
General Qamar as saying.
The army chief
said that we are aware of the enemy’s design to destabilise our country and
this region. “Pakistan Army is fully prepared and capable of thwarting any such
covert or overt undertakings.”
The COAS spent
time with troops on the first day of Eid and commended their high morale,
operational readiness and continuous vigil being maintained along the LoC.
Corps Commander
Rawalpindi Corps, Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas received the army chief at the
LoC.
Later, General
Bajwa also visited Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology And National Institute
of Heart Diseases (AFIC and NIHD) and performed the groundbreaking of NIHD
Centre of Excellence in Prevention and Cardiovascular Research and Development
(NEPCARD) where indigenous research on heart diseases will be carried out
including their preventive measures.
Appreciating
contributions of Army Medical Corps, the COAS said that AFIC and NIHD being
state of the art facility is providing high-quality medical care at the
national level. He especially lauded the contribution of doctors and healthcare
workers as frontline soldiers against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lieutenant
General Muhammad Aamer, Adjutant General Pakistan Army and Lieutenant General
Nigar Johar, Surgeon General Pakistan Army received the COAS upon his arrival
at AFIC and NIHD.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/03/no-one-understands-spirit-of-sacrifice-better-than-a-soldier-says-gen-bajwa/
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Hezbollah's
history of attacks on Saudi Arabia, region detailed in new database
03 August 2020
A recently
published database tracking Hezbollah’s terrorist activities details the
Iran-backed group’s attacks against targets in Saudi Arabia as well as targets
globally.
Citing a CIA
report, the US-based Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) detailed
the 1985 explosions that targeted two Riyadh pizza parlors. An anonymous caller
claimed responsibility on behalf of Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization
(IJO).
For all the latest
headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Another
terrorist activity carried out by Hezbollah and described by WINEP is the 1984
assassination of a Saudi Arabian engineer in Spain’s Marbella.
In 1987,
Hezbollah al-Hejaz, the group’s arm in Saudi Arabia, set fire to an oil
facility in Ras Tanura.
The March 1988
bombing of fuel storage tanks at the Saudi Petrochemical Company (SADAF) plant
in Jubail and a separate explosion at the Ras al-Juayma, which failed to
detonate, are also reported via the interactive map.
Beyond terrorist
attacks, the database includes detailed reports of how Hezbollah operatives
would meet abroad, including during the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. In
2008, for example, Palestinian Muhammad Suleiman met a Hezbollah agent during
Hajj, where he was asked to gather intelligence on the Israeli army. Suleiman
was arrested in 2009 on suspicion of being a member of Hezbollah.
Read more: US
does not want to see ‘new version of Hezbollah’ on Saudi border: Brian Hook
Hezbollah has
also actively attempted to sow strife across the region, with the interactive
map depicting hundreds of incidents. The United Arab Emirates dismantled a
Hezbollah cell that was working for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) dating back to 2013.
The “Lebanese
Hezbollah Interactive Map” shows how the cell operatives cooperated across
Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and the UAE to report on government, security, military
and other issues involving the the UAE.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/08/04/Hezbollah-s-history-of-attacks-on-Saudi-Arabia-region-detailed-in-new-database.html
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Turkish General
who Discovered Qatar’s Funding of Extremists, ISIS Oil Smuggling is Executed
2 August, 2020
A senior officer
who discovered the funneling of illicit Qatari funding for extremists in Syria
through Turkey was executed at the orders of a general-turned-war profiteer,
who was identified as working with Turkish intelligence to deepen the conflict
in Syria, reported Nordic Monitor.
The bombshell
revelation was made by Col. Fırat Alakuş, who worked in the Special Forces
Command’s (Özel Kuvvetler Komutanlığı, or ÖKK) intelligence section, at a court
hearing whose transcript was obtained by Nordic Monitor.
“Testifying
under oath at the Ankara 17th High Criminal Court in the Turkish capital on
March 20, 2019, Alakuş revealed that Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı, in charge of the
ÖKK at the time, ordered the assassination of Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi because
Terzi discovered that Aksakallı was working secretly with MIT in running
illegal and clandestine operations in Syria for personal gain while dragging
Turkey deeper into the Syrian civil war,” it said.
“[Terzi] knew
how much of the funding delivered [to Turkey] by Qatar for the purpose of
purchasing weapons and ammunition for the opposition was actually used for that
and how much of it was actually used by public officials, how much was
embezzled,” Alakuş said.
He further noted
that the Qatari case was only one example of how funds were misdirected and
that there were other countries whose funds were also misappropriated after
their transfer to Turkey.
He added that
Terzi knew all the dirty dealings of Turkish intelligence and about a gang in
the military led by Aksakallı that was outside the chain of command and lacking
authorization from the top brass at the General Staff, said Nordic Monitor.
He maintained
that this was the backstory and the actual reason why Aksakallı gave multiple
orders for the execution of Terzi, who was summoned to Ankara from a border
province on the pretext of providing security at headquarters against a
terrorist threat in the Turkish capital.
Alakuş, who was
in a position to have knowledge of secret dealings as head of the ÖKK
intelligence unit, made other claims as well.
“[Terzi] was
aware of who in the government was involved in an oil-smuggling operation from
Syria, how the profits were shared and what activities they were involved in,”
the colonel said.
He added Terzi
was also aware of the activities of some government officials who brought
senior leaders of armed radical groups for medical treatment to Turkey under
the guise of moderate Free Syrian Army troops and how much money they received
in bribes for services rendered, a breach of Turkish law.
Alakuş is a
veteran officer who served as head of the intelligence and counterintelligence
bureau of the Special Forces Command between 2014 and 2016, said Nordic
Monitor. He was assigned to work on a team that was set up against ISIS in Iraq
from December 2015 and served six months there.
On June 8, he
was appointed commander of the 3rd Contingent within the 2nd Special Forces
Brigade in Ankara. Among his responsibilities were protecting the top brass,
organizing a rapid response to immediate and emerging terror threats and
deploying snipers and troops for special missions.
According to
Alakuş’s testimony, Terzi was assigned to work on the Syria file by the General
Staff, and he knew all the details of the operations the Turkish government had
been conducting across the border.
He was in charge
of a military base code named ÖKİ-2, located in Turkey’s southeastern border
province of Kilis. The operations in Iraq were run from another base, ÖKİ-1,
under the commander of Halil Soysal at the time. The base is situated in the
district of Silopi in Turkey’s southeastern Şırnak province, which has a border
with both Syria and Iraq.
“Now, Semih
Terzi was targeted because of his intimate knowledge of affairs relating to
Syria, Your Honor. What is this information? If you want, I can expand on it,
some of which is critical,” Alakuş explained during a hearing.
He went on to
say that Terzi knew how much arms and ammunition were provided to various
terrorist groups in Syria under the pretext of assisting the Free Syrian Army.
“[Terzi] was aware of which pubic officials were assisting in arms smuggling to
Syria and for what purpose,” he stated, according to Nordic Monitor.
“[Terzi’s
murder] had to do with a trap devised by Zekai Aksakallı, who did not want such
facts to come out into the open,” Alakuş testified.
According to
Alakuş, Terzi also knew a lot about what was going on in Iraq. He said the
brigadier general had intimate knowledge of hostage negotiations with ISIS that
were conducted by MIT in order to free Turkish hostages taken when ISIS
occupied the Turkish Consulate in Mosul.
He said some of
the money given to ISIS by Turkey was actually pocketed by a Turkish official
who used the embezzled funds to purchase some two dozen apartments in Ankara.
He did not name the official in his testimony.
“Semih Terzi
knew very well how the oil taken from ISIS [in Syria] was rerouted [to Turkey]
through Iraq’s [Kurdistan] Regional Government with the help of a prominent
local politician [in Kurdistan] and with the cooperation of [Turkish] public
officials and using the capabilities of a [Turkish] government agency and how
much commission was taken,” Alakuş explained.
During a coup
attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016, Terzi was invited to Ankara by Aksakallı
despite a flight ban imposed by the General Staff, and Terzi’s flight was
allowed to take off from Silopi with special permission. In the meantime,
Aksakallı ordered a noncommissioned officer named Ömer Halisdemir, an aide to
the lieutenant general, to kill Terzi when he arrived at Special Forces Command
headquarters.
Halisdemir shot
and wounded Terzi as he was about to enter to the headquarters. Terzi was taken
to the Gülhane Military Medical Academy (GATA) but did not survive the gunshot
wounds.
On June 20, 2019
Alakuş was convicted and sentenced to aggravated life on coup plotting charges
based on dubious evidence. Aksakallı, who gave a direct order to Alakuş to go
to the General Staff, was not even named as a suspect in the case because he
played a role in executing the false flag coup bid in cooperation with the
Turkish intelligence agency. He was later rewarded with a promotion to
lieutenant general in 2016. He was commander of a Turkish military operation in
Syria in August 2016. He was assigned as commander of the 2nd Army Corps and
retired in July 2020.
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2425046/turkish-general-who-discovered-qatar%E2%80%99s-funding-extremists-isis-oil-smuggling?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
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India
Pakistan nerve
centre of terrorism, home to largest number of designated terror entities:
Indian envoy to UN
Aug 4, 2020
NEW YORK:
Calling Pakistan a nerve centre of terrorism, India's Permanent Representative
to the United Nations, Ambassador TS Tirumurti, has lashed out at Islamabad for
harbouring terror groups, saying it is home to the largest number of listed
terrorists internationally and designated terrorist entities.
In an interview
to ANI, Ambassador Tirumurti on Monday (local time) said terror groups such as
Jamat-ud Dawah, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen are
continuing their operations from Pakistan.
"It's a
well-known fact that Pakistan is the nerve centre of terrorism. Pakistan is
home to the largest number of listed terrorists internationally designated
terrorist entities and individuals, including Jamat-ud Dawah, Lashkar-e-Taiba
and Jaish-e-Mohammed and Hizbul Mujahideen, they are continuing their
operations from Pakistan. Let me state that the UN and its reports have
reiterated the involvement of Pakistan in terrorist attacks abroad. You know,
even in the recent report of the analytical support and sanctions monitoring
team," he said.
Referring to
United Nations' 26th report of the Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring
Team concerning ISIS, the ambassador said there is a clear acknowledgement that
the leadership and funding for the terrorist entities like Al-Qaeda, ISIS
emanate from Pakistan.
"Under the
1267 Committee, which submits its report periodically terrorist activities of ISIL
al Qaeda and its affiliates. There are several direct references to Pakistan's
involvement," Tirumurti said
"This
report, clearly mentions that Pakistanis are in leadership positions of
terrorist groups, for example, the report mentions by name the leader of the Al
Qaeda who is a Pakistani national, the names of the head of Isil and former
head again Pakistani national clearly mentioned in this report. There is a
clear acknowledgement that the leadership and funding for these entities
emanate from Pakistan," he added.
The UN report
revealed that an estimated 6,000-6,500 Pakistani terrorists are in neighbouring
Afghanistan, most of them with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, posing a threat
to both the countries.
"In another
report released in May, it mentions that Pakistan based terrorists
organizations Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed continue to have a large
presence of terrorist fighters in Afghanistan and are involved in carrying out
terrorist attacks there," the Ambassador said.
Tirumurti said
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has acknowledged that there are around
40,000 terrorists present in Pakistan and they have attacked neighbouring
countries.
"Even in
the recent resolution of the UN Security Council on the session of hostilities
in the context of Covid-19, the security council has clearly recognised that
they need to make an exemption for countries fighting against globally
designated terrorist entities and individuals thereby in effect vindicating our
position," he said.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pakistan-nerve-centre-of-terrorism-home-to-largest-number-of-designated-terror-entities-indian-envoy-to-un/articleshow/77342742.cms
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Nearly 150
militants killed in J&K this year, only 17 of them from Pakistan
by Deeptiman
Tiwary
August 4, 2020
Security forces
have killed nearly 150 militants in Jammu and Kashmir in the first seven months
of this year — a significant success as compared to 157 militants killed in
2019. However, with only 17 foreign terrorists (FTs) killed till July end this
year, the number of militants from Pakistan killed by the security forces has
nosedived by almost 50% compared to last year.
The data is at
odds with the claim of J&K Police that recruitment of local militants has
gone down since the scrapping of special status of J&K.
In 2020, local
militants accounted for more than 88% of militant deaths in security
operations. In 2019, they accounted for 79% of militant deaths in encounters.
In 2019, J&K Police, the CRPF and the Army killed 32 militants who had come
from across the border. A majority of them (19) belonged to JeM.
Of the nearly
150 militants killed by security forces in J&K till July this year, 17 were
from Pakistan. Among them, seven were from JeM, three from LeT, one from Hizb-ul-Mujahideen,
while the allegiance of six could not be established. Intelligence inputs
suggest there are 80-100 Pakistani militants in the Valley.
Sources said
there are multiple reasons for the fewer deaths of militants from across the
border this year. “One, it is assumed that for much of the year Pakistan asked
its operatives in the Valley to lie low as until June end, the sword of
Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklisting was hanging over its head. It
is evident FTs are not engaging security forces this year as often. There have
been hardly any fidayeen attacks or storming of security force premises this
year,” a senior security establishment officer said.
Another officer
pointed out that much of the intelligence generated has been about movement of
militants in South Kashmir and so there have been more operations in that
region. South Kashmir sends maximum number of local militants to outfits such
as Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.
This is also
reflected in the data. In 2020, of 150-odd militants killed, only 15 were
killed in operations in North Kashmir. While 10 were killed in Srinagar, the
rest were all from south Kashmir. In 2019, 41 of the 157 militants killed were
in operations in North Kashmir, four were killed in Srinagar and the rest in
South Kashmir.
“It is in a
North Kashmir operation that you are most likely to encounter a Pakistani
terrorist. They cross the borders and then either straightaway launch an attack
or hide in North Kashmir for instructions. This year it appears the FTs are not
leaving the jungles or are hiding in remote villages. Things will be clear only
in the next couple of months,” a J&K Police officer said.
The narrative
also fits with Pakistan reportedly pushing a new group in Kashmir, The
Resistance Force, following abrogation of Article 370, sources said. The group
has been increasingly claiming attacks in North Kashmir and using social media
to project itself as a local rebellion. Many of its members, however, have been
identified as either Pakistani or belonging to outfits such as LeT or JeM after
they were killed in encounters by security forces.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/nearly-150-militants-killed-in-jk-this-year-only-17-of-them-from-pakistan-6538108/
--------
North America
Mike Pompeo,
Taliban negotiator discuss Afghan peace process: Taliban spokesman
03 August 2020
US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo held a video meeting on Monday with the Taliban’s chief
negotiator, Mullah Baradar Akhund, to discuss the Afghanistan peace process, a
Taliban spokesman said.
Pompeo and
Baradar, who is based in Qatar, also discussed the issue of prisoners whose
release by the Afghan government is demanded by the insurgents, Suhail Shaheen,
the Taliban spokesman in Doha, said on Twitter.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The Taliban want
the prisoners freed before they join talks with government officials and other
Afghans on a political settlement to decades of war.
The State
Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Both sides
talked about the inception of intra-Afghan negotiations” and they “emphasized
that the release of the remaining prisoners are essential for commencement of
intra-Afghan negotiations,” Shaheen wrote.
The meeting
between Pompeo and Baradar, the Taliban’s Doha-based deputy leader, came as
Afghan security forces ended a siege of a major prison in eastern Afghanistan
by ISIS militants in which hundreds of prisoners escaped.
It was not
immediately known if the escapees included any of the prisoners whose release
the Taliban is demanding.
The release of
the Taliban prisoners has become a major hurdle to the convening of
intra-Afghan peace talks, which were to have started by March 10.
A Feb. 29
US-Taliban agreement for a US troop withdrawal called for Kabul to free up to
5,000 Taliban prisoners in return for the release by the insurgents of up to
1,000 government detainees.
The Taliban has
released around 1,000 detainees. The Afghan government, under US pressure, has
freed around 4,600 Taliban prisoners named on a list compiled by the
insurgents.
Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani, however, is resisting freeing the remaining 400 named on the
list, contending they were involved in serious crimes, including a massive 2017
bombing against the German embassy and other bloody attacks.
Instead, Ghani
is expected to release 500 prisoners who are not on the list, and has called a
traditional assembly of tribal elders from across the country - known as a loya
jirga - to consult on whether to free those remaining on the list.
The assembly is
expected to be held later this month.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/08/03/Mike-Pompeo-Taliban-negotiator-discuss-Afghan-peace-process-Taliban-spokesman.html
--------
Exclusive: U.S.
proposes house arrest for 'most dreaded' Taliban prisoners, to end stalemate
JULY 31, 2020
Rupam Jain,
Charlotte Greenfield, Jonathan Landay
MUMBAI/ISLAMABAD/WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The United States has proposed that hundreds of Taliban prisoners
be transferred to house arrest in a supervised facility when they are freed
from Afghan jails, three senior official sources said, a proposed solution for
a deadlock that is holding up peace talks.
The proposal for
Taliban fighters accused of conducting some of the bloodiest attacks in
Afghanistan to be placed in a location where they would be under both Taliban
and Afghan government surveillance was presented this week to the warring
Afghan sides by top U.S. diplomats, the sources said.
The diplomats
are trying to kickstart peace negotiations in Doha that have been delayed over
the prisoner issue. The Afghan government is resisting freeing the final batch
out of some 5,000 prisoners whose release was demanded by the insurgent group
as a condition to start peace talks.
U.S. Special
Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad pressed Taliban leaders and President Ashraf Ghani to
break the deadlock during a visit to Kabul this week. [nL2N2EW09B]
Around 400
prisoners are still in government custody, with Western allies also expressing
concerns over releasing around half of those.
“The Americans
and their allies agree that it would be insane to let some of the most dreaded
Taliban fighters walk out freely...the Afghan forces arrested them for
conducting some of the most heinous crimes against humanity,” said a senior
western diplomat in Kabul.
Khalilzad’s
office was not immediately available for comment on the proposals. A spokesman
for Ghani declined to comment.
The State
Department referred Reuters to a statement it released after Khalilzad’s visit,
which said he had pressed for “ongoing efforts to resolve the remaining issues
ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations”, including the prisoner release, but did
not detail any proposals.
MAJOR ATTACKS
Of the 400
prisoners left, around 200 are accused by the Afghan government of
masterminding attacks on embassies, public squares and government offices,
killing thousands of civilians in recent years and including a huge 2017 blast
targeting the German Embassy in Kabul.
Two Taliban
sources and one former senior Afghan official said senior members of the
militant Haqqani Network, which has ties to the Taliban, are also among the
group.
On Friday, Ghani
ordered the release of 500 Taliban prisoners who are not part of the group’s
list.
However the two
Taliban and two diplomatic sources said the insurgent group was insistent on
its demand for the release of the remaining 400 prisoners on the list.
“The Taliban are
adamant about their release, the only middle path is to get the Afghan
government to hand these militants to the Taliban if they agree to put them in
house arrest,” a second diplomat in Kabul said on condition of anonymity.
RANGE OF PROPOSALS
An Asian
diplomat said Khalilzad had presented a range of proposals, including the
option of moving them to a jointly guarded facility.
He said other
ideas put forward were releasing the prisoners without publicly announcing it,
agreeing to release prisoners shortly after negotiations start, or persuading
the Taliban to compromise on the most contentious 200 prisoners.
Washington is
keen to break the deadlock in order to deliver concrete results ahead of the
November U.S. presidential election in which President Donald Trump will want
to tout his success in ending the 19-year-long Afghan war.
Washington also
wants to adhere to a troop withdrawal deadline reached in February with the
Taliban.
“Khalilzad is
really feeling the heat now,” the Asian diplomat said. “The Americans have
become the constant mediators between the two Afghan sides and it’s not easy.”
Two senior
Taliban members said Khalilzad had promised the group he would resolve the
prisoner issue soon, and they expected the final release to take place over the
Eid holiday weekend, likely Saturday or Sunday.
Suhail Shaheen,
a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, declined to comment on the
proposal to hold some Taliban fighters in a jointly guarded facility.
He said the
group would shortly complete the release of 1,000 prisoners it is holding and
wanted the Afghan government to complete its side of the prisoner exchange.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-afghanistan-taliban-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-proposes-house-arrest-for-most-dreaded-taliban-prisoners-to-end-stalemate-idUSKCN24W2CP?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
--------
Trump Officials
Reconsider Prosecuting ISIS ‘Beatles’ Without Death Penalty
By Charlie
Savage and Eric Schmitt
July 31, 2020
WASHINGTON — The
Trump administration is trying again to find a way to resolve the cases of two
British Islamic State detainees who are notorious for their roles in the
torture and killing of Western hostages, and who have been held in indefinite
wartime detention by the American military in Iraq since October, according to
officials.
One option under
renewed consideration is for the Justice Department to drop its insistence that
prosecutors be free to bring capital charges against the men, half of a cell of
Britons called the “Beatles” by their captives because of their accents.
Since the men
were captured in early 2018, when Jeff Sessions was attorney general, the
Justice Department has insisted that it be free to seek their execution. But at
an interagency National Security Council meeting this week, Attorney General
William P. Barr did not rule out dropping that stance, officials said.
A chief obstacle
to bringing the men to trial has been a need for evidence held by the British
government. Britain has abolished the death penalty and a British court has
blocked it from cooperating in capital charges. Litigation is slowly
continuing, but assurances that American prosecutors would not seek the death
penalty could swiftly make the evidence available.
Mr. Barr’s indication
that he is at least willing to consider changing the department’s position was
first reported by The Washington Post, and an official familiar with internal
deliberations confirmed it.
But several
officials stressed that this did not amount to a final policy decision, and was
just one of several previously rejected options now being reconsidered.
Other potential
resolutions that are being reopened for discussion, they said, include
transferring custody of the men to the Iraqi government for prosecution; taking
them to the American military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for continued
wartime detention without trial; and revisiting whether the British evidence is
truly crucial — or whether prosecutors might be able to mount a capital trial
without it.
But since all of
the other options bring their own problems and complexities, the Justice
Department’s willingness to discuss the idea of seeking life in prison instead
of death was seen internally as potentially significant.
The families of
four of their American victims have long said it would be a mistake to send the
detainees to Guantánamo Bay or to seek the death penalty, and instead have
advocated seeking justice in a way that would not make the men into martyrs.
Representatives
for the National Security Council and the Justice Department declined to
comment. The officials familiar with internal deliberations spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
The meeting was
scheduled shortly after the four families published a column in The Post last
week reiterating their call for the department to move forward with prosecuting
the men, expressing worries that they could escape justice and restating their
opposition to continuing to hold them in long-term detention without trial.
“We implore the
Trump administration: Please, for the sake of truth, for the sake of justice,
order these Islamic State suspects transferred to the United States to face
trial,” they wrote.
The two men,
Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, were part of a cell whose gruesome
hostage beheadings for Islamic State propaganda videos drew widespread
attention in 2014. Among their victims was James Foley, the American journalist
who was beheaded that August.
Another member
of the cell, Mohammed Emwazi, or “Jihadi John,” is believed to have killed Mr.
Foley. Mr. Emwazi was later killed in a drone strike. A fourth man, Aine Davis,
has been imprisoned in Turkey on terrorism charges.
Mr. Kotey and
Mr. Elsheikh were captured in Syria by a Kurdish militia, which held them there
with numerous other Islamic State detainees from Western countries that have
refused to take back their citizens. The British government moved to strip them
of citizenship and made clear it did not want to take them back.
In part because
Britain was not moving to solve the problem created by its own citizens, the
Trump administration was not willing to nod to its legal system by offering an
assurance that American prosecutors, if they handled it, would not seek to
impose the death penalty, which remains legal in the United States.
After initial
reluctance, the British government moved to share the evidence without such
assurances, and showed witness statements and other material it had gathered
about the two men to the Justice Department. But testimony from British
government officials would also probably be necessary at any trial to make the
evidence admissible.
To block
continued cooperation, Mr. Elsheikh’s mother filed a lawsuit, and won an
initial ruling in March.
In the meantime,
in October, the Turkish military moved into northern Syria against the
American-backed Kurds after getting a green light from President Trump, calling
into question the militia’s ability to continue securely holding some 11,000
captured Islamic State fighters.
The American
military took custody of Mr. Kotey and Mr. Elsheikh and took them to Iraq to
ensure they would remain locked up. But since then it has grown increasingly
impatient to hand them off.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/world/middleeast/isis-beatles-hostages.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
--------
Europe
BBC invites
ridicule with sloppy Iran COVID-19 disinformation
03 August 2020
The British
Broadcasting Corporation’s (BBC) latest propaganda stunt against Iran is set to
backfire badly as the shaky foundations on which it is built rapidly unravel.
On August 01,
BBC Farsi (which is the Persian language arm of the broadcaster) claimed to
have received from “an unnamed source working with Iran’s government” the “real
number” of COVID-19 cases.
The so-called
“unnamed” source is alleged to have passed documents onto BBC Farsi which
purports to show that more than 450,000 Iranians have been infected with
COVID-19 with 42,000 allegedly dying by July 21.
The original BBC
Farsi story has been regurgitated by the core (English-speaking) BBC in order
to amplify the disinformation campaign against Iran.
Flawed
allegations
Leaving aside
the British state broadcaster’s political considerations, there are three core
problems with the BBC’s allegations.
First and
foremost, the sourcing is poor as it relies on a single “anonymous” source
whose facts and figures cannot be independently verified.
Moreover, given
the prevalence of coronavirus in Iran (as in many other countries) how could a
single source have access to exhaustive data on all aspects of the coronavirus
pandemic in a country as large as Iran?
Second, as
independent experts have pointed out, Iran’s official figures have been fully
verified by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In an interview
with the BBC (see below), Iranian academic Seyed Mohammad Marandi, said that
Iran has provided far more detailed information to WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean
Office than comparable countries.
In other words,
instead of interrogating the official coronavirus figures for countries like
Saudi Arabia (which has supplied far less detailed information to WHO) the BBC
has been politically motivated by focusing on Iran.
Third, the BBC
has chosen to not only ignore the real cover-up, but in fact it is actively
complicit in it. The real cover-up being the impact of US sanctions on Iran’s
ability to combat the pandemic.
Frozen funds
By way of an
example, South Korea has frozen up to $9 billion of Iranian oil money and is
refusing to transfer it to Iran citing US sanctions and associated pressure.
That is money
that Iran can utilize to manage the economic fallout of the pandemic. Hitherto,
Iran has avoided a harsh lockdown for fear of damaging the economy.
And yet despite
the sanctions, and according to all credible accounts, Iran has still fared
relatively well in containing the pandemic and managing its socio-economic
repercussions.
Iran vs UK
The irony here
is that Iran has done far better than the UK, which is not under any form of
international pressure, let alone comprehensive US sanctions.
Indeed, the
fictitious death toll attributed to Iran (42,000) is still lower than the UK’s
official death toll of 46,210 as of August 03.
Not content with
Iran’s resolute stance on US sanctions and other pressures, it seems the BBC is
hell-bent on distorting Iran’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/631017/UK-Iran-Coronavirus-BBC-Farsi-Fake-News-
--------
German court
starts retrial of 3 pro-Palestine activists for criticizing Israeli crimes
03 August 2020
A court in
Germany has started the retrial of three pro-Palestine human rights activists,
known as Humboldt 3, who had spoken out against Israeli crimes against the
Palestinian people.
The trio –
Palestinian activist Majed Abusalama and Israeli activists Ronnie Barkan and
Stavit Sinai – are facing trial for their involvement in a June 2017 protest at
Humboldt University, in the German capital Berlin, against Israeli Knesset
Member (MK) for the Yesh Atid party, Aliza Lavie.
The three
activists, known as Humboldt 3, were charged after they interrupted Lavie’s
talk in 2017 about the massacre of civilians in Gaza during a speech at the
Humboldt University of Berlin.
Lavie had given
a speech at the university during which she downplayed Israel’s ongoing
occupation of the Palestinian territories (oPt) and its treatment of
Palestinians, and expressed her support of Israel’s 2014 war on the
already-besieged Gaza Strip. The activists disrupted the talk and challenged
Lavie on her opinions, but are now facing charges of trespassing and assault
for their actions.
The trio first
stood trial in March last year, with their lawyers saying there is “no clear
evidence of criminal activity and that the charges are disproportionate to what
actually happened.”
Arguing that
putting the three activists on trial would be in breach of their rights to
freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, the lawyers also said they are
“worried that the case could set a precedent by conflating criticism of Israel
and Zionism […] with anti-Semitism.”
In a statement
released at the same time, the activists hit back at the charges and said,
“having criminal allegations leveled against activists is a common and standard
practice in Germany,” adding that, “Where, if not in Berlin, should we be able
to speak up against such immoral and criminal practices?”
The three
pro-Palestine activists went on to say in the statement that, “We are, however,
determined to use our relative privilege in order to turn the tables against
Israel and take it to court. We do not concern ourselves with the consequences,
but rather with the opportunity of challenging Israel along with Germany’s
complicity in crimes against humanity.”
Meanwhile, a
group of people gathered outside the German Embassy in Paris in June and
delivered a statement against the trial.
The legal action
against the trio is seen in light of Germany’s efforts to crack down on
criticism of Israel and anyone affiliated with the international Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which targets Israel.
In a move
welcomed by the Tel Aviv regime last year, the majority of lawmakers in the
German parliament, Bundestag, condemned the anti-Israeli movement and voted in
favor of a motion that accused the BDS of using anti-Semitic tactics to fulfill
its political goals.
The BDS movement
was initiated in 2005 by over 170 Palestinian organizations and later turned
international, calling for people and groups across the world to cut economic,
cultural and academic ties to Tel Aviv.
Israel and its
allies in Washington have long railed against the BDS, which is by and large
meant to drum up support for an end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
lands.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/631015/Germany-court-BDS
--------
Lisa Smith sent forward
for trial on terrorism charges
Jul 31, 2020
Former Irish
Defence Forces member Lisa Smith has been sent forward for trial to the Special
Criminal Court accused of membership of the Islamic State terrorist group.
The Director of
Public Prosecutions (DPP) directed trial in the non-jury court which is used
for terrorism related and organised crime trials.
Dublin District
Court heard on Friday that the DPP has obtained a certificate, under the
Offences Against the State Act that, in this case, the ordinary courts were
inadequate to secure the administration of justice.
The certificate
was furnished to Judge Marie Quirke, who noted that the Attorney General agreed
with the decision in relation to the trial venue.
A State
solicitor asked the judge to make an order of return for trial to a sitting of
the Special Criminal Court.
Lisa Smith, a
38-year-old mother of one, from Co Louth, has indicated through her solicitor
that she will challenge the decision that she cannot have a jury trial.
She had
initially been charged in December with an offence contrary to the Criminal
Justice (Terrorist Offences) which carries a possible 10-year sentence, for
being a member of Islamic State from 2015 to 2019.
Last week, a
further charge was bought under the same legislation for financing terrorism by
sending €800 in assistance, via a Western Union money transfer, to a named man
on May 6th, 2015.
Sergeant Gareth
Kane of the Special Detective Unit served the book of evidence on Ms Smith when
she appeared at Dublin District Court.
Ms Smith, who
denies the charges, stood at the side of the courtroom and spoke only to her
solicitor.
Judge Quirke
told Ms Smith that if she intended to use an alibi evidence in her defence she
must inform the DPP within 14 days. Ms Smith nodded to indicate she understood.
Her surety, who
had to lodge €1,000 cash of bail set at €5,000, confirmed he would continue to
stand bail. He cannot be named by court order following a request from Ms
Smith’s solicitor.
Ms Smith must
continue obeying bail conditions, including a ban on using the internet and
social media.
A date has yet
to be set for her appearance in the Special Criminal Court. Legal aid was
granted for her trial.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/district-court/lisa-smith-sent-forward-for-trial-on-terrorism-charges-1.4318699?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
--------
Pakistan
Pak PM Imran
Khan hopes for early start of Intra-Afghan talks
Aug 3, 2020
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday expressed hope for an early start
of the Intra-Afghan talks to end the decades-old bloodshed in the war-torn
country.
During a
telephonic conversation with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who called Khan to
greet him on Eid-ul-Azha, the two leaders discussed the Afghan peace process,
according to a statement issued by the prime minister's office.
The prime
minister "expressed hope that the current momentum would be further built
to implement the US-Taliban Peace Agreement in its entirety leading to
Intra-Afghan Negotiations at the earliest", it said.
Khan also
highlighted Pakistan's contribution to the peace process, stressing that peace
in Afghanistan was of paramount importance.
An agreement
signed between the US and the Taliban in February in Doha drew up plans for
withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in exchange for security
guarantees from the insurgent group.
As part of the
Doha deal, the US committed to withdraw its 12,000 troops within 14 months.
Troops have since been reduced by over a quarter, according to a recent report
on Afghanistan published by the Congressional Research Service.
The Taliban
committed to prevent other groups, including Al Qaeda, from using Afghan soil
to recruit, train or fund raise toward activities that threaten the US or its
allies.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pak-pm-imran-khan-hopes-for-early-start-of-intra-afghan-talks/articleshow/77336378.cms
--------
Pakistan asks UK
to hand over Shehbaz’s son-in-law
04 Aug 2020
Pakistan on Monday
asked the British government to hand over Imran Ali Yousuf, son-in-law of
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, to it, a private
news channel reported.
According to the
report, Pakistani officials requested the UK authorities to hand over the
suspect on ‘reciprocal’ basis to the country as the two countries do not have
an extradition treaty in place. The report maintained that the UK government
will review the request in due time.
It is pertinent
to mention here that Daily Mail had leveled corruption allegations against
Imran Ali Yousuf and Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority’s
(ERRA) Ikram Naveed.
Earlier on June
22, sources privy to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had claimed that
investigations into former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif and his family’s
wealth has thus far revealed benami companies worth Rs 2.40 billion.
According to
details, the undeclared (benami) wealth was being represented by three
different frontmen whose details had been revealed. According to the report,
Nisar Ahmed, Syed Tahir Naqvi and Ali Ahmed were all frontmen to the massive
wealth which originally belongs to Shehbaz Sharif and his family.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/03/pakistan-asks-uk-to-hand-over-shehbazs-son-in-law/
--------
Efforts still
under way for mediation between Iran, Saudi Arabia: PM
04 Aug 2020
DUBAI:
Pakistan’s US-requested mediation efforts between Saudi Arabia and Iran have
been making slow progress, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday.
Prompted by
Washington, Mr Khan in October visited Tehran and Riyadh to facilitate talks
after attacks on Gulf oil interests that the US blamed on Iran.
“Our mediation
between Iran and Saudi Arabia has not stopped and we are making progress, but
slowly,” Mr Khan told Al Jazeera in extracts the broadcaster released from an
interview to be aired in full on Wednesday.
“We have done
our best to avoid a military confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and
our efforts have succeeded,” Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported Mr Khan as saying.
US-Iranian
frictions worsened when President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew in
mid-2018 from an accord limiting Tehran’s nuclear programme in exchange for
easing sanctions.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572427/efforts-still-under-way-for-mediation-between-iran-saudi-arabia-pm
--------
Opposition has
reached consensus on PTI’s ouster: Nasir Shah
04 Aug 2020
SUKKUR: Sindh
Minister for Information and Local Bodies Syed Nasir Hussain Shah has said that
Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and heads of all other
opposition parties have reached a consensus that the country will continue to
suffer ever greater losses if Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf remains in power.
The minister
told journalists at the press club on Sunday that Bilawal and the rest of the
opposition wanted to “protect” the country from further harm and double
standards of PTI.
He said the federal
government’s incompetence was visible in every department under its control.
While opposition parties were facing accountability the ruling party’s men were
obtaining stays in their cases, he said.
Khursheed Ahmed
Shah’s case was a litmus test for the fairness of the accountability process as
the veteran politician was incarcerated even when he was admitted to hospital
while cases of PTI leaders were not even being processed, he said.
He said the
report of commission on sugar crisis proved that PTI leaders were “thieves” and
they had committed the theft under the nose of Imran Khan who also held
portfolio of ministry of commerce but Shahzad Akbar did not dare mention his
name.
The minister
said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had taken the stand that
under the Constitution the federal government had no power to decrease share of
provinces in the National Finance Commission award and it could only increase
it.
He said that
they had no objection if the federal government spent on defence or launched
projects from its own resources without deducting share of provinces.
He said that PTI
rulers had announced Rs162 billion for Karachi but did not allocate the amount
in the budget and schemes were launched in other areas but Karachi was deprived.
Whereas, he
said, the provincial government had provided millions of rupees to metropolitan
corporations for cleaning drains. As a result rainwater drained out from most
of the areas within a few hours after rain and only Federal B. Area,
Liaquatabad, North Nazimabad and Kashmir Colony remained submerged due to
hurdles created by the under-construction Green Line corridor, he said.
He blamed the
megaproject for the inundation in many areas and said that federal government
was “punishing” the Sindh government through Green Line project.
The prime
minister had directed the National Disaster Management Authority to provide
relief to the rain-hit areas and they would heartily welcome the authority to
work jointly with the Sindh government.
He said the
chief minister had released funds for cleaning drains in all big cities of the
province including Karachi. All departments concerned were preparing to cope
with post-rain situation in view of forecast of heavy rains in Karachi,
Mirpurkhas and other areas, he said.
Later, the
minister participated in a protest held by journalists against the arrest of
editor in-chief of Jang/Geo Group Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman and handed over a cheque
for Rs5 million to chief patron of the Sukkur Press Club.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1572487/opposition-has-reached-consensus-on-ptis-ouster-nasir-shah
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6 PTI media cell
members join info ministry at top positions
04 Aug 2020
LAHORE: Six
members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s digital media cell have been
appointed at top positions in the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, a
notification issued on Monday by the Establishment Division confirmed.
According to the
Establishment Division’s notification, one officer would be appointed at the
Management Pay-II (MP-II) pay scale and five at the MP-III level. The MP-II and
MP-III appointments would be equivalent to Grade-21 and Grade-20 civil servant
jobs, it added.
Imran Haider
Ghazali was hired at the MP-II scale, whereas Shahbaz Khan, Muhammad Muzammil
Hassan, Usman bin Zaheer, Naeem Ahmed Yasin, and Syeda Dhanak Hashmi at the
MP-III scale.
Sources told
Profit that following months of candidate assessments and interviews, Imran
Ghazali was appointed the general manager of the Digital Media Wing (DMW).
This March, the
federal cabinet approved a supplementary grant of Rs42.791 million ($256,000)
for the creation of a DMW, which aims to ostensibly counter fake news that
damages the federal government’s repute among social media users. The DMW is
meant to help the government formulate its policies on digital media and be
helpful in countering the criticism the government is facing due to inflation
and high electricity tariff.
Sources told
Profit that the DMW will work as a strategic unit of the Government of Pakistan
to provide results-oriented media content, digital public relations, and will
give authentic government updates on digital media. As the general manager of
the DMW, Ghazali has been tasked with leading a data-driven, growth-oriented
team to further the interests of the State of Pakistan locally and
internationally.
“DMW will also
be responsible for curating the digital content for official social media
assets of the government,” said a source. “It will also be organising and
verifying social media accounts of all federal government ministries and will
be enhancing their digital media presence.”
As the founding
member of the PTI’s social media team, Ghazali is credited with creating the
online presence of Prime Minister Imran Khan and led social media for the
political party during the 2013 elections, while working with Starcom Pakistan.
The Publicis agency went on to lead the 2018 media strategy that won PTI the
elections on a $4.7 million media budget.
According to an
Information Ministry statement in response to media reports that the
appointments had been approved without any competition, the recruitment was
done according to a procedure approved by Prime Minister Imran Khan for its
‘Digital Media Wing’ back in April 2020. The latest job vacancies, the ministry
added, were also advertised in the newspapers as per law.
It said a total
of 76 applications were received for the position of ‘General Manager’, whereas
67 for the ‘Digital Media Consultant’ vacancy. All in all, some 461 people
applied to the jobs across seven MP scales, it added.
The recruitment
in the digital media wing were made by a special selection board after it
conducted interviews, the ministry noted, adding that a summary of the selected
individuals was approved by the Prime Minister on July 20.
Those who have
been hired would be paid Rs75,000 a month, it said. The candidates for the
remaining 16 posts had been shortlisted, it added further.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/03/6-pti-media-cell-members-join-info-ministry-at-top-positions/
--------
Arab world
UAE mosques to
open at 50 per cent capacity but Friday prayers remain suspended
Ruba Haza
August 3, 2020
UAE mosques can
operate at 50 per cent capacity from Monday.
A larger number
of worshippers can be accommodated as restrictions are gradually eased.
All places of
worship were closed in March to prevent the spread of Covid-19. They were
allowed to reopen at 30 per cent capacity on July 1. Friday prayers remain
suspended.
The period between
the call to prayer and the start of prayers will also be extended to 10
minutes, except for maghrib prayer, which will be five minutes.
The move is
intended to limit possible contact between worshippers and avoid socialising
before or afterwards.
The General
Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments, known as Awqaf, said worshippers
must stay two metres apart from one another.
Worshippers
should perform ablution at home before attending the mosque for prayer, wear
face masks and should not greet one another close-up.
They should
bring their own copy of the Quran and prayer mats, download Al Hosn, the
government's tracing and testing app, and avoid touching surfaces and door
handles.
Awqaf urged
older worshippers, children and people with underlying health conditions to
continue to pray at home.
On July 20,
prayer rooms in shopping malls and commercial towers across the UAE were
allowed to operate again.
The places of
worship were closed for months as part of restrictions imposed by the authorities
to combat the spread of Covid-19.
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/coronavirus-uae-mosques-to-open-at-50-per-cent-capacity-but-friday-prayers-remain-suspended-1.1058201
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Iraqi-born Hala
Jarbou appointed as US federal judge
03 August 2020
An Iraqi-born
judge was appointed to serve as a federal judge in the US District Court, the
US Senate announced Monday.
In March, Hala
Jarbou was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the Judge on the United
States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The US Embassy
in Baghdad said that she is the first Chaldean American to be nominated to
serve as a federal judge. “Judge Jarbou was born in Iraq, and emigrated to the
United States as a child with her family,” the Embassy said in a Facebook post.
Jarbou was a
judge on Michigan’s Sixth Judicial Circuit. Before that, Jarbou was an
Assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of
Michigan. She prosecuted cases involving drug and firearms offenses, child
pornography, and high-level drug trafficking, according to a statement from the
White House.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/08/03/Iraqi-born-Hala-Jarbou-appointed-as-US-federal-judge.html
--------
Hezbollah,
Israel jostle in Syria, Lebanon
Jul 31, 2020
On July 27,
after a week of daily airstrikes attributed to Israel targeting several Iranian
and Hezbollah interests in Syria, the Israeli military said a few of the
Lebanese group’s fighters crossed into the disputed Shebaa Farms area between
Lebanon and Israel, triggering tensions on the border.
Hezbollah denied
that it made the maneuver. This may be an indication that while the balance of
power is holding in Syria, Hezbollah is
attempting to play a deceptive game to safeguard its credibility with
its domestic constituency and Israel on the Lebanese border.
In a period of a
week, two incidents appear to again pit Hezbollah and Iran against Israel,
first in Syria, then in Lebanon. The first was when alleged Israeli attacks in
Syria destroyed weapons and ammunition warehouses and killed Iranian-backed
non-Syrian and Syrian militiamen in southern and southwestern Damascus,
according to the Syrian Human Rights Observatory. Hezbollah announced one
death, Ali Kamel Mohsen, known by his nom de guerre Jawad.
What will this
mean? Nicolas Blanford, a senior nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council,
said last year that Hezbollah Secretary-General "Sayed Hassan Nasrallah
pledged retribution from Lebanon should Israel kill any of its members in
Syria. A response was expected from Lebanon.”
The second
incident took place July 27 when Israeli troops apparently thwarted a Hezbollah
attack near the border with Lebanon. According to Israeli reports, a Hezbollah
cell comprised of three to five fighters crossed the Blue Line a few meters
into Israeli-controlled territory in the Shebaa Farm region and was repelled by
Israeli troops. Israel then shelled hills surrounding the area.
Shebaa Farms was
captured by Israel from Lebanon in the 1967 Middle East war.
Hezbollah denied
any responsibility for the infiltration, attributing the incident to "the
state of terror experienced by the Zionist occupation army" and promising
retribution for the killing of the Hezbollah fighter in Syria.
The two
incidents, which fall within the continuous Syria-Lebanon front line with
Israel, may be part of Iran's and Hezbollah’s playing the long game — in Syria,
by protecting their strategic interests and their positions there at any price,
and in Lebanon, by winning the psychological game at a minimal cost given the
challenges the country faces.
Syria expert
Naswar Shaaban of the Omran Dirasat Center told Al-Monitor that Israel's
targets for this strike fell into line with those of previous attacks, which
have largely taken place around Sayyida Zeinab, Qeswa, Mazzeh, Daraya and
Quneitra. Shaaban said that in part due to conditions imposed by Russia, Iran
does "not have the capability to move its equipment and fighters around
freely," leaving it vulnerable to Israeli attacks.
The lack of
response of Hezbollah and Iran to Israeli attacks in Syria despite heavy losses
is rooted in Hezbollah's and Tehran's strategic interests there, said Brahim
Beyram, a Lebanese journalist and analyst close to Hezbollah.
Beyram told
Al-Monitor he believes the priority for Tehran is to remain entrenched in Syria
— not to retaliate for the losses Iran and Hezbollah are incurring. He said
Hezbollah has several bases that it will not abandon in Aleppo, Homs, Damascus
and close to the Lebanese border. “The priority will remain for the protection
of its positions there,” he said.
A third pillar
of Hezbollah’s and Iran's military thought is psychological and propaganda
warfare, whether toward the enemy or toward their popular base. “Hezbollah has
proven to be adept in playing psychological games with Israel, the infiltration
into Israel and the promise of retribution for the death of its fighter in
Syria are a case in point,” Beyram said.
The Lebanese
group said its response to the death of Jawad “is definitely coming,” adding,
“The Zionists have only to wait for their crimes to be punished.”
A source close
to Hezbollah fighters said that if the organization failed to retaliate
properly to the alleged Israeli attack that killed Jawad, its credibility will
be further damaged given the unpreceded disastrous economic situation Lebanon
is facing. “They are caught between a rock and a hard place,” the source said.
But Middle East
Strategy Intelligence analyst Avi Melamed, who closely follows Israeli
politics, told Al-Monitor “There is absolutely nothing Hezbollah can do —
whether overt or covert operations disinformation, psychological warfare or any
other — to stop Israel's attacks on Iran's military infrastructure whenever and
wherever Israel decides to. Israel is determined to thwart the Iranian threat
in Syria at all costs, including a massive war with Hezbollah. Hezbollah cannot
dictate new game rules to Israel. Trying to do that while hoping to avoid a war
with Israel could be a fatal miscalculation by Nasrallah.”
The source close
to Hezbollah believes that the party will have to make good on its promise to
retaliate, in due time and that given all the pressure it is facing both at
home and abroad “it was bound to show its teeth, which could translate with an
escalation of violence.” Deputy Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has nonetheless dismissed
the prospect of any military escalation with Israel.
The evolution of
the situation on the Lebanese border will have to be carefully monitored in the
next few days. Whether Hezbollah chooses or not to respond to Israel’s attack
in Syria, and more importantly whether it can inflict a painful strike against
Israel, may define Hezbollah's deterrent power at both the local and regional
levels in the future.
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/07/lebanon-hezbollah-south-syria-escalation.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
--------
Mideast
Big powers’
miscalculations root cause of surge in extremism in West Asia: Iran FM
03 August 2020
Iran’s foreign
minister says miscalculations and major mistakes made by the world's big powers
over the past decades are the main cause of the surge in extremism in the West
Asia region.
Mohammad Javad
Zarif made the remarks in a speech delivered at the Faculty of World Studies at
the University of Tehran on Monday, the second part of a five-part course in
international relations entitled, “World in Transition,” which is being offered
by Iran’s top diplomat.
“Extremism was a
result of miscalculations and occupation [of regional countries by world
powers]. The main problem, which evolved into the existing sad conditions is
the problem of ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘miscalculation’, which caused both
regional powers and superpowers to make mistakes,” Iran’s foreign minister
said.
"Miscalculations
made by big powers, or in other words superpowers, with regard to the world's
modern order have resulted in consequences, which are by far more disastrous
than the mistakes made by other countries," Zarif emphasized.
He described the
2003 US-led invasion of Iraq as one of the big powers' miscalculations, saying
that there were many ambiguities surrounding the attack at its onset.
"But
something was conspicuous. It was clear from the very beginning that this [US]
war [against Iraq] would lead to the spread of extremism in the world."
In early 2003, the
United States, backed by the UK, invaded Iraq under the pretext that the regime
of the country's former dictator, Saddam Hussein, possessed weapons of mass
destruction (WMD). No such weapons, however, were ever found in Iraq.
The invasion
plunged Iraq into chaos and led to the rise of terrorist groups, including the
Daesh Takfiri group, across the region.
The US and a
coalition of its allies further launched a military campaign against purported
Daesh targets in Iraq in 2014, but their operations in many instances have led
to civilian deaths.
Elsewhere in his
speech, Zarif touched on the US withdrawal from several international treaties,
and said such a policy is just similar to those bigoted and obstinate ideas
that contravene the world's realities on the ground.
Some players in
the international scene, like the United States, have struggled to take control
of the situation by resorting to old-dated rules and reliance on their military
superiority, but their approach led to a "disaster," the top Iranian diplomat
added.
The US under
President Donald Trump has pulled out from several international treaties in
defiance of global outcry.
Trump, a hawkish
critic of a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers,
officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA),
unilaterally withdrew Washington from the agreement in May 2018, and unleashed
the “toughest ever” sanctions against the Islamic Republic in defiance of
global criticism.
The Trump
administration also pulled the United States out of the Intermediate-Range
Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) with Russia last year. The 1992 treaty allows
member countries to conduct short-notice, unarmed, reconnaissance flights over
the other countries to collect data on their military forces and activities.
Trump has also
pulled his country out of the UN cultural organization UNESCO and the Paris
climate accord.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/631014/Zarif--Tehran-University-extremism-West-Asia-miscalculation
--------
Iraqi Telecommunication
Firm Accused of Collaboration in Assassination of General Soleimani
Aug 03, 2020
The Special
Committee to Investigate the Assassination of General Soleimani and al-Muhandis
has received information about an Iraqi telecommunication company’s involvement
in the incident, the Arabic-language Shafaq News reported on Monday, but did
not provide any details on the identity of the telecommunication company.
It quoted an
informed source as saying that the committee has received documents from a number
of Hashd al-Shaabi commanders which showed a telecommunication company had
provided the US Army Command at Victoria Base at Iraq Airport with mobile phone
information of one of al-Muhandis' associates.
"The US
Army Command has obtained sufficient information about the location of
al-Muhandis and his meeting with General Soleimani through this phone line, and
this has contributed to the assassination process," the source said.
Lieutenant
General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad
International Airport in Iraq on January 3.
The airstrike
also martyred al-Muhandis. The two were martyred in an American airstrike that
targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.
Five Iranian and
five Iraqi military men were martyred by the missiles fired by the US drone at
Baghdad International Airport.
On January 8,
the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein
Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US
operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of ant
General Qassem Soleimani.
Ein Al-Assad is
an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the
main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems
and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the
Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems
at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The second IRGC
reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi
Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal
operation.
Iraq said the
attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases.
The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the
Iraqi army.
It was the first
direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.
The IRGC
officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.
Meantime, Iran
announced in late June that it had issued arrest warrants for 36 officials of
the US and other countries who have been involved in the assassination of the
martyred General Soleimani.
"36
individuals who have been involved or ordered the assassination of Hajj Qassem,
including the political and military officials of the US and other governments,
have been identified and arrest warrants have been issued for them by the
judiciary officials and red alerts have also been issued for them via the
Interpol," Prosecutor-General of Tehran Ali Alqasi Mehr said.
He said that the
prosecuted individuals are accused of murder and terrorist action, adding that
US President Donald Trump stands at the top of the list and will be prosecuted
as soon as he stands down presidency after his term ends.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990513000450
--------
US oil deal with
Kurdish-led Syrian forces ‘unacceptable’: Turkey
03 August 2020
An oil deal
between Syrian Kurdish-led forces and an American company in northeast Syria is
unacceptable, Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Monday.
Ankara
vehemently opposes the Kurdish YPG militia, the main element of the US-backed
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which made the deal with the US oil firm,
because of its links to Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters who have waged a
long insurgency in southeast Turkey.
“It was reported
in the press that the ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ under the control of the
PKK/YPG terrorist organization signed a contract with the company ‘Delta
Crescent Energy LLC’ located in the USA,” the ministry said, without saying what
report or reports it was referring to.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The deal was a
“clear demonstration” of the separatist agenda of the “PKK/YPG terrorist
organization by seizing the natural resources of the Syrian people,” the
ministry said in a statement. “This decision, which cannot be justified by any
legitimate motive, is never acceptable.”
US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo referred to an oifields deal between the SDF and a US firm
during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Thursday.
Republican
Senator Lindsey Graham said SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi informed him
that a deal had been signed with an American company to “modernize the oil
fields in northeastern Syria.”
Pompeo said the
US administration supported the agreement. “The deal took a little longer ...
than we had hoped, and now we’re in implementation,” he told the hearing.
Syria produced
around 380,000 barrels of oil per day before civil war erupted following a
crackdown on protests in 2011, with Iran and Russia backing President Bashar
al-Assad’s government and the United States supporting the opposition.
Damascus lost
control of most oil producing fields in a stretch east of the Euphrates River
in Deir al-Zor.
Western
sanctions have also hit the energy industry.
Turkey’s
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in March he had asked his Russian
counterpart Vladimir Putin to jointly manage the oil fields in eastern Syria,
instead of the SDF.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/03/US-oil-deal-with-Kurdish-led-Syrian-forces-unacceptable-Turkey.html
--------
Israeli army
claims killing four planting bombs along Syria frontier
03 August 2020
The Israeli army
claimed on Monday it had killed four men laying explosives at a security fence
along the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights, adjacent to
Syrian-controlled territory.
“They were
inside Israeli territory but beyond the fence,” military spokesman Lieutenant
Colonel Jonathan Conricus told journalists in a telephone briefing.
He said an
Israeli commando unit lying in wait attacked the intruders shortly after 11 pm
Sunday (2000 GMT) with assault rifles and sniper fire backed by air strikes.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“Our estimate is
that all four were killed,” Conricus said in English, adding that there were no
Israeli casualties.
Tensions are
already high between bitter rivals Israel and Syria.
Last month,
Israeli army helicopters struck military targets in southern Syria in
retaliation for earlier “munitions” fire towards Israel.
Israel did not
directly blame Syrian forces for the munitions fire, but said it held the
Damascus government responsible.
Several Israeli
media outlets reported that the military actions were in response to an
increased threat from the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, which
has a significant presence in Syria.
Last month, five
Iran-backed fighters were killed in an Israeli missile strike south of Damascus,
according to Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights.
Conricus said
Israeli troops were early Monday searching the area of the incident for clues
but that he could not immediately link the overnight attack to the Lebanese
group or its sponsors in Tehran.
“We do not know
at this stage and we cannot confirm a link between this terrorist squad and
Hezbollah or Iranians,” he said.
“We know that
there are many different factions operating on Syrian soil.”
The Syrian
Observatory said it was “likely,” but it could not be confirmed, that the
attackers were from the Syrian Resistance to Liberate the Golan - a
Hezbollah-linked group formed more than six years ago to launch attacks against
Israel in the disputed area.
Conricus said that
Israel’s Maglan commando unit had been deployed at the attack site for several
days.
“We spotted
irregular night-time activity in this specific location for the past week and
we had a commando unit deployed in the area,” he said.
He added that
for Israeli civilians on the Golan Heights, normal life was uninterrupted
during the incident.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/03/Israeli-army-claims-killing-four-planting-bombs-along-Syria-frontier.html
--------
Iran sanctions former
aide to ex-US national security adviser
03 August 2020
Iran’s foreign
ministry said on Sunday it sanctioned Richard Goldberg, an ex-aide to a former
US national security adviser who currently is a senior adviser at the
Washington-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Goldberg, who
served as an aide to John Bolton, was sanctioned over “being actively involved
in economic terrorism against the interests of Iran's government and citizens,”
according to the ministry’s statement.
For all the
latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Tehran uses the
term “economic terrorism” to refer to US sanctions.
The sanctions
were based on a law approved by Iran’s parliament in 2017, meant to “confront
America's human rights violations and adventurist and terrorist acts in the
region.”
However, the
details of the sanctions and how they will be enforced was not specified.
In response,
Goldberg said on Twitter he considers his inclusion on Iran’s sanctions list a
“badge of honor.”
“I’ve been a
National Security Council official, chief of staff for a governor, senior staff
for a US Senator, senior adviser for FDD and deployed to Afghanistan as a Navy
Reservist. Today I gain a new badge of honor: “sanctioned” by Iran for
coordinating President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign” he tweeted.
Goldberg is a
senior adviser at FDD, which describes itself as a Washington-based
“non-partisan research institute focusing on foreign policy and national
security.”
Iran had added
FDD and its Chief Executive Mark Dubowitz to its sanctions list in August 2019.
Iran accused FDD
and Dubowitz of “seriously and actively trying to harm the Iranian people’s
security and vital interests” and alleged that the think tank was “fabricating
and spreading lies, encouraging, providing consultations, lobbying, and
launching a smear campaign” against Iran.
Tensions between
Tehran and Washington have escalated since US President Donald Trump pulled out
of the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions against Iran as part of a
“maximum pressure” campaign.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/03/Iran-sanctions-former-aide-to-ex-US-national-security-adviser.html
--------
Israeli
warplanes launch fresh air raids in Gaza Strip
03 August 2020
Israel warplanes
have launched new airstrikes against the positions of the Palestinian resistance
movement of Hamas in the central parts of the besieged Gaza strip.
The attacks have
targeted west of Deir al-Balah city, a report by RT Arabic said.
A military base
belonging to Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, has
also been hit by three rockets fired from the Israeli warplanes, Israeli media
claim.
The sound of
several explosions has also been heard from east of Khan Yunis in the south of
Gaza Strip, RT reported.
The attacks came
shortly after the Israeli military claimed its iron dome air defense system has
intercepted a rocket fired from the besieged enclave towards the occupied
territories.
The Tel Aviv
regime also claimed its forces have clashed with a four-member “terrorist
group” laying mines in the occupied territories’ borders with Syria in early
hours of Monday.
During the
clashes, it said, the Israeli military’s combat helicopter has opened fire and
injured several members of the group.
The Israeli
military’s northern command center is on standby to counter any scenario, Al
Jazeera TV quoted sources in the regime as saying.
Gaza has been
under Israeli siege since June 2007, which has caused a decline in living
standards.
Israel has also
launched three major wars against the enclave since 2008, killing thousands of
Gazans each time and shattering the impoverished territory’s already poor
infrastructure.
The crippling
blockade has caused a decline in the standard of living as well as
unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the Gaza Strip.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/630964/Israel-gaza-hamas-position-attack
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Russia: Iran’s
nuclear capacity 'absolutely legitimate'
03 August 2020
Russia's
permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna says Iran’s nuclear
capacity is “absolutely legitimate” as it fits within the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
“These
opportunities and capabilities are absolutely legitimate as a long as they are
used for peaceful purposes,” Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted on Sunday.
“The duty of
IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency) is to certify non-diversion of
nuclear materials,” he added. He was apparently referring to the United Nations
nuclear agency’s repeated verification of non-diversion of Iran’s nuclear
energy program.
The envoy made
the assertions in response to a tweet by Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the
so-called Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ policy institute that has been
identified as part of the Israeli lobby in the United States, and works hard to
promote Washington’s policies against certain countries, including Russia and
Iran.
In that tweet,
Dubowitz had criticized what he called the “atomic capability” given to Iran
under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 nuclear agreement
between the Islamic Republic and world countries.
Ulyanov,
however, asserted, “The atomic opportunities were given to Iran by #NPT.” He
added that those who disagree with the nature of the IAEA’s duty being
verification of various nuclear programs’ non-diversion ”work against NPT.”
The United
States left the JCPOA in 2018, despite the fact that the agreement has been
ratified by the UN Security Council as its Resolution 2231.
Ever since,
Washington has been ceaselessly trying to undermine the deal.
Washington has
also been threatening other JCPOA signatories into forsaking their duties under
the accord.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/630991/Iran-Russia-nuclear-United-States
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Iran says it has
arrested head of US-based 'terrorist group'
1 Aug 2020
Iran says it has
arrested the head of a United States-based "terrorist group" accused
of bombing a mosque in 2008 that killed 14 people and wounded more than 200
others in the southern city of Shiraz.
The group's
"Jamshid Sharmahd, who was leading armed and sabotage operations inside
Iran, is now in the powerful hands" of Iran's security forces, state
television said in a report on Saturday, citing a statement from the
intelligence ministry.
The statement
did not elaborate on where or when the leader of the opposition royalist group
known as the Kingdom Assembly of Iran, known in Farsi as Anjoman-e Padeshahi-e
Iran, or Tondar (Farsi for thunder), was arrested.
The group seeks
to restore Iran's monarchy, which ended when the fatally ill Shah Mohammad Reza
Pahlavi fled the country in 1979 just before its Islamic Revolution. The
group's founder disappeared in the mid-2000s.
It remains
unclear how the US-based accused was arrested.
Tonder 'planned
big operations'
Iranian state
television broadcast a report on Sharmahd's arrest, linking him to the April
12, 2008 bombing of the Hosseynieh Seyed al-Shohada Mosque in Shiraz.
Iran hanged
three men convicted of the bombing in 2009, saying they had ties to the
monarchist group.
Iran hanged two
other convicted members of the group in 2010, who had "confessed to
obtaining explosives and planning to assassinate officials".
The statement
issued on Saturday said Tondar had plotted several other "big
operations" which failed.
It said Tondar
had planned to blow up a dam in Shiraz, use "cyanide bombs" at a
Tehran book fair, and plant an explosive device at the mausoleum of Iran's
founder, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 2010.
While
overshadowed by other exiled opposition groups, Iran reportedly brought up the
Kingdom Assembly of Iran multiple times while negotiating the terms of the 2015
nuclear deal, which saw Tehran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for
the lifting of economic sanctions.
A statement
attributed to Tondar claimed the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist
in 2010 by a remote-control bomb, though it later said it was not responsible.
Suspicion long
has fallen on Israel for a string of assassinations targeting scientists amid
concerns about Iran's nuclear programme, which the West fears could be used to
develop a nuclear bomb. Iran long has maintained its programme is for peaceful
purposes.
Sharmahd's
arrest came amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington over the
collapsing 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which US President Donald Trump
unilaterally withdrew from in 2018.
In January, a US
drone attack killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad. Iran responded by
launching a ballistic missile attack on US soldiers in Iraq that injured
dozens.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/08/iran-arrested-head-based-terrorist-group-200801114158415.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
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South Asia
More than 300
prisoners at large after Daesh attacks prison in Afghanistan's Nangarhar
03 August 2020
More than 300
inmates have escaped a prison in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar
after Daesh terrorists raided the compound overnight.
The spokesman
for Nangarhar's provincial governor, Attaullah Khogyani, said on Monday that of
the 1,793 prisoners, more than 1,025 had tried to escape and been recaptured
while 430 had remained inside. "The rest are missing," he added.
Khogyani said
earlier in the day that at least 29 people had been killed and 50 others
wounded in the attack, adding that civilians, prisoners and members of the
Afghan security forces were among the casualties.
The attack began
on Sunday evening, when gunmen detonated a car packed with explosives at the
entrance gate of the prison in the provincial capital of Jalalabad. They then
opened fire on the prison's security guards.
Two more explosions were reportedly heard coming from inside the prison
afterwards.
Later in the
day, the Daesh terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The assault led
to a mass jailbreak from the prison believed to be holding hundreds of Daesh
members, forcing police to launch a city-wide search for them.
Afghan security
forces have managed to take back control of the prison’s checkpoint, but
fighting is still continuing.
Afghan sources confirmed
that three Daesh assailants — out of an estimated 30 — had been killed.
Sunday’s attack
came on the third and final day of a ceasefire between the Taliban militants
and the Afghan government for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which marks
the culmination of the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
The two sides
are on the verge of completing an agreement for a prisoner swap that is part of
a deal between the Taliban and the United States.
Under the deal,
the Afghan government, which was not a signatory to the agreement, was required
to release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners. The militants, for their part, were
obliged to free 1,000 government captives.
Negotiations
between the Afghan government and the Taliban militant group were expected to
begin shortly, following the completion of the prisoner swap.
There have been
no talks with Daesh, which has in recent years claimed responsibility for a
string of horrific bombing and other attacks across Afghanistan.
The Takfiri
group emerged in Afghanistan in 2015 as it gradually faced defeat and lost its
strongholds in Syria and Iraq.
The terrorist
group, which has based itself mainly in Nangarhar Province, has an estimated
2,000 to 2,500 militants.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/03/631009/Afghanistan-prison-attack-Daesh-terrorists-Nangarhar-
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18-hour long
fight between Afghan forces, terrorists end, 29 killed
Aug 3, 2020
JALALABAD/
AFGHANISTAN: The fight between Afghan forces and terrorists in Nangarhar prison
in Jalalabad, which claimed at least 29 lives, has ended after almost 18 hours,
reported TOLO news on Monday.
"Attack on
Nangarhar prison has ended," Fawad Aman, a spokesman for Defense Ministry,
was quoted as saying.
He further said
the prison is now under the control of Afghan forces.
At least 29
people have been killed and 50 injured in the fighting between Afghan security
forces and terrorists who raided a jail overnight, Attaullah Khogyani,
Nangarhar governor's spokesman told TOLO news.
The attack has
been claimed by ISIS.
Earlier,
Khogyani told Al Jazeera that among the dead were prisoners as well as
civilians, prison guards and Afghan security personnel.
The attack in
the provincial capital Jalalabad began late on Sunday when a suicide bomber
slammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the prison entrance.
Three terrorists
have been killed so far.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/18-hour-long-fight-between-afghan-forces-terrorists-end-29-killed/articleshow/77332047.cms
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Ghani and
Pakistan’s PM discuss peace efforts, other issues of bilateral interest
04 Aug 2020
President
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan’s Prime Minister discussed peace efforts and
other issues of bilateral interest during a telephone conversation.
“President of
the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani called Prime Minister
@ImranKhanPTI today and extended felicitations on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha,”
The Prime Minister’s Office of Pakistan said in a Twitter post.
The two leaders
discussed the latest stage in the Afghan Peace Process, according to a
statement released by Prime Ministers office of Pakistan. “Prime Minister Imran
Khan highlighted Pakistan’s positive contribution to the peace process,
strongly stressing that peace in Afghanistan was of paramount importance.”
The statement
further added “The Prime Minister expressed the hope that the current momentum
would be further built to implement the U.S.-Taliban Peace Agreement in its
entirety leading to Intra-Afghan Negotiations at the earliest.”
“Referring to
the various institutional mechanisms between the two countries, Prime Minister
Imran Khan highlighted the importance of working together to further strengthen
bilateral relations and said Pakistan looks forward to the next Session of
Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) at the
earliest,” the statement added.
https://www.khaama.com/ghani-and-pakistans-pm-discuss-peace-efforts-other-issues-of-bilateral-interest-08999/
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Ghani and Modi
discuss evolving security situation in the region and bilateral interests
04 Aug 2020
President
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani discussed the evolving security situation in the region
with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Afghan
Chargé d’Affaires in New Delhi, Tahir Qadiry, said the two leaders discussed
the evolving security situation during a telephone conversation.
Qadiry further
added that the two leaders also held talks on other areas of bilateral
interests.
“HE President
@ashrafghani in a telephonic conversation with HE PM @narendramodi exchanged
greetings on the joyous festival of #EidAlAdha & also discussed the
evolving security situation in the region and other areas of bilateral
interests,” Qadiry said in a Twitter post.
India has played
a major role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan following the fall of the
Taliban regime in 2001. The country has invested over $2 billion in various
reconstruction and infrastructure projects.
https://www.khaama.com/ghani-and-modi-discuss-evolving-security-situation-in-the-region-and-bilateral-interests-08998/
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Taliban release
details of video teleconference between Pompeo and Mullah Baradar
04 Aug 2020
The Taliban
group released the details of the video teleconference between Mike Pompeo, the
Secretary of State of the United States and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the
deputy political chief of the group based in Doha.
“Today evening,
Mullah Bradar Akhund, Deputy-Amir and Head of the Political Office and his
delegation had a virtual meeting with Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State via
video-conference,” Suhail Shaheen, a spokesperson for the political office of
Taliban in Doha said.
Shaheen further
added that “Both sides talked about the inception of intra-Afghan negotiations
and the status quo emphasizing that release of the remaining prisoners are
essential for commencement of intra-Afghan negotiations.”
He also added
“The Secretary of State also welcomed announcement of ceasefire by the Islamic
Emirate on the eve of the current Eid.”
This comes as
the both the Afghan government and Taliban have released hundreds of prisoners
following the signing of peace deal between Washington and Taliban earlier this
year.
However, reports
indicate that the Afghan government has refrained from releasing hundreds of
Taliban militants who were involved in major crimes with President Mohammad
Ashraf Ghani mulling to convene Loya Jirga (General Assembly of the Tribal
Elders) to discuss the issue of the release of remaining Taliban prisoners.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-release-details-of-video-teleconference-between-pompeo-and-mullah-baradar-08997/
--------
Africa
Nigeria Boko
Haram: Governor says battle against militants being sabotaged
2 August 2020
A governor in
north-east Nigeria has suggested efforts to defeat jihadist group Boko Haram
are being undermined by elements of the security apparatus.
Borno State's
Babagana Zulum said President Muhammadu Buhari needed to know sabotage within
the system was frustrating work to end the insurgency.
Babagana Zulum
was speaking bluntly days after his heavily armed convoy suddenly had to flee a
town near Lake Chad because of sustained gunfire.
The army blamed
Boko Haram.
The governor
suggested soldiers were behind it and once again used the word sabotage.
Babagana Zulum
also questioned why the Nigerian army was stopping thousands of displaced
people from returning home to their fields whilst soldiers were instead
cultivating the land.
Governor Zulum
is not the first person to essentially suggest that corruption within the
military is prolonging the people's suffering in north-east Nigeria.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-53632643?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
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Muslim World
League delivers Eid meat to needy Sudanese families
August 04, 2020
KHARTOUM: A
Muslim World League (MWL) project in Sudan has witnessed the distribution of
sacrificial meat to hundreds of needy families for Eid Al-Adha, the Saudi Press
Agency reported.
The initiative
was carried out in the provinces of Khartoum, North Kordofan, Kassala, and
South Darfur as part of the MWL’s ongoing volunteer and humanitarian relief
role in the north African country.
The MWL has
implemented a number of health, educational, social, and developmental projects
in several Sudanese provinces.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1714326/saudi-arabia
--------
Al-Qaeda-Linked
Group Claims Attack on French Forces in Mali
JULY 31, 2020
Al-Qaeda-affiliated
jihadists in Mali claimed responsibility on Thursday for a suicide raid on
French forces in the north of the Sahel state this month, which left one
soldier dead.
In a statement
verified by the jihadist-surveillance group SITE Intelligence, the Group to
Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) said that it attacked a French military camp
near the town Gossi in northern Mali on July 23.
Islamist
fighters sent two vehicles packed with explosives against the camp gates, to
clear the way for another, which detonated after entering the base, the
statement added.
“The raid
coincided with a mortar shelling, enabling commandos to storm the base, and
clash with the Crusader soldiers that remained,” GSIM said, referring to French
troops.
One French soldier
died in the attack, according to France’s presidency.
GSIM — which is
active in several Sahel states — said on Thursday that two of its fighters died
in the raid.
Mali has been
struggling to contain a jihadist revolt that first broke out in the north in
2012, despite the presence of French and UN troops in the country.
The conflict has
since spread to the center of the impoverished nation of some 20 million
people, and to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Thousands of
soldiers and civilians have died in the Sahel-wide conflict to date, and
hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes.
France has some
5,100 soldiers deployed across the Sahel. The UN mission in Mali, called
MINUSMA, has around 13,000 members.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2020/07/31/mali-attack-claimed/?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
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Suspected Boko
Haram Militants Kill 16 in Northern Cameroon
August 02, 2020
DOUALA -
Suspected militants from Islamist group Boko Haram killed at least 16 people
and wounded seven early on Sunday in a grenade attack on a camp for displaced
people in northern Cameroon, a local official said.
The assailants
threw a grenade into a group of sleeping people inside the camp in the village
of Nguetchewe, district mayor Medjeweh Boukar told Reuters. The camp is home to
around 800 people, he said.
The village is
located close to the Nigerian border.
Boukar was
informed by residents that 16 had died. A security official earlier said 15 had
died. The wounded were taken to a nearby hospital, they said.
"The
attackers arrived with a woman who carried the grenade into the camp,"
Boukar said, adding that women and children were among the dead.
Over the past
month there have been twenty incursions and attacks by suspected Islamist
militants, Boukar said.
Boko Haram has
been fighting for a decade to carve out an Islamic caliphate based in Nigeria.
The violence,
which has killed an estimated 30,000 people and displaced millions, has
frequently spilled over into neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad.
In June last
year, around 300 suspected Boko Haram militants swarmed onto an island on Lake
Chad in Cameroon's far north and killed 24 people, including 16 Cameroonian
soldiers stationed at military outposts.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/suspected-boko-haram-militants-kill-16-northern-cameroon?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1409523_
--------
Southeast Asia
Health
Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Says Initially Wanted To Become Mufti, But
Advised To Pursue Medicine
02 Aug 2020
KUALA LUMPUR,
August 2 — Now the nation’s leading voice on health and combatting Covid-19,
Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has revealed that
medicine was not his first choice.
In an interview
with the New Straits Times (NST), he said he had initially wanted to be a mufti
or an officer with religious authorities.
“I wanted to be
a religious officer or a mufti! Yes, seriously,” he was quoted saying.
“When I was in
Form 2, I started thinking about the purpose of my existence. I focused on
religious studies to get to know myself on a deeper level and find answers to
those existential questions.”
Affected by
poverty, the now trained endocrine surgeon was later put in the care of the
Klang Islamic College’s principal, where he continued his upper secondary
studies.
“I took an avid
interest in religious studies but the head of the religious studies called me
up and told me to read medicine instead. He said that there were enough people
studying religion but not enough studying medicine!”
“I wanted to
help people at the end of the day, and I realised that medicine was a way to do
just that,” he reportedly said.
Dr Noor Hisham
also shared about his past, particularly his family history, and discovering he
was an adopted child later in his years, at 46.
“That’s what
they say,” he reportedly replied, shrugging when asked if he was born in Sungai
Pelek, then replying “I don’t know” when asked about his origins.
Dr Noor Hisham
said that he was adopted by a Chinese-Muslim family in Sungai Pelek, but his
adopted parents later separated, and he was raised by his adopted mother, while
braving through life’s hardships which came their way.
“We had to stand
on our own. I learnt to be resourceful and independent from young.
“When you come
from nothing, you’d think it’s difficult to read medicine. But the path is
open. If you have good results you can do anything. It’s all up to you,” Dr
Noor Hisham reportedly said.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/08/02/dr-noor-hisham-says-initially-wanted-to-become-mufti-but-advised-to-pursue/1890326
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Indonesia must
tackle corona-driven growth in anti-Chinese xenophobia
Muhammad Zulfikar
Rakhmat
August 4, 2020
As well as the
health and economic consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak, it has also given
rise to xenophobic sentiments toward China and people of Chinese descent around
the world.
This has been
particularly noticeable in Indonesia, which has the highest number of confirmed
coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia -- and 3 million ethnically Chinese
citizens, or 1.2% of its population.
Politicians, the
media and troublemakers on social media have all been spreading this xenophobia,
and it is starting to have real-world consequences. Tech companies and
Indonesia's governments need to crack down on this now, before rhetoric becomes
deadly action.
Following U.S.
President Donald Trump's phrase, many Indonesians on social media use the term
"Chinese virus" to refer to COVID-19 and some have been calling for a
fatwa, or religious decree, to bar Chinese-Indonesians and Chinese nationals
from entering Indonesia.
Some Indonesians
have turned these slogans into action. In one incident earlier this year,
several hundred residents of the Indonesian city of Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra,
marched to a hotel where 170 Chinese tourists were staying, calling on them to
leave. Local authorities decided to send the visitors back to China later in
the day.
The media are
complicit. In late January, Kompas TV broadcast a segment on a morning talk
show titled "Is a biological weapon behind the coronavirus?" in which
the host tried to drive the panelists, one of them was the former head of
Indonesia's state intelligence body, to admit that COVID-19 was a Chinese
biological weapon.
Indonesia has a
long history of prejudice against its ethnic Chinese population. Their success
in business and their historical links to communism make them vulnerable. Most
Indonesians of Chinese heritage are Christian, Buddhist or Confucian; less than
5% are Muslim, the country's dominant religion.
In the
mid-1960s, hundreds of thousands of suspected communists -- some of them of
Chinese descent -- were killed after the military alleged they had instigated
an attempted coup. Ethnic Chinese were also the main victims of the 1998 riots,
where almost 100 women were raped and 1,000 people murdered; they were
scapegoated for the country's economic downturn during the Asian Financial
Crisis because of their involvement in the economy.
To this day,
anti-Chinese sentiment remains widespread within Indonesian society. This was
seen, for example, in the uproar when Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, a Christian of
Chinese descent, ran in the 2017 election for governor of Jakarta.
Recent
xenophobic sentiment has strengthened as China's economic activities in the
country have grown. There have been widespread accusations that imported
Chinese products have been deliberately infected with bacteria; fears that
mainland Chinese workers are taking local jobs; and charges that Chinese police
were playing a role in domestic politics.
Some even frame
COVID-19 as a backlash for China's treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang,
where a million are in "re-education camps," and describe it as God's
warning in response to Beijing's policies.
This
anti-Chinese sentiment should not be taken lightly. The Jakarta-based Institute
for Policy Analysis of Conflict has reported that affiliates of the Islamic
State terrorist group in Indonesia have increased their anti-Chinese rhetoric
on social media during the pandemic in the hope of using COVID-19 as a pretext
to target either those of Chinese descent or Chinese expatriates living in the
country.
Indonesian
efforts to stop the pandemic should not only be around reducing the number of
confirmed cases. They must also eliminate these growing anti-Chinese
sentiments.
The most
important step is to stop misinformation. While social media accounts like Turn
Back Hoax have made such efforts, the authorities and the wider community must
also help to spread correct information about how the virus originates and
spreads, rather than errors and lies. The Ministry of Communications and
Information has in fact attempted to do so by releasing a list of 36 COVID-19
hoaxes debunked.
But there must
also be a wider campaign in the media and academic institutions to fight
negative messages and reinforce positive ones about Chinese Indonesians -- that
Chinese ethnicity is not a virus; that Chinese Indonesians have the same human
rights as everyone else; and that keeping away from people of Chinese descent
is not a way to prevent the spread of the virus.
The inability to
make such efforts will not only reinforce long-held anti-Chinese sentiment in
Indonesia, but could even lead to terrorist attacks in the country. Then the
entire society will have to pay the heavy price.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Indonesia-must-tackle-corona-driven-growth-in-anti-Chinese-xenophobia
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Muslims across
Asia perform Bayram prayers with social distancing, masks
JUL 31, 2020
Muslims across
Asia, taking precautions against the novel coronavirus such as wearing face
masks and checking temperatures, performed prayers on Friday to mark the
festival of Qurban Bayram, also known as Eid al-Adha, in mosques with reduced
capacity as well as on the streets.
In Indonesia,
worshippers were advised to maintain social distancing during the prayers as
the world's biggest Muslim-majority country struggles to contain the spread of
the virus.
Indonesia's
religious ministry also asked mosques to shorten ceremonies this year, while
many mosques canceled the ritual of slaughtering livestock and distributing
meat to the community.
Instead the
donated sheep, goats and cows will be killed in abattoirs to mark the
"Feast of the Sacrifice," celebrated by Muslims around the world to
commemorate Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail at God's
command.
"This
year's Eid al-Adha is very different from previous years because we need to
follow health protocols as we perform prayers, like maintaining social
distancing," said Devita Ilhami, 30, who was at the Sunda Kelapa mosque in
Jakarta.
She also noted
they had to bring their own prayer mats, with markers on the ground to show
where they should be laid.
Elsewhere in
Asia, Muslims including in Thailand and Malaysia prayed in or outside mosques wearing
masks.
In Malaysia,
while some mosques canceled the ritual of slaughtering livestock, 13 cows were
killed in the traditional way by cutting the throat under rules limiting the
number of animals and people at the Tengku Abdul Aziz Shah Jamek mosque in
Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile,
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani will attend prayers in Kabul. Taliban militants
have announced they will observe a three-day cease-fire for the holiday,
offering some respite from weeks of increasing violence in the country.
In India, where
Bayram will be celebrated mostly starting Saturday, several states have eased
coronavirus restrictions to allow worshippers to gather in mosques in limited
numbers.
"Only small
groups of worshippers will be allowed into mosques," said Shafique Qasim,
a senior cleric at the Nakhoda mosque in the eastern city of Kolkata, adding
that no prayers would be held on the streets.
Ritual
sacrifices would be performed in enclosed areas, away from public view, and the
remains carefully collected and disposed, he said.
In southern
Karnataka state, authorities are requiring mosques to disinfect their premises,
use thermal scanners, provide hand-washing facilities and ensure individuals
maintain a distance of 6 feet (1.83 meters) between each other.
Health experts
have been concerned about the risks of the coronavirus being spread during such
religious festivals, when Muslims typically gather in mosques and homes, or
travel to their home towns.
https://www.dailysabah.com/world/muslims-across-asia-perform-bayram-prayers-with-social-distancing-masks/news
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URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/its-lord-rams-that-i/d/122544