Pakistan Democratic Movement Struggle against Govt, Not Army: PDM Leaders
14
January 2021
PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses PDM
supporters at a rally in Loralai. — DawnNewsTV
-----
•
Human Rights Groups: Chinese Tech Patents Tools That Can Detect, Track Uighur
Muslims
•
US Official Reveals Israel Carried Out Attacks On Eastern Syria Using American
Intelligence
•
57 Killed In Deadliest Israeli Strikes on Syria in Years: Monitor
•
Iran Dismisses Pompeo’s ‘Warmongering Lies’ On Iran Being New Base for Al-Qaeda
•
UN Chief Calls for Inclusive Elections In Uganda
•
Peace Talks Are Faltering, Violence Has Surged, And U.S. Troops Are Pulling
Out. Can The Afghan Government Withstand The Pressure?
•
'We Know They Won't Vote For Us': Bengal BJP's Outreach Drive To Bypass Muslim
Pockets
•
Three Jailed UK Terrorism Offenders Charged With Attacking Prison Officer
Pakistan
•
Pakistan Democratic Movement Struggle against Govt, Not Army: PDM Leaders
•
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Blames Its Agent In US For ‘Illegal Funding’
•
Terror-Haven Pakistan Calls RSS ‘Violent Nationalist Group’ At UNSC, Demands
Ban On Hindutva Organisation
•
IHC restrains Naeem Bokhari from working as PTV chairman
•
Shahzad Akbar serves PML-N's Uzma Bukhari legal notice for 'defamatory
statements'
•
Bilawal, Zardari not invited to Biden's inauguration: Farhatullah Babar
•
In Quetta visit, Army chief assures justice to families of Mach massacre
victims
•
Pakistan attempts to prosecute Ahmadi US citizens for digital blasphemy
--------
Southeast
Asia
•
Human Rights Groups: Chinese Tech Patents Tools That Can Detect, Track Uighur
Muslims
•
Human Rights Watch Slams China’s ‘Appalling Year’ Of Violations
•
Malaysia saw ‘reversal’ in human rights after Perikatan came into power, says
international watchdog
--------
North
America
•
US Official Reveals Israel Carried Out Attacks On Eastern Syria Using American
Intelligence
•
Schumer says Democrats will probe extremist groups after Capitol attack
•
US designates Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Unit leader Abu Fadak as
terrorist
•
Israel struck Syria after US' Pompeo, Mossad’s Cohen discussed airstrike: US
official
•
20,000 US troops to deploy for Biden’s inauguration as FBI warns of more
pro-Trump violence
•
A week before Trump's term ends, US Treasury imposes new sanctions on Iranian
foundations
•
U.S. imposes counter terrorism sanctions on 5 people: Treasury website
--------
Arab
World
•
57 Killed In Deadliest Israeli Strikes on Syria in Years: Monitor
•
Israeli aggression on areas in Deir Ezzor and Albu Kamal in Syria: State media
•
Kuwait's cabinet submits resignation in standoff with parliament
•
Iran fires cruise missiles as part of drill in Gulf of Oman: State media
•
Investments in Saudi Arabia’s economy will reach six trillion dollars: Crown
Prince
•
UAE’s Emirates Post Adds Israel to Its Network of Operations: WAM
•
Syria condemns new Israeli raids, urges UN action
•
Is Al-Qaeda affiliate expanding attacks beyond Syrian town of Idlib?
--------
Mideast
•
Iran Dismisses Pompeo’s ‘Warmongering Lies’ On Iran Being New Base for Al-Qaeda
•
Iran Fires Different Naval Cruise Missiles on 2nd Day of Massive Drills
•
Zarif: Iraqi Arrest Warrant for Trump Result of Iran’s Pursuit
•
IRGC Commander: Israel Rotten Inwardly, Iran Not Dependent on JCPOA
•
Iran Denounces US’ Labelling of Cuba as Sponsor of Terrorism
•
Eqtedar 99 Drill Starts in Oman Sea, Indian Ocean with Huge Vessel Joining
Iran’s Navy
•
Aggressors who relied on Trump must stop Yemen war: Houthis
•
Iran Says US Blacklisting Of Yemen’s Ansarullah Will Kill Political Process,
Talks
•
US move to designate Houthis terrorist organization will help Yemen peace
efforts: Officials, analysts
--------
Africa
•
UN Chief Calls for Inclusive Elections In Uganda
•
Six Nigerian Soldiers Killed In B'Haram Ambush In Yobe
•
West Africa: Boko Haram Blocks Lake Chad Trade Routes
•
Tensions rise at Sudan-Ethiopia disputed border
•
Sudan accuses Ethiopia of violating its airspace
•
Central African Republic forces thwart rebel attempt to seize capital Bangui
•
Jordanian sentenced to death for 2019 tourist stabbings
--------
South
Asia
•
Peace Talks Are Faltering, Violence Has Surged, And U.S. Troops Are Pulling
Out. Can The Afghan Government Withstand The Pressure?
•
Afghan Military Releases 13 Civilians, Policeman from Taliban Prison
•
Civilians, Policeman Rescued From the Clutches of Taliban
•
Gov't forces free 13 from Taliban jail in S. Afghanistan
--------
India
•
'We Know They Won't Vote For Us': Bengal BJP's Outreach Drive To Bypass Muslim
Pockets
•
MP Civil Society Groups Write To President Kovind Demanding Deferring Of ‘Love
Jihad’ Law
•
Babri Mosque Demolition Case: HC Adjourns for 2 Weeks Hearing on Plea against
Acquittal of All 32 Accused
•
Don’t Demolish Mosques for Road Widening: Telangana State Waqf Board
•
In Kabul, Ajit Doval calls for reining in terror groups for lasting peace
•
Secret tunnel on India-Pak border reveals PM Imran Khan’s real plans
•
UP: FIR against Muslim man from Karnataka after teen goes missing
•
Court extends Munawar Faruqui remand by two weeks
•
If Muslims don't trust India, they can go to Pak, says BJP's Sangeet Som amid
concerns over vaccine
--------
Europe
•
Three Jailed UK Terrorism Offenders Charged With Attacking Prison Officer
•
French police detain 7 in probe of teacher's beheading
•
France repatriates 7 minors from Syria
•
UK welcomes exploratory talks between Turkey, Greece
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/pakistan-democratic-movement-struggle-govt/d/124075
--------
Pakistan
Democratic Movement Struggle against Govt, Not Army: PDM Leaders
Saleem
Shahid
January
14, 2021
PDM president Maulana Fazlur Rehman addresses PDM
supporters at a rally in Loralai. — DawnNewsTV
-----
QUETTA:
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) leaders said on Wednesday that their
struggle was not against the army but against the government which had been
imposed on the country after stealing public mandate through election rigging.
Speaking
at a public meeting in Loralai, they said that a government which was
“selected” against the will of the people had no right to remain in power and
soon a government would be established according to the wishes of the people as
a result of the democratic struggle launched by the 10-party opposition
alliance across the country.
The
PDM leaders said that now the political forces would accept only supremacy of
the people and their elected institutions as they had launched a movement for
restoration of ‘real democracy’, supremacy of constitution and an independent
parliament.
PDM
president Maulana Fazlur Rehman, vice president Mehmood Khan Achakzai, JUI-F
secretary general Maulana Ghafoor Haideri, senior vice president of BNP-Mengal
Abdul Wali Kakar, National Party Senator Mir Kabir Mohammad Shahi and ANP
leader Asghar Khan Achakzai spoke at the public meeting. Senator Yaqoob Khan
Nasar and Ali Madad Jattak represented PML-N and PPP, respectively, as Maryam
Nawaz and Bilawal Bhutto- Zardari did not reach Loralai.
Resignations
to be submitted at right time, Fazl tells Loralai rally
Maulana
Fazl said: “Our war is not against the army. We have launched a struggle for
upholding supremacy of the Constitution and for a parliament which is elected
by the people in a free, fair and impartial election.”
He
said that the PDM wanted to make it clear to the establishment that it would
continue to fight those who considered the Constitution a piece of paper at
every forum, including the parliament.
The
PDM president said: “We will definitely submit our resignations at the right
time. The lawmakers of all member parties of PDM have submitted their
resignations to their leadership.”
He
said that when he was in opposition, Imran Khan had told the nation that if
there was inflation in the country, the prime minister would be responsible for
it. “Today the people are so fed up with inflation that they are committing
suicide while throwing their children into rivers but the prime minister does
not care.”
Maulana
Fazl said if the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf continued to rule it, Pakistan would
face a ‘horrible tsunami’ that would destroy the country economically and
politically.
He
said that the government’s foreign policy had led to the country’s isolation in
the world as Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and even China had their reservations on
different issues. “Saudi Arabia and UAE are asking for return of loans they
extended to Pakistan,” the JUI-F chief said.
Mehmood
Achakzai said the PDM had launched a movement for restoration of democracy and
the emergence of a Pakistan in which rights of all the nationalities would be
secure and parliament would enjoy supremacy.
“We
are not begging anybody. We just want that our rights should be recognised and
all nationalities living in the country should have rights on their natural
resources,” Mr Achakzai said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601356/pdm-struggle-against-govt-not-army-leaders
--------
Human
Rights Groups: Chinese Tech Patents Tools That Can Detect, Track Uighur Muslims
Thomson
Reuters Foundation
January
14, 2021
Chinese technology giants have registered patents
for tools that can detect, track and monitor Uighurs in a move human rights
groups fear could entrench oppression of the Muslim minority.
------
BERLIN:
Chinese technology giants have registered patents for tools that can detect,
track and monitor Uighurs in a move human rights groups fear could entrench
oppression of the Muslim minority.
The
series of patents, filed as far back as 2017, were unearthed by IPVM, a video
surveillance research firm.
In
a report published on Tuesday, IPVM reveals a cluster of patents for systems
that could be used to analyse images for the presence of Uighurs, and hook into
ongoing surveillance camera and facial recognition networks.
“We
cannot ignore the fact that these technologies have been developed in order to
be able to efficiently carry out … brutal oppression,” Rushan Abbas, executive
director of the rights group Campaign for Uyghurs, told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
The
firms could not be reached for comment, but in responses to IPVM, they denied
that the patent applications represented the intended use of their
technologies.
United
Nations officials have said China is transforming the Xinjiang region, where
many Uighurs live, into a “massive internment camp”, with the patented tracing
tech seen by rights groups as key to the crackdown.
“These
technologies allow police in China to go through a large database of faces, and
flag faces that the AI has marked as non-Chinese, or Uighurs,” says Charles
Rollet, a researcher with IPVM.
The
UN estimates that more than a million Chinese Muslims, many of whom are from
the minority Uighur ethnicity, have been detained in the province of Xinjiang,
where activists say crimes against humanity and genocide are taking place.
China
has denied any abuse and says its camps in the region provide vocational
training and help fight extremism.
Its
embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Research
by human rights groups suggests that Chinese tech firms are building Uighur
detection systems, using facial recognition to alert authorities to peoples’
whereabouts, and predictive policing tools to identify which to detain.
Maya
Wang of Human Rights Watch said the world should be alarmed by the use of tech
in Uighur persecution.
“Imagine
if the US were a full-on dictatorship, imprisoning Black people just for being
Black, and there was technology deployed across the country to detect where
Black people were, so they could be hunted down,” she said.
“That’s
what we are seeing in China — and the world needs to pay way more attention.”
US
spillover
The
debate over the role of corporations in China’s treatment of the Uighurs is
increasingly spilling over internationally, with the US applying sanctions to
Chinese tech firms accused of abetting the persecution.
The
incoming Biden administration this week returned a donation from former US
senator Barbara Boxer, who had registered as a lobbyist for Hikvision, a video
surveillance firm blacklisted by the US government in 2019.
Boxer’s
firm, Mercury Public Affairs, did not respond to a request for comment.
According
to the IPVM report, many top China security camera manufacturers have offered
“Uyghurs analytics”, including the three largest firms: Hikvision, Dahua and
Uniview.
Hikvision
told Reuters in 2019 that the firm “takes global human rights very seriously”
and that its technology was also used in shops, traffic control and commercial
buildings.
One
patent application, filed by the Chinese tech giant Huawei in conjunction with
the Chinese Academy of Sciences, describes how AI can tell if a pedestrian is
Uighur or not.
Huawei,
according to IPVM, said it would amend the patent.
The
company did not respond to a Thomson Reuters Foundation request for comment.
Another
patent from the facial recognition start-up Megvii mentions using a tool that
can tell if Uighurs are present.
Megvii
said the patent application had been misunderstood, according to the report.
The firm did not respond to a request for comment by the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
The
scale of persecution means tech firms in China will be increasingly implicated
in some form of abuse, Rollet said.
“If
you’re a Chinese tech company — in particular one that builds facial
recognition — and the police are customers, you are going to have this kind of
Uighur-detecting analytics,” he said.
The
report also discovered similar patents filed by firms that are not directly
linked to surveillance.
A
patent field by the e-commerce giant Alibaba described technology to detect
race, though it did not specify Uighurs.
“I
am shocked there are so many technology firms helping the Chinese government
watch us,” said Jevlan Shirmemmet, a Uighur activist living in Turkey who says
his mother is detained in a Chinese internment camp.
“If
this technology helps them persecute Uighur people — why are they making it.”
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2021/01/14/chinese-tech-patents-tools-that-can-detect-track-uighur-muslims/
--------
US
Official Reveals Israel Carried Out Attacks On Eastern Syria Using American Intelligence
13
January 2021
This combination of photos shows US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo (L) and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP and
Miriam Alster/Flash90)
------
A
senior US intelligence official says recent airstrikes on eastern parts of
Syria near the Iraqi border were carried out by Israel with intelligence
provided by the United States.
Syria's
official news agency SANA said the air assaults were carried out on the city of
Dayr al-Zawr and the town of al-Bukamal in the early hours of Wednesday.
SANA,
citing a military source, said that Israel launched the air aggression “exactly
01:10 at dawn,” adding that officials were assessing if any damage or
casualties were caused.
The
US official with knowledge of the attack, who requested anonymity, told the
Associated Press that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed the raid
with Yossi Cohen, chief of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, at a public meeting in a
Washington restaurant on Monday.
The
official claimed the attack hit Iranian-linked targets, alleging the strikes
targeted a series of warehouses used to store and stage Iranian weapons.
Israel
has already claimed to have hit Iranian targets and positions in Syria. Iranian
officials have vehemently refuted the allegations, stressing that such
"lies" will not impede Tehran's advisory assistance to Damascus in
its anti-terror fight.
Iran
says its presence in the Arab country has always assumed an advisory form,
never featuring deployment of servicemen or military units.
57
killed in deadliest Israeli raid in years
Meanwhile,
the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Israeli air force
carried out more than 18 attacks against multiple targets in the area stretching
from Dayr al-Zawr to the al-Bukamal desert.
At
least 57 people were killed and 37 others were also wounded in the raids,
according to the Observatory.
The
attacks came after Syria said last week that the country’s air defense systems
responded to an Israeli air strike over southern Damascus, shooting down most
of the projectiles.
Syria’s
missile defense systems have thwarted many of the Israeli attacks against its
military targets.
The
Israeli army has carried out air and missile raids on Syria since a
foreign-backed war broke out in the Arab country in 2011.
The
Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies
are aiding and abetting the Takfiri terrorist groups that have wreaked havoc in
the country.
Israel
has been a main supporter of the terrorist groups fighting the government of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Damascus
has on numerous occasions condemned Israel’s continued attacks on Syria’s soil,
calling on the United Nations Security Council to stop the recurrence of such
aggression, which are in contravention of all international laws and
regulations.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/13/642928/US-official-says-Israel-attack-against-Syria-with-American-intelligence-Iran
--------
57
killed in deadliest Israeli strikes on Syria in years: monitor
January
13, 2021
Israeli
raids targeting arms depots and military positions in eastern Syria killed 57
regime loyalists, in the deadliest such strikes since the start of the
conflict, a monitor said on Wednesday.
The
Israeli air force carried out more than 18 strikes against multiple targets in
an area stretching from the eastern town of Deir Ezzor to the Iraqi border, the
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
At
least 14 Syrian regime forces, 16 Iraqi militia fighters, and 11 Afghan members
of the pro-Iran Fatimid Brigade were among those killed, the Britain-based
monitoring group said. At least 37 others were wounded.
Paramilitaries
belonging to the Lebanese Hezbollah movement and the Fatimid Brigade, which is
made up of pro-Iranian Afghan fighters, operate in the region, the Observatory
said.
Days
before the strikes, the Fatimid Brigade transported a consignment of
Iranian-manufactured weapons to eastern Syria from neighbouring Iraq.
They
were stored in the region targeted on Wednesday, the monitor said. The Israeli
military did not immediately comment.
In
June 2018, strikes on the same region had killed at least 55 pro-government
fighters, including Iraqis as well as Syrians.
The
latest raids came hours after separate strikes near the Iraqi border killed at
least 12 Iran-backed militia fighters on Tuesday.
The
Observatory said it could not identify the warplanes responsible for the
earlier strikes.
The
Syrian state news agency SANA reported Wednesday's raids but gave few details.
“At
1:10am (2310 GMT Tuesday), the Israeli enemy carried out an aerial assault on
the town of Deir Ezzor and the Albu Kamal region,” SANA said, citing a military
source.
“The
results of the aggression are currently being verified,” it added.
It
is less than a week since the last wave of Israeli strikes in Syria.
On
January 7, Israel targeted positions in the south and in the southern outskirts
of Damascus, killing three pro-Iran fighters.
Israel
routinely carries out raids in Syria, mostly against targets linked to Iran in
what it says is a bid to prevent its arch foe from consolidating a foothold on
its northern border.
Observers
have warned that Donald Trump and Israel could up the ante against Iran and its
regional allies in the dying days of the US president's tenure.
Israel
hit around 50 targets in Syria in 2020, according to an annual report released
by the Israeli military.
It
has carried out hundreds of air and missile strikes on Syria since civil war
broke out in 2011, targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces as well as
Syrian government troops.
Israel
rarely acknowledges individual strikes but has done so when responding to what
it describes as aggression inside Israeli territory.
The
war in Syria has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions more
since it erupted after the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601303/57-killed-in-deadliest-israeli-strikes-on-syria-in-years-monitor
--------
Iran
dismisses Pompeo’s ‘warmongering lies’ on Iran being new base for al-Qaeda
Yaghoub
Fazeli
13
January 2021
Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif dismissed accusations by US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo as “warmongering lies” that Iran is the new home base for
al-Qaeda terrorist group.
“[Abu
Muhammad] al-Masri’s presence inside Iran points to the reason that we’re here
today... al-Qaeda has a new home base: it is... Iran,” Pompeo said in remarks
delivered at the National Press Club in Washington on Tuesday.
Pompeo
“is pathetically ending his disastrous career with more warmongering lies,”
Zarif said on Twitter, adding that no September 11 attackers came from Iran.
The
New York Times reported in November that al-Masri, al-Qaeda’s
second-in-command, was assassinated along with his daughter by Israeli
operatives in the Iranian capital Tehran “at the behest of the US. Iran denied
the report, saying there were no al-Qaeda “terrorists” on its soil.
Al-Masri
was accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in
Africa.
“Tehran
gives sanctuary to the terror group’s senior leaders as they plan attacks
against America and our allies. Indeed, since 2015, Tehran has allowed al-Qaeda
figures in the country to freely communicate with other al-Qaeda members and
perform many functions that were previously directed from Afghanistan and
Pakistan, including authorization for attacks, propaganda, and fundraising,”
Pompeo said.
Tensions
between Iran and the US have escalated since outgoing US President Donald Trump
pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed
crippling sanctions on the country in 2018 as part of a “maximum pressure”
campaign.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2021/01/13/Iran-dismisses-Pompeo-s-warmongering-lies-on-Iran-being-new-base-for-al-Qaeda
--------
UN
chief calls for inclusive elections in Uganda
14
January 2021
United
Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has raised concern about
reports of violence in Uganda ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections,
calling for an "inclusive, transparent and peaceful" election process
in the African country.
In
a statement issued on Wednesday, Guterres urged all political actors and their
supporters to "refrain from the use of hate speech, intimidation and violence."
"Any
electoral disputes should be resolved through legal and peaceful means,"
he said.
The
UN chief further urged Ugandan authorities, particularly the security forces,
to "show maximum restraint during this period and act according to
established human rights principles."
Elections
were scheduled to start in Uganda on Thursday.
Ugandans
are casting their ballots amid heavy security arrangements in various towns
across the country.
Armored
personnel carriers with mounted machine guns have been patrolling the streets
of the capital, Kampala, while army helicopters and surveillance drones fly
over the city in a bid to stem further violence.
Uganda
People’s Defense Force soldiers and police have also been patrolling the city
on foot, mainly in areas perceived to be opposition strongholds.
Ugandan
authorities have also cut off internet access in the country.
The
military build-up has fanned fears of further election-related violence.
About
18 million voters are registered for the presidential and parliamentary vote
already marred by sporadic violence, which will unfold in nearly 35,000 polling
stations.
Ugandan
President Yoweri Museveni is pursuing a sixth term against opposition
front-runner Bobi Wine, a 38-year-old singer-turned-lawmaker.
Museveni,
who took power by force in 1986, is considered a key US ally on security
matters.
In
November, at least 54 people were shot dead by security forces loyal to
Museveni during protests against one of Wine's numerous arrests.
The
run-up to polling day was marred by a sustained crackdown on Museveni's rivals
and government critics, and unprecedented attacks on the nation's media and
human rights defenders.
Several
global rights and democracy groups have raised concerns about the integrity and
transparency of the elections.
Last
week, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) pointed to the "deteriorating
human rights situation" ahead of Thursday's vote, calling on the
government to take measures to prevent electoral violence.
The
European Union (EU) also said on Tuesday that the electoral process had been
seriously tarnished by the use of excessive force.
Wine
is the strongest of 10 opposition contenders trying to unseat Museveni.
But
most observers expect the aging president and his ruling National Resistance
Movement to emerge victorious.
He
has never lost an election, and has been counting down the days to victory in
confident campaign advertisements, promising to invest more in infrastructure,
health, and education and build Uganda's economy.
But
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has accused the president of
presiding over corruption and failing to deliver jobs.
Wine
has vowed non-violent street protests should Ugandans feel the elections were
stolen. The opposition leader has urged people to turn out in large numbers and
vote, saying they should not fear intimidation by the authorities.
Museveni,
who has suggested Wine is supported by foreign and criminal elements, has
warned his opponents against taking to the streets.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/14/642977/UN-chief-calls-for-inclusive-elections-in-Uganda
--------
Peace
talks are faltering, violence has surged, and U.S. troops are pulling out. Can
the Afghan government withstand the pressure?
By
Pamela Constable
Jan.
13, 2021
KABUL
— Growing uncertainty over peace talks with the Taliban, a drumbeat of targeted
killings and the looming withdrawal of U.S. troops have raised tension here to
a fever pitch, prompting calls for President Ashraf Ghani to step down and an
interim government to take over.
Supporters
of the idea say it would offer a better chance of settling the 19-year war in
Afghanistan and ending the relentless bloodshed, given that the Taliban refuses
to recognize Ghani’s government as legitimate. Opponents call it a dangerous,
irresponsible gambit that would benefit an assortment of opportunistic
politicians eager to grab a share in power.
“The
only way to break the current deadlock is to form an interim government,” said
Jafar Mahdavi, a former legislator who is involved in the peace talks process.
“The Taliban won’t accept Ghani’s rule, and they won’t join his government.”
Ghani
has repeatedly insisted that he will remain in office for his full five-year
term and see the peace talks to fruition.
But
a new round of negotiations, which have made almost no headway since they
started in September, stalled this week, as two of the top Taliban negotiators
failed to return to the talks in Qatar after visiting Pakistan for
consultations.
The
group’s spokesman in Doha, the Qatari capital, tweeted Saturday that the
negotiating teams were still working on preparing a substantive agenda for the
talks. But delegates to the talks from Kabul said the process had been further
slowed by the unexplained absence of the top two Taliban negotiators, Abdul
Ghani Baradar and Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai.
Baradar,
a founder of the Taliban movement, spent eight years in prison in Pakistan but
was released in 2018, at the United States’ request, to participate in the
peace process.
The
role of Pakistan in the peace talk process has taken on sudden new importance
in the past several weeks. The country has long said it supports the talks and
seeks a stable Afghanistan. But it has also hosted fugitive Taliban leaders for
years and sheltered violent anti-Afghan militias that operate along the long,
porous border between the neighboring Muslim countries.
Complicating
matters for the Afghan government is a Friday deadline for U.S. troops in
Afghanistan to be reduced from 5,000 to about 2,500. This was the chief demand
of the militants, who signed a separate deal with U.S. officials in February.
The
troop reduction could cause the Afghan government to lose much of its remaining
leverage in the talks. Ghani’s position was already weakened when he agreed to
release about 5,000 imprisoned Taliban fighters under U.S. pressure to seal the
February pact.
Pentagon
officials said Tuesday that the troop drawdown was expected to proceed as
planned, even though it is widely opposed in Congress. A recently enacted
defense policy bill bars the U.S. government from using funds to pay for it
without a “comprehensive interagency assessment of the risks and impacts” of
leaving only a minimal U.S. military presence in the country.
Another
stumbling block in the talks is the continued high level of Taliban attacks. A
recent spate of unclaimed targeted killings, including shootings and car bombs,
has left several dozen civic and democratic activists, journalists, government
officials and others dead. Afghan officials have blamed the Taliban for the
attacks, and U.S. military officials made the same accusation last week.
Zalmay
Khalilzad, the Trump administration’s special envoy for Afghan peace, made a
whirlwind visit to the region this past week, holding meetings in Pakistan and
Qatar as well as Kabul in an attempt to ensure the survival of the U.S.-Taliban
deal and press for a nationwide cease-fire to accompany the Doha talks.
Khalilzad
met with a variety of political leaders and diplomats here, but Ghani refused
to see him. The president, like many Afghans, felt betrayed by the generous
terms of the deal he brokered with the insurgents. Now they view Khalilzad as
pushing too hard for a quick settlement among Afghans, especially amid local
media reports that he was encouraging an interim government. Last week
Khalilzad called on both sides to reduce violence but did not blame the Taliban
for the recent targeted attacks.
The
leader of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Afghanistan, Ross Wilson, said in a
statement on Twitter on Wednesday that the United States is not pushing for a
new government.
“We
have not advocated, and the United States is not advocating, an interim
government,” he wrote. “The outcomes of Afghanistan Peace Negotiations are up
to Afghans & we believe those outcomes should reflect the wishes &
aspirations of the Afghan people.”
Abdullah
Abdullah, head of the government council for peace and reconciliation, has said
for months that he would be open to the creation of an interim government if
that would help the prospects for peace. Abdullah was Ghani’s top rival for the
presidency in the past two elections.
“We
have to be flexible in our thoughts,” Abdullah told an international virtual
conference last year. “Nothing should derail us from getting to a durable,
lasting and acceptable peace for all Afghans, including the Taliban.”
Some
Afghan officials and experts have called for an interim government to be used
only as a last resort.
“To
form an interim government now would be premature and irresponsible,” said
Davood Moradian, director of the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies. “It
would mean dismantling the current government, and the members would have no
real authority to make an agreement. There would be bound to be infighting
among them. This might be a possible outcome of talks, but it cannot come
first.”
But
fears remain about what an interim government would mean for the democratic
gains made since the Taliban was forced out of power.
“The
people of Afghanistan are not supporting an interim government because there is
no guarantee its formation could end the war in the country,” said Mohammad
Khalid Momand, a member of parliament. “Afghans don’t want to lose the
achievements of the past 18 years.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/afghanistan-taliban-peace-talks-ghani/2021/01/13/0ea836d4-54de-11eb-acc5-92d2819a1ccb_story.html
--------
'We
know they won't vote for us': Bengal BJP's outreach drive to bypass Muslim
pockets
13th
January 2021
KOLKATA:
Bengal BJP has decided not to carry out 'Krishak Suraksha Abhiyan', an outreach
drive to woo the farmers in the upcoming Assembly elections, in
minority-dominated pockets of the state.
Though
the party’s national leadership has set a target of 40,000 villages and asked
the party workers to carry out door-to-door campaign under the banner of the
new initiative, the saffron camp decided not to touch the areas where Muslim
electorates are the deciding factor.
"We
are calculating our vote share keeping aside the minority voters’ stake in
Bengal’s electoral practice. We know they will not vote for the BJP. So there
is no point of wasting energy and time to carry out the campaign in
minority-dominated pockets," said a senior BJP leader in Kolkata.
Muslim
voters have a strong presence in Bengal and in at least 85 Assembly
constituencies, they are the deciding factors as the minority community form 30
per cent of the total electorates. The Muslim community changed its political
alignment in 2011 and voted en bloc in favour of the Trinamool Congress and
since then, CM Mamata Banerjee has been enjoying their support.
The
BJP initiated the outreach drive in an attempt to blunt Mamata’s attack
highlighting the saffron camp as an anti-farmer party. The party’s national
president JP Nadda flagged off the outreach initiative last week by collecting
fistfuls of rice from five farmer families in East Burdwan district, the area
known as Bengal’s rice bowl.
West
Bengal has 72 lakh farmer families who own farmland and directly depend on
agriculture.
"As
the central government ruled out repealing the farm laws, it is expected that
Mamata Banerjee will sharpen attack on this issue ahead of the 2021 Assembly
elections. We have been asked by the high-command to reach out to the farmers
and convince them about the positive aspects of the Acts. In districts such as
Hooghly, Howrah, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, and Nadia,
the number of minority farmers is considerable. But we will not reach out to
them because they will not vote for us at any cost," said another BJP
leader.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/jan/13/we-know-they-wont-vote-for-us-bengal-bjps-outreach-drive-to-bypass-muslim-pockets-2249731.html
--------
Three
jailed UK terrorism offenders charged with attacking prison officer
13
January 2021
Three
men convicted of terrorism offenses, including the brother of the Manchester
Arena suicide bomber and an Iraqi who tried to blow up a London underground
train, have been charged with attacking a prison officer, police said on
Wednesday.
Hashem
Abedi, 23, whose brother Salman killed 22 people at the end of an Ariana Grande
concert in 2017, and Ahmed Hassan, 21, who tried to detonate a homemade bomb on
a packed commuter train later that year, are accused of assaulting a prison
officer at the maximum security Belmarsh Prison in east London.
A
third man, Muhammed Saeed, 22, who was jailed last year after he admitted
possessing articles connected to preparing for acts of terrorism, was also
charged. The three have been charged with causing actual bodily harm.
Abedi,
born to Libyan parents who emigrated to Britain, was also charged with assault
on a second prison officer during the incident which took place in May last
year.
All
three are due to appear at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on April 7.
Abedi
is serving at least 55 years behind bars after being found guilty of murder
last year, while Hassan was jailed for 34 years for his botched attack that
injured 30 people.
There
has been concern about how those convicted of terrorism in prison are dealt
with and the danger that they might radicalize others.
In
2016, Britain announced plans to isolate radical prisoners in high security
jails to limit their ability to influence other inmates amid concerns that prisons
were breeding grounds for extremists.
Last
October, two inmates of a British jail who tried to murder a prison officer
while wearing makeshift suicide-bomb belts, were convicted after an
investigation by counter-terrorism police.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2021/01/13/Three-jailed-UK-terrorism-offenders-charged-with-attacking-prison-officer
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf Blames Its Agent In US For ‘Illegal Funding’
Iftikhar
A. Khan
January
14, 2021
ISLAMABAD:
In an apparent departure from its stance of denying any illegal funding from
the United States, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has now come up with an
explanation that if any funds were collected illegally through two US companies
registered after Imran Khan’s written instructions, the responsibility lies
with their agents managing the two limited liability companies.
The
party adopted the latest stance in a written reply to a questionnaire given to
it by the scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP),
informed sources told Dawn on Wednesday.
The
ECP committee met to continue scrutiny of PTI accounts under fresh directives
to expedite the process, which has been going on since March 2018.
The
foreign funding case against PTI was filed in Nov 2014 by Akbar S. Babar, a
founding member of the party.
Sources
revealed that during Wednesday’s meeting, the petitioner’s lawyer, Syed Ahmad
Hassan Shah, protested the committee’s refusal to share the PTI’s financial
documents with his client. The documents include 23 PTI bank statements
received on instructions from the State Bank that were mostly concealed from
the ECP.
Mr
Shah was assisted by Badar Iqbal Chaudhry.
Syed
Ahmad Hassan Shah said that by refusing to share the documents, the committee
was in violation of an ECP order dated May 30, 2018, which rejected the PTI’s
request to keep these documents and the scrutiny process secret.
The
lawyer asserted that “we are participating in the committee process under
protest as denying access to PTI bank statements and other documents is a
violation of law and due process”.
The
body’s chairman acknowledged that the PTI’s bank statements and other documents
were not being shared with the petitioner on the concerns of PTI. To which the
petitioner Akbar S Babar complained as to how there can be an independent and
transparent scrutiny and investigations when those being investigated are
managing the process.
The
scrutiny committee will now meet on Thursday (today).
Akbar
Babar, the petitioner, told reporters after the meeting the reason for the
delay despite over 80 meetings was simple: “When those who are under
investigation influence the investigation process, how can there be progress?”
He
said the committee refused to share PTI’s bank statements with him “as the respondent
(PTI) opposes it”. Even an auditor was replaced upon “documented pressure from
PTI”, he added.
Babar
said the committee could meet forever, but unless it “investigates the
evidence”, the scrutiny process would remain inconclusive and without credibility.
The
PTI said in its reply submitted to the Election Commission that “any
contribution that has been collected by the agent which may be questionable
would be beyond the scope of the work/responsibility/instructions given by the
principal (respondent)”.
“The
principal has given clear instructions and if the agent goes beyond those
instructions without disclosing it to the principal, without seeking
ratification of those acts and without even sending that money to the
principal, then it is submitted that the principal will not be liable under
section 228 and not admit/certify such contents. “The fact that the principal
neither had knowledge nor has received the proceeds exhibits the bona fide of
the principal,” the document carrying PTI’s reply went on to argue.
It
was submitted through Shah Khawar.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601343/pti-blames-its-agent-in-us-for-illegal-funding
--------
Terror-haven
Pakistan calls RSS ‘violent nationalist group’ at UNSC, demands ban on Hindutva
organisation
Jan
14, 2021
New
York: Cornered by almost the entire world and out of favour even from ally
China, terror-haven Pakistan continues to peddle its nefarious agenda against
India on the global stage even after repeated humiliations.
In
the latest instance, the country has called Hindutva organisation — the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) — a “violent extremist group during its
address at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Furthermore,
Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN Munir Akram on Tuesday also laid out an action
plan before the UNSC on how to “tackle nationalist groups” such as the RSS that
“pose a clear danger to regional and international peace and security”, news
agency AFP reported.
https://www.timesnownews.com/international/article/terror-haven-pakistan-calls-rss-violent-nationalist-group-at-unsc-demands-ban-on-hindutva-organisation/706971
--------
IHC
restrains Naeem Bokhari from working as PTV chairman
Tahir
Naseer
January
14, 2021
The
Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday restrained Naeem Bokhari from working as
chairman of Pakistan Television (PTV) while hearing identical petitions against
his appointment.
Presiding
over the case, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah observed that there needed to
be a clear reason for relaxing the upper age limit for 65-year-old Bokhari,
referencing the Supreme Court decision to set aside the appointment of Ataul
Haq Qasmi as the PTV chairman.
The
court noted that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had repeated the
same mistakes as those in Qasmi's case and had not perused the apex court's
judgement when sending the summary to the federal cabinet.
At
the last hearing, the IHC CJ had observed that Bokhari's appointment appeared
to have been made in violation of the guidelines set by the SC, and had advised
the counsel for the PTV chairman to peruse the decision that had set aside the
appointment of Qasmi.
In
Nov 2018, the Supreme Court had declared Qasmi’s appointment illegal. The court
ordered the federal government to appoint a full-time managing director of PTV
after fulfilling all legal, procedural and codal formalities strictly in
accordance with the law.
The
judgement had observed that public officials, particularly heads of ministries
who were elected representatives of the people, owed their allegiance and
loyalty to Pakistan, the Constitution and the law. They were obligated to act
accordingly and without being influenced by extraneous considerations.
Public
officials were not allowed to take decisions arbitrarily after circumventing
the law and at their own whims to certain individuals, the judgement said.
"The
federal cabinet did not take a clear decision on relaxing the age limit nor did
you send the correct summary," the IHC CJ said during today's hearing,
adding that "no one was above the law".
The
court added that it was sending the matter to the federal cabinet so that it
could take a decision in light of the SC's judgement.
However,
the counsel for the ministry informed the court that the cabinet had approved
the summary for the appointment of the PTV chairman.
"You
should have informed the cabinet about the apex court's decision. When you move
a summary without doing so, you will also embarrass the cabinet," Justice
Minallah said.
"The
court does not typically interfere in the executive's decisions," he
added, directing the ministry to place the summary before the federal cabinet
in order for it to review its decision.
The
hearing was adjourned for two weeks.
Justice
Minallah was hearing identical petitions filed by advocates Raja Shakeel Abbasi
and Asif Gujjar.
While
Abbasi challenged the appointment of Bokhari, Gujjar argued against the
appointment of other members of the PTV board as well, including the acting
managing director Shahira Shahid, retired Col Hassan Imad Mohammadi, Asad Ahmed
Jaspal, Asghar Nadeem Syed and Waseem Raza Abid.
The
lawyers termed the appointments in violation of various verdicts of the Supreme
Court, including the one authored in the case of Qasmi, and the IHC that laid
down guidelines for such appointments.
The
petitioners said contrary to the direction of the apex court, the vacancy had
not been advertised in the press and the appointment was made without inviting
applications for the vacant position. They added that the federal cabinet had
relaxed the upper age limit for 65-year-old Bokhari without mentioning a
plausible reason in the minutes of the cabinet meeting.
Bokhari's
appointment
Bokhari,
who led the legal team of PTI chief Imran Khan in the Panama Papers leak case,
was appointed the PTV chairman in November last year.
Interestingly,
the appointment was made in apparent haste as the federal cabinet had in its
meeting considered a summary for his appointment but did not endorse his
induction as PTV chairman.
The
cabinet had directed the Ministry of Information to “resubmit the summary, in
line with the following observations: i) the composition of the Board shall be
on the pattern of previous Board where independent directors/private sector
members were in majority; ii) the appeal [against Islamabad High Court order of
sacking Arshad Khan and other PTV directors] may be vigorously pursued and
independent directors/private sector members from the previous Board shall be
re-inducted in the new Board, where possible; and iii) Shahzada Naeem Bokhari
be included in the Board and nominated as Chairman.”
The
information ministry had submitted the summary for appointment of three
independent directors of PTV, recommending Naeem Bokhari, chartered accountant
Syed Waseem Raza and prominent writer Asghar Nadeem Syed as principal candidates.
Bokhari and Asghar Nadeem Syed were over 65 years old and, therefore, the
ministry had sought relaxation from the federal cabinet regarding their age.
However,
in contradiction to the observations by the cabinet regarding resubmission of
the summary for the appointment of directors and chairman of PTV, the
information ministry on its own had notified Bokhari as chairman.
The
notification read: “The federal government is pleased to appoint Shahzada Naeem
Bokhari as Independent Director of Pakistan Television Corporation Board.”
It
further stated: “The federal government has also approved nomination of
Shahzada Naeem Bokhari as chairman PTVC Board in line with the Pakistan
Television Corporation […]. The chairman shall, unless he resigns earlier, hold
office for a period of 3 years. The board of directors, PTVC, is directed to
ratify his nomination as chairman.”
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601447/ihc-restrains-naeem-bokhari-from-working-as-ptv-chairman
--------
Shahzad
Akbar serves PML-N's Uzma Bukhari legal notice for 'defamatory statements'
January
14, 2021
Adviser
to the Prime Minister on Interior and Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar said
on Thursday he had served a legal notice to PML-N leader Uzma Bukhari for
"pass(ing) defamatory statements and rais(ing) false and absurd
imputations" against him in a television show.
According
to the notice dated January 13, which Akbar posted on Twitter, Bukhari had
appeared on a show called Faisla Ap Ka aired on Aaj TV on Wednesday night where
she passed "completely untrue and libelous defamatory statements"
accusing the premier's adviser of demanding a kickback from Broadsheet LLC
owner Kaveh Moussavi.
Bukhari
was referring to a recent interview of Moussavi where he accused PML-N supremo
Nawaz Sharif of offering him a bribe in 2012 to drop a corruption probe against
him.
"Moussavi
said Shahzad Akbar along with another person came to him (Moussavi) and [both]
were asking for their cut," the notice quoted Bukhari as saying.
"This is a very important thing. They asked for a cut for themselves, not
the government. They said 'what will [you] give us? We will extend your
contract'. This is a very big allegation [...] for a government office-bearer
who is with the government.
"Shahzad
Akbar's history of taking and giving briefcase is old [...] and this is not an
allegation."
In
a recent interview, a full recording of which is available with Dawn, Moussavi
had alleged that an individual who he had met with Akbar in 2018 regarding a $1
billion bank account was more interested in getting his cut than in
investigating suspects. The Broadsheet owner added, however, that Akbar may not
have been aware of this individual’s question about a commission.
Denying
this in a statement to Dawn, Akbar clarified that he met Moussavi in 2019 twice
and not in 2018. He said the context of his meetings was to negotiate the award
price and to reduce the payable amount. According to Akbar, in the interview
Moussavi may be referring to someone he met separately.
In
the notice served to Bukhari yesterday, Akbar insisted he had been a
"target of hateful media campaigns from members of the PML-N and other
opposition parties" which are run in order to "discourage him from
the pro-active role he is playing in curbing corruption and ensuring accountability".
The
notice said Moussavi had "stated at many occasions that [Akbar] is a man
of integrity". It added that Bukhari had levelled the allegations against
Akbar in order to "sabotage the anti-corruption drive" and mislead
the public.
The
PM's adviser also rejected Bukhari's accusation that he "misappropriates
public funds [...] and is involved in the offence of accepting and giving
bribes". The notice also stated that Akbar had never been the prosecutor
general of the National Accountability Bureau as claimed by Bukhari.
Akbar
demanded Bukhari to retract her statements and issue an apology or pay Rs500
million in damages. In a tweet, Akbar said money collected in damages would go
to charities.
Yesterday,
the PM's adviser had also served a notice to PML-N spokesperson Marriyum
Aurangzeb for similar statements in a press talk. In a tweet, Akbar said
Aurangzeb "has been asked to apologise or she will be taken to
court".
Broadsheet
saga
Broadsheet
LLC, a UK company that was registered in the Isle of Man in the Pervez
Musharraf era, helped the then government and newly established NAB track down
foreign assets purchased by Pakistanis through alleged ill-gotten wealth.
Broadsheet
claims that it was established to enter into an Asset Recovery Agreement dated
June 20, 2000, and did so with the then president of Pakistan, through the NAB
chairman, for the purposes of recovering funds and other assets fraudulently
taken from the state and other institutions, including through corrupt
practices, and held outside of Pakistan.
Broadsheet
maintains that it was created to be a company specialising in the recovery of
assets and funds, and was therefore engaged to trace, locate and transfer such
items back to the state.
The
Broadsheet contract, signed in 2000 by Gen Muhammad Amjad, the head of NAB
appointed by Gen Pervez Musharraf, maintained that the firm would receive 20
per cent of the assets recovered, with the remainder going to NAB.
The
contract gave Broadsheet the authority to initiate litigation or enforcement
proceedings deemed necessary to seize assets on behalf of NAB.
NAB
and Broadsheet also agreed to open a bank account which would be jointly
controlled by NAB and the company, and it was agreed that all assets proceeds
recovered would be deposited in the account.
The
agreement also stated that the contract was binding on respective successors.
A
lawyer associated with the company earlier told Dawn that the Sharifs were the
“top target” of the Broadsheet investigation. The contract was terminated in
2003 by NAB.
But
Broadsheet LLC secured the payment of $28.7 million from the accounts of the
United Kingdom High Commission last month for the long overdue payment of its
services, as enforced by a UK court.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601453/shahzad-akbar-serves-pml-ns-uzma-bukhari-legal-notice-for-defamatory-statements
--------
Bilawal,
Zardari not invited to Biden's inauguration: Farhatullah Babar
Anwar
Iqbal
January
14, 2021
With
US President-elect Jo Biden's inauguration just days away, there has been
speculation and several media reports about whether certain world leaders will
be attending the ceremony.
In
Pakistan, rumours that former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman
Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had been invited were doing the rounds on social media
while almost all television outlets quoted PPP sources as saying the father-son
duo were invited and would be attending the inauguration.
However,
setting the rumours to rest, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar told the BBC that
the former president and the PPP chairman “have not been invited to the
inauguration and are not attending the ceremony”.
Similar
news reports have also cropped up in other parts of the world. In India,
Congress supporters claimed a few weeks ago that former prime minister Manmohan
Singh was invited and would be attending – the news was later denied by Singh
himself.
In
the US, the media circulated a similar report about Mexican President Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador forcing him to declare: “I don’t have an invitation, and I
have decided not to leave (the country) much” during the pandemic.
Scaled-down
celebration
The
coronavirus pandemic and the fear of violence has forced the organisers of the
2021 United States presidential inauguration to discourage foreign leaders from
attending the ceremony.
Members
of the Biden inauguration committee have indicated that they are not inviting
foreign leaders to the Jan 20 ceremony and are also urging Americans to watch
it from their homes.
In
a recent statement, the committee has said that this year the celebration's
size will be "extremely limited” while local authorities have asked people
not to attend the ceremony.
“Our
goals right now are to encourage Americans to participate virtually and to
protect the District of Columbia from a repeat of the violent insurrection
experienced at the Capitol and its grounds on Jan 6,” Washington Mayor Muriel
Bowser said in a statement.
In
pictures: Chaos, violence, mockery as pro-Trump mob occupies Congress
The
inauguration marks the start of a new presidency. It is held outside the
Capitol building where the elected president and the vice president take the
oath of office.
At
the ceremony, Democratic leader Joe Biden will recite the presidential oath of
office: "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of
President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve,
protect and defend the constitution of the United States.”
Kamala
Harris will also recite a similar oath as the new vice president.
After
the oath, Biden will take his place as the 46th president and will formally
occupy the White House later in the day, which will be his home for the next
four years.
This
year, more than 10,000 National Guard troops have been deployed in the US
capital, with about 5,000 more available if requested — mainly because of the
Jan 6 mob attack on the Capitol building.
Washington’s
mayor has placed the capital city under a state of emergency since the attack
following a warning from US intelligence agencies that Trump supporters have
planned massive demonstrations across America this weekend.
Biden
has told reporters: "I am not concerned about my safety, security, or the
inauguration."
But
the organisers and security officials are taking no chances.
Usually,
the outgoing president also attends the ceremony and welcomes the new president
at the White House, but Trump has already said he would not attend.
"To
all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the inauguration on Jan
20," Trump had tweeted on Friday.
Some
of his supporters have even arranged a virtual "second inauguration"
for Trump on the same day. More than 68,000 people have said on Facebook they
will attend the online event to show their support for the outgoing president.
In
2016, Hillary Clinton joined her husband, former president Bill Clinton, at
Trump’s inauguration — just two months after her election defeat and a bitter
campaign against the Republican leader.
Only
three presidents — John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson — have
chosen to sit out their successor's inaugurations, and none in the last
century.
The
coronavirus disease, which continues to spread across America, has also forced
organisers to cancel or curtail some events.
In
the past, up to 200,000 tickets were distributed among the public, mostly by
members of Congress and the Senate. But this year, only 1,000 tickets have been
distributed so far.
Another
novelty this year will be a “virtual parade,” instead of the "pass in
review" ceremony from Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where the new
commander in chief inspects the troops.
After
the “virtual parade,” the new president and the vice president and their
spouses will be escorted to the White House by members of the military,
including a band and drum corps.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601455/bilawal-zardari-not-invited-to-bidens-inauguration-farhatullah-babar
--------
In
Quetta visit, Army chief assures justice to families of Mach massacre victims
January
13, 2021
Army
Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday paid a visit to Quetta, where he
assured families of the Shia Hazara coal miners killed in a brutal attack in
Balochistan's Mach area that the perpetrators of the killings "shall be
brought to justice".
During
the day-long visit, the chief of army staff was given a detailed security
briefing at the Southern Command headquarters and interacted with a large
gathering of the Hazara community, an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR)
statement said.
The
army chief was apprised during the briefing about the prevailing security
challenges in the province and the measures taken to deal with them, including
border management along the Pak- Afghan and Pak-Iran borders.
Gen
Bajwa spent time with the bereaved families of the Mach incident's victims and
shared their grief. He "assured them that perpetrators of this heinous
incident shall be brought to justice and blood of the martyrs will not go
waste", the military's media wing said.
Later,
while addressing the garrison officers, the COAS appreciated their preparedness
and efforts for ensuring peace and stability in Balochistan "despite
difficulties of terrain and distances involved".
"Balochistan
is in sharp focus of our enemies due to its strategic potential," Gen
Bajwa was quoted as saying on the occasion.
He
said Balochistan was the future of Pakistan and progress and prosperity of the
province was linked to progress of the country.
"The
disruptive efforts by hostile forces won't be allowed to succeed," the
army chief emphasised, saying the security, stability and prosperity of
Balochistan will be ensured "to the hilt".
Earlier,
on arrival in Quetta, Gen Bajwa was received by Commander Southern Command Lt
Gen Sarfraz Ali.
On
January 3, 11 miners belonging to the Shia Hazara community were brutally
massacred in the Mach coalfield area. Armed assailants had entered their
residential compound early in the morning where they were sleeping, and
blindfolded and trussed them up before executing them. The militant Islamic
State (IS) group, also known by the Arabic acronym Daesh, claimed
responsibility for the attack.
Relatives
and residents started a protest against the killings on the same day, arranging
the miners' coffins on the Western Bypass on the outskirts of Quetta and
refusing to bury them in a symbolic gesture until the prime minister's visit
and assurance of protection.
The
protests later spread to other parts of the country, including Peshawar, Lahore
and Karachi, where demonstrators blocked several important roads, disrupting
traffic.
After
a deadlock lasting for nearly a week, talks succeeded between the protesters
and the government, leading to the end of the protests and burial of the miners
on Saturday.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601307/in-quetta-visit-army-chief-assures-justice-to-families-of-mach-massacre-victims
--------
Pakistan
Attempts To Prosecute Ahmadi US Citizens for Digital Blasphemy
January
13, 2021
By
Aysha Khan
Pakistani
authorities have asked leaders of the American Ahmadiyya Muslim community to
take down its official website, claiming that the U.S.-based site violates
Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws and new cybercrime regulations.
The
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said in a legal notice issued on Dec. 24
to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA’s spokesmen, Amjad Mahmood Khan and
Harris Zafar, that failure to remove the website TrueIslam.com would result in
fines of up to $3.14 million or criminal sanctions, including possible
10-year-prison sentences.
“This
is a new frontier in persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in the digital space,” said
Khan, a lawyer in Los Angeles who has testified before Congress about blasphemy
and religious freedom. “Pakistan wants to impose its abominable blasphemy laws
on the whole world by targeting U.S. citizens and U.S. websites.”
Brad
Adams, who heads Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, said “censoring Ahmadis
and using blasphemy laws to airbrush them from Pakistani society” is part of
the “widespread and rampant discrimination and social exclusion” Ahmadis face
in Pakistan.
In
Pakistan, home to about 4 million Ahmadis, the constitution and penal code
declare members of the Ahmadiyya sect non-Muslims and impose harsh penalties —
including death — for those who call themselves Muslims or publicly engage in
religious activities. Ahmadis accepts the sect’s 19th-century founder, Mirza
Ghulam Ahmad, as the messiah and as a subordinate prophet to the Prophet
Muhammad, a belief many Muslims consider blasphemous.
“This
is a malicious attempt to chill free speech and expression by a Muslim American
website,” attorney Brett Williamson of O’Melveny & Myers, which is representing
TrueIslam.com pro bono, wrote in a letter to PTA on Monday (Jan. 11).
He
described the takedown notice as “legally infirm, but also patently absurd in
its reach.”
The
website is registered and hosted in the U.S. and is aimed at an American
audience. Zafar and Khan are both U.S. citizens and the threat of extradition
is virtually nil, but both have relatives in Pakistan and say penalties would
make it impossible to travel there.
Law
professor Arturo Carrillo, who directs George Washington University Law
School’s Global Internet Freedom Project, said this case shows that the
Pakistan government is now using its controversial cybercrime laws in an effort
“to repress online expression and content emanating from outside the country’s
borders because the government has deemed it to be undesirable and unlawful.”
PTA
officials did not respond to requests for comment.
In
2016, Pakistan enacted digital regulations that allowed authorities to block
online content in the “interest of the glory of Islam.” Last year, the
government passed blanket censorship laws that would allow authorities to order
tech companies to remove digital pornography, blasphemy and anti-state content,
drawing ire from Google, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.
But
human rights experts say the takedown notices also come amid increased
targeting of Ahmadis’ online religious expression.
One
day after issuing the takedown notice to TrueIslam.com, PTA also sent notices
to Google and Wikipedia, threatening penalties and prosecution if the platforms
failed to remove “sacrilegious content” associated with the Ahmadi sect’s
beliefs.
PTA
said it was responding to complaints regarding an “unauthentic” Ahmadi
translation of the Quran on the Google Play Store; “misleading” search results
that returned the Ahmadi leader Mirza Masroor Ahmad’s name when the term
“Khalifa (caliph) of Islam” was searched; and “deceitful” Wikipedia articles
that suggested that the Ahmadi caliph is Muslim.
Officials
also demanded that all internet service providers serving Pakistan block
content from Ahmadi websites, including TrueIslam.com, the English-language
magazine Al Hakam and the international satellite TV network MTA.
Five
of Pakistan’s top Ahmadi leaders have also had cases filed against them in
recent weeks over religious activity on WhatsApp, Khan told Religion News
Service.
Earlier
in December, Khan told a hearing of the U.S. Commission on International
Religious Freedom that extremists in Pakistan were intent on using the
country’s cyber crime statutes to initiate blasphemy cases against Ahmadis.
But
this latest action, Khan told Religion News Service, is “a very slippery slope
in terms of what this could mean for other minorities. We’re the canaries in
the coal mine. This would mean any potential website or digital content that is
quote-unquote blasphemous can be the subject of criminal prosecution.”
USCIRF
Commissioner Johnnie Moore described the takedown notices as “recklessly
brazen” and said he expected fierce bipartisan condemnation from both the Trump
and Biden administrations.
“Surely,
the Pakistani government doesn’t intend on threatening American citizens within
the United States?” Moore asked. “Surely, Prime Minister Imran Khan doesn’t
want this controversy, now?”
https://religionnews.com/2021/01/13/pakistan-attempts-to-prosecute-ahmadi-us-citizens-for-digital-blasphemy-980-1000/
--------
Southeast
Asia
Human
Rights Watch slams China’s ‘appalling year’ of violations
January
13, 2021
GENEVA:
China had an “appalling year” for human rights in 2020, a leading advocacy
group said on Wednesday, with a crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong, repression
of Muslim Uighurs and the silencing of people reporting on the coronavirus
outbreak.
A
Chinese court last month handed down a four-year jail term to a citizen-journalist
who reported from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus before it spread across the
globe, while others who did the same have disappeared.
“To
crack down on whistleblowers and citizen-journalists at this particular moment
… helps highlight to the rest of the world what the consequences of violations
inside China can be,” Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch
(HRW), said after the release of the group’s World Report 2021.
HRW
executive director Kenneth Roth told Reuters Television in Geneva that China
remained the biggest threat to global human rights and that President Xi
Jinping had “embarked on the most intense repression” in the country since the
Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.
China
last year introduced a national security law in the former British colony of
Hong Kong, under which 53 pro-democracy activists were arrested in dawn raids
last week, while Beijing also faced accusations – which it denies – of
persecution and forced labour of Uighurs in the restive farwestern region of
Xinjiang.
Richardson,
speaking at a webinar, compared the Uighurs’ plight to that of Rohingya Muslims
in Myanmar but noted a much weaker international response.
She
also said it was problematic that the European Union, after a year in which
China “publicly shred” its human rights commitments, agreed on an investment
pact with Beijing, only setting out vague expectations that China will consider
abiding by higher standards on forced labour and other issues.
But
she noted more governments were coming together to criticise China.
“Putting
a dent in the Chinese government’s sense of impunity for serious human rights
violations is a real priority, we think, for governments and for institutions
like the UN,” she said.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2021/01/13/human-rights-watch-slams-chinas-appalling-year-of-violations/
--------
Malaysia
saw ‘reversal’ in human rights after Perikatan came into power, says
international watchdog
14
Jan 2021
BY
SHAHRIN AIZAT NOORSHAHRIZAM
KUALA
LUMPUR, Jan 14 — Malaysia has regressed in terms of human rights since the
Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, led by prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin
Yassin, took over in March 2020, global watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said
in its annual report.
The
report released yesterday stated that the first nine months under the new
coalition government showed alleged crackdown on freedom of speech and peaceful
assembly, threats against the media, discrimination against migrants, and
retreat from genuine police accountability.
“Malaysia
has undergone an incredible reversal of human rights in 2020 — all for the
worst.
“Hopes
for human rights reforms have never risen so fast in Malaysia nor collapsed so
quickly.” its deputy Asia director Phil Robertson said in a statement.
The
report stated that the downturn of media freedom was shown during Al Jazeera’s
coverage of Malaysia’s treatment of migrants during Covid-19 pandemic back in
July last year, with the authorities having probed the international media for
sedition, defamation, and violation of the Communications and Multimedia Act.
“Police
questioned six Al Jazeera staff members and raided the organization’s offices
in Kuala Lumpur. In August, Malaysia refused to renew the visas of two Al
Jazeera journalists based in the country,” the report said.
HRW
pointed out in its report that Malaysia’s effort to contain Covid-19 pandemic
has resulted in discrimination of marginalised communities such as Rohingya
Muslims, whose boats have been pushed back out to the sea, and overcrowded
migrants in an unsanitary detention facilities prior to their deportation.
“The
authorities pushed boatloads of desperate Rohingya refugees who were trying to
reach Malaysia’s shores back out to sea, claiming that they were doing so to
prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“The
authorities ultimately conducted multiple raids, ensnaring thousands of
migrants and detaining them in overcrowded and unsanitary immigration detention
centers to await deportation,” HRW said in its 761-page World Report 2021.
The
global human rights group said that police abuse remains unjustified due to its
lack of accountability after the PN government rejected the previous
government’s bill on containing police misconducts and introduced a “toothless”
Independent Police Conduct Commission bill that was short of investigative
power and authorities to punish wrongdoings.
“In
August, the government withdrew a Bill submitted by the prior administration to
create an Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission because the
police objected to it.
“The
government instead introduced a Bill to create a toothless Independent Police
Conduct Commission that lacks both key investigative powers and the authority
to punish wrongdoing,” the report said.
In
another effort to curb Covid-19 pandemic, Malaysia decided to close its schools
while failing to provide equal access to the internet which has particularly
affected rural and indigenous students, the report said.
HRW
also highlighted the issues of religious freedom whereby Muslims are not
allowed to practice other branches of Islam other than officially-recognised
denomination of Sunni and deeming others deviants — pointing to the
much-persecuted Ahmadiyyah community.
The
report also said that Malaysia continues to punish the lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) people through federal law and state Shariah laws that
prohibited both same-sex relations and non-normative gender expression,
resulting in frequent arrests of transgender persons.
It
also highlighted that activists have filed two court cases, in the High Court
and the Federal Court, challenging the existence and use of these laws in
Selangor.
“In
July, the minister in charge of religious affairs gave ‘full licence’ to the
religious authorities to take action against transgender people, both through
arrests and religious education to ‘return’ them to the ‘right path’,” the
report said.
In
the report by HRW, it stated that Malaysia’s religious authorities lodged a
report against Nicole Fong after she responded to the religious affairs
minister’s statement by posting a series of infographics online critical of the
mukhayyam program — a state-sponsored Islamic “rehabilitation” programme for
Muslim LGBT persons.
In
its report last year, HRW had said then that Malaysia remained slow in its
reform agenda last year despite getting a new government in the form of Pakatan
Harapan.
The
delay in abolishing the Sedition Act and the use of other draconian security
laws, continued gender discrimination and child marriages, asylum seekers being
treated as illegal immigrants and crackdowns on Shiah Muslims clearly showed
the government’s failure in improving human rights, the report said.
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/01/14/malaysia-saw-reversal-in-human-rights-after-perikatan-came-into-power-says/1940292
--------
North
America
Schumer
says Democrats will probe extremist groups after Capitol attack
BY
JORDAIN CARNEY
01/12/21
Incoming
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that Senate
Democrats will launch probes stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack after they
take back control of the chamber on Jan. 20.
Schumer
sent a letter to his caucus, a copy of which was obtained by The Hill,
outlining plans for investigating both the mob violence and related issues and
vowing "vigorous oversight."
"Our
caucus will make sure that the events are fully investigated and every
necessary security measure is in place for the upcoming Inauguration and the
days leading up to it," Schumer wrote in the letter.
The
Senate is getting briefed on the inauguration Tuesday amid growing security
concerns about President-elect Joe Biden's swearing-in ceremony. Schumer, in
his letter, also said Democrats will use the Judiciary Committee, once they
take over the majority, to probe extremist groups.
"Incoming-Senate
Judiciary Committee Chairman Durbin and I have already announced that the
committee, as one of its first acts under Democratic control, will closely
examine the rise of violent extremist groups, white supremacists and violent
fringe conspiracy theorists who are intent on undermining and overthrowing the
government as we saw at the Capitol on January 6th," Schumer wrote, referring
to Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Bipartisan
leadership on the Rules Committee and Homeland Security and Government Affairs
Committee have also pledged to probe the security failure that led to rioters
being able to breach the Capitol.
Schumer's
letter comes almost a week after a mob breached the Capitol as Vice President
Pence and congressional leaders were counting the Electoral College vote,
forcing lawmakers to go into hiding and suspending the proceedings for hours.
Members
of extremist groups have been identified as being part of the rioters and law
enforcement officials have warned about the potential for additional attacks at
the Capitol and across the country.
Speaking
to reporters in New York on Tuesday, Schumer said he wanted participants in the
Capitol Hill riot to be included on the FBI's no-fly list. He said he had
discussed the issue with FBI Director Christopher Wray.
"These
insurrectionists many of whom are known to be at large should not be able to
hop on a flight," Schumer said. "The insurrectionists who breached
the U.S. Capitol fall under the definition of threats to the homeland."
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/533862-schumer-says-democrats-will-probe-extremist-groups-after-capitol-attack?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
US
designates Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Unit leader Abu Fadak as terrorist
Rawad
Taha
13
January 2021
The
US designated Abu Fadak al-Mohammadawi, Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization
Unit leader and former secretary general of Iraqi Kata’ib Hezbollah, as a
Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), the US State Department reported
in a statement.
The
statement added that Muhammadawi is the former secretary general of Kata’ib
Hezbollah (KH), a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and SDGT.
“KH,
established in 2006, is an Iran-backed terrorist organization that seeks to
advance Iran’s malign agenda in the region and has claimed responsibility for
numerous terrorist attacks in Iraq, including improvised explosive device
attacks, indirect fire attacks, rocket-propelled grenade attacks, and sniper
operations,” the statement added.
The
statement added that KH has reportedly been involved in recent and widespread
theft of Iraqi state resources and the killing, abduction, and torture of
peaceful protesters and activists in Iraq.
The
statement added that Muhammadawi is separately working in conjunction with
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – Qods Force to reshape official Iraqi
state security institutions away from their true purpose of defending the Iraqi
state and fighting ISIS, to instead support Iran’s malign activities, including
the defense of the Assad regime in Syria.
“Iran-backed
elements, including those in which Muhammadawi now plays a leadership role,
have previously been involved in sectarian violence, including the abductions
of hundreds of men from areas liberated from ISIS control,” the statement
added.
The
State Department added that the designation seeks to deny Muhammadawi the
resources to plan and carry out terrorist attacks. Among other consequences,
all of his property and interests that are in the US, that hereafter come
within the US, or hereafter come within the possession or control of US
persons, have been blocked, and US persons are generally prohibited from
engaging in any transactions with him.
Abu
Fadak
The
Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) militia group has named Abu
Fadak al-Mohammadawi as its new leader, succeeding Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis who
was killed in Iraq alongside Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani last year.
The
new PMU leader, whose real name is Abdulaziz al-Mohammadawi, has been known to
go by the nickname “al-Khal” or the uncle in English.
Al-Mohammadawi
was considered as a close friend of Soleimani.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2021/01/13/US-Treasury-sanctions-former-secretary-general-of-Kata-ib-Hezbollah-al-Muhammadawi
--------
Israel
struck Syria after US' Pompeo, Mossad’s Cohen discussed airstrike: US official
13
January 2021
A
senior US intelligence official with knowledge of the Israeli attack on Syria
told The Associated Press that the airstrikes were carried out with
intelligence provided by the US — a rare incidence of publicized cooperation
between the two countries over choosing targets in Syria.
The
US official, who requested anonymity to speak about the matter, said US
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed Tuesday’s airstrike with Yossi Cohen,
chief of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, at a public meeting in the popular
Washington restaurant Café Milano on Monday.
The
official said the strikes targeted a series of warehouses in Syria that were
being used in a pipeline to store and stage Iranian weapons.
Israeli
warplanes carried out intense airstrikes in eastern Syria early Wednesday,
apparently targeting positions and arms depots of Iran-backed forces as the
region is on high alert. At least 57 fighters were killed and dozens were
wounded, according to a Syrian opposition war monitoring group.
The
warehouses also served as a pipeline for components that support Iran’s nuclear
program, the official said. There was no immediate comment from Iran.
Syria’s
state news agency SANA said the strikes hit areas in and near the towns of Deir
el-Zour, Mayadeen and Boukamal along the border with Iraq. An unnamed military
official was quoted as saying Syrian air defenses responded to the incoming
missiles. It gave no further details.
A
Syrian opposition war monitoring group reported at least 18 strikes in Deir
el-Zour and along the border with Iraq, saying several arms depots were hit.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 57 people were
killed, including 14 Syrian troops, and the rest were Iran-backed fighters
including 16 Iraqis and 11 Afghans. Dozens were wounded.
The
death toll could not be independently verified. If confirmed, it would make it
one of the deadliest Israeli strikes in Syria over the past 10 years.
“They
burned Iranian positions in Deir el-Zour,” said Omar Abu Laila, a Europe-based
activist from Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zour province who runs an activist
collective that reports on news in the border area. He recorded at least 16
targeted buildings, warehouses or bases for Iranian, Lebanese and Iraqi
militias in the towns of Boukamal, Mayadeen and Deir el-Zour.
Israel
has launched hundreds of strikes against Iran-linked military targets in Syria
over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses such operations.
The
Observatory said it recorded 39 Israeli strikes inside Syria in 2020 that hit
135 targets, including military posts, warehouses or vehicles. In those
attacks, at least 217 people were killed, mostly Iranian-allied militiamen,
according to the Observatory.
The
strikes come at a time of heightened tension in the region in the final days of
President Donald Trump’s administration.
The
Israeli military has been on a high level of defensive alert, and according to
Amos Harel, a prominent Israeli military affairs correspondent, an aerial
defense battery of Patriot missiles was deployed in Israel’s southern seaport
of Eilat. Writing in the newspaper Haaretz, he said an exceptionally large
presence of fighter planes has been in the skies over the country for a
considerable portion of the day.
Meanwhile,
Israeli jets have been violating Lebanese airspace and crisscrossing skies over
Beirut in daily, low-altitude flights that have added to jitters in the
Lebanese capital.
Many
fear retaliation for the US killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard commander
Qassem Soleimani last year in Baghdad may come before Trump leaves office, or
that conflict could erupt to scuttle efforts by Joe Biden’s incoming
administration to negotiate with Iran.
Israel
views Iranian entrenchment on its northern frontier as a red line, and has
repeatedly struck Iran-linked facilities and weapons convoys destined for
Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
The
strikes also come amid intensifying low-altitude Israeli warplane missions in
Lebanese skies that have caused jitters among residents and prompted Lebanon to
file an urgent complaint to the UN about the violations of its airspace.
Israeli officials have said the overflights are necessary because Hezbollah is
violating the 2006 UN resolution that bars it from building up its military
capabilities and operating near the Israeli border.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2021/01/13/Israel-struck-Syria-after-US-Pompeo-Mossad-s-Cohen-discussed-airstrike-US-official
--------
20,000
US troops to deploy for Biden’s inauguration as FBI warns of more pro-Trump
violence
14
January 2021
About
20,000 US troops are to be deployed to Washington, DC for President-elect Joe
Biden's inauguration next week as concerns rise about the likelihood of
"extremist violence" ahead of the January 20 event.
"I
think you can expect to see somewhere upwards of beyond 20,000 members of the
National Guard that will be here in the footprint of the District of
Columbia," Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee said on
Wednesday.
Earlier
this week, Pentagon authorized 15,000 National Guard members to be sent to the
District for the inauguration.
The
FBI has warned police chiefs to be on high alert and “Overshare Intelligence”,
and be mindful of potential lone-wolf actors and local armed groups.
FBI
Director Christopher Wray and the acting director of the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services, Kenneth Cucinelli expressed great concern
about the potential for extremist violence.
The
officials said they would be issuing a national threat bulletin urging all
Americans to be cautious in the coming days.
The
FBI officials were concerned about potential attacks on business, state
capitols, federal buildings and the homes of congressional members, The NYT
said.
“They’re
very, very worried about these, what they referred to as domestic violent
extremists, embedding themselves in other protests,” a police chief said.
“Christopher
Wray seemed particularly concerned about what was sort of the disregard these
folks have for democratic government. The focus was not to go after people
engaged in peaceful protest. There were others embedded in that who were
engaged in violence and criminal behavior.”
The
FBI has issued warnings of armed protests planned in all 50 US state capitals
in the days before January 20.
Last
week, Trump supporters launched a deadly assault on the US Capitol, disrupting
briefly the certification of the November election results. Five people were
killed in the siege.
Security
has already been heightened across Washington as the US House of
Representatives voted to impeach President Donald Trump a second time. He had
been charged with "incitement of insurrection” over last week’s Capitol
siege.
Trump
issued a statement Wednesday urging supporters to commit "NO
violence" in his first message after his impeachment.
"In
light of reports of more demonstrations, I urge that there must be NO violence,
NO lawbreaking and NO vandalism of any kind," Trump said.
"That
is not what I stand for, and it is not what America stands for. I call on ALL
Americans to help ease tensions and calm tempers. Thank You."
Since
the siege, some members of Congress, including Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., have
requested that Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy review backgrounds of any National
Guard troops involved in inaugural security.
Crow
expressed "concerns about reports that active duty and reserve military
members were involved in the insurrection at The Capitol."
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/14/642978/US
--------
A
week before Trump's term ends, US Treasury imposes new sanctions on Iranian
foundations
13
January 2021
In
its final days in power, the hawkish administration of lame-duck US President
Donald Trump has imposed new sanctions on Iranian foundations.
The
US on Wednesday blacklisted two Iranian foundations and their subsidies,
claiming the institutions kept the ownership over large parts of the country’s
economy.
The
designations announced by the US Treasury Department target the state
organization Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order (EIKO), and Astan Quds Razavi
(AQR), an organization that manages the holy shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth
Shia Imam.
The
sanctions, which also target the foundations’ leaders and subsidiaries, freeze
assets of those targeted and threaten anyone engaging in certain transactions
with those individuals with US sanctions.
The
fresh sanctions are the latest action to reinforce the failed “maximum
pressure” campaign on Iran pursued by the Trump administration.
Tensions
have risen between Iran and the US after Trump unilaterally left a 2015
historic nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, describing the deal,
which was struck by his predecessor Barack Obama, as the worst ever negotiated.
The
US administration also reinstated the sanctions that had been lifted against
Iran under the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The
fresh sanctions come in the final days of Republican Trump's term. He is due to
hand over power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.
Biden,
who is set to take office on January 20, has denounced Trump's withdrawal from
the JCPOA.
He
has also expressed willingness to return the United States to the nuclear deal.
After
a year of sticking to its obligations under the JCPOA, Iran suspended its
commitments in response to the US measures and the Europeans’ failure to trade
business with Iran.
Tehran
says its measures are reversible if the other side fulfills its commitments,
stressing that the US needs to lift the sanctions.
Delivering
a televised address earlier this week, Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Khamenei asserted that Iran’s “ultimate and definitive” position on
the matter was that the US had to primarily lift its sanctions against the
Islamic Republic.
The
Leader called the Iranians’ right to lead a sanctions-free life “a right that
has been usurped” by Washington.
Foreign
Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif echoed the Leader's position in an interview,
saying the Iranian nation must feel the tangible results of any sanctions
relief instead of the US possibly lending an "empty signature" to the
nuclear deal.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/13/642956/US-imposes-fresh-sanctions-on-Iranian-foundations
--------
U.S.
imposes counter terrorism sanctions on 5 people: Treasury website
JANUARY
12, 2021
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - The United States on Tuesday imposed counter terrorism sanctions on
five people it tied to Iran, designating them each as a Specially Designated
Global Terrorist (SDGT), according to the U.S. Treasury Department’s website.
Reuters
reported on Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plans to use newly
declassified U.S. intelligence to publicly accuse Iran of ties to al Qaeda in a
speech on Tuesday, two people familiar with the matter said, as part of his
last-minute offensive against Tehran before handing over to the incoming Biden
administration.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-sanctions-counter-terrorism/us-imposes-counter-terrorism-sanctions-on-5-people-treasury-website-idUSKBN29H23W?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
Arab
World
Israeli
aggression on areas in Deir Ezzor and Albu Kamal in Syria: State media
Tuqa
Khalid
13
January 2021
Syrian
air defenses confronted an "Israeli aggression" on areas in Deir
Ezzor and Albu Kamal in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq, state news
agency SANA and state television AlIkhbaria reported on early Wednesday.
"At
1:10 this morning, the Israeli enemy launched an aerial aggression on the Deir
Ezzor and Albu Kamal areas, the resulting consequences of the aggression are
currently being evaluated," the military statement read.
The
bases in eastern, central and southern Syria which Israel had hit in recent
months are believed to have a strong presence of Iranian-backed militias,
according to intelligence sources and military defectors familiar with the
locations.
Western
intelligence sources say Israel’s stepped up strikes on Syria in the last few
months are part of a shadow war approved by the United States and part of the
anti-Iran policy that has undermined in the last two years Iran’s extensive
military power without triggering a major increase in hostilities.
They
say that the past year has seen an expansion in the targets hit by Israel
across Syria where thousands of Iranian-backed militias have been involved in
regaining much of the territory lost by Syrian President Bashar al Assad to
insurgents in a nearly decade old civil war.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2021/01/13/Israeli-aggression-on-areas-in-Deir-Ezzor-and-Albu-Kamal-in-Syria-State-media
--------
Kuwait's
cabinet submits resignation in standoff with parliament
January
13, 2021
Kuwait’s
Prime Minister Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah presented the resignation of his
cabinet to the country’s ruler on Wednesday, days before the premier was due to
be questioned in parliament over his choice of ministers and other issues.
The
standoff between the government and parliament less than a month after the
cabinet was appointed poses the first big challenge to Emir Sheikh Nawaf
al-Ahmed al-Sabah, who assumed power in September.
It
complicates government efforts to tackle the OPEC state’s deepest economic
crisis in decades, caused by low oil prices and the coronavirus crisis.
Ministers
had submitted their resignations on Tuesday to Sheikh Sabah, a move the
government said was related to “developments in the relationship between the
National Assembly (parliament) and the government”.
It
was not immediately clear if the emir, who has the final say in matters of
state, would accept the cabinet’s resignation.
The
motion to question Sheikh Sabah, who has been prime minister since late 2019,
was submitted by three lawmakers on Jan 5 in the first regular session of a new
assembly, in which the opposition made gains in last year’s election.
More
than 30 other MPs in the assembly, which has 50 elected seats, supported the
request to question him. The motion seen by Reuters referred to a cabinet that
did not reflect the poll result and government “interference” in electing the
speaker and members of parliamentary committees.
Members
of the cabinet also sit in parliament as deputies.
Kuwait
has the most open political system in the Gulf region. Parliament has the power
to pass legislation and question ministers, although senior government posts
are occupied by members of Kuwait’s ruling family.
Frequent
rows and deadlocks between cabinet and parliament have led to successive
government reshuffles and dissolutions of parliament, hampering investment and
economic and fiscal reform.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1601293/kuwaits-cabinet-submits-resignation-in-standoff-with-parliament
--------
Iran
fires cruise missiles as part of drill in Gulf of Oman: State media
14
January 2021
Iran
fired cruise missiles Thursday as part of a naval drill in the Gulf of Oman,
state media reported, amid heightened tensions with the US.
Various
kinds of surface-to-surface cruise missiles successfully hit their targets in
the gulf and northern part of the Indian Ocean, the report said.
“Enemies
should know that any violation and invasion of Iranian marine borders will be
targeted by the cruise missiles from both coast and sea,” said Adm. Hamzeh Ali
Kaviani, spokesman for the exercise.
Images
released by the navy showed the missiles being launched and hitting their
targets.
The
two-day drill began Wednesday when the country’s navy inaugurated its largest
military vessel. The exercise takes place amid heightened tensions over Iran’s
nuclear program and a US pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic.
In
recent weeks, Iran has increased its military drills. On Saturday, the
paramilitary Revolutionary Guard held a naval parade in the Persian Gulf and a
week earlier Iran held a massive drone maneuver across half the country.
President
Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew the US from Iran’s nuclear deal, in
which Tehran had agreed to limit its uranium enrichment in exchange for the
lifting of economic sanctions. Trump cited Iran’s ballistic missile program
among other issues in withdrawing.
Following
the US’s re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, Tehran gradually and publicly
abandoned the deal’s limits on its nuclear development as a series of
escalating incidents pushed the two countries to the brink of war at the
beginning of the year.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2021/01/14/Iran-fires-cruise-missiles-as-part-of-drill-in-Gulf-of-Oman-State-media
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Investments
in Saudi Arabia’s economy will reach six trillion dollars: Crown Prince
Rawad
Taha
14
January 2021
Saudi
Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman says major investment opportunities
in Saudi Arabia will amount to six trillion dollars over the next ten years,
including 3 trillion dollars in investments in new projects, within the
framework of the opportunities provided by Vision 2030, according to the Saudi
Press Agency (SPA).
Saudi
Arabia's Crown Prince participated in a strategic dialogue session within the
activities of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in the presence of more than 160
influential international leaders and business leaders, representing 28 sectors
and 36 countries.
The
Crown Prince indicated that 85 percent of this huge economic program will be
funded by the Public Investment Fund and the Saudi private sector, while the
remainder will be through stimulating foreign capital from the Gulf countries
and all countries of the world.
During
the strategic dialogue session held within the framework of the activities of
the World Economic Forum, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reviewed the
achievements made by Saudi Arabia since the announcement of Vision 2030, in
terms of doubling non-oil revenues, empowering women in the labor market,
raising the level of competitiveness in the business environment, the
significant improvement made in environmental protection, and the Kingdom's
initiative regarding the circular carbon economy, which was approved by the G20
summit chaired by the Saudi Arabia.
The
Crown Prince indicated that the Kingdom's previous achievements in accordance
with Vision 2030 came within the framework of rapid transformation and reforms
in the past four years, and that these reforms will double in the next ten
years.
The
Crown Prince affirmed that the year 2020 was full of challenges and that Saudi
Arabia was ready for that as the transformation journey that was launched a few
years ago.
The
Crown Prince added that the transformation journey took all the country's axes
to new dimensions, in the economic aspects, government work and social aspects,
and created quality investment opportunities.
Prince
Mohammed bin Salman stressed on the role played by the Saudi Arabia in the
framework of promoting development, supporting the stability of the region and
preserving the energy supply market, stressing the continuation of that role in
the interest of the region through establishing security and peace, and
enhancing economic cooperation.
The
forum also seeks to involve the most prominent leaders of politics and the
private sector with the aim of forming international, regional and industrial
agendas, and the forum is keen to involve a number of Competent holders,
including leaders, politicians, decision-makers, leaders of the private sector,
educational institutions and think tanks.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2021/01/14/Vision-2030-Investments-in-Saudi-Arabia-s-economy-will-reach-six-trillion-dollars-Crown-Prince
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UAE’s
Emirates Post adds Israel to its network of operations: WAM
13
January 2021
United
Arab Emirates' Emirates Post Group has added Israel to the network of its
global operations following an official agreement and establishment of full
diplomatic relations between the two countries, state news agency WAM reported
on Wednesday.
Emirates
Post has tied up with counterpart Israel Post to facilitate access to cities
and destinations across the country, WAM reported.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2021/01/13/UAE-s-Emirates-Post-adds-Israel-to-its-network-of-operations-WAM-
--------
Syria
condemns new Israeli raids, urges UN action
14
January 2021
The
Syrian government has condemned new Israeli airstrikes on Syrian territory,
calling on the United Nations Security Council to take immediate and decisive
measures to prevent the repetition of such attacks.
According
to Syria’s official news agency SANA, the Israeli regime launched airstrikes on
the eastern parts of Syria near the Iraqi border in the early hours of Wednesday.
The strikes targeted the city of Dayr al-Zawr and the town of al-Bukamal.
In
a letter to the United Nations secretary-general and the president of the
Security Council later in the day, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said the Israeli
aggression had been synchronized with the criminal practices of the so-called
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Syrian people in Hasaka, Dayr
al-Zawr, and Raqqa.
“The
government of the Syrian Arab Republic, with the assistance of friendly
countries and allies, affirms its determination to regain every inch of the
Syrian soil and liberate it from terrorism and reconstruct what has been
destroyed by terrorism,” the ministry said, SANA reported.
It
called on the Security Council to assume responsibility in the framework of the
UN Charter, emphasizing that the Israeli regime had to be held accountable for
its crimes against the Syrian people in violation of the UN Charter and
relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly Resolutions 242, 338, 350,
and 497.
Separately,
a senior US intelligence official said the Israeli airstrikes were carried out
with intelligence provided by the United States.
The
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Associated Press
that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had discussed the attack with Yossi
Cohen, the chief of Israel’s spy agency Mossad, on Monday.
Meanwhile,
the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes killed 57
people, becoming the deadliest such strikes since the conflict began in 2011.
Israel
frequently carries out raids in Syria, in blatant violation of the Arab
country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, with the aim of
shoring up militant and terrorist groups fighting against the government of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The
Wednesday Israeli raid occurred as protesters had gathered outside the
residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call for his
resignation over corruption and the mishandling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Netanyahu
has been indicted for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in four corruption
cases.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/14/642988/Syria-condemns-new-Israeli-raids,-urges-UN-action
--------
Is
Al-Qaeda affiliate expanding attacks beyond Syrian town of Idlib?
Khaled
al-Khateb
Jan
12, 2021
ALEPPO,
Syria — The Hurras al-Din (Guardians of Religion) group affiliated with
al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for a recent attack on a Russian base in Tal
al-Saman in the northern countryside of Raqqa, which is under the control of
the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The
attack raised questions about Hurras al-Din’s ability to carry out attacks
outside the areas of its deployment in Idlib, northwestern Syria. Some wondered
about the timing of this attack and the messages the group wants to convey to
the various parties that share control over the Syrian territory, including
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that controls Idlib.
A
car bomb targeted the Russian base near the village of Tal al-Saman on Dec. 31.
A campaign dubbed “Raqqa Being Slaughtered” published photos on Facebook from
the site of the bombing, noting that clashes with automatic weapons briefly
broke out after the bombing without specifying the parties involved.
The
Russian forces had strengthened their military presence at the Tal al-Saman
base during December 2020 following an agreement with the SDF. The Russian TASS
news agency quoted the deputy director of the Russian Khmeimim air base in
Syria, Maj. Gen. Vyacheslav Sitnik, as saying on Dec. 27 that additional
Russian military police units have been deployed to the Ain Issa area “to step
up efforts to stabilize the situation.”
After
the attack on the Russian base, Hurras al-Din issued a statement on social
media it called “The Battle of Hardship,” saying, “A secret group from Hurras al-Din
managed to raid a hub of the occupying Russian forces in Tal al-Saman in Raqqa
governorate.”
Hurras
al-Din leader Mohammed Abu Khalid al-Suri defined the objectives of the
operation on his Telegram account, saying, “The mujahedeen believe that their goal
in al-Sham (the Levant) is to fight the aggressive enemy, not the Muslims, nor
is it to fight over the crossings, money and control, as warlords do.”
He
added, “With the Battle of Hardship, the mujahedeen aim to prove a point to
those factions that possess tens of thousands of soldiers, millions of dollars,
weapons and equipment,” in an indirect reference to the opposition factions and
to the HTS, which Hurras al-Din opposes and accuses of treason.
Suri
added, “Targeting the bases of the Syrian regime and the Russian enemy and
draining them is one of the most successful and most effective solutions in
this period after the factions in the north closed the fronts, prevented
invasions, concluded a truce with the enemies, and brought them into Muslim areas
and dismantled the strength of the mujahedeen. We had to think outside the box
to find proper solutions, which is why operations behind enemy lines were
carried out to emphasize the mujahedeen's rejection of imported international
agreements.”
Bilal
Sattouf, a researcher in jihadist groups residing in the countryside of Aleppo,
told Al-Monitor, “The Hurras al-Din’s attack on the Russian base outside the
Idlib area carries several indications. First and foremost, it reveals a
security defect in SDF-controlled areas in a way that enabled the group to
carry out this operation. It also indicates Hurras al-Din’s intent to expand
the scope of its operations in Syria. In the future, we may witness other
operations by the group outside Idlib against the Syrian regime forces and
perhaps the Iranian militias, and the SDF as well.”
Sattouf
added, “The attack also shows the differences between Hurras al-Din and HTS
when it comes to ending the battles in Idlib, since HTS is somewhat committed
to the Russian-Turkish agreement in Idlib. Meanwhile, Hurras al-Din wants to
showcase itself as a large and effective force capable of shuffling the cards.”
He
noted, “[The attack coincided] with Russian-Turkish action in Ain Issa aimed at
deporting the SDF from the area. It seems Hurras a-Din wanted to prove its
presence in the areas where other parties conclude agreements to share lands.
Hurras al-Din also wants to tell both Russia and Turkey that the pressure
exerted on the organization in Idlib could not eliminate it.”
Sattouf
pointed out, “Hurras al-Din can reach areas outside Idlib, and the recent
attack also provides it with jihadist propaganda that helps it preserve its
jihadists as well as attract new ones, especially in light of the growing
operations of the Islamic State (IS) in the Syrian desert, creating competition
between the two organizations to attract jihadist fighters.”
HTS
launched a campaign against Hurras al-Din in Idlib in 2020, which led to direct
clashes and resulted in dismantling a large percentage of the organization amid
internal divisions. Ever since, there have been questions on whether the
clashes between HTS and Hurras al-Din pushed the latter to reconcile with IS,
or even if the two (IS and Hurras al-Din) cooperated to strike the Russian base
in Raqqa. This could be possible given that IS has been active in eastern and
northeastern Syria, which could lead to cooperation between Hurras al-Din and
IS in future attacks.
Orabi
Abul-Hayy Orabi, a researcher in Islamic groups, told Al-Monitor, “I completely
rule out the possibility of Hurras al-Din coordinating with IS to attack the
Russian base. But there could be some sort of temporary truce between the two
sides to facilitate their movements in the desert and other Syrian areas where
the two sides have security cells.”
For
his part, Obadah al-Tamer, dean of the Faculty of Political Sciences at the
Damascus University in the countryside of Aleppo, told Al-Monitor, “Hurras
al-Din’s attack may be linked to what might be called the proxy conflict over
that area, but one operation may not be significant enough to base a logical
explanation on, nor does it allow for a realistic prediction of causes.”
https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2021/01/syria-hurras-al-din-idlib-raqqa-attack-islamic-state.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
Mideast
Iran
Fires Different Naval Cruise Missiles on 2nd Day of Massive Drills
2021-January-14
A
variety of cruise missiles with different ranges successfully hit their
targets in the North Indian Ocean and the exercises general zone.
In
addition, the Iran-designed class of semi-heavy submarine, Fateh, shot its
first-ever torpedo during the drills that successful hit the target.
Deputy
Navy Commander for Coordination and Spokesman of the Drills Rear Admiral Hamzeh
Ali Kaviani told reporters on the sidelines of the drills that Iran is in
possession of different naval cruise missiles, adding that their high
destruction power has turned them into effective and decisive weapons in any
wars in the sea.
He
added that information about some of the weapons and systems used in this
exercises are classified as confidential, saying that enemies should know that
in case of any aggression against the maritime borders of the Islamic Republic
of Iran, they will be targeted by cruise missiles from the coast and sea.
Rear
Admiral Kaviani said that various types of home-made drones were also used in
the wargames which displayed proper performace.
Eqtedar
99 naval war-games kicked off in Makran Coast of the Sea of Oman and the
Northern Indian Ocean on Wednesday morning, as the Iranian Navy received its
largest warship, Makran.
The
two-day naval drills began on Wednesday in the Southeastern region of Makran
Coast and the Northern Indian Ocean while a home-grown giant vessel, Makran,
was delivered to the Navy.
In
the first phase of the exercises, the Army's surface, subsurface and flight
units were expanded to the general zone of the wargames to continue their
specialized exercises according to the specified scenario.
The
huge warship Makran is a domestically-manufactured helicopter carrier that can
be used for logistical purposes in support of the naval forces' maritime
missions.
The
war-game was attended by Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major
General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim
Mousavi, and other senior commanders.
According
to Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, Makran can carry seven
helicopters and can support the Navy’s missions in high waters, such as the
Northern part of the Indian Ocean, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Red Sea.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991025000280/Iran-Fires-Differen-Naval-Crise-Missiles-n-2nd-Day-f-Massive-Drills
--------
Zarif:
Iraqi Arrest Warrant for Trump Result of Iran’s Pursuit
2021-January-13
Zarif
said that the foreign ministry has been engaged in pursuit of US conviction
through the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings.
"The
place for legal prosecution of the assassination of Martyr Soleimani and his
companions is the courts of Iran and Iraq," he went on to say.
In
relevant remarks last week, Iran’s Judiciary Spokesman Gholam Hossein Esmayeeli
said that Tehran has asked Interpol to issue a red notice for all perpetrators
and masterminds of the assassination of Islamic Revolution Guards Commander
(IRGC) anti-terror Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
“Iran
has asked the Interpol for the apprehension of the US president and 47 others
in connection with the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani
near the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, last year,” Esmayeeli announced on Tuesday
January 16.
He
added that Iran has identified 48 people in connection with the targeted terror
attack and that includes US President Donald Trump, Pentagon officials and terrorist
American forces in the region.
The
spokesman said Tehran has made it clear in its request the role each individual
played in the brutal assassination and emphasized that Iran would seriously
pursue the case to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Lieutenant
General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad
International Airport in Iraq on January 3, 2020.
The
airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The two were martyred in an
American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.
Five
Iranian and five Iraqi military men were martyred by the missiles fired by the
US drone at Baghdad International Airport.
On
January 8 and after the funeral ceremony of General Soleimani, the IRGC
Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad
airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated
airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of General Soleimani.
Ein
Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels,
which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the
radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and
intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central
radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The
second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in
Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani"
reprisal operation.
Iraq
said the attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these
two bases. The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone,
including the Iraqi army.
The
IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.
Meantime,
Iran announced in late June that it had issued arrest warrants for 36 officials
of the US and other countries who have been involved in the assassination of
the martyred General Soleimani.
"36
individuals who have been involved or ordered the assassination of Hajj Qassem,
including the political and military officials of the US and other governments,
have been identified and arrest warrants have been issued for them by the
judiciary officials and red alerts have also been issued for them via the
Interpol," Alqasi Mehr said at the time.
He
said that the prosecuted individuals are accused of murder and terrorist
action, adding that US President Donald Trump stands at the top of the list and
will be prosecuted as soon as he stands down presidency after his term ends.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991024000861/Zarif-Irai-Arres-Warran-fr-Trmp-Resl-f-Iran%E2%80%99s-Prsi
--------
IRGC
Commander: Israel Rotten Inwardly, Iran Not Dependent on JCPOA
2021-January-13
“The
Zionist Regime has become rotten inwardly and the US’ condition is clear as
well, however, the Islamic Republic of Iran has reached a point where it is
needless of JCPOA,” General Salami said on Wednesday.
He
reiterated that Iran does not care if the US returns to the JCPOA or not.
“The
US has become a laughing stock in the world and its conspiracies have
backfired,” the commander went on to say.
“The
American president is a frustrated and defeated person who knocked his country
to the ground,” the IRGC Commander noted, stressing that today, the architect
of maximum pressure and maximum pressure itself have failed.
In
relevant remarks in September, 2020, Major General Hossein Salami said the US
has become rotten internally and isolated externally, and asked Iranian people
not to be worried about American threats.
“The
United States is now rotten from inside and isolated from outside,” Salami said
while calling on Iranian people not to be concerned about the US threats.
He
made the remarks on the sidelines of a ceremony on Monday September 21 to
commemorate over one million war veterans during eight years of Sacred Defense.
Pointing
to the US President Donald Trump's remarks to strike Iran “1000 times greater
in magnitude” in case Iran threatens any of the US interests, Salami said the
US has lost its symbols, and even the American people are now chanting
"Death to America".
“American
people are defacing iconic statues in the US and burning the American flag,” he
added.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991024000836/IRGC-Cmmander-Israel-Ren-Inwardly-Iran-N-Dependen-n-JCPOA
--------
Iran
Denounces US’ Labelling of Cuba as Sponsor of Terrorism
2021-January-13
Iranian
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh strongly condemned the US
designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism and emphasized that Tehran will
stand with the Cuban government and people against the Global Arrogance.
Khatibzadeh
said the claim that Cuba has been engaged in terrorist acts is a baseless
accusation forged by the US, adding that the US regime continues unilateral
measures against other nations in the last days of Trump administration.
He
noted that Cuba has the right to develop cooperation with its neighbors in
Latin America and this has nothing to do with Washington.
The
spokesman further underscored boosting bilateral relations with Cuba and
rejected US support for terrorist groups all over the world.
On
Monday, the Trump administration again put Cuba on the list of states, claiming
that the country provides assistance to international terrorism.
Also
on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Al Qaeda’s new base of
operations is inside Iran, however, he offered no underlying intelligence as
evidence and his conclusions were contradicted by other American officials.
Iranian
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at the outgoing US Secretary
State Mike Pompeo’s recent claims against Iran, stressing that the perpetrators
of the Sep. 11 incidents were terrorists who had come from the countries that
are Pompeo’s favorites.
"All
the terrorists involved in 9/11 event were from Mike Pompeo’s favorite
countries in West Asia, and none from Iran,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter page on
Tuesday.
Zarif
added that the US warmongering government is engaged in branding others as
terrorists and taking famous terrorist groups out of their
classifications.
“From
designating Cuba to fictitious Iran "declassifications” and AQ claims, Mr.
“we lie, cheat, steal" is pathetically ending his disastrous career with
more warmongering lies,” he continued.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991024000737/Iran-Dennces-US%E2%80%99-Labeling-f-Cba-as-Spnsr-f-Terrrism
--------
Eqtedar
99 Drill Starts in Oman Sea, Indian Ocean with Huge Vessel Joining Iran’s Navy
2021-January-13
The
two-day naval drill dubbed Eqtedar (Might) began on Wednesday in the Southeastern
region of Makran Coast and the Northern Indian Ocean while a home-grown giant
vessel, Makran, was delivered to the Navy.
In
the first phase of the exercises, the Army's surface, subsurface and flight
units were expanded to the general area of the war-game to continue their
specialized exercises according to the specified scenario.
The
huge warship Makran is a domestically-manufactured helicopter carrier that can
be used for logistical purposes in support of the naval forces' maritime
missions.
The
war-game was attended by Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major
General Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Army Commander Major General Abdolrahim
Mousavi, and other senior commanders.
According
to Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, Makran can carry seven
helicopters and can support the Navy’s missions in farther waters, such as the
Northern part of the Indian Ocean, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Red Sea.
The
Navy will also receive a new missile-launching warship dubbed 'Zereh' on
Wednesday.
The
warship would enhance the Navy’s combat capabilities in the Southern waters.
‘Zereh’
(Armor in Farsi) missile launcher is one of Iran’s powerful warships with high
speed and high ability of maneuver. It is equipped with advanced automatic
missiles and artillery.
It
is categorized in Iran’s Paykan-class missile-launching warships, every
component of which has been manufactured by the Iranian Navy’s experts. The
warship has passed all its coastal and maritime tests and is fully prepared to
embark on missions.
In
a relevant development in November last year, the Islamic Revolution Guards
Corps (IRCG) Navy received a new home-made ocean-going, helicopter and drone
carrying warship named Shahid Roudaki.
The
ceremony to deliver Shahid Roudaki warship was attended by a group of Iranian
civilians and military officials, including IRGC Commander Major General
Hossein Salami and IRGC Navy Commander Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri.
The
multifunctional vessel is capable of carrying and providing logistical support
to fighter jets, aircraft, drones, missile systems, and radars which are being
carried on board.
The
400-ton Shahid Roudaki warship is 150 meters long and 22 meters wide. It is
equipped with three-dimensional radars, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air
missiles. It can carry helicopters and operational vessels, all of which have
been domestically-designed and manufactured.
Addressing
the ceremony, Rear Admiral Tangsiri said that the warship has been equipped
with different types of indigenized weapons.
Commander
of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy's Second Zone General Ramezan
Zirahi announced last month that the IRGC’s naval forces will receive a number
of ocean-going vessels in the next six months.
“A
number of ocean-going vessels for deployment in free waters and oceans are
being manufactured and they will join the IRGC Navy by the yearend (Iranian
year which ends on March 20),” General Zirahi said.
He
underlined the IRGC Navy’s high preparedness to give a crushing response to any
possible attack by enemies, saying the IRGC enjoys full intelligence
superiority over the region and monitors all moves.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991024000561/Eedar-99-Drill-Sars-in-Oman-Sea-Indian-Ocean-wih-Hge-Vessel-Jining
--------
Aggressors
who relied on Trump must stop Yemen war: Houthis
14
January 2021
The
spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says the regimes waging war
under the protection of US President Donald Trump — who is leaving office
following his election defeat — must now stop their bloody aggression.
In
a post on his twitter account on Wednesday, Mohammed Abdul-Salam urged the
aggressor regimes relying on Trump to end their offensive against Yemen
completely.
“The
countries that have attacked Yemen must stop their aggression and lift the
siege in a comprehensive manner, and there is no place for half-measures,” he
said.
Saudi
Arabia launched a devastating military aggression against Yemen in March 2015
in collaboration with a number of its allied states, and with arms and
logistics support from the US and several Western countries.
The
aim was to return to power a Riyadh-backed former regime and defeat the Houthis
who have been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government
in the country.
The
war has failed to achieve its goals, but killed tens of thousands of innocent
Yemenis and destroyed the impoverished country’s infrastructure. The UN refers
to the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The
Riyadh regime enjoyed close ties with the Trump White House, but US
president-elect Joe Biden is supposedly against the war and has vowed to “end
the sale of material to the Saudis where they’re going in and murdering
children.”
On
Sunday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used his last days in office to
designate the Houthi Ansarullah movement a foreign “terrorist” organization.
The
designation freezes any US-related assets of the Houthis, bans Americans from
doing business with them and makes it a crime to provide support or resources
to the movement.
It
will come into effect on January 19, the last full day in office of Trump’s
administration, in defiance of aid groups who fear the measure will worsen the
humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
Yemen
warns of consequences of US blacklisting of Ansarullah
On
Wednesday, Yemen’s Supreme Political Council said the US move shows the
confusion and failure of the American policy in the region in general, warning
that it will not only affect the humanitarian situation, but also the political
process in Yemen.
“This
reckless American approach confirms that it is a translation of an under-price
deal with the countries of aggression to satisfy their desires and their
mercenaries to prolong the aggression,” it said in a statement.
The
council further described Ansarullah as a major Yemeni national component
around which all free people of Yemen are rallying in their battle for
sovereignty and independence against the US-Saudi aggression and blockade.
‘UN
wants to US to reverse blacklisting of Ansarullah’
Additionally,
Reuters reported that UN aid chief Mark Lowcock will on Thursday call on
Washington to reverse the blacklisting of Ansarullah.
In
prepared remarks for a UN Security Council briefing, Lowcock is expected to
warn that the US move would push Yemen into a “famine on a scale that we have
not seen for nearly 40 years.”
“What
would prevent it? A reversal of the (US) decision,” he will say. “Aid agencies
cannot – they simply cannot - replace the commercial import system.”
“The
data show that 16 million people will go hungry this year. Already, about
50,000 people are essentially starving to death in what is essentially a small
famine. Another 5 million are just one step behind them,” Lowcock will further
say.
“Yemen
imports 90% of its food. Nearly all that food is brought in through commercial
channels. Aid agencies give people vouchers or cash to buy commercially
imported food in the market.”
Referring
to Pompeo’s claim that the US Treasury would provide licenses for some
humanitarian activities and transactions related to critical commodities, the
UN aid chief will explain, “It is not humanitarian agencies who are importing
most of the food.”
“The
Yemeni companies who bring in most of the food are using words like ‘disaster’,
‘havoc’, and ‘unimaginable’ when they describe to us what they fear is coming,”
Lowcock is expected to say.
“Some
suppliers, banks, shippers and insurers are ringing up their Yemeni partners
and saying they now plan to walk away from Yemen altogether. They say the risks
are too high. They fear being accidentally or otherwise caught up in US
regulatory action.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/14/642984/Yemen-Houthi-Ansarullah-Trump-
--------
Iran
says US blacklisting of Yemen’s Ansarullah will kill political process, talks
13
January 2021
Iran
has hit out at a US decision to designate Yemen’s Ansarullah movement as a
terrorist organization, warning that the move will impede a political solution
to the conflict in the impoverished Arab country.
“Blacklisting
Yemen’s Ansarullah movement is a last-ditch attempt by the administration of
[outgoing US President Donald] Trump to put the final finishing touches to its
destructive role in the shameful, imposed war on Yemen and to impede a
political solution and peace talks,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed
Khatibzadeh said on Wednesday.
The
remarks came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the
Department of State will notify Congress of his intent to designate Yemen’s
Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization.
The
Houthis will be blacklisted on January 19 -- one day before US President-elect
Joe Biden’s inauguration -- unless Congress blocks the decision.
Pompeo
also designated as terrorists three leaders of the movement, including their
chief Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.
'US
main sponsor of crimes in Yemen'
Khatibzadeh
said that from the very onset of Yemen’s war, the US has been the main sponsor
of crimes perpetrated by the Saudi-led coalition in the Arab country and has
spared no support for the aggressors, be it financial or arms supply.
He
took the US government and the Department of State to task for “making every
effort to ignite and continue the war and block any way out for a political
solution to the crisis.”
Stressing
that the US move has concerned the global community, the Iranian official
raised the alarm that the sanctions will disrupt humanitarian aid delivery and
impede the UN mission in the war-ravaged country.
He
finally expressed optimism that the international community will react to the
Trump administration's “vicious decision.”
A
day after the US announcement, the Ansarullah movement said the group is
entitled to respond to any US move to designate them as a terrorist
organization, while describing the Trump administration as “terrorist.”
“America
is the source of terrorism,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a member of Yemen's
Supreme Political Council, twitted on Monday. “The Trump administration’s
policy and actions are terrorist. We reserve the right to respond to any
designation issued by the Trump administration or any administration.”
The
announcement also sparked condemnations and triggered concern from the
international community, and even within the US.
A
group of US lawmakers warned against the plan to blacklist the Ansarullah
movement, urging Washington to reverse the decision.
In
a post on his Twitter account, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said, "The
designation of the Houthis as a terrorist organization is a death sentence for
thousands of Yemenis," adding that the move will cut off humanitarian aid
and make intra-Yemen peace talks nearly impossible.
He
further said President-elect Biden should reverse this policy as soon as he
takes office.
Democratic
lawmaker Gregory Meeks also said, "No solution in Yemen will be
sustainable unless the Houthis are involved.”
Republican
Senator Todd Young also said Pompeo's move “will further destabilize a war-torn
country” and block aid groups from delivering vital relief.
Meanwhile,
the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance group also denounced the US decision, terming
it as a criminal act aimed at undermining the Yemeni nation’s morale.
Hezbollah
said in a statement late on Monday that Washington is not content with
supporting and participating in the Saudi-led aggression on Yemen, and intends
to target the Ansarullah movement and three of its leaders with sanctions.
“It
is a criminal move that seeks to hurt the morale of Yemenis, who have been resiliently
confronting the unfair blockade and aggression,” the statement added. “The
United States bears the responsibility for all potential humanitarian and
health repercussions.”
The
European Union and the UN also censured the US decision.
Josep
Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, said on Tuesday the designation “risks
rendering UN-led efforts to reach a comprehensive solution to the Yemen
conflict more difficult.”
It
would also complicate the necessary diplomatic engagement with Houthi
Ansarullah movement in Yemen as well as the work of the international community
on political, humanitarian and developmental matters, he added.
United
Nations spokesman Stephan Dujarric said during a January 11 briefing that the
US intention to brand Yemen’s Houthi movement as a terrorist organization is
“likely to have serious humanitarian and political repercussions.”
He
called on the US to “swiftly grant the necessary licenses and exemptions to
ensure that principled humanitarian assistance can continue to reach all people
... without disruption.”
According
to the official, the UN is “concerned that the designation may have a
detrimental impact on efforts to resume the political process in Yemen.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/13/642939/Iran-says-US-blacklisting-of-Ansarullah-will-kill-political-solutions-
--------
US
move to designate Houthis terrorist organization will help Yemen peace efforts:
Officials, analysts
January
12, 2021
AL-MUKALLA:
America’s decision to designate the Iran-backed Houthis as a foreign terrorist
organization will help pave the way for peace in Yemen, government officials
and analysts claim.
The
designation, due to come into effect the day before US President Donald Trump’s
administration leaves office, would curb Houthi human rights abuses and the
group’s resistance to peace efforts, while weakening financial sources that
fuel the war in the country, they said.
But
critics have argued that the move might exacerbate the humanitarian crisis,
escalate violence, and encourage the Houthis to strengthen ties with Iran.
Yemen’s
parliament has urged American legislators to approve the designation to punish
the Houthis for crimes carried out against Yemenis. It believes the move would
force the Houthis into accepting unfulfilled peace agreements and current peace
efforts, the official news agency SABA said.
“The
Houthi militia has destroyed the land and people of Yemen and posed a threat to
international peace and security,” the parliament said in a statement.
Ahmed
Obeid bin Daghr, former prime minister of Yemen and a senior adviser to the
Yemeni president, described the US move as an “accurate and realistic
description” of the Houthi movement, adding that the step would boost the
Yemeni government and Arab coalition efforts to recapture state bodies from the
Houthis.
In
a tweet, Daghr said: “With this historic decision, the Americans have expressed
their desire to achieve peace, sovereignty, and unity in Yemen and to save
Yemen from Iranian interference.”
Despite
strong opposition from aid workers and many Yemen experts, the internationally
recognized government of Yemen has stepped up diplomatic efforts to get the
Houthi movement declared a terrorist organization following last month’s
missile attack on Aden airport that killed and wounded more than 130 people.
The
Yemeni government has said that Houthi crimes and human rights abuses are on a
par with those committed by other terrorist organizations such as Daesh and
Al-Qaeda.
However,
critics have pointed out that the US move may aggravate the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis in Yemen by restricting movements of international aid
organizations that distribute vital humanitarian assistance to millions of
hungry Yemenis and could also provoke the Houthis into escalating their
military operations throughout Yemen.
Ahmed
Awad bin Mubarak, Yemen’s foreign minister, told Arab News that the decision
would not have any impact on humanitarian deliveries inside Houthi-controlled
areas, as it excluded humanitarian workers who deal with the rebels from sanctions.
“We
will not allow the punishment of our people in areas under the control of the
militias. The decision includes exceptions that will enable humanitarian
organizations to operate,” the minister said.
At
the same time, Yemeni government officials who handle humanitarian activities
inside Yemen backed the US move, blaming the Houthis for fueling the
humanitarian crisis by blocking the distribution of life-saving aid in areas
under their control.
Based
on his previous experience with the Houthis, former Yemeni minister of local
administration and chairman of the higher committee for relief in Yemen, Abdul
Raqeeb Fateh, said the designation would have positive impacts on the delivery
of humanitarian assistance since it would put an end to the plundering of aid
by the Houthis.
“Since
2014, the Houthis have looted relief aid and used it to support their war
efforts and refused to apply humanitarian standards. The decision will force
them to back down and reduce plundering,” he added in a tweet.
Abdu
Abdullah Majili, a Yemeni army spokesman, told Arab News that troops were ready
to confront any military action by the Houthis in response to the US
announcement. “The national army is prepared to inflict defeat on the militia.
The Houthis have committed heinous crimes against Yemenis since Sept. 21,
2014.”
Yemeni
military and political experts noted that aggressive actions by the Houthis
would only consolidate grounds for the designation and would push more
countries into backing the decision.
“The
Houthis have no other option but to comply with peace efforts. They are
responsible for ruining the biggest political process in Yemen brokered by the
world,” Najeeb Ghallab, undersecretary at Yemen’s Information Ministry and a
political analyst, told Arab News, referring to the Houthi coup.
Nadwa
Dawsari, a Yemeni conflict analyst, claimed that only a military operation
would put an end to the Houthi threat and push the group into accepting peace
initiatives.
In
a tweet, she said: “Neither political negotiations with Houthis nor their
designation alone will contain their (and Iran’s threat). Only a strong and
well-planned ground military action that weakens them will neutralize their
threat and bring Yemen closer to peace.”
News
of the US designation negatively impacted exchange markets in the country,
causing the Yemeni currency to fall again. Local moneychangers told Arab News
that the Yemeni riyal was traded at 780 against the dollar on Tuesday, falling
from 715 on Sunday. The riyal regained 20 percent of its value last month when
a new government was formed and returned to Aden under the Riyadh Agreement.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1791486/middle-east
--------
Africa
Six
Nigerian Soldiers Killed In B'Haram Ambush In Yobe
JAN
12, 2021
Nigerian
troops killed Twenty-six Boko Haram terrorists on Saturday, hours after the
terrorists killed at least six soldiers in an ambush in Yobe State.
But
military authorities in Yobe said one soldier was killed and another one
injured.
Credible
sources said the soldiers were on their way for an induction ahead of their
deployment to the North East's battlefields when the terrorists laid siege on
the highway.
One
of the sources said six soldiers died at the ambush spot, and many others were
injured.
"The
terrorists attacked our troops who were heading towards Buni Yadi and then
retreated towards the dreaded Alagarno village," he told DailyTrust.
It
was learnt that the terrorists ambushed the troops at Gonan Kaji, a village in
Gujba Local Government Area along the Damaturu- Biu Road.
The
Nigerian Army under "Operation Tura Takai Bango" confirmed that
troops deployed soon after the ambush killed 28 terrorists.
In
a statement signed by the acting Director, Defence Media Operations, Brigadier-
General Benard Onyeuko, the Army noted that soldiers from headquarters and
those from 27 Task Force Brigade, Buni Gari, and others from Special Forces
Training School, Buni Yadi, repelled the attack.
"The
soldiers tactically out-manoeuvred the criminals and engaged them with superior
firepower resulting in high casualty on the terrorists.
"In
the same vein, one Boko Haram gun truck was destroyed with its occupants while
another gun truck was captured from the fleeing criminals. Other equipment
captured from the criminals include 2 Anti -Aircraft guns, 13 AK 47 Rifles,
four extra magazines and a vulcanizing machine."
"Regrettably,
one gallant soldier paid the supreme price while one other soldier was wounded
during the encounter," he said.
http://saharareporters.com/2021/01/12/six-nigerian-soldiers-killed-bharam-ambush-yobe?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
West
Africa: Boko Haram Blocks Lake Chad Trade Routes
11
JANUARY 2021
The
Boko Haram insurgency has had devastating consequences on Lake Chad boat
transporters, a socio-economic group that has been the locomotive of local
trade for decades. An effective crisis response must address the needs of this
often overlooked group.
Interventions
to deal with the Boko Haram threat have largely ignored the impact on the
economic activity of boat drivers who have been affected since 2015. Not being
able to cross over to Nigeria has deprived Chadian boat operators of their
main, if not their only, source of livelihood.
Before
the Boko Haram crisis, generations of boat drivers contributed to a flourishing
formal and informal economy based on the movement of people and goods. Their
activity helped make the Lake Chad Basin a sub-regional trade hub. Compared to
road transport, boats offered a faster solution to delivering large quantities
of goods. This meant income for traders and boat drivers, and lower prices for
consumers.
Every
week, canoes crowded with hundreds of people and goods (smoked fish, corn,
wheat, cow and camel skins, among others), would leave Bol and Baga Sola in
Chad, in the direction of Baga Kawa in Nigeria. Baga Kawa is an important
commercial hub from where fishing, agricultural and livestock products are
moved into Nigeria, and Nigerian manufactured products are traded into the
other Lake Chad Basin countries.
Trade
routes between Chad and Nigeria
On
the way back, the canoes carried food products including pasta, rice, oil, soft
drinks, wheat flour, sugar, tea, as well as soap and detergents, cosmetics,
loincloths, clothes and cement. These manufactured goods supplied a large part
of Chad. Traders and transporters interviewed by the Institute for Security
Studies (ISS) estimated that the value of goods transported and exchanged
weekly was in the range of thousands of euros, a fortune by local standards.
From
2009 onwards, violence in north-east Nigeria gradually spread to countries
adjoining Lake Chad, making it difficult for boat drivers to move around
safely. In 2015, after the first set of attacks and bombings on Chadian soil,
the lakeside borders with Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria were closed. This greatly
disrupted the flourishing transnational trade network.
Unsurprisingly,
boat drivers who experienced first-hand Boko Haram ambushes around the lake or
witnessed the killing of colleagues eventually abandoned the route to Baga
Kawa. Local markets remain accessible but they don't provide the same level of
income as sub-regional transport.
This
raises the issue of boat drivers' day-to-day survival, especially as their
activity supports entire families and communities and powers the local economy.
Many have tried to turn to agriculture or fishing, but access to land and
fishing equipment is a challenge. Some have left in search of viable
opportunities elsewhere, including Libya, while others remain idle.
Generations
of boat drivers helped make the Lake Chad Basin a sub-regional trade hub
Their
fate and the implications on local economies receive little attention from
governments and organisations working to secure the Lake Chad Basin area. Boat
operators who spoke to the ISS said they had not received any form of help,
either from the state or other development partners, to help them recover.
Cessation
of transport across the lake has socio-economic implications beyond the boat
drivers and their dependents. The price of some basic products has increased as
a result of longer routes and higher transport costs. Some have been rerouted
through Niger or Cameroon. The temporary closure of land borders as a measure
to combat the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these difficulties.
This
situation particularly affects the economies of Bol and Baga Sola (Lac
Province), two towns on the shores of Lake Chad that largely depended on
cross-lake
Boat
transporters are calling for a reopening of borders, but this won't be enough,
as the security situation remains dire. Alternative livelihoods for boat
drivers need to be found and supported, with agriculture and fishing the most
promising options. They will need help gaining access to land, funds and
necessary means of production in order to gain a foothold in these activities.
An
effective response must be inclusive and meet the needs of victims who have
silently suffered the consequences of the Boko Haram crisis over the past
decade. Leaving them without alternative means of survival also makes them
vulnerable to recruitment by violent extremists and other perpetrators of
violence.
Action
to restore peace in the Lake Chad Basin should include supporting the
livelihoods of boat drivers and efforts to stabilise, secure and reopen trade
and transportation routes in the region.
https://allafrica.com/stories/202101120396.html?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
Tensions
rise at Sudan-Ethiopia disputed border
13
January 2021
Ethiopia
warned Sudan on Tuesday it was running out of patience with its neighbors’
continued military build-up in a disputed border area despite attempts to
diffuse tensions with diplomacy.
The
decades-old dispute over al-Fashqa, land within Sudan's international
boundaries that has long been settled by Ethiopian farmers, erupted into weeks
of clashes between forces from both sides late last year.
"The
Sudanese side seems to be pushing in so as to inflame the situation on the
ground," Ethiopian foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told reporters.
"Is Ethiopia going to start a war? Well, we are saying let's work on
diplomacy."
"How
long will Ethiopia continue to resolve the issue using diplomacy? Well, there
is nothing that has no limit. Everything has a limit," he told a briefing
in Addis Ababa.
Sudan's
information minister and government spokesman Faisal Mohamed Saleh said the
country did not want war with Ethiopia but its forces would respond to any
aggression.
"We
fear that these comments contain a hostile position towards Sudan. We ask of
Ethiopia to stop attacking Sudanese territory and Sudanese farmers," he
told Reuters.
Later,
Sudan's foreign ministry condemned what it called an attack by Ethiopian
"gangs" in al-Fashqa on Monday, five km (three miles) from the
border. Five women and a child were killed, and two other women who had been
harvesting were missing, it said.
Sudan
said on Dec. 31 that it had taken control of all Sudanese territory in the
area. Ethiopia says Sudan took advantage of its forces being distracted by the
Tigray conflict to occupy Ethiopian land and loot properties.
The
United Nations said in a report last week on the humanitarian situation in
Tigray that there were reports of a military build-up on both sides of the
border around the area.
The
border tensions come at a time when Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt are also trying
to resolve a three-way row over Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Ethiopia
sees the dam as key to plans to become Africa's largest power exporter. Egypt,
which gets more than 90% of its scarce fresh water from the Nile, fears the dam
across the Blue Nile could devastate its economy.
Egypt,
Ethiopia and Sudan said on Sunday that they reached a new impasse in the
dispute. Egypt and Ethiopia separately blamed Sudanese objections to the
framework for the talks.
On
Tuesday, Ethiopia's Dina criticized both Egypt and Sudan for delaying the
negotiations. "Are the two speaking the same language? More or less. The
two are speaking the same language when it comes to stalling it."
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2021/01/13/Tensions-rise-at-Sudan-Ethiopia-disputed-border
--------
Sudan
accuses Ethiopia of violating its airspace
13
January 2021
Sudan
says an Ethiopian military aircraft has violated its airspace, warning Addis
Ababa against repeating “such hostilities.”
It
has been a long-standing dispute.
The
al-Fashqa border area, which falls within Sudan’s international boundaries but
has long been settled by Ethiopian farmers, is the bone of contention.
On
Wednesday, Sudan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement the aircraft had
“penetrated” the Sudanese-Ethiopian border “in a dangerous and unjustified
escalation.”
The
ministry cautioned about “dangerous consequences” that could lead to “more
tension in the border area.”
The
ministry urged Ethiopia not to repeat “such hostilities in the future given
their dangerous repercussions on the future of bilateral relations between the
two countries and on security and stability in the Horn of Africa.”
Ethiopia
on Tuesday accused Sudan of a military build-up in the contested border region,
warning that a military confrontation could be imminent as its “peaceful”
approach to the decades-old dispute “has its limit.”
In
response, Faisal Mohamed Saleh, Sudan’s information minister and government
spokesman, warned that Khartoum would respond to any aggression.
Khartoum
said in late December that it had regained control of all the Sudanese
territory in the area.
Ethiopia
says Sudan is taking advantage of its forces being distracted by an internal
conflict in the northernmost region of Tigray to occupy Ethiopian land.
Al-Fashqa
borders the troubled Tigray, where armed conflict began in November between
federal troops and rebel forces.
80+
civilians killed in western Ethiopia
The
Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said on Wednesday that more than 80
people had been killed in the latest attack in the Metekel zone of the western
region of Benishangul-Gumuz, which borders Sudan and South Sudan, and is home
to the mega dam.
Civilians
in Metekel have been targeted in fatal attacks since September.
On
December 23 alone, 207 people died in one attack.
Prime
Minister Abiy Ahmed has so far struggled to clarify what is driving the
violence.
Reports
say there is no known link between the violence and military operations in Tigray.
In
October, Abiy blamed Sudan for the violence, saying the fighters active in
Metekel were receiving training and shelter in Sudan. He stopped short of
providing evidence, however.
Ethiopian
opposition politicians believe the attacks on civilians have an ethnic motive.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/13/642941/Sudan-Ethiopia-airspace
--------
Central
African Republic forces thwart rebel attempt to seize capital Bangui
13
January 2021
Armed
rebel groups in the Central African Republic (CAR) have attempted to seize the
capital Bangui, but saw their push thwarted by the security forces.
Prime
Minister Firmin Ngrebada said in a post on Facebook on Wednesday that although
the assailants were “in large numbers to take Bangui” at dawn, the security forces
managed to “vigorously” push the rebels back.
Interior
Minister Henri Wanzet Linguissara told AFP that two army brigades were targeted
by the rebels nine and 12 kilometers from the capital.
The
assaults were the first close to the capital and mark an escalation in the
violence surrounding the December presidential election, in which Faustin
Archange Touadera was declared winner on January 4.
“We
heard gunfire from six this morning. We’re staying home – there’s panic. We’re
scared of stray bullets,” said north Bangui resident.
Explosions
were also heard during the clashes.
The
United Nations mission in CAR said that a Rwandan peacekeeper had died in the
assault.
“The
attack was repelled by Blue Helmets together with the Central African forces,”
the spokesman for the MINUSCA peacekeeping mission said.
A
coalition of rebel groups, accused of an attempted coup after their offensive
to disrupt the December 27 election, have vowed to march on Bangui.
The
army, supported by the armed forces of France, Russia, Rwanda and the United
Nations, has been battling those seeking to derail the disputed election.
Former
President Francois Bozize came to power in a coup in 2003. He was ousted by a
rebellion in 2013.
Ever
since, chaos and clashes over power have killed thousands of people and forced
over a million from homes.
The
former president stands accused of plotting a coup with the help of armed
groups. He denies the allegation.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/01/13/642930/CAR-Bangui-rebels
--------
Jordanian
sentenced to death for 2019 tourist stabbings
12/01/2021
Jordan's
state security court sentenced a man to death on Tuesday for the 2019 stabbing
of eight people, four of them foreign tourists, at one of the kingdom's ancient
sites.
The
victims, who included one Swiss and three Mexican tourists, all survived the
November 2019 knife attack in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Jerash,
some 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the capital Amman.
Mustafa
Abu Ruwais, 24, was sentenced to "death by hanging for the terrorist knife
attack on tourists," the court said.
There
is no right of appeal against the decisions of Jordan's state security court.
Abu
Ruwais, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, was at the time of the attack a
resident of the Souf camp in Jerash, which houses some 20,000 Palestinian
refugees.
He
was arrested immediately afterwards and charged with terrorism offences in
January last year.
The
charge sheet alleged that Abu Ruwais "follows the ideology of the Daesh
terrorist gang", a pejorative reference to the Islamic State jihadist
group, and has been "in contact with one of the members of this
organisation in Syria" who gave the green light for the attack.
But
there was never any formal claim of responsibility for the attack.
IS
led a self-proclaimed caliphate across large swathes of Iraq and Syria between
2014 and its collapse in 2019.
Jordanian
forces played a significant part in a US-led coalition that helped defeat the
jihadists.
At
Tuesday's hearing, the court also found two other defendants guilty, sentencing
one to life imprisonment and the other to seven years for complicity.
Both
are Jordanians of Palestinian origin like Abu Ruwais.
-
Vital sector -
The
Jordanian victims included a tour guide and a security officer who attempted to
intervene.
It
was not the first time a Jordanian tourist attraction had been attacked.
In
December 2016, in Karak, home to one of the region's biggest Crusader castles,
10 people -- seven police, two Jordanian civilians and a Canadian tourist --
were killed in an attack that also left 30 wounded.
That
attack was claimed by the Islamic State group, and 10 people were later
convicted of carrying out the assault, two of them sentenced to death.
Tourism
is a key lifeline for Jordan, a country lacking in natural resources and
reliant on foreign aid.
The
sector accounted for 14 percent of GDP in 2019, but has since been ravaged by
the collapse in international travel that resulted from the coronavirus
pandemic.
The
kingdom, which borders conflict-torn Syria and Iraq, had been working to revive
its tourism industry.
Jordan
boasts 21,000 archaeological and historical sites that span millennia,
according to the tourism board.
They
include the Roman ruins of Jerash, the ancient city of Petra, the Dead Sea and
Wadi al-Kharrar, or Bethany Beyond the Jordan, where some believe Jesus was
baptised.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20210112-jordanian-sentenced-to-death-for-2019-tourist-stabbings?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
South
Asia
Afghan
Military Releases 13 Civilians, Policeman From Taliban Prison
14
January, 2021
Kabul
[Afghanistan], January 14 (ANI/Sputnik): Afghan commando forces released 13
civilians and one policeman from a Taliban prison in the southern Afghan
province of Helmand, the Afghan defense ministry said on Thursday.
"13
#civilians and a police officer were released from #Taliban prison as a result
of commando forces' operations in Washir district of #Helmand province last
night. Also, several Taliban's vehicles were seized during the operation,"
the ministry wrote on its Twitter account.
The
ministry added that the Afghan national army (ANA) killed seven Taliban
militants who planned to blow up a car bomb among civilians in the northern
province of Faryab.
"ANA
prevented a car bomb attack in Qaisar district of #Faryab province yesterday. 7
#suicide attackers who were in the car loaded with explosives were killed as a
result of the #ANA attack before they could reach their target. TB [the
Taliban] had planned to blow up the car among civilians," the ministry
said.
Afghanistan
is still plagued by long-lasting violence that claims the lives of Afghan
civilians and security personnel, despite the ongoing intra-Afghan peace
negotiations that began in the Qatari capital of Doha on September 12.
In
early December, Kabul and the Taliban took a three-week break in their talks
for consultations on a negotiation framework. The sides resumed negotiations on
January 6 in Qatar's capital Doha. However, the resumption of talks has so far
failed to improve the security situation in Afghanistan. (ANI/Sputnik)
http://www.businessworld.in/article/Afghan-military-releases-13-civilians-policeman-from-Taliban-prison/14-01-2021-365353/
--------
Civilians,
Policeman Rescued From the Clutches Of Taliban
By
Mohammad Haroon Alim
14
Jan 2021
Ministry
of Defense in a post on their Facebook page said, that commando forces rescued
at least 13 prisoners from the clutches of the Taliban.
The
captured prisoners were rescued from a Taliban jail in the Washir district of
Helmand province.
Commando
operations backed by air support conducted a mission on Taliban controlled jail
during the night.
The
overnight mission forced the Taliban militants to flee to nearby villages.
Security
officials told the media, that 13 people including a policeman were rescued
from the grips of the Taliban during the operation.
The
abductees were held by the Taliban for over a year and were being held inside
the prison in a poor condition.
The
freed Afghan citizens, including the policeman, have returned to their
families.
So
far, Taliban have not commented on the incident.
This
comes as Kandahar police spokesman, Jamal Nasser Barakzai told media, that
around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning in the Chonai area of the 13th district
of Kandahar city, a magnetic IED targeted a taxi.
A
taxi driver was killed in the magnetic IED blast, Barakzai added.
No
further details were provided in relations to the targeted IED explosion.
No
group or individual have yet accepted the responsibility for the incident.
https://www.khaama.com/civilians-policeman-rescued-from-the-clutches-of-taliban-556655/
--------
Gov't
forces free 13 from Taliban jail in S. Afghanistan
2021-01-14
KABUL,
Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan National Army commandoes have freed 13 people
from a Taliban prison in an operation in the southern province of Helmand, the
Defense Ministry said Thursday.
"The
raid was launched in surrounding areas of Washer district Wednesday night.
Thirteen compatriots, including a policeman, were freed," the ministry
said in a statement.
The
freed people would join their families soon, the brief statement said, adding
the security forces also confiscated one car, three motorcycles and three
telecommunication radios following the raid.
Taliban
militants frequently detain civilians and off-duty soldiers from across
villages and highways and punish civilians for spying for government security
forces.
The
militant group has yet to make comments on the report. Enditem
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-01/14/c_139667350.htm
--------
India
MP
civil society groups write to President Kovind demanding deferring of ‘love
jihad’ law
By
Sravani Sarkar
January
13, 2021
A
group of prominent civil society organisations in Madhya Pradesh sent a
memorandum to the President of India, demanding his intervention in what they
have called ‘special circumstances’ in the state and demanded deferment of the
implementation of the contentious ‘love jihad’ law, which they have termed “totally
unconstitutional.”
The
memorandum stated that President Ram Nath Kovind is being petitioned as Madhya
Pradesh does not have a full-time governor at present, and similar situation is
prevailing in other states of the country too.
“As
you must be aware, an ordinance has been notified in Madhya Pradesh with an
objective of controlling so-called love jihad. We, the signatories are of view
that as for marriages, all adults in the country have complete right to decide
about it themselves and the Indian constitution has clear provision for this.
Recently, high courts in different states have also made similar observations.
Therefore, the ordinance clearly infringes into the rights of the citizens and
is totally unconstitutional,” the memorandum noted.
“We
also object to the fact that the law with long-term consequences was brought it
as an ordinance. The constitution gives rights to governments to bring in
ordinances so that emergency situations could be dealt with, especially in
times when the Parliament or the assemblies are not in session and the
emergency situation does not allow the option of awaiting of commencement of
such sessions.
Thus
we request for immediate deferment of implementation of the ordinance,
especially in the situation where the Supreme Court is looking into the
decisions of various high courts on similar laws (enacted by other states). In
our view, these laws will leader to situation of animosity and mutual hatred in
the society,” the memorandum said.
The
memorandum also pointed out the some incidents led to feeling of insecurity in
the society. There were incidents of confrontation between some supporters of
Hindu organisations and some members of minority community reported from three
districts of the state.
“It
was said that some minority community members pelted stone on Hindu
organisation supporters. Police registered cases against minority community
members, however, they did not say as to under what circumstances the stone
pelting occurred. Also, it was reported that some anti-social elements unfurled
saffron flag on a mosque and recited religious hymns in front of another,” the
memorandum said.
It
added that it was regretful that there was action against stone pelters, but in
their knowledge, there was no action against those indulging in raising
inflammatory slogans and desecrating Muslim religious places. “There was no
action against those trying to create disharmony. The one-sided action of
police has led to feeling of insecurity and anger in the minority community,”
the memorandum said.
The
signatories include Rajendra Sharma, L.S. Herdenia, Kumar Ambuj, Ramakant
Shrivastava, Subodh Shrivastava, Rakesh Diwan, Kumud Singh, Javed Anis, Upasana
Behar, Asha Mishra, Shailendra Shaili, Satyam Pande, Raghuraj Singh, Sajid Ali,
Ramprakash Tripathi, Rajendra Kothari, Manoj Kulkarni, S.R. Azad, Sandhya
Shaili, Neena Sharma, Ashafia Jamal and Anand Muttungal.
They
represent organisations like All India Secular Forum, Pragatisheel Lekhak
Sangh, Sarokar, Yuva Vichar Manch, Janwadi Lekhak Sangh, All India People’s
Science Network, All India Democratic Women’s Association and Christian
Association.
https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2021/01/13/mp-civil-society-groups-write-to-president-kovind-demanding-deferring-of-love-jihad-law.html
--------
Babri
Mosque Demolition Case: HC Adjourns for 2 Weeks Hearing on Plea against
Acquittal of All 32 Accused
JANUARY
13, 2021
The
Allahabad High Court on Wednesday adjourned for two weeks hearing on a plea
against the acquittal of all 32 accused, including BJP veterans L K Advani and
Murli Manohar Joshi, in the Babri mosque demolition case.
The
Lucknow bench of the court adjourned hearing after the petitioners demanded
some time to remove certain defects in their case file. The matter came up
before a bench of Justice Rakesh Srivastava. The petition was filed on January
8 by Ayodhya residents Haji Mahmood Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad.
Their
counsel is All India Muslim Personal Law Board executive member Zafaryab
Jilani, who has also been the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee.
While filing the petition, Jilani had said the two Ayodhya residents moved
court because the CBI has not yet appealed against the September 30 judgment.
The petitioners have claimed that they are witnesses in the trial.
The
trial judge had refused to accept newspaper clippings and video clips as
evidence because the originals were not produced in court. He also held that
the CBI could not produce any evidence that the accused had a meeting of minds
with the `kar sevaks' who demolished the structure.
The
petitioners have pleaded that the CBI court committed an error in not
convicting the accused despite the presence of ample evidence on record. The
trial judge did not appreciate the evidence of conspiracy in the right
perspective, their petition said. The petitioners have sought that the record
from the trial court be summoned, its judgment set aside and the all the 32
accused held guilty and punished accordingly.
Former
deputy prime minister L K Advani, the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan
Singh, former Union ministers Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharti and Ram
Janmaboomi Teerth Kshetra Trust president Nritya Gopal Das were among those
cleared by the lower court. The Babri mosque was demolished on December 6, 1992
by a mob of kar sevaks who believed that the 16th century structure stood at
the birthplace of Lord Ram.
In
November 2019, a Supreme Court ruling on the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land
dispute paved the way for the construction of the Ram temple at the contested
site.
https://www.news18.com/news/india/babri-mosque-demolition-case-allahabad-hc-adjourns-for-two-weeks-hearing-on-plea-against-acquittal-of-all-32-accused-3282953.html
--------
Don’t
Demolish Mosques for Road Widening: Telangana State Waqf Board
Jan
14, 2021
Hyderabad:
Telangana State Waqf Board (TSWB) chairman Mohammed Saleem on Wednesday
appealed to national highway authorities not to demolish any mosque or
graveyard for widening roads.
At
a meeting attended by the police, revenue, and national highway officials,
Saleem asked the authorities not to register any Waqf property in the name of
individuals. “Once the property belongs to Waqf it will always remain the same.
It cannot be changed or mortgaged. Telangana government has already issued GO
15 to halt registration of Waqf lands and TSWB has sent the list of Waqf
properties to all district collectors and revenue authorities requesting them
not to register these properties in the name of individuals. These properties
are dedicated to God,” Saleem said, adding that the Waqf board is taking steps
to protect its properties. “Waqf board is taking all necessary steps to protect
its properties. We will ensure the removal of all encroachments and will do the
needful to cancel registrations,” he added.
The
meeting was attended by D Prakash Reddy, DCP, Shamshabad, Dharma Reddy,
executive engineer, R&B, officials of the national highway authority and
Waqf officers Akbar Nizamuddin and Nisar Hussain Hyde Agha.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/dont-demolish-mosques-for-road-widening-tswb/articleshow/80257947.cms
--------
In
Kabul, Ajit Doval calls for reining in terror groups for lasting peace
Jan
13, 2021
NEW
DELHI: After the intra-Afghan peace negotiations resumed last week, NSA Ajit
Doval Wednesday held talks with Afghanistan leaders in Kabul on jointly
combating terrorism and ensuring that no part of the war-ravaged country is
used to perpetrate violence, particularly by Pakistan-backed terror groups,
against other countries.
In
his meetings during an unannounced 2-day visit to Kabul, Doval expressed
concerns about the activities of international terror groups and how these
could mar efforts for lasting peace in the region.
While
India has been supportive of the latest peace process, which has for the first
time seen direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, it
remains concerned about the Taliban's links with Pakistan's ISI. These concerns
related to anti-India activities on Afghanistan territory were further
justified by the recent disclosure that the entire Taliban leadership is based
in Pakistan and that no decision was being taken by the Taliban negotiators
without their advice in the ongoing peace process.
Doval
called on President Ashraf Ghani and discussed, as Ghani's office said in a
statement, counter-terrorism cooperation and efforts for building regional
consensus on supporting peace in Afghanistan.
Ghani
told Doval that Afghanistan and India in joint efforts with NATO and the US
will be able to succeed in the fight against terrorism.
"President
Ghani said the Afghan Defense and Security Forces are guarantors of stability
in Afghanistan, and are at the forefront of war against regional and global
terrorism," said the statement, adding that Doval expressed willingness to
continue India's cooperation with Afghanistan.
Doval
also said India was ready to continue talks with Kabul on "common
interests".
The
NSA also held meetings with his counterpart Hamdullah Mohib, foreign minister
Mohammad Atmar and Afghanistan's chief negotiator Abdullah Abdullah.
Afghanistan authorities said the 2 sides held extensive conversations on issues
of strategic mutual interest, including on synchronising efforts to combat
terrorism and build peace.
A
series of videos had emerged last month showing Taliban representatives led by
top Taliban negotiator Mullah Baradar, who were on a visit to Pakistan,
disclosing the existence of all Taliban leaders in Pakistan and acknowledging
their continued activities on Pakistani territory. They were also seen in the
videos visiting training camps, according to the Afghanistan foreign ministry.
The
Afghanistan government had said in a statement that the development posed a
serious challenge to the goal of achieving sustainable peace as closure of
training camps in Pakistan was vital for peaceful resolution of the Afghanistan
situation. The disclosure has also set to rest speculation that the Pakistan
spy agency may no longer have the the kind of influence with the Taliban as it
did earlier.
India
has repeatedly emphasised that while it backs the peace process, there is a
need to ensure there are no ungoverned spaces left in the country for terrorist
activities. Foreign minister S Jaishankar had earlier said that Afghan soil
should not be used for anti-India activities.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/in-kabul-ajit-doval-calls-for-reining-in-terror-groups-for-lasting-peace/articleshow/80256395.cms
--------
Secret
tunnel on India-Pak border reveals PM Imran Khan’s real plans
By
Shishir Gupta
JAN
13, 2021
Indian
security forces on Wednesday discovered another tunnel built by Pakistani
security officials to push terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir, people familiar
with the matter said. This is the second tunnel found by Indian security forces
since November last.
The
Border Security Force has told the national security establishment that the
underground tunnel, like the last one found in November, was a
professionally-engineered effort to infiltrate terrorists trained in terror
camps commissioned by the Pakistan army.
The
entry to the tunnel was spotted about 300 feet from the zero line; about 65
feet from the fence on the Indian side, a senior Border Security Force officer
said. The 3-feet wide tunnel appears to have been constructed at a depth of 25
to 30 feet.
But
this time, the BSF did not stumble upon the tunnel. “Given the sophistication
of the last tunnel that had been found, we had figured that the Pakistan army
had started building cross-border terrorists to create a new infiltration route
and had constituted special teams to look for them,” the BSF officer said.
Counter-terror
officials in New Delhi said the tunnel also explained instances of ceasefire
violations by Pakistani Rangers in this region.
It
has been an old tactic of Pakistani security forces to open fire at border
guards on the Indian side to distract them. Usually, it was to help terrorists
infiltrate into India. “Now, it is also being used to draw the attention of
security forces from spots where they are building tunnels,” a counter-terror
official said.
And
there has been a sharp increase in ceasefire violations by Pakistani forces all
along the border in Jammu and Kashmir in 2020.
According
to statistics compiled by the Jammu and Kashmir police, there were 930
instances of ceasefire violations in 2020, a 54% increase over the 605
instances the previous year. There was also a 22% increase in recruitment of
terrorists by Pakistan’s deep state.
“But
the security forces were on their toes,” a top Jammu and Kashmir police officer
said. Only 52 of the 174 terrorists recruited in 2020 are still active. “Nearly
50 of them were arrested or surrendered. Another 76 were killed in security
operations,” the officer said.
A
national security planner in Delhi said the Pakistan army’s approach to
infiltrate terrorists via tunnels reflected how desperately they wanted to keep
Kashmir on the boil. “The general understanding earlier was that the Pakistani
side would largely pause infiltration attempts during the winter. The tunnels
indicate that General (Qamar Ahmad) Bajwa does not want the terror tap to be
turned off…. That he does not want a dip in terrorist attacks in Kashmir,” he
said.
But
the desperation to keep the Kashmir Valley in the news, he said, could also be
linked to Imran Khan’s troubles from the opposition that has united to target
the PM Khan and even the army. This would explain why PM Khan and Gen Bajwa
have been trying to focus on Kashmir back home.
The
Pakistan Democratic Movement, an alliance of opposition parties formed in
September to mobilise nationwide protests against Imran Khan’s Pakistan
Tehreek-e-Insaf government is already gaining public support.
“If
the economic situation is not properly controlled, Pakistan will face political
instability with growing risks of government collapse,” an internal assessment
by the United Nations’ department of safety and security said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/analysis/secret-tunnel-on-india-pak-border-reveals-pm-imran-khan-s-real-plans-101610531648760.html
--------
UP:
FIR against Muslim man from Karnataka after teen goes missing
January
14, 2021
Gorakhpur
police has registered an FIR against a Muslim man from Karnataka for allegedly
kidnapping a 19-year-old woman from the district and forcing her to convert.
The
FIR has been lodged under sections 366 (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman
to compel her marriage, etc) and 363 (kidnapping) of the IPC and under the new
anti-conversion law in Uttar Pradesh.
The
FIR was registered a week after the woman’s father lodged a missing person
report when she did not return from college.
Police
officers said one Mehboob has been named in the FIR on the basis of the woman’s
call records and that they are not sure about the identity of the accused. A
number in the call record was traced to Karnataka and a police team from
Chiluatal police station in Gorakhpur has now left for there.
On
January 5, the woman’s father, a retired Armyman, filed a missing person
report, stating that he dropped his daughter at college the day before but she
did not return.
A
week later, based on the woman’s call detail records, the father alleged that
one Mehboob became her friend in 2019 after introducing himself as Hindu and
had now kidnapped her. “I am sure that Mehboob can pressure my daughter for
conversion…I have also come to know that he took my daughter on the pretext of
getting her a job at a company,” the father has alleged in the FIR.
Chiluatal
SHO Niraj Kumar Rai said, “The allegation is that a Muslim youth lured his
daughter and took her away to pressure her for conversion. The father did not
have any information about the accused earlier and a missing person report was
filed on January 5.”
“Following
that, we checked the call detail record and found a number. On checking caller
ID application Truecaller, we found the name Mehboob. The girl’s friends told
us that she used to talk to this guy. Her father suspected that he is Muslim
and based on that, the allegation of love jihad and forceful conversion has
been made,” said Rai.
“At
this point, we cannot be sure if Mehboob is the original name of the person.
Everything is based on the complaint and things would be clear once the woman
is recovered. The location of the number is in Karnataka and a team has been
sent there to recover her. The girl is a major and we cannot confirm ‘love jihad’
or if the girl has married or has changed her religion,” he added.
Campiarganj
circle officer Rahul Bhati said the police team is expected to reach Karnataka
soon.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/up-fir-against-muslim-man-from-karnataka-after-teen-goes-missing-7145498/
--------
Court
extends Munawar Faruqui remand by two weeks
January
14, 2021
AFTER
A Sessions Court rejected his bail plea, a Judicial Magistrate First Class on
Wednesday extended the judicial custody of comedian Munawar Faruqui by two
weeks. Faruqui has now been under arrest since January 1, and may stay behind
bars till January 27. An application for bail is expected to come up for
hearing at the High Court Friday.
Faruqui,
28, was arrested along with four others for alleged objectionable remarks
against Hindu deities and for “hurting religious sentiments” at a show in
Indore, on a complaint by Eklavya Gaud, the son of BJP MLA Malini Gaud.
The
next day, Sadakat Khan was held when he came to meet Faruqui, a friend, in
court. There is no video evidence of Faruqui having made the alleged remarks at
the show.
The
bail applications have been rejected separately of all five — apart from Khan
and Faruqui, they include Nalin Yadav, Prakhar Vyas and Pritam Vyas.
Faruqui’s
father-in-law Yunus Badar Imani, 50, who met him in jail on Wednesday, said he
had enquired if his daughter could speak with him. “But I was told that the
provision is available only to people who are in prison for three months,”
Imani, who has been camping in Indore since coming to know of the arrest on
January 2, said. The eldest of Imani’s three daughters is married to Faruqui.
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/court-extends-munawar-faruqui-remand-by-two-weeks-7145492/
--------
If
Muslims don't trust India, they can go to Pak, says BJP's Sangeet Som amid
concerns over vaccine
Abhishek
Mishra
January
13, 2021
BJP's
firebrand MLA Sangeet Som has said Muslims should leave India and go to
Pakistan if they don't trust the country. This comes amid the Muslim
community's concerns about the presence of pig fat in the coronavirus vaccine.
Sangeet
Som said, 'If the Muslims of India do not trust the country, they should leave
India and go to Pakistan and show their faith in Pakistan itself.
Sangeet
Som, an MLA from Sardhana in Meerut, arrived at an event on the occasion of
Swami Vivekananda's birth anniversary.
Som
made the statement when he was asked about some statements by some Muslim
organisations in India about pig fat being found in the corona vaccine.
Replying
to this Som said that if the Muslims of India do not have faith in Indian
scientists, the Prime Minister PM and the police administration of the country
then should leave India and go to Pakistan.
He
also said that if their faith is in Pakistan, they should go to Pakistan, but
should not doubt the scientists. Sangeet Som also attacked the statement of
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav in which he had linked the coronavirus
vaccine to the BJP.
https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/if-muslims-don-t-trust-india-they-can-go-to-pak-says-bjp-s-sangeet-som-amid-concerns-over-vaccine-1758680-2021-01-13
--------
Europe
French
police detain 7 in probe of teacher's beheading
By
JOHN LEICESTER
13
January 2021
LE
PECQ, France -- French anti-terrorism police on Tuesday detained seven people
suspected of having communicated via social media with the killer of a
schoolteacher whose beheading last year reopened debate about France's
cherished rights of expression, a judicial official said.
The
teacher, Samuel Paty, was killed Oct. 16 outside his Paris-region school after
showing caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad during a class debate on free
expression.
His
killer, identified by authorities as Abdoullakh Anzorov, was later shot dead by
police. Anzorov, an 18-year-old refugee of Chechen origin who had become
radicalized, according to authorities, claimed responsibility for the slaying
in a text found on his phone that was accompanied by a photograph of the
teacher.
The
seven people detained Tuesday in the Paris region, as well as in western France
and in the cities of Lyon and Toulouse, are suspected contacts of Anzorov, said
the judicial official. The official wasn’t authorized to publicly discuss
details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The
suspects can be held for initial questioning by anti-terrorism investigators
for up to 96 hours.
A
total of 14 people were already being formally investigated and face
preliminary terrorism- and murder-related charges in the investigation. Of
those, seven have not been granted bail.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/french-police-detain-probe-teachers-beheading-75203966?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1897865_
--------
France
repatriates 7 minors from Syria
Shweta
Desai
13.01.2021
PARIS
France
said it repatriated seven minors Wednesday from camps located in northeastern
Syria.
“These
particularly vulnerable minors were taken in accordance with the authorizations
given by local officials and on their arrival in France, they were handed over
to the judicial authorities and are taken care of by social services,”
according to the foreign ministry.
It
did not disclose details if the minors were born in Syria, traveled from France
with their parents, or are orphans.
Following
the defeat of the Daesh/ISIS terror group in Iraq and Syria, the administration
of French President Emmanuel Macron, after much reluctance, adopted a
case-by-case basis to repatriate minors.
Since
March 2019, including the latest, 35 orphaned children, or those requiring
medical attention, have returned to France from camps under the control of the
YPG/PKK terrorist group in northeastern Syria.
The
Al-Hawl camp, which houses mainly women and nearly 40,000 children from more
than 60 countries, was formerly held by the Daesh/ISIS terror group. There are
about 270 French minors at risk of sickness and radicalization at the camp,
according to rights groups.
In
2019, families of French citizens who joined the Daesh/ISIS terrorist group,
filed suit with the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), accusing Foreign
Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian of "failing to provide aid" and exposing
children and mothers to inhumane, degrading treatment, and the risk of death at
the camps.
At
least 1,300 French nationals are estimated to have traveled to Iraq and Syria
since the beginning of the armed conflict in the region.
France
has opposed the return of those who are suspected of joining the terror group
from Iraq and Syria, where it does not have extradition agreements, instead
preferring that the accused be prosecuted by authorities in Iraq and Syria
where the crimes were committed.
It
has, however, allowed more than 200 French nationals apprehended by Turkey,
under a 2014 repatriation protocol.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/france-repatriates-7-minors-from-syria/2108756
--------
UK
welcomes exploratory talks between Turkey, Greece
Burak
Dağ
13.01.2021
LONDON
The
UK late Tuesday welcomed the decision of Turkey and Greece to restart
exploratory talks, which will take place in Istanbul on Jan. 25.
"We
welcome the positive decision by both countries to restart talks later this
month to seek a resolution to tensions in the Aegean - this will help ensure
stability & prosperity in the Eastern Mediterranean," Wendy Morton,
Minister for European Neighbourhood and the Americas, wrote on Twitter.
"Turkey
& Greece remain close friends of the UK and strong @NATO allies," she
said.
On
Jan. 11, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Turkey was inviting Greece to
attend new talks hosted on Turkish soil.
On
the same day, the Turkish Foreign Ministry in a statement declared that
"the 61st round of the Exploratory Talks will take place in Istanbul on 25
January 2021."
The
60th round of talks, the last of the exploratory talks initiated between the
two countries in 2002, took place in Athens in March 2016.
Afterwards,
bilateral negotiations continued in the form of political consultations but did
not return to an exploratory framework.
The
issues of energy rights and maritime boundaries are certain to loom large in
any Turkish-Greek talks.
Turkey,
which has the longest continental coastline in the Eastern Mediterranean, has
rejected the maritime boundary claims of Greece and the Greek Cypriot
administration in the region, stressing that these excessive claims violate the
sovereign rights of both Turkey and Turkish Cypriots.
Ankara
last year sent several drill ships to explore for energy on its continental
shelf, asserting its rights in the region as well as those of the Turkish
Republic of Northern Cyprus.
Turkish
leaders have repeatedly stressed that Ankara is in favor of resolving all
outstanding problems in the region through international law, good neighborly
relations, dialogue and negotiations.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/uk-welcomes-exploratory-talks-between-turkey-greece/2107916
--------
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