Lebanon’s Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Plays Innocent, Denies Hezbollah’s Role in Lokman Slim’s Assassination
New
Age Islam News Bureau
17
February 2021
Pictures of Lokman Slim, a publisher and activist,
are seen during a memorial service to pay tribute to him, one week after he was
found dead in his car, in Beirut, Lebanon February 11, 2021. (Reuters)
-----
•
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Palestinian Homes, Displace Family in Occupied East
Jerusalem Al-Quds
•
All Foreign Forces, Mercenaries Must Leave Libya: UN’s Guterres
•
Muttahida Ulema Board United Against Misuse of Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan
•
Rights Groups to Boycott UK Anti-Extremism Program Review
•
SC To Hear Case against Love Jihad Laws of 4 States, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh
Added As Parties
•
Taliban Called On United States to Pull-Out Troops in Open Letter
•
Muslim Teachers Group Wins Nod to Revive Suit against Vernacular Schools in
Malaysia
•
‘Path to Diplomacy Is Open Right Now,’ Top US Diplomat Tells Iran
Arab
World
•
Lebanon’s Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Plays Innocent, Denies Hezbollah’s
Role In Lokman Slim’s Assassination
•
Saudi Arabia condemns ‘terrorist’ attack targeting Iraq’s Erbil: SPA
•
Turkey detains six, identifies Russian ISIS suspect at Syria border
•
Turkey’s opposition presses government for answers over killing of 13 Turks in
Iraq
•
Refugees prepared for strongest snowstorm in years affecting the Levant: UNHCR
•
Rocket Attack in Iraq Kills a U.S. Military Contractor
--------
Mideast
•
Israeli Bulldozers Raze Palestinian Homes, Displace Family in Occupied East
Jerusalem Al-Quds
•
Iran not seeking nukes but has right to access peaceful nuclear tech: Rouhani
•
KRG: Iraqi Kurdistan Region Waiting for Baghdad’s Expulsion of US Forces
•
Iran Rejects Role in Rocket Attacks against US in Erbil
•
Death Sentence Upheld for Juvenile Offender in Isfahan, Iran
•
Mehrdad Taleshi, a Kurdish 21 Year Old “Killed in Police Custody,” Say Family
•
Iranian Christian convert starts hunger strike protesting continued rights
violation
•
Houthi offensive on Yemen’s Marib threatens mass displacement, UN warns
•
Yemen 'Welcomes Political Process But After End To Saudi War, Siege'
--------
Africa
•
All Foreign Forces, Mercenaries Must Leave Libya: UN’s Guterres
•
Chad reinforces troops against militants in Sahel as France mulls changes
•
5,000 Nigerians Displaced by Boko Haram Ready to Return, Cameroon Says
•
Egypt to reopen embassy in Libya’s capital after seven-year closure
•
Thousands Protest In Algeria, Hoping To Rekindle 2019 Hirak Movement
•
Gunmen kidnap ‘hundreds’ of schoolboys in Nigeria: security, official sources
--------
Pakistan
•
Muttahida Ulema Board United Against Misuse of Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan
•
Pak Hindus Deprived Of Legal Marital Rights to Register Their Marriages,
Divorces and Remarriages
•
Maryam Hopes Judiciary’s Credibility Won’t Be Risked to Save Govt’s ‘Sinking
Ship’
•
Pakistan, France Relations Still 'Poisoned' Over Prophet Muhammad Caricature
Controversy: Report
•
FM Qureshi encourages Egyptian businessmen to invest in Pakistan
•
Pakistan says India posing ‘immediate threat’ to regional peace
--------
Europe
•
Rights Groups to Boycott UK Anti-Extremism Program Review
•
France keeps troops in Sahel to ‘decapitate’ Al-Qaeda groups
•
Russia detains 19 extremist militants who were planning attacks
•
Terror suspect who sparked manhunt pleads guilty
•
MI5 knew terrorist was plotting attack before deadly London stabbings
•
Germany: 5 Tajiks Charged With Membership in ISIS Group
--------
India
•
SC To Hear Case against Love Jihad Laws of 4 States, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh Added
As Parties
•
Rohingya Refugees Face New Crackdown in India
•
Rinku Sharma Murder: At Meeting with Murder Victim’s Family, Kapil Mishra Talks
Jihad, Terror
•
Muslim Outfits, And Political Parties, Stage Protest against BJP In Madurai
•
First ever 'Chadar' sent by Afghan President to Ajmer Dargah
•
SAARC virtual meet: India invites Pak to Covid-19 workshop
•
NIA court sends alleged terror operative to police remand in Jammu IED case
•
India hopes to blunt Pakistan's campaign on J&K with envoy visit
--------
South
Asia
•
Taliban Called On United States to Pull-Out Troops in Open Letter
•
Bomb-making class turns into blast site, 30 Taliban terrorists killed
•
80 Taliban ‘killed in MoD operations’ across Afghanistan
•
4 killed, 2 injured in separate attacks in Afghanistan's Nangarhar
•
New Zealand to pull remaining troops out of Afghanistan
--------
Southeast
Asia
•
Muslim Teachers Group Wins Nod to Revive Suit Against Vernacular Schools In
Malaysia
•
Despite coup, Malaysia to deport 1,200 Myanmar migrants next week
•
Malaysia could become hub for halal vaccines, says Khairy
--------
North
America
•
‘Path to Diplomacy Is Open Right Now,’ Top US Diplomat Tells Iran
•
Pentagon will offer US President Biden several options to respond to Iraq
attack
•
US using channels ‘very aggressively’ to communicate with Yemen’s Houthis:
Official
•
US urges Iran-backed Houthis to halt ‘assault’ on Yemen’s Marib
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/lebanons-hezbollah-leader-hassan-nasrallah/d/124328
--------
Lebanon’s
Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Plays Innocent, Denies Hezbollah’s Role In
Lokman Slim’s Assassination
Pictures of Lokman Slim, a publisher and activist,
are seen during a memorial service to pay tribute to him, one week after he was
found dead in his car, in Beirut, Lebanon February 11, 2021. (Reuters)
-----
17
February,2021
Lebanon’s
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday dismissed accusations of any links
between the group and the killing of researcher and activist Lokman Slim.
“Any
incident that happens in your area then you are accused until the opposite is
proven? Is this something that is practiced in the whole wide world? Where else
is this logic present?” Nasrallah said in a televised speech.
Activist
Lokman Slim was shot and found dead in his car in south Lebanon earlier in
February, marking the first killing of a high-profile activist in years.
He
was a critic of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. His sister has suggested he
was murdered because of those views.
Hezbollah
has previously condemned the killing.
A
filmmaker and publisher, Slim had spoken out against what he called Hezbollah’s
intimidation tactics and attempts to monopolize Lebanese politics.
Nasrallah
was also critical on Tuesday about blame pointed at the group for involvement
in the Aug. 4 Beirut blast that killed 200 people.
“Hezbollah
is guilty until proven otherwise - what kind of a rule is that? ...Beirut port
- you, Hezbollah, blew up Beirut port until the truth about the explosion is
revealed,” he said.
The
judicial investigation into the blast is still under way in Lebanon with judge
Fadi Sawan having charged caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab, whose cabinet
quit after the blast, and three former ministers with negligence.
Sawan
is due to interrogate one of the three former ministers, Youssef Finianos, a
Hezbollah ally sanctioned by the US for his links to the group that Washington
considers a terrorist organization.
“Our
information says that the technical investigation ended and the army sent it to
the judge...we asked that day the army and internal security to reveal the
results of that investigation ....we are repeating our call for this and we
insist on it.”
The
explosion, one of the biggest non-nuclear blasts in history, added further
strains to a country struggling with its worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil
war.
It
was caused by a massive quantity of ammonium nitrate stored unsafely for years.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/17/Nasrallah-plays-innocent-denies-Hezbollah-s-role-in-Lokman-Slim-s-assassination
--------
Israeli
Bulldozers Raze Palestinian Homes, Displace Family In Occupied East Jerusalem Al-Quds
OCHA:
Israel demolishes 178 Palestinian buildings in West Bank since beginning of
2021
-----
16
February 2021
A
Palestinian family has been displaced after Israeli bulldozers demolish their
makeshift homes in a neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Bulldozers
from the Israeli municipality razed houses belonging to the family of Abu
Rumouz in Ras al-Amud neighborhood of Silwan, rendering their residents
homeless, the Palestinian Information Center reported, citing local sources.
The
Israeli regime said the homes had been built with no permits.
Throughout
the years, Israel has frequently demolished Palestinian homes, while at the
same time expanding its settlements for Israelis in occupied Palestinian
territories, which are all illegal under international law.
The
Israeli rights group B’Tselem said last month that the regime had demolished
729 Palestinian buildings in 2020 on the pretext of lacking construction
permits.
Sometimes,
the Tel Aviv even orders the Palestinian owners to tear down their own homes or
pay the demolition costs to the municipality.
Recent
days have seen an escalation of similar atrocious acts committed by Israel
against Palestinians as the regime works to consolidate its occupation of East
Jerusalem al-Quds and other occupied lands.
On
Monday, Israeli authorities forced two Palestinian families in Jerusalem
al-Quds to demolish their homes and another family to demolish their cattle
sheds. On Saturday, they forced a Palestinian man to demolish his family’s
residential tent in Khirbet al-Tha`la hamlet, east of Yatta, south of
al-Khalil.
Israel’s
house demolitions have been met with strong criticism from the United Nations,
leading human rights groups, and even the regime’s own allies such as the
European Union.
Last
week, the European Union called on Israel to stop its demolition of Palestinian
homes, which it described as a “regrettable trend of confiscations and
demolitions seen throughout last year.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/16/645402/Israeli-bulldozers-raze-Palestinian-homes-in-East-Jerusalem-al-Quds
--------
All
Foreign Forces, Mercenaries Must Leave Libya: UN’s Guterres
Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN)
Antonio Guterres
-----
17
February 2021
Secretary-General
of the United Nations (UN) Antonio Guterres has called for the withdrawal of
all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libya, which is moving toward the
formation of a unity government ten years after its revolution.
Speaking
with Libya’s newly-appointed Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah on Tuesday,
Guterres “stressed the UN’s support to Libya’s elections, the monitoring of the
ceasefire and the need for withdrawal of foreign forces,” said his spokesman
Stephane Dujarric.
“I
have not gotten to hear any updates on foreign troops leaving. We want that to
happen, obviously as soon as possible,” Dujarric added.
Libyan
delegates at UN-facilitated talks in Switzerland on Friday selected an interim
executive body to lead Libya until December 20201 elections.
Dbeibah,
a businessman from the western city of Misrata, has been appointed as the
oil-rich country’s new prime minister.
They
also elected a three-member presidential council at the end of five days of
talks.
Guterres
also talked to the president-designate of the Presidency Council, Mohammad
Younes Menfi.
Libya
has been grappling with unchecked violence since the overthrow of former
dictator Muammar Gaddafi in an uprising in 2011.
After
2014, two rival seats of power emerged in Libya, and government forces
constantly fought rebel militia aiming to overtake territory.
Foreign
countries also dispatched troops and mercenaries to the country. The UN said in
December last year that there were about 20,000 foreign troops and mercenaries
helping the opposing sides in Libya.
Under
a UN-backed ceasefire signed in October last year, foreign troops and
mercenaries were to pull out of Libya within three months.
Turkey,
which backs the GNA, has a military base in al-Watiya on the border with
Tunisia under a 2019 military accord. Ankara extended its authorization for its
troop deployment in Libya by 18 months, in December.
President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, said last week that his country will discuss
withdrawing its troops, if other foreign troops are withdrawn first.
Erdogan
said that Turkish forces were deployed in Libya solely to train units loyal to
the GNA.
In
a separate statement, Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Thursday that Turkish
troops will remain there as long as a bilateral military agreement between
Ankara and Tripoli is active and Libya’s government requests it.
He
also said that Ankara would provide support to the newly elected interim
government of Libya.
Egypt
plans to reopen Libya embassy
Meanwhile,
Egypt has announced plans to reopen its embassy in Libya’s capital for the
first time in six years.
The
plan was discussed by an Egyptian delegation in Tripoli on Monday and Tuesday,
in a second visit by an Egyptian delegation to Tripoli since 2014.
Cairo
is one of the most prominent backers of rebel commander Khalifa Haftar.
The
United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France and also back Haftar forces.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/17/645446/All-foreign-forces,-mercenaries-must-leave-Libya--UN%E2%80%99s-Guterres
--------
Muttahida
Ulema Board United Against Misuse Of Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan
February
16, 2021
LAHORE:
The Muttahida Ulema Board has termed terrorism, extremism and sectarian
violence and killing of innocent people in the name of religion anti-Islam,
stating Islamic law and the Constitution have already determined the rights of
Muslims and non-Muslims in Pakistan.
Addressing
a Press Conference here on Monday, Pakistan Ulema Council, Muthahida Ulema
Board chairman and Special Representative to Prime Minister on Interreligious
Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi said the Shariah and Constitution
protected the rights of all the minorities. “If any group, individual or
organisation violates the law, legal action should be taken against it. No one
should be allowed to take the law into their own hands and no Muslim or
non-Muslim should be extra-judicially executed, and if anyone does so, all
religious schools of thought, clerics and religious organizations have
announced unanimously their disassociation.”
He
also called on human rights organizations and NGOs to come forward and
cooperate in ensuring the rights of minorities. He stated that people of all
religions and religious schools of thought had freedom in Pakistan to live
their lives according to the rights as enshrined in the Constitution of
Pakistan.
“There
should be a complete ban on offensive and anarchist contents, publication of
hateful pamphlets, writings, distribution and publications of such content,
cassettes based on provocative and hateful material and internet websites with
such content should be checked and banned.”
Solidarity
should be expressed by holding joint meetings at public level to promote
Inter-religious harmony, he said, adding it is responsibility of the government
and Muslim population to ensure protection of worship places of non-Muslims and
take care of their lives and properties.
“It
is also responsibility of the government to also deal severely with those who
cause any loss to the worship places of non-Muslims and their lives and
properties. The government should ensure implementation of the National Action
Plan without any discrimination.”
Hafiz
Ashrafi invited all NGOs, media representatives if they have any evidence of
misuse of the blasphemy laws, they should come forward. In response to a
question, he said that the new examination boards of the seminaries would
strengthen the education system in Madaris. He said that representatives of old
examination boards of Madaris should welcome the new boards. He said that no
decision was taken yet on the registration of the Wafaqul Masajid-o-Madaris of
Pakistan.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/790785-ulema-united-against-misuse-of-blasphemy-laws-ashrafi
--------
Rights
groups to boycott UK anti-extremism program review
February
16, 2021
LONDON:
Human rights groups have committed to boycotting a UK government review into
the anti-extremist Prevent program to protest the appointment of William
Shawcross as its chair.
Last
month Shawcross, who chaired the Charity Commission between 2012 and 2018, was
made head of the program. The decision was criticized because of previous
comments he had made about Islam.
In
a joint statement, a coalition of 17 human rights and community groups,
including Liberty, Amnesty International and the Runnymede Trust, said his
appointment means that the review exists to “simply rubber-stamp” the
controversial program.
Critics
have long demanded an independent inquiry into Prevent. They argue that the
program encourages discrimination against Muslims and stifles free expression.
It
introduces a requirement for schools, prisons and authorities to report
concerns about people who are at risk of extremism.
This
has led to cases of teachers reporting schoolchildren to police for having toy
guns and discussing video games.
Each
year thousands of referrals are made, but only 11 percent of cases are seen as
legitimate after analysis, recent figures have shown.
The
review into the program was announced in January 2019. But it has faced delays,
and it took 13 months to appoint Shawcross as chair after Lord Carlile, the
first choice to lead the program, stepped down in 2019 following a legal
challenge by a human rights group.
Explaining
the boycott, the human rights coalition said: “The appointments of both
Shawcross and Lord Carlile have made clear, beyond doubt, that the UK
government has no interest in conducting an objective and impartial review of
the strategy, nor in engaging meaningfully with communities affected by it. We
… cannot be complicit in a process that serves only to rubber-stamp a
fundamentally flawed strategy.”
Rather
than take part in the review, the coalition said it will stage its own inquiry
to “properly consider the harms of Prevent.”
Shawcross,
as director of the conservative Henry Jackson Society, said in 2012: “Islam is
one of the greatest, most terrifying problems of our future. I think all
European countries have vastly, very quickly growing Islamic populations.”
Muslim
groups have also revealed comments by him supporting torture and the
controversial US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay in his book “Justice and the
Enemy.”
Under
Shawcross, the Charity Commission for England and Wales was accused of
institutional bias against Muslims.
Liberty’s
policy and campaigns manager Rosalind Comyn said: “This exercise could have
been a chance to properly scrutinize the premise and impacts of the Prevent
strategy, which stifles speech, spreads fear and distrust, and encourages
discrimination.
“But
Liberty will no longer engage in the farce it has become. We need interventions
that respect the rights of the people directly affected and that bring
communities together. Both Prevent and its review are very far removed from
that ideal.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1810521/world
--------
SC
to hear case against love jihad laws of 4 states, Himachal, Madhya Pradesh
added as parties
February
17, 2021
The
Supreme Court has allowed a petitioner to club Himachal Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh as parties in case challenging the controversial religious conversion
laws or so-called ‘love jihad’ laws brought in by UP and Uttarakhand
governments.
The
Supreme Court on Wednesday has permitted an NGO to make Himachal Pradesh and
Madhya Pradesh parties to the pending petition against the state laws that seek
to check incidents of ‘love jihad’ and religious conversions in interfaith
marriages.
The
Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde also allowed Muslim
organisation Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind to become a party to the petition on the
grounds that a large number of Muslims are being harassed under these ‘love
jihad’ laws across the country.
The
Supreme Court had on January 6 agreed to examine the controversial ‘love jihad’
laws of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand regulating religious conversions after
interfaith marriages.
The
bench, also comprising Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, however
refused to stay the controversial provisions of the laws and issued notices to
the UP and Uttarakhand governments on two different petitions.
The
pleas, filed by advocate Vishal Thakre and others and an NGO 'Citizen for
Justice and Peace', have challenged the Constitutional validity of the Uttar
Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Religious Conversion Ordinance, 2020 and the
Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2018 which regulate religious conversions
of interfaith marriages.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/supreme-court-on-love-jihad-laws-petition-1770092-2021-02-17
--------
Taliban
called on United States to pull-out troops in open letter
16
Feb 2021
Taliban
leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in an open letter on Tuesday, urged the
United States to abide by its commitment to withdraw its troops from
Afghanistan, and that military conflict is not a suitable solution for peace.
He
said the past 19 years have proved that afghan issues cannot be resolved
through the use of force or by military strategies, he added that now that a
year has passed “we urge America to stay committed to full implementation” of
the Doha agreement.
In
the letter he indicated that Afghanistan is forced into war, adding that,
Taliban are confident that enduring peace, security, and an Islamic government
can be achieved by Afghans themselves through Intra-Afghan talks.Baradar
iterated in the letter, saying the Islamic Emirates is committed to political
solutions to end the war, therefore the Taliban opened a political office in
Qatar.
Baradar
in the letter guaranteed, all rights of women will be given to them according
to Islamic law and assured the international community in this regard.
The
Taliban leader in the letter said, it is in the interest of all to bring an end
to this war and it is the responsibility of all the involved parties.
“Before
going to Islamabad, they were looking a bit serious, their colleagues who have
not traveled to Pakistan had raised optimism in their talks with our
colleagues, but their gesture changed after returning from Islamabad,” Mateen
Bek, a member of the Afghan Republic’s team told TOLOnews.
This
comes as reports circulate the media that both Taliban and the Afghan
government are preparing for battles of the spring, and despite the efforts for
peace violence has not ended in Afghanistan.
The
international community including US military officials, NATO, and the Afghan
government repeatedly blamed the Taliban for escalation of violence and for not
cutting ties with Al-Qaeda.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-urged-united-states-to-pull-out-troops-in-open-letter-4545454/
--------
Muslim
Teachers Group Wins Nod To Revive Suit Against Vernacular Schools In Malaysia
17
Feb 2021
BY
DANIAL DZULKIFLY
KUALA
LUMPUR, Feb 17 — The High Court in Kota Baru has allowed Ikatan Guru Guru
Muslim Malaysia’s (IGuru) application to reinstate its lawsuit to declare
vernacular schools as unconstitutional in Malaysia.
The
application was filed by IGuru president Mohd Azizee Hasan who was represented
by Datuk Shaharudin Ali while federal counsel Nik Nur Adila Mat Zaidan from the
Attorney General Chambers (AGC) appeared for the government and the Education
Ministry.
High
Court judge Wan Ahmad Farid made his decision this morning after the
originating summons was previously struck off on January 25 as no lawyer was
present to appear for Azizee at the time.
The
court then set February 28 for case management for an application by the AGC to
transfer the case to the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
Shaharudin
in a statement today said his client will challenge this application as they
deemed the High Court in Kota Baru the appropriate venue for the matter.
“The
intention of the application was to consolidate all vernacular cases to a
specified Kuala Lumpur High Court.
“The
Plaintiff will be opposing such application by the Attorney General’s Chambers
because we take the position that the High Court of Kota Baru has the
jurisdiction and is competent to determine the constitutional issues posed to
the Court,’’ said Shahrudin.
Last
year, two similar challenges were mounted by different groups to seek clarity
on Article 152 of the Federal Constitution in relation to the use of the
national language as the main medium of instructions in schools and to
determine if Sections 17 and 28 of the Education Act violated the constitution.
In
2019, Putra vice-president Mohd Khairul Azam filed a similar lawsuit in his
second attempt to have vernacular schools declared unconstitutional, after his
first failed in November of that year.
In
his lawsuit against the education minister and Malaysian government, Mohd
Khairul Azam claimed Sections 28 and 17 of the Education Act are invalid due to
alleged inconsistencies with Act 152 of the Federal Constitution.
In
February of last year, the High Court had also allowed 14 organisations,
including political parties such as MCA, MIC, Gerakan and education and
language groups, to become part of Mohd Khairul Azam ‘s constitutional
challenge.
Mohd
Khairul was also represented by Shaharudin at the time.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/02/17/muslim-teachers-group-wins-nod-to-revive-suit-against-vernacular-schools/1950460
--------
‘Path
to diplomacy is open right now,’ top US diplomat tells Iran
Joseph
Haboush
16
February ,2021
The
top US diplomat Tuesday extended an olive branch to Tehran on Tuesday, telling
Iran that “the path to diplomacy is open right now.”
“The
path to diplomacy is open right now. Iran is still a ways away from being in
compliance. So we’ll have to see what it does,” Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said during an interview with National Public Radio (NPR).
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Blinken
said the US policy was still that Iran must not be allowed to get a nuclear
weapon.
When
asked how the US could stop Iran from getting such a weapon, Blinken brought up
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and said that it was “very
effective” in preventing Iran from producing the materials needed.
Although
Blinken said it was “very unfortunate” that former President Donald Trump’s
administration pulled out of the 2015 deal brokered by Barack Obama, the
secretary of state admitted other issues needed to be included in a new deal.
Asked
why Iran should trust America’s word and sign another deal with Washington,
Blinken said Iran needed to return to compliance with the JCPOA first. “We need
to work on an agreement that’s longer and stronger than the original one. And
we also need to engage other issues that were not part of the original
negotiation that are deeply problematic for us and for other countries around
the world: Iran’s ballistic missile program, its destabilizing actions in
country after country,” he said.
Blinken
was asked if there were any moves underway to reopen direct diplomacy with
Iran, to which he issued an ambiguous response: “At present, the president’s
been very clear publicly, repeatedly, about where we stand. And we’ll see what,
if any, reaction Iran has to that.”
He
did not rule out direct diplomacy with Iran in the future.
“Well,
at some point, presumably, if there’s going to be any engagement on this, that
would have to require diplomacy. That’s what we’re in the business of.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/17/Iran-nuclear-deal-Path-to-diplomacy-is-open-right-now-top-US-diplomat-tells-Iran
--------
Arab
World
Saudi
Arabia condemns ‘terrorist’ attack targeting Iraq’s Erbil: SPA
16
February ,2021
Reem
Krimly
Saudi
Arabia on Tuesday condemned the “terrorist attack” that targeted Erbil
International Airport in Iraq, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing the
Kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A
civilian contractor was killed and six others, including a US service member,
were injured on Monday night when multiple rockets hit Erbil and its
surrounding area at 9:30 p.m. local time.
The
Saudi foreign ministry strongly condemned the “cowardly attacks that threaten
the security and stability of Iraq and the region,” SPA said.
SPA
added that the Kingdom affirmed that it stands in solidarity with Iraq and its
people, and supports “all the steps and measures it takes to preserve its
security.”
The
United Arab Emirates also strongly condemned the terrorist attack that targeted
several locations in the city of Erbil and its suburbs in the Kurdistan region
of Iraq, Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
The
UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a
statement that the “UAE strongly condemns these criminal acts and rejects of
all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at destabilizing security and
stability.”
The
United Nations deplores the deadly rocket attacks on Iraq’s northern Kurdistan
region that left one person dead and several others injured, UN Special Envoy to
Iraq Jeanine Hennis said on Tuesday.
The
United States said it was “outraged” by the attacks that left one dead and
injured several members of the US Coalition on the Kurdistan region in northern
Iraq, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said early on Tuesday.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/16/Terrorism-Saudi-Arabia-condemns-terrorist-attack-targeting-Iraq-s-Erbil-SPA
--------
Turkey
detains six, identifies Russian ISIS suspect at Syria border
17
February ,2021
Turkish
border guards have detained five Russians, including a woman suspected of being
a member the ISIS group, and a Libyan who were attempting to cross from Syria,
officials said Wednesday.
It
was not immediately clear whether all six were suspected of being members of
the extremist group.
“Our
border guards stationed in Hatay’s Narlica district (in southern Turkey) caught
six people including one Libyan and five Russian nationals who were attempting
to illegally cross into Turkey from Syria,” the ministry tweeted in English.
“One
of the Russian nationals was a woman identified as a wanted Daesh member,” it
said, using an Arabic acronym for the extremist group.
In
a separate incident, Turkish authorities this week also arrested a 26-year-old
woman with her two children near the Syrian border, accused of links to the
ISIS group.
The
woman, who held both New Zealand and Australian passports until Canberra
revoked her Australian citizenship last year, sparked a row between the two
countries.
New
Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday accused Australia of
shirking its responsibilities and said it was “wrong” to expect New Zealand to
accept the woman.
Turkey
has stepped up the fight against ISIS extremists who carried out deadly attacks
on its soil, including a mass shooting at an upscale Istanbul nightclub just
minutes into the New Year of 2017.
The
attack killed 39 people, including 27 foreigners.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/17/Turkey-detains-six-identifies-Russian-ISIS-suspect-at-Syria-border
--------
Turkey’s
opposition presses government for answers over killing of 13 Turks in Iraq
16
February ,2021
Turkish
opposition parties pressed President Tayyip Erdogan’s government on Tuesday for
answers over what they called a failed cross-border mission to rescue 13
captive Turks who were killed by PKK militants in northern Iraq.
In
a fierce parliamentary debate two days after Ankara broke news of the killings
in a cave in Iraq’s Gara region, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu rejected
opposition criticism and said Turkey “did everything we could to bring our
martyrs back alive.”
The
captives, including police and military personnel, were mostly seized by
outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in 2015 and 2016. Ankara said
they were executed during an offensive against the PKK in the area that Erdogan
later indicated also aimed to rescue them.
On
Wednesday, the day the offensive was launched, Erdogan promised he would soon
announce some unspecified “good news.”
Kemal
Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP),
demanded the government declare who should take responsibility “for the failure
of the operation launched to rescue our 13 citizens,” and he criticized Erdogan
for undermining the secrecy of the offensive.
“The
blood of our 13 brothers is on the ground. They could have been brought back to
Turkey,” he said. The military “carried out an offensive with drums and
trumpets. Tayyip Erdogan is responsible for our 13 martyrs,” Kilicdaroglu
added.
Relying
mostly on air and drone strikes, Turkey has in recent years carried out several
operations in northern Iraq against the PKK, designated a terrorist group by
Turkey, the United States and European Union.
Aytun
Ciray, a lawmaker from the opposition Iyi Party, asked Defense Minister Hulusi
Akar on Tuesday why the rescue mission was treated like other offensives,
saying airstrikes would have alerted militants.
Briefing
parliament on the operation, Akar said no ground support was available due to
the mountainous terrain, insisting that secrecy was preserved in advance of the
operation.
He
said the captives were killed at the time Ankara launched airstrikes in the
region, which he said the military had been scouting for months. Akar added
that the 13 captives were found dead when forces entered the cave where they
were being held.
The
pro-Kurdish Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), under fire from the government and
its nationalist ally who accuse it of links to the PKK, accused the government
of failing to act in time. The HDP denies having any militant ties.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/16/Turkey-s-opposition-presses-government-for-answers-over-killing-of-13-Turks-in-Iraq
--------
Refugees
prepared for strongest snowstorm in years affecting the Levant: UNHCR
16
February ,2021
The
UNHCR has distributed “winter cash assistance” to displaced Syrian refugees for
them to be prepared for the winter's cold including the snowstorm that will be
affecting the Levant as of Wednesday, said UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled.
“In
terms of preparations, we start very early on in preparing for the winter
season way before it starts. We start giving what we call ‘winter cash
assistance’ to all refugees. Over 90 percent of refugees have been targeted by
this cash assistance. Refugees use this cash assistance to get fuel, food, and
medicine,” Abou Khaled added.
Abou
Khaled added that most refugees bought fuel with this assistance in order to
battle the winter's cold.
Al
Arabiya English reached out to meteorologist Wael Hakim at the Jordan-based
Arabia Weather network who said it is noteworthy that the Levant has not
witnessed significant snowstorms during the winter season since 2015.
Jordan
and Lebanon primarily are home to over 3 million displaced Syrian refugees who
mostly live in camps with no proper protection from the harsh weather
conditions.
“The
air depression expected to affect the eastern basin of the Mediterranean is
considered a fourth-degree winter storm according to the Arab weather
classification for the severity of the snowstorm, with the fifth-degree being
the highest on the scale,” Hakim added.
UNHCR
spokesperson Abou Khaled added that the UNHCR also prepared informal
settlements by installing thermal isolation through wood and plastic.
“This
in many cases is not enough unfortunately and every year we see damage in terms
of broken tents from the intense wind or snow,” she added.
UNHCR
teams will be deployed during the storm to assess and fix damaged shelters in
the Beqaa valley, North, and other regions.
“Before
every storm we have a contingency plan in place, we coordinate with partner
NGOs and local authorities, we communicate with messages to refugees, we inform
them with details on weather updates and we send them instructions on how to
protect themselves,” she added.
Arabia
Weather’s Hakim added that the effects of the storm will be in the form of
snowfall in Jordan at an altitude of 800 meters, and perhaps less, and
therefore the capital, Amman, will be among the areas that will witness
important snow accumulations that may impede public life in the city.
Lebanon-based
meteorologist Elias Saadeh added that the last storm of such intensity occurred
6 years ago in February of 2015.
“Most
of Lebanon’s mountainous areas will be covered with snow, as snow is expected
to reach an altitude of 600 meters in Lebanon, this storm is considered a
medium-power snowstorm since it considerably short, 36 hours only, and since
the snow will not reach an altitude below 400 meters,” Saadeh added.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/16/Refugees-prepared-for-strongest-snowstorm-in-years-affecting-the-Levant-UNHCR
--------
Rocket
Attack in Iraq Kills a U.S. Military Contractor
By
Sangar Khaleel and Jane Arraf
Feb.
15, 2021
ERBIL,
Iraq — A rocket attack on the airport in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil on
Monday killed a civilian contractor with the American-led military coalition
and wounded six others, including a U.S. service member, according to a
coalition spokesman.
Several
other rockets landed in residential areas of the city, the capital of the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including one close to the Chinese Consulate.
The
attack, rare in the normally peaceful Kurdish city, raised tensions already
heightened by threats of Iran-backed militias on American targets in Iraq. It
was not clear who carried it out, but previous attacks have been attributed to
militias funded and directed by Iran.
Iran
has made clear that it intends to retaliate further for the American drone
strike in Baghdad in January 2020 that killed a top Iranian general, Qassim
Suleimani, and a senior Iraqi security official. Days after that strike, the
Iranian government launched missile attacks against U.S. forces at the Ain al
Assad air base in Iraq’s Anbar Province, wounding more than 100 troops.
On
Monday, minutes after the rocket attack on Erbil, the Kurdish regional
government called on residents to stay indoors and the international airport
canceled departing and arriving flights.
The
United States military has drawn down the number of its troops in Iraq to under
2,500 and has pulled out of several bases there over the past two years. It
says Iraq no longer needs the help it did in the past to fight the Islamic
State, though American officials have acknowledged that militia attacks also factored
into the decision to move troops to bases more easily defended.
The
military side of Erbil’s airport is one
of three remaining bases with a significant number of U.S. troops. It was not
clear whether anti-rocket defense systems installed at the base were activated
by Monday’s attack.
The
coalition did not reveal the nationality of the civilian contractor who was
killed. The Kurdish ministry of health said three civilians were wounded in
Monday’s attack.
Kurdish
counterterrorism forces said they had found the vehicle the rockets were
launched from but did not say where it was discovered.
A
little-known group known as Awliya al Dam (Guardian of the Blood) brigades
claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had launched the rockets in
revenge for the deaths of “the martyred leaders.” The group claimed
responsibility last August for two bombings targeting U.S. contractor convoys
carrying military equipment.
In
Washington, a White House spokesman said President Biden had been briefed on
the attack in Erbil, but offered no other comment or details.
Masrour
Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdish Region of Iraq, said he had spoken with
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken about cooperating to find those
responsible for the attack. Mr. Blinken later condemned the attack.
“We
are outraged by today’s rocket attack in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region,” he said
in a statement Monday evening, adding that in speaking with the Kurdish prime
minister, he had pledged U.S. support “for all efforts to investigate and hold accountable
those responsible.
Michael
Knights, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that
the size and scope of the rocket attack on Erbil was unusually large, and that
it had most likely been intended to maim or kill American contractors or
service members, or their Kurdish allies.
“This
is a test of the new Biden administration to see what they can get away with,”
Mr. Knights said in a telephone interview.
Iraqi
leaders have traveled to Tehran to try to persuade Iran to call off attacks,
saying conflict between Washington and Tehran left Iraq dangerously in the
middle. The embassy in Baghdad continues to operate with the ambassador and a
small number of key staff.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/15/world/middleeast/iraq-us-contractor-killed.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2005874_
--------
Mideast
Iran
not seeking nukes but has right to access peaceful nuclear tech: Rouhani
17
February 2021
President
Hassan Rouhani has reiterated that Iran does not seek to develop nuclear
weapons or a secretive nuclear program, but reserves the right to use peaceful
nuclear technologies.
Speaking
at a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Wednesday, Rouhani said Iran is a member of
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has been implementing the Safeguards
Agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“As
we have repeatedly said, there is no place for weapons of mass destruction
(WMDs), including nuclear weapons, in the country’s defense program, and this
is the definitive view of the Islamic establishment,” he added.
The
remarks came ahead of Iran’s new steps away from the 2015 nuclear deal,
officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in response
to the US’s withdrawal and the other parties’ non-compliance with the accord.
Tehran
is expected to cease the voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol to
the NPT Safeguards Agreement, which allows the IAEA to carry out short-notice
inspections at non-declared locations.
The
measure is required under the Strategic Action Plan to Counter Sanctions, a law
passed last December by the Iranian Parliament (Majlis).
The
Islamic Republic does not want to have or store nuclear weapons and, above all,
it never wants to use nuclear weapons,” Rouhani said. “The common view has
always been that we will not seek nuclear weapons, but rather seek peaceful
nuclear technology, which is our right.”
Iran
showed to the world the peaceful nature of its nuclear program by signing the
JCPOA with six world states — namely the US, Germany, France, Britain, Russia
and China — in 2015. The nuclear deal was also ratified in the form of a UN
Security Council Resolution 2231.
However,
Washington’s exit in May 2018 and the subsequent re-imposition of unilateral
sanctions against Tehran left the future of the historic agreement in limbo.
Tehran
remained fully compliant with the JCPOA for an entire year, waiting for the
co-signatories to fulfill their end of the bargain by offsetting the impacts of
Washington’s bans on the Iranian economy.
As
the European parties failed to do so, Tehran moved in May 2019 to suspend its
JCPOA commitments under Articles 26 and 36 of the deal covering Tehran’s legal
rights.
The
Iranian chief executive stressed that Iran has never been and will never be
seeking to develop a secretive nuclear program.
“Whether
the United States, Europe and the United Nations like it or not, if the whole
world tells us that it is very good for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, our
opinion will not change. Our view is the one announced by Leader [of the
Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] in a fatwa, and it is the
same promise we made by signing the NPT and the Safeguards Agreement,” he
added, referring to Ayatollah Khamenei’s religious decree that bans the production,
possession and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and other WMDs.
“The
Islamic Republic has always shown that if it signs and accepts any treaty and
agreement, it will stand by it to the end, and that is the case with the
nuclear issue.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/17/645457/Iran-Rouhani-nukes-defense
--------
KRG:
Iraqi Kurdistan Region Waiting for Baghdad’s Expulsion of US Forces
2021-February-16
“The
Kurdistan region is waiting for the central government in Iraq to declare its
official decision to expel the US forces,” Dabaq said in an interview with the
Persian-language ANA news agency on Tuesday.
He
added that the Kurdistan region has always supported the Iranians’ presence in
Erbil, stressing that Erbil will never allow the Iraqi Kurdistan region to be
used as a platform for attacks, threats and insecurity against the neighbors,
specially Iran.
The
Iraqi parliament called on the government in January 2020 to work to end all
foreign troop presence as a backlash grew after the killing of the senior
Iranian and Iraqi military commanders in the US strike in Baghdad.
Dabaq's
remarks came as a rocket attack in the Northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday
killed a civilian contractor with the US-led military coalition and wounded six
others, including a US service member, said a US-led coalition spokesman.
Several
other rockets landed in residential areas of the city, the capital of the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including one close to the Chinese consulate.
A
newly-established militant group that calls itself ‘Saraya Awliya al-Dam’ has
claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
The
group claimed that it fired 24 rockets from an area 7 kilometers away from the
US-occupied al-Tahrir military base, all of which hit their targets as the
coalition air defenses failed to intercept the rockets.
Iran
has rejected any role in the attack.
The
Iranian foreign ministry dismissed and condemned suspicious rumors about the
country’s role in the Monday night missile attacks against the US interests in
Erbil, and called on the Iraqi government to punish perpetrators of the attack.
"These
rumors are strongly rejected, the suspicious attempts to attribute the attack
to Iran are also strongly condemned," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed
Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday.
"Iran
views Iraq’s stability and security a key issue for the region and its
neighbors, and rejects any action that disturbs peace and order in this
country," he added.
Khatibzadeh
described as suspicious such attacks in Iraq, calling on the Iraqi government
to pursue the case and punish those behind the move.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991128000965/KRG-Irai-Krdisan-Regin-Waiing-fr-Baghdad%E2%80%99s-Explsin-f-US-Frces
--------
Iran
Rejects Role in Rocket Attacks against US in Erbil
2021-February-16
"These
rumors are strongly rejected, the suspicious attempts to attribute the attack
to Iran are also strongly condemned," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed
Khatibzadeh said on Tuesday.
"Iran
views Iraq’s stability and security a key issue for the region and its
neighbors, and rejects any action that disturbs peace and order in this
country," he added.
Khatibzadeh
described as suspicious such attacks in Iraq, calling on the Iraqi government
to pursue the case and punish those behind the move.
A
rocket attack in the Northern Iraqi city of Erbil on Monday killed a civilian
contractor with the US-led military coalition and wounded six others, including
a US service member, said a US-led coalition spokesman.
Several
other rockets landed in residential areas of the city, the capital of the
Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including one close to the Chinese consulate.
A
newly-established militant group that calls itself ‘Saraya Awliya al-Dam’ has
claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
The
group claimed that it fired 24 rockets from an area 7 kilometers away from the
US-occupied al-Tahrir military base, all of which hit their targets as the
coalition air defenses failed to intercept the rockets.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991128000765/Iran-Rejecs-Rle-in-Rcke-Aacks-agains-US-in-Erbil
--------
Death
Sentence Upheld for Juvenile Offender in Isfahan, Iran
10
Feb - Iran Human Rights (IHR); February 9, 2021: The Supreme Court has upheld
the death sentence of a juvenile offender, on death row for a murder in the
village of Derafshan, Isfahan.
According
to Rokna, the death sentence of a juvenile offender has been upheld by the
Supreme Court. The prisoner, whose identity and location were not disclosed,
was arrested and sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for the “premeditated
murder” of one of his friends, Morteza Rezaii in the village of Derafshan (part
of the Pirbakran district of Falavarjan county in Isfahan Province).
The
murder took place on 6 November 2018 and according to Rokna, when the defendant
had not reached the legal age. The juvenile offender is reported to have
confessed during interrogations and cited his motives as personal animosity and
jealousy.
The
juvenile offender was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for the murder
which has now been upheld by the Supreme Court. According to victim’s mother,
the sentence is due to be carried out in early spring.
Iran
is one of the few countries in the world that still carries out the death
penalty for juvenile offenders. The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights which the Islamic Republic is a signatory to, prohibits the
issuance and implementation of the death penalty for crimes committed by an
individual below 18 years of age.
The
Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the Islamic Republic is also a
signatory to, explicitly states that “Neither capital punishment nor life
imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences
committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”
Yet,
according to data collected by IHR and international human rights
organisations, the Islamic Republic is responsible for more than 70% of all
executions of juvenile offenders in the last 30 years. IHR’s statistics also
show that at least 63 juvenile offenders have been executed in Iran over the
past 10 years, with at least six being executed in 2018 and four in 2019.
Given
the security state and repression of civil society activists and the limited
contact with prisoners, it is likely that the number of juvenile executions is
much higher than recorded.
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4618/
--------
Mehrdad
Taleshi, a Kurdish 21 Year Old “Killed in Police Custody,” Say Family
Iran
Human Rights (IHR); February 9, 2021: Mehrdad Taleshi, a 21-year-old Divandareh
native who was arrested on 1 February 2021, has died in police custody.
Relatives say the young Kurdish man was killed as a result of “torture by
police officers.”
According
to Iran Human Rights, Mehrdad Taleshi, a 21-year-old Divandareh native in the
Kurdistan region, has died while in the custody of the Shapour criminal
investigation department police station.
His
relatives have told IHR: “On Wednesday (3 February) at 6:30 in the morning,
they transferred his corpse to the Baharloo Hospital in a Shapour police
ambulance. There were torture marks around his neck and severe marks of injury
on his head. It is clear that they had struck him hard on the head.”
Mehrdad
Taleshi, son of Khosrow, was a 21-year-old Divandareh native who was arrested
at 5pm on 1 February 2021 along with another male by the Tehran 13th District’s
police patrol. Half an hour later, he was taken to 115 police station and
transferred from there to the Shapour police station at 9:30pm. Eight days
following his arrest, he was died while in the custody of the Shapour criminal investigation
department police station. The identity of the male arrested with Mehrdad has
not been established at the time of writing.
Mehrdad
Taleshi was denied the right to contact his family throughout his detention.
Officials
at the police station told Mehrdad’s family that the reason for his arrest was
“being in possession of seven grams of marijuana.” This is while according to
his family: “Mehrdad was an athlete and didn’t even smoke cigarettes. As his
family, we still don’t know why they killed him and what the reason for killing
him was.”
Hospital
officials initially wanted to return Mehrdad’s body to his family without an
autopsy, but was sent for an autopsy after being met with his family’s
protests. Following the autopsy, the body of the young Kurdish man was returned
to his family on Saturday, February 6 and was laid to rest amidst heavy
security presence the next day.
The
informed source told IHR: “The outcome of the forensic exam has not yet been
determined and the complaint lodged by the Taleshi family to the Criminal Court
has yet to be acknowledged.”
It
should be noted that the Shapour criminal investigation department police
station is notorious for the routine torture of prisoners which has been
covered in countless reports over the years.
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4617/
--------
Iranian
Christian convert starts hunger strike protesting continued rights violation
February
14, 2021, Iranian Christian convert Ebrahim Firoozi has gone on hunger strike
since Feb. 13, demanding a ‘complete acquittal’ of what he calls the ‘false
allegations’ made by the Ministry of Intelligence against him.
He
had previously announced that he would go on a hunger strike to protest
continued confiscation of his mobile phone and laptop by the Ministry of Intelligence.
The
34-year-old Christian convert, who has already spent 15 months in exile was
arrested and taken to Chabahar Prison on February 8, after being summoned to
answer new charges of “propaganda against the Islamic Republic in favour of
hostile groups”.
The
allegations came after some videos of him were shared on social media in which
he complained about the continued rights violations against him.
Ebrahim
Firoozi was initially arrested in January 2010 for converting from Islam to
Christianity and allegedly organizing Christian religious meetings.
During
his first arrest he was told he would be freed if he declared himself a Muslim,
a source told the Campaign. After Firoozi refused, the Revolutionary Court in
Karaj convicted him of “propaganda against the state” for his religious
conversion and alleged missionary activities and sentenced him to five months
in prison with an additional five-month suspended prison sentence. He was freed
on June 8, 2011.
Firoozi
was arrested a second time on March 8, 2012 for allegedly “attempting to create
a website teaching about Christianity” (in order to convert people) and again
charged with “propaganda against the state” for which he was sentenced to one
year in prison and two years in exile by Judge Hassan Babaee of the
Revolutionary Court in Robat Karim. The Appeals Court upheld the decision.
The
Christian convert was arrested a third time on September 16, 2013 and held in
Ward 240, which is under the control of the Intelligence Ministry, in Evin
Prison in Tehran where he was “insulted for his beliefs” and pressured to give
false confessions, the source told the Campaign.
In
April 2015 Judge Mohammad Moghisseh of Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court
sentenced Firoozi to five years in prison for allegedly “creating a group with
the intention of disturbing national security.”
He
was released in October 2019 after serving nearly six years in prison for his
religious activities. Later in November 2019 he was sent to exile in remote
Sistan and Baluchestan province.
https://iran-hrm.com/index.php/2021/02/14/iranian-christian-convert-ebrahim-firoozi-starts-hunger-strike/
--------
Houthi
offensive on Yemen’s Marib threatens mass displacement, UN warns
17
February ,2021
An
offensive by Yemen’s Houthi militia group to take Marib city threatens to
displace hundreds of thousands and complicate a renewed diplomatic push to end
the war, UN officials say.
The
gas-rich region of Marib has been a refuge for hundreds of thousands of people
fleeing violence during Yemen’s six-year-old war, expanding its main city
rapidly.
A
frontline is now roughly 30 kilometer away to the city’s west, a government
official told Reuters, and humanitarian concerns are growing.
“An
assault on the city would put two million civilians at risk, with hundreds of thousands
potentially forced to flee - with unimaginable humanitarian consequences,” UN
aid chief Mark Lowcock said on Tuesday, urging de-escalation.
The
recent push towards Marib by Houthi militants, who control Yemen’s most
populous areas, comes alongside intensified drone attacks into Saudi Arabia by
the Iran-aligned terror group. Riyadh, which is involved in the Arab Coalition
fighting the Houthis, said one attack started a fire in a civilian aircraft at
an airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
These
escalations have coincided with a fresh push by the UN and the US to end the
war, which the United Nations says has created the world’s largest humanitarian
crisis. This push includes Washington revoking a terrorist designation of the
Houthis introduced by former President Donald Trump’s administration in
January.
UN
Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has said the resumption of Houthi
hostilities near Marib was extremely concerning at a time of renewed diplomatic
momentum.
The
US State Department on Tuesday urged the Houthis to stop their advance on Marib
and turn to negotiations.
Explosions
Houthi
offensives in recent days have hit camps for internally displaced persons
(IDPs), causing people to flee, Yemen’s information minister said.
Najeeb
Al-Saadi, director of the government’s IDP camp management unit, told Reuters
Houthi militants on Monday hit four camps to Marib city’s east. Two locations
were totally evacuated, he said.
Residents
in Marib city, which lies to the east of the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa,
told Reuters on Tuesday they have heard the sound of explosions this week, more
strongly at night, and that planes belonging to the Arab Coalition are a
constant sight overhead.
Yemen
is divided between the internationally recognized government based in the south
- supported by the Arab Coalition - and the Houthi militia group headquartered
in the north. The Houthis ousted the government from power in the capital Sanaa
in late 2014.
Yemen’s
frontlines have largely been in stalemate for years but a major Houthi gain in
Marib would leave the group in control of what historically was known as North
Yemen. Marib city is also the last line of defense before Yemen’s biggest gas
and oil fields, which are in government hands.
The
UN’s International organization for Migration (IOM) says 106,449 people have
been displaced by fighting which has been bubbling along the Marib frontlines
for a year.
It
warned an additional 385,000 people could be displaced with a major frontline
shift. There are 125 displacement sites around Marib, IOM says.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/17/Houthi-offensive-on-Yemen-s-Marib-threatens-mass-displacement-UN-warns
--------
Yemen
'welcomes political process but after end to Saudi war, siege'
16
February 2021
Yemen's
Ansarullah movement says the country would positively receive any attempt to
end the Saudi-led war only after the coalition attacking Yemen stops its
aggression and blockade against the impoverished Arab country.
Mohammed
Abdul-Salam, the movement's spokesman, who is also the head of the Yemeni
National Salvation Government's negotiating team, made the remarks in a tweet
on Tuesday, after the US administration called on the Yemeni forces and allied
fighters from Popular Committees to stop their push to take control of the
northern city of Ma'rib.
Turning
a blind eye to the continuation of the Saudi-led aggression and the brutal
siege on the Yemeni people that has been going on for nearly six years, the US
State Department said the army and popular defense forces must stop all
military operations and return to the negotiating table.
"We
are the ones calling for constructive and successful political action after a
comprehensive cessation of aggression and an end to the siege,"
Abdul-Salam wrote in his tweet. "Based on past experiences, no political
process will ever succeed under conditions of fire and siege. The aggressor
must end his hostility and attacks and lift the siege of Yemen, and we are
ready to deal with this issue with a positive approach.”
Earlier
this month, the Yemeni army soldiers and their allied fighters resumed an
offensive to take control of oil-rich Ma'rib, the last urban stronghold of
militiamen loyal to pro-Saudi former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, in
northern Yemen, which is some 120 kilometers east of the capital, Sana’a.
Media
reports said at least 16 pro-Hadi militiamen were killed and 21 others wounded
in clashes with the Yemeni forces near Ma'rib on Sunday.
The
US State Department’s statement came hours after the administration of new US
President Joe Biden officially removed Yemen's popular Ansarullah movement from
the US list of "foreign terrorist organizations."
Former
US President Donald Trump had blacklisted the movement on his last full day in
office despite warnings by other governments, aid groups, and the United
Nations (UN) that potential US sanctions could push Yemen into a major famine
and would bring more pain to millions of starving people in the war-ravaged
country.
Saudi
Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the war on Yemen in March
2015, with the goal of bringing Hadi's government back to power and eliminating
the popular Ansarullah movement.
According
to the UN, 80 percent of Yemen's 30 million people need some form of aid or
protection. About 13.5 million Yemenis currently face acute food insecurity, UN
data shows.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/16/645433/Yemen--welcomes-political-process-but-after-end-to-Saudi-war,-siege-
--------
Africa
Chad
reinforces troops against militants in Sahel as France mulls changes
FEBRUARY
12, 2021
N’DJAMENA
(Reuters) - Chad will deploy some 1,000 troops to the tri-border region of
Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali to reinforce national armies that, backed by
French and European allies, are battling Islamist insurgents, according to
French and Chadian sources.
The
deployment will be announced during a summit on Feb. 15-16 in the Chadian
capital N’Djamena held to tackle the situation in the Sahel, a French
presidency official and a senior Chadian security official said.
It
comes as France, which sent troops to the region in 2013 to help repel
jihadists who had occupied northern Mali, considers adjusting its military
presence. This could entail France pulling some of the 5,100 soldiers that are
involved in counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel.
Although
France has claimed military successes against Islamist insurgents over the past
year, it is searching for an exit strategy. The grinding operation has cost
billions of euros and left 55 French soldiers dead, yet violence is persisting
with signs it is spreading to coastal West Africa.
The
French official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said President Emmanuel
Macron could decide to hold off for a few weeks before adjusting his forces as
he continues to consult with Sahel and European partners on the way forward.
“We
now have very encouraging signals of an imminent deployment of the Chadian
battalion,” the official told reporters in a briefing ahead of the summit.
Financing from partner countries and equipment from France had been secured.
Chadian
troops were last year mostly engaged in fighting insurgents from Boko Haram and
the Islamic State in West Africa in the Lake Chad region.
Chad’s
armed forces are among the most respected and battle hardened in West Africa, a
reputation forged during decades of regional wars and rebellions, and honed in
the 2013 campaign in the deserts of northern Mali.
Their
deployment to the tri-border theatre would enable French and other forces to
re-orient their military mission to central Mali and to target Islamist leaders
linked to al Qaeda.
The
Chadian security source said the troops were already en route to the tri-border
region, known as Liptako-Gourma, a region slightly larger than Germany, where
the allies are trying to wrest back control of terrain from the insurgents.
Niger’s
ruling party presidential candidate Mohamed Bazoum told a campaign rally in the
Tillabery region, situated in Liptako-Gourma, that Chadian troops will be based
there.
TALKS
WITH JIHADISTS?
The
N’Djamena summit will aim to shift the focus of attention to jihadists in
central Mali and to economic development and better governance to help reassert
state control in areas once dominated by militants, officials said.
“They
are slowly coming round to the idea that the military option has shown its
limits and something else needs to be done, but it’s a slow process and is not
the official line,” said a person familiar with French thinking.
Niagale
Bagayoko, chair of the African Security Sector Network think tank, said that
one of the main issues at stake in discussions would be whether to negotiate
with the jihadists.
Mali
and Burkina Faso have said they are open to such talks, an option opposed by
France.
“The
actors that are the closest to the ground say that without seeing the political
dimension of the conflict, we won’t go anywhere,” Bagayoko said.
Mentioning
the two paramount al Qaeda-linked leaders in the region, she said, “I think
France wants to record a victory by eliminating Iyad al Ghali or Amadou Koufa
and then say that it’s possible at a local level to negotiate with unit chiefs
who were affiliated but are less politically dangerous.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sahel-security/chad-reinforces-troops-against-militants-in-sahel-as-france-mulls-changes-idUSKBN2AC12V?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2005874_
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5,000
Nigerians Displaced by Boko Haram Ready to Return, Cameroon Says
By
Moki Edwin Kindzeka
February
12, 2021
MAROUA,
CAMEROON - Cameroon says 5,000 of the 103,000 Nigerians, mostly women and
children, who fled across the border from Boko Haram terrorists have agreed to
return to Nigeria.
Government
officials from the two countries, meeting in the northern Cameroonian town of
Maroua, agreed Nigeria would reintegrate the displaced people and provide
security.
Cameroon
announced Friday that the departure date is set for February 27.
Most
of those displaced volunteered to return to Borno state when Nigeria assured
them Boko Haram is no longer a major danger, according to Benjamin Ojioko,
spokesperson for the Nigerians in Cameroon's Far North region, which shares a
border with Nigeria's Borno state, a former Boko Haram epicenter.
"It
is not that they are not feeling fine here, but we usually say that home is the
best place," Ojioko said. "We thank the Nigerian government and
Cameroon for what they are doing so that our brothers can go back to Nigeria.
We have been here for long."
Both
Cameroon and Nigeria say 5,096 refugees agreed to return to Nigeria during the
first phase of the voluntary repatriation exercise. Of that group, 285 are over
60 years old and more than 1,100 are between a month and 4 years old. About
2,700 are women.
A
declaration read in Maroua said Nigeria and Cameroon promised in a commission
meeting to ensure that those returning are safe from Boko Haram and COVID-19.
"The
commission agreed to facilitate the safe and dignified return movement using
buses for individuals with social distancing and trucks for luggage by road
with security and medical escorts," according to the declaration.
"The voluntary repatriation will be done in adherence to the agreed COVID-19
protocols in both countries."
Paul
Atanga Nji, Cameroon's territorial administration minister, represented his
country at the meeting. He says negotiations are continuing, to assure the
98,000 Nigerians who are still reluctant to return that peace is finally returning
to their country.
"[Cameroonian]
President Paul Biya and [Nigerian] President Muhammadu Buhari have insisted
that we have to respect the international convention which recommends the
voluntary, voluntary return of the citizens who are here," Nji said.
"As we are going back, there is hope and there is joy as for the 5,000 who
will be [leaving] in the first place. But it is an ongoing process."
Among
the displaced Nigerians who say they have yet to decide whether they will go
back is 49-year-old Ousman Sani. Sani said he has been earning a living in
Cameroon since 2013 as a cattle rancher, and does not know if he will find a
job and peace in his town of Bama, in northern Nigeria. He says he does not
know if his destroyed home will be rebuilt by his government.
"We
are in good relationship with the host community. It is just that at first, we
don't [didn't] understand their language and they too, they do not understand
our language. It is a problem of a language barrier but now we are living in
peace," Sani said.
Cameroon
says of the 103,000 displaced Nigerians in the central African state, about
68,000 are at the Minawao refugee camp and 35,000 live with host communities.
Ninety-five percent of the displaced Nigerians are from Borno state. Very often,
they are given humanitarian assistance by the United Nations, nongovernmental
organizations and Cameroon.
Babagan
Umara Zulum, the governor of Nigeria's Borno state and head of the Nigerian
delegation to Maroua, said he is grateful for the assistance given to the
refugees.
"I
wish to sincerely convey our deep appreciation to the government of Cameroon
and the distinguished leadership of President Paul Biya for the enormous
support he has been rendering towards uplifting the standards of living of the displaced
communities of Borno state taking refuge in the Minawao [refugee] camp. We
remain eternally grateful," he said.
Zulum
said Nigeria will socially and economically reintegrate the refugees as soon as they return. He also assured them
of safety when they return to Maiduguri and their towns and villages in the
areas of Ngala, Bama and Gwoza.
According
to the U.N., 11 years of Boko Haram violence has displaced more than 2.7
million people, including some 210,000 Nigerians, into neighboring countries.
Nearly 30,000 people have died during the Islamic extremist group's 11-year-old
uprising.
https://www.voanews.com/africa/5000-nigerians-displaced-boko-haram-ready-return-cameroon-says?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2005874_
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Egypt
to reopen embassy in Libya’s capital after seven-year closure
16
February ,2021
Egypt
is planning to reopen its embassy in Libya’s capital for the first time in six
years, according to Egyptian sources and Libyan officials, marking a shift to a
more conciliatory approach to western Libya-based factions.
The
planned reopening, which a visiting Egyptian delegation discussed in Tripoli on
Monday and Tuesday, coincides with a new interim government set to be formed in
the latest UN-brokered effort to unite rival camps in east and west Libya.
Egypt
has been one of the most prominent backers of eastern-based military commander
Khalifa Haftar, whose Libyan National Army (LNA) waged a campaign to take
control of Tripoli that crumbled in June last year.
Egypt
saw Haftar as the best option for securing its border with Libya. Along with
the United Arab Emirates, it also supported his stated goal of opposing
Islamist-leaning groups and Muslim Brotherhood influence in Libya.
During
its visit to Tripoli the Egyptian delegation met the foreign and interior
ministers of the outgoing government, which is aligned with military factions
that fought Haftar, according to posts from the Libyan ministries.
The
visit discussed logistical arrangements for reestablishing Egypt’s diplomatic
presence in the coming period through its embassy in Tripoli and its consulate
in the eastern city of Benghazi, an Egyptian diplomatic source said.
The
move was a first step towards enhanced political, economic and security
cooperation with authorities in Tripoli, two Egyptian intelligence sources
said.
Outreach
to Tripoli also represents a recalibration of Egypt’s Libya policy after the
failure of Haftar’s Tripoli campaign, according to Egyptian intelligence
sources and Western diplomats.
Egypt
closed its Tripoli embassy in 2014, the year when many foreign missions in the
capital shut down during an intensifying conflict that saw rival governments
set up in Tripoli and in the east of Libya.
Turkey,
a regional rival of Egypt and military backer of west Libyan factions, reopened
its embassy in the Libyan capital in 2017.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2021/02/17/Egypt-to-reopen-embassy-in-Libya-s-capital-after-seven-year-closure
--------
Thousands
protest in Algeria, hoping to rekindle 2019 Hirak movement
16
February ,2021
Thousands
of people demonstrated on Tuesday in the Algerian town of Kherrata to voice
support for the Hirak protest movement that ousted Algeria’s veteran president
in 2019 before the COVID-19 crisis forced it off the streets last year.
More
than 5,000 protesters chanted: “A civilian state, not a military state” and
“The gang must go” as they waved Algerian flags.
Tuesday’s
protest was held to mark the second anniversary of the start of demonstrations
in 2019, which began in Kherrata, east of the capital Algiers, before spreading
across the country.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“We
came to revive the Hirak that was stopped for health reasons. They didn’t stop
us. We stopped because we care for our people. Today coronavirus is over and we
will get the Hirak back,” said Nassima, a protester.
The
Hirak movement demanded a complete removal of Algeria’s entrenched political
elite and continued to mobilize tens of thousands of protesters every week even
after Abdelaziz Bouteflika stepped down from the presidency.
His
successor, Abdelmadjid Tebboube, elected in December 2019 in a vote that Hirak
supporters dismissed as a charade, has publicly praised the movement while
seeking to move past it with limited concessions including tweaks to the
constitution.
The
weekly mass protests stopped a year ago when the COVID-19 pandemic brought a
lockdown to Algeria.
While
the protest movement has no clear leadership, its supporters have repeatedly
discussed online how to rekindle its presence on the streets as an active force
to press for change.
“It
is a revolutionary process for a very precise goal, which is the departure of
the regime, the whole regime with all its components,” said Hamid, a protester.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/north-africa/2021/02/16/Protests-Thousands-protest-in-Algeria-hoping-to-rekindle-Hirak-protest-movement
--------
Gunmen
kidnap ‘hundreds’ of schoolboys in Nigeria: security, official sources
17
February ,2021
Gunmen
believed to belong to a criminal gang have kidnapped hundreds of schoolboys
from their hostels along with some of teachers in central Nigeria, an official
and a security source told AFP Wednesday.
The
attackers wearing military uniforms stormed the Government Science College in
“huge numbers” in the town of Kagara in Niger state late on Tuesday, herding
the students into a nearby forest, the sources said.
One
student was dead during the kidnapping, the official said.
Northwest
and central Nigeria have increasingly been targeted by criminal gangs known
locally as “bandits” who kidnap for ransom, rape and pillage across the region.
“Bandits
went into GSC Kagara last night and kidnapped hundreds of students and their
teachers,” said an official who asked not to be identified due to the
sensitivity of the issue.
“One
of the kidnapped staff and some students managed to escape. The staff confirmed
a student was shot dead during the kidnap operation,” the official said.
The
school has around 1,000 students and it was not immediately clear how many were
taken.
The
security source confirmed the details of the attack and said a headcount was
under way.
Troops
with aerial support were tracking the bandits for possible rescue, the security
source said.
The
Niger kidnapping came two months after hundreds of schoolboys were abducted in
northwestern Katsina state then released days later following negotiations with
the government.
The
gangs who are driven by financial motives have no ideological leanings but
security officials fear they are being infiltrated by jihadists from Nigeria’s
northeast where the army is battling a decade-long Islamist insurgency.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/17/Gunmen-kidnap-hundreds-of-schoolboys-in-Nigeria-security-official-sources-
--------
Pakistan
Pak
Hindus Deprived Of Legal Marital Rights To Register Their Marriages, Divorces
And Remarriages
Feb
17, 2021
ISLAMABAD:
Despite the enactment of Hindu Marriage Act in 2017, all Pakistani’s provinces
excluding Sindh have so far failed to give the country’s minority Hindu
community a right to officially register their marriages, divorces and
remarriages.
The
implementation of the law has been one of the major demands of the Hindu
community and rights groups. In order to give them the right, the provincial
governments, except Sindh, have yet to draft rules for the implementation of
the Act.
In
2016, the Sindh province, where majority of the country’s around eight million
Hindus live, had framed the law enabling Hindu men and women above 18 years of
age to register their marriages. Later, it was amended to add divorce and
remarriage rights for couples and financial security for the wife and children
after divorce.
The
Sindh government’s move had prompted the federal government in 2017 to extend
the same right to Hindus living in other provinces and the federal capital
territory of Islamabad. While the law was implemented in Islamabad, the
provinces of Baluchistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were required to draft the
rules of business for this Act.
One
of the key objectives of the Hindu Marriage Act was to provide a formal
registration process of marriages for Hindus in the province given that they
had to face many problems due to deprivation of the community members from
their basic rights.
The
act enshrines the conditions for a valid marriage and provides for official
documentation that can be used to verify marital status in all government
departments and other areas like travelling outside Pakistan.
Due
to non-implementation of the law, the Hindus have been deprived of their due
right. Neither Hindu men nor women in provinces where the law has not been in
place, can register their marriage or divorce in official documents.
Speaking
to TOI, Haroon Sarbdiyal, a focal person for national lobbying delegation for
minority rights, said the Hindu community in most parts of Pakistan have no
rights to the process of registrations of their marriages, legal divorce
procedure, adoption and issues related to inheritance.
According
to official data, there are hundreds of cases pending in the civil courts
across the country due to non-availability of rules for implementation of the
Act.
As
the divorce rate has generally increased across Pakistan, the divorce-related
incidents are frequently reported among the Hindus as well.
Sarbdiyal
said that at present, none of the members of his community can prove the
legitimacy of their relationship with their family members.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pak-hindus-deprived-of-legal-marital-rights/articleshow/81012720.cms
--------
Maryam
hopes judiciary’s credibility won’t be risked to save govt’s ‘sinking ship’
February
17, 2021
LAHORE:
In response to Tuesday’s proceedings in the Supreme Court in the Senate
elections case, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Ms Maryam
Nawaz Sharif has expressed hopes that the credibility of the institution of the
judiciary will not be risked to, what she says, save the sinking ship of the
government.
“It’s
prayed and hoped that at the wish of one person to give relief to a party and
support the sinking ship of the government, the credibility of the institution
of the judiciary will not be put at stake,” she said in a tweet on Tuesday.
“Resurrecting
the ‘ideology of necessity’ notwithstanding [a] clear clause of the
Constitution will be a great tragedy for the country, nation and the judiciary
itself,” she said in reference to the apex court’s demand that the Election
Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should ensure that the ballots in the Senate
elections due on March 3 should be identifi able/traceable through the existing
laws.
A
Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed had summoned the chief
election commissioner in person in the Senate polls case. When the CEC explained
to the court that identifi - cation of ballots could not be done without a
constitutional amendment, it gave the ECP 24 hours to rethink in this regard.
“How
can ECP ‘rethink’ something that’s enshrined in the Constitution?” Maryam
questioned through another tweet. “If it requires constitutional amendment,
there’s no other way it can be done. SC is requested to exercise extra caution
& not do anything that will be conceived as defacing the Constitution at
the behest of someone,” she maintained. The PML-N vice president argued that
the “ECP like all institutions is bound by Article 226 of the Constitution.
It
has categorically opined that open ballot cannot be the course for Senate
elections since such [voting mode] would need a constitutional amendment, it
would be wrong to use ECP’s shoulder & lay it open to public wrath.” The
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government has moved the apex court against
secret balloting in the Senate polls, pleading the system leads to selling of
votes by members of the national and provincial assemblies that form the
electoral college for electing members of the upper house of the parliament.
The
opposition parties, including the PML-N and the PPP, are now opposing the move,
demanding reforms in the whole electoral system, instead of picking just “what
suits the government”.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1607787/maryam-hopes-judiciarys-credibility-wont-be-risked-to-save-govts-sinking-ship
--------
Pakistan,
France Relations Still 'Poisoned' Over Prophet Muhammad Caricature Controversy:
Report
16
February, 2021
Paris
[France], February 16 (ANI): Ties between Pakistan and France continue to
remain "poisoned" even four months after the controversy over
caricatures of the Prophet, which led to thousands of anti-French protestors
rallying the streets of Pakistan against President Emmanuel Macron, reported
Paris-based the Le Figaro daily.
Many
of the protests in Pakistan were organised by far-right party Tehreek-i-Labbaik
Pakistan (TLP). It demanded the "expelling the French ambassador, severing
ties with France and boycotting French products".
Recently,
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his government would take the
matter of TLP, which had been threatening to stage a sit-in in Islamabad
against the government's failure to meet its demand, to parliament before April
20.
According
to a source in Elysees, the move by Pakistan government to take the matter to
Parliament is "very badly perceived".
"There
were insulting remarks against the president (Macron) and it was taken in a
personal capacity. And now the Pakistani government is considering putting the
question of the ambassador's expulsion to parliamentarians. It is very badly
perceived," Le Figaro quoted one source as saying.
In
November 2020, a "slanderous tweet" against France from Shireen
Mazari, the Pakistani minister of human rights, had already blurred relations,
the newspaper said.
Mazari
had deleted the objectionable tweet, where she said that French President
Emmanuel Macron was treating Muslims like Nazis treated Jews in World War II,
after France demanded that she withdraw her remarks.
In
a tweet linking to an online article, Mazari on had said: "Macron is doing
to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews -- Muslim children will get ID
numbers (other children won't) just as Jews were forced to wear the yellow star
on their clothing for identification."
Last
year after a gruesome killing of a French teacher near Paris, French President
Macron defended the right of French magazine Charlie Hebdo to publish
caricatures of the prophet.
Protests
erupted in many Muslims countries including Pakistan. Thousands of people
rallied against France's position on publishing cartoons depicting the Prophet
Muhammad.
Activists
from the far-right TLP party took to the streets, calling for the Pakistani
government to sever diplomatic and trade ties with France.
In
October, the Pakistan National Assembly unanimously passed a resolution
condemning the publication of blasphemous caricatures in France and the
"resurgence of Islamophobic acts" in some countries after a noisy
session that witnessed the government and opposition delivering fiery speeches
against each other.
Macron's
remarks did not go well with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan who slammed the
French President, saying that he has "chosen to deliberately provoke
Muslims".
Taking
to Twitter, Khan had said, "Hallmark of a leader is he unites human
beings, as Mandela did, rather than dividing them. This is a time when Pres
Macron could have put healing touch and denied space to extremists rather than
creating further polarisation and marginalisation that inevitably leads to
radicalisation." (ANI)
http://www.businessworld.in/article/Pakistan-France-relations-still-poisoned-over-Prophet-Muhammad-caricature-controversy-Report-/16-02-2021-378359/
--------
FM
Qureshi encourages Egyptian businessmen to invest in Pakistan
February
17, 2021
Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi urged Egyptian businessmen to invest in Pakistan
by highlighting the incentives the government is offering to foreign investors
in various sectors including housing, energy and health, Radio Pakistan
reported on Wednesday.
During
a meeting with a delegation of the Egyptian business community in Cairo, the
foreign minister said improvement in Pakistan's ranking for ease of doing
business reflected the confidence of investors and businessmen in the incumbent
government's policies.
Qureshi
stressed that the "brotherly relations" between Pakistan and Egypt
could further improve through an increase in bilateral trade and economic
partnership. He also assured the Egyptian business community that the
government would take all necessary steps to assist them if they chose to
invest in Pakistan.
According
to Radio Pak, Egyptian business community expressed interest in investing in
Pakistan. The chief executive officer of Elsewedy Electric company also met
Qureshi and expressed an interest in investing in Pakistan.
During
their meeting, the foreign minister said businesspersons from across the world
were interested in investing in Pakistan as it was an emerging market and also
because of the incumbent government's "prudent economic policies".
The
foreign minister is on a two-day official visit to Egypt on the invitation of
Egyptian FM Sameh Hassan Shoukry.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1607859/fm-qureshi-encourages-egyptian-businessmen-to-invest-in-pakistan
--------
Pakistan
says India posing ‘immediate threat’ to regional peace
16
February 2021
Pakistan’s
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has voiced concern about India’s
acquisition of advanced naval weapons technology and accused New Delhi of
adopting “aggressive policies” toward Islamabad.
In
comments made to the International Maritime Conference in the Pakistani port
city of Karachi on Monday, the top Pakistani diplomat said the Hindu
nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was raising the risk of
a potential conflict by deploying indigenously developed and foreign-made
weapon in the strategic Indian Ocean.
“India’s
belligerent and aggressive policies — currently driven by an extremist Hindutva
ideology — pose an immediate and pervasive threat to international and regional
peace and security,” he said.
“Pakistan
will continue to take all necessary measures to ensure its security and to
maintain credible minimum deterrence,” Qureshi added.
In
2016, the New Delhi government changed the balance of naval power in the region
by announcing that it had formally commissioned a nuclear-powered ballistic
missile submarine.
India
also operates a second nuclear submarine, the INS Chakra II, which is a Russian
Akula-class submarine acquired on a 10-year lease in 2012. A third nuclear
submarine, the INS Arighat, is currently under construction.
India
has in recent months also bought a total of 36 French Rafale fighters in a deal
estimated to be worth USD 9.4 billion. They are all scheduled to be delivered
by the end of 2021.
Relations
between India and China have been tense recently over the frontier territory of
Ladakh, where a skirmish between the soldiers of the two countries left 20
Indians dead in June last year.
India
and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars and several minor conflicts
since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.
India
regularly accuses Pakistan of arming and training militants and allowing them
to cross the restive frontier with disputed Kashmir valley. Pakistan strongly
denies the allegation.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/02/16/645432/Pakistan-says-India-posing-%E2%80%98immediate-threat%E2%80%99-to-regional-peace
--------
Europe
France
keeps troops in Sahel to ‘decapitate’ Al-Qaeda groups
February
17, 2021
PARIS:
President Emmanuel Macron pledged on Tuesday to keep French troops in the Sahel
region of western Africa, to help to “decapitate” Al-Qaeda-linked insurgent
groups that local governments are struggling to hold back.
But
while Macron said there would be no “immediate” drawdown of the 5,100-member
Barkhane force, he made clear that France expected to have a far lighter
presence over time.
“Changes
that are likely to be significant will be made to our military deployment in
the Sahel when the time comes, but they will not be made immediately,” Macron
told reporters after a video summit with the leaders of Burkina Faso, Chad,
Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
The
so-called G5 countries were urged to step up their anti-terror fight and work
on restoring government control in areas where Islamist fighters have closed
schools and driven millions from their homes.
Just
hours before the summit opened, Malian sources said two soldiers had been
killed by a roadside bomb in central Mali.
“We
are re-engaging our forces in order to decapitate these organisations,” Macron
said after the two-day meeting in Chad’s capital N’Djamena.
The
aim is to strengthen actions against terrorism while delivering a “political
jolt” to give the people something to hope for, he said.
He
confirmed efforts would now focus on combatting the Group to Support Islam and
Muslims (GSIM) and in particular one of its main armed groups, Katiba Macina,
linked to Al-Qaeda.
That
marks a shift from several months ago, when the Islamic State in the Greater
Sahara was seen as the primary threat to stability in the desert region, where
more than two million people have been displaced over the past eight years.
Concrete
results
France
first sent troops into Mali in early 2013 to fight Islamist insurgents who had
seized control of the country’s northern half, with the Barkhane operation
formally starting in August 2014.
However,
despite some successes including last year’s killing of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb (Aqim) leader Abdelmalek Droukdel, insurgents have continued to carry
out deadly attacks.
The
effort has cost the lives of 50 French soldiers, prompting calls in France for
a review of Barkhane’s mission and speculation Macron was ready to bring some
troops home.
“A
French withdrawal, a massive withdrawal of men, which is a possibility I have
considered, would be a mistake,” Macron said.
“It
would be paradoxical to weaken our deployment at a time when we have a
political and military alignment that enables us to reach our goals.”
He
also said G5 leaders agreed there would be no negotiations with insurgents such
as Iyad Ag Ghaly, the GSIM leader, or Amadou Koufa of Katiba Macina – something
Mali’s government had considered last year.
The
two men “are enemies, in no way whatsoever are they discussion partners” for
ending the insurgency, Macron said.
He
indicated he would reassess the situation after the summer, saying there should
be an “evolution” of the French contingent into a lighter presence.
“In
the coming months, we will not change our presence. We hope that we will have
concrete results in terms of security in the coming months, for me this means
between now and the summer,” Macron said.
“Beyond
summer, I want to work with our partners for an evolution of our presence to
consolidate our military victory in the region.”
Chad
commits troops
Without
giving a timescale, Macron indicated that the French-led Takuba multinational
task force should take over responsibility.
He
said the aim was to have a 2,000-member Takuba force, with a French contingent
of 500 soldiers at its core, in close cooperation with the national armies of
the region.
The
fledgeling Takuba force has already seen Czech, Swedish and Estonian troops
deployed in the region, though Macron has so far been unable to obtain
significant support from France’s larger EU partners.
“We
are not going to do this immediately but this is what envisage over time,”
Macron said.
Macron
also welcomed a new commitment by Chad to send 1,200 troops to the flashpoint
“three border” zone between Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, fulfilling a pledge
made a year ago.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2021/02/17/france-keeps-troops-in-sahel-to-decapitate-al-qaeda-groups/
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Russia
detains 19 extremist militants who were planning attacks
17
February ,2021
Russia’s
Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday it had detained 19 suspected
extremist militants planning attacks in the North Caucasus.
The
FSB said it had seized a suicide belt, homemade bombs and automatic weapons
from the suspects this month.
The
19 detainees, suspected members of the Takfir wal-Hijra group, were spread
across the Rostov, Krasnodar and Karachay-Cherkessia regions, as well as
Crimea, the peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Footage
from the detentions published by Russian news agency RIA showed FSB operatives
scaling an apartment building and entering through a window to detain a
suspect.
Russia
has repeatedly been targeted by extremist militant groups, including in an
attack on a train carriage in a St Petersburg metro tunnel in 2017.
In
recent years, some parts of the North Caucasus have been plagued with militant
attacks on security officials.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2021/02/17/Terrorism-Russia-detains-19-extremist-militants-who-were-planning-attacks-
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Terror
suspect who sparked manhunt pleads guilty
A
terror suspect who cut off an electronic monitoring tag and fled his home has
pleaded guilty to breaching counter terror rules.
The
man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is a senior member of the banned
terrorist group al-Muhajiroun.
He
caused a security alert and triggered a manhunt when he absconded in September.
His
actions resulted in increased checks at UK ports, causing delays for
travellers.
Appearing
at the Old Bailey by video link from prison, he admitted six breaches of his
Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIM).
TPIM
notices allow the authorities to monitor and control people considered to be terrorists
- but who are not facing criminal charges.
On
15 September last year, the man - known as LF - cut off his tag, obtained an
unauthorised mobile phone, ordered a taxi to London, and left his home in the
middle of the night.
He
was arrested within 24 hours.
Prosecutor
Kate Wilkinson said it is "not safe to assume he was not motivated by
terrorist related activity".
Judge
Anthony Leonard QC said it was a "serious matter" and that he would
pass sentence on 22 February.
Last
week LF was one of two men who lost an appeal against the measures placed on
them.
The
pair were the first people to be made the subject of a TPIM for the second
time.
LF
is a leading radicaliser in al-Muhajiroun (ALM), an outlawed organisation that
has been linked to multiple attacks and plots, including at Fishmongers' Hall
in 2019, Westminster Bridge in 2017, and the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in
2013.
He
was an associate of Khuram Butt, the ringleader of the London Bridge attackers
who murdered eight people in June 2017.
In
2019 LF was convicted of breaching his first TPIM, but was handed a suspended
sentence by a judge at Kingston Crown Court.
Following
this, he continued to engage with other ALM members and was subsequently placed
under the new measures in November that year after he was found to be involved
in fresh "terrorist related activity".
In
the years after TPIMs were first introduced in 2011, two subjects absconded and
fled abroad.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-56071766?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2005874_
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MI5
knew terrorist was plotting attack before deadly London stabbings
February
13, 2021
LONDON:
British intelligence agency MI5 knew that Usman Khan — the convicted terrorist
who murdered two people in a London attack in 2019 — was plotting an attack before he was released
from jail, a court was told yesterday.
Khan
was labeled as being at “high risk of carrying out an attack” following his
release from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for his part in a
London Stock Exchange bomb plot.
He
stabbed Jack Merritt and Saskia Jones, two graduate students who were attending
a prisoner rehabilitation conference in London in November 2019.
A
pre-inquest hearing found that police and probation officers had eased Khan’s
release restrictions, allowing him to travel to the conference at London’s
Fishmongers’ Hall — less than a mile from his original target.
The
findings raise alarm over the growing risks posed by Islamist extremists
released from prison. Just three months after the attack, Sudesh Amman, another
convicted terrorist, was shot dead by police after carrying out a spree of
stabbings in South London after his release from prison.
Khan,
28, wore a fake explosive vest during the 2019 attack. He was brought to the
ground by members of the public before being shot dead by police.
He
was given permission to join the conference despite playing a role in prison
radicalization, taking senior roles in terror groups and encouraging violence,
a court was told. He was classed by authorities as a “most dangerous prisoner”
until shortly before his 2018 release.
Nick
Armstrong, a lawyer representing the family of Merritt, said: “MI5 had
intelligence shortly before Khan’s release that he was planning a post-release
attack, and upgraded his priority rating.”
Following
Khan’s release, MI5 officers feared that he “might have manipulated” his
restrictions.
Armstrong
said that there was a lack of communication between MI5 and the probation
officers responsible for monitoring Khan. “Even a hint that he posed a risk may
have made a difference,” he added.
Philip
Rule, representing Jones’ family, said both families want MI5 officers who were
involved in monitoring Khan to give evidence at the inquest and explain the
decisions taken in the lead-up to the attack.
However,
the intelligence agency has said it will ask UK Home Secretary Priti Patel to
impose a secrecy order on some documents considered relevant in the
investigation.
MI5
wants a single senior officer to give evidence of the agency’s dealings with
Khan before and after his prison release.
The
inquests are expected to begin in April this year.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1808611/world
--------
Germany:
5 Tajiks Charged With Membership in ISIS Group
15
February, 2021
German
prosecutors said Monday they have charged five Tajik men with being members of
the ISIS group, accusing them of participating in a cell of the extremist
organization in Germany.
Federal
prosecutors filed the indictment at the Duesseldorf state court, where an
alleged associate of the five was convicted last month of membership in ISIS
for co-founding the German cell and supporting two planned attacks. He was
sentenced to seven years in prison.
The
suspects now charged were identified only as Farhodshoh K., Muhammadali G.,
Azizjon B., Sunatullokh K., and Komron B., in keeping with German privacy
rules.
Prosecutors
say that Azizjon B. administered propaganda channels and helped collect money
for a Russian- and Tajik-language ISIS online network. They say he also
personally recruited ISIS members, leading to the founding of a cell in western
Germany in early 2019 that aimed to carry out attacks in Germany.
The
rest of the accused - along with Ravsan B., the man convicted last month - are
alleged to have belonged to that cell.
Prosecutors
say that they trained their military skills in paintball games, and that
participants in those included "other people from the extremist
scene" who were in contact with the gunman who killed four people in an
attack in Vienna in November. They also allegedly acquired components for an
"unconventional" bomb.
Farhodshoh
K. and Ravsan B. are accused of traveling to Albania in 2019 to carry out a
contract killing that was intended to finance ISIS to the tune of $40,000. That
killing was called off because doubts arose over the intended victim´s
identity.
The
indictment alleges that Ravsan B. then gave Sunatullokh K. the semi-automatic
pistol intended for that killing to shoot a man in Germany who had made
critical comments about Islam - an attack that was foiled by authorities.
It
says that the cell then changed its strategy, concentrating on radicalizing and
recruiting young Muslims in Germany and raising money for ISIS.
https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2806576/germany-5-tajiks-charged-membership-isis-group?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2005874_
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India
Rohingya
Refugees Face New Crackdown in India
By
Shaikh Azizur Rahman
February
16, 2021
Rohingya
refugees are fleeing India or going underground amid fears that the government
will arrest them for unauthorized entry into the country.
In
the past month, security forces have intercepted scores of Rohingya across
India and sent them to jail, triggering a panic among the country’s Muslim
refugee community who fled violence in Myanmar and took refuge in India.
“Some
hundreds of Rohingya were living in West Bengal for few years. Almost all of
them have disappeared in the past month after some Rohingya were arrested in
the state. Many have gone in hiding in other Indian states. Others have entered
Bangladesh,” said Rohingya refugee Nizam Uddin, who crossed to Bangladesh with
his mother, wife and three children last month after living in a village in
eastern Indian state of West Bengal for three years.
“If
my family got arrested, Indian authorities would have sent us to jail, before
finally pushing us back to Myanmar. Myanmar is still very unsafe for the
Rohingya. We do not want to return to that hell. I got terribly scared of being
arrested. So, I chose to flee India,” he told VOA.
An
official at the Indian home ministry desk that handles issues related to
refugees declined to comment on the claim of a crackdown on Rohingya refugees.
Few
options for stateless Rohingya
To
escape discrimination and violence in Myanmar, minority Rohingya Muslims have
for decades fled from the Buddhist-majority country to neighboring Bangladesh
and other countries, including India. A year ago, it was estimated that 40,000
Rohingya refugees lived in India, scattered across different states.
Being
stateless in their home country of Myanmar, the Rohingya are unable to travel
to another country legally. India, which did not sign the 1951 UN Refugee
Convention, treats all Rohingya entering the country as illegal immigrants. An
estimated 300 to 500 Rohingya are currently being held in Indian jails on
charges of illegal entry.
Jan
Mohammad, a Rohingya refugee who until the first week of January lived in a
village near the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, said his uncle and two other
Rohingya were arrested while traveling by train in India last month.
“Indian
police asked my uncle and his two relatives to produce Myanmar passport with
Indian visa. Like other Rohingyas, they did not have passports from Myanmar,
they said to the police. Police said, they were illegal immigrants, and they
arrested them immediately. They are in jail now,” Mohammad told VOA from an
undisclosed location in south India.
Hussain
Ahmad, a Rohingya rights activist based on Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, said the
Rohingya refugees are being unfairly harassed by the Indian authorities.
Ahmad,
who also monitors the movement of Rohingya refugees in south Asia, cited a 1982
law in Myanmar that left most Rohingya effectively stateless, even though their
families had lived in the country for generations. In 2017, the military in
Myanmar responded to a series of attacks on police stations with a brutal
campaign of killing and rape that drove close to 1 million people into
neighboring countries and has been widely condemned as genocide.
Now,
Ahmad said, “Indian police are asking for travel documents from these refugees
who are on the run, scared of their lives. How will the stateless Rohingya
refugees be able to produce Burmese passports or Indian visas?”
Anti-Rohingya
sentiment surges
Anti-Rohingya
sentiment has been growing in India since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) swept to power with an overwhelming election victory in
2014. In recent years, the BJP and other Hindu organizations have begun a
campaign demanding the expulsion of all Rohingya refugees from India.
Many
Rohingya believe the latest crackdown on the refugees in India is linked to a
state election in West Bengal, which is expected within the next few months.
“They
began harassing Rohingya refugees in India just before the national election in
2019. Now they have begun the crackdown on the Rohingya before the election in
Bengal,” Hussain Ahmad said.
Meenakshi
Ganguly, South Asia director of Human Rights Watch, agreed that the Rohingya
refugees are being targeted largely for political reasons.
“India
knows well that the Rohingya are one of the most persecuted communities in the
world. Nearly a million are refugees in Bangladesh. A few that have arrived in
India need to be protected and not persecuted again. This is a responsibility
of the Indian authorities under the refugees convention as well,” she said in
an interview.
“For
political reasons we find that the Rohingya are being targeted largely because
the Hindu nationalist government … tends to persecute all Muslims, including
Rohingya refugees.”
State-level
leaders of the BJP in West Bengal contacted by VOA declined to comment on the
Human Rights Watch allegations.
Bangladeshi
human rights campaigner Pinaki Bhattacharya noted that the Rohingya in Myanmar
have been described by the United Nations as “the most persecuted minority in
the world” and called for India to do more to help them.
“In
2019, India amended its Citizenship Act offering to grant citizenship to the
‘persecuted’ non-Muslim minorities from its neighboring countries. India shares
its border with Myanmar. Yet India did not offer to shelter or grant
citizenship to the minority Rohingya who fled Myanmar after facing a genocidal
level of persecution there,” Bhattacharya said.
“India
is witnessing an upsurge of right-wing Hindu force that aims to turn India a
Hindu Rashtra or Hindu Nation. Rohingyas are being hounded in India indeed
because they are Muslim.”
https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/rohingya-refugees-face-new-crackdown-india
--------
Rinku
Sharma murder: At meeting with murder victim’s family, Kapil Mishra talks
jihad, terror
By
Abhinav Rajput
February
17, 2021
Visiting
the family of 25-year-old Rinku Sharma, who was stabbed to death in Mangolpuri
last week, Delhi BJP leader Kapil Mishra called the murder “jihad” and an
organised conspiracy to target those collecting funds for the Ram Mandir.
Bhopal
MP Pragya Thakur also visited the family later in the day and assured them that
the government is with them.
While
police have so far maintained the murder was the fallout of an old business
rivalry, the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Delhi BJP leaders claim Sharma was
killed for being part of the temple donation drive.
“This
is Jihad… he was targeted, picked and killed as he worked with enthusiasm for
religion. They entered his house and killed him and were not satisfied with it,
so they again went to the hospital to beat him. This is not just any other
crime; this needs to be understood how a terror incident is understood,” Mishra
claimed.
Mishra’s
claim of the accused targeting Sharma at the hospital has not been corroborated
by the police.
“Those
who have murdered him must be hanged but also the masterminds behind the
incident should be found — those who brainwashed that if people come to demand
(Ram Temple) donations, they should be killed,” he claimed, adding that he has
started the process of transferring Rs 1 crore to the family’s account.
Mishra
and vice-president of the Delhi BJP youth wing, Vaishali Poddar, have started a
crowd-funding exercise to collect the amount.
With
the families of the accused saying they fear retribution, police have increased
deployment in the area, where the VHP had been holding protests. The families,
though, have left saying they fear for their safety.
The
victim’s younger brother, 19-year-old Mannu, who is with the VHP’s youth wing,
said at the meeting with Mishra: “The Hindu family is united.”
As
Mishra left the house and headed to his car, a man arrived with a sword in his
hand, but was stopped by police and his sword was taken away.
The
man claimed he was one Dinesh Thakur, founder and president of ‘Bharat Mata
Wahini’.
“I
had a sword to save our dharma, just like Maa Bhagwati kept. If the victim
would have kept a sword, he would not have been killed. I demand that Hindus be
allowed to keep swords,” he said.
He
later went away driving a gypsy. Additional DCP (Outer) Sudhanshu Dhama said,
“Our team removed the man from the locality. We are looking into the matter and
will take legal action.”
https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/delhi/at-meeting-with-murder-victims-family-kapil-mishra-talks-jihad-terror-7191701/
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Muslim
Outfits, And Political Parties, Stage Protest Against BJP In Madurai
Feb
16, 2021
MADURAI:
Members of Muslim outfits and political parties, along with Thirupalai Jamaat
members, staged a protest at the Madurai collector office demanding action
against BJP cadre who tried to create unrest in Thirupalai last month by
instigating the Muslim community.
A
few hundred people from various parts of the city took part. They also
submitted a petition to district collector T Anbalagan.
Protest
organizer Mujibur Rahman said BJP conducted an event called ‘Thamarai Pongal’
on January 10 during which the saffron party members tied their party flags in
the windows of the Thirupalai mosque. They also carried out a rally and raised
slogans instigating members of the Muslim community, while welcoming the
party’s state president L Murugan.
The
jamaat members filed an oral complaint at the Tallakulam police station on the
same day and a written complaint the following day. Though the police had
acknowledged the complaint, no action had been taken thus far, he added.
He
sought action against BJP members - Thirupalai Selvam, Arumugam, Karthik,
Gokulam Muthumarai, and state president L Murugan.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/muslim-outfits-parties-stage-protest-against-bjp-in-madurai/articleshow/80992609.cms
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First
ever 'Chadar' sent by Afghan President to Ajmer Dargah
Feb
17, 2021
NEW
DELHI/AJMER: Signalling the further strengthening of diplomatic and cultural
relations with India, Afghanistan President has sent a 'Chadar' to the world
famous Ajmer Sharif Dargah through its diplomatic mission in New Delhi.
The
Annual 809th 'Urs Mubarak' of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz is ongoing in Ajmer.
This
is the first ever sacred 'Chadar mubarak' sent to Ajmer Dargah Sharif by any
President of Afghanistan, and first outside of a South Asian nation," Haji
Syed Salman Chishty told IANS. He is the present 'Gaddi Nashin' and 27th direct
descendant of Hazrata Khawaja Moinuddeen Hasan Chishty, (1142-1236 AD).
"May
the message of Khawaja Gharib Nawaz(ra) be heard and understood across the
World" was the message sent by President Ashraf Ghani, which also said:
"On behalf of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and Afghan people sends a
sacred 'Ghilaf Mubarakan' with a humble message of respect and reverence
towards Khawaja Moinuddin Chishty(RA) of Ajmer Sharif in India to mark the
809th year Urs Mubarak Celebrations'."
"It's
a major boost in the bilateral relationship between India and Afghanistan as
well as strong message to the extremist radicals in Afghanistan who have
destroyed many Sufi Shrines and centers of Unity," said Syed Salman
Chishty, who's also the Sajjadanashin of the Ajmer Sharif Dargah.
The
President of Afghanistan Mohammed Ashraf Ghani in the message said, "It is
a singular honour to be offering the chadar at the urs of Khawaja Moinuddin
Chisty, as an Afghan and student of Sufi order for 50 years, I have been
fascinated with character impact and reach of Khawaja Garib Nawaz RA, his life
and deeds are example of how the 'awliya' of Allah are entrusted with building
bridges between seemingly incompatible individual and groups.
"Despite
a thousand years there is much to study and learn from the way Chisty order
spread from Herat to becoming a moral force in the continent," he said.
Afghanistan
has a large population of Muslims and Chist is a town in Herat province of the
country, he said.
"On
behalf of the people and government of Afghanistan 99.9 per cent of whom are
Muslims, I issue the most auspicious urs, may message of Khawaja Garib Nawaz be
heard and understood across the world," he said.
In
2015, for the 803rd Urs Mubarak, history was created when the then US President
Barack Obama presented a 'Chadar' to Ajmer Sharif Dargah -- the first ever by
any western leader.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi have also offered
'chadar' to the sacred Sufi shrine.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/first-ever-chadar-sent-by-afghan-prez-to-ajmer-dargah/articleshow/81044581.cms
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SAARC
virtual meet: India invites Pak to Covid-19 workshop
Feb
17, 2021
NEW
DELHI: India will host a health secretary-level meet virtually with other South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries on Thursday to discuss the
ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Pakistan has also been invited to attend the workshop.
It
is a virtual workshop on management of Covid-19, response to the pandemic and
exchange of best practices amid the pandemic.
On
March 15, 2020, during a video conference of the SAARC Heads of State, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi had proposed a Coronavirus Emergency Fund for the
region.
This
emergency fund was set up in response to the global coronavirus pandemic. The
initiative seeks to mitigate the risks associated with the coronavirus pandemic
in the South Asian region with India contributing USD10 million to it.
Other
members of the SAARC expressed their support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and his proposal for the coronavirus emergency fund.
India
is at the forefront in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and has
gifted covid vaccines to countries including Bangladesh with 20 lakhs doses,
Myanmar with 17 lakhs doses, Nepal with 10 lakhs, Bhutan with 1.5 lakhs, the
Maldives with 1 lakh, Mauritius with 1 lakh, Seychelles with 50000, Sri Lanka
with 5 lakhs and Afghanistan with 5 lakhs among others.
SAARC
groups together Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and
Sri Lanka.
November
2014, when Nepal hosted a SAARC leaders' summit, was the last time that leaders
of these nations had shared a platform.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/saarc-virtual-meet-india-invites-pak-to-covid-19-workshop/articleshow/81044404.cms
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NIA
court sends alleged terror operative to police remand in Jammu IED case
By
Ravi Krishnan Khajuria
FEB
16, 2021
A
special NIA court on Monday sent an alleged operative of the al-Badr terror
group to 14 days in police custody for his involvement in the case of the seizure
of an improvised explosive device from another member of the group last week.
The
accused, Qazi Waseem, is the son of Abdul Rashid Qazi of Shupdani in Pulwama.
“He
was brought from Chandigarh on Monday and produced before the Special Judge of
the NIA Court Suneet Gupta by sub divisional police officer (SDPO) City North
Satish Sharma. The Court remanded him to 14 days police custody,” said a senior
Jampolice officer.
After
hearing SDPO in person and going through the application, the Special Judge NIA
Sunit Gupta observed, “Since the matter is heinous in nature and some important
aspects are required to be ascertained in the instant case for which police
remand of the accused is required for the purpose of further investigation,” he
said.
Accordingly,
Waseem was remanded in police custody for 14 days with effect from February 15
and he shall be produced before the court on February 28.
On
Saturday, al-Badr militant Suhail Bashir (21), a resident of Newa in Pulwama,
was arrested from the Jammu bus stand area here with a 7 kg IED.
He
had been given the task by his handlers in Pakistan to plant the powerful IED
in any of the three to four places in Jammu to cause mass destruction.
Apart
from Qazi Waseem and main accused Suhail Bashir, who was a student of B Sc
Nursing at Desh Bhagat Nursing College in Chandigarh, two other operatives of
al-Badr - Abid Nabi and Athar Shakeel Khan have also been arrested from
Kashmir.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/nia-court-sends-alleged-terror-operative-to-police-remand-in-jammu-ied-case-101613464845190.html
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India
hopes to blunt Pakistan's campaign on J&K with envoy visit
Feb
16, 2021
NEW
DELHI: Ahead of the visit to Jammu and Kashmir by foreign envoys, while India
refrained from responding officially to Pakistan's statement that the Indian
government was trying to mislead the international community by organising the
visit, government sources reiterated Pakistan had no locus standi on issues
related to the union territory.
According
to senior officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, one of the main
purposes of the visit is to counter Pakistan's claims about alleged human
rights violations and unrest in the Valley.
Government
officials are expected to familiarise the envoys, several of them from EU
countries, with development work said to be underway currently in the union
territory and also to highlight the turnout in recent DDC elections during the
visit as a sign of people's faith in the democratic process. The 20-member
delegation will include EU ambassador to India Ugo Astuto and also French
ambassador Emmanuel Lenain.
Pakistan
foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had only last month briefed European
envoys about the situation in J&K and sought their held in ending Indian
"brutalities". He had followed it up with a letter to the UN on
"Kashmir Solidarity Day" alleging the same. In a statement on the
envoy visit, the Pakistan foreign ministry said Monday that such "guided
tours" are a smokescreen intended to divert international attention from
India's "egregious human rights violations". ToI had first reported
on February 14 that India had organised a visit by foreign envoys to Jammu and
Kashmir.
In
the middle of statements recently by both Pakistan PM Imran Khan and army chief
Qamar Bajwa purporting to show a desire to improve ties with India, Islamabad
has continued with its, according to Indian authorities, frivolous attempts to
corner India on international fora for its alleged "terror and
subversive" campaign against Pakistan.
Official
sources say Pakistan's campaign is meant to deflect attention from its
continued support to cross-border terrorism in complete disregard for
sentiments expressed by the international community. India has so far also been
cold to the peace overtures from Pakistan saying that Islamabad first has to
create the right conditions by acting against terror groups looking to target
India from its soil.
This
will also be the third such visit by foreign envoys to Jammu and Kashmir since
India revoked the special status of the erstwhile state and will follow the
recent restoration of 4G mobile internet services there.
An
agency report Tuesday quoted local officials as saying strengthening of
democratic institutions at the grass-roots level would be highlighted before
the envoys and that during a presentation the envoys would be shown how
panchayats have been empowered by giving them financial powers.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/india-hopes-to-blunt-pakistans-campaign-on-jk-with-envoy-visit/articleshow/81000119.cms
--------
South
Asia
Bomb-making
class turns into blast site, 30 Taliban terrorists killed
Feb
16, 2021
Thirty
Taliban terrorists were killed when a bomb exploded during a bomb-making class
at a mosque in Afghanistan’s Balkh province.
The
209th Shaheen Corps - part of the Afghan National Army - said in a statement
that 30 fighters including six foreign nationals who were expert mine makers,
had been killed in an explosion on Saturday morning.
The
blast happened at a mosque in the village of Qultaq in the Dowlatabad district
of Balkh province.
The
bodies of the six foreigners could not be identified because of the extent of
the damage caused by the explosion, the army statement revealed.
The
terrorists had gathered to learn techniques for making bombs and improvised
explosive devices IEDs from the six foreigners, who were reportedly considered
experts in the subject.
Violence
has surged across Afghanistan even as the Taliban and government engage in
peace talks that began in September. The discussions have so far failed to make
any breakthrough.
The
new Biden administration in the United States has accused the Taliban of not
reducing violence despite signing a deal with Washington last year that
stipulated the group do so.
https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/bomb-making-class-turns-into-blast-site-30-taliban-terrorists-killed-364060
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80
Taliban ‘killed in MoD operations’ across Afghanistan
15
Feb 2021
The
Ministry of Defense says 80 Taliban fighters have been killed across the
country in the past 24 hours.
The
Ministry of Defenses said in a statement on Monday, that 80 insurgents were
killed, 36 wounded and a large number of weapons and ammunition were destroyed
during the clashes and operations conducted by the Afghan defense forces.
According
to MOD, the Taliban fighters were killed and wounded in Kandahar, Nangarhar,
Badghis, Ghor, Takhar, Baghlan, and Helmand provinces.
During
the security operations, 123 Taliban planted and placed mines in different
parts of the country were discovered and neutralized Afghan national defense
and security forces.
The
Afghan defense ministry also added that Afghan special forces targeted Taliban
strongholds in the Angur Bagh area of Kunduz province on Sunday night.
Three
Taliban strongholds were reportedly destroyed and wrecked, besides two
anti-vehicle mines and some weapons and ammunition of the group were seized by
the Afghan special forces unit of commandos.
https://www.khaama.com/80-taliban-killed-in-mod-operations-across-afghanistan-1223322/
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4
killed, 2 injured in separate attacks in Afghanistan's Nangarhar
Feb
16, 2021
NANGARHAR/
AFGHANISTAN: Four people, including a police force member, were killed in two
separate attacks by unidentified gunmen in the city of Jalalabad city, the
center of Nangarhar province, on Tuesday morning, TOLO News reported citing
security sources.
According
to the sources, the first incident took place at around 07:40 am (local time)
in Jalalabad's PD3 after gunmen opened fire on a police vehicle in which one
policeman was killed and two others were injured.
However,
the gunmen escaped from the area, said the sources.
The
second incident took place 20 minutes later after unidentified gunmen attacked
a vehicle in Jalalabad's PD4 in which three people were killed, TOLO News
reported citing the sources.
Two
policemen and a doctor were the victims of the second attack, said a source in
Jalalabad hospital.
No
one has yet claimed the responsibility for the attack including the Taliban.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/4-killed-2-injured-in-separate-attacks-in-afghanistans-nangarhar/articleshow/80985742.cms
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New
Zealand to pull remaining troops out of Afghanistan
17
Feb 2021
New
Zealand announced to withdraw its troops and conclude its military mission in
Afghanistan by May 2021.
Janidra
Ardern, New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, and
Defense Minister Peeni Henare announced that the country will withdraw its
troops and end the military missions in Afghanistan.
“After
20 years of an NZDF presence in Afghanistan, it is now time to conclude our
deployment,” Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern s said.
“The
deployments to Afghanistan have been one of the longest-running in our history,
and I wish to acknowledge the 10 New Zealanders who lost their lives in the
line of duty, and the more than 3,500 NZDF and other agency personnel, whose
commitment to replace conflict with peace will always be remembered,” she
added.
New
Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta stated that although the
environment remains complex, the intra-Afghan peace process affords Afghanistan
the best prospect of an enduring political solution.
Nanaia
Mahuta, New Zealander Foreign Minister indicated that despite the environment
being complex, the best prospect of enduring political solution is in
intra-Afghan talks.
“New
Zealand’s decision to conclude its deployment to Afghanistan in 2021 has been
discussed with our key partners, with whom we have cooperated closely over the
last twenty years,” Nanaia said
“New
Zealand will continue to be supportive of the Afghan Government and its people
in the years to come, including as they work through the intra-Afghan peace
process in an effort to resolve the decades-long conflict,” she added.
According
to Defense Minister Peeni Henare, New Zealand Defense forces have six personnel
remaining in the country, three are stationed in Afghanistan National Army
Officer Academy and three others are deployed to NATO resolute support
headquarters.
“Together
with our partners, New Zealand helped to establish the conditions for the
current intra-Afghan peace process. We’ve supported regional security, and
helped to improve the lives of the people of Afghanistan, particularly in
Bamyan Province.
“Another
important element of New Zealand’s support for Afghanistan has been our
contribution to training and mentoring a new generation of Officers in the
Afghanistan Army. The success of the mentoring program being conducted with the
Afghanistan National Army Officer Academy means it is now self-sufficient
enough for New Zealand’s contribution there to conclude,” Henare said.
https://www.khaama.com/new-zealand-to-pull-remaining-troops-out-of-afghanistan-5668866/
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Southeast
Asia
Despite
coup, Malaysia to deport 1,200 Myanmar migrants next week
Feb
16, 2021
Malaysia's
government will repatriate 1,200 Myanmar migrants next week despite a military
coup in their home country, but has assured that they will not include minority
Muslim Rohingya refugees or those registered with the UN refugee agency.
But
the UN High Commissioner for Refugees voiced concern on Tuesday that there may
be vulnerable women and children among the group. Myanmar's leader, Aung San
Suu Kyi, was detained as the military seized power on February 1, sparking
protests in the country.
Malaysia's
immigration chief, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, said in a statement late on Monday
that the detainees will be deported February 23 on Myanmar navy ships.
He
said the 1,200 were held for offenses including not having valid travel
documents, overstaying and violating their social visit passes.
“There
are no UNHCR cardholders or ethnic Rohingya involved in the repatriation. It is
just part of a usual programme to deport immigrants in our detention
depots," Khairul Dzaimee said.
The
department said Malaysia repatriated 37,038 migrants last year, including 3,322
from Myanmar. This was down from 59,114 in 2019, as many countries shut their
borders due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it added.
Also
Read: Myanmar cops file new charge against Suu Kyi to extend detention
indefinitely
The
UNHCR said it has been barred from accessing Malaysia's immigration detention
centers since August 2019 and was unable to verify who needs protection.
We
are concerned that there remains in detention in Malaysia a number of people,
including vulnerable women and children, who may be in need of international
protection but whose claims have not been verified and thus do not have the
requisite UNHCR documentation," the UNHCR said.
If
found to be in need of international protection, these individuals should not
be deported to a situation where their lives or freedoms may be at risk,"
it said.
Malaysia
is home to some 180,000 UN refugees and asylum seekers including more than
100,000 Rohingya and other Myanmar ethnic groups.
More
than 700,000 Rohingya have fled from Myanmar since August 2017, when the
military launched a clearance operation in response to attacks by a rebel
group. The security forces have been accused of mass rapes, killings and the
burning of thousands of homes.
https://www.wionews.com/south-asia/despite-coup-malaysia-to-deport-1200-myanmar-migrants-next-week-364090
--------
Malaysia
could become hub for halal vaccines, says Khairy
17
Feb 2021
BY
RADZI RAZAK
KUALA
LUMPUR, Feb 17 — Malaysia could capitalise on its Covid-19 vaccination efforts
by becoming a regional hub for halal vaccines catering to Muslim countries,
said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
Khairy
said Malaysia was approached by vaccine producers about using the country as a
regional hub due to its internationally recognised halal certification system.
“Many
vaccine producers have approach us in wanting to position Malaysia as a hub for
Southeast Asia and other Muslim markets around the world because of our
well-regulated and stringent halal certifications, this seemed to be a
value-add for the vaccine manufacturers,” he said in a press conference today.
Khairy
said among those that have expressed such an interest were Russian sovereign
wealth funds, investors from India as well as companies related to vaccine
producers in China.
He
said investments in that area would boost Malaysia’s pharmaceutical and
biotechnology industry.
However,
Khairy added that any company looking to invest and set up a base in the
country would first need to get approval from the National Pharmaceutical
Regulatory Agency (NPRA).
“As
long as they get necessary regulatory approval, seems to be safe and adhere to
good practices, then Malaysia seems to be capable of being the hub for
South-east Asia and other Muslim countries,” he said.
Khairy
also announced that CITF will ensure support given to the Ministry of Health in
ensuring the success of the Covid-19 national immunisation program.
He
announced that Deputy Director General Of Health (Public Health) Datuk Dr Chong
Chee Keong and Deputy Chief of Army Lt-Gen Datuk Mohammad Ab Rahman will lead
the CITF management team.
Yesterday,
Khairy announced the first shipment of Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech,
totalling 312,390 doses, will be flown in on February 21, to be disbursed on
February 26.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/02/17/malaysia-could-become-hub-for-halal-vaccines-says-khairy/1950522
--------
North
America
Pentagon
will offer US President Biden several options to respond to Iraq attack
Joseph
Haboush & Pierre Ghanem
16
February ,2021
The
Pentagon will provide US President Joe Biden and his administration several
options to respond to the rocket attack on a US military base in Iraq’s Erbil,
a Pentagon official said Tuesday.
According
to the US-led coalition, a barrage of 14 rockets was fired at the US base.
Three hit the base, killing one civilian contractor and nine others were
injured, the coalition said.
The
civilian contractor was not a US citizen, something which the Pentagon was
quick to note.
“It’s
necessary to take into account that the person who was killed was not a US
citizen and the previous formula that an American killed would require a
response,” was not the case in Monday’s attack, the official told Al Arabiya.
But
the US is in close contact with Iraqi officials who are investigating what
happened. “The Pentagon is giving the Iraqi government time to investigate what
occurred and who is responsible for the attack,” the official said.
Based
on the investigation results, the US would then offer Biden “various” options
and ways to respond.
“There
will be a US stance based on the results of the investigations. The US seeks to
protect its troops and civilians in Iraq … which has invited Americans to be on
its land,” the official said.
Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to his Iraqi counterpart Jumaah Saadoon where they
condemned the attack.
“The
Iraqi people deserve a secure and stable Iraq, and the United States remains
committed to supporting our Iraqi partners in their efforts to defend Iraq’s
sovereignty. Both leaders reaffirmed commitment to the strategic partnership
between the United States and Iraq,” a statement from Austin’s office said.
Separately
Tuesday, France condemned the attack and called for finding out who was behind
the attack.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/02/16/US-foreign-policy-Pentagon-will-offer-US-President-Biden-several-options-to-respond-to-Iraq-attack
--------
US
using channels ‘very aggressively’ to communicate with Yemen’s Houthis:
Official
16
February ,2021
Joseph
Haboush
Washington
has ways of getting messages to the Iran-backed Houthis, a senior US official
said Tuesday, adding that the war in Yemen must stop.
“We
do have ways of getting messages to the Houthis and we are using those channels
very aggressively,” US Special Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking told reporters
during a briefing at the State Department.
“Ending
this war through a lasting political solution is the only solution is the only
means to end the humanitarian crisis that is devastating,” he said.
Lenderking
shied away from directly answering what alternative paths the US could pursue
if the Houthis refuse to halt their attacks.
The
US official, who recently returned from a trip to the region, added that the
Houthis must stop attacking Saudi Arabia and using it as “target practice.”
On
Tuesday, the Biden administration's decision to revoke the terrorist
designation against the Houthis and its leaders came into effect.
Meanwhile,
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price called on Yemen's Houthis to stop their
offensive on Marib. Marib is one of the final government strongholds in the
north of the country.
“Marib
is controlled by the legitimate government of Yemen. This assault will only
increase the number of internally
displaced
persons and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” he said in a
statement.
“The
Houthis’ assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to
ending the war afflicting the people of
Yemen,”
Price said.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/16/US-foreign-policy-US-will-work-to-end-conflict-in-Yemen-Official
--------
US
urges Iran-backed Houthis to halt ‘assault’ on Yemen’s Marib
Joseph
Haboush
16
February ,2021
The
United States Tuesday called on the Iran-backed Houthi militia to halt its
“assault” on Yemen’s Marib.
“The
Houthis’ assault on Marib is the action of a group not committed to peace or to
ending the war afflicting the people of Yemen,” State Department Spokesperson
Ned Price said in a statement.
Price’s
statement comes on the same day that Washington officially revoked the
terrorist designation of the Houthis.
Marib
is one of the Yemeni government’s last strongholds in the north and Washington
said Tuesday that the Houthi assault would “only increase the number of
internally displaced persons and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis.”
“The
United States urges the Houthis to halt their advance on Marib and cease all
military operations and turn to negotiations,” Price said.
Despite
the US move to remove the Houthis and their leaders from the terror list, the
group has continued to attack Saudi Arabia and government-held areas in Yemen.
Last week, the Houthis claimed a rocket attack that struck a civilian airplane
at Saudi Arabia’s Abha airport.
The
Biden administration believes that its move to revoke the terror designation
will facilitate Yemen’s peace process. Analysts and former US officials dealing
with Yemen over the last four years are skeptical.
On
Tuesday, Price said: “If the Houthis are serious about a negotiated political
solution, they must cease all military advances and refrain from other
destabilizing and potentially lethal actions, including cross-border attacks on
Saudi Arabia.”
A
senior UN official warned Tuesday that around two million civilians were at
risk due to the Houthi offensive. UN Under-Secretary-General and Emergency
Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said that “hundreds of thousands potentially”
would be forced to flee “with unimaginable humanitarian consequences.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2021/02/16/Terrorism-US-calls-on-Iran-backed-Houthis-to-halt-assault-on-Yemen-s-Marib
--------
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