Pakistan Court Sentences Christian Bicycle Mechanic Ashfaq Masih To Death For ‘Blasphemy’
New Age Islam News Bureau
22 July 2022
Source: @icfdorg (Twitter)
----
• Hyderabad Mosque Allots Space For Free Haemodialysis
Unit, Probably For The First Time In The World
• Foreign Policy Writer Forced to Issue a Public
Retraction After Being Detained for 3 Days by the Taliban
• Much Ado About Nothing? Biden Not First US President
To Fly Direct From Israel To Saudi Arabia
• Insults Against Islam: Malaysian Religious Affairs
Minister Advises Public Not To Take Law Into Own Hands
Pakistan
• Pakistan needs to engage Kabul directly to
neutralise TTP: report
• Education ministry renames Single National Curriculum
• Turkish Ambassador meets COAS, lauds Pakistan’s role
for regional stability
• Pak-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group in Senate
holds meeting with Canadian Parliamentarian
• Pakistan: Local protests and failed govt strategies
derail CPEC projects in Gwadar
• Fazl wants govt to arrest Imran
--------
India
• Hyderabad: Muslim Youth Beaten For Not Chanting ‘Jai
Sri Ram’ In The Charminar Area
• MP's Letter Glare On Narendra Modi's ‘Affection’ For
Muslims
• Indigenous Tag Splits ‘Assamese Muslims’ Wide Open
• SC quashes plea seeking worship of 'Shivling' found
at UP's Gyanvapi mosque
• Supreme Court to await Varanasi judge’s decision in
Gyanvapi case
--------
South Asia
• Islamic Emirate React to UNAMA’s Human Rights Report
• Kabul Hosts Pakistani Delegation for ‘Enhancing’
Regional Trade, Transit
• Afghan Passport Ranks Last in the Henley Passport
Index
• Taliban’s Central Bank Auctions $13 Million to
Maintain Afghani Currency Value
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North America
• Pro-Israel campaign donations far exceed pro-Arab
funding in American elections
• UN chief will travel to Istanbul late Thursday:
Spokesman
• Air Force official expects Iran to resume attacks on
US
--------
Southeast Asia
• Man who insulted Islam jailed 6 months
--------
Europe
• Over A Decade Since Islamophobic Terrorist Killed 77
People In Oslo
• UK spy chief doubts Iran Supreme Leader will back
nuclear deal
• Russia’s Lavrov to address Arab League on July 24
• UN: Netherlands' court to rule on jurisdiction in
Rohingya genocide case
• Fundraising campaigns for purchase of Türkiye's
Bayraktar TB2 drone spreading in West
• War criminal's escape to Belgrade suggests Serbian
role in Bosnia war: Academic
--------
Arab World
• PKK Terrorists Behind Duhok Attack, Says Head Of
Iraq's Largest Sunni Bloc, Sunni Al-Siyadeh
• Saudi Arrested For Facilitating Entry Of Non-Muslim
Journalist Into Makkah Through A Dedicated Path For Muslims
• Russian airstrike on Syria’s Idlib kills seven:
Monitor
• Israeli airstrikes kill three soldiers, wound seven
near Damascus: Syrian ministry
• Construction starts on Egypt’s first nuclear plant
• Putin, Saudi Crown Prince stress importance of OPEC+
coordination: Kremlin
--------
Mideast
• Israel’s Supreme Court Rules ‘Disloyal’ Citizens Can
Be Stripped Of Status
• Iran Criticizes UNSC's Approach Towards Syria
• Nasrallah: Israel Not Allowed to Extract from
Disputed Karish Gas Field If Lebanon’s Rights Not Secured
• Iran says talks with Saudi Arabia to advance from
security to political level
• President Rayeesi Hails Syrian People's Resistance
• Iran Summons Argentine Envoy Over Exit Restrictions
on Plane Crew
• Top Commander Lauds Growing Trend of Iran-Oman
Military Ties
--------
Africa
• Nigerians against Muslim-Muslim ticket because of
Buhari and APC’s failures, says Eya
• A new Libyan force emerges, accused of abusing
migrants
• Somalia’s al-Shabab group makes rare attack near
Ethiopia border
• Algeria arrests former Tunisian intelligence chief,
hands him over to Tunisia
• Libya's parliament speaker affirms rapprochement
with Türkiye
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pakistan-christian-ashfaq-masih--blasphemy/d/127543
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Pakistan Court Sentences Christian Bicycle Mechanic
Ashfaq Masih To Death For ‘Blasphemy’
Source: @icfdorg (Twitter)
----
21 Jul, 2022
LAHORE – A session court in the Punjab capital has
sentenced a bicycle mechanic Ashfaq Masih to death, five years after he was
arrested on blasphemy charges.
Reports in the media said Ashfaq, a resident of Mariam
Colony in Lahore’s Green Town, was detained after a row with a customer over
payment for bike repair.
A crowd had gathered, and accused the man of
‘disrespecting Islam’s personalities’. He was then booked under Section 295 C
and was detained shortly.
The man claimed being framed on false charges, saying
the other man Naveed was jealous of his success. He maintained that Naveed and
other persons also tried to pick fights with him.
The blasphemy laws in South Asian country carry a
potential death sentence for anyone who insults religion. Blasphemy accusations
also incite mob violence and lynching.
Last year, a charged mob stormed a factory in Sialkot
and lynched a Sri Lankan national, burning his body publicly over allegations
of blasphemy.
Source: Daily Pakistan
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Hyderabad
Mosque Allots Space For Free Haemodialysis Unit, Probably For The First Time In
The World
Masjid-e-Mohammadia in Langar Houz has a
state-of-the-art free dialysis centre mainly for the weaker sections regardless
of caste and creed
-----
22nd
July 2022
HYDERABAD:
Probably for the first time in the world, a mosque in Hyderabad has allotted
space on its premises for establishing a full-fledged haemodialysis unit.
Masjid-e-Mohammadia, located in Langar Houz area now houses a state-of-the-art
free dialysis centre that mainly caters to the weaker sections of the society,
regardless of caste and creed.
The
centre, set up by two NGOs - Helping Hand Foundation and SEED US, has five
latest Fresenius brand machines and will acquire five more machines in the next
three months. The swanky centre,
designed like a corporate hospital, has a separate access for dialysis patients
and it is equipped with high quality equipment, clinical care as well as
facility to manage onsite emergencies.
The
unit is being run under medical supervision of Dr Shoeb Ali Khan, leading
consultant nephrologist and a kidney transplant surgeon.A medical doctor, ANMs,
dialysis technicians and an ambulance will be available at the centre from 8 am
to 8 pm on any given day. “We have invested about Rs 45 lakh for the initial
setup of this unit. About Rs 2 lakh per month will be managed by Helping Hand
Foundation,” said Mazhar Hussaini of SEED. To register for free dialysis, one
can call Ph: 9603540864.
Source:
New Indian Express
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
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Foreign
Policy Writer Forced to Issue a Public Retraction After Being Detained for 3
Days by the Taliban
Lynne O’Donnell, an Australian writer
-----
By
Saqalain Eqbal
21
Jul 2022
An
internationally well-known war journalist claimed she received a jail threat
for not tweeting an apology to the Taliban for an article accusing
Afghanistan’s Islamist authorities of “forcefully marrying teenage girls and
using teenage girls as sexual slaves.“
Lynne
O’Donnell, an Australian writer who presently writes a column for Foreign
Policy magazine, tweeted, “l apologize for 3 or 4 reports written by me
accusing the present authorities of forcefully marrying teenage girls and using
teenage girls as sexual slaves by Taliban commanders.”
O’Donnell
revealed on Wednesday that she was forced to make an apology by the Taliban.
“Tweet
an apology or go to jail, said #Taliban intelligence,” she tweeted. “Whatever
it takes: They dictated. I tweeted. They didn’t like it. Deleted, edited,
re-tweeted. Made video of me saying I wasn’t coerced. Re-did that too.”
The
journalist said that the agents disapproved of her reporting on LGBTQ persons
and asserted that there were “no gays” in the country.
As
of yet, the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture and intelligence
authorities have not reacted on O’Donnell’s disclosures.
Following
her alleged detention, harassment, and threats, Lynne O’Donnell, who has
reported occasionally from Afghanistan for over 20 years, departed the country
on Wednesday for Pakistan.
O’Donnell
was the Afghanistan bureau head for the Agence France-Presse wire service and
the Associated Press between 2009 and 2017, according to her biography on the
Foreign Policy website.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
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Much
Ado About Nothing? Biden Not First US President To Fly Direct From Israel To Saudi
Arabia
Makkah governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and Princess
Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington, welcoming
US President Joe Biden in Jeddah. (AFP)
-----
July
21, 2022
JEDDAH:
Like most media frenzies, the one surrounding US President Joe Biden’s
“historic first direct flight” from Tel Aviv to Jeddah was received with much
fanfare at first but — at least among Saudi journalists — it quickly turned out
to be a case of much ado about nothing.
It
all began with Biden’s statement in an oped in the Washington Post on July 9,
before he embarked on his Middle East trip, announcing that “on Friday, I will
be the first president to fly from Israel to Jiddah (sic), Saudi Arabia.”
Many
in the US and Israeli news media quickly latched on to the phrase as further
proof that “normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel” was
around the corner, a perennial rumor that has taken on a life of its own.
A
follow-up announcement by the White House on July 15 fed into the narrative, by
quoting the president as saying: “Today, I will be the first president to fly
from Israel to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”
While
the statement was accurate in the sense that no previous US president had
undertaken a direct flight from Israel to Jeddah, Biden was definitely not the
first to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia.
Many
began to question the limited memory of US and Israeli journalists, who seemed
to have ignored or forgotten the fact that it was only as recently as 2008 that
another president flew directly to the Kingdom from Israel, albeit to the
capital Riyadh, not to the coastal city of Jeddah.
Indeed,
the last president to have taken a direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia
was George W. Bush, who traveled from Tel Aviv in May 2008, the last year of
his second term.
According
to media accounts of that trip, when Air Force One landed in the Saudi capital,
Bush received a red-carpet welcome on the tarmac, and was warmly greeted by
Saudi leaders as a military band played the US national anthem.
The
Bush White House said the visit was intended in part to celebrate 75 years of
formal US-Saudi relations, but the high price of oil ($127 a barrel) was also a
factor. Soaring energy costs were proving to be a political headache for the
president and a major drain on the US economy, which was experiencing a
slowdown that presaged a major recession.
Fourteen
years after that visit, another US president claimed he had made history with a
direct flight, but this one was in the opposite direction. Donald Trump’s Air
Force One took off from Riyadh for Tel Aviv in May 2017 as part of his first
trip abroad since taking office.
Another
five years on, it was the turn of a Democrat to boast he had been on a
“historic first direct flight” between Israel and a Saudi city.
Several
Saudi journalists who covered Biden’s recent visit said that they are unsure
why this flight was the subject of so much excitement.
“If
it is a tour involving two countries, the first being Israel and the second
Saudi Arabia, how else was Biden going to fly in?” asked one reporter.
“As
for the insinuation by the Western media that this was a step closer to
normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel, this is not true because this is
not the first time such a flight happened. But, more importantly, it is dwarfed
by the Arab Peace Initiative,” said a local newspaper editor, citing the Saudi
peace proposal to Israel which was adopted by the Arab League in Beirut in
2002.
One
thing remains certain, though: Every visit by a US president to Saudi Arabia
has proven to be historic, one way or another.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2126961/middle-east
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Insults Against Islam: Malaysian Religious Affairs Minister Advises Public Not
To Take Law Into Own Hands
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department
(Religious Affairs) Datuk Idris Ahmad — Bernama pic
-----
21
Jul 2022
KUALA
LUMPUR, July 21 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious
Affairs) Datuk Idris Ahmad today advised the public not to take the law into
their own hands if the sanctity of Islam is insulted by certain parties.
He
said the laws in Malaysia were sufficient to punish individuals who committed
such acts.
“I
don’t want the public to take the law into their own hands. The authorities
such as the police, Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), Home
Ministry and all enforcement agencies are very efficient in doing their jobs.
“I
would like to thank them for taking swift action on the issue of insults
against Islam that has occurred a lot lately,” he told reporters after the
launch of the national-level Qawwam Men Seminar 2022 at Masjid Wilayah
Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur here.
Elaborating,
Idris said there were many factors contributing to the act of insulting
religion, including the mental state of the individuals involved.
“A
sane individual, whether a Muslim or others, will not do things to ridicule a
religion,” he said.
Idris
said the department is working to create a long-term solution to address the
issue using two methods, namely education and legal action.
“We
try to educate the public through dakwah efforts in addition to providing
explanations and organising various events like today. Secondly, offenders need
to be punished according to existing laws,” he said.
Meanwhile,
the Qawwam Men Seminar was held in an effort to strengthen the role of men,
especially Muslim men, as leaders and protectors of families and society. —
Bernama
Source:
Malay Mail
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
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Pakistan
Pakistan
needs to engage Kabul directly to neutralise TTP: report
Iftikhar
A. Khan
July
22, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan will have to engage the Taliban government in Kabul directly to
neutralise the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as the group continues
to pose threats to Pakistan’s internal security and western borders.
Talking
to the outlawed group will not favour the Taliban regime either as it will not
help to boost their image as a peace builder; rather, their regime will
continue to be considered supportive of the terrorists and manipulators.
These
are some of the key findings of the paper series titled “Afghanistan as Seen
from Pakistan IV” released here on Thursday by Pakistan Institute for Peace
Studies (PIPS), an Islamabad-based policy research and advocacy think-tank. The
research is part of PIPS’ on-going quarterly ‘Situation Review’ series on
Afghanistan.
In
the first research paper, PIPS Director Mohammad Amir Rana assessed the impact
of the peace talks between the Pakistani state and the TTP. The second
contribution comes from senior journalist Ziaur Rehman, which explores factors
of Afghanistan’s persisting outlook on Pakistan.
The
research underlines that whether Kabul absorbs the TTP within their ranks and
files or expels it, Pakistan should allow Kabul to make its own choice.
“Pakistan should have broadly focused on encouraging and facilitating the
Taliban to fulfill its commitments, which they made after Kabul’s takeover.”
According
to the report, Pakistan must intensify its efforts further for humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan which can reduce the bitterness of angry Taliban
leaders.
“This
trust deficiency is a major issue between Pakistan and the Taliban,” the study
says and adds, “For that purpose, Pakistan must have a uniform approach toward
all the Taliban groups and factions.”
The
research points out that some recent obstacles in trade between Pakistan and
Afghanistan have also been causing a negative impact on the relationship
between the two countries. It suggests that instead of relying on or leaving it
to the governments of the two countries, there is a need to develop and enhance
people-to-people contacts at different levels to build trust and cement
bilateral relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. “Youth, parliamentarians,
religious scholars, academics and non-governmental organisations of both the
countries should meet and discuss bilateral affairs.”
The
report recommends that initiating cross-border economic activities, trade, and
social exchanges could also build stronger relations between the two countries,
forcing both governments to sit and discuss ways forward too.
“Both
the countries, despite having a fence, could mend their relations if the people
on both sides join hands for economic, trade, and social exchanges.”
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1700891/pakistan-needs-to-engage-kabul-directly-to-neutralise-ttp-report
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Education
ministry renames Single National Curriculum
July
22, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
The Federal Education Ministry has decided to rename the Single National
Curriculum (SNC) - a much-hyped initiative of the previous Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government - as National Curriculum of Pakistan (NCP).
“The
National Curriculum of Pakistan (NCP) is the new name of the curriculum
reforms,” said Federal Education Minster Rana Tanveer Hussain on Thursday.
Addressing
a workshop in Islamabad, the minister said: “The word ‘single’ caused confusion
and excluded the diversity education that is an asset to our country’s rich
heritage. We are now ready for getting back on track.”
The
PTI government had launched SNC at the primary level last year in three
provinces except Sindh.
‘National
Curriculum of Pakistan’ is new name of curriculum reforms, says minister
The
education minster said NCP will be a comprehensive exercise, covering all four
aspects of a quality curriculum.
“This
includes standards, textbooks, teachers training and examinations reforms.
Going forward, there will be a special focus on teacher training without which
reforms are incomplete,” he said and added that most importantly “we will
spearhead examination reforms. Our children must move away from rote
memorisation in exams to concept-based understanding,” he said.
The
two-day National Curriculum Workshop was organised by the ministry in
collaboration with its development partners with representation from all the
federating units to promote an inclusive approach on the national curriculum
and its implementation.
According
to a press release, Mr Tanveer said: “It is imperative to highlight that the
true vision of education reforms began in the previous tenure of the PML-N
government in 2013 to 2018. After the tragic attack on schoolchildren at an Army
Public School in 2014, a national consensus was evolved to counter violent
extremism through a National Action Plan. Development of a national curriculum
with consensus to set minimum standards for all public and private schools and
religious seminaries is a part of this serious effort from the government,” he
said.
The
minster said that the establishment of the National Curriculum Council (NCC)
Secretariat with consensus from all provinces in 2015 was the first major step
in this regard. The purpose, he said, was to make minimum standards of quality
education for all children in Pakistan, as Article 25A of the Constitution
makes it the state’s responsibility to provide education to every child.
“Our
government was the first one to make a National Curriculum Framework for the
country in the year 2017. A minimum national standards framework document was
also released at the time. To ensure progressive and concept-based religious
education, a historic Compulsory Teaching of Holy Quran Act was passed in 2017,”
he said and added that Pakistan has not had an education policy since 2009.
“However,
it was our government that devised and released a new National Education Policy
draft in 2017.”
Mr
Tanveer said that curriculum reforms should not be forced on provinces. Sindh
did not join the important initiative because of this reason. Similarly, he
said, private sector was alienated because what was supposed to be a minimum
standard was treated as the maximum standard.
“Many
private publishers went bankrupt due to this unfortunate step. Finally, the
word ‘single’ caused confusion and excluded the diversity education that is an
asset to our country’s rich heritage,” he said.
The
minister said: “Our focus is on inclusivity, where representation from all
sectors is to be ensured. We will keep the national curriculum a living
document which will be consistently updated in light of research findings from
schools and international best practices.”
He
said that to ensure deeper engagement and a truly consultative process for
making the national curriculum, a calendar of country-wide curriculum workshops
will be released soon.
He
said the ministry was committed to providing a supporting role to all provinces
for capacity building in education and inter-provincial harmony, respecting the
18th Amendment.
The
minister said that special focus will be put on issues related to out of school
children, quality of education at school, tertiary and higher education level
which mainly includes teacher training, missing facilities, girls’ education,
improving adult literacy and accelerated learning programs and last but least
skill education.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1700899/education-ministry-renames-single-national-curriculum
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Turkish
Ambassador meets COAS, lauds Pakistan’s role for regional stability
July
21, 2022
Turkish
Ambassador Mehmet Pacaci on Thursday met Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General
Qamar Javed Bajwa here at GHQ and appreciated Pakistan’s role for regional
stability.
During
the meeting, matters of regional security situation, mutual and professional
interest with special emphasis on defence and security collaboration between
the two brotherly countries, were discussed, an Inter Services Public Relations
(ISPR) news release said.
The
COAS said, “We highly value our brotherly relations with Turkiye which are
deeply rooted in history and entrenched in our cultural and religious
affinities”.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Pak-Canada
Parliamentary Friendship Group in Senate holds meeting with Canadian Parliamentarian
July
21, 2022
The
meeting of the Pakistan-Canada Friendship Group in the Senate with the Canadian
House of Commons Member, Sameer Zuberi was held here at the Parliament House on
Thursday to explore new avenues for further broadening the bilateral ties
between Pakistan and Canada.
The
meeting discussed a host of issues, inter alia, including travel advisory of
Canada with respect to Pakistan, Islamophobia and high rate of visa refusal to
Pakistani students and traders and other matters of mutual interests, said a
press release.
Deputy
Chairman Senate Mirza Muhammad Afridi chaired the meeting. Senators Eng
Rukhsana Zuberi, Danesh Kumar, Azam Khan Swati, Rubina Khalid and the
Parliamentary delegation of Canada led by Canadian MP and member of the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the Canadian Parliament, Sameer Zuberi attended the
meeting.
The
Pakistani Panel briefed the Friendship Group on the improved security situation
in the country and the priority areas of the new government to introduce
structural reforms in the key sectors and institution-building. The panel also
highlighted FDI-friendly policies available in the automobile, energy, telecom,
manufacturing and tourism industry in Pakistan, from which Canadian companies
can benefit.
Deputy
Chairman Senate, Mirza Muhammad Afridi said that as Canada pursues a path to
diversifying its partnerships, Pakistan is one of the emerging economies in
Asia offering tremendous opportunities. Pakistan seeks to revive the full
spectrum relations in political, trade, investment and development fields with
Canada, he added.
He
also informed the Canadian MP that the existing trade relations between the two
countries need to be given a boost and allowing genuine traders to visit Canada
to meet with their counterparts can provide the required impetus to trade
relations between the two countries.
The
Canadian MP, Sameer Zuberi briefed the senators on their endeavours to promote
friendship between the parliamentarians of the two countries and remarked that
Canada recognizes the economic importance of Pakistan. The meeting also
discussed the future roadmap for bringing close together the people of the two
countries.
Senator
Eng Rukhsana Zuberi stressed that bilateral trade between Pakistan and Canada
needs to be increased and the private sector should be encouraged in a push to
boost trade ties.
Afridi
underlined that both countries enjoy exemplary ties but the bilateral trade
needs to be increased for which linkages, information, exchange of trade
delegations and holding exhibitions are of vital importance. He also extended
an invitation to the Canadian Parliamentary group to visit Pakistan and urged
the Canadian business community to form linkages with the chambers of Pakistan.
Senator
Azam Swati commended the leadership of Canada for upholding and setting
standards of Human rights. He also urged Sameer Zuberi to present a soft image
of Pakistan in Canada. He remarked that Islam means spreading love and peace
and called for countering anti-Islam propaganda.
Senator
Danesh Kumar stressed promoting inter-faith harmony. He also mentioned and
thanked the Canadian Barrick Gold company for investing in Reko Dik, Chaghi
district. He invited the Canadian MP to visit Balochistan along with other MPs.
Senator
Rubina Khalid underlined the importance of learning from each others
parliamentary practices. She appreciated the initiatives taken by the Prime
Minister of Canada for promoting inter-faith harmony and countering the threat
of Islamophobia. She called for avoiding political polarization and promoting
inter-societal harmony. She emphasized adopting the practice of providing
support staff to the parliamentarians on equal footing.
Deputy
Chairman Senate enlightened the visiting dignitary regarding the working of the
upper house of the parliament on the bills related to human rights as per the
requirement of the FATF. He also invited the Canadian Member Parliament to join
International Parliamentarians Congress, an initiative of H.E Senator Muhammad
Sadiq Sanjrani, Chairman, Senate of Pakistan.
Senator
Swati also raised the issue of the high rate of rejection of student and
traders visas. To which Sameer assured that he will convey the reservations
regarding visa rejection and work for its perseverance.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Pakistan: Local protests and failed govt strategies derail CPEC projects in
Gwadar
22
July, 2022
Gwadar
[Pakistan], July 21 (ANI): Several projects under China Pakistan economic
corridor (CPEC) umbrella continue to face considerable delays due to frequent
protests by the locals in Gwadar over denial of basic services and failed
executions by governments, authorities and companies involved from both China
and Pakistan.
The
on-ground progress continues to remain disappointing as numerous crucial
projects under the USD 60 billion CPEC umbrella have either missed their
completion deadlines or are facing extensive delays.
According
to Islam Khabar, Pakistan’s southern coastal city of Gwadar and its port were
once billed as the future hub of global trade under CPEC, however, the port
city project has turned into a model of failed execution for governments,
authorities and companies involved from both China and Pakistan.
Infrastructure
projects running behind schedule include Gwadar Port Phase II expansion, New
Gwadar International Airport, construction of breakwaters, Pak-China Friendship
Hospital, the 300MW coal-based power plant and freshwater treatment, supply
& distribution project, the reports said, adding that the locals in Gwadar
are often seen protesting over denial of basic services as the majority of the
local residents are poor fishermen and in many cases, the over-stretched
construction activities have only added to their problems.
Moreover,
their struggle to have access to vital necessities including decent health and
education has become a severe problem catering to which the administration of
Gwadar Development Authority hospital is also experiencing difficulty in
retaining employees because of the non-availability of water for them.
The
port area does not have its own power generation and it needs to import its
electricity from neighbouring Iran, Islam Khabar reported, saying the situation
cannot be expected to ease soon as the proposed coal-based power plant is held
up due to coordination problems.
To
date, only four major CPEC projects are reported to have been completed here.
These include East Bay Expressway, Smart Port City Master Plan, construction of
Free Zone Phase-1 and the Pak-China Technical and Vocational Institute which
was built with a USD 10 million Chinese grant.
Notably,
in Nov 2021, Pak Senate’s Standing Committee on Planning and Development
expressed concern over the slow pace of projects in the port city. The
committee had visited Gwadar for an on-site meeting on CPEC projects and
observed that progress on infrastructure and basic facilities was not enough to
lure local and international investors.
Furthermore,
the shrewd Chinese approach towards additional funding has affected the
projects falling under CPEC Phase-II including the socio-economic ones as it
has forced the South-Asian country to be doubly sure if expanding local
infrastructure through Chinese investment is a step worth taking.
Balochistan
is located in the southwest of Pakistan and constitutes half of the country’s
territory. Demographically though it constitutes a mere 3.6 per cent of the
total population of Pakistan. The province is home to over 13 million people,
mostly Baloch.
Balochistan
is Pakistan’s largest, but least developed province. It is one of the most
important provinces of Pakistan because of the high concentration of natural
resources including gas, oil, copper and gold.
However,
despite the richness in natural resources, Balochistan continues to remain the
poorest province of Pakistan.
In
2015, China announced the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in
Pakistan worth USD 46 billion, of which Balochistan is an integral part.
It
would link Pakistan’s southern Gwadar port in Balochistan on the Arabian Sea to
China’s western Xinjiang region. It also includes plans to create road, rail
and oil pipeline links to improve connectivity between China and the Middle
East. The Baloch have opposed China’s increasing involvement in the province.
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Fazl wants govt to arrest Imran
JULY
22, 2022
Pakistan
Democratic Alliance President and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Amir Fazlur
Rehman Thursday demanded the arrest of PTI Chairman and former prime minister
Imran Khan. Addressing a press conference in Bannu, he said religious scholars
belonging to the JUI-F were falling a victim to target killing. “We should be
told who are the killers; otherwise the state institutions must accept
responsibility,” he added. He said the state institutions had occupied many
seminaries. “They call madrassas centres of terrorism but they also seek
cooperation from religious scholars of these madrassas,” he added. Fazl said
the institutions should not make a mockery of the situation and avoid doing
politics. “Does the state want the youth to take up arms after getting
emotional? Even the servicemen would not have saved the country if it wasn’t
for the religious scholars. Despite this, we’re being punished.” He said “crazy
and stupid” people were surrounding Imran who were following a “fool”. Fazl
also warned that he will make the earth so hot for Imran Khan that his supporters
will not be able to place their foot on it. He asked Imran to “stay within his
limits”, says a news report. Fazl said he knew what forces were behind the
former premier. “When this army was supporting, you [Imran] had no issues and
you were fine with the army but now when the general became neutral so you’re
calling him an animal? We know your masters.
They
have told you to abuse me because this is how politics work in Pakistan.” Fazl
said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was unnecessarily being polite.
“I
have asked the government to put Imran Khan in jail… get Rana Sanaullah into
action,” he said and questioned why the decision on the foreign funding case
was being delayed.
“We
are being asked to clean up the economic mess created in the last four years.
This is a short-term government; it should take short-term decisions instead of
long-term ones,” he added. Fazl disclosed that he had opposed raising the
prices of different commodities during the first meeting in this regard.
“In
the first meeting, I had said don’t talk to the IMF and do the agreement on new
terms but everyone opposed. Nawaz Sharif and I became helpless,” he added. Fazl
further said he wanted to see the judiciary beyond doubt where no one could
object to their decisions. Fazl said the court had the authority to make
decisions; however, legislation was the right of the Parliament.
“We
have to make laws and not the court,” he said, adding that PTI Chairman Imran
Khan was “trying to hide behind the courts”. Fazl said former speaker of the
National Assembly and President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi had violated the
Constitution, therefore, action should be taken against those.
Source:
Daily Times Pakistan
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://dailytimes.com.pk/970248/fazl-wants-govt-to-arrest-imran/
--------
India
Hyderabad:
Muslim Youth Beaten For Not Chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ In The Charminar Area
SM
Bilal
22nd
July 2022
Hyderabad:
Tension prevailed in the Charminar area late Thursday night after miscreants
attacked a Muslim youth for not chanting the Jai Sri Ram slogan during a Bonalu
procession in the old city.
The
police have identified the trouble mongers and had taken them into custody.
According
to the details, Mohammed Shahid aka Afridi a resident of Hussainialam was on
his way back on Thursday night, meanwhile a Bonalu procession was moving from
Shad cafe Hussainialam.
Suddenly
a group of miscreants had allegedly stopped Shahid and applied Tilak on his
forehead and forced him to chant Jai Sri Ram slogans, when the youth refused to
do so, he was badly beaten up.
After
this incident tension prevailed in the area. Shahid lodged a complaint with the
Charminar police upon which a case was registered.
Source:
Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/hyderabad-muslim-youth-beaten-for-not-chanting-jai-sri-ram-2374678/
--------
MP's
letter glare on Narendra Modi's ‘affection’ for Muslims
J.P.
Yadav | New Delhi
22.07.22
Former
Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar Ansari in an open letter on Thursday slammed Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s call to the BJP to woo the poor among
the
minority community, asking if the move was aimed at “pitting Muslims against
one another”.
Ansari,
who heads the apolitical All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz that champions the
cause of the deprived sections among Muslims, criticised Modi’s diktat to the
party at the recently concluded BJP national executive in Hyderabad to reach
out to “deprived sections other than Hindus” and take out “Sneh Yatras” (march to
show affection) in solidarity with the “pasmandas (backwards)” who have been
beneficiaries of the government’s welfare schemes.
Ansari,
a former leader of the JDU that is the ruling ally of the BJP in Bihar,
questioned the real intention of Modi’s government and party while highlighting
how during the past eight years Muslims in general and backward Muslims in
particular have been politically and economically boycotted.
“Has
the sudden move to take out ‘Sneh Yatra’ for Pasmanda society something to (do)
with vote-bank politics? Isn’t it aimed at pitting Muslims against one
another?” Ansari asked in the letter, stressing that deprived sections among
Muslims needed “sammaan (equality and dignity)” and not “sneh (affection)”.
“What’s
the point in taking out a ‘Sneh Yatra’ if hate statements and bulldozers also
go on?” he asked, pointing out that most Muslims killed during mob lynchings by
cow vigilantes belong to deprived sections.
Ansari
specifically drew attention to the hate mongering against Muslims and Modi’s
silence on it.
“Didn’t
Home Minister Amit Shah ji call upon the people, at the time of the Delhi
Assembly elections when a peaceful movement of Muslim women against NRC and CAA
was also going on, to ‘press the button in such a way that Shaheen Bagh gets
electric shock’?” Ansari wrote.
He
flagged Modi’s comment that the CAA protesters could be identified by their
dress. “Prime Minister, does it suit a person of as high a stature as you to
say that you recognise people by their sartorial preferences?” Ansari asked in
the letter.
“When
Muslims did not come under provocation, aren’t their prayers now being
disrupted, aren’t their mosques being attacked and isn’t blasphemy against
their Prophet being committed?” he asked, stressing how the Prime Minister had
“not spoken a single word against it till date”.
Ansari
and the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz have long been raising their voice against
religion-based discrimination in providing reservation benefits and demanding
that many castes among Muslims and Christians be recognised as Scheduled
Castes.
In
the letter, Ansari underlined how even the Sachar Committee and the Ranganath
Mishra Commission had made such a recommendation.
Source: Telegraph
India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Indigenous Tag Splits ‘Assamese Muslims’ Wide Open
Rahul
Karmarkar
JULY
22, 2022
Many
within the community are unhappy on being divided into subcategories, and vying
for the ‘indigenous’ tag, even as there is a lack of clarity on what this term
means; political leaders argue that the exercise pits Bengali-speaking Muslims
against the rest of the community, Rahul Karmakar reports
On
July 6, the BJP-led government in Assam approved the identification of five
Muslim sub-groups as ‘Khilonjia Musalman’ or indigenous Assamese Muslims to set
them apart from Bengali-speaking or Bengal-origin Muslims usually referred to
as Miyas.
This
was based on the recommendation of a government-appointed ‘Subcommittee on
Cultural Identity’ that the ‘Assamese Muslim’ subgroups — Syed, Goriya, Moriya,
Deshi and Julha — be given identity cards as distinct, indigenous communities
and a Census undertaken to document them. This subcommittee, headed by TV
journalist Wasbir Hussain, was set up in July 2021.
It
was constituted along with six other subcommittees that submitted their
recommendations together to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The other
subcommittees submitted their reports on the issues of health, education, financial
inclusion, skill development, women empowerment and population stabilisation.
Soon
after the subcommittees submitted their reports on April 23, an organisation
representing one of the subgroups said some of the recommendations would set a
dangerous precedent.
“The
suggestion to identify a section of Muslims in Assam by their religion instead
of their ethnicity is faulty and divisive since our history has no reference to
‘Assamese Muslims’,” the Sadou Asom Goriya Jatiya Parishad (SAGJP) said.
In
April 2021, three months before the panel was set up, another organisation
called Janagosthiya Samannay Parishad, Assam (JSPA) launched a portal to
conduct the first-ever ‘Census’ of Assamese-speaking Muslims. The exercise by
the JSPA, which has been campaigning for a ‘janagosthi’ or ethnic group status
for the community, is yet to be completed.
“We
welcome the government’s decision to recognise Assamese Muslims as a distinct
group but the cultural panel’s recommendations could do with some amendments,”
JSPA’s chief convenor and BJP leader, Syed Mominul Aowal said. He did not
elaborate on how the recommendations could be tweaked.
‘Define
Assamese first’
Yasmin
Saikia, who is the Hardt-Nickachos Chair in Peace Studies at the Center for the
Study of Religion and Conflict and a Professor of History at Arizona State
University, said the ‘Assamese Muslim’ tag is essentially flawed as the
“Assamese people” have not yet been officially defined.
The
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had in 2019 formed a high-level committee on
Clause 6 of the Assam Accord (meant to provide certain safeguards to the
Assamese people, which are not available to those who migrated to the State
between 1951 and 1971) headed by Biplab Kumar Sarma, a retired judge of the
Gauhati High Court.
This
committee, which had Mr. Hussain as a member, submitted its recommendations to
the then Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, to be forwarded to Union Home
Minister Amit Shah.
The
signing of the Assam Accord in 1985 ended six years of a violent anti-immigrant
movement sparked by the large-scale migration of refugees from present-day
Bangladesh, during India’s 1971 war with Pakistan, into Assam.
The
accord accepted as an Indian citizen anyone who came before midnight on March
24, 1971. But it did not define who falls under the ambit of “Assamese people”.
The
MHA’s silence on the report made the Clause 6 panel “reveal” its key
recommendations in February 2020. These included considering five categories of
people residing in the territory of Assam on or before January 1, 1951, as
Assamese — Assamese speakers, other indigenous communities, other indigenous
tribal communities, all Indian nationals and descendants of the people from
these four categories.
“The
Assam government’s decision conveys divisiveness, which goes against the
Assamese ethos of assimilation. Filtering out a small group within a larger
religious group and giving them identity cards will lead to socio-economic
complications,” Ms. Saikia said.
The
2011 Census, without finer categorisation, had counted 1.06 crore Muslims (34%)
out of a total population of 3.12 crore people in Assam.
The
subcommittee put the current Muslim population in the State at 1.18 crore. It
specified that 42 lakh of them belonged to the five “indigenous” groups — Syed,
Goriya, Moriya, Deshi and Julha — and that almost half of these 42 lakh people
were Deshis.
The
five subgroups
The
subcommittee constituted in July 2021 described the five communities in its
report.
The
Deshis, believed to be among the earliest people in Assam to have embraced
Islam, trace their lineage back to Ali Mech, a Koch-Rajbongshi chieftain who
converted during the invasion of Bakhtiyar Khilji, a Turkish-Afghan military
general around 1205 AD.
The
panel described the Syeds as descendants of Sufi preachers and their followers.
The most prominent among these preachers were Syed Badiuddin Shah Madar (Madan
Pir) and Syed Moinuddin Baghdadi (Shah Miran or Azan Fakir) who came to Assam
around 1497 and 1630 respectively.
The
subcommittee cited certain documents to say the Goriyas are the descendants of
Mughal soldiers who, during the Mughals’ several attempts to invade Assam
between 1615 and 1682, were taken prisoners by the ruling Ahom regime.
Many
of these soldiers, it said, belonged to Gaur, the ancient Muslim capital of
Bengal, and thus came to be known as ‘Goriya’. Although, as per one account,
the name is derived from ‘Goriya gaon’, an eastern Assam village of ostracised
people who converted to Islam.
These
people settled in Assam, married local women and gradually became a part of the
Assamese society, the subcommittee's report stated. It added that converted
tribals and Hindus during Azaan Fakir’s time were brought under the Goriya
fold.
The
Moriyas are also described as descendants of the prisoners of war who were
captured by the Ahoms after an attempted invasion by Turbak Khan in the 16th
century.
According
to a 1933 account by a British historian Edward Gait, the Moriyas were
associated with brass work. The ancestors of some of the Moriyas were brought
by the Ahom kings from other parts of India to furnish weapons and utensils.
The
Julhas, listed as an MOBC (More Other Backward Class) community in Assam, are
believed to be Adivasis, originally from undivided Bihar, Odisha and West
Bengal, who converted to Islam. They are said to have migrated to Assam in two
phases — first as weavers during the Ahom rule and then as tea estate workers
brought by British tea planters.
‘Puzzling
inclusions’
The
JSPA, which launched the Census of Assamese Muslims in April 2021 with a view
to publishing a separate National Register of Citizens-like list, represents
three categories of the Muslim community — Goriya, Moriya and Deshi.
The
Julhas were kept out of the census because the JSPA considers the Muslims
living in Assam before the British takeover in 1826 as the indigenous followers
of Islam.
Another
reason the JSPA excluded the Julhas from its ‘Census’ is that “their
association with tea plantation could eventually make them eligible for
Scheduled Tribe (ST) status”.
The
tea garden workers, referred to as "tea tribes", have been demanding
the ST status along with five indigenous communities — Chutiyas,
Koch-Rajbongshis, Mataks, Morans and Tai-Ahoms.
The
"tea tribes", who prefer to be called Adivasis, comprise more than 90
communities such as Santhal, Kol, Bhil, Munda and Oraon, whom the British had
relocated from central and eastern India in the 19th century. Most Julhas came
along with the other “tea tribes” while some of them are said to have converted
after settling down in Assam.
“If
we go by the United Nations definition, the Julhas are not indigenous. But they
may be considered indigenous if the cut-off year to determine who is an
Assamese is considered to be 1951. Many Julhas have Bangladeshi roots like the
Muslims of Mymensingh and Sylhet (regions of Bangladesh),” Mir Arif Iqbal
Hussain, general secretary of the SAGJP told The Hindu.
The
Julhas are culturally and linguistically “totally different” from Goriyas,
Moriyas and Deshis. The Goriyas and Moriyas are similar in many aspects while
the Deshis are distinguishable from these two communities, Mr. Hussain said.
There
are differences within the Julhas too. The Julhas of western Assam resent the
claim of the Julhas of eastern Assam — the belt from Jorhat to Dibrugarh — to
be “more Assamese” than them.
“We
are often looked down up as Bangladeshis who don’t belong,” a member of the
community in western Assam’s Kokrajhar district said.
A
section of Assamese Muslims is puzzled by the categorisation of the Syeds as a
community. “Syed is not a community but a lineage and they have historically
belonged to the Goriya group,” Mr. Aowal, whose JSPA did not list the Syeds as
a distinct community, said.
Mr.
Hussain agreed. “Syed Abdul Malik, the tallest Assamese Muslim writer, called
himself a Goriya and also wrote a poem about it. Syed is not exclusive to
Assam. You will find Bengal-origin Syeds in Hojai (home turf of All India
United Democratic Front chief and MP, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, who is perceived
to support the cause of migrant Muslims),” he said.
‘Unwarranted
exclusions’
The
“Assamese Muslims” generally see themselves as part of the larger,
predominantly Hindu, Assamese-speaking community. They are conscious of being
bracketed with the Bengali-speaking or Bengal-origin Muslims.
Few
doubted the exclusion of the Bengal-origin or Bengali-speaking Muslims from the
cultural subcommittee’s list of groups “deserving” the Assamese Muslim tag. But
many Muslims in the Bengali-dominated Barak Valley of southern Assam say their
exclusion was unwarranted.
The
Kachari Muslims, who trace their origins to the Kachari kingdom that flourished
between the 13th and 19th centuries, are pained by the State Cabinet’s decision
to approve the identification of the five Muslim subgroups as indigenous
Assamese Muslims.
The
Kachari Muslims consider themselves distinct from the Muslims who migrated from
Bengal, before and after the Partition of India.
Atiqur
Rahman Barbhuyan, president of the Society for Indigenous Muslims of Barak
Valley, said that the exclusion of the Kachari Muslims was unwarranted and
called it “a great injustice”.
He
said he had made a presentation to the subcommittee before it filed its
reports, arguing why the “non-migrant” Kachari Muslims also qualified for the
indigenous label.
Ziaur
Rahman, a Kachari Muslim and leader of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, said his
community was among the indigenous Muslim groups which had in 2017 sought
“automatic inclusion” in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) without
documentary evidence by virtue of being “original inhabitants”, a category the
NRC authority had proposed. The Supreme Court had struck down the proposal.
The
organisation representing all the indigenous Muslim groups is called
Bhoomiputra (Islamdharmi) Samannwayrokkhi Sangram Samity, Asom. The name
translates to “Coordinated Movement Committee of Muslim Sons-of-the-soil,
Assam”.
“The
Kachari Muslims converted from the Dimasa tribe and are perhaps more indigenous
than some communities the subcommittee included in the list, which was approved
by the State Cabinet. If some Muslims are to be given the indigenous tag, then
all communities with an extensive history of domicile in Assam should have been
included,” Mr. Rahman said.
Contrary
to the popular belief in the Assamese-dominated Brahmaputra Valley, a large
number of Bengali-speaking Muslims have inhabited Barak Valley for centuries.
However,
many feel that their linguistic affiliation may have made them “untouchable”.
“Unlike
the Assam Agitation phase (1979-85), when society in the State was polarised
between the indigenous and the outsiders, a cold war has developed between the
Hindus and Muslims in Assam today,” Mr. Rahman said.
He
added, “The Muslims of Barak Valley have probably not been considered
indigenous because the religious divide is the strongest there. The BJP
probably fears losing the Hindu support in Barak Valley if the Muslims there
are recognised as indigenous.”
Political
agenda?
All
said and done, the push for the indigenous tag for Muslims is an exercise in
futility as it is designed to further the divisive agenda of right-wing
political parties, Mr. Rahman said.
“One
has to first ask what the constitutional validity of the term ‘Assamese
Muslims’ is. The approval of the cultural subcommittee’s proposal has not been passed
in the Assembly; a Cabinet decision does not guarantee indigeneity. There is
nothing new in the term ‘Assamese Muslim’, which has been prevalent for
decades. This is why our party does not encourage the term and why we think the
recommendations are in keeping with the political agenda of divide and rule,”
he said.
Members
of the cultural subcommittee prefer not to comment on the recommendations. “We
did our job of submitting the report. The ball is now in the court of the
government,” Wasbir Hussain, its head, told a web portal a few days ago.
‘Muslim’
tag
Organisations
representing the Goriyas, Moriyas and Deshis such as SAGJP are uneasy with the
‘Muslim’ tag.
“We
had objected to the term ‘Assamese Muslim’ and sought its removal through a
notification when the cultural subcommittee sought our opinion. Our religious
affiliation has never been as important as our ethnic identity. Goriya, for
instance, is as much a historically recognised community as the Ahoms, Morans
or Mataks. But the subcommittee did not give importance to our inputs,” a
leader of SAGJP said, declining to be quoted.
Organisations
and leaders representing the perceived Miyas or migrant Muslims said the very
act of constituting a subcommittee on Assamese Muslims reflected the political motive
of the BJP.
“Pitting
one category of Muslims against the other is a move to further marginalise the
Bengali Muslims,” said Aminul Islam, the AIUDF legislator from Mankachar, a
constituency dominated by Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Among
the recommendations of the cultural subcommittee is a provision similar to
Article 333 (it empowers the Governor of a State to nominate Anglo-Indians to
the Legislative Assemblies) to send Assamese Muslims to Parliament and the
State’s Legislative Assembly. The subcommittee has also recommended that a
specific number of seats be reserved for the community after the creation of
Assam’s Legislative Council.
Some
of the other recommendations of the other subcommittee for the Assamese Muslims
have raised concern among the Muslims on either side of the “line of
indigeneity”.
The
subcommittee on population stabilisation has recommended enforcement of a
population policy and “sterilisation services and services for the implant of
inter-uterine cervical devices in hospitals that mostly service indigenous
Muslim community”.
The
subcommittee on women empowerment said the women should be free to discard
social subjugation in matters of choice of individual dress, especially in
public spaces and there “must not be coercion to wear niqab, burqa and hijab”.
It also sought the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC).
Source:
The Hindu
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
SC
quashes plea seeking worship of 'Shivling' found at UP's Gyanvapi mosque
Srishti
Ojha
New
Delhi
July
21, 2022
The
Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a writ petition filed seeking
permission for the disciples and followers of Lord Shiva to pray to the
Shivling reportedly found inside the wazukhana or reservoir in the Gyanvapi
mosque complex during a court-ordered survey.
A
bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice Surya Kant and Justice PS
Narasimha dismissed the petition as withdrawn.
"The
suit is pending. There has to be some observance of the CPC. You can’t come
here and suddenly file a petition seeking modification of an order we’ve
passed,” said Justice Chandrachud.
The
petition filed by the president of Shri Krishana Janma Bhumi Mukti Dal sought
directions to allow him and other disciples to perform religious practices and
rituals at the premises of the Gyanvapi Temple at Varanasi,
The
bench also dismissed as withdrawn, another petition filed seeking carbon dating
and GSR survey of the Shivling stated to be found in the Gyanvapi complex.
In
another important development, the Supreme Court today observed that the
hearing of Masjid Committee’s special leave petition challenging Varanasi
court’s survey order will have to await the decision of the District Court on
their Order 7 Rule 11 application.
DISPUTE:
The
present dispute dates back to 1991 and relates to the Gyanvapi Mosque complex
in Varanasi. Several pleas have since then been moved before both Civil Court
in Varanasi and the Allahabad High Court by Anjuman Intezamia Masjid Varanasi,
Hindu devotees, and others.
A
suit was filed in 1991 by devotees Kashi Vishwanath temple near which the
Gyanvapi Mosque is situated. It was alleged that the Gyanvapi Mosque was built
after a Lord Vishweshwar's temple was destroyed by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
Twenty
years later, some devotees of Lord Shiva filed another suit in 2021 seeking to
perform rituals at the ancient Temple at the Gyanvapi mosque complex.
After
an order was passed on 08.04.2021 in the 1991 suit directing ASI inspection,
the Allahabad High Court had on 9th September 2021 granted a stay on the
inspection order and further proceedings in the 1991 suit.
Several
pleas have since then been moved before both Civil Court in Varanasi and the
Allahabad High Court by both Hindi devotees and Anjuman Intezamia Masjid
Varanasi and others.
The
case presently before the Supreme Court has been filed by the Committee of
Management Ajnuman Intezamia Masjid Varanasi challenging Allahabad High Court’s
refusal to interfere in Varanasi Civil court’s order directing survey of the
mosque on a suit filed by few Hindu devotees.
The
impugned order of the High Court was passed in a miscellaneous petition filed
by the Masjid Committee also challenging three orders passed by the Civil Judge
Senior Division, Varanasi on April 18, 2021 and April 5 and April 8, 2022.
The
August 18, 2021 order was an ex parte order allowing an application for
appointment of an Advocate Commissioner to make local inspection of the
property, the April 5 order was rejection of Mosque management's objections to
appointment of Advocate Commissioner and the 8th April order was directing
appointment of Advocate Mishra as the Advocate Petitioner.
A
Varanasi Court had in May this year sealed the disputed area after being
informed that the Advocate Commissioner had found a Shivling inside the
Gyanvapi Mosque premises during the survey.
Source:
India Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Supreme
Court to await Varanasi judge’s decision in Gyanvapi case
Krishnadas
Rajagopal
JULY
21, 2022
Special
Bench did not act on plea of mosque caretakers to first decide correctness of local
court’s order to appoint advocate commissioner
The
Supreme Court on July 21 did not act on a plea made by caretakers of the
Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi to first decide the correctness of a local court’s
ex parte order to appoint an advocate commissioner, whose survey paved the way
for the reported finding of a shivlingand sealing of a part of the mosque
premises.
A
Special Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud instead chose to wait for the
decision of the Varanasi District Judge on an application filed by the
caretakers, Anjuman Intejamia Masjid, challenging the very maintainability of a
civil suit filed by several Hindu women for declaration of their right to
worship Maa Shringar Gauri and other “visible and invisible deities"
within the mosque premises. It was this suit that had initially triggered a
series of orders by a Civil Judge, including the inspection of the mosque
premises.
The
Bench said in case the District Judge rules in favour of the Anjuman, the civil
suit of the Hindu women would itself “fall”, leaving the advocate
commissioner’s work redundant. On the other hand, if the District Court upholds
the suit, the caretakers could pursue other remedies in law.
‘Domino
effect’
During
the hearing, Anjuman’s lawyer, senior advocate Huzefa Ahamadi indicated there
were several other cases pending in various courts across the country involving
religious places of worship. Advocate commissioners could be appointed in these
cases in the same way it was done in the Gyanvapi case. The Supreme Court ought
to step in to prevent such a “domino effect”.
“I
am not concerned only about this case. I am concerned about other cases as
well. My Lords will have to go into the correctness of the order appointing the
advocate commissioner. In a case like this, sensitivities are involved,
particular places of worship are involved… Commissions are appointed and
reports are created to change perceptions and alter the status quo… You have to
examine the correctness of the order appointing the commissioner in this case.
All the rest that happened on the ground is like fruit from a poison tree,” Mr.
Ahamadi submitted.
The
civil judge had appointed the advocate commissioner in April without hearing
the caretakers. The Allahabad High Court had subsequently dismissed their
apprehensions about the fallout of the survey. The following days had witnessed
the discovery of the shivling and cordoning off of the premises where it was
said to have been found. In May, the Supreme Court protected the area around
the shivling though Muslims were allowed access to the mosque to offer namaaz.
The apex court had transferred the civil suit proceedings from the civil court
to the District Judge, saying the case required a “seasoned hand”.
‘Status
quo altered’
Recounting
how the High Court had rejected their fears, Mr. Ahamadi said “my apprehensions
before the High Court were wished away by the judge who said the order for the
survey was innocuous… But see what it has resulted in… It has altered the
status quo that has been in existence for hundreds of years… please allow me to
make my case against the appointment of the advocate commissioner”.
But
the apex court indicated that the caretakers’ remedy lay in the District Court.
The
Special Bench said the Anjuman could raise its objections about the appointment
in the District Court proceedings. The advocate commissioner’s report was also
available to them.
Source:
The Hindu
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
South Asia
Islamic
Emirate React to UNAMA’s Human Rights Report
22
Jul 2022
Some
officials of the Islamic Emirate reacted to UNAMA’s report regarding the human
rights situation in Afghanistan.
The
acting Minister of Vice and Virtue accused the US and the international
community of interfering in the affairs of Afghanistan.
Talking
at a gathering in southeastern Paktia province, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the
acting Minister of Vice and Virtue, said the international community is
pressing them under the pretext of human rights.
"If
the international community thinks that if they bring pressure on the Islamic
Emirate they will drag them one step back from their stance, I swear that as
long as we breath, we will not take even one step back from Sharia law,” he
said.
Hanafi
also denied the claims in the report regarding violations of human rights in
Afghanistan.
“The
report published ... by the human rights I can tell you that it is not true
from A to Z,” he said.
“After
the Islamic Emirate swept into power, the humanitarian situation has improved
in every aspect in Afghanistan and the killing of people has been stopped,”
said Bilal Karimi, deputy spokesman for the Islamic Emirate.
Meanwhile,
some analysts said the report of the UN is unbiased.
“We
may not have complete access to all aspects, but the reports of human rights
are usually neutral and the main point is that the UN is the only international
partner of the government in Afghanistan and they are trying to find better ways,”
said Torek Farhadi, a political analyst.
Source:
Tolo News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan-179042
--------
Kabul
Hosts Pakistani Delegation for ‘Enhancing’ Regional Trade, Transit
By
Arif Ahmadi
21
Jul 2022
KABUL,
Afghanistan – The Taliban authorities hosted a Pakistani delegation in Kabul
from July 18-20, according to a press release by the Pakistan Embassy in
Afghanistan, discussing mutual actions for enhancing bilateral ties and
regional trade and transit.
Hafiz
Zia Ahmad, Deputy Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), said
the meeting focused on better opportunities for trade and transit, facilitating
exports and imports, resolving problems at the crossing points, as well as
addressing visa-issuing concerns for easy travel to neighboring country.
“Both
sides agreed to work in coordination with each other for economic development
and to further facilitate trade between the two countries,” Zia Ahmad Takal
told TOLOnews.
Pakistani
delegation in Kabul led by Commerce Secretary Muhammad Sualeh Ahmed Faruqui
agreed on the following points with the Islamic Emirate:
During
the current financial year bilateral trade and transit has registered growth.
This momentum needs to be sustained and further strengthened on mutually
beneficial basis.
It
was agreed to make border crossing points more efficient to ensure early
clearance of trade and transit traffic and address the bottlenecks and
impediments on priority basis.
The
two sides agreed to implement Temporary Admission Document (TAD) allowing free
movement of bilateral trade vehicles and prevent loading and unloading of goods
at the border crossing points with view to further increase trade between the
two countries.
The
relevant authorities of the two sides also agreed to increase operational
timings at all crossing points, particularly Torkham, Kharlachi, Ghulam Khan
and Chaman/Spin Boldak.
The
heads of the Custom departments of the two countries agreed to work together
and evolve mutually connected custom procedures and systems to improve
efficiency in clearance of goods.
Steps
to be taken for starting luxury bus service between Peshawar & Jalalabad
and Quetta & Kandahar making all possible efforts to commence the service
from end of August this year.
Difficulties
in visa processing would be addressed through mutual coordination.
Meanwhile
the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) said that no
representative of the ACCI was invited to the meeting between the Pakistani
delegation and Islamic Emirate.
“In
general, the talks were good. We confirm this, particularly the barter trade
was discussed. We hope a good decision will be made and the use of both
currencies (for trade) will be the decision—not only Koldar but also Afghan
currency,” said Khanjan Alokozai, a member of the ACCI, as local media quoted.
“The
12-member delegation of Pakistan arrived in Afghanistan and met with the
Minister of Commerce and Industry (Nooruddin Azizi). This was a good
opportunity for Afghanistan, thus the Afghan trucks can carry the products to
any location in Pakistan,” said Mirwais Hajizada, deputy head of the
Afghanistan Chamber of Agriculture and Livestock.
Earlier,
the Ministry of Finance (MoF) said it has collected more than 24 billion Afs in
revenue from customs offices within the first three months of the fiscal year –
a promising figure for a country that has been suffering from financial loose
since the fall last August.
“Approximately,
so far, more than 24.16 billion Afs has been made in revenue,” said Ahmad Wali
Haqmal, a spokesman for the MoF, as TOLOnews quoted. “This is good revenue
compared to the previous years.”
The
Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI) said that the exports and
imports have had a positive impact on this year’s revenue, adding the surge in
exports of coal caused the rise in the country’s annual revenue.
“The
previous year’s first period (three months), the exports were worth nearly $200
million, and it is now more than $400 million,” said Khanjan Alokozai, a member
of the ACCI. “Last year, we had one billion dollars in exports and this year I
hope it increases to one and half billion dollars.
Meanwhile,
Afghan economist expressed joy over the increased revenue, saying such a
progress is promising and it could help the country improve its economy amid
ongoing concerns about poverty across Afghanistan.
“The
exports caused an increase in investment and it helps to develop of the
country’s economic status,” said Seyar Qureshi, an economist, as local media
quoted.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/kabul-hosts-pakistani-delegation-for-enhancing-regional-trade-transit/
--------
Afghan
Passport Ranks Last in the Henley Passport Index
By
Saqalain Eqbal
21
Jul 2022
The
Henley Passport Index, updated quarterly, has once again designated an Afghan
passport at the bottom of the list as the world’s least powerful passport, with
its citizens only being able to travel to 27 countries without a visa.
Japan
tops the list of countries, allowing its citizens to enter 193 countries
without a visa or visa upon arrival, according to the Henley passport index.
Singapore and South Korea are next on the list of countries where it is
possible to enter 192 countries visa-free or with a visa upon arrival, ranked
2nd.
Germany,
Spain, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands, Denmark,
United Kingdom, France, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, and
the United States of America are the other countries at the top of this list,
having nationals to travel to over 186 countries.
Afghan
passport, which is ranked at the bottom of the list as the world’s least
powerful passport, allows Afghan nationals to travel to 27 countries and
territories visa-free or provided a visa upon arrival.
The
27 countries and territories include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Comoros,
Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritania, Micronesia,
Mozambique, Palau, Rwanda, Samoa, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Timor-Leste,
Togo, Tuvalu, Uganda, and more.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-passport-ranks-last-in-the-henley-passport-index-688842/
--------
Taliban’s
Central Bank Auctions $13 Million to Maintain Afghani Currency Value
By
Saqalain Eqbal
21
Jul 2022
To
maintain the Afghani currency’s purchasing power versus the US dollar, the
Central Bank of the Taliban’s caretaker government sets an auction on Saturday,
23rd July, to sell about 13 million dollars.
According
to the Central Bank’s newsletter, a foreign currency auction will be held on
Saturday, July 23, and banks, money exchange dealers, and other informed
parties, including licensed money service organizations, are invited to
participate.
s
food prices increased as a result of the Afghani currency’s decline versus
other currencies, the Taliban’s Central Bank also released approximately 24
million dollars into the market during the past week.
A
US dollar is currently worth 89 Afghanis in Kabul. The US dollar was worth less
than 80 to the Afghani currency prior to the Taliban taking power.
The
Afghani currency lost value against the US dollar during the first few months
of the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan, with 120 Afghanis being exchanged for
every dollar.
According
to a research by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), rising inflation
rates are having a severe impact on hundreds of thousands of unemployed,
impoverished Afghans and their families.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
North America
Pro-Israel
campaign donations far exceed pro-Arab funding in American elections
July
22, 2022
A
pro-Israel network of political action committees, coordinated by the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee, has spent more than $12 million during the
current election cycle in direct donations, and millions more through
coordinated Super PACs, to oppose any candidate who questions or challenges
Israel, according to officials who monitor US election financing.
Dale
Sprusansky, an editor at Washington Report on Middle East Affairs magazine who
tabulates and investigates pro-Israel PAC money, said that the amounts involved
dwarf the money spent in support of pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian candidates.
He
told Arab News that in many cases, the donations and activities tied to AIPAC
do not even address Israel directly and instead focus on local issues that are
twisted, distorted or fabricated to undermine candidates who either support
Palestine and criticize Israeli authorities, or who generally support Israel
but do not consistently stick to the accepted pro-Israeli agenda.
“What
we can track thus far for the current campaign cycle is $12 million but that is
… not the dark money,” Sprusansky said on Wednesday during an appearance on The
Ray Hanania Radio Show.
“So,
and every study shows this on this issue and on other issues, the dark money is
multiples of what the overt money is — I would say hundreds of millions sounds
right to me.”
AIPAC
does not necessarily promote messages that express direct support for Israel,
he explained. Instead, most of the money is used to attack the records of
candidates it believes are not loyal enough to the Israeli state, and target
mainstream issues and local policies in an attempt “to erode voter support” for
the candidates it opposes, he added.
“It
takes so much gall to act like they care, right?” Sprusansky said. “They are
running ads saying she is bad for her constituents who have needs, when their
real focus is on a country that is half a world away. They don’t (care) about
her constituents, so it is astonishingly disingenuous.
“Maybe
in districts perceived as being very Zionist, like South Florida, New York and
California, you will see ads actually mention Israel. But for the rest of the
country, 90 percent of the districts, no pro-Israel ad is going to mention
Israel.
“They
know that the average American is going to sit there and say, ‘Why are they
talking about Israel when I have 10,000 issues in front of me as an American?’
That is their strategy: To get you in a fury over something other than the
issue they are causing you to vote for.”
Sprusansky
described such methods as “deceitful and disingenuous.”
The
estimate of the AIPAC money does not include the millions raised by another,
affiliated PAC called the United Democracy Project, which makes no direct
mention of Israel in its messages but targets any candidate that does not
embrace a pro-Israel agenda.
One
the people it targeted was former Representative Donna F. Edwards who served 10
years in Congress but stepped down in 2017 to pursue an unsuccessful run for
the Maryland Senate. When she attempted a return to congress in the contest for
Maryland’s 4th Congressional District this year, she was defeated in the
Democratic primary on July 19 by Glenn Ivey.
Sprusansky
said the UDP spent more than $6 million in attack adds targeting Edwards that
accused her of lying to voters about her record on mainstream American issues.
Ivey is considered a strong supporter of Israel.
“If
you look at Donna Edwards’s record (on Palestine), it is better than most
congresspeople but it is not phenomenal; she is not Rashida Tlaib and she is
not Ilhan Omar,” Sprusansky said.
“Edwards
did vote to support Israel on multiple occasions but she did (say) several
things that did not completely toe the line. And … when you don’t completely,
100 percent toe the line, (when) you are bad on one out of 100 (issues), you
are bad and you can expect $6 million to be poured against you in a local
election campaign.”
Sprusansky
also highlighted the Democratic primaries due to take place on Aug. 2 in
Michigan, in which several candidates are being targeted by AIPAC, UDP and
“dark money” sources. They include Palestinian candidate Huwaida Arraf in the
10th District, Jewish American Congressman Andy Levin in the 11th, and Palestinian
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib in the 12th.
Levin
“is so middle of the road” and supports the “two-state solution, which many
people view as perpetuating the status quo and injustice,” Sprusansky noted.
“AIPAC originally started as supporting the two-state solution (but) now views
(it) as somehow being anti-Israel. So much of the deck is already stacked
before you even get to the ballot box.”
AIPAC’s
strategic-funding approach to US elections is both legal and effective, and far
outspends pro-Arab donations, he said.
“Why
does a local official, city council member or school board member pass a
resolution supporting Israel in Gaza, which is more than 9,000 miles away from
the little voter constituency where they hold offices?” Sprusansky asked.
“It
happens in so many ways. For a lot of them, they (the candidates) get
approached very early in their careers by pro-Israel groups and they become
activists, city council members, at the most local of levels. School board
members.
“It
happens in so many ways. For a lot of them, they (the candidates) get
approached very early in their careers by pro-Israel groups and they become
activists, city council members, at the most local of levels. School board
members.
“Often
(they are approached) by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and others.
And they basically start slowly cultivating them toward their views. And the
next thing you know they are going on trips to Israel — free, paid for — and it
becomes very clear to them that being pro-Israel is good for raising money and
it is good to keep trouble off of your back.
“Not
only did Donna Edwards have $6 million (spent opposing her) but she (faced)
attacks ads and it was a double whammy of trouble when you don’t have
pro-Israel money behind you.”
According
to a seven-page analysis published in this month’s Washington Report on Middle
East Affairs, AIPAC has donated more than $100,000, and as much as $892,000, to
25 candidates in election races in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Virginia,
Maryland, Texas, Illinois and New Jersey.
Sometimes
the donations are designed to soften the opposition, as in the case of Illinois
congressmen Jesus Garcia, who has received $19,600 from APIAC, and Danny K.
Davis, who has received $56,484. Both have presented themselves to Arab Americans
as being supportive of Palestinian rights.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2127411/world
--------
UN
chief will travel to Istanbul late Thursday: Spokesman
Servet
Gunerigok
21.07.2022
WASHINGTON
The
head of the UN will leave New York for Istanbul later Thursday, deputy
spokesman Farhan Haq said one week after a meeting tackled Ukraine’s grain
export.
Antonio
Guterres "will travel to Istanbul, Türkiye this evening, as part of his
efforts to ensure full global access to Ukraine's food products, and Russian
food and fertilizer," Haq said at a news conference.
The
visit comes after a meeting last week where Turkish, Ukrainian, Russian and UN
officials agreed to establish a coordination center in Istanbul to facilitate
Ukrainian grain exports.
Tons
of Ukrainian grain are stuck because of the Russia-Ukraine war that is in its
fifth month, causing global shortages and price hikes. Russia, which is accused
of using food as a weapon, said Western sanctions are to blame for the food
shortages.
Haq
said the UN wants to have an agreement that would allow Ukrainian and Russian
food and fertilizer to reach global markets.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/un-chief-will-travel-to-istanbul-late-thursday-spokesman/2642737
--------
Air
Force official expects Iran to resume attacks on US
21
July ,2022
The
top US Air Force general in the Middle East warned on Thursday that Iran-backed
militias could resume attacks in the region against the US and its allies as
tensions rise — assaults that could lead to a new Mideast escalation.
Speaking
to journalists before stepping into his new role at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar,
with responsibility for military operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and
across the region, Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewich also expressed fears over Russian
and Chinese influence taking hold as superpowers vie for economic and military
influence in the Middle East.
For
instance, he said, recent US intelligence that Iran is preparing to send Russia
armed and unarmed drones to use in its war on Ukraine “is not a surprise … but
it’s concerning.”
Iran's
mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Grynkewich,
who had served as director of operations at Central Command in Tampa, Florida,
thousands of miles from the baking desert outside of Doha, Qatar's capital,
spoke as regional tensions remain high over Iran’s rapidly expanding nuclear
program and talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers at a
deadlock.
“We’re
in this position where we’re not under attack constantly, but we do see
planning for attacks ongoing,” Grynkewich said. “Something will occur that
unleashes that planning and that preparation against us.”
Iran
tested a satellite-carrying rocket last month, prompting the White House to
threaten more sanctions on Tehran to prevent it from accelerating its advanced
ballistic missile program. And last week, as President Joe Biden toured the
region, Iran unveiled armed drones on its warships in the Gulf.
Tehran
has rapidly grown its stockpile of near-weapons-grade nuclear fuel in recent
months, spreading fears about an escalation. It also has spun more advanced
centrifuges prohibited under the landmark atomic accord, which former President
Donald Trump abandoned in 2018.
“Everyone
in the region is very concerned,” Grynkewich said.
Still
in recent weeks, he said, US forces have seen a reduction in targeted attacks
across the region, as a tenuous cease-fire between Iran-backed Houthi rebels
and the Saudi-led military coalition continues in Yemen and as an ongoing
government formation process in Baghdad keeps Iran-backed militias in limbo,
waiting for the political chaos to settle before they strike.
“We’re
in a bit of a period of stasis," Grynkewich said.
As
other threats subside, the US has sharpened its focus on containing and
countering Russian and Chinese influence in the region, Grynkewich said, noting
that Russia is seeking to maintain the leverage it gained from years of
military intervention in the region, such as in Syria where it helped save
President Bashar Assad’s government and turned the tide of the war in his
favor.
Grynkewich
said an apparent reversal of the military relationship between Russia and Iran
— with Moscow potentially interested in procuring drones from a traditional
buyer of its own military equipment — “shows a bit more of a relationship than
we’d like them to have, given the context of everything going on in Ukraine.”
Earlier
this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran on a rare trip
abroad and won staunch support from Iran for the war that has plunged the
Kremlin deeper into confrontation with the West.
Meanwhile,
China's significant economic inroads in the region have raised concerns about
the country's plans “to secure those interests either through arms sales or
other means," Grynkewich said. In China, many Gulf Arab states have found
an investor that won't lecture them about human rights concerns.
Despite
appearances to the contrary after the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the US isn't
quitting the region, Grynkewich insisted, a case Biden made repeatedly on his
Mideast tour last week.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Southeast Asia
Man
who insulted Islam jailed 6 months
July
21, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: A man has been jailed for six months after he failed to pay a RM50,000
fine for posting a video that insulted Islam.
Dressed
in a green t-shirt and jeans, Nor’muzil Razalli was escorted by police from the
Sepang sessions court to carry out his sentence at the Kajang Prison.
This
was confirmed by Sepang district police chief Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof,
according to a Sinar Harian report.
Nor’muzil,
39, was fined by judge Ahmad Rizki Abdul Jalil after pleading guilty to
uploading a video that insulted Islam last Saturday.
He
was charged under Section 233 (1)(a) of the Communications and Multimedia Act
1998 for improper use of network facilities by uploading the video with the
intention of annoying others.
Deputy
public prosecutor Nor Azizah Aling prosecuted, while Nor’muzil was
unrepresented.
Nor’muzil
was arrested at his house in Bukit Kuchai, Puchong, on Sunday over the video.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/07/21/man-who-insulted-islam-jailed-6-months/
--------
Europe
Over
a decade since Islamophobic terrorist killed 77 people in Oslo
Büşra
Nur Çakmak, Zehra Nur Düz
21.07.2022
Over
a decade has passed since the Oslo terror attack in which a far-right Norwegian
extremist, inspired by anti-Muslim hate in a quest to "save" European
culture, killed eight people with a bomb and shot dead another 69 at a youth
camp.
Anders
Breivik began the carnage of July 22, 2011 with a bomb attack in Oslo, Norway’s
capital.
Two
hours after that attack, wearing a police uniform as a disguise, he slaughtered
dozens of participants of the Workers’ Youth League (AUF) summer camp on Utoya
Island, near Oslo.
Summer
camp on Utoya Island, near Oslo, July 23, 2011
In
total, 77 people died and more than 200 others were wounded. The victims
included Gizem Dogan, 17, a young woman of Turkish descent.
Following
the attacks, many politicians from far-right parties in Europe voiced support
for the mass murderer both on social media and in public.
These
politicians, including members of far-right Italian, British and French
parties, expressed their opposition to what they call the “Islamization” of
Europe, with Jacques Coutela of France’s National Front (later renamed the
National Rally) even hailing Breivik as a "defender of the West.”
Breivik’s
far-right ideas
Breivik
himself wrote pieces online praising far-right ideas and movements, explaining
that he had mounted the attack in rejection of Norway's policy of
multiculturalism.
Nearly
90 minutes before the deadly bomb went off, Breivik emailed a compendium of
texts entitled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence” to over 1,000
addresses.
In
his manifesto, Breivik described his ideology as well as why he carried out
this attack using anti-Turkish, anti-Muslim, and anti-Islamic slurs.
In
the texts, he also accused feminism of carrying out a European "cultural
suicide." He advocated a restoration of patriarchy, which he claimed would
save the European culture.
The
text called for the deportation of all Muslims from the European continent,
adding that his main motivation for the attacks was to publicize his manifesto.
Many
times in his manifesto he cited the ideas of Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, and
Pamela Geller, outspoken purveyors of anti-Muslim hatred, as a source of
inspiration.
Aftermath
of the attacks
In
his first court appearance, Breivik said that his motive was “saving Norway and
Western Europe from a Muslim takeover,” adding that the Labor Party (which then
led a coalition government) had “betrayed the country and the people and paid
the price for that,” according to state broadcaster NKR.
In
August 2012, Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison – the maximum penalty
in Norway – with a minimum of 10 years served.
However,
he could be held longer than 21 years under a provision that allows court to
keep criminals in prison for as long as they are considered a threat to
society, which in practice could mean a life sentence.
In
March 2017, a Norwegian court overturned a verdict that Norway had violated
Breivik’s human rights.
"The
court has come to the conclusion that Anders Behring Breivik is not, and has
not, been subjected to torture or inhumane or degrading treatment," said
the court ruling.
The
verdict said there were "no clear indications” that Breivik has been
subjected to harm through isolation while serving his sentence.
"The
court is of the opinion that there is a high risk that Breivik will resort to
violence in the future," it added.
In
January 2022, Breivik sought parole at Telemark District Court but was denied,
with the court ruling he still poses a threat to society.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UK
spy chief doubts Iran Supreme Leader will back nuclear deal
21
July ,2022
Britain's
spy chief voiced doubt Thursday that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei will back a return to a 2015 nuclear accord despite marathon
negotiations.
“If
we can get a deal it's probably the best means still available to constrain the
Iranian nuclear program. I'm not convinced we're going to get there,” MI6 chief
Richard Moore told the Aspen Security Forum.
“I
don't think the supreme leader of Iran wants to cut a deal. The Iranians won't
want to end the talks either so they could run on for a bit,” he said at the
conference in the US state of Colorado, in what was billed as his first public
speaking appearance abroad.
President
Joe Biden has backed reviving the 2015 agreement which was negotiated under
former US leader Barack Obama and trashed three years later by Donald Trump.
But
indirect talks in Vienna have dragged on, in part over the US rejection of
Iranian demands to reverse Trump's blacklisting of the powerful Revolutionary
Guards as a terrorist group.
“I
think the deal is absolutely on the table. And the European powers and the
administration here are very, very clear on that. And I don't think that the
Chinese and Russians on this issue would block it. But I don't think the
Iranians want it,” Moore said.
Britain,
China, France, Germany and Russia were all parties to the deal, formally known
as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which Iran drastically scaled
back nuclear work in exchange for promises of sanctions relief.
Khamenei,
who has led the Shia clerical state since 1989, is known for his hostility
toward the US, a central tenet of the Islamic Revolution a decade earlier that
toppled the Western-oriented shah.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Russia’s
Lavrov to address Arab League on July 24
21
July ,2022
Russia’s
top diplomat will address the Arab League at its Cairo headquarters Sunday, the
organization said, days after Russia took part in a summit hosted by Iran, a
regional rival of some Arab states.
Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia will meet Arab League head Ahmed Aboul Gheit
and representatives of the 22 nations that make up the pan-Arab bloc, it said
on Thursday.
On
Tuesday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hosted a summit that was attended by
his Russian and Turkish counterparts, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The
meeting was nominally about conflict-ridden Syria, where Iran and Russia back
the government while Turkey supports anti-regime groups.
Russia
invaded Ukraine in February, and the impact of the conflict on the global
economy was also at the center of talks in Tehran.
On
Tuesday, Putin said “progress” had been made in discussions towards exporting
grain from Turkey, adding after talks with Erdogan and Raisi that any deal
hinged on the West’s willingness to yield some ground.
NATO
member Turkey has been using its good relations with both the Kremlin and Kyiv
to try to broker an agreement on a safe way to deliver the grain.
The
war in Ukraine has caused food insecurity in Arab nations, many of which are
heavily dependent on wheat imports from the former Soviet state.
The
Tehran summit came days after US President Joe Biden toured the Middle East,
where he visited Israel, the Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia.
In
Jerusalem, Biden and Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid announced a
new security pact which commits Washington to never allow Iran to acquire a
nuclear weapon.
And
in Saudi Arabia, he stressed that the US “will not walk away and leave a vacuum
to be filled by China, Russia or Iran.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN:
Netherlands' court to rule on jurisdiction in Rohingya genocide case
22
July ,2022
The
United Nations’ highest court is ruling Friday on whether to proceed with a
landmark case that accuses Myanmar’s rulers of genocide against the country's
mainly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The
International Court of Justice is set to deliver its decision on Myanmar’s
claims that the Hague-based court does not have jurisdiction and that the case
filed by the tiny African nation of Gambia in 2019 is inadmissible.
If
judges reject Myanmar's objections, they will set the stage for court hearings
airing evidence of atrocities against the Rohingya that rights groups and a UN
probe say amount to breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
In
March, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that violent repression of the
Rohingya population in Myanmar amounts to genocide.
Amid
international outrage at the treatment of the Rohingya, Gambia filed the case
with the world court alleging that Myanmar is breaching the genocide
convention. The nation argued that both Gambia and Myanmar are parties to the convention
and that all signatories have a duty to ensure it is enforced.
Lawyers
representing Myanmar argued in February that the case should be tossed out
because the world court only hears cases between states and the Rohingya
complaint was brought by Gambia on behalf of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation.
They
also claimed that Gambia could not bring the case to court as it was not
directly linked to the events in Myanmar and that a legal dispute did not exist
between the two countries before the case was filed.
Gambia’s
Attorney General and Justice Minister Dawda Jallow insisted in February that
the case should go ahead and that it was brought by his country, not the OIC.
“We
are no one’s proxy,” Jallow told the court.
The
Netherlands and Canada are backing Gambia, saying in 2020 that the country
“took a laudable step towards ending impunity for those committing atrocities
in Myanmar and upholding this pledge. Canada and the Netherlands consider it
our obligation to support these efforts which are of concern to all of
humanity.”
Myanmar’s
military launched what it called a clearance campaign in Rakhine state in 2017
in the aftermath of an attack by a Rohingya insurgent group. More than 700,000
Rohingya fled into neighboring Bangladesh and Myanmar security forces have been
accused of mass rapes, killings and torching thousands of homes.
In
2019, lawyers representing Gambia at the ICJ outlined their allegations of
genocide by showing judges maps, satellite images and graphic photos of the
military campaign.
That
led the court to order Myanmar to do all it can to prevent genocide against the
Rohingya. The interim ruling was intended to protect the minority while the
case is decided in The Hague, a process likely to take years.
The
ICJ case was complicated by last year’s military coup in Myanmar. The decision
to allow the Southeast Asian nation’s military-installed government to
represent the country at the February hearings drew sharp criticism. A shadow
administration known as the National Unity Government made up of
representatives including elected lawmakers who were prevented from taking
their seats by the 2021 military coup had argued that it should be representing
Myanmar in court.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/07/22/UN-Netherlands-court-to-rule-on-jurisdiction-in-Rohingya-genocide-case
--------
Fundraising
campaigns for purchase of Türkiye's Bayraktar TB2 drone spreading in West
Muhammet
Tarhan
22.07.2022
Donation
campaigns launched for the purchase of Türkiye's Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat
aerial vehicles to support the Ukrainian army and people amid war are
increasing in many countries, especially in Europe.
Several
campaigns have been launched in Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Canada, as well
as in Ukraine, to purchase Bayraktar TB2, produced by Turkish drone maker
Baykar, for Ukraine as its war with Russia has continued since its start on
Feb. 24.
Volunteers
are participating in the campaigns by donating various amounts of money to show
solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
Influenced
by campaigns, Baykar donates 4 combat drones
The
donation campaign organized by the Ukrainian people in June under the name of
"People's Bayraktar" was completed successfully.
Affected
by the Ukrainians’ solidarity, Baykar donated three Bayraktar T2 drones, which
were aimed to be purchased with the donations collected, to Ukraine without any
charge.
Over
$6M collected in 3 days in Lithuania
In
the campaign organized by the Lithuanian people to buy a Bayraktar TB2 drone
for Ukraine, €6 million ($6.11 million) were collected in just three days.
Affected by the campaign, Baykar donated the combat drone to Lithuania free of
charge on July 6 to contribute to the solidarity of Lithuanians.
The
campaign "Give a Bayraktar from the Norwegians to the Ukrainian
people" was launched in Norway for the same purpose to collect 55 million
crowns ($5.5 million).
The
campaign launched in Ukraine's neighbor Poland to reach the target of 22.5
million Polish zlotych ($5 million) for the same purpose continues.
Campaigns
in Europe inspire Canada as well
The
donation campaigns held for the donation of Bayraktar TB2 drones to Ukraine
inspired Ukrainians in Canada as well.
The
campaign, launched by the Toronto-based humanitarian aid organization
UhelpUkraine in Canada, aims to collect 7 million Canadian dollars ($5.4
million).
The
combat drone, which will be purchased if the campaign achieves to collect money
needed, is aimed to be delivered to the Ukrainian army on Aug. 24, Ukraine's
Independence Day.
Canada
suspends sale of armed drone parts to Türkiye
In
October 2020, the Canadian government suspended the sale of electro-optical and
infrared camera systems sold to Türkiye as armed uncrewed aerial vehicle
equipment, citing the use of Turkish combat drones in operations against the
Armenian army in Nagorno-Karabakh.
In
April 2021, the Canadian administration announced that it had canceled the
"military export permits" for Türkiye.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
War
criminal's escape to Belgrade suggests Serbian role in Bosnia war: Academic
Lejla
Biogradlijaand Ahmet Nurduhan
21.07.2022
SARAJEVO
The
fact that Radovan Karadzic, a convicted war criminal and mastermind of the
Bosnian genocide, hid in Belgrade is evidence of Serbia's role in the war,
genocide, and other crimes, according to a Bosnian academic.
It
has been 14 years since Karadzic, one of those responsible for the 1992-1995
war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was captured in Serbia's capital Belgrade, but
not before executing the most well-documented and widely known genocide and
crimes against humanity in Europe after World War II.
Karadzic
was held responsible for many crimes including genocide, massacres, ethnic
cleansing, and rape committed by the Serbs during the war and was caught on a
bus on July 21, 2008, after living in Serbia for many years as "Dragan
David Dabic," despite a decision for his arrest in 1995.
Speaking
to Anadolu Agency about Karadzic's thinking, Sedad Dedic, a legal scholar at
Zenica University, said the fact that Karadzic hid in Serbia under the
pseudonym 'Dragan David Dabic,' for 13 years after the war is proof of the role
of Serbia's official institutions in the aggression, genocide, and other crimes
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We must be vigilant, careful, and ready," said
Dedic.
Dedic
said the crimes that Karadzic and figures like him committed were motivated and
planned by official "institutions" in a systematic, organized, and
detailed way that aimed to eliminate a civilization.
"The
important thing is that this murderous ideology has now suffered a heavy defeat
at the military, political, and every other level. It is alarming that ideas
about war crimes are still alive, but the real problem is that it still exists
in Republika Srpska -- glorifying war criminals, giving their names to public
institutions and organizations, and not recognizing international resolutions
on genocide," he said.
Republika
Srpska is one of the two entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Radovan
Karadzic was president of the self-styled Bosnian Serb Republic and supreme
commander of its armed forces between 1992 and 1995, when around 100,000
Bosnians died as the former Yugoslavia descended into ethnic bloodshed.
Karadzic
was first indicted in July 1995 for the shooting of unarmed civilians in the
city of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage. Four months later, he was
accused of orchestrating the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys after Serb
forces seized the UN's Srebrenica "safe area" in eastern Bosnia.
He
went on the run after the war and was finally arrested in Belgrade in 2008.
During
his trials at a UN tribunal in The Hague, more than 580 witnesses gave
testimony of crimes including the murder of Muslims and Croats and the
destruction of private property and mosques across Bosnia.
He
was charged with 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,
including the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica genocide, Europe's worst
atrocity since World War II.
In
2016, Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in prison by the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, on charges of genocide and crimes
against humanity relating to the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.
He
filed an appeal seeking an acquittal or retrial. Following the closure of the
former Yugoslav tribunal in 2017, the Council of Appeal of the International
Criminal Courts Mechanism took over the ongoing cases.
The
council in 2019 sentenced Karadzic, 73, to life in prison for genocide, crimes
against humanity, and violating the laws and customs of war. The appeal of his
40-year prison sentence was also rejected.
While
the court convicted Karadzic over his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, he
was found not guilty of genocide in seven other Bosnian towns.
Apart
from his single genocide conviction, he was also found guilty on five counts of
crimes against humanity and four war crimes charges, including taking UN
soldiers hostage, exterminating civilians, murders, and attacking soldiers.
Allegations
against Serbia
Since
the war, many have claimed that Serbia and its President Slobodan Milosevic
played a crucial role in driving ethnic tensions in the region.
He
represented the Bosnian Serbs in the Dayton peace accords, which ended the war
in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Milosevic
was arrested in 2001 and charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. He
died in prison in 2006 before his trial's conclusion.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab World
PKK
Terrorists Behind Duhok Attack, Says Head Of Iraq's Largest Sunni Bloc, Sunni
Al-Siyadeh
Ali
Makram Ghareeb
22.07.2022
BAGHDAD
Terrorist
organizations, including the PKK, are responsible for a deadly attack that
earlier this week targeted civilians in northern Iraq's Duhok province, the
chairman of the country's largest Sunni coalition has said.
On
social media, Khamis al-Khanjar, head of the Sunni al-Siyadeh bloc in
parliament, demanded that the government take serious action against these
terror groups -- the PKK and various local armed militias on the border with
Türkiye -- who he said plotted the attack that killed nine people on Wednesday.
Al-Khanjar,
who leads the legislative bloc with the most Sunni lawmakers, said the
terrorist mafia in the region then carried out the attack, with the PKK's
support.
In
its over 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK -- listed as a
terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU -- has been responsible for
the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
He
accused these terrorist mafia groups of seeking to achieve political goals by
killing people in the country.
Urging
the public to unite against terror groups, Al-Khanjar voiced regret at the
government's lacking efforts against terrorists.
Attack
in Duhok
Nine
people were killed and 23 injured in the attack in the Zakho district on
Wednesday.
Turkish
security sources have rejected reports "in support of" the PKK
claiming that the civilians lost their lives due to "shelling" by
Turkish forces.
The
country's Foreign Ministry released a statement after the incident, asking
Iraqi government officials not to make statements on the attack "under the
influence of rhetoric and propaganda" of the PKK terrorist organization.
"We
invite Iraqi government officials ... to cooperate in bringing the real
perpetrators of this tragic incident into light," the Foreign Ministry
said in a statement.
Noting
that Türkiye is against all manner of attacks targeting civilians, it said:
"Türkiye carries out its fight against terrorism in accordance with
international law, with utmost sensitivity to the protection of civilians,
civilian infrastructure, historical and cultural property and the
environment."
The
Turkish foreign minister also said that Ankara had no role in the strike.
"According
to the information we received from the Turkish Armed Forces, we did not carry
out any attack against civilians," Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a live
interview on Thursday with public news broadcaster TRT Haber.
"We
have announced that we can cooperate with the Iraqi authorities after the
treacherous attack that we think was carried out by terrorist organizations. We
reject both authorized and unauthorized statements regarding Türkiye,"
Cavusoglu said.
He
added that PKK propaganda in Iraq came as Türkiye is soon to launch a new
anti-terror operation in northern Syria, saying that Iraqi authorities must not
fall into the trap of terrorist groups.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Saudi
Arrested For Facilitating Entry Of Non-Muslim Journalist Into Makkah Through A
Dedicated Path For Muslims
July
22, 2022
JEDDAH
— Police in Makkah have referred a Saudi citizen to the Public Prosecution
after he allegedly became complicit in facilitating the entry of an American
non-Muslim journalist into the holy city, according to the official spokesman
for the Makkah region police.
In
a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) on Friday, the spokesman detailed
the incident in which the citizen transported the American journalist to Makkah
through a dedicated path for Muslims.
He
said this was an explicit violation of the regulations that prohibit
non-Muslims from entering the holy precincts. The citizen was arrested and
legal measures were taken against him.
The
spokesman noted that all visitors to the Kingdom need to respect and abide by
the regulations especially with regard to the Holy Mosques and the sacred
sites.
“Any
violation of this kind is considered a crime that will not be tolerated, and
suitable penalties will be applied to perpetrators according to the relevant
regulations,” he added.
Source:
Saudi Gazette
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Russian
airstrike on Syria’s Idlib kills seven: Monitor
22
July ,2022
A
Russian airstrike killed seven people, four of them children, in Syria’s
opposition-held Idlib region on Friday, a war monitor said.
The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it confirmed the deaths “including
four children who are siblings, two men and an unidentified person... as a
result of Russian airstrikes,” in the Jisr al-Shughur countryside.
The
children are all under 10 years old, said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the
British-based Observatory.
Six
of the victims are confirmed to be civilians, the Observatory said, adding that
more people including women and children were still trapped under the rubble.
The
victims are mostly displaced Syrians from neighboring Hama province, said the
monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria.
Russia
is a main backer of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
With
Russian and Iranian support, Damascus clawed back much of the ground lost in
the early stages of the conflict, which erupted in 2011 when the government
brutally repressed pro-democracy protests.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israeli
airstrikes kill three soldiers, wound seven near Damascus: Syrian ministry
22
July ,2022
An
Israeli strike killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded seven others near
Damascus early Friday, the Syrian defense ministry said.
“The
Israeli enemy carried out an airstrike... from the direction of the occupied Syrian
Golan... The aggression killed three soldiers and wounded seven others,” the
ministry said in a statement.
Syrian
air defense intercepted some of the missiles, the statement said.
The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said that three more people had
been killed and that ten people were wounded in total.
The
monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria, said that the
strikes targeted an air force intelligence facility, and a high-ranking
officer’s office, also striking a car near the Mezzeh military airport.
The
missiles also destroyed an “Iranian weapons depot,” the monitor said.
Since
civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of air
strikes against its neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied
Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters.
While
Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged carrying out
hundreds of them.
The
Israeli military says the strikes are necessary to prevent its arch-foe Iran
from gaining a foothold on its doorstep.
Last
month, Israeli strikes on Damascus International Airport rendered its runways
unusable for weeks.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Construction
starts on Egypt’s first nuclear plant
21
July ,2022
Construction
of a nuclear plant by Russia’s state-owned energy corporation Rosatom on
Egypt’s north coast has begun, according to a joint statement from the company
and Egyptian authorities.
The
plant at El-Dabaa is Egypt’s first and is planned to have four units, each with
a generating capacity of 1,200MW, according to the statement posted by the
Egyptian nuclear authority late on Wednesday.
Egyptian
Energy Minister Mohamed Shaker was quoted as saying the pouring of concrete for
the first unit marked an “historic event” for Egypt, made possible by
Egyptian-Russian cooperation.
Egypt
has been considering a nuclear plant at El-Dabaa on and off since the 1980s.
Contracts for the plant came into effect in 2017, but the start of construction
was delayed for several years.
Rosatom
received approval from the Egyptian regulator to start construction on the
first unit last month.
The
statement gave no details on the cost or time frame for construction. In 2016,
Egypt said most of the construction cost would be covered by a $25 billion
Russian loan.
The
plant will use pressurized water reactors similar to those at Novovoronezh and
Leningrad nuclear power plants in Russia, and at a Belarusian plant that was
connected to the grid in November 2020, the joint statement said.
Egypt
rapidly expanded its power generation capacity over the past decade, notably
with large gas-fired plants built by Siemens, and now has a power surplus, with
plans to begin or expand electricity exports to several Middle Eastern countries.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Putin,
Saudi Crown Prince stress importance of OPEC+ coordination: Kremlin
21
July ,2022
Russia’s
President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
held a phone call and stressed the importance of further cooperation within the
OPEC+ framework, the Kremlin said on Thursday.
The
two leaders noted that Russia and Saudi Arabia are “consistently fulfilling
their obligations in order to maintain the necessary balance and stability in
the global energy market.”
They
also gave a “positive assessment” of bilateral relations and discussed
“expanding mutually beneficial trade and economic ties,” the Kremlin said.
The
two leaders also discussed the state of affairs in Syria and Putin brought up
the conclusions of the July 19 meeting in Tehran with the Presidents of Iran
and Turkey.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Israel’s
Supreme Court rules ‘disloyal’ citizens can be stripped of status
21
July ,2022
Israel’s
Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state can revoke the citizenship of
people who carry out actions that constitute a breach of trust against the
state, including terrorism, espionage or treason.
The
ruling addressed a 2008 Citizenship Law in Israel that gives the state
authority to revoke citizenship based on actions that constitute a “breach of
loyalty.”
It
came following separate appeals in the cases of two Palestinian citizens of
Israel who were convicted of carrying out attacks that killed Israeli citizens.
The two were handed long sentences but the state sought to strip them of
citizenship.
The
Supreme Court denied the removal of citizenship in these two cases based on
“serious procedural flaws” but ruled that the practice itself was
constitutional, even if a person became stateless as a result.
It
said in such cases, the interior minister would have to grant permanent
residency.
A
joint statement in response to the ruling by the Association for Civil Rights
in Israel and Adalah, an Arab rights group, called the law discriminatory and
said it “will likely be used exclusively against Palestinian citizens of
Israel.”
“There
are many cases of Jews in Israel who took part in terror and not even once has
the interior ministry thought to appeal to revoke their citizenship,” the
ACRI’s Oded Feller told Reuters. “The only cases that were submitted to the
court were of Arab citizens.”
While
many countries have laws that allow revocation of citizenship, “leaving someone
stateless, without any other citizenship, this is something else,” Feller said,
adding that the law can be applied whether a person was convicted or merely
suspected of carrying out security-related offences.
In
the court statement, the justices acknowledged that leaving a person stateless
challenged international law standards, but the majority opinion was that “the
difficulty in itself does not render the entire practice as unconstitutional.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
Criticizes UNSC's Approach Towards Syria
2022-July-21
"Considering
the cooperation of the Syrian government in implementing its obligations under
the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC)s, it is expected that the Security
Council will not allocate its meetings to repeating positions and baseless
claims against the Syrian government, because this does not help the
effectiveness of the Security Council," Ershadi said addressing a meeting
of the Security Council on Syria.
The
full text of the Iranian ambassador's address to the UNSC meeting is as
follows:
Mr.
President,
As
a major victim of the use of chemical weapons, Iran once again condemns, in the
strongest terms, the use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, at any time,
and under any circumstances.
We
believe that only the complete destruction and elimination of all chemical
weapons on a global scale, as well as the implementation of all essential
measures to prevent their production, can ensure that chemical weapons are
never used again.
Meanwhile,
we call for the complete, effective, and non-discriminatory implementation of
the Chemical Weapons Convention, as well as the preservation of the OPCW's
authority.
Politicizing
the implementation of the Convention and exploiting the OPCW for politically
driven national goals bring about major negative consequences for the
Convention's authority and credibility as well as those of the Organization.
Therefore, the OPCW must not be used to accomplish politically motivated
national objectives.
While
Syria has fulfilled its obligations under the Convention and continues to
cooperate with the OPCW, it has been subjected to such attempts by some State
Parties in recent years.
We
commend Syria’s efforts in submitting its 104th monthly report to the OPCW
regarding activities in its territory related to the destruction of its
chemical weapons and their Production Facilities on 15 July 2022.
Syria
has also agreed to extend the tripartite agreement between the Syrian Arab
Republic, the OPCW, and the United Nations Office for Project Services for six
months, until December 31, 2022, in order to facilitate planning for the
organization's tasks and activities in Syria.
The
Government of Syria regularly provides information to the Technical Secretariat
of the OPCW about the possession and use of chemical materials by some
terrorist organizations, as well as the fabrication of chemical incidents in
order to blame the Syrian Army for such heinous acts.
The
proposed meeting in Damascus between the Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and
the Director-General of the OPCW is a proper move in the right direction,
moving the parties' discussions forward. We note that the Syrian government has
welcomed this meeting and hope that the Director-General of the OPCW will do
the same.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010430000417/Iran-Criicizes-UNSC's-Apprach-Twards-Syria
--------
Nasrallah:
Israel Not Allowed to Extract from Disputed Karish Gas Field If Lebanon’s
Rights Not Secured
2022-July-21
“Lebanon
is facing a historic and golden opportunity to get out of its financial crisis.
If we fail to take advantage of it, we would not be able to extract oil within
the next 100 years. We are not looking for moral gains out of extraction in the
Karish natural gas field. We rather want to tap into our oil reserves. There
would, therefore, be no room for oil or gas extraction in the entire region if
Lebanon does not get its right,” Seyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed a group of
Shia Muslim preachers and scholars in the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on
Tuesday, presstv reported.
He
said the issue is of greater importance today, as it comes in light of Europe’s
need for oil and gas amid the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and Russia's
move to stop sending gas to several European countries.
The
Hezbollah chief went on to stress that Lebanon does not want a war, but will
not permit the Israeli regime to violate its inalienable rights.
“We
would not like to cause a new military confrontation. We are only demanding our
rights. We are pushing up the costs for Americans and Israelis in order to
force them into surrender, because Lebanon is on the path to collapse,”
Nasrallah warned.
Nasrallah
highlighted that Amos Hochstein, the US mediator for indirect talks on border
demarcation between Lebanon and Israel, has not yet come up with an initiative.
“Even
though Lebanon has offered great concessions, it has not achieved anything
tangible yet,” the Hezbollah leader said.
Earlier
this month, Nasrallah said Hezbollah would not remain “silent” in the face of
the Israeli regime’s efforts to plunder Lebanon’s maritime energy resources.
He
made the remarks on June 9 after a vessel operated by a Greek company arrived
at the Karish gas field in the Eastern Mediterranean to extract gas for the
occupying regime.
“The
resistance cannot stay silent in the face of plunder of Lebanon’s resources.
The resistance’s essential duty is to protect Lebanon’s land, waters, oil, gas,
and dignity,” Nasrallah said, adding, “All options are on the table for the
resistance [towards enabling such protection].”
“The
enemy does not recognize the international law and resolutions,” he said,
stressing that it was not the international regulations but actually “pressure,
war of attrition, and resistance” that forced the occupying enemy to retreat
from Southern Lebanon and the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.
Lebanese
politicians hope that commercially viable hydrocarbon resources off Lebanon’s
coast could help the debt-ridden country out of its worst economic crisis in
decades.
In
February 2018, Lebanon signed its first contract for drilling in two blocks in
the Mediterranean with a consortium comprising energy giants Total, Eni, and Novatek.
Lebanon
and Israel took part in indirect talks to discuss demarcation in 2020. But the
talks stalled after Lebanon demanded a larger area, including part of the
Karish gas field, where Israel has given exploration rights to a Greek firm.
The
talks were supposed to discuss a Lebanese demand for 860 square kilometers (330
square miles) of territory in the disputed maritime area, according to a map
sent to the United Nations in 2011.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
says talks with Saudi Arabia to advance from security to political level
Syed
Zafar Mehdi
22.07.2022
Iran’s
foreign minister said Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to advance the
tension-easing talks between the two estranged neighbors from the security to
the political level.
Hossein
Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks in an interview with Iran’s state TV late on
Thursday, noting progress in the Baghdad-brokered talks that have been underway
since last April.
Iran’s
top diplomat said they received a message from Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad
Hussein last week, who said that the Saudis were ready to advance the talks to
the “political and public level.”
Iran,
he added, also expressed its readiness to continue the ongoing talks brokered
by the Iraqi government to the political level to restore their diplomatic
ties.
The
two Persian Gulf neighbors severed their diplomatic relations in 2016 after
protesters stormed Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad over the
execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia.
After
almost five years, the two neighbors last year agreed to hold peace talks
mediated by Baghdad. While both sides have noted progress in the talks, a
significant breakthrough has been eluding.
Amir-Abdollahian
said the two countries have reached some agreements in the five rounds of
talks, including on the reopening of embassies, lending credence to reports
already doing rounds.
Pertinently,
last week, after the Jeddah summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan
said Riyadh has “extended a hand of friendship to Iran.” The comments were
welcomed by Tehran.
Iran’s
top diplomat also announced that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait
would be sending their ambassadors to Tehran “in a few days,” saying the two
countries introduced their envoys, and Tehran agreed with the choices.
His
remarks came almost a week after UAE presidential adviser Anwar Gargash said
Abu Dhabi was considering reinstating its ambassador to Iran, seeking enhanced
economic ties with the country.
“We
are now indeed considering sending an ambassador to Iran,” Gargash told
journalists. “The next decade cannot be like the last decade. It is a decade
where ‘de-escalation’ should be the keyword.”
Amir-Abdollahian
also informed that Kuwait, which also snapped its diplomatic ties with Iran
over the same incident in 2016, will be sending its envoy back to Tehran in the
coming days.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
President
Rayeesi Hails Syrian People's Resistance
2022-July-21
The
Iranian president made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Syrian Foreign
Minister Faisal al-Mekdad in Tehran.
"I
am sure that the future will benefit the people of that country and the
patience and resistance of the Syrian people will make the future of the
country and the region bright," the Iranian president said.
President
Rayeesi reiterated that the Americans have no option but to withdraw from
Syria.
"America's
withdrawal from East of the Euphrates and the entire region is the fundamental
solution to the crises in West Asia," he added.
The
Iranian president, meantime, emphasized the need for the Syrian army to regain
its control over all of the borders of the Arab country.
“Syria’s
national sovereignty must be respected,” he said, adding that ignoring the
issues he mentioned will cause various threats.
The
top Syrian diplomat conveyed President Bashar al-Assad’s greetings to Iran's
leaders and appreciated Tehran's hosting of the latest round of talks to
establish peace in his country.
In
a relevant development earlier on Wednesday, Mekdad met with his Iranian counterpart
Hossein Amir Abdollahian.
During
a press joint press briefing after the meeting, the Syrian foreign minister
said that “nothing can threaten Syria's independence and sovereignty".
Amir
Abdollahian also expressed concern regarding a fresh potential Turkish invasion
of Northern Syria under the pretext of fighting "terrorists".
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010430000440/Presiden-Rayeesi-Hails-Syrian-Peple's-Resisance
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Iran
Summons Argentine Envoy Over Exit Restrictions on Plane Crew
2022-July-21
The
Argentinean officials seized the passports of the Iranian nationals last month
after the plane was prevented from landing in neighboring Uruguay and was
returned to Argentina.
The
Iranian foreign ministry, meanwhile, expressed "grave concern" on the
part of the Iranian government and the crewmembers’ families over the continued
confiscation of the Iranians’ travel documents, calling their mistreatment “a
manifestation of violation of human rights.”
Meeting
with the Argentinean diplomat, Iran’s Foreign Ministry officials called the
allegations leveled against the Iranians “unfounded,” and protested the lengthy
nature of the Argentinean judge’s investigation into the case.
“The
situation concerning the Venezuelan plane and its Iranian crew is within the
framework of the international law and aviation conventions, [and are
therefore] completely legal,” the Argentinean official was told.
Back
then, an Argentinean judge ordered the crew’s documents to be held after
Security Minister Anibal Fernandez said information had been received from “foreign
organizations” that some among the crew might be linked to companies with ties
to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Source:
Fars News Agency
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Top
Commander Lauds Growing Trend of Iran-Oman Military Ties
2022-July-21
General
Baqeri made the remarks in a meeting with the Commander of the Royal Navy of
Oman (CRNO) Rear Admiral Saif Al Rahbi.
"In
matters related to the security of the region and other matters, the policies
of the two countries are coordinated and aligned," the top Iranian
commander said.
General
Baqeri pointed out that the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman as common areas are of vital importance for Iran
and Oman, and said, "These areas are considered one of the areas of close
cooperation between the two countries."
He
further that Iran is establishing a maritime security center in Chabahar and
the country welcomes the presence of the Omani side in the center, as well as
holding joint exercises.
"Certainly,
the presence of foreigners in the common region of the two countries has no
effect other than insecurity, and the expansion of military relations between
Iran and Oman is definitely in the interest of the nations of the region,
especially the people of the two countries," he added.
In
a relevant development earlier, Commander of Iranian Army's Navy Rear Admiral
Shahram Irani discussed broadening of naval cooperation with the Omani Navy
commanders.
General
Irani said that General Al Rahbi's visit will strengthen the friendly relations
between Iran and Oman as two important countries on both sides of the Strait of
Hormuz, adding that from now on, sharing technical knowledge between the two
navies of Iran and Oman will accelerate.
Source:
Fars News Agency
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Africa
Nigerians
against Muslim-Muslim ticket because of Buhari and APC’s failures, says Eya
22
July 2022
Why
do you think agitation against Muslim-Muslim ticket is resounding?
Nigeria
has a problem; the problem of forgetting sequences and they jump at current
situations and address it as if that is the thing. Everything has a background.
I had said earlier that part of the problems of Nigeria is the 1999
Constitution, which clearly was imposed on the people. Obasanjo was president
in 1999 but he did not know anything about that constitution until he was sworn
in. He swore on a constitution he would protect which he had not read. The
truth is that the 1999 Constitution was parochial and developed by the Nigerian
military and in the interest of a part of the country against the others.
Everything in that constitution is lopsided against some sections of the
country and everybody is expected to share from the same pot.
This
is where the trouble started and we have gone from bad to worse. So because the
current administration of the country has encouraged divide and rule and
continued to treat certain parts of the country as if they are slaves,
agitation against the same faith ticket will exist. Because the Muhammadu Buhari-led
government has treated the economy with disdain. Agitation against the same
faith presidential ticket will grow; because there is insecurity, which the
government has failed to address, and people are bound to reject anything
coming from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Let me say that myopic
leadership tendencies created anger over the same faith ticket and it is bound
to continue unless those who foisted it leave the scene.
Some
are arguing that Nigerians once voted Muslim-Muslim ticket for Abiola and
Kingibe
I
said Nigerians never sat down anywhere to write the present Constitution. It is
an imposition by the military. Besides, who are the people trying to benefit
from the Muslim-Muslim ticket? Are they people Nigerians can trust? Who are the
people behind them? These are the key questions. Remember that MKO Abiola was
an established international businessman before he joined politics. Abiola was
a known name in telecommunications. He made money as a businessman before he
entered politics. He was a philanthropist and showed pedigree in his business.
He reached out to all parts irrespective of the fact that he was a Muslim. He
did not differentiate. Abiola was free and established himself. At that time,
the military had served several years in power and Nigerians wanted a change to
the civil rule. So it didn’t matter to Nigerians whether there were two Muslims
or not because the people wanted to restore Nigeria. It was a different
environment compared with what we have now. The people didn’t care. Abiola was
1993 and when you compare it with now that Muhammadu Buhari is in power, you
discover that Nigerians have gone through a lot of hell. So many things that
could have made the country great have been jettisoned.
The
Buhari campaign came up with the change mantra following the level of
corruption going on in the government of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). I
am of the opinion however that what should be the paramount concern of
Nigerians a few months before the election is a scorecard. PDP with all its
corruption ruled us from 1999 to 2014 and Nigerians should begin to look back
at their social condition, their security condition, and economic and political
condition and begin to compare those conditions with that of today.
The
APC administration has been there since 2015, what has our situation been? Have
things changed for the better? Nigeria has been so divided, particularly in the
last seven years. Buhari’s agenda has resurrected ethnicity and religion and
that is why there is so much controversy in the land. The blame should be on
Buhari for his method. Tinubu has been the national leader of the APC, which is
the party in power; what has he done to call attention to the level of deceit
and decay as well as the suffering of Nigerians? Does it mean that he remained
aloof in the guise of coming in as president, but to do what? What else is he
coming to do? Who is his running mate and what do Nigerians think about him?
Nigerians
are fighting and opposing the Muslim-Muslim ticket because of what has happened
in the last seven years that Buhari has run the country. He has ensured that
only one region and his religion dominate in every aspect of the country.
You
cannot be talking about security without the three major tribes being involved.
But in the case of Buhari, he removed the tripod and appointed only the Fulani.
Buhari is the first leader, who defied the federal character of Nigeria and the
Commission could not ask questions. Let us publish how the ministries and
parastatals are headed and you will agree with me that his appointments are
lopsided. In a country that is secular,
somebody who studied Sharia law was appointed a Chief Justice of Nigeria. Was that the best Nigeria could boast of?
Look
at the issue of corruption and tell me whether we are fighting or encouraging
corruption. If we talk about zoning, after the north it should be the south.
So, why did it become the turn of the south and we started prevaricating on
whether to give it to them or not? What happened at the presidential primaries
of the APC and PDP, does it mean that the North and Southwest are the owners of
the country? Why won’t we tell ourselves the truth and allow the country to
run? PDP leaders ganged up and took their ticket to the north while the APC in
turn took theirs to Southwest, even when there are regions that have not been
ruled for the first time?
The
same presidential primaries seem to have thrown up regional contests with
Atiku, Tinubu and Obi coming from different regions. Does it look like people
will vote along regional interests in 2023?
I
want to talk as a concerned Nigerian and I think we must be very careful. Your observation is right but it should not
have been so if we had put equity and fairness in our dealings. If we practice
what we preach, the person Nigerians should be voting for in 2023 should be one
that is best suited for the job. But because of our parochial interests and
desire to cling to power, that division is still on. If we are one, Tinubu
should not have accepted the presidential ticket of APC when it was zoned to
the South. He should have allowed an Igbo man to run, knowing that the
Southeast remained the only region that has not tasted power at that level. He
decided to join the bandwagon against the zone.
The
PDP did the same when its leaders conspired against the Southeast. That was why
Peter Obi resigned from the party after buying the presidential nomination
forms to pick the presidential ticket of the Labour Party.
Despite
the colouration being imported into the 2023 contest, I want to, however, warn
the Igbo not to make Peter Obi’s candidature an Igbo project because if they
do, it will fail. This is because, those who planned that no Igbo person no
matter how good he is, will not be president will ensure that he does not
emerge. What has happened so far has shown that Obi and his running mate have
what it takes to move the country forward.
I think he is Godsend from nowhere.
We need to rescue this country. Corruption has grown bigger and with the
level of consciousness going on now, I think there is hope for Nigeria.
The
fuss over the presidential primary of the PDP is yet to settle; how do you read
the situation?
I
am neither of the PDP nor of any other political party. I am however a Nigerian
who believes that the country should move forward and it is time we make the
needed change since those we entrusted with power have failed us. It is about
ideology and principle and if you ask me, where is the ideology and where is
the principle?
The
challenge the PDP has at the moment is how to manage the fallout from its
presidential primary. One of the governors who very much believed he would get
the nomination of the party, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, unfortunately, did
not get the support of some of his colleagues. It is also the problem of the
party betraying its own constitution as it regards zoning. So, who wouldn’t
complain? Wike said he built the PDP. He has done very well in the Rivers
state. I didn’t like him when he was Minister of Education because of the role
he played in the leadership of the University of Nigeria, which is my alma
mater. But he has shown class as governor of Rivers State. He changed the
infrastructure of the place and you could hardly know Port Harcourt. He has put
in new ideas whereas people thought that he was a combatant. But the problem
with him is that he has no diplomacy.
We
saw what happened at the presidential primary as well as the choice of the
presidential running mate. His colleagues rejected him and that affected his
angling for the choice of a running mate. So the fuss is about interests. It is
about who gets what. Atiku made a better choice in Okowa as running mate. Okowa
is from Delta State and an Igbo. Wike couldn’t get the nomination because of
his attitude and since then, he thinks that the party will lose in the election
without him. That is the posturing of the Nigerian politician. It is the people
that should have the last say in the real sense of the word but that does not
happen in our clime. The implication is that appeasing him will go a long way
in giving his party victory in the election.
There
are uncertainties over the 2023 general elections, such as insecurity and
vote-buying. Could these fears be real?
The
way and manner the President has gone about security in the last seven years
does not show seriousness and this is part of the fears being expressed over
the 2023 general elections. We have not
been able to contain insecurity and Nigerians are dying anyhow. People are
kidnapped in their homes and farmlands and those who kidnap them ask for huge
ransom. Boko Haram is holding sway in
the North; in the South, especially Southeast, it is unknown gunmen. Who
created insecurity? Boko Haram has continued to attack facilities in the
country and recently, they attacked the President’s advance team and went to
Kuje prison. And all he could say was that “I am disappointed”.
Boko
Haram strikes anywhere they want. Our farmers don’t go to the farms anymore.
This government is a failure. Nigeria has become a failed state and that is why
I am emphasizing that we should begin to ask questions regarding the scorecards
of the two political parties that have ruled us since 1999. I think we should
try to change. We should try other political parties. The Obi phenomenon has
become something else because the people seem to have woken up from their
slumber.
Source:
Guardian Nigeria
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A new Libyan force emerges, accused of abusing migrants
Jul
22, 2022
CAIRO:
The Moroccan man had been stopped before at sea in his multiple attempts to
cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe. But his most recent time was
different. The Libyan force that intercepted the boat full of some 50 migrants
was more brutal.
The
armed men beat and humiliated the migrants, he recalled. They were then taken
to a detention facility where for months and weeks they were severely beaten,
abused and tortured.
He
said he was repeatedly beaten with rifle butts and whipped with rubber hoses.
Badges
on their uniform showed the affiliation of the gunmen, he said: the
Stabilisation Support Authority (SSA).
The
SSA, an umbrella group of militias, has risen to become one of the main forces
carrying out Libya's European Union-aided effort to stop migrants from crossing
to European shores.
Though
migrants have long been brutalised in Libya, rights groups and former detainees
say the abuse is taking on a more organised and dangerous nature under this
feared new body. And officials say it also is benefiting from EU support.
The
SSA has come to rival in strength the official anti-migrant agencies like the
coast guard and navy. But unlike them, it reports directly to Libya's
Tripoli-based presidential council and is not subject to EU and UN scrutiny
intended to prevent rights abuses.
More
than a dozen migrants interviewed by the Associated Press told of how they were
brutalised by the SSA while being held in its detention facility in the town of
Maya on Tripoli's western outskirts.
The
migrants, fearing retaliation, spoke on condition of anonymity or that they be
identified only by their first names. They were all trying to get out of Libya.
"All
I want is to leave this hell," said Rabei, a 32-year-old Egyptian from a
Nile Delta province, describing his feelings before his release earlier this
year.
He
described repeatedly seeing guards beat migrants into unconsciousness, then
drag them away. He doesn't know whether any of them are still alive.
The
Stabilisation Support Authority did not respond calls and messages from the AP
seeking comment.
Previously,
the group and the Tripoli-based government dismissed allegations of abuses
against migrants in statements following a report by the rights group Amnesty
International.
Hundreds
of thousands of migrants from North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle
East move through Libya trying to reach Europe.
For
years, Libyan militias have been notorious for involvement in human trafficking
and for detaining migrants, abusing them and extorting money from them.
Most
notorious is the SSA's detention centre, set up in a complex that was once a
state-run factory in the town of Maya.
UN
agencies and other groups working on migrants have no access to the site,
according to spokeswoman for the Intentional Organisation for Migration, Safa
Msehli.
Up
to 1,800 migrants have been held there since its creation, Libya Crimes Watch
estimates. Women and children among the detainees are held in a separate part
of the prison, the group said.
Libya
Crimes Watch and Amnesty International separately documented rampant abuses at
Maya prison, including torture, rape, forced labour and forced prostitution, as
well as severe overcrowding and lack of food and water.
Ramadan,
an Egyptian recently released from Maya, recalled how one young Moroccan was
severely beaten after being caught trying to escape.
For
a week, he was left in the cell, bleeding and his wounds festering as other
migrants pleaded with guards to take him to a hospital.
Finally,
the guards dragged him away. "He was still alive. We don't know what
happened to him," Ramadan said.
Torn
by civil war since 2011, Libya is divided between rival governments in the east
and west, each backed by international patrons and innumerable armed militias
on the ground.
In
a bid to stem the flow of migrants, the European Union has given the government
in Tripoli more than $500 million since 2015.
The
funds are intended to beef up Libya's coast guard, reinforce Libya's southern
border and improve conditions for migrants in detention centres run by the
Interior Ministry.
The
EU and the UN are supposed to monitor the detention facilities to ensure
migrants are properly treated. In reality, abuses have been rampant.
The
SSA is not subject even to that nominal level of monitoring. It was created in
January 2021 and recognised by the Tripoli-based government of the time, which
mandated it to carry out a number of security tasks - including preventing
illegal migration.
It
is led by Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, an infamous warlord known as "Gheniwa"
who is accused by Amnesty International of war crimes and other serious rights
violations over the past decade.
It
is still funded by the Tripoli government, now headed by Prime Minister
Abdelhamid Dbeibah, one of Libya's two rival administrations claiming to
govern.
In
2021, the government allocated the equivalent of around USD 9 million for the
alliance. It has also given the SSA ad hoc payments, most recently one in
February amounting to the equivalent of $28 million, according to government
officials and Amnesty International.
A
former head of the coast guard said the SSA indirectly draws money from the
funds given by the European Union. He and other officials spoke on condition of
anonymity for fear of reprisal. EU officials did not respond the AP requests
for comment on the SSA.
The
group's operations are intermingled with the coast guard, officials from the
navy and coast guard said.
In
the western town of Zawiya, for example, the coast guard unit "virtually
belongs to them. It's a separate unit in name only", one navy official
said.
SSA
vessels are maintained by the navy, which benefits from the EU funds, another
naval official said.
He
said that the SSA has also become involved in the continual coordination
between Libyan naval authorities and the European border agency, Frontex.
In
several cases, its fighters have shot and killed migrants at sea during
interceptions of boats.
Two
Egyptian migrants died earlier this year in Maya prison, according to migrants
and activists.
A
report by UN experts documented torture and abuse at the Maya prison and said
at least three people were abused to death as of December 2021.
The
report said the prison's chief, Mohamed al-Kabouti, was personally involved in
beating detainees.
"They
keep beating you for hours, with anything they have clubs, rifle butts, iron
bars. Or a few of them just keep hammering at you with kicks and punches and
rifle butts," recalled Rabei, the Egyptian migrant, who was held for three
months until he could pay around $650 in ransom. "Eventually you just wish
you were dead from all the beating."
Source:
Times Of India
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Somalia’s
al-Shabab group makes rare attack near Ethiopia border
21
July ,2022
Militants
from Somali extremist group al-Shabab attacked two villages near the border
with Ethiopia, killing 17 people including three civilians and Ethiopian police
officers inside Somali territory while 63 of its fighters were killed, an
Ethiopian security commander at the scene said.
The
rare border-area attack occurred on Wednesday when fighters of the
al-Qaeda-linked group raided Yeed and Aato villages in Somalia’s Bakool region
after the killing days earlier of one of their commanders on the Ethiopian side
of the border, the Ethiopian commander said.
Attacks
by al-Shabab in areas near Ethiopia’s border are rare because of a robust
Ethiopian security presence in the region and inside Somalia, where they are
also part of an African peacekeeping force.
An
al-Shabab commander had crossed the border to create a unit in Ethiopia, said
the Ethiopian commander, who asked not to be named as he was not authorized to
speak to the media.
The
Ethiopian commander had initially put the death toll at 17 Ethiopian police
officers killed but later clarified that civilians were among the dead.
He
said the regional Ethiopian police seized heavy machine guns and vehicles from
al-Shabab fighters.
He
said he had seen dozens of al-Shabab dead.
Al-Shabab’s
military operation spokesperson, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said the group’s fighters
had captured the two villages and killed dozens of Ethiopian police officers
there. He also said the group seized weapons from the Ethiopian police.
Musab
declined to comment on al-Shabab’s death toll.
Casualty
figures given by al-Shabab and the authorities in Somalia or elsewhere are
often significantly different. Reuters is generally unable to independently
verify the numbers.
Somalia
Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre’s office said he had spoken about the attack
with the president of Somalia’s southwest region, where Bakool is located. The
president of Ethiopia’s Somali region had no comment on the attack.
Barre’s
office said he had ordered security and relief agencies to respond to the
situation in Bakool.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Algeria
arrests former Tunisian intelligence chief, hands him over to Tunisia
21
July ,2022
Algeria
arrested former Tunisian intelligence chief Lazhar Longo and handed him over to
Tunisia after he turned up in the neighboring country, a Tunisian security
official told Reuters on Thursday.
Longo,
who also served as a Tunisian security attaché in Paris, was sacked and placed
under house arrest last year after President Kais Saied seized control of
executive power and closed the parliament.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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Libya's
parliament speaker affirms rapprochement with Türkiye
Moataz
Wanees
21.07.2022
TRIPOLI,
Libya
The
speaker of Libya's parliament has affirmed a rapprochement with Türkiye,
stating that he would visit Ankara in the near future.
"There
is rapprochement with Türkiye ... there is no permanent rupture or lasting
adversary. Politics is flexible and subject to development and change,"
Aguila Saleh said late on Wednesday in an interview with a local broadcaster.
"A
visit to Türkiye is planned, but it has yet to be scheduled due to recent
events in Libya," he told Al-Massar TV.
Early
in July, Libyan protesters stormed and set fire to the premises of the
Tobruk-based House of Representatives (parliament), calling for the abolition
of legislative and executive bodies and the holding of elections as soon as
possible.
The
Tobruk-based parliament elected Fathi Bashagha as prime minister in a Feb. 10
session, which most deputies in the country's west did not attend on the
grounds that the mandate of the Government of National Unity (GNU) had expired
on Dec. 24, 2021. On March 1, the Bashagha-led government received a vote of
confidence.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/libyas-parliament-speaker-affirms-rapprochement-with-turkiye/2642393
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pakistan-christian-ashfaq-masih--blasphemy/d/127543