Muslim Men Who Marry Non-Muslims ‘By Concealing Identity’ Commit Grave Sin: Cleric of Dargah-e-Aala Hazrat
New Age Islam News Bureau
07 March 2023
(Photo: Maulana
Shahabuddin Razvi/ Twitter)
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• Federal Shariat Court Of Pakistan Declares Minimum
18 Years Age, For both Girls and Boys, For Marriage as Islamic
• Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Urges Govt to Declare
Ahmadiyyas ‘Non-Muslim’; Qadiyani Committing Reckless Activities against Islam
• Britain Terms Restrictions on Afghan Women ‘Gender
Apartheid’
• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Those Who Poisoned
Schoolgirls Deserve Death
India
• Religious Harmony: Muslim Couple Marry In Temple Run
By Hindu Group In Himachal As Per The Islamic Wedding Rituals
• Mosque in in Aligarh’s Most Sensitive Crossroad
Covered with Tarpaulin Ahead of Holi Celebrations to "Maintain Peace and
Order"
• RSS Fascist Organisation, Built On Lines of Muslim Brotherhood:
Rahul Gandhi in London
• Kerala Muslim Actor C Shukkur to Remarry To Prevent
Gender Discrimination under Muslim Personal Law
• Muslim Outreach, Population Control Likely to Come
Up during RSS Annual Meet from Mar 12-14
• Construction of Ayodhya Mosque in Lieu of Babri May
Start After Ramzan, to House Hospital, Kitchen & Museum
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Pakistan
• Suicide Blast Kills Nine, Including Eight Security
Officers, Wounds 13 In Balochistan
• Pakistan court rejects Imran Khan's plea seeking
suspension of arrest warrant
• Brawl erupts at a Pakistan university over some
Hindu students celebrating Holi, 15 injured
• Pakistani migrants play deadly 'game' chasing future
abroad
• Toshakhana case: It seems that Imran won’t appear in
court even today, says judge
• NAB team ‘not allowed’ to serve summons on Imran
• FIR against Imran, Shibli for harassing Islamabad
police
• Islamic State claims responsibility for suicide
bombing in southwest Pakistan
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South Asia
• EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan: Islamic Emirate
Should Prove Public's Support with Forum
• Islamic Emirate 'Fully Prepared' to Begin Work on
TAPI: Ministry
• Iran to Hand Over 1,700 Afghan Prisoners to Islamic
Emirate
• Amnesty says Taliban must halt their abuses in
Afghanistan
• Bangladesh investigates massive fire at Rohingya
refugee camps
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Europe
• Conference in Qatar withdraws invitation of UK’s
former health secretary
• Belgian media joins efforts for fundraiser to aid
quake victim in Türkiye, Syria
• Turkish kapsalon doner was most-ordered dish in
Netherlands last year: Report
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Mideast
• Iran Hands Down Death Sentences to 6 Members of
Al-Ahwaziya Terror Group
• Iran: Israel Unable to Escape Inevitable Fate by
Concealing Truth
• Israel’s Ben-Gvir orders demolition of Palestinian
homes in East Jerusalem during Ramadan
• Turkiye’s fractured opposition unites against
Erdogan
• Iran Strongly Rejects Interim Agreement on JCPOA
Revival Talks
• Judiciary Chief: 80-90k Inmates Pardoned on Iranian
Supreme Leader’s Order
• Yemeni official calls out Iran for supporting
Houthis in war-torn country
• New US drone strike kills top Al-Qaeda commander in
Yemen
• Ansarullah: US encroachment in al-Mahrah, Hadhramaut
violate Yemen’s sovereignty
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North America
• Muslim American Civil Rights Group Sues US Prison
for Pepper-Spraying Muslim Inmates While They Prayed
• Empire State Building Lit up with Turkish Flag’s
Colours for Earthquake Victims
• US sanctions Syrian military intel officer for 2013
killings in Damascus
• US says Iran poisoning probe could fall under UN
mandate
• US Defence Secretary makes surprise trip to Iraq as
20-year anniversary of invasion
• US says Iran probe into girls’ poisoning may fall
under UN mandate
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Southeast Asia
• PM Anwar Urges All Parties to Respect Ban On
Political Talks in Mosques in Malaysia
• Selangor Sultan hopes national council for Islamic
affairs will bring change to elevate Islam
• Indonesia landslides kill 10, rescuers search for 42
missing
• Negeri Sembilan Islamic council zakat scandal: 11
individuals called to give statement, say police
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Arab World
• Unfolding Developments Suggest Imminent Collapse of
Israeli Regime, Hezbollah Chief Says
• Senior Hezbollah official: Lebanon's president must
be elected by people without foreign interference
• UAE Fatwa Council Clarifies Details about Children’s
Celebration on 15th Shaʻban
• “Makkah Brings Us Together” Entertainment Event
Draws Crowds
• Lebanon’s Hezbollah backs Christian politician
Frangieh for presidency
• US sanctions Syria intel officer, warns against
restoring ties with Assad regime
• Dubai Metro Music Festival celebrates sustainability
in third edition
• Suicide: Cruel choice for Lebanese unable to feed
their children
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Africa
• Tunisian Politician’s Daughter, Kaouther Ferjani,
Urges UK to Condemn His Arrest
• Opposition presidential hopeful in Nigeria leads
protest march against election results
• Nigeria election ‘failed to meet’ expectations of
citizens: US envoy
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-marry-sin-cleric-dargah-aala-hazrat/d/129266
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Muslim Men Who Marry Non-Muslims ‘By Concealing Identity’ Commit Grave Sin: Cleric of Dargah-e-Aala Hazrat
(Photo: Maulana
Shahabuddin Razvi/ Twitter)
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by Amit Sharma
March 7, 2023
A cleric associated with the Dargah-e-Aala Hazrat
(Barelvi) in Uttar Pradesh has issued a fatwa that Muslim men who “conceal
their religious identity to marry non-Muslim women” are very close to being
ostracised from the community and that such marriages are void.
Maulana Shahbuddin Razvi, president of the All India
Muslim Jamaat, an organisation associated with the Dargah Hazrat, said at a
press conference in Bareilly on March 5, “In Islam, putting a tilak on the
forehead, knotting braids and wearing the kalawa on the wrist are treated as
gunahe kabira (grave sin difficult to be pardoned), but some Muslim men do this
in order to conceal their religious identity and marry women belonging to the
other community. Such actions that amount to concealing one’s religious
identity are haram (forbidden) in Islam and thus such marriages are illegal.”
Razvi recently hit the headlines when he termed the
marriage between actress Swara Bhaskar and SP leader Fahad Ahmed
“illegitimate”, saying that the union would be valid only if Bhaskar accepted
Islam.
Razvi was asked by one Dr Mohammed Naeem about Muslim
men marrying Hindu women “by concealing their identity”. Answering Dr Naeem’s
query, Razvi said those following Islam should always remember that their
religion had given them a “grand way of life” and some markers of identity
(skullcaps and the beard) that show they are Muslims.
“Concealing one’s identity is totally unacceptable in
Islam and any act (such as marriage) performed through hidden marks of
identification is a grave sin,” Razvi said at the press conference on Sunday
afternoon.
Source: Indian Express
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original story:
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Federal Shariat Court Of Pakistan Declares Minimum 18
Years Age, For both Girls and Boys, For Marriage as Islamic
Representative Image
----
March 6, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Declaring minimum age of marriage for both
girls and boys at 18 years in Sindh in accordance with the injunction of Islam
on Monday Federal Shariat Court (FSC) ruled saying fixation of this age limit
objective is to provide reasonable time period for girls to complete basic
education in order to develop mental maturity in a person.
A full bench of the FSC comprising Chief Justice Dr
Syed Muhammad Anwar and Justice Khadim Hussain Shaikh ruled while hearing a
plea challenging vires of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, which
set the minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys at 18 years in the
province.
The bench said, “setting a minimum age for marriage
i.e. an act which is “Mobah” (permissible) and not absolutely “Farz”
(mandatory) like marriage is in accordance with the injunctions of Islam,
because such fixation of minimum age limit provides reasonable time period to
girls to complete basic education at least, which normally helps in developing
mental maturity (Rushd / رشد) in a
person”.
The bench announced the judgment in response to a plea
of a citizen who invoked the FSC jurisdiction challenging vires of the Sindh
Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, which set the minimum age of marriage for
both girls and boys at 18 years in the province. The petitioner had contended
that the Act was un-Islamic and violated the injunctions of Islam.
After providing ample opportunity to parties of the
case, the full bench decided that the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013
is in accordance with the injunctions of Islam, and therefore does not violate
any constitutional or Islamic provisions. The court further stated that the
Section 2(a) of the Act is in line with the Islamic teachings of protecting the
rights of children and ensuring their well-being.
It is pertinent to mention that the Act 2013 was
enacted to prevent child marriages by fixing the minimum age limit and promote
the protection of children’s rights in the province. It sets the minimum age of
marriage at 18 years for males and females.
It has been stated in the verdict of the FSC that
fixing of an age limit to enter into marriage by the state or a government, as
is done in the impugned law, is not against the injunctions of Islam as laid
down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
“The act of setting a minimum age limit for marriage
and setting age for an adult eligible to solemnise marriage vide impugned
Section 2(a) of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 is not against
the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah,” read the
judgement.
Source: Pakistan Today
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original story:
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Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami Urges Govt to Declare
Ahmadiyyas ‘Non-Muslim’; Qadiyani Committing Reckless Activities against Islam
Hefazat-e-Islam chief Shah
Ahmed Shafi on Tuesday attends a islamic convention in Panchagarh Dhaka
Tribune.
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Mar 07, 2023
Demanding that the government officially declare the
Ahmadiyya community ‘non-Muslim’, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami’s acting secretary
general Maulana ATM Masum issued a statement on March 5.
The statement released on Jamaat’s website says,
‘Bangladesh is a Muslim majority country where 90 per cent people are Muslims.
In this country, Qadiani (Ahmadiyya) community is committing reckless
activities against Islam. The Islam-loving people will never accept it. The
government’s role in this regard is questionable.’
‘The government should resolve the Qadiani crisis
permanently paying full heed to the public views and also to declare Qadiani
Non-Muslim officially,’ the statement added.
On Friday, a protest march against an Ahmadiyya
religious event moved towards the Ahmednagar area of Panchagarh. As police
stopped the procession at Chowrangi intersection, the men started throwing
brickbats at the law enforcers, according to reports.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells to
disperse them, witnesses said.
Two men died and scores, including policemen,
sustained injuries in the clash. Some journalists covering the violence were
also among the injured. Shops in Panchagarh town were closed down as violence
induced panic among people.
The angry mob also looted around 20 houses belonging
to the Ahmadiyya community located in Ahmednagar.
According to a report published in The Daily Star, the
Ahmadiyya community in Panchagarh are living in fear of further attacks from
hardliners.
Many members of the community, particularly the
elderly, women and children, have left their houses and are taking shelter in
educational institutions or relatives’ homes, added the report.
Meanwhile, since Friday’s violence, a series of tweets
were posted from the verified account of Basherkella – known as a ‘Jamaat
mouthpiece’ – with ‘police brutality’ and ‘boycott Qadiani (Ahmadiyya)’ in
hashtags.
Members of the community are calling this a ‘hate
campaign’ against Ahmadiyyas.
Source: New Age Bangladesh
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original story:
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Britain Terms Restrictions on Afghan Women ‘Gender
Apartheid’
The representative of
Britain at the UN Human Rights Council criticized the existing situation in
Afghanistan and said the restrictions on Afghan women is equal to ‘gender
apartheid’, based on the findings of Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on
the situation of human rights in Afghanistan.
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By Nizamuddin Rezahi
March 7, 2023
The representative of Britain at the UN Human Rights
Council criticized the existing situation in Afghanistan and said the
restrictions on Afghan women is equal to ‘gender apartheid’, based on the
findings of Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human
rights in Afghanistan.
Simon Manley, the United Kingdom’s representative at
the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday at the fifty-second session
of the human rights assembly said the restrictions by the Islamic Emirate have
imprisoned half of Afghanistan’s population in their homes, and the world sees
it with open eyes.
Manley further added, “if women defend their freedom
and protest on the streets, they will face the risk of persecution and
detention by the ruling regime.”
“Currently, having a pleasant and satisfying life in
Afghanistan is impossible”, especially for women and girls, the UK
representative at the UN Hunan Rights Council says.
The UN Human Rights Council based in Geneva on Monday
held a session on Afghanistan, in which Richard Bennett, the Special Rapporteur
on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan presented his findings about
the human rights situation in the war-ravaged country.
As per the findings of Bennett, the human rights
situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated compared to that of last year and
described the Taliban’s actions regarding human rights as ‘gender apartheid’
and a ‘crime against humanity’.
In order to ease the pressure and criticism from the
international community regarding the gender-based policies barring female
students from university education, the Taliban group has termed the ban as
“temporary”.
The Afghan interim government is under immense
pressure from the international community for violating human rights, women’s
and girls’ rights in particular.
Source: Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.khaama.com/britain-terms-restrictions-on-afghan-women-gender-apartheid/
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Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Those Who Poisoned Schoolgirls
Deserve Death
Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei,
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Mar 7, 2023
DUBAI: Iran's supreme leader said on Monday that if a
series of suspected poisonings at girls' schools is proven to be deliberate,
the culprits should be sentenced to death for committing an 'unforgivable
crime'.
It was the first time supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
who has the final say on all matters of state, has spoken publicly about the
suspected poisonings, which began late last year and have sickened hundreds of
children.
Iranian officials only acknowledged them in recent
weeks and have provided no details on who may be behind the attacks or what
chemicals -- if any -- have been used. Unlike neighbouring Afghanistan, Iran
has no history of religious extremists targeting women's education.
"If the poisoning of students is proven, those
behind this crime should be sentenced to capital punishment and there will be
no amnesty for them," Khamenei said, according to the state-run IRNA news
agency.
Authorities have acknowledged suspected attacks at
more than 50 schools across 21 of Iran's 30 provinces since November.
Iran's interior minister Ahmad Vahidi said over the
weekend that 'suspicious samples' had been gathered by investigators, without
elaborating. He called on the public to remain calm and accused unnamed enemies
of inciting fear to undermine the Islamic Republic.
Vahidi said at least 52 schools had been affected by
suspected poisonings, while Iranian media reports have put the number of
schools at over 60. At least one boy's school reportedly has been affected.
Videos of upset parents and schoolgirls in hospital
emergency rooms with IVs in their arms have flooded social media.
Iran has imposed stringent restrictions on independent
media since the outbreak of nationwide protests in September, making it
difficult to determine the nature and scope of the suspected poisonings.
On Monday, Iranian media reported that authorities
arrested a Qom-based journalist, Ali Pourtabatabaei, who had been regularly
reporting on the suspected poisonings. The hard-line Kayhan newspaper in an
editorial had called for the arrests of newspaper publishers who printed
articles on the crisis critical of Iran's theocracy.
Meanwhile, international pressure continues to grow on
Iran over the suspected poisonings. White House Press Secretary Karine
Jean-Pierre called for a 'credible, independent investigation' into the
incidents.
"If these poisonings are related to participation
in protests, then it is well within (the) mandate of the UN independent
international fact-finding mission on Iran to investigate," she said on
Monday.
The September protests were sparked by the death of a
young woman who had been detained by morality police for allegedly violating
the country's strict dress code. Religious hard-liners in Iran have been known
to attack women they perceive as dressing immodestly in public. But even at the
height of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and girls continued attending
schools and universities.
The children affected in the poisonings have
reportedly complained of headaches, heart palpitations, feeling lethargic or otherwise
unable to move. Some described smelling tangerines, chlorine or cleaning
agents.
Reports suggest at least 400 schoolchildren have
fallen ill since November. Vahidi, the interior minister, said in his statement
that two girls remain in hospital because of underlying chronic conditions.
There have been no reported fatalities.
As more attacks were reported on Sunday, videos were
posted on social media showing children complaining about pain in the legs,
abdomen and dizziness. State media have mainly referred to these as
"hysteric reactions".
The World Health Organization documented a similar
phenomenon in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2012, when hundreds of girls across the
country complained of strange smells and poisoning. No evidence was found to
support the suspicions, and the WHO said it appeared to be "mass
psychogenic illnesses".
Source: Times Of India
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original story:
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India
Religious Harmony: Muslim Couple Marry In Temple Run By Hindu Group In Himachal As Per The Islamic Wedding Rituals
07th March 2023
By Harpreet Bajwa
CHANDIGARH: Giving the message of religious harmony, a
Muslim engineer couple got married as per the Islamic wedding rituals on the
premises of a Hindu temple in Rampur in Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh.
The wedding took place on Thakur Satyanarayan temple
complex premises in Rampur which is run by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). The Nikah ceremony was performed in the
presence of a Maulvi. Both the Muslim and Hindu communities came together and
attended the wedding ceremony.
Thakur Satyanarayan Kapooria Temple Trust Rampur
General Secretary Vinay Sharma said for the first time a Muslim couple got
married at the hall at the Dhramsala in our temple complex. The marriage was
solemnized on March 3 (Friday). The booking of the marriage hall was allowed
“as per as per our rules and regulations which they followed”, he said. “There
was no discrimination and everyone is welcome and it was gentle gesture from
our side,” he added.
The groom’s party came from Chamba and a marriage
reception was hosted in the hall in which Dham, a traditional vegetarian
festive Himachali cuisine meal was served. “We give the hall in the temple
complex for social functions like marriage and death ceremonies with a
condition no egg of meat will be served, Sharma said, adding that Vishwa Hindu
Parishad runs the temple and the district office of RSS situated in the
complex.
Mahendra Singh Malik, father of the girl said, “We
solemnised the marriage at the hall within the temple complex as it was in our
neighbourhood as we respect all religions besides this has been appreciated by
all the people of the area who took active part in organising this wedding. The
purpose of getting this marriage done on the temple premises is to spread the
message of religious harmony and brotherhood.’’
Source: New Indian Express
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Mosque in in Aligarh’s Most Sensitive Crossroad
Covered with Tarpaulin Ahead of Holi Celebrations to "Maintain Peace and
Order"
Mar 7, 2023
A mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh was covered with tarpaulin
to ensure it is not smeared with colour during Holi celebrations. The
administration said the mosque was covered to "maintain peace and
order".
The move will ensure that Abdul Karim Masjid, located
in Aligarh’s most sensitive crossroad, is not smeared with colour. The mosque
was covered with a tarpaulin on Monday night, news agency ANi reported.
Source: India Today
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RSS fascist organisation, built on lines of Muslim
brotherhood: Rahul Gandhi in London
Loveena Tandon
Mar 7, 2023
The RSS is built on the lines of Muslim brotherhood,
said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi while speaking at London-based think tank
Chatham House on late Monday evening.
Stepping up his attack on the RSS, the Wayanad MP
said, "The nature of the democratic contest in India has completely
changed and the reason is that one organisation called RSS. It is a
fundamentalist and fascist organisation that has basically captured pretty much
all of India's institutions."
"It shocked me how successful they have been at
capturing the different institutions of our country. The Press, Judiciary,
Parliament, and Election Commission are all under threat and are controlled in
one way or the other," Rahul Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi said he does not believe in the 'nobody
can beat the BJP' narrative.
"The Congress party is an idea. We have ruled the
country for many more years than the BJP has. 'Nobody can beat the BJP' is a
narrative in the media. BJP is not going to be in power forever," he said.
Calling India a negotiation between people, the
Congress leader said, "India is transitioning between rural to urban. And
we missed the urban boat. It is a negotiation between people. This negotiation
is complex. It happens through institutions, parliament. The architecture of
these is broken down."
'MY PHONE HAD PEGASUS'
Rahul Gandhi also claimed that his phone had Pegasus
in it. "You can ask any Opposition leader as to how agencies are used. My
phone had Pegasus on it, which was not happening when we were in power," he
said in London.
"In India, you can see what is being done to
Dalits, tribals, and minorities. It is not that Congress is saying it. There
are articles in the foreign press all the time that there is a serious problem
with Indian democracy," Rahul Gandhi said, launching a scathing attack on
the BJP.
Meanwhile, Virendra Kumar Sharma, a Labour Party
politician said, "What he [Rahul Gandhi] said will have no impact on what
politicians think here. It's Rahul’s personal political view."
ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR
Talking about the Russia-Ukraine war, Rahul Gandhi
said he agrees with the government on Ukraine policy. "I agree with the
foreign policy on the issue of Ukraine. There is also national interest. Having
said that, I am against any kind of war," he said.
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had alleged that the structures
of Indian democracy are under “brutal attack” and there is a full-scale assault
on the institutions of the country.
Gandhi's comments at Cambridge University that Indian
democracy is under attack have become the latest flashpoint between the
Congress and the BJP.
Source: India Today
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Kerala Muslim actor C Shukkur to remarry to prevent
gender discrimination under Muslim Personal Law
March 06, 2023
A Muslim couple in Kerala's Kasaragod district are
going to take their wedding vows again under the Special Marriage Act (SMA) for
ensuring the financial security of their three daughters.
Advocate and actor C Shukkur, known for his role as a
lawyer in the Kunchacko Boban starrer Nna Thaan Case Kodu, is going to remarry
his wife Sheena, former pro-vice chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University—on
International Women's Day on March 8.
In western countries and among some Hindu castes,
couples often renew their vows or get remarried to their spouses after a
certain number of years together in marital life, but this couple will be
taking a special route to re-register their marriage due to certain conditions
imposed in Muslim inheritance laws.
The laws state that daughters will only get two-thirds
of their father's property and the rest will go to his brothers in the absence
of a male heir.
The couple, who have been married for 29 years now,
hope to change the situation by re-registering their marriage under the SMA.
In a Facebook post, Shukkur said that in the past he
had two near-death experiences which prompted him to think about what he was
leaving back for his daughters and whether they would inherit all of his
savings and property.
His concern was that according to the Muslim Personal
Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937 and the stand taken by the courts, only
two-thirds of the father's property goes to the daughters and the rest would go
to his brothers if there was no male progeny.
Moreover, under Sharia law, leaving behind a will is
not permitted, he said in his post.
Therefore, just because they were born as girls, they
will face such gender discrimination, he pointed out.
According to Shukkur, the only way out of this
predicament is to get married under the SMA.
So he hopes that his decision would show the way to
end the gender discrimination faced by daughters in Muslim families and help to
raise the self-confidence and dignity of girl children.
"May Allah raise the self-confidence and dignity
of our daughters. All are equal before Allah and our Constitution," he
said in his post.
He further said, in his post, that this decision of
theirs to get remarried was not to defy anyone or anything or the Sharia law as
it exists presently.
"We are only exploring the possibility that
Muslim personal law will not affect those who marry through the Special
Marriage Act. Sheena and I are remarrying for our children," he said.
Speaking to a TV channel, he said: "We just want
to secure our daughters' future."
His wife, who too spoke to the channel, said the
difficulty they had gone through is faced by many Muslim families who have only
daughters.
When teaching at college or while speaking at some
public forum, after it gets over, many parents come to me and ask whether this
(the inheritance issue) is right.
"We have been hearing this for years. We could
ask someone to do something about it or we have two options -- take the legal
route or show the way through our life choices. We should do what we can,"
Sheena said.
Source: The Week
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Muslim Outreach, Population Control Likely to Come Up
During RSS Annual Meet from Mar 12-14
MARCH 06, 2023
During its three-day Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi
Sabha’s annual meet to be convened from March 12 to 14 in Panipat’s Samalkha,
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is likely to discuss and deliberate on
issues such as outreach in the Muslim community and population control.
The Sangh has made several attempts in the past where
it had discussions with major Muslim community leaders on various issues.
A senior functionary in the RSS also said that no
major changes are likely in this meet due to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It
is in this annual meet that major changes in the responsibilities of Sangh
functionaries take place.
Among other issues that are contemporary and socially
relevant, the top functionaries of the RSS are likely to deliberate on how to
work progressively towards population control. During his Vijayadashmi speech,
Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat had spoken on the issue. He had said that having an
ever growing population is a burden as well as an asset and population control
policy should take into consideration all these factors.
As far as outreach towards Muslims is concerned,
Bhagwat has met many Muslim intellectuals in the past.
The meet also holds significance as the RSS needs to
plan how to celebrate its centenary-year in 2025. Senior functionaries said
that expansion of shakhas is on the charts as there has been a spike in the
response in the past couple of years. Resolutions would be passed in the meet.
The emphasis will be on building a consensus within society before introducing
major policies affecting people.
The meet will review the works done last year by all
its affiliates and discuss the works required to be done in the coming year
which will include training of the cadre, planning and organizing Shiksha
Vargs. “Every affiliate gets only four to five minutes to sum up their work or
speak on the issues they would want to work on,” said a senior functionary.
Apart from this three-day meet, there would be
meetings building up to the ABPS meet. Kshetriya Pracharaks and Prant
Pracharaks too will meet with Bhagwat separately.
Source: News18
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Construction of Ayodhya Mosque in Lieu of Babri May Start After Ramzan, to
House Hospital, Kitchen & Museum
MARCH 06, 2023
The construction of a grand mosque in lieu of the
Babri Masjid is likely to start after the holy month of Ramzan. The
long-pending construction of the mosque complex in Ayodhya’s Dhannipur village
gained momentum after the Ayodhya Development Authority (ADA) gave clearance to
the complex’s layout in a recent board meeting.
Nitish Kumar, district magistrate and chairman of ADA,
Ayodhya, said: “All pending clearances to Ayodhya’s mosque cum complex project
were cleared in the recent board meeting. The sanctioned layout of the mosque
will be handed over to the Sunni Central Waqf Board (SCWB) in the next couple
of days after completing a few formalities.”
SCWB called the development a big move and said it
will call a meeting, probably after Ramzan, in this context.
“We appreciate the move. We will call a meeting after
Ramzan where we will finalise the plan to start construction. In the same
meeting, we will also chalk out the final date to begin construction of the
mosque complex,” said Atthar Hussain, secretary Indo Islamic Cultural
Foundation (IICF) — the trust formed by SCWB to look after the construction in
Dhannipur.
The holy month of Ramzan is likely to start from March
22 and conclude on April 21.
On November 9, 2019, the Supreme Court’s Constitution
Bench permitted the construction of a temple in Ayodhya at the site where the 16th
Century Babri Masjid once stood and was brought down by ‘Kar Sevaks’.
The apex court, in the same judgment, had also asked
the government to allot a “prominent and suitable” five-acre plot in Ayodhya
for the construction of a mosque in lieu of the Babri Masjid.
While the board’s clearance has paved the way for the
construction of the mosque, the SCWB has maintained its stand since Day One
after the SC’s decision that they didn’t want to associate the upcoming mosque
with the disputed 16th Century structure that was brought down on December 6,
1992. Hence, they said, it would not be named after any Mughal emperor.
Hussain said the mosque cum complex that is named
after freedom fighter and revolutionary Maulvi Ahmadullah Shah Faizabadi would
include a mosque, hospital, community kitchen, and museum among other
attractions.
“The maximum area would be allocated to the hospital.
We plan to develop a multi-specialty hospital that would be equipped with
state-of-art facilities. The entire hospital will be established in two phases.
In the first phase, arrangement for 100 beds would be made while in the second
phase, 100 more beds will be added. The hospital will offer the best treatment
in cancer care, transplants, spine, heart, robotics, orthopaedics, emergency and
others,” he added.
Professor SM Akhtar, a Lucknow-based
architect-cum-town planner and founder dean, faculty of architecture, Jamia
Millia Islamia University, Delhi, has been appointed by the trust to design the
mosque.
Besides, the trust has also appointed renowned
historian, international relations expert and chronicler of Indian cuisine
Professor Pushpesh Pant as consultant curator of its archival museum that would
be a part of the mosque complex.
SOME KEY FEATURES OF THE MOSQUE COMPLEX:
• The rectangular layout of the complex in Dhannipur
village also includes a specialty hospital, community kitchen and a museum
housed in a multi-storey vertical structure. These will be metres away from the
mosque and a century-old Sufi shrine will be in between.
• The mosque will be spherical in shape with a
capacity to accommodate 2,000 ‘namazis’ or worshippers at a time. It will be
four-times bigger than the Babri Masjid. The hospital complex will be six-times
the size of the mosque. The mosque will be built on 3,500 square metres of land
while the hospital and other facilities will straddle an area of 24,150 square
metres.
• The building will be zero-energy to convey a message
on climate change. All power demands in the mosque will be met with the help of
solar panels and there will be no electricity connection.
• A green patch will be developed and saplings will be
procured from all over the world, including Amazon rainforest, places where the
bushfire took place in Australia and other geographical locations in India.
• The community kitchen and museum have been curated
by Pushpesh Pant.
• There is no detailed plan to collect contributions
for the project. Two separate bank accounts have been created to collect money
for the construction — the first for the mosque and the second for other
structures.
Source: News18
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Pakistan
Suicide Blast Kills Nine, Including Eight Security
Officers, Wounds 13 In Balochistan
Mar 7, 2023
ISLAMABAD: At least eight security officers and a
civilian were killed and 13 more people wounded Monday when a suicide bomber
triggered an explosion by ramming his motorcycle into a police truck in
Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province.
The blast was reported from Dhadar tehsil of Kacchi
district, about 150km east of Quetta, the provincial capital.
Interior minister Rana Sanaullah said the police van
was targeted when it was returning to Quetta from Dhadar, where the Balochistan
Constabulary personnel — a department of the provincial police force that
guards important events and sensitive areas, including jails — was posted for a
cultural festival in Sibi city.
Agha Samiullah, the deputy commissioner of Kachhi
district, said the truck was carrying 22 members of the Balochistan
Constabulary. The wounded, three of them in a critical condition, were shifted
to Combined Military Hospital in Sibi. “We fear the death toll will increase to
double digits,” said Mehmood Notezai, a senior police officer in Kachhi.
It is unclear who is behind the suicide bombing as
several separatist groups in Balochistan have been fighting the government for
decades. The Pakistani Taliban had claimed responsibility for a number of
similar attacks in the past.
Pakistan has not succeeded in its effort to address
its worsening security situation. Last month, a bomb blast in Balochistan’s
Barkhan city killed five people and wounded 14. In January, at least 13 people
were wounded after an explosion in a passenger train in the province’s Bolan
district.
PM Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, calling it a
part of “nefarious designs to create instability in the country”. “All such conspiracies
will be made unsuccessful with the public’s support,” Balochistan CM Mir Abdul
Qudoos Bizenjo said in a statement.
Monday’s blast follows attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province in the northwest and areas bordering Afghanistan. Since talks with the
outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) broke down in November last year, the
group has intensified its attacks. Insurgents in Balochistan have also stepped
up their violent activities.
Source: Times Of India
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Pakistan court rejects Imran Khan's plea seeking
suspension of arrest warrant
Mar 7, 2023
ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court in Islamabad
upheld on Monday the non-bailable arrest warrants for former Prime Minister
Imran Khan after rejecting his plea seeking the suspension of the court’s
earlier order in a case of alleged corruption against him related to the
purchase and sale of gifts from the Toshakhana (state depository).
Additional sessions judge Zafar Iqbal announced the
verdict, reserved earlier in the day, after hearing arguments on an application
filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief seeking the cancellation of
his warrants.
The same court had last week issued non-bailable
arrest warrants for Imran after he decided not to turn up before the court
while attending hearings of three other cases — prohibited funding, terrorism,
and attempted murder — filed against him in other local courts located in the
same judicial complex.
On Sunday, Islamabad police went to his Lahore
residence to arrest him but the PTI chairman had evaded arrest and later
addressed his supporters, lashing out at the current coalition government for
its incompetence and targeting army ex-chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for his
ouster from office last year.
His speech had prompted Pakistan’s media regulator to
ban television channels from broadcasting his speeches and news conferences.
The authorities accused Imran of attacking the state’s institutions and
promoting hatred.
Imran has thrice skipped indictment hearings in an
Islamabad sessions court in the case. The allegation against Imran is that he
had not shared details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana and
proceeds from their reported sales. A reference was filed by lawmakers from the
ruling coalition last year in this regard with the speaker of the National
Assembly, who sent it to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
The electoral watchdog had concluded in October last
year that Imran had made “false statements and incorrect declarations”
regarding the gifts he had purchased from the Toshakhana and disqualified him
for being “dishonest and corrupt”.
Source: Times Of India
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Brawl erupts at a Pakistan university over some Hindu
students celebrating Holi, 15 injured
Mar 7, 2023
LAHORE: At least 15 students from Pakistan's minority
Hindu community were injured on Monday after members of a radical Islamic
student organisation allegedly stopped them from celebrating Holi at the Punjab
University premises here. Holi, a festival of colours, is celebrated to mark
the onset of spring.
The incident took place at the Law College of Punjab
University on Monday, when around 30 Hindu students gathered to celebrate Holi.
"As students gathered at the lawns of the law
college, the Islami Jamiat Tulba (IJT) activists forcibly stopped them from
celebrating Holi, which led to a clash resulting in injuries to 15 Hindu
students," Kashif Brohi, a university student and an eyewitness told PTI.
They had taken a prior permission from the university
administration, Brohi claimed.
Khet Kumar, who suffered injuries on his hand, said
the university guards thrashed them when they held a demonstration outside the
Vice-Chancellor office to protest the treatment meted out by IJT members.
"We have filed an application with the police
against the IJT and the security guards involved in thrashing and torturing us,
but FIR has not been registered as yet," Kumar said.
When contacted by PTI, IJT (Punjab University)
spokesperson Ibrahim Shahid denied the involvement of its students in the
incident.
"None of the students involved in a brawl with
the Hindu students belong to the IJT," he said and added the IJT organised
'Quran Reading' at the law college.
Punjab University spokesman Khurram Shahzad told PTI
that the varsity administration had not given permission to the hold Holi
celebrations at the lawns of the law college.
Source: Times Of India
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Pakistani migrants play deadly 'game' chasing future
abroad
Mar 7, 2023
When Muhammad Nadeem left home in eastern Pakistan, he
asked his mother to pray for his safe passage to Europe then slipped away
before she could object.
Ali Hasnain showed off the new clothes he would wear
as he prepared for the long journey west to a better life.
Both men departed from Gujrat, in Punjab province, and
although they did not know each other, became fellow travellers on the human
trafficking trail, escaping Pakistan's rapidly deteriorating economy.
They died on the continent's doorstep last month,
relatives say, after boarding a boat in Libya and floundering in Mediterranean
waters -- the latest lives dashed on the world's deadliest migrant route.
"It was like heaven had fallen when we first
heard the news," said Nadeem's mother Kausar Bibi, as his wife keened in
another room.
"I cannot bear this pain," she told AFP in
their family home, a basic concrete husk.
Pakistan is in economic freefall. A dire downturn --
caused by decades of mismanagement and political instability -- has drained
dollar reserves, spurred runaway inflation and caused widespread factory
closures.
The desperate situation is creating an incentive for
Pakistanis to take perilous, illegal routes to Europe.
Nadeem, 40, was making only 500 to 1,000 rupees ($1.80
to $3.60) a day in a furniture shop to support his wife and three boys when he
left for Italy via Dubai, Egypt and Libya a few weeks ago.
"I was happy he was going for his children, that
it would brighten their future," said his 20-year-old brother, Muhammad
Usman.
After coordinating the 2.2 million rupee ($8,000) loan
to pay the agent, Nadeem told a friend he anticipated a smooth passage.
"The sea is calm and there is no problem. I am in
the game," he said, using a euphemism adopted for the illegal odysseys.
Pakistan's foreign office confirmed his death nearly
two weeks later.
Hasnain's family, meanwhile, learned of the
22-year-old's death from an image of their dead son before it was officially
reported.
"We also believed in sending him," said his
grandfather, 72-year-old Muhammad Inayat, after taming wails of grief.
"It's becoming hard to survive here."
Gujrat has long been a springboard for migrants.
In the 1960s, a British firm built a gargantuan
hydroelectric dam in the region, displacing more than 100,000 people who were
invited to the UK as labourers.
The wealth was shared back home, giving families a
footstep out of poverty, and the Pakistan diaspora organised legal migration
for relatives, establishing communities in Europe.
But after the 9/11 attacks, controls were tightened
and human traffickers began to thrive.
Today, Gujrat city and its suburbs are known as a
hotspot for "agents" -- shady middlemen who smuggle customers by
land, sea and air.
Nadeem and Hasnain's final communications suggest they
may not have been on the same boat, but they are seen together in a video,
seemingly recorded by agents, sitting on blankets in a whitewashed room with
around a dozen other South Asian men.
"We are sending you on a small ship. Are you
going by your own will and nobody forced you?" a voice asks.
"Nobody forced us," the men answer in
muddled unison. "God willing, we will reach Italy."
Nadeem's brother Usman says smugglers "took
advantage" of the scarce opportunities in Pakistan.
But a Gujrat agent speaking anonymously to AFP claimed
to be making a "positive impact".
"Do you have any other alternative that can
improve the lives of locals so quickly?" he asked.
"They come to us with dreams, and we do our best
to fulfil them, but there are inherent risks involved."
Nearly 90 percent of Pakistanis who recently arrived
in Italy used a human smuggler, according to a 2022 survey by the Mixed
Migration Centre, a Europe-based research group.
An official from Pakistan's Federal Investigation
Agency, speaking anonymously, estimated 40,000 illegal trips are attempted
every year.
Spain recently announced those living in the country for
two years could seek temporary residency and officially enter the workforce,
while Italy has also introduced a scheme to "regularise" the
employment of undocumented migrants.
"It frustrates us and it's shameful," said
Farooq Afgan, a local politician in Gujrat.
"Nobody wants to leave his country, but poverty,
lawlessness and hunger force people to migrate."
Those living abroad can create a "princely
lifestyle" for relatives back home, he said, enticing new migrants to try
their luck.
Outside Gujrat, the village of Bhakrevali is an
outcrop of white and pastel-coloured mansions, tiered like wedding cakes, amid
wheat fields sputtering with irrigation pumps.
"You will not find a single house where they have
not tried to send one of their youngsters to Europe," remarked one local.
Malik Haq Nawaz, once a farmer, built his own villa,
with a new 4x4 parked out front and gold filigreed furniture inside, after
despatching three sons to Barcelona.
One travelled legally, the others via agents in 2006
and 2020, and all now have the right to work, Nawaz says.
By living frugally, they can pool up to 1.2 million
rupees ($4,300) to send home every month.
But neighbour Faizan Saleem's migration attempt to
Spain saw him deported multiple times from Turkey at a loss of hundreds of
dollars.
Source: Times Of India
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Toshakhana case: It seems that Imran won’t appear in
court even today, says judge
Umer Burney
March 7, 2023
Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal —
hearing the Toshakhana case against the PTI chairman — said on Tuesday that it
seemed that former prime minister Imran Khan would not appear in court today as
well.
The 70-year-old ex-premier, who has been recovering
from a gunshot injury from an assassination attempt in Wazirabad last year, has
thrice skipped indictment hearings in an Islamabad sessions court in the case.
He is accused of concealing, in his assets
declarations, details of the gifts he retained from the Toshakhana — a
repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials
are kept.
Imran was set to be indicted in the Toshakhana
Reference on Feb 28, but his lawyer had requested the judge that he be exempted
from the hearing because he had to appear in several other courts. His
indictment was deferred twice before.
The judge had then issued arrest warrants for Imran
and adjourned the hearing till March 7.
On March 5, an Islamabad police team was sent to
Lahore to arrest Imran with the court summons on Sunday. However, it returned
empty-handed after the PTI chief evaded the arrest.
Subsequently, Imran had approached the court for the
cancellation of the arrest warrants, arguing that the withdrawal of the summons
would enable him “a fair opportunity to appear and defend himself” in the case.
However, ADSJ Iqbal rejected his request on March 6
and upheld the warrant, ruling that the PTI chairman “wilfully avoided”
appearing before the court.
The hearing
As the proceedings commenced today, Imran’s junior
lawyer Sardar Masroof Khan appeared in court. Prosecution’s Mohsin Shahnawaz and
the Election Commission of Pakistan’s counsel Saad Hasan were also in
attendance.
At the outset of the hearing, the judge asked the PTI
chief’s lawyer if his client won’t appear in court today as well to which
Masroof replied that he was unaware of Imran’s appearance in court.
“But his senior legal team will be arriving by 10am,”
he said.
“Do you not have any information regarding Imran’s
appearance in court?” ADSJ Iqbal inquired. “Is his guarantor not in court?”
Here, the PTI lawyer said that a notice could not be
issued to the guarantor because the legal procedure had yet to be completed.
At that, the judge said that the guarantor was bound
to ensure that the former prime minister appeared in court.
However, the ECP’s counsel said that the court should
be informed in the morning if Imran had plans of appearing before the court.
“Why do you waste time?” he added.
Subsequently, the hearing was adjourned for some time.
When the hearing resumed, another PTI lawyer Sher Afzal
Marwat appeared in court and informed the judge that Imran’s legal team was at
the Islamabad High Court.
“I will submit my power of attorney in court within a
day or two,” he said and then requested that the hearing be adjourned till next
week.
ADSJ Iqbal said that the proceedings were underway for
Imran’s summons.
“Imran Khan is not feeling well … he has a
disability,” Marwat contended, adding that a “circus” regarding his client’s
arrest was being seen by everyone across the world.
For his part, ECP’s Hasan urged the court to issue a
notice to the PTI chief’s guarantor and cancel his surety. He also requested
that the hearing be adjourned till March 9.
At that, Marwat revealed that Imran had to appear
before the IHC on March 9 at any cost. “I have been told that it will be easier
for Imran to appear in F-8 Katcheri next week,” he added.
Here, the judge remarked: “So this means Imran won’t
appear in court even on March 9.”
ADSJ Iqbal noted that Imran’s lawyer was not present
in court today, remarking that he was waiting for a decision from the IHC in
the case.
“But if the situation remains the same, we can take a
decision. Imran has not even once appeared in court in person. And it is
evident that he won’t appear today as well.”
The judge further remarked that the law was equal for
all, highlighting that all the legal requirements would be fulfilled during the
case.
Meanwhile, Shahnawaz said that the case was pending in
the court for the past six months and the PTI chief had not once appeared
before the judge.
Here, ADSJ Iqbal said that not a single case had been
dragged on for long in the court. “Imran Khan appeared before other courts but
not the sessions court even though his exemption requests were repeatedly
accepted,” he added.
The judge then instructed Imran’s lawyer Marwat to
submit his power of attorney in court and adjourned the hearing till 2pm.
Imran challenges arrest warrants in IHC
Separately, the PTI chairman has petitioned the IHC,
praying that the sessions court’s Feb 28 and March 6 orders be set aside so
that he could have a “fair opportunity” to appear in court and defend himself.
In the application, a copy of which is available with
Dawn.com, Imran admitted that he had been summoned in the Toshakhana case on
Feb 28, but argued that he had to attend three other hearings on the same day
at the IHC and the Islamabad Judicial Complex.
He stated he was at the IHC until after office hours
that day and couldn’t even “think of non-appearance before the court”.
According to the petition, the arrest warrants against
Imran were against the facts and laws and “passed by ignoring the settled
proposition that each case has to be seen on its peculiar circumstances”.
“It is also a settled law that the superior courts being
superior in the hierarchy of the adjudication are to be attended in priority
and the same was followed by the petition.”
It also said that Imran was facing “serious health
issues” after the Wazirabad shooting and his medical consultants were refraining
him from any sort of travelling.
At the same time, the petition added, there was a
threat to the petitioner’s life under the current circumstances which was a
hindrance to his court appearances.
Toshakhana case
The reference, which alleges that Imran had not shared
details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana (during his time as the
prime minister) and proceeds from their reported sales, was filed by lawmakers
from the ruling coalition last year. On October 21, the Election Commission of
Pakistan (ECP) had concluded that the former premier had indeed made “false
statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts.
The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet
Division that stores gifts given to rulers and government officials by heads of
other governments and foreign dignitaries. According to Toshakhana rules,
gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules
apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.
The watchdog’s order had said Imran stood disqualified
under Article 63(1)(p) of the Constitution.
Source: Dawn
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NAB team ‘not allowed’ to serve summons on Imran
Zulqernain Tahir | Wajih Ahmad Sheikh | Malik Asad
March 7, 2023
LAHORE / ISLAMABAD: A day after Islamabad police
returned empty-handed from its mission to arrest Imran Khan, former prime
minister Imran Khan refused to cooperate with a National Accountability Bureau
(NAB) team on Monday, which visited his house in Zaman Park to serve summons in
connection with the prohibited funding case.
On the other hand, the PTI chairman failed to secure
relief from the Lahore High Court and a lower court in Islamabad in cases
pertaining to violence outside the judicial complex in the federal capital and
the Toshakhana matter.
Still reeling from the visit of the police team a day
earlier, PTI supporters gathered outside Mr Khan’s residence were on edge,
resulting in a tense atmosphere during the visit of the NAB team.
After spending some time waiting at Zaman Park, the
two-member team returned without seeing the ousted premier owing to “security
concerns”. As it made its way back to Pindi, a few PTI workers present at the
scene asked the team if they had delivered the summons.
“Summons are not received,” one of the officials
responded. Sources said NAB had summoned Imran Khan on March 9.
Last week, a NAB Rawalpindi team visited Zaman Park
and served summons on Mr Khan and his wife to appear before a combined
investigation team in the Toshakhana gifts probe on March 9. Mr Khan’s lawyer
had received the summons at the time.
No relief from LHC
Separately, the LHC registrar’s office returned two
petitions filed by Mr Khan, seeking interim protective bail in cases pertaining
to the judicial complex attack and the Toshakhana case.
The office refused to fix the petitions for the
hearing due to non-provision of necessary documents by the petitioner. Advocate
Azhar Siddique took the petitions back to furnish the required documents,
including the copies of the orders of bail granted to other PTI leaders, in the
case concerning the attack on the judicial complex. However, the lawyer did not
file the petitions afresh until the end of office hours.
Plea rejected by session judge
In Islamabad, Additional District and Sessions Judge
Zafar Iqbal rejected a plea seeking the cancellation of non-bailable warrants
issued for Mr Khan’s arrest at the complaint of the Election Commission of
Pakistan.
In the order, the judge noted that “the accused was in
a position to appear in the court on Feb 28… but he wilfully avoided to appear
in this court.” It said that the warrant was issued for the appearance of the
accused but he was still not present in the court. “The accused has not
surrendered himself before the court till yet and no application for his
personal appearance for today is annexed for the record,” it added.
During the course of the hearing, Mr Khan’s counsel
Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said that the PTI chief had planned to appear before
the trial court on Feb 28, but he had to appear in an Anti-Terrorism Court
(ATC), banking court, as well as in the Islamabad High Court on the same day.
He argued that Mr Khan is appearing before the courts
despite the threats to his life and his absence was not deliberate. Barrister
Gohar requested the court to cancel the arrest warrants.
The court noted that in addition to the criminal
complaint lodged by the ECP, Imran Khan was skipping proceedings in a private
complaint registered against him under Section 174 of the Elections Act. The
judge further noted that the said complaint was admitted for regular hearing on
Dec 15, 2022, and Mr Khan was summoned on January 09, 2023.
Separately, in a comment on Imran Khan’s refusal to
cooperate with the police and NAB, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said Imran
Khan will have to appear before the court at the next hearing, otherwise, he
will be presented before the judge.
Source: Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1740847/nab-team-not-allowed-to-serve-summons-on-imran
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FIR against Imran, Shibli for harassing Islamabad
police
Asif Chaudhry
March 7, 2023
LAHORE: The provincial capital police have lodged a
First Information Report (FIR) against PTI Chairman Imran Khan, party leader
Shibli Faraz and 150 workers for harassing and hurling life threats at an
Islamabad police team when it visited Zaman Park to arrest the former prime
minister.
The FIR was registered by the Race Course police on
the complaint of Islamabad Secretariat police SHO Nadeem Tahir.
The SHO said he was part of the team of the federal
capital police constituted for the arrest of PTI chairman Imran Khan to comply
with the orders of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ), Islamabad.
He said as they reached the Zaman Park residence of
the PTI leader along with his non-bailable arrest warrants issued by ADSJ Zafar
Iqbal, a charged group of 100-150 PTI workers carrying clubs surrounded them.
The SHO stated in the FIR that the attackers hurled
serious life threats at the Islamabad police officials, saying they would kill
them if they dared to enter their leader’s house.
Teams formed to conduct raids, arrest suspects
nominated in the case; PTI chief also booked in Quetta
Following the seriousness of the matter, he said, the
police told them that they had arrived from Islamabad to comply with the court
orders. “However, the attackers rejected the repeated requests of the Islamabad
police,” the SHO said.
Meanwhile, he said, PTI senior leader Shibli Faraz
appeared from the charged crowd and the police apprised him of the court orders
about arrest of Irman Khan. The SHO said Mr Faraz too barred the police from
entering the residence and used delaying tactics.
While receiving the court notice, he put up a note on
it saying “Imran Khan is not available at his residence”, read the FIR. The SHO
alleged that Mr Faraz deliberately distorted the facts about the presence of
Imran Khan at his residence as moments later the PTI chairman addressed party
workers from his Zaman Khan residence.
The live telecast of his speech showed Imran Khan was
present at his residence when police reached there, the SHO said. He alleged
that Imran Khan, with the connivance of Shibli Faraz and 150 charged party
workers, committed a crime by dodging and barring the Islamabad police from
discharging their duty.
Meanwhile, Lahore Capital City Police Officer Bilal
Siddique Kamyana told Dawn that the police would arrest all those involved in
harassing and threatening the ICT police. “It is a legal obligation of the
police to arrest the violators/attackers booked by the police,” he said, adding
that the police teams have been formed to conduct raids and arrest the suspects
nominated in the FIR.
Separately, an FIR was registered at a police station
in Quetta against Imran Khan on Monday over his alleged remarks against state
institutions and their offices and spreading hatred against them.
Source: Dawn
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of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1740830/fir-against-imran-shibli-for-harassing-islamabad-police
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Islamic State claims responsibility for suicide
bombing in southwest Pakistan
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide
bombing attack in southwestern Pakistan that killed nine policemen on Monday,
according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
A suicide bomber rammed a motorcycle into a police
truck in in Sibbi, a city some 160 km (100 miles) east of Quetta, the capital
of Balochistan province.
"ISIS claims suicide attack in Sibi,
Balochistan," tweeted Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel Group that
tracks Islamist extremists.
Hospital officials said at least 7 policemen were
wounded in the attack, the latest in a series targeting police personnel in
Pakistan.
Source: TBS News
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South Asia
EU Special Envoy for Afghanistan: Islamic Emirate
Should Prove Public's Support with Forum
March 6, 2023
The European Union’s special envoy for Afghanistan,
Tomas Niklasson, said that the “de facto” officials in Afghanistan need to
prove they have the people’s support through an election or Loya-Jirga (Grand
Assembly).
Speaking to TOLOnews, Niklasson said that the
recognition of the caretaker Afghan government has been delayed due to the
“actions and sometimes inaction of the Taliban."
In response to a question on how could the “Taliban”
show they have the support of the people of Afghanistan, Niklasson said:
“They can show that through elections, they can
perhaps show that through a Loya Jirga, they make a claim that Afghans support
us. How do we know? How can they prove that? But what we do know and what we do
see is that the human rights situation is consistently moving with a few
exceptions in a very negative development,” he said.
But the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
said that the people have an affinity for the current government and that there
is no need for election.
“The Islamic government was the ambition of everyone
and the Afghans have fought for 40 years for this government. No one should
show concern in this regard. We don’t need elections or other programs but both
we and the nation know that we are satisfied with each other,” he said.
“The amount of satisfaction and support of the people
from the government is only possible through the expression of people’s will,
and the holding of an election,” said Sayed Jawad Sijadi, a political analyst.
Niklasson also said that the “de facto” Afghan
authorities need to engage in talks with the non-Taliban Afghans.
“I think the first thing, as I mentioned, would be to
find a way of entering into dialogue with non-Taliban Afghans. Bringing them on
board in the government, giving them a voice over the future of the country.
Continuing to make progress--and they have made some progress in the fight
against terrorist organizations inside the country-- respect human rights.
Those three would be – three very, very good starting points,” he said.
Source: Tolo News
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Islamic Emirate 'Fully Prepared' to Begin Work on
TAPI: Ministry
By Bibi Amina Hakimi
The Ministry of Mines and Petroleum (MoMP) said that
the Islamic Emirate is fully prepared to launch the practical work on the TAPI
pipeline project.
A spokesman for the MOMP, Homayoun Afghan, called said
existing challenges in the TAPI member countries were the main obstacles for
the implementation of this project.
He said that legal and technical obstacles ahead of
the implementation of the project have been removed.
“The relevant countries, for example Turkmenistan,
Pakistan and India, they might have technical and legal problems so this
project has been delayed. We have completed all of the issues,” he said.
“The relevant countries and the World Bank should
focus on this project from the financial side, so that all of us reach the
regional goals,” said Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy of Ministry of Economy.
Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabiullah
Mujahid, said that there have been several meetings with the countries involved
in the TAPI pipeline projects.
Meanwhile, the economists said that the TAPI pipeline
project is important for the economic enhancement of the country.
“Until the political engagement between India and
Pakistan remains unsolved, the TAPI project will not move forward. This is why
Pakistan is trying to implement TAP (Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan)
project instead of TAPI,” said Sayed Masoud, an economist.
“The implementation of this project in Afghanistan
will strengthen Afghanistan’s position from the geopolitical side and from the
economic side, it meets the needs of power and gas for Afghanistan,” said Darya
Khan Baheer, an economist.
Earlier, Russian TV Channel 24 reported that Moscow is
also willing to engage in the TAPI pipeline project.
Source: Tolo News
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Iran to Hand Over 1,700 Afghan Prisoners to Islamic
Emirate
By Naseer Ahmad Salehi
The government of Iran is due to hand over 1,700
Afghan inmates who are imprisoned in Iranian jails—and the first batch of more
than 500 inmates arrived at Islam-Qala port of Herat on Monday.
Over 400 of the inmates have been sentenced to death
by the Iranian courts, according to Islamic Emirate officials.
“(They) are either 1,786 or 1,728 people that will be
transferred to Afghanistan within three days and these people will be handed
over to the Islamic Emirate,” said Fazal Mohammad Haqqani, the Islamic
Emirate’s ambassador to Iran.
The head of the general department of prisons in the
country, Mohammad Yousuf Mustari, said that Afghan inmates returning from Iran
will be prosecuted based on the Afghan judicial process.
“The decisions that they made is contingent on these
people being kept in our country. Of course, if these people were sentenced to
be freed in our courts, they (Iran officials) will agree with us. Many of them
have spent half of their time in prison,” he said.
Many of them have spent several years in Iran’s prisons.
“It has passed very hard. When you are in another
country, it is very difficult but we are very happy here now and we will
tolerate the remaining term of the prison here,” said Ghulam Rasul, a prisoner.
“I was arrested on charges of drug dealing. I was
sentenced to 13 years in prison and I was fined 150 million (tomman),” said
Mohammad Awaz, a prisoner.
According to Afghanistan's embassy in Tehran, at least
6,000 Afghans in Iranian prisons.
Many of them are sentenced to various types of
punishment for being involved in drug dealing, murder and robbery.
Source: Tolo News
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Amnesty says Taliban must halt their abuses in
Afghanistan
Mar 6, 2023
ISLAMABAD: A leading international rights group
appealed on Monday for the UN Human Rights Council to address the ongoing,
“relentless abuses” by Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, including severe
restrictions on women and freedom of speech.
Despite initial promises for a more moderate stance,
the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking power in August 2021 as US
and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their pullout from Afghanistan after
20 years of war.
The Taliban have banned women from public life and
girls education beyond the sixth grade, carried out public executions after
sentences before Taliban courts and cracked down on minority communities.
Amnesty International said the Taliban have also
targeted women's rights defenders, academics, and activists in recent months
and detained them unlawfully. The arrests are arbitrary and those detained have
no legal recourse or access to their families.
The London-based watchdog called on the UN Human
Rights Council to establish an independent investigative mechanism in
Afghanistan as soon as possible and for United Nations members to act toward
ending impunity and ensuring justice for victims of Taliban abuses.
“The human rights situation in Afghanistan is
deteriorating rapidly, and the Taliban's relentless abuses continue every
single day,” said Agnes Callamard, Amnesty's secretary general.
“It is clear that the Taliban are not willing nor able
to investigate actions by their members that grossly violate the human rights
of Afghanistan's population,” she added.
The group also said that people who publicly criticize
“abusive rules” of the Taliban have been arrested without any explanations
while the crackdown on women's rights and public killings of minority ethnic
Hazaras continue unchecked.
Among those detained are Narges Sadat, a women's
rights defender; civil society activist Fardin Fedayee; author and activist
Zekria Asoli and also Afghan-French journalist Mortaza Behboudi. Former Afghan
lawmaker Qais Khan Wakili and journalist Muhammad Yar Majroh are also in
custody, Amnesty said.
In many cases, no information was given for the arrest
and whereabouts of those detained, amounting to enforced disappearance, the
group said.
Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available to
comment on Amnesty's report.
Separately, Amnesty reported Taliban abuses in
northern Panjshir province, where their forces are fighting resistance members
of the so-called National Resistance Front.
The rights group said it authenticated photos and
videos on social media posts of at least eight incidents between May and August
2022, showing arbitrary arrests and detentions of some 87 people in Panjshir.
Source: Times Of India
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Bangladesh investigates massive fire at Rohingya
refugee camps
SHEHAB SUMON
March 06, 2023
DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities launched on Monday an
investigation into a massive fire at Rohingya refugee camps that has left
12,000 people without shelter.
The fire broke out on Sunday afternoon in Cox’s Bazar,
a southeastern coastal district and the world’s largest refugee settlement,
which hosts about 1.2 million Rohingya Muslims who fled violence and
persecution in neighboring Myanmar.
The blaze swept through the Kutupalong and Balukhali
camps, reducing to ashes some 2,000 huts before it was brought under control in
the evening.
“The fire broke out in three blocks of the Rohingya
camps, affecting around 12,000 Rohingyas. All of them lost their shelter,”
Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mizanur Rahman said, adding that
no casualties have been reported so far.
“Cox’s Bazar district administration has formed a
seven-member committee today to find the exact reason for the fire. The
committee is asked to file the report in three days.”
Rahman told Arab News that work to restore the
shelters have already started, and the International Organization for Migration
has distributed housing materials among the Rohingya, who will be rebuilding
their homes themselves.
The UN Children’s Fund estimated that half of the
refugees affected by the fire were children.
Sheldon Yett, UNICEF representative in Bangladesh,
said in a statement on Monday that infrastructure critical to their education
and healthcare has been destroyed, including 20 learning centers, at least one
nutrition center, and several sanitation facilities.
The Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar are prone to fires.
Atish Chakma, deputy assistant director of the Fire
Service and Civil Defense Department in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News that the
danger of fire in the area is high due to congestion, the flammable materials
the shelters are built from, and a lack of water to immediately put out the
flames.
“Rohingya camps are highly congested, and the
makeshift homes were built side by side, keeping no distance in between.
Besides, the plastic materials that were used for building these shelters are
highly flammable. So, whenever a fire erupts in one house, it spreads rapidly,”
he said.
“There is a huge scarcity of water inside the camps.
For this reason, our firefighters face difficulties while dousing the fire.”
Between January 2021 and December 2022, at least 222
fire incidents were recorded in the settlements, according to Defense Ministry
data.
Source: Arab News
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Europe
Conference in Qatar withdraws invitation of UK’s
former health secretary
March 07, 2023
LONDON: The UK’s former Health Secretary Matt Hancock
has had his invitation to a travel industry conference in Qatar revoked after
his WhatsApp messages about COVID-19 restrictions were leaked.
The Institute of Travel and Tourism announced on
Wednesday that Hancock would be a guest speaker at its annual conference, which
will be held in Doha in June.
A few days later, leaked WhatsApp messages revealed
Hancock joking with Cabinet Secretary Simon Case about hotel quarantine, The
Independent reported on Monday.
The UK government imposed hotel quarantines in
February 2021, a month after introducing a 19-week ban on international leisure
travel.
“We are giving big families all the suites and putting
pop stars in the box rooms,” Hancock wrote.
Case replied: “I just want to see some of the faces of
people coming out of first class and into a Premier Inn shoe box.”
The former health secretary also accused the aviation
industry of being “totally offside” and “completely unhelpful,” The Independent
reported.
Regarding the decision to revoke Hancock’s invitation,
Steven Freudmann, ITT chair, said: “The decision was triggered by the
publication of his WhatsApp messages.
“Some of his private messages are really shocking and
clearly we now know that he is no friend of the travel industry, as evidenced
by his messages and avalanche of criticism on social media.
Source: Arab News
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Belgian media joins efforts for fundraiser to aid
quake victim in Türkiye, Syria
Agnes Szucs
06.03.2023
BRUSSELS
Belgian broadcasters called on Monday to make
donations for the victims of the powerful earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria last
month.
Following the call of the 12-12 consortium assembling
the seven biggest charity organizations, Belgian media outlets across the
country urged their audience to contribute to the fundraising campaign for the
people affected by the natural disaster.
Radios and TV channels dedicated spots to talk about
the disastrous effects of the earthquakes, while newspapers and online outlets
presented articles and advertisements for the campaign.
The radio stations also played all day the song
“People help the people,” featuring 30 singers, including Turkish artist
Hadise.
The timing of the media campaign is “symbolic” since
the earthquakes happened exactly a month ago, the 12-12 consortium said in a
press statement.
This is the first time that all the Belgian media
outlets regardless of their linguistic differences joined their efforts for a
charity campaign since the tsunami and earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004,
Gilles van Mortel, the coordinator of the 12-12 consortium stressed.
Caritas International, Red Cross Belgium, Handicap
International, Medecins du Monde, Oxfam Belgium, Plan International Belgium and
UNICEF Belgium are members of the 12-12 consortium.
The charities raised over €8.27 million ($8.83
million) in the first two weeks after the earthquakes, according to their
numbers.
More than 46,000 people were killed in Türkiye by
magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes that hit on Feb. 6, according to officials.
The strong tremors, which were centered in
Kahramanmaras province, also hit 10 other provinces: Hatay, Gaziantep,
Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.
Some 13.5 million people have been affected in Türkiye
by the massive quakes which struck in less than 10 hours.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Turkish kapsalon doner was most-ordered dish in
Netherlands last year: Report
Selman Aksunger
06.03.2023
Turkish kapsalon doner became the most-ordered dish
online in 2022, a Dutch online food ordering platform revealed on Monday.
According to a report by Thuisbezorgd, Turkish
kapsalon doner was the favorite dish in seven out of 12 regions in the
Netherlands and the second-most ordered dish in one region.
Selahattin Dagasan, owner of Hilal Shoarma, a restaurant
in Amsterdam, told Anadolu that kapsalon allures many Dutch people in the
country.
"We sell 40-50 kapsalons on weekdays and 100-120,
sometimes up to 150, on weekends," he added.
People, he said, like sauces most at kapsalon, which
they are preparing with a special sauce made with mayonnaise and garlic.
"It is a very delicious hot sauce with melted
cheese, potatoes and meat," he added.
"While some other dishes are preferred in areas
where foreigners live mostly, such as in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, we
see that kapsalon is the most-ordered dish in places where Dutch people are
live."
Frankie Ruiz, a 24-year-old American, told Anadolu
that kapsalon is among his favorite dishes.
Ruiz said he likes the combination of different
ingredients like potato, chicken and his favorite garlic sauce, adding he
orders kapsalon at least twice a week.
Also speaking to Anadolu, Dutch Sijmen de Hoogh said
that he likes Turkish cuisine so much and he eats kapsalon almost every Friday
at Hilal Shoarma.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Mideast
Iran Hands Down Death Sentences to 6 Members of
Al-Ahwaziya Terror Group
2023-March-6
A court in the Southern Iranian city of Ahvaz has
sentenced six members of Harakat Al-Nazal terror group to death in connection
with terrorist attacks in Khouzestan province.
The six were involved in the armed operations by the
grouping in 2017 and 2018.
They got the sentence for acting on the orders of the
grouping’s ringleaders in Europe including Habib Nabgan and Habibollah Faraj
Chaab nicknamed Habib Asyoud.
The convicts killed two Basij members in the city of
Aabdan and separately a law enforcement staff and a draftee in the nearby
Bandar Imam Khomeini.
The so-called Arab Struggle Movement for the
Liberation of Ahvaz terrorist group (SMLA) has also claimed responsibility for
an attack on a military parade in Ahvaz that killed 25 people, including
members of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and civilian bystanders,
and injured 70 others.
The outfit has carried out several operations,
including assassinations, bombings, espionage and armed robbery, against the
Iranian people which martyred and wounded at least 274 civilians. Members of
the terror group are currently based in Several European states, including
Sweden and Denmark.
The ringleader of Al-Ahwaziya, Chaab, was arrested in
November 2020 on the back of a set of “specialized and combined measures” by
Iranian intelligence forces.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Iran: Israel Unable to Escape Inevitable Fate by
Concealing Truth
2023-March-6
Kana'ani said Iran has recently been targeted by an
intensifying media campaign to deflect attention from the unrest and internal
crisis plaguing the Zionist regime.
"Some foreign media have always propagated lies
against the Islamic Republic of Iran, but such false propagations have been
intensified during the past few months and that has several reasons," the senior
diplomat wrote on Twitter.
The spokesperson, however, underscored that hiding the
facts will not save the Tel Aviv regime from its doomed future and collapse.
In recent months, Israel has been hit by massive and
sometimes violent protests against the far-right cabinet headed by Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israelis are angry at his policies, particularly
his so-called judicial reforms.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir orders demolition of Palestinian
homes in East Jerusalem during Ramadan
Burak Dag
06.03.2023
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir
ordered police to continue the demolition of “illegally built” Palestinian
homes in occupied East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan,
Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported Monday.
Ramadan, during which Muslims fast from dawn to
sunset, is set to start later this month.
Israel did not carry out home demolitions during
Ramadan in the past years to avoid tension with the Palestinians.
While Palestinians see Israel’s demolition policy as
an attempt to drive them out of East Jerusalem and strengthen the Israeli
occupation of the city, Israeli authorities consider these houses illegally
built without a permit.
Meanwhile, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said
Israeli police warned Ben-Gvir that the fasting month of Ramadan could be
extremely volatile as they are already stretched to the limit amid tension
across the occupied West Bank.
Ben-Gvir holds far-right views on the Palestinians and
has called for their displacement. He has repeatedly joined Israeli settlers in
storming the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in East Jerusalem.
In November 2022, Israeli President Isaac Herzog
warned in a leaked audio that "the whole world is worried" about
Ben-Gvir’s far-right views.
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967
Arab-Israeli War. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized
by the international community.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Turkiye’s fractured opposition unites against Erdogan
March 7, 2023
ANKARA: Turkiye’s bickering opposition leaders ended
months of fierce debate on Monday and agreed to name the head of the main
secular party as their joint candidate against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
in May 14 polls.
A last-ditch deal aimed at averting a split of the
opposition vote will see CHP chief Kemal Kilicdaroglu name the other five
opposition leaders as vice presidents should he end Erdogan’s two-decade rule.
“We would have been eliminated had we split up,”
Kilicdaroglu told huge crowds of cheering supporters after emerging from hours
of tense talks.
Kilicdaroglu, 74, head of the country’s second-biggest
party, aims to emerge from Erdogan’s shadow and oust the president after a
two-decade reign that has transformed the Nato member country and major
emerging market economy. “Our table is the table of peace. Our only goal is to
take the country to days of prosperity, peace and joy,” said Kilicdaroglu.
Source: Dawn
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Iran Strongly Rejects Interim Agreement on JCPOA
Revival Talks
2023-March-6
"Iran would not by any means consider signing an
interim agreement in the course of the talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal
and lifting the sanctions on Tehran," Kan'ani told reporters at a weekly
press briefing in Tehran on Monday.
“What we consider is the return of all parties to the
deal,” he underlined.
The spokesperson added that Iran’s national interests
define how far it will persist with the course of the JCPOA negotiations.
He reiterated that Iran is committed to diplomacy and
will keep cooperating with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in
order to resolve the remaining issues over Tehran’s civilian nuclear
activities.
“We will stay on this path as long as we observe our
interests (are being fulfilled). What we emphasize is that the sanctions must
be lifted and our relations with the nuclear agency should be in their natural
mode,” Kana'ani underscored.
The top diplomat noted that IAEA Director General
Rafael Grossi’s latest trip to Tehran was in line with Iran’s active diplomacy
with the UN nuclear agency and yielded encouraging results.
He expressed hope that the trend of cooperation
between Iran and the nuclear agency would result in the resolution of issues
pertaining to the Safeguards Agreement in a technical manner and would eliminate
any chance for those who consider the matter as an obstacle on the path of
returning to diplomacy.
“Iran has utilized all recognized rights and has
explored available political and legal channels, as well as international
regulations. Protection of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and capacities has been
carried out in light of such measures,” Kana’ani continued.
The spokesman further explained that Iran has time and
again emphasized its rights in line with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
when it comes to cooperation with the UN nuclear agency.
Tehran and the IAEA have issued a joint statement
following the UN nuclear watchdog chief’s visit to Tehran, and agreed to
continue their interactions in a spirit of cooperation and in full conformity
with the competencies of the agency and the rights and obligations of Iran.
(READ MORE)
On the Iran-US talks, the senior diplomat noted that
there have not been any official and overt talks, but the two sides send
messages through third parties and that the American official confirmed the
contacts continue.
Asked about the US officials’ attempt to deny the
exchange of messages between Washington and Tehran through third parties, the
official added that the American authorities underlined that they have their
own channels to exchange messages and that High Representative of the European
Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell plays the role of a
mediator, so the US officials should be asked about their paradoxical attitude.
Iran stresses it has not quit the negotiating table
with the world powers, but will not put all its eggs in the negotiation basket
and will not wait for the United States to return to its commitments under the
2015 agreement. Iranian officials stress Tehran has maintained its constructive
aproach towards a good, strong and lasting agreement on the revival of the
accord and arriving at a deal requires the US pragmatic attitude.
Tehran says it will not be able to trust Washington as
long as President Joe Biden continues the wrong policy of maximum pressure and
sanctions practiced by Donald Trump against Iran. Iranian officials say the
Biden administration has yet done nothing but hollow promises to lift sanctions
against Tehran. They blast the US addiction to sanctions, and slammed the POTUS
for continuing his predecessor's policy on Iran.
In quitting the agreement, Trump restored sanctions on
Iran as part of what he called the “maximum pressure” campaign against the
country. Those sanctions are being enforced to this day by the Biden administration,
even though it has repeatedly acknowledged that the policy has been a mistake
and a failure.
Iranian officials say the ball is in the US' court,
and the Biden administration should assure Tehran that it will not repeat
Trump's past mistakes.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Judiciary Chief: 80-90k Inmates Pardoned on Iranian
Supreme Leader’s Order
2023-March-6
Mohseni Eje’i made the remarks in an interview with
Ayatollah Khamenei’s website on Sunday.
He confirmed that the number of prisoners who have
been pardoned based on the recent order by Ayatollah Khamenei has reached over
80,000.
He stated that those who have been granted amnesty
include many people who were arrested in recent unrest in the country, adding
that the number of pardon cases could reach 90,000.
The judiciary chief noted, however, that the pardons
have not affected inmates who are behind bars because of complaints by private
plaintiffs.
Back in early February, Ayatollah Khamenei agreed to
pardon or commute the sentences of thousands of convicts, including large
groups of detainees found guilty of involvement in the recent unrest in Iran.
The prisoners, who were granted clemency, had had
their verdicts issued at courts of common pleas and Islamic Revolution
tribunals, the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces and the State
Discretionary Punishment Organization.
The convicts to whom the amnesty applies should not be
facing charges of espionage for outsiders, direct links with the foreign
intelligence services, murder or intentional injuries, as well as vandalism or
arson attack on governmental, military and public sites, and also should not be
involved in a suit filed by a private plaintiff.
The clemency, however, does not apply to certain types
of convicts, including those who have been sentenced for their role in the
armed smuggling of narcotics, arms trafficking, kidnapping, acid attacks, rape,
armed robbery, bribery, embezzlement, counterfeit money forgery, money
laundering, disruption of economy, smuggling of alcoholic drinks, and organized
smuggling of commodities.
Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi said last
month that his government had been authorized to use the pardon power to
release university students, cultural, sports and media figures who have been
arrested because of their involvement in the riots.
Protests erupted in several cities across Iran over
the death of Mahsa Amini who fainted at a police station in mid-September and
days later was pronounced dead at a hospital. The demonstrations soon turned
violent.
An official report by Iran’s Legal Medicine
Organization announced that Amini’s controversial death was caused by an
illness rather than alleged blows to the head or other vital body organs.
Iranian officials blame Western countries for
orchestrating the riots to destabilize the country.
The unrest has claimed the lives of dozens of people
and security forces, while also allowing acts of terror and sabotage across the
country. Iran's Interior Ministry has confirmed the enemy waged a hybrid war
against the country to weaken national solidarity and hinder the country's
progress, stressing that some 200 people lost their lives in the riots sparked
by separatist and terrorist groups.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Yemeni official calls out Iran for supporting Houthis
in war-torn country
06 March ,2023
A Yemeni official accused Iran of sending “gifts of
death” to his war-wracked country as the two sides clashed publicly at a UN
summit for poor nations on Monday.
Othman Majali harangued Iran, which backs Yemen’s
Houthis, during his speech at the Least Developed Countries meeting in Qatar,
drawing a terse response from Iranian Vice-President Mohsen Mansouri.
The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital in 2014,
prompting an intervention by Arab Coalition forces the following year that has
triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Yemen is living in “exceptional situations whose
reasons are not a scarcity of resources... (rather) the coup and the war waged
by the terrorist Houthi militia against the Yemeni people, the militias that
were trained and funded by the Iranian regime”, Majali, a member of Yemen’s
presidential council, told the anti-poverty summit.
Majali also condemned “terrorist and racist movements
created by Iran in the Arab countries to spread chaos and control the region”
and “Iran’s continued sabotage practices in Yemen.”
When it was Mansouri’s turn to address the summit, the
Yemeni delegation got up and walked out of the conference hall.
The Iranian vice-president hit back at Majali’s
comments, calling them “unreal, baseless, and irresponsible statements.”
“His attempt to divert the focus from the agenda of the
meeting is regrettable,” Mansouri told the conference.
“For the dear people of Yemen, I sincerely wish for
peace and tranquility, progress, and exit from crises caused by foreign
interference and aggression.”
Iran says it provides political support to the Houthis
but denies helping them militarily.
Source: Al Arabiya
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New US drone strike kills top Al-Qaeda commander in
Yemen
SAEED AL-BATATI
March 06, 2023
AL-MUKALLA: A senior leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula has been killed in a US drone strike in Yemen, the terror group
admitted on Monday.
The attack targeted Hamad bin Hamoud Al-Tamimi, also
known as Abdel Aziz Al-Adnani, at his home in the central Marib province on
Feb. 26.
Militant sources said Tamimi spent nearly four years
in prison in Saudi Arabia before traveling to Yemen in 2013. An Al-Qaeda
ideology and media officer, he headed AQAP’s leadership council and was the
group’s“judge.”
His death was the second major blow to Al-Qaeda in
Yemen in just over a month. On Jan. 30, a US drone killed three Al-Qaeda
operatives, including the notorious bomb-maker Hussein Hadboul.
Elisabeth Kendall, a terrorism expert and mistress of
Girton College at the University of Cambridge, told Arab News that Al-Tamimi’s
death was a significant loss for Al-Qaeda. “He was both talented and prolific,
operating in the dual realms of jihadi media and jurisprudence. He spearheaded
media initiatives like the video interview with AQAP leader Khalid Batarfi in
November 2021,” she said.
Batarfi is now the most senior AQAP chief left alive.
US drones have eliminated key commanders and scores of younger militants since
early 2015 at the height of the group’s military push through southern and
central Yemen, Kendall said. “AQAP has hemorrhaged leaders in recent years,
largely as a result of drone strikes. While new leaders can always be found,
the pool of candidates with solid experience is dwindling,” she said.
Yemeni security and military officials say the
presence of Al-Qaeda leaders in Marib province suggested that they were
launching operations from there against government forces in the south.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2263481/middle-east
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Ansarullah: US encroachment in al-Mahrah, Hadhramaut
violate Yemen’s sovereignty
07 March 2023
Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance group has condemned
recent hostile movements by the United States in the eastern provinces of
al-Mahrah and Hadhramaut as a “dangerous assault” and “flagrant violation” of
the Arab country’s sovereignty.
In a statement carried by Yemen’s al-Masirah
television network on Monday, Ansarullah’s Political Bureau held the
self-proclaimed Yemeni regime, backed by Saudi Arabia and the US, responsible
for any betrayal or breach of the country’s sovereignty.
It came after US Ambassador to the self-proclaimed
Yemeni regime Steven Fagin and Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of the US
Navy’s 5th Fleet, visited al-Mahrah and held talks with its governor Mohammed
Ali Yaser. The talks took place at a meeting room with pictures of Saudi King
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Ansarullah’s Political Bureau voiced opposition to any
foreign activities on Yemeni soil, saying that the nation reserves the right to
counter foreign intervention in all possible ways.
“The US movements are in line with the eight-year
aggression against Yemen. They amount to a new betrayal by mercenaries to sell
or rent Yemen’s coasts and islands to the occupiers,” it said.
“Once again, we express our opposition to the
aggressive and hostile movements of the US in al-Mahrah. We condemn these
actions and warn of their consequences.”
Also in its statement, Ansarullah’s Political Bureau
called on the Yemenis living in southern and eastern regions to exercise
vigilance and work towards foiling the conspiracies that target the country’s
unity, sovereignty and independence.
Informed sources said the US delegation made its visit
to al-Mahrah under the pretext of fighting the smuggling of weapons and drugs.
The visit, they added, is in line with the US
government’s secret plans in eastern Yemen meant to boost military presence in
the strategic region.
Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with its Arab allies
and with arms and logistics support from the US and other Western states,
launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015.
The objective was to crush Ansarullah, which has been
running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen, and
reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
Source: Press TV
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North America
Muslim American Civil Rights Group Sues US Prison For
Pepper-Spraying Muslim Inmates While They Prayed
6 March 2023
A Muslim American civil rights group has filed a
lawsuit against several officials of the Missouri prison system for allegedly
pepper-spraying Muslim inmates while they prayed.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the prisoners by the
Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), accused
the state's department of corrections officials of violating the inmates'
constitutional rights, including to freely practise their religion.
“This lawsuit is about holding state officials to
account and upholding the rights of all citizens,” Cair attorney, Kimberly
Noe-Lehenbauer, said in a statement. “Once a person enters a correctional
facility, they do not lose their most basic rights and become an open target
for violence and abuse.”
According to the lawsuit filed last Thursday, 28
February 2021, a group of nine Muslim prisoners were praying in a common space
when a corrections officer told them to stop.
The inmates say they had prayed together without issue
three times earlier in the day and had also done so "hundreds of times in
the months" prior.
In this instance, twenty officers responded to the
scene. Two of the inmates stopped praying and stepped away, while another two
men also stopped praying but were then put in handcuffs.
The five others were doused with pepper spray, some
while they were handcuffed, and one prisoner was beaten, according to the
lawsuit.
The inmates said that guards ultimately isolated seven
of them in cells with pepper spray still covering their bodies. They were not
provided medical evaluations, eye washes, showers, cleaning supplies, or
medical advice, the lawsuit says.
“The treatment these incarcerees were reportedly
subjected to is appalling and in complete violation not only of their legal
rights but their basic human dignity,” Yasir Ali, who serves on the board of
Cair-MI. “We are hopeful that justice will prevail in this case and those who
are guilty will be held accountable.”
According to the lawsuit, one of the guards involved
had been removed from meal delivery during the month of Ramadan a few years
earlier, after telling some of the inmates that "he had PTSD from having
been 'trained to kill Muslims in Afghanistan', and objecting that he now 'has
to feed these mother****ers'."
Middle East Eye reached out to the Missouri Department
of Corrections for comment on this story.
Several lawsuits have been filed in recent years
dealing with the issue of Muslim inmates' ability to practise their faith while
incarcerated.
Between 2017 and 2019, 16 religious freedom cases
related to Muslim inmates were filed in federal court. More than 60 of those
were about dietary needs, and another 34 were linked specifically to violations
during the holy month of Ramadan.
In January, a federal court partly undid a decision
made against a Muslim inmate, ruling that a Virginia jail must defend its
practice of broadcasting Christian services on every television screen on
Sundays.
The inmate has argued that the broadcasting of
Christian services is a violation of the Constitution's freedom of religion
clause.
Source: Middle East Eye
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Empire State Building Lit up with Turkish Flag’s
Colours for Earthquake Victims
Rabia İclal Turan
07.03.2023
WASHINGTON
New York’s Empire State Building was lit with the red
and white colors of the Turkish flag Monday evening in a show of support after
major earthquakes hit the country’s southern provinces on Feb. 6.
The move came in partnership with Turkish Airlines on
the one-month anniversary of the earthquakes to honor those affected by the
tragedy.
Empire State Realty Trust, which owns the iconic
building, also shared information on an aid campaign launched by the Turkish
Consulate General in New York, calling on people to help the quake victims.
More than 46,100 people have been killed in the two
quakes that shook Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to officials.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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US sanctions Syrian military intel officer for 2013
killings in Damascus
Servet Gunerigok
06.03.2023
WASHINGTON
The US on Monday announced sanctions on a Syrian
military intelligence officer for his killings in the Syrian capital Damascus
10 years ago.
Amjad Yousef is accused of "coldly and
methodically" murdering at least 41 unarmed civilians in Tadamon, a
neighborhood in the city, on April 16, 2013.
The designation came days ahead of 12th year of
conflict in Syria.
The State Department is "designating Amjad
Yousef, a Warrant Officer in the Syrian Military Intelligence Directorate ...
due to his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely
extrajudicial killings," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a
statement.
"As a result of today's action, Yousef, as well
as his wife, Anan Wasouf, and their immediate family members, are ineligible
for entry into the United States," said Blinken.
Citing the killings, the top diplomat also urged
nations against normalizing ties with the Bashar al-Assad regime "absent
enduring progress towards a political resolution."
Source: Anadolu Agency
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US says Iran poisoning probe could fall under UN
mandate
Mar 7, 2023
WASHINGTON: The White House said Monday an
investigation into the recent poisoning of school girls in protest-hit Iran
could fall under the mandate of the United Nations.Several hundred cases of gas
poisoning have been reported in more than 52 schools across Iran since the end
of November, according to an official count.
The cases come more than five months after the start
of protests, labelled riots by Tehran, that were sparked by the death of
Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, 22, following her arrest for allegedly breaching the
country's strict dress code for women.
"If these poisonings are related to participation
in protest then it is well within the mandate of the UN independent
international fact finding mission on Iran to investigate," said White
House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, referring to the body established in
November to investigate human rights abuses in Iran.
"There must be a credible independent
investigation, accountability for those responsible," she said during her
daily press conference, condemning the poisonings as
"unconscionable."
For more than three months, hundreds of female pupils
have reported suffering symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea and
vertigo after detecting "unpleasant" or "unknown" odors,
with some girls being hospitalized.
The wave of incidents has sparked fear among parents
and calls for authorities to act, with deputy health minister Younes Panahi
saying recently the suspected attacks were aimed at shutting down education for
girls.
Source: Times Of India
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US Defense Secretary makes surprise trip to Iraq as
20-year anniversary of invasion
07 March ,2023
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced
trip to Iraq on Tuesday, in a visit that an official said was aimed at showing
that Washington was committed to keeping its military presence there nearly 20
years after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.
“What (Iraqi’s) will hear from him is commitment to
retaining our force presence, but it’s not just about the military instrument.
The United States is broadly interested in a strategic partnership with the
government of Iraq,” the senior US defense official, speaking on the condition
of anonymity, told reporters.
Source: Al Arabiya
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US says Iran probe into girls’ poisoning may fall
under UN mandate
07 March ,2023
The White House said Monday an investigation into the
recent poisoning of schoolgirls in protest-hit Iran could fall under the
mandate of the United Nations.
Several hundred cases of gas poisoning have been
reported in more than 52 schools across Iran since the end of November,
according to an official count.
The cases come more than five months after the start
of protests, labelled riots by Tehran, that were sparked by the death of
Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, 22, following her arrest for allegedly breaching the country’s
strict dress code for women.
“If these poisonings are related to participation in
protest then it is well within the mandate of the UN independent international
fact finding mission on Iran to investigate,” said White House spokeswoman
Karine Jean-Pierre, referring to the body established in November to
investigate human rights abuses in Iran.
“There must be a credible independent investigation,
accountability for those responsible,” she said during her daily press
conference, condemning the poisonings as “unconscionable.”
For more than three months, hundreds of female pupils
have reported suffering symptoms such as shortness of breath, nausea, and
vertigo after detecting “unpleasant” or “unknown” odors, with some girls being
hospitalized.
The wave of incidents has sparked fear among parents
and calls for authorities to act, with deputy health minister Younes Panahi
saying recently the suspected attacks were aimed at shutting down education for
girls.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Southeast Asia
PM Anwar Urges All Parties to Respect Ban On Political
Talks in Mosques in Malaysia
07 Mar 2023
PUTRAJAYA, March 7 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar
Ibrahim said the ban on politicians giving lectures or political talks in
mosques and surau must be respected by all parties.
He said the ban is applicable to all parties,
including himself.
Anwar, who is also finance minister, said he, himself,
would avoid accepting invitations to give talks at mosques.
“In respecting the order (by religious authorities), I
avoid giving talks when I stop at a mosque for Friday prayer,” he said when met
by the media after attending the Finance Ministry’s monthly assembly here
today.
The prime minister said this in response to a
statement by PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang on March 4, where he was
reported to have said that there was nothing wrong with politicians delivering sermons
or religious lectures at mosques and surau, instead it was compulsory for them
to do so.
Source: Malay Mail
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Selangor Sultan hopes national council for Islamic
affairs will bring change to elevate Islam
06 Mar 2023
PUTRAJAYA: Selangor Ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris
Shah hopes that the 69th National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI)
meeting, chaired by him today (March 6), will serve as a starting point in the
efforts to return the role of governing on matters related to Islam to the
right party.
Sultan Sharafuddin, who presided over the council
meeting for the first time since being elected as MKI chairman last year, said
that it was his great hope that all parties would respect the provisions,
stipulated under the Federal Constitution, which guarantee the rights and
powers of the Malay Rulers.
"I am confident that with the start of this new
chapter, the Conference of Rulers, as the voice of the Rulers in Malaysia, can
play an appropriate role to advance Islamic administration at the federal level
and enable a closer relationship with the states, in line with the principles
of the constitution,” said His Royal Highness at Istana Melawati, Putrajaya
here.
The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is also MKI deputy chairman, and Minister in the Prime
Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar.
The Selangor Sultan also hoped that the people’s
representatives and the ministers would focus on solving the various problems,
which the people are facing, as well as restore the prosperity and glory of the
country.
"Recently, I read newspaper excerpts related to
the policy of the government led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,
where he gave his assurance that the LGBT group (lesbians, gays, bisexuals and
transgender), the secular state concept and communism will never be recognised
by his administration.”
Sultan Sharafuddin said that the assurance given by
the Prime Minister was timely, to give confidence to the people that the
government is serious about preserving Islamic principles based on Ahli Sunnah
Wal Jamaah.
He also called for all parties to give solid support
to the efforts to elevate Islam, empower MKI and place the administration of
Islamic religious institutions at the federal level on the right track.
"Representatives in their respective states
should also bring up any suggestions, which have been implemented at the state
level, that are suitable to be shared for the common interests of our country
and fellow Muslims.
"I hope that, with the start of this new chapter
of MKI, we will all be able to walk together with a new spirit and mindset,
bringing good changes in the effort to elevate Islam in Malaysia," he
said.
In the 258th Conference of Rulers last year, Sultan
Sharafuddin was elected as chairman of MKI for a period of two years.
The conference also decided that one of the ruling
monarchs should take over the role and responsibilities of the chairman, in
rotation for two years, while the Prime Minister is appointed as deputy
chairman in accordance with the recommendation of the Islamic Affairs
Committee.
Source: The Star
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Indonesia landslides kill 10, rescuers search for 42
missing
Mar 7, 2023
JAKARTA: Rescuers were searching for 42 people still
missing Tuesday after two landslides triggered by torrential rains hit villages
on an island in Indonesia's remote Natuna regency, disaster officials said.
Dozens of soldiers, police and volunteers joined the
search in the Genting and Pangkalan villages on a remote island surrounded by
choppy waters and high waves in the Natuna group at the edge of the South China
Sea. There were reports of 42 people trapped in 27 houses that were buried
under tons of mud from surrounding hills.
Natuna's disaster agency lowered the death toll
Tuesday morning to 10 from 11 despite fears it could rise. It said on its
website that rescuers pulled 8 injured people from the landslides, 4 of whom
were in critical condition and have been rushed to a hospital in Pontianak city
on Borneo island, about 285 kilometers (180 miles) away.
The landslides displaced more than 1,200 people who
were taken to evacuation centers and other shelters.
National Disaster Management Agency spokesperson Abdul
Muhari said authorities were still collecting information about the full scale
of casualties and damage in the affected areas. He said two helicopters and
several vessels carrying rescuers and relief supplies, including tents,
blankets, food and medical teams, have departed from Jakarta and nearby
islands.
"Distribution of relief supplies has been
difficult because the injured and displaced are spread out and hard to
reach," Muhari said, and the search and rescue operation has been hampered
by rainy weather around the disaster site, downed communications lines and lack
of heavy equipment.
Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have
caused dozens of landslides and widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, a
chain of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or
near fertile flood plains close to rivers.
Source: Times Of India
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Negeri Sembilan Islamic council zakat scandal: 11
individuals called to give statement, say police
06 Mar 2023
SEREMBAN, March 6 — Eleven individuals including
Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Council (MAINS) Zakat Sdn Bhd officials have
been called up to have their statements recorded on the alleged
misappropriation of zakat funds, said Negeri Sembilan police chief Datuk Ahmad
Dzaffir Mohd Yussof.
He said the police were still waiting for further
instructions from the deputy public prosecutor and to determine if it was necessary
to record statements from other individuals to assist in the investigation into
the case.
“So far, we have recorded their statements and the
investigation is carried out on the advice of the Negeri Sembilan state
prosecution director’s (PPN) office.
“The police have completed the investigation into the
case and the investigation paper was sent back to the PPN office on March 2,”
he told reporters at the state police contingent headquarters here today.
Ahmad Dzaffir said the investigation was conducted in
accordance with Section 409 of the Penal Code for criminal breach of trust.
On February 13, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission (MACC) reportedly confirmed that the case over the alleged
misappropriation of zakat funds involving the agency was being reviewed.
The issue had previously gone viral on the Telegram
application, alleging that MAINS had misappropriated zakat money.
In another development, Ahmad Dzaffir said a total of
2,833 commercial crime cases involving losses amounting to RM62.51 million were
reported in the state last year.
“During the same period, 1,425 individuals were
arrested, with 469 of them having been charged in court.
“Cases that recorded an increase were
telecommunications scams with 318 cases, non-existent investments with 93 cases
and e-financial fraud with 38 cases,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ahmad Dzaffir said two people lost RM1.4
million after they were cheated over a non-existent investment scheme offered
through Facebook.
“The first victim was a retiree who lost RM1.2
million, while the other victim was a 49-year-old accountant who was cheated of
RM200,000,” he said.
He said the victims lodged a police report on February
20 and February 22, respectively, and the cases were being investigated under
Section 420 of the Penal Code.
Source: Malay Mail
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Arab World
Unfolding developments suggest imminent collapse of
Israeli regime, Hezbollah chief says
06 March 2023
The sectary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah
resistance movement says unfolding developments in the occupied territories
suggest that annihilation of the Israeli regime is not a wish anymore, but a
reality that will come true in the near future.
“The course of developments in the occupied Palestine
indicates that Zionists are moving towards downfall and collapse. All decisions
taken by Israeli authorities would only reinforce the determination, faith and
perseverance of Palestinian people to carry out more retaliatory operations,”
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech during a Monday ceremony in
the Lebanese capital city of Beirut in commemoration of veteran Hezbollah
fighters.
He lambasted the far-right cabinet of Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for passing a draft bill, which after becoming a
law would authorize the execution of Palestinian prisoners, saying, “The savage
Israeli enemy believes it can deter Palestinians by posing threats against
Palestinian resistance fighters, and imposition of death penalty on them.”
“We express our solidarity with Palestinian prisoners,
and take on our own responsibility in this regard. The entire Muslim world is
obliged to support the Palestinian nation in the face of the Israeli regime,”
Nasrallah said.
“I address Palestinian prisoners, their families and
the entire Palestinian nation that the Lebanese nation is all aware of the
pains and sufferings that you are now enduring in the West Bank, Huwara, Nablus
and East al-Quds, as we have experienced the sufferings throughout all years of
Israeli occupation and heroic resistance,” the Hezbollah leader said.
He added, “Thousands of Lebanese resistance fighters
have been arrested and held in Israeli jails either in southern Lebanon or
elsewhere across the occupied Palestinian territories. The Lebanese youths
should know about them and the sacrifices they have made.”
The Hezbollah chief further highlighted that his
movement is acting as a deterrent force in the face of the Israeli military,
and its military prowess and defense capabilities enable Lebanese Armed Force
to protect the country’s southern borders and confront any possible act of
aggression by Israel.
“Diligent efforts must be made in order to liberate
Shebaa Farms and Kafrchouba Hills from the grip of the Israeli occupation. All
those who care about Israel’s security, above all the United States, seek to
strip Lebanon of its strong position,” Nasrallah said.
The Hezbollah leader went on to stress that the
demarcation of Lebanon’s southern maritime border with Israel does not
translate into normalization of ties with the occupying regime, warning against
any delay in oil and gas exploration activities in Lebanese territorial waters.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Nasrallah emphasized that
Hezbollah does not accept the power vacuum in Lebanon after President Michel Aoun
left the presidential palace on October 30 last year, and strongly supports the
election of a new head of state.
“Hezbollah insists on the two-third quorum for the
parliament to convene and elect a new president. We categorically reject any
foreign diktats to impose a president on Lebanon,” he stated.
Nasrallah added that Hezbollah will back Christian
politician Suleiman Frangieh to be the country's president.
"The natural candidate we support in the
presidential elections is (former) minister Suleiman Frangieh," Nasrallah
said.
Lebanon’s presidency has seen stalemate several times
since the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has also had only a caretaker
government since May 2022.
The Arab country has been mired in an economic crisis
that the World Bank has described as one of the worst in recent history, which
comes amid crippling sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of
its value on the black market since 2019.
Source: Press TV
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Senior Hezbollah official: Lebanon's president must be
elected by people without foreign interference
06 March 2023
A high-ranking official of Lebanon's Hezbollah
resistance movement has stressed the need to elect the country's new president
through dialogue and domestic consensus without any foreign interference.
“We believe that Lebanese people should elect a
president for their Lebanon. What will save our country is to spring into
action and pick the next head of state without further waste of time. Those who
intend to prolong the political process for the election of the president
should know that such an approach will not benefit them,” the head of Hezbollah
Executive Council, Sayyed Hashem Safieddine, said during a ceremony in the
southern Lebanese village of Kharayeb on Sunday.
He added that enemies have used all means at their
disposal in order to plunge the country into chaos, noting that Hezbollah and
its allies have, however, withstood such attempts and thwarted the seditious
moves.
“Despite all the lies and campaigns that certain
parties and embassies have launched against Hezbollah, the movement has always
remained committed to the principle of de-escalation," he said.
“We care about Lebanon more than anyone else. We are
decent and strong enough to defend our rights and our nation. The deceptive
gestures and tall tales of foreign embassies are actually meant to create chaos
within the Lebanese society. We must exercise vigilance and deal with enemies'
bids fiercely,” the Hezbollah official highlighted.
Moreover, the deputy chairman of the Executive Council
of Hezbollah, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, said “latest developments” have increased the
chances for “consensus” on presidential election.
“It is our foremost priority to elect a president,
prevent collapse of the economy and rescue the country. The main priority of
the rival camp, however, is to embark on a new adventure and alter the domestic
political equations,” the senior Hezbollah official said.
“They want to seize control of the country to change
its identity, position and regional role, and put it on the path of
normalization [with Israel],” Sheikh Qaouk added.
“There are now international sides, besides lawmakers
and political forces in Lebanon that have changed their stance in favor of the
consensus plan. They have come to realize that the only way out of the ongoing
crisis is through dialog,” he said, noting that such a change of position has “infuriated”
the rival camp and prompted it to wage a “smear campaign against Hezbollah and
its supporters.”
Lebanon’s presidency has seen stalemate several times
since the 1975-1990 civil war. The country has also had only a caretaker
government since May 2022.
The Arab country has been mired in an economic crisis
that the World Bank has described as one of the worst in recent history, which
comes amid crippling sanctions imposed by the US and its allies.
The Lebanese pound has lost more than 95 percent of its
value on the black market since 2019.
Source: Press TV
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UAE Fatwa council clarifies details about children’s
celebration on 15th Shaʻban
The Emirates Council for Sharia Fatwa affirmed that
there is nothing wrong with children celebrating the night of mid-Sha`ban with
“Haq Al-Laila.”
The Council’s fatwa in this regard stated “The night
of the middle of Sha’ban is one of the virtuous nights in which God bestows His
pardon and forgiveness on His servants.
The Prophet (PBUH) said, “God - glory and majesty -
appears to His creation on the night of the middle of Sha’ban, and He forgives
His servants except for two: quarrels and a soul-killer.”
The fatwa confirmed that there is no legal objection
to children celebrating this night and going out to it in the usual way in
society, just as there is no objection to giving them gifts, such as sweets and
others, to make them happy, as long as this is one of the inherited habits,
which is not prohibited in the law.
The Haq Al Laila is celebrated on the 15th day of
Sha’ban, serving as a precursor to the Holy Month of Ramadan.
Source: Gulf Today
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“Makkah Brings Us Together” Entertainment Event Draws
Crowds
TAREQ AL-THAQAFI
March 06, 2023
MAKKAH: The Royal Commission for Makkah City and the
Holy Sites this week launched the “Makkah brings us together” event, attracting
large crowds of residents and visitors.
The 10-day free event features “Harat Al-Tayyibin” at
the entrance of the event site, where visitors can see exhibits showcased by
more than 30 craftsmen and families, in addition to local products.
Children can also enjoy a special area that offers
activities such as theater performances, storytelling, cartoon movies,
bicycles, face painting and drawing. The children’s area also includes games,
including the cheetah race, ambassador challenge, video games, an arcade and
boxing.
CEO of the Royal Commission for Makkah City Eng. Saleh
bin Ibrahim Al-Rasheed said that the event aims to improve quality of life in
Makkah, including through entertainment, and contribute to achieving the goals
of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 by enriching the visitor experience and creating
opportunities for the events sector.
“What distinguishes the event is that it reflects
Makkah heritage’s and the old neighborhood in all its urban and cultural
details, in addition to entertainment technology. It is a mix between the past
and the present,” Al-Rasheed added.
The event also features a public activity area that
includes a wide variety of technical and sports activities such as endurance
and strength games, backgammon and billiards, as well as a giant screen
displaying movies and visual content. An adventure area where visitors can
climb walls and practice zip-lining is also available.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2263526/saudi-arabia
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Lebanon’s Hezbollah backs Christian politician
Frangieh for presidency
06 March ,2023
Lebanon’s powerful armed Hezbollah group will back
Christian politician Sleiman Frangieh to be the country’s president, the
group’s leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Monday, a move that gives him important
backing but does not secure his election.
Lebanon has had no head of state since former
president Michel Aoun’s term ended at the end of October, deepening
institutional paralysis in a country where one of the world’s-worst economic
crises has been festering for years.
“The natural candidate we support in the presidential
elections is (former) minister Sleiman Frangieh,” Nasrallah said.
Frangieh, 56, is heir to an old Lebanese Christian
political dynasty and a friend of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
His grandfather, of the same name, served as president
from 1970 into Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war.
Frangieh has the support of House Speaker Nabih
Berri’s Amal Movement party but still falls short of the 65 votes required for
him to be elected.
A close Hezbollah ally, he appeared close to becoming
president in 2016, but Hezbollah’s support went to Aoun - another of its
Christian allies who now have a 20-member bloc in parliament but have opposed
Frangieh’s election.
Frangieh’s candidacy is also opposed by the Lebanese
Forces party led by Christian politician Samir Geagea.
Frangieh’s parents and sister were killed by the
Lebanese Forces militia in 1978 at their home in the north of the country.
Source: Al Arabiya
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US sanctions Syria intel officer, warns against
restoring ties with Assad regime
06 March ,2023
The US sanctioned a Syrian intelligence officer on
Monday, accusing him of “coldly and methodically” murdering at least 41 unarmed
civilians in 2013 and warning countries against normalizing ties with the Assad
regime.
Next month will mark 12 years since the outbreak of
the Syrian civil war, which has pitted the Assad regime, backed by Iran and
Russia, against opposition groups, some of which have turned into terror
organizations.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed
during the yearslong war, many of which have been victims of the Assad regime’s
brutal tactics.
Legal bodies and much of the international community
have asserted that the Assad regime committed war crimes and crimes against humanity
throughout the years.
“One of these atrocities was a massacre committed in
Tadamon, a neighborhood of Damascus, where on April 16, 2013, Amjad Yousef, an
Assad regime military intelligence officer, murdered at least 41 unarmed
civilians,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
He pointed to video evidence that was first publicly
shared last year after an investigation by independent researchers.
Yousef is seen shooting dozens of civilians as they
run into a pit, which is then set on fire.
As a result of Monday’s sanctions, Yousef, his wife
and their immediate family members are banned from entering the US.
In an indirect jab at countries that have restored
diplomatic ties with Syria or are considering doing so, Blinken issued a warning.
“The footage of this massacre, coupled with the
ongoing killing and abuse of countless Syrians, serves as a sobering reminder
for why countries should not normalize relations with the Assad regime absent
enduring progress towards a political resolution,” he said.
Several Arab and Gulf countries have normalized ties
with Syria after being on opposite sides of the fight for most of the
12-year-old war.
But Washington has refused to budge or ease crippling
economic sanctions on the Syrian government and its officials. It has demanded
a peaceful solution and political agreement between warring sides.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Dubai
Metro Music Festival celebrates sustainability in third edition
06
March ,2023
The
third edition of the week-long Dubai Metro Music Festival begins today,
Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Sunday.
The
music festival starting on March 6 will go on till March 12, and will take
place daily between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Twenty
international musicians are set to perform at Dubai Metro Stations across the
city such as Union, Mall of Emirates, Burjuman, Dubai Financial Center, and
Sobha Realty.
“We
are excited to launch the third edition of the Dubai Metro Music Festival,
which will bring together a mix of traditional and experimental musicians,
classical instrumentalists and fusion musicians to entertain Dubai’s
cosmopolitan community,” Director of Brand Dubai, Shaima al-Suwaidi was quoted
by WAM as saying.
Dubai
Metro Music Festival is organised by Brand Dubai, which is a part of Dubai
Media Office (GDMO), and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA).
According
to al-Suwaidi, this year’s music festival follows a theme of sustainability in
sync with the UAE’s pledge of declaring 2023 as the Year of Sustainability.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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https://english.alarabiya.net/News/gulf/2023/03/06/Dubai-Metro-Music-Festival-begins-today-
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Suicide:
Cruel choice for Lebanese unable to feed their children
NAJIA
HOUSSARI
March
06, 2023
BEIRUT:
At least four Lebanese people have died by suicide in the past week.
The
population of the country is finding the prevailing economic and social
conditions hard to bear, and Diab Audi, a retired warrant officer in the
Internal Security Forces, died after suffering a heart attack inside a Lebanese
bank, unable to retrieve withheld savings.
Lebanon
is in the midst of a devastating economic crisis that has plunged more than 80
percent of its population into poverty, according to the UN.
Information
International, a Beirut-based research consultancy firm, has recently published
a study showing a significant rise in registered suicides following a decrease
in numbers in 2022.
The
average number of suicides from 2013 to 2022 was 143, with the highest, 172,
recorded in 2019.
Preliminary
investigations revealed that last week’s figures were exacerbated by adverse
economic and living conditions.
Mohammed
Ibrahim was found dead on Sunday after reportedly shooting himself in his
hometown of Wardaniyeh. His employment involved working on the judges’ mutual
fund at the Sidon Palace of Justice, and he was the nephew of financial
prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim.
The
previous day, Hussein Al-Abed Mroueh, 40, from the town of Zararia in south
Lebanon, was found dead in one of the orchards surrounding his home.
It
was clear from statements of his acquaintances that he “had constant economic
and financial problems and does not work in a specific field.”
Mousa
Al-Shami, a resident of Jarjouaa, also died by suicide and left a recorded
message to a friend that was shared on social media, asking him to take care of
his children.
Al-Shami
said that he could no longer bear the economic burdens and his difficult
situation, adding that he could no longer feed his children.
A
young man in his 30s strangled his wife and 4-year-old child in the Daraya area
in Mount Lebanon governorate in late February, before his death by suicide. He
was reportedly unable to pay his debts.
Embrace
Lebanon, a nongovernmental organization that bids to administer mental health help,
has defined suicide as a process involving psychological, social, biological,
cultural, and environmental factors, adding it is a summary of an experience of
crises, disasters, violence, abuse, chronic pain, illness or loss, and a sense
of isolation.
It
stated that suicide rates are high among vulnerable groups that suffer
discrimination, and the strongest risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide
attempt.
According
to a 2022 survey conducted by the Central Administration of Statistics and the
International Labor Organization, the collapse of the national currency, and
the state’s inability to carry out the reforms required by the international
community, has resulted in the percentage of families receiving income from
retirement and other social insurance allowances decreasing from 28 percent to
10 percent.
The
survey further noted that 85 percent of families are unable to survive — even
for one month — in the event of losing their sources of income.
General
Labor Union President Bechara Al-Asmar met Caretaker Prime Minister Najib
Mikati on Monday.
Al-Asmar
later said: “The state is looking for revenues, but it should not be at the
expense of 90 percent of the population.
“Taxes
and fees must be reduced at this difficult stage, but in reality the state has
increased taxes and fees, and raised the exchange rate on the central bank’s
Sayrafa platform to 70,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar, making employees lose
on average 56 percent of the value of their incomes.
“All
these decisions have not been properly reviewed before implementation.”
Al-Asmar
added: “Military and civilian retirees have all become poor. Compensation in
the public sector is still at the previous official exchange rate of 1,500
Lebanese pounds to the dollar.
Source:
Arab News
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of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2263546/middle-east
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Africa
Tunisian
Politician’s Daughter, Kaouther Ferjani, Urges UK To Condemn His Arrest
March
06, 2023
LONDON:
The UK has been urged to pressure Tunisia to release a leading politician
imprisoned by the government who previously lived in London for 20 years.
Said
Ferjani, 68, sought refuge in the UK from the regime of Tunisia’s former leader
Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 1989, having been detained and tortured for his
political activities.
Ferjani,
a senior figure in the Ennahda party, never applied for dual citizenship in the
UK because of his determination to return to his homeland, which he did after
the Arab Spring and the ousting of Ben Ali in 2011.
But
Ferjani has since been targeted by the government of President Kais Saied, who
has clamped down on opposition figures since altering the role of Tunisia’s
Parliament to consolidate his power in 2021. Ferjani was arrested on Feb. 27.
His
daughter Kaouther Ferjani told The Observer that British politicians need to
speak up on behalf of her father and, by extension, Tunisia’s democratic
future.
“The
fact that he is now being held as a political prisoner under Kais Saied’s
regime is alarming and must be condemned by the international community,” she
said, adding that “the collapse of the country into a fascistic dictatorship
(represents) one of the great tragedies of modern politics.”
She
said her father was interrogated and hospitalized shortly after his detention,
having gone on hunger strike. He has yet to be charged with any offense.
“As
a democratically elected politician and leading figure in Tunisian politics, my
dad has played an instrumental role in promoting democracy and human rights in
Tunisia since the Arab Spring,” she added.
“His
imprisonment, along with at least 16 other political prisoners this month —
including politicians, journalists, and judges — is a blatant attempt to
suppress opposition voices.
“Tunisia
is heading down a very worrying path of authoritarianism and it is important
that the UK speaks out strongly against this.”
Saied’s
crackdown on dissent has seen a significant drop in popularity, which he in
turn has tried to stem with populist rhetoric blaming undocumented black
migrants for Tunisia’s ills.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2263281/middle-east
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Opposition
presidential hopeful in Nigeria leads protest march against election results
Ibrahim
Garba Shuaibu
06.03.2023
KANO,
Nigeria
An
opposition candidate in last month's Nigerian presidential ballot launched a
protest on Monday against the election results.
Alongside
other party leaders, Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party (PDP)
marched on the headquarters of the Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC), protesting the results.
The
march took off during the day and was joined by PDP National Chairman Iyorchia
Ayu and other members of the party's National Working Committee (NWC).
Addressing
reporters at the INEC headquarters, Taraba State Governor Darius Ishaku said
they were at the headquarters to present their letter to the electoral
commission on their position concerning the results.
"We
were cheated in the presidential election, and we have come to express our
position on the development."
Vowing
to continue protesting every day, Atiku said the electoral process was flawed.
"We complained to INEC from the collation center that we are not okay with
the way the results have been released but they refused."
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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Nigeria
election ‘failed to meet’ expectations of citizens: US envoy
Hassan
Isilow
06.03.2023
The
US has said the Feb. 25 election in Nigeria “failed to meet” the expectations
of Nigerians.
“The
people of Nigeria demonstrated their dedication to democracy on February 25,
but there are many angry and frustrated Nigerians as well as many who are
celebrating victories they believe were hard-fought and well-earned,” US
Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard said in a statement on Sunday.
“It
is clear that the electoral process as a whole on 25 February failed to meet
Nigerians’ expectations,” she added.
According
to the official count, Bola Tinubu took the top spot in the presidential race
with 8.7 million votes, followed by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) with 6.9 million and Labor Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi with 6.1
million votes.
Both
the PDP and LP have announced they will challenge the results in court.
Leonard
said it will be important for the future of the country that Nigerians not let
their differences divide them, and that the legally established process for
resolving challenges to the election be allowed to take its course.
“We
commend Mr. Obi and Mr. Abubakar for their recent statements committing to take
this path (Legal path), and Mr. Tinubu, who the Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) declared the president-elect under Nigeria’s electoral
framework, for acknowledging their right to do so,” she said.
The
ambassador said: “The United States is no stranger to election-related
controversy and conflict. As much as it can be unsatisfying to end an electoral
process in a courtroom, in a constitutional democracy bound by the rule of law,
that is where electoral conflicts may appropriately conclude.”
She
noted that Nigeria has accomplished much in just over two decades since its
return to democracy, and a gradual improvement in the quality of its elections
in that time constitutes one of those accomplishments.
“We
recognize that Nigerians want that positive trend to continue, including
through the use of new technology intended to make the process of reporting
results more transparent,” Leonard said.
Many
Nigerians raised concerns after the INEC decided to manually transmit results,
opting against using an existing instant transmission system.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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