“Perpetrators Should Be Handed To The Muslim World, Otherwise Their Interest Will Be In Danger, No Matter Where They Are”: Taliban on Quran Burning
New Age Islam News Bureau
28 January 2023
Protestors gathered in a
rally in Afghanistan over the burning of the holy Quran incident in Sweden.
-----
• In Yet Another Provocative Act On Friday, Far-Right
Politician Paludan Burns Quran In Front Of Denmark Mosque
• Syrian Regime Responsible For 2018 Chlorine Attack,
Killing 43 People: Watchdog
• RSS Brought Up The Possibility Of Amicable
Resolution Of Kashi And Mathura Issues In Second Round Of RSS-Muslim Community
Talks
• Dramatic Escalation Of Violence - 7 Dead In Shooting Outside East Jerusalem
Synagogue
South Asia
• Taliban Officials Refill Afghan Prisons With More
Than 29,000 Fresh Inmates Including Men And Women
• Millions of Afghan Children Suffering from Chronic
Malnutrition: WFP
• Muslim nations call for human rights in Afghanistan
as Taliban enforces Islamic Sharia laws
• Is Russia eyeing weapons from the Taliban for
Ukraine war?
--------
Europe
• Faith Groups In Sweden Stand Against Quran Burning,
Hate Speech
• Danish government faces opposition from trade unions
for plan to abolish religious holiday
• France, Iraq sign strategic partnership treaty
--------
Arab World
• Saudi Crown Prince Will Be ‘One Of Most Important
Leaders Of His Time’: Pompeo
• Lebanon lawmaker sit-in enters second week
• Protests held across several Middle Eastern
countries against Quran burning
• Saudi Arabia ‘strongly’ condemns armed attack on
Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran
--------
India
• PM Modi’s Statement, To Treat Muslims Equally And
Live With Them Harmoniously, Not Appeasement: Karnataka CM
• India Has Issued A Notice To Pakistan For
Modification Of The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty Anita
• Aligarh Muslim University Suspends Student Over
Religious Slogan Video On R-Day
• Why Pak is demanding reversal of abrogation of Art
370 for resuming dialogue with India
--------
Mideast
• Israeli Military Boosting Forces In West Bank
Following Synagogue Attack In Jerusalem
• Iran Calls for Int'l Action Against Israeli Crimes
in Jenin
• Senior Cleric: Enemy Moves Make IRGC Stronger
• Turkey summons Danish envoy over Quran-burning
protest in Copenhagen
• Iran replaces Tehran police chief after attack on
Azerbaijan’s embassy
• Azerbaijan evacuates Tehran embassy, blames Iran for
attack
• CIA chief visits Israel, Palestinian territories
• Israeli army says it intercepted 2 rockets fired
from Gaza
--------
Pakistan
• Ulema, Mashaikh And Religious Scholars of Pakistan
Urge Sweden, Dutch Govts For Prompt Action Against Desecrators Of Holy Quran
• Allah Responsible For Pakistan's Prosperity,
Development: Pakistan Finance Minister
• Pakistani rupee fall slows as PM Sharif hopes for IMF
funds
• Mysterious illness claims 18 lives in Pakistan
• Levies soldier martyred in Bolan terror attack
• Pakistan strongly condemns Israel’s attack in
Palestine
--------
Southeast Asia
• After Protesting At Swedish Embassy In KL, Islamist Group
Heads Over To Dutch Embassy For Apology Over Torn Quran
• Malaysian Scholar Hails Restu Global Quranic Arts
Festival
• UMNO expels former Malaysian health minister Khairy,
suspends ex-defence minister Hishammuddin
--------
Africa
• Human Rights Watch Urges Morocco Not To Extradite Saudi
Shia Man
• Tunisian activists decry intimidation as vote looms
• Naira redesign: Islamic group tells Nigerian govt to
extend deadline of old notes till February
--------
North America
• US Court Convicts Muslim Preacher Of Supporting Islamic
State Group
• Top US Treasury official to visit Middle East
countries to ensure sanction compliance
• US condemns ‘horrific’ East Jerusalem synagogue
attack that killed seven
• US charges three men in Iran-backed plot to
assassinate journalist Masih Alinejad
• Cancelled by truck convoy, vigil for Quebec mosque
massacre to be held Sunday
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/muslim-world-taliban-quran-burning/d/128982
--------
“Perpetrators Should Be Handed To The Muslim World,
Otherwise Their Interest Will Be In Danger, No Matter Where They Are”: Taliban
on Quran Burning
Protestors gathered in a
rally in Afghanistan over the burning of the holy Quran incident in Sweden.
-----
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
January 28, 2023
Thousands of people took to the streets on Friday in
several provinces of Afghanistan to express their anger over the burning of the
holy Quran incident which took place in Sweden last week.
On January 21, an anti-immigration politician from the
far-right fringe of Sweden burned a copy of the Quran, Muslim’s most valuable
scripture, during a protest near the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
In heinous incident was followed by worldwide
condemnations, sparking rallies in major Muslim countries. Afghanistan joined
the group after people took to the streets after the Friday prayer and chanted
death to those who publicly burned the holy Quran.
Protests were held in Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman,
Badakhshan, Balkh, Kandahar, Zabul, Ghor, Herat, Panjshir, and Kabul provinces.
In Badakhshan protestors chanted “death to Sweden, the US, and the UN,” a
Taliban official said.
“The perpetrators should be handed to the Muslim
World, otherwise their interest will be in danger, no matter where they are,”
Abdul Qadeer, head of the counter-terrorism office of the Taliban in Ghor,
said.
Earlier in the week, Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign
Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi called on the Swedish government to punish the
perpetrators and avoid similar incidents in the future.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, a US
State Department spokesperson said, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom
and other influential world leaders and organizations have strongly condemned
the act – describing it as Islamophobic, provocative, and disrespectful against
the entire Muslim world.
The desecration of the holy Quran in the western world
has caused extreme anger among Muslim Ummah, which may possibly end with
serious consequences if not prevented. In 2011, violent protests took place in
Afghanistan over burning a copy of the Holy Quran by a radical fundamentalist
Christian in the United States. Protesters over-ran a UN mission in the
northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif and killed at least seven foreign staff, and
injured many security personnel and protestors, according to a Reuters report.
Source: Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.khaama.com/protests-over-quran-burning-incident-continues-in-afghanistan-taliban/
--------
In Yet Another Provocative Act On Friday, Far-Right
Politician Paludan Burns Quran In Front Of Denmark Mosque
Photo: aa.com
----
Muhammet Ikbal Arslan
27.01.2023
COPENHAGEN
In yet another provocative act on Friday, far-right
Danish politician Rasmus Paludan burned a copy of the Muslim holy book of Quran
in front of a mosque in Denmark.
The incident took place days after Paludan, the leader
of the Danish far-right party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), burned a copy of the
Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm on Saturday under police
protection and with permission from the authorities.
He took his place just across to the mosque belonging
to the Islamic Society after Friday prayers in the Dortheavej district of
Copenhagen.
The far-right politician burned the Quran with a
helmet on his head at an area right in front of a gas station, which the police
cordoned off.
Paludan, staring at the Muslims leaving the mosque
following Friday prayers, tried to catch their attention by waving a material
insulting Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
The mosque community kept its head right the
provocateur. The notables of the congregation advised those coming out of the
mosque to leave the area to avoid the provocation.
The Danish police closed the street for entrances and
exits while it took strict security measures around the mosque.
Meanwhile, it was seen that a group of young Muslim
people, who had water and fire extinguisher in their hands, was warned by the
police.
During Paludan's provocation, takbirs of tashriq
prayers were recited through loudspeakers which could be heard outside the
mosque.
Paludan left the area, where he stayed for about 40
minutes, under police protection.
- 'This is provocation for Danish Muslim minority'
Khalid al-Subeyhi, a Palestinian mosque volunteer,
told Anadolu that they are used to this situation, which is not the first time
they experienced it.
He said Paludan has carried out provocative acts in
front of many mosques in Denmark for more than two years. "Our message to
him is: 'Don't do this, this is not freedom of expression. This is a
provocation for the Danish Muslim minority'," he urged.
The Muslim community is cautious against such
provocations, al-Subeyhi said. "He (Paludan) is a sick man. He wants to
provoke Muslims to draw attention."
Sedat Guzel, a Turkish citizen who came to the scene
to see the incident, said, "99% of Danish citizens are against Paludan's
provocations."
Paludan announced on his social media account on
Thursday that he would burn a copy of the Quran in front of a mosque in
Denmark, as well as Turkish and Russian embassies, and the Danish authorities
gave him permission.
Attacks against the Quran in Sweden and the
Netherlands are protested in Türkiye and many countries.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Syrian Regime Responsible For 2018 Chlorine Attack,
Killing 43 People: Watchdog
FILE - People stand in front
of damaged buildings, in the town of Douma, the site of a suspected chemical
weapons attack, near Damascus, Syria, April 16, 2018.
------
Mahmoud Barakat
27.01.2023
The global chemical weapons watchdog on Friday said
probes had found the Assad regime responsible for a 2018 chlorine attack on
Douma city which left 43 people dead.
A report released by the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said there are “reasonable grounds to
believe” that an Assad regime military helicopter targeted a residential area
in the city with two cylinders loaded with chlorine gas.
Douma city is the provincial capital of the Rif
Dimashq province and is located some 10 kilometers (around 7 miles) northeast
of Damascus.
According to the report, two cylinders were filled at
the Dumayr airbase northeast of Damascus and were dropped by the Syrian
regime’s elite Tiger Force.
The investigation team “considered a range of possible
scenarios and tested their validity against the evidence they gathered and
analysed to reach their conclusion: that the Syrian Arab Air Forces are the
perpetrators of this attack,” the organization said in a statement.
“The use of chemical weapons in Douma – and anywhere –
is unacceptable and a breach of international law,” OPCW head Fernando Arias
stressed.
The OPCW previously determined that the regime used
chemical weapons in al-Lataminah in March 2017 and Saraqib in February 2018.
The OPCW, the implementing body for the Chemical
Weapons Convention (CWC) based in The Hague, oversees the global endeavor to
permanently eliminate chemical weapons.
The regime’s use of chlorine as a chemical weapon is a
violation of its obligations under the CWC, to which it is a party, as well as
of the UN Security Council Resolution 2118.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
RSS Brought Up The Possibility Of Amicable Resolution
Of Kashi And Mathura Issues In Second Round Of RSS-Muslim Community Talks
For representation purposes
only. Photo credit: The Economic Times.
-----
by Esha Roy , Deeptiman Tiwary
January 28, 2023
At its second meeting with Muslim community leaders
and representatives held here recently, the RSS brought up the possibility of
amicable resolution of Kashi and Mathura issues, and the “dangerous” practice
of Muslims living in ghettos.
According to sources, to the Muslim side’s question as
to whether resolution of the Kashi and Mathura issues would ensure that there
were no further demands for any other site, RSS leaders said they could not
guarantee the thinking of the Hindu society in the future.
On ghettoisation, the Muslim side pointed out that it
was the result of riots or communal tensions, and the need of the community to
feel sure.
Both sides affirmed that the talks, held on January
14, were amicable, and ended with a resolve to continue such discussions.
While RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who had led the talks
in August last year, was not present, this time the discussions saw the participation
of Muslim religious leaders as well. Niaz Ahmad Farooqui, the secretary of the
Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, called the meeting an “ice-breaker” and an “initial
dialogue to understand each other’s stand”.’
One of the issues on which there was extensive discussion
was the recent interview of Bhagwat to RSS-affiliated publications, where he
explained the “aggression” in the Hindu community as resulting from “being at
war for 1,000 years”.
Apart from Kashi and Mathura – where court hearings on
surveys of the disputed sites are on – the RSS raised the use of words such as
kafir (non-believer) and jihad by Muslim leaders and organisations, questioned
“continuing” cow slaughter in the country and the alleged involvement of the
community in it, as well as the “propensity of Muslims to live in ghettos”.
The main concerns raised by the Muslim side dealt with
the deployment of bulldozers against minority establishments, mob lynchings,
hate speeches, the recent Bhagwat interview and the RSS “silence” on hate
speech.
Jung, at whose residence the talks were held, told The
Indian Express: “The meeting was held in a very congenial atmosphere. Both
parties had their say and this conversation will be carried forward. The
attempt is to bring the communities together and make India strong. There are
hardly any issues so contentious that they can’t be resolved between the two
communities.”
The Sangh side was represented at the January 14 talks
by Indresh Kumar, Ram Lal and Krishna Gopal. The Muslim delegation, comprising
around 15 representatives, included former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb
Jung, ex-chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi, senior journalist and former
Rajya Sabha MP Shahid Siddiqui, and members of Muslim organisations such as the
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind.
Jung, Quraishi and Siddiqui were also present at the
last meeting – held at Udaseen Ashram at Jhandewala in Delhi – apart from
former AMU vice-chancellor and Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah and businessman
Saeed Shervani from the Muslim side.
The five had met Bhagwat under the aegis of ‘Alliance
for Economic and Educational Development of the Underprivileged (AEEDU)’, an
organisation floated by them. Since the August meeting, the AEEDU has been
meeting Muslim leaders individually, as part of its dialogue with the RSS, in
Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
Sources said that a day ahead of the January 14
meeting, Muslim leaders including presidents of both the factions of the Jamiat
Ulama-i-Hind – Mahmood Madani and Arshad Madani – met at the residence of Siddiqui,
where talks took place not only on what was to be discussed with the RSS, but
also what had been talked about last time. The AEEDU members explained the RSS
stand on some issues of concern of the community. While the Madanis eventually
did not attend the meeting with the RSS, they sent their representatives.
A leader said they pointed out at the January 13
meeting that the Sangh had raised the use of “kafir” for non-Muslims and terms
like jihad. “The Ulemas agreed that this was a valid concern, and that there
was no place in India for language such as this. The Ulemas also pointed out
that such language is not used by religious leaders, but sometimes by political
leaders for their own personal gain. Kafir, for instance, does not pertain to
Indian Hindus at all, as the Arabic word means a denier of God,’’ the leader
said.
One of those present at the January 14 meeting said
they expressed their concern over some parts of Bhagwat’s interview to
Panchjanya and Organiser weeklies, which the Ulemas wanted raised. “The RSS
representatives read out those parts of the interview to the Muslim leaders,
and it was felt that the contents were not as concerning as perceived. The RSS
leaders explained that when Bhagwat talked about ‘supremacy’ (he had said that
no one should carry a feeling of supremacy), he meant it in context of all
other religions and not just Muslims. They also said that even Hindus should
not consider themselves superior.”
The Muslim leaders also raised the issue of gatherings
designated as dharma sabhas, which often see hate speeches and calls for
genocide. They said the RSS agreed that this was “problematic”, but added that
it did not have any control over such organisations or gatherings.
“We told them that even if they could not stop such
things, once they do take place, the RSS must condemn such events publicly,”
said a leader.
“Many things were discussed. The main issues that we
touched upon were lawlessness, mob lynchings, genocide calls, demolitions of
Muslim homes and businesses as well as the unnecessary arrests of Muslims and
the judicial and administrative bias against them once they had been arrested.
We also pointed out that when hate speeches were made against the Muslim
community – such as a BJP leader saying ‘goli maro saalo ko’ – no action was
taken against them. We said that if the RSS’s goal was to create a just
society, then there is no place for speeches like this. We requested that, in
the future, they issue statements against such speeches,” said Moatasim Kha,
the Secretary, Muslim Community Affairs, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, who attended the
meeting.
On the RSS’s worry over cow slaughter and, what it
called, the “dangerous” practice of Muslims living in ghettos, Khan said: “We
explained to them that Muslim communities living in ghettos was a result of
riots or communal tensions, and a need to feel sure. If the government were to
provide a secure environment, then Muslims would not live in ghettos.”
The Jamaat-e-Islami Hind leader said that they also
tried to dispel the other misconceptions the RSS has about the Muslim
community, and the Sangh leaders said they wanted to do likewise.
The RSS leaders proposed that future meetings between
them be held outside Delhi, in other parts of the country.
Source: Indian Express
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
--------
Dramatic Escalation Of Violence - 7 Dead In Shooting Outside East Jerusalem
Synagogue
Security forces at the scene
of a deadly terror shooting attack in Neve Yaakov, Jerusalem, January 27, 2023
(Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
------
Jan 28, 2023
JERUSALEM: A gunman killed seven people at an east
Jerusalem synagogue on Friday, Israeli police said, in a dramatic escalation of
violence that followed a deadly raid in the West Bank a day earlier.
The shooting in the Neve Yaakov neighbourhood of
Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem came even as international calls for calm
mounted after Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip traded missile
fire earlier Friday.
"At around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT), a terrorist
arrived at a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov boulevard in Jerusalem and proceeded
to shoot at a number of people in the area," a police statement said,
adding that the shooter was "neutralised".
A police spokesman told AFP seven people had been
killed.
The Magen David Adom emergency response service
reported a total of 10 gunshot victims, including a 70-year-old man and a
14-year-old boy.
"I heard a lot of bullets," Matanel Almalem,
an 18-year-old student who lives near the synagogue, told AFP.
Israel's extreme-right national security minister
Itamar Ben-Gvir attended the scene shortly after, an AFP photographer reported.
Police were dismantling a white vehicle believed to have belonged to the
shooter.
The United States condemned the "absolutely
horrific" attack.
"Our commitment to Israel's security remains
ironclad, and we are in direct touch with our Israeli partners," State
Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
Just hours earlier, Washington had urged
"de-escalation" over the West Bank violence and Gaza rocket fire.
Nine people had been killed Thursday in what Israel
described as a "counter-terrorism" operation in the West Bank's Jenin
refugee camp.
It was one of the deadliest Israeli army raids in the
occupied West Bank since the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, of 2000
to 2005.
Israel said Islamic Jihad operatives were the target.
Islamic Jihad and Hamas Islamists who control Gaza
vowed to retaliate, later firing several rockets at Israeli territory.
Most of the rockets were intercepted by Israeli air
defences. The military responded with strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza.
There were no injuries reported on either side, but
Gaza's armed groups have vowed further action.
The United Nations human rights office had called
earlier for an end to the "endless cycle of violence" in the West
Bank, saying on Twitter that it "must end".
As Israeli forces raided the crowded Jenin refugee
camp early Thursday, gunshots rang through the streets and smoke billowed from
burning barricades.
The military said Israeli forces came under fire
during a "counterterrorism operation to apprehend an Islamic Jihad terror
squad" and shot several enemy combatants.
The violence prompted the Palestinian Authority to
announce it was cutting security coordination with Israel, a move criticised by
the United States.
The military said the incursion targeted Islamic Jihad
militants who were allegedly behind attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians
and, according to Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, were planning "to
conduct a terror attack in Israel".
Three Palestinians were shot in a firefight, while
Israeli forces shot a further two "fleeing the scene", an army
statement said. Israeli forces also shot a sixth suspect inside a building, and
other Palestinians were hit after firing on troops, the army said.
There were no casualties among the Israeli forces, the
military added.
Wisam Bakr, director of the Jenin Government Hospital,
said there was a "state of panic" in the paediatric ward, with some
children suffering from tear gas inhalation.
The Israeli military told AFP "the activity was
not far away from the hospital, and it is possible some tear gas entered
through an open window".
Jenin resident Umm Youssef al-Sawalmi said homes were
hit during the raid. "Windows, doors, walls and even the refrigerator,
everything was damaged by the bullets," she told AFP.
Thursday's deaths brought the number of Palestinians
killed in the West Bank this year to 30, including fighters and civilians, most
of whom were shot by Israeli forces.
Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri vowed that Israel
"will pay the price for the Jenin massacre".
Washington earlier Thursday announced US secretary of
state Antony Blinken would travel next week to Israel and the Palestinian
territories, where he will push for an "end to the cycle of
violence".
A State Department spokesman on Friday confirmed the
visit would go ahead.
The mounting tolls follow the deadliest year in the
Palestinian territory recorded by the UN.
At least 26 Israelis and 200 Palestinians were killed
across Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2022, the majority in the West
Bank, according to an AFP tally from official sources.
Source: Times Of India
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original story:
--------
South Asia
Taliban Officials Refill Afghan Prisons With More Than
29,000 Fresh Inmates Including Men And Women
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
January 28, 2023
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021,
the de facto authorities have detained more than 29,000 Afghans including men
and women for alleged crimes.
Over the past 18 months, Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate
authorities have refilled prisons with 29,000 inmates including men and women
alleged of different crimes including theft, kidnapping, murder, and moral
crimes according to the country’s top prison official.
“We have released some 15,000 inmates in the recent
past. Currently, there are approximately 14,000 inmates in Afghanistan jails,”
according to Mohammad Yusuf Mistari, the Taliban’s director of prisons.
Taliban’s claim to have no political prisoners has not
been confirmed by independent organizations and human rights groups. According
to Anonymous sources, hundreds of servicemen and security personnel of the
previous government have been persecuted, put behind bars, or even killed to
death by the country’s ruling regime.
On the contrary, the Taliban states that all the
prisoners are held on criminal charges, not a very convincing claim regarding
the number of people put in prisons.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch say that the Taliban
have opted to kill the criminals affiliated with opposition armed groups or
Islamic Militants rather than putting them behind bars. This can be considered
a human rights violation according to the independent source.
Furthermore, Various forms of torture have been widely
practiced at formal and informal detention centers and jails in Afghanistan,
according to UNAMA and various rights groups. According to the rights group,
extra-judicial practices are conducted under the ruling regime, which also is a
violation of human rights.
Source: Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-officials-refill-afghan-prisons-with-fresh-inmates/
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Millions of Afghan Children Suffering from Chronic
Malnutrition: WFP
By Fidel Rahmati
January 28, 2023
World Food Program released this year’s report on
January 5 and 24 points to a crisis that “millions of children are suffering
from wasting and chronic malnutrition.”
Half of Afghanistan endures severe hunger throughout
the year, regardless of the season, and malnutrition rates are at a record high
for Afghanistan.” Said Phillipe Kropf, a spokesperson for the UN food agency in
Kabul.
“There are 7 million children (under the age of 5) and
mothers who are malnourished in a country with a population of 40 million,” he
added.
He said that although Afghans are not starving to
death, they cannot stop the humanitarian disaster due to a lack of resources.
Since the interim government took control of power in
August 2021, it led millions into chronic hunger after foreign aid sopped
almost overnight.
On the other hand, the international community
sanctioned the de facto regime and restricted the average pace of communication
with global institutions and outside aid agencies/countries.
The recent decree banned Afghan women from working
with an international organization, severely disrupting the national and
international aid agencies.
The ban impact has been estimated that out of 437
mobile health centres, 115 stopped,
affecting 82,000 children and pregnant women; the suspension of training
projects is hurting 39,300 people, primarily women. In contrast, the document
stated that the pause of a school snack program had hit 616,000 students.
Source: Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/millions-of-afghan-children-suffering-from-chronic-malnutrition-wfp/
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Muslim nations call for human rights in Afghanistan as
Taliban enforces Islamic Sharia laws
Ajeyo Basu
January 28, 2023
Dubai: With most of the world watching appalled as the
Taliban imposes Islamic rule in Afghanistan, several Muslim countries have
urged the ruling regime in Kabul to tone down its radical Islamist tendencies.
According to a report by UAE-based media network Al
Arabiya Post, several Islamic nations are worried about the Taliban’s interpretation
of Islam as it poses political challenges.
Several Muslim leaders have claimed that the Taliban
has enforced Sharia laws in Afghanistan based on their own interpretation of
Islam.
The leaders of the Taliban have, however, insisted
that the harsh policies they have implemented in Afghanistan since capturing
Kabul in August 2021 are based on Islamic laws.
Writing for Pakistani publication ‘The Dawn’,
columnist Mohammed Amir Rana claimed that Pakistan has joined a host of Muslim
countries in distancing itself from the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan due to
their strict enforcement of Islamic Sharia laws.
According to news agency ANI, the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has taken notice of the Taliban’s actions against
Afghan women and has urged the Taliban to mend its ways.
The 57 OIC member countries in December 2022, held a
special meeting on Afghanistan and urged the Taliban to abide by the
“principles and purposes” enshrined in the United Nations Charter.
Claiming that the ban on women’s education is
“un-Islamic”, the OIC has launched a campaign to teach the Taliban the ‘real
Islam’ that it claims encourages education for women.
The OIC Executive Committee, which is headed by Saudi
Arabia, met again earlier this month to discuss Afghanistan and the Taliban
regime’s imposition of Islamic Sharia laws.
During the meeting, the member nations of the OIC
Executive Committee claimed that Islamic Sharia laws grant women and girls the
right to access all levels of education, including university level, as a
fundamental right.
United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
has also called on the Taliban rulers of in Afghanistan to reverse the ban on
secondary and higher education for Afghan girls.
Source: Firstpost
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Is Russia eyeing weapons from the Taliban for Ukraine
war?
January 27, 2023
Amid an expected spring offensive, Russia has
reportedly turned to the Taliban government in Afghanistan for weapons.
A report in the British tabloid newspaper The Sun has
claimed that Russian president Vladimir Putin is trying to weapons from the
Taliban, including those left by the United States in Afghanistan after its
withdrawal in August 2021.
As per a US defense department report, the American
troops had left more than $7 billion worth of weapons and equipment when it
pulled out of Afghanistan, reported CNN.
Is Russia eyeing US weapons in its war against
Ukraine? What arsenal did the US leave in Afghanistan? Is Russia facing a
shortage of arms and ammunition? Let’s take a closer look.
Russia and Taliban
Citing the Telegram channel General SVR, The Sun
reported that Putin has asked the Taliban for equipment left by the US.
General SVR channel claimed, citing a Kremlin insider,
that in exchange for arms, Putin will “recognise” the Taliban government.
“Putin is overseeing negotiations with the Taliban to
recognise the Taliban government. In return, the Russian leadership is offering
a major arms and military equipment swap,” the Telegram channel claimed, as per
The Sun report.
“Putin is reported that the Taliban possess weapons
and equipment including those seized after coming to power in Afghanistan, that
are scarce for the Russian Army at the front,” it added.
General SVR further stated that those aware of the
negotiations say that the Taliban are “extremely surprised” by such proposals,
however, are discussing them in “earnest”, reported The Sun.
Firstpost has not independently verified these claims.
Meanwhile, the report comes amid Russia and Pakistan
stressing on the need for “practical engagement” with the Taliban.
Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan – Zamir
Kabulov – met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Wednesday (25 January)
and apprised them about his meetings with the Taliban in Kabul earlier this
month.
Official Pakistani sources in the know of the meeting
told Voice of America (VOA) that Kabulov said Russia will continue to engage
with the Taliban but was not considering granting formal recognition to the
rulers “for the time being”.
The Russian envoy “advised” the all-male Taliban to
create a “politically inclusive” government and ease restrictions on women in
order to move forward on the issue of their legitimacy, VOA reported citing
sources.
US weapons in Afghanistan
As the US troops withdrew from Afghanistan amid the
Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, 70 per cent of American weapons as well as $48
million worth of ammunition provided to the Afghan forces were left in the
war-torn country, Foreign Policy reported in April last year.
As many as 42,000 pieces of night vision,
surveillance, biometric and positioning equipment were also left behind in
Afghanistan, as per the Foreign Policy report.
The officials familiar with the defense department
report had said that it was unlikely for the Taliban to use the US weapons
which require technical support and specialised maintenance. But they had also
expressed concerns about the Taliban fighters using small arms including
automatic rifles, reported Foreign Policy.
The visuals of the Taliban fighters parading with
seized US weapons had gone viral in 2021.
Is Russia short on weapons?
No, claims the former Russian president.
Hitting out at Western media reports that Russia is
facing a paucity of missiles and artillery, Dmitry Medvedev said earlier this
week that Moscow’s weapons stocks were adequate to continue the fight in
Ukraine.
“Our opponents are watching, they periodically make
statements that we don’t have this or that … I want to disappoint them. We have
enough of everything,” Medvedev was quoted as saying by Reuters.
A video posted on the former president’s Telegram
channel showed him taking a stock of Kalashnikov rifles, artillery shells,
missiles and drones.
Medvedev is the newly appointed head of the
military-industrial commission that is monitoring weapons production for the
war.
Russian troops have also deployed Iran-made ‘kamikaze’
drones for their attacks in Ukraine.
Despite Russia’s denial, Ukrainian and Western
military officials have claimed that Russia is facing a crunch of arms.
In December last year, Britain’s armed forces chief –
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin – had said that Russia had planned for a “30-day war”
and is now facing a “critical shortage” of artillery shells.
“Russia faces a critical shortage of artillery
munitions. This means that their ability to conduct successful offensive ground
operations is rapidly diminishing,” he said, as per The Guardian.
“There is no mystery as to why this is the case. Putin
planned for a 30-day war, but the Russian guns have now been firing for almost
300 days. The cupboard is bare. Morally, conceptually and physically, Putin’s
forces are running low,” the chief of defence staff claimed.
According to Ukraine, Russia had 900 Iskander missiles
when the war began in February last year, which was reduced to 119 at the end
of November.
Source: Firstpost
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/russia-us-weapons-taliban-afghanistan-ukraine-war-12058112.html
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Europe
Faith groups in Sweden stand against Quran burning,
hate speech
Mehmet Solmaz
28.01.2023
STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Members of religious groups in Sweden have spoken out
in support of Muslims after Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right
Stram Kurs (Hard Line) burned a copy of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, under
police protection.
The coordinator of the Catholic Commission for
Interreligious Dialog in Sweden, Kaj Engelhart, told Anadolu that he recognized
that Paludan's action was interpreted as lawful, but there was also a need to
discuss whether the law should be changed, as many called it a hate action.
"Seeing this incident gave me a very bad taste.
In our faith, it is not allowed to offend people of other religions. As
Catholics, we are absolutely against such actions," Engelhart said.
The Jewish community also spoke out against the
Islamophobic action.
Referring to the book burnings in Nazi Germany, the
official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities and the AMANAH Muslim Jewish
Partnership Trust said in a statement that book burnings often indicate the
beginning of the normalization of hatred toward a group.
"Historically against Jews, now against
Muslims," the statement said, warning that racists and extremists may once
again "abuse democracy and freedom of expression to normalize hatred
against one of Sweden's religious minorities by burning the Quran."
She pointed to the increasing attacks on Jews and
Muslims in Sweden and expressed mutual concern.
"In a democratic society, every individual has
the right to feel safe and valued. We hereby wish to express our support for
the Swedish Muslim community and make it clear that any act or sign of
prejudice and hatred is unacceptable," said the statement.
The Chairman of the Swedish Islamic Federation, Tahir
Akan, told Anadolu that Muslims were unable to make their voices heard and that
their concerns were, unfortunately, being overlooked.
He said the community should unite and advance its
fight against anti-Muslim prejudice academically and legally.
Commenting on a UN report that said there is
systematic racism in Sweden, Akan said: "The group that suffers most from
this general trend is the Muslim community. Especially in matters of employment
and other everyday matters, Muslims, unfortunately, experience racism.”
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Danish government faces opposition from trade unions
for plan to abolish religious holiday
Ebad Ahmed
28.01.2023
Copenhagen, Denmark
Denmark’s biggest trade union confederation expressed
serious reservations Friday about the government’s plan to scrap a public
holiday to maximize its defense budget.
“This is a blatant attack on the Danish model that we
are so proud of in this country,” Lizette Risgaard, the head of the FH
confederation, which has 1.3 million members, told a media outlet.
The Danish labor model determines wages and working
conditions via bilateral agreements between employer organizations and trade
unions in collective bargaining agreements. The FH confederation said the
three-party coalition government acted outside the labor model by removing a
public holiday through administrative action.
Great Prayer Day, observed since the 17th century,
falls on the fourth Friday after Easter, but the government wants to abolish
the religious holiday to maximize revenues for its defense budget to NATO’s
target of 2% of GDP by 2030.
The government considers it an important target to
achieve as regional tensions continue to accelerate due to the Russia-Ukraine
war.
“I don’t think it’s a problem to have to work an extra
day,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in a speech in parliament. “We are
facing enormous expenditures for defense and security, health care, psychiatry
and the green transition.”
The government is facing heavy criticism for the
proposed move as an online petition started by the FH confederation has secured
nearly 500,000 signatures, while parliamentary parties, except three that are
in government, support the move.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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France, Iraq sign strategic partnership treaty
Nur Asena Erturk
27.01.2023
France and Iraq signed a strategic partnership treaty,
the French presidency announced on Friday.
Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani visited
France on Jan. 26-27, where he met President Emmanuel Macron, according to a
statement by the Elysee Palace.
"A strategic partnership treaty was signed to
strengthen bilateral relations and establish a formal and permanent framework
for the diversified and comprehensive relationship in various areas of
cooperation," the statement said.
Al-Sudani and Macron discussed the developments in
Ukraine and condemned the attacks targeting Iraq's sovereignty and territorial
integrity.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/france-iraq-sign-strategic-partnership-treaty/2799377
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Arab World
Saudi Crown Prince will be ‘one of most important
leaders of his time’: Pompeo
27 January ,2023
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has heaped
praise upon Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying he will be
“one of the most important leaders of his time.”
In his new book, ‘Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the
America I Love,’ Pompeo devotes a significant portion to US-Saudi relations and
defends the need for close ties with Riyadh.
The Washington Post has criticized Pompeo for his book
in which he said the media was trying to “fracture” Washington’s ties with
Saudi Arabia.
“Much of this had to do with Mohammed bin Salman
(MBS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and the heir to the Saudi throne,” the
former top US diplomat writes. “The progressive Left hates MBS, in spite of the
fact that he is leading the greatest cultural reform in the Kingdom’s history.”
Pompeo went on: “He will prove to be one of the most
important leaders of his time, a truly historic figure on the world stage.”
The former secretary was one of the few officials that
did not step down or get fired from the Trump administration. He was appointed
by Trump after heading the CIA and replacing Rex Tillerson.
As for Saudi Arabia and its trajectory crafted under
the Crown Prince, widely referred to as MBS in the West, Pompeo said the Gulf
nation would continue to matter a great deal.
“MBS is its head and may well be so, inshallah, for decades
to come,” he writes, using the famous Arabic phrase for “God willing.”
Saudi Arabia is helping secure Iraq’s democracy and
keep it “at least partially tethered to the West” and helping fight terrorism,
Pompeo said.
“When MBS became the crown prince, one of his first
efforts was to assist the United States in rooting out Iran’s destabilizing
influence from Yemen and assisting in the provision of food to avoid famine
there,” Pompeo said.
The US has ended support for “offensive” operations
conducted by the Arab Coalition against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen under
the Biden administration. He said that Saudi Arabia would “gladly withdraw”
from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave and that Riyadh would
immediately provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance.
“Additionally, Saudi Arabia has agreed to spend
billions of dollars in leading the fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism.”
Pompeo writes that the “US strategic partnership with
the Kingdom matters to Americans from New Hampshire to Iowa and from South
Carolina to Nevada.”
Saudi needed for oil stability
Pompeo said a strong partnership with Saudi Arabia was
not easy but credited former US Ambassador to the Kingdom John Abizaid for
helping.
Cooperation with Saudi Arabia on its oil production
helped Washington’s ability to sanction Iran without imposing “huge” fuel costs
on Americans, the former secretary said.
In what seems to be the start of an unannounced
presidential bid, Pompeo said that “as President of the United States,” he intends
to ensure America is pursuing its national interests and contesting countries
that wish harm.
Citing Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest
oil-producing nation behind the US, Pompeo lauded the Gulf powerhouse for
working “closely with us” and being “very responsive to my requests” to keep
oil prices at reasonable levels.
“Stable and affordable energy prices depend on Saudi
Arabia’s output,” he said in his book. “Political instability in the Kingdom
would be a nightmare scenario for the region and American national security.”
Will Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel?
While the Trump administration was able to broker
peace deals known as the Abraham Accords between the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and
Morocco with Israel, Saudi Arabia has not joined.
Saudi officials have repeatedly stated that there
needs to be an independent State of Palestine before peace can be reached.
Any potential normalization should be based on the
Arab Peace Initiative, which was endorsed by the Arab League in Beirut in 2002,
Saudi Arabia has said.
According to Pompeo, the US tried hard to bring Saudi
Arabia into the accords.
“We came ever so close, thanks largely to Mohammed bin
Salman,” adding that the Abraham Accords would never have come into being
“without the tacit approval of MBS.”
An excerpt from the chapter on normalization reads as
follows: “The world owes him a debt of gratitude for what he did. It is not an
easy thing for the leader of Saudi Arabia to bless steps toward peace with
Israel. Saudi Arabia occupies a special place in Islam, not least because it
hosts the great pilgrimage, the Hajj, and is home to the first and second most
holy sites in Islam in the cities of Mecca and Medina.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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Lebanon lawmaker sit-in enters second week
27 January ,2023
Two Lebanese lawmakers on Friday entered the second
week of a sit-in inside the crisis-hit country’s parliamentary chamber, vowing
to remain inside until fellow MPs elect a new president.
Parliamentarians Najat Saliba and Melhem Khalaf, both
independents, began their protest on January 19, after colleagues met and
failed for an 11th time to agree on a new president.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since Michel
Aoun’s mandate expired last year, with a caretaker cabinet overseeing the
responsibilities of government amid a financial collapse that is stretching
into its third year and this week saw the local currency reach a record low
against the US dollar.
“We are staying here, we won’t be leaving” before a
president is elected, Saliba told AFP Friday from the parliament.
“The state has completely collapsed... there is no
government, no financial system, and the judiciary is at war with itself,” she
said, adding that the pair hoped their sit-in would empower parliament.
Her comments came days after the country’s notoriously
politicized justice system appeared to descend into an internecine dispute over
the devastating 2020 Beirut port blast after the lead investigator resumed work
this week following a 13-month hiatus.
The judicial battle adds to a crushing economic crisis
that has plunged much of Lebanon’s population into poverty and is described by
the World Bank as one of the worst in modern history.
Khalaf and Saliba, along with a number of other reform
candidates, were elected last year on the back of 2019 protests against the
eastern Mediterranean country’s factional elite who have dominated Lebanon’s
political scene since the 1975-1990 civil war.
While they hope their protest will break months of
political paralysis, longtime parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri has yet to call
for a new legislative session since the sit-in began.
A source close to Berri told AFP that parliament has
not yet met because no breakthrough to the deadlock appears likely.
“Let their own bloc decide on a name first; they are
themselves divided,” the source said in a criticism of the sit-in.
Lawmakers supporting Hezbollah and those opposing the
Iran-backed group have been divided on Lebanon’s next leader – but neither side
has a clear majority.
Decision-making in Lebanese politics can take months
of horse-trading between foreign-backed sectarian leaders, with Aoun’s election
in 2016 coming after more than two years without a president.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/01/27/Lebanon-lawmaker-sit-in-enters-second-week
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Protests held across several Middle Eastern countries
against Quran burning
27 January ,2023
Protests were held on Friday in several predominantly
Muslim countries to denounce the recent desecration of Islam’s holy book by
far-right activists in Sweden and the Netherlands.
The protests in countries including Pakistan, Iraq and
Lebanon ended with people dispersing peacefully. In Pakistan’s capital of
Islamabad, police officers stopped some demonstrators trying to march toward
the Swedish embassy.
In Beirut, about 200 angry protesters burned the flags
of Sweden and the Netherlands outside the blue-domed Mohammed al-Amin Mosque at
Beirut’s central Martyrs Square.
Earlier this month, a far-right activist from Denmark
received permission from police to stage a protest outside the Turkish embassy
in Stockholm where he burned the Quran, Islam’s holy book.
Days later, Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the
far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, tore pages out of a copy of the
Quran near the Dutch parliament and stomped on them.
The moves angered millions of Muslims around the world
and triggered protests.
Swedish officials have stressed that freedom of
expression is guaranteed by the Swedish Constitution and gives people extensive
rights to express their views publicly, though incitement to violence or hate
speech isn’t allowed. Demonstrators must apply to police for a permit for a
public gathering.
Police can deny such permits only on exceptional
grounds, such as risks to public safety.
Iraq’s Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr asked in comments
released Friday whether freedom of speech means offending other people’s
beliefs. He asked why “doesn’t the burning of the gays’ rainbow flag represent
freedom of expression.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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Saudi Arabia ‘strongly’ condemns armed attack on
Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran
27 January ,2023
Saudi Arabia “strongly condemned” Friday’s armed
attack on Azerbaijan’s embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran, the foreign
ministry said in a statement.
The ministry called for “respecting the sanctity of
diplomatic missions and for punishing the preparators and reaffirmed the
Kingdom’s “solidarity” with Azerbaijan and its people.
A man armed with a Kalashnikov-style rifle stormed
Azerbaijan's embassy in Tehran killing the head of security and wounding two
guards.
Tehran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Rahimi, blamed the
attack on “personal and family problems,” according to Iranian state
television. However, the assault comes as tensions have been high for months
between neighboring Azerbaijan and Iran.
A statement from Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said
that “an investigation is currently underway into this treacherous attack.”
Source: Al Arabiya
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India
PM Modi’s Statement, To Treat Muslims Equally And Live
With Them Harmoniously, Not Appeasement: Karnataka CM
27th January 2023
Mysuru: The recent statement made by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to treat Muslims equally and live with them harmoniously can’t be
construed as appeasement of Muslims, stated Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on
Friday in Mysuru.
“The statement has been made on occasion. While
leading the nation, all should be taken along, this should not be seen in the
backdrop of elections,” Bommai stated.
“Muslim community is lagging in education and
suffering poverty. In this background, PM Modi has spoken about carrying all
communities together. Few leaders of our party making statements that they do
not require Muslim votes are personal remarks,” he explained. The PM has spoken
about it, he added.
He maintained that the party has a different strategy
to win elections.
Source: Siasat Daily
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https://www.siasat.com/pm-modis-statement-on-muslims-not-appeasement-karnataka-cm-bommai-2511989/
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India Has Issued A Notice To Pakistan For Modification
Of The 1960 Indus Waters Treaty Anita
Joshua | New Delhi
28.01.23
India has issued a notice to Pakistan for modification
of the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) that was brokered by the World Bank to
facilitate the sharing of water of the Indus River system between the two
countries.
Sources here said India was “compelled to issue notice
of modification” under Article XII (3) of the IWT because of “Pakistani
intransigence” on its technical objections to India’s Kishenganga and Ratle
Hydro Electric Projects (HEPs) in Kashmir. While the Kishenganga HEP is
operational, the Ratle project is under construction.
Article XII (3) — under which the notice has been sent
to Pakistan through the respective Commissioners for Indus Waters — states:
“The provisions of this Treaty may from time to time be modified by a duly
ratified treaty concluded for that purpose between the two Governments.”
According to sources, the notice for modification
provides Pakistan an opportunity to enter into intergovernmental negotiations within
90 days to rectify the material breach of the IWT.
In 2015, Pakistan had requested the appointment of a
neutral expert to examine its technical objections to the Kishenganga and Ratle
HEPs. Pakistan unilaterally retracted this request a year later and proposed
that a Court of Arbitration adjudicate on its objections; a move that India
maintains is in contravention of the graded mechanism of dispute settlement
envisaged by Article IX of the IWT.
In response, India made a separate request for the
matter to be referred to a neutral expert.
The World Bank decided to pause the initiation of the
two simultaneous processes on the same questions as it raised the spectre of
inconsistent or contradictory outcomes. In turn, the World Bank asked India and
Pakistan to seek an amicable way out at a time bilateral relations went into
deep freeze after the dialogue process was suspended by India over a series of
terrorist attacks.
Source: Telegraph India
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https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/india-notice-to-pakistan-on-indus-waters-treaty/cid/1912597
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Aligarh Muslim University Suspends Student Over
Religious Slogan Video On R-Day
January 27, 2023
Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University Friday set up a
three-member inquiry committee and suspended a student after a video showed
some NCC cadets purportedly raising religious slogans following a Republic Day
function here.
According to AMU spokesperson Omar Peerzada, the panel
has been asked to submit its report within five days. He told PTI that it would
probe the entire sequence of events when the official function was over and the
audience was dispersing.
In the 17-second video, a group of NCC cadets were
seen chanting "Allah hu Akbar" twice near a flagpole. In another
19-second video, another group of NCC cadets could be seen shouting
"Bharat Mata ki jai" and "Vande Mataram" in front of a
building.
The spokesperson emphasized the incident should be
viewed as an aberration in the university's ethos. A student seen shouting
slogans in the first video was suspended on Friday, the spokesperson added.
City Superintendent Police Kuldeep Singh said police
have taken cognizance of the incident and have asked the AMU authorities to
initiate legal action in the matter.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ameesh Jamaai Friday said
the entire incident was "engineered to defame the institution". The
entire sequence of events has to be investigated to unearth the truth, he said.
Source: ND TV
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Why Pak is demanding reversal of abrogation of Art 370
for resuming dialogue with India
Arun Joshi
27th January 2023
Ever since Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made
an offer to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to hold “serious and sincere”
talks to resolve burning issues, including Kashmir, on January 16, there has
been a lot of buzz as to how the two countries should resume their long-
suspended dialogue to ease the relations. Within a day after Sharif made this
offer, during the course of an interview with the UAE based TV network, “Al-Arabiya”,
Pakistan PM’s office stated that there cannot be any dialogue with India unless
or until Delhi reverses all the decisions on August 5, 2019.
The August 5, 2019 decisions made by New Delhi can be
decoded quite easily. The Special status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir,
granted and guaranteed by Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, was scrapped.
All the symbols of special status – separate constitution, separate flag and
all-powerful state legislature which had the powers to frame its own laws, facilitate
or stall the federal laws,- were done away with. Alongside, the special
privileges of the permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir to have sole right
to their land and jobs were also withdrawn. That, in simple words, translated
this complicated situation, that the people of Jammu and Kashmir, on this side
of the Line of Control were Indianized” in all senses of the words. They were
as privileged or ordinary citizens as the people in the rest of the country.
Why Pakistan is insisting on the reversal of the August 5, 2019 decisions and making it as a
condition for resumption of the dialogue with India. The nation that had been
calling for the implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir, that is, to
grant right to self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, scaled down its demand to
the restoration of the special status and the statehood. There is a method in
this. Pakistan was never in favour of Article 370 which determined the
constitutional relation between J&K and Delhi until August 5, 2019. Sudden
love for Article 370 of the Indian
constitution, are based on its own logics. It fears that Kashmir would lose its
Muslim-majority character as the new laws have opened floodgates for Indians
from other parts of the country to buy land and set up their businesses. Pakistan has always counted, the
Muslim-majority character of Jammu and Kashmir, as an asset. It had made the
similar argument in 1947 while claiming that the state should be part of Pakistan. The Muslim-majority character of J&K also
gives it a religion-driven argument to
highlight Kashmir issue.
Islamabad, no doubt, has sensed that the Indianization
of the Kashmiri Muslims in fullest terms, would leave it with no stakes on
Kashmir and it may find edged out of the whole discourse and discussions on
Kashmir. It wants to inflict on the growing sense of the Indianness in
J&K The optics have started changing
already. It is difficult to discern that all this is voluntary or manifestation
of some kind of inner feelings, but the fact remains that greatest symbol of
Indian nationalism- the national tricolor, is becoming visible almost
everywhere in the Valley. There is no challenge to it. These optics have become
more pronounced and profound when contrasted with the past, and also that how
the world has come to see Kashmir in the post-Article 370 abrogation. All the
fears that Kashmir will be a land red with blood once its special status is
revoked have come untrue. People exercised their wisdom, avoided clashes and saved themselves from death and
destruction.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Mideast
Israeli military boosting forces in West Bank
following synagogue attack in Jerusalem
28 January ,2023
The Israeli military said on Saturday it was boosting
forces in the occupied West Bank, a day after a Palestinian gunman shot seven
people dead near a synagogue on the outskirts of Jerusalem.
“Following an IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) situational
assessment, it was decided to reinforce the Judea and Samaria (West Bank)
Division with an additional battalion,” the military said.
Meanwhile, police said they had arrested 42 people
following the deadly shooting at the synagogue, including members of the
Palestinian gunman’s family.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran Calls for Int'l Action Against Israeli Crimes in
Jenin
2023-January-27
Amir Abdollahian made the comments in a post on his
Twitter account in the Arabic language where he also called on the
international community to stop the barbaric atrocities committed by the
occupying regime.
"The brutal attack and massacre committed by the
Zionist regime in the Jenin camp require immediate action from the
international community and Islamic countries against the criminals," the
top Iranian diplomat tweeted.
He added the resistance in the Jenin stronghold will
continue and there will be no retreat.
Source: Fars News Agency
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Senior Cleric: Enemy Moves Make IRGC Stronger
2023-January-27
Addressing Tehran's Friday prayers, Hojjatoleslam
Seddiqi said, "Enemies should know that such actions will make the IRGC
become stronger.
The senior cleric further condemned the desecration of
the Holy Quran in certain European countries, and said that the insult showed
the true face of Western countries who claim to be human rights advocates.
On January 18, the European Parliament's members
backed an amendment added to an annual foreign policy report, calling for
"the EU and its member states to include the IRGC in the EU's terror
list". The step was passed by a vote of 598 in favor and nine against,
with 31 abstentions.
The move has been strongly condemned by Iranian
officials, commanders and the Armed Forces.
The amendment will urge Brussels to blacklist the IRGC
military force, the volunteer Basij force, and the IRGC's Quds Force.
Tehran has repeatedly announced that the IRGC is an
official state body which has had and will continue to have an important and
key role in ensuring the security of Iran and the region.
Iranian officials have recently warned the EU that its
plan to blacklist the IRGC as a “terrorist organization” may have unbearable
consequences and ruin any chance of negotiations.
They cautioned the European governments against
falling into the trap of a plot hatched by the US and Israel, calling on the EU
to maintain its independence from the US.
Source: Fars News Agency
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of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14011107000351/Senir-Cleric-Enemy-Mves-Make-IRGC-Srnger
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Turkey summons Danish envoy over Quran-burning protest
in Copenhagen
27 January ,2023
Turkey summoned the Danish ambassador on Friday over
reports that an anti-Islam activist would be allowed to burn the Quran during a
series of protests in Copenhagen.
Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist who holds both
Danish and Swedish citizenship, infuriated Turkey by staging a Quran-burning
protest in Sweden on January 21.
He told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that he would
replicate the protest in front of the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen every
Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO. Reports said he would first burn the
Quran outside a mosque in Copenhagen, then stage the same demonstration in
front of the Turkish and Russian embassies.
Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency said the Danish
ambassador was summoned to the Turkish foreign ministry where Turkish officials
“strongly condemned the permission given to this provocative act which clearly
constitutes a hate crime.”
The ambassador was told that “Denmark’s attitude is
unacceptable” and that Turkey expected that the permission be revoked,
according to Anadolu.
Paludan’s action last week caused a fury in Turkey,
which criticized Swedish authorities for allowing the demonstration to take
place outside the Turkish embassy. Turkey’s president cast serious doubt on
NATO’s expansion, warning Sweden not to expect support for its membership bid
in the military alliance.
Turkey also indefinitely postponed a key meeting in
Brussels that would have discussed Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership, saying
such a meeting would have been “meaningless.”
Sweden and Finland abandoned their long-standing
policies of military nonalignment and applied for NATO membership after Russian
forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
NATO-member Turkey, which is pressing the two
countries to crack down on Kurdish militants and other groups it considers
terrorists, hasn’t yet endorsed their accession, which requires unanimous
approval from all existing alliance members.
A lawyer, Paludan established far-right parties in
both Sweden and Denmark that have failed to win any seats in national, regional
or municipal elections. In last year’s parliamentary election in Sweden, his
party received just 156 votes nationwide.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Iran replaces Tehran police chief after attack on
Azerbaijan’s embassy
27 January ,2023
Iran appointed a new police chief for Tehran on Friday
following an armed attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in the capital, though it
was unclear if the appointment was influenced by the attack.
Abbas-Ali Mohammadian has been named as the new police
commander of Tehran, replacing Hossein Rahimi, who will now head a police
department tasked with countering “economic crimes,” the semi-official Tasnim
news agency reported.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
The announcement came soon after a gunman attacked
Azerbaijan’s embassy in Tehran, killing an Azerbaijani security official and
wounding two others.
Iranian police and media did not say if there was any
connection between the announcement and the attack.
Iranian authorities said the attacker, an Iranian man,
was arrested and cited “personal and family problems” as the motivation for the
attack.
Azerbaijan blamed Iran for the attack and said it was
evacuating its embassy in Tehran.
“All responsibility for the attack lies with Iran,”
Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Ayxan Hacizada said, adding that the
attack was “encouraged” by a recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign in Iranian media.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described the
attack as “an act of terrorism.”
Iran and Azerbaijan share a border of around 700
kilometers (430 miles).
The two countries have a complex relationship. Iran is
wary of Azerbaijan’s relations with Israel, a major supplier of arms to Baku.
Tehran is also wary over nationalists in Azerbaijan and its close ally Turkey
fanning separatist tendencies among its sizeable ethnic Azeri population.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Azerbaijan evacuates Tehran embassy, blames Iran for
attack
27 January ,2023
Azerbaijan on Friday said it was evacuating staff from
its embassy in Tehran, blaming Iran for a “terrorist” attack in which the head
of security was killed and two guards wounded.
Tehran’s police chief said the man who carried out the
attack was motivated by “personal” reasons.
“All responsibility for the attack lies with Iran,”
Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Ayxan Hacizada told local media.
He said a recent anti-Azerbaijani campaign in Iranian
media had “encouraged the attack.”
Hacizada later told Turkish TRT Haber TV station that
the embassy staff “are being evacuated from Iran.”
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Twitter: “I
strongly condemn the terrorist attack.”
In a statement earlier on Friday Azerbaijan’s foreign
ministry said “a man armed with a Kalashnikov killed the head of the diplomatic
mission’s guard.”
It said that two guards injured by the attacker were
in a “satisfactory” condition and an investigation had been launched.
The attacker has been arrested and is an Iranian man
married to an Azerbaijani woman, Tehran’s police chief General Hossein Rahimi
said.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Nasser Kanani, said
Tehran strongly condemned “the armed attack... which unfortunately resulted in
the death of one person.”
“According to the preliminary investigation, these are
personal motives,” he added.
Iran is home to millions of Turkic-speaking, ethnic
Azerbaijanis and it has long accused Baku of fomenting separatist sentiments in
its territory.
Relations between the two countries have traditionally
been sour, with the former Soviet republic a close ally of Iran’s historical
rival Turkey.
Source: Al Arabiya
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CIA chief visits Israel, Palestinian territories
Abdel Raouf Arnaout
27.01.2023
JERUSALEM
CIA chief William Burns has begun an unannounced visit
to the Palestinian territories and Tel Aviv, coinciding with the escalation of
tensions between the two sides.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said on Friday
that Burns arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday and met with senior Israeli
officials, including the head of Mossad, David Barnea.
It indicated that Burns is also visiting the
Palestinian territories, without disclosing further details.
Burns' visit comes after the visit of US National
Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and prior to the visit of Washington's
Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the Palestinian territories and Israel,
which are expected on Monday and Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Palestinian leadership announced the
cessation of security coordination with Israel in response to the killing of
nine Palestinians and the wounding of 20 others, in an Israeli incursion into
the Jenin refugee camp, in the northern West Bank.
The US administration called on the Palestinian and
Israeli sides to reduce tension.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/cia-chief-visits-israel-palestinian-territories/2799191
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Israeli army says it intercepted 2 rockets fired from
Gaza
Said Amouri
27.01.2023
JERUSALEM
The Israeli army early Friday intercepted two rockets
fired from the blockaded Gaza Strip, according to the army spokesperson.
"The Iron Dome intercepted two rockets fired by
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel," the Israeli army
spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said in a statement.
The official Kan TV channel said that warning sirens
sounded in several areas bordering the Gaza Strip, in southern Israel, before
the two rockets were intercepted.
No Palestinian faction in the Gaza Strip claimed
responsibility for the attack which came following a deadly Israeli army
operation in the occupied West Bank.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Pakistan
Ulema, Mashaikh And Religious Scholars of Pakistan
Urge Sweden, Dutch Govts For Prompt Action Against Desecrators Of Holy Quran
January 27, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Ulema Mashaikh and religious scholars on
Friday observed the ‘Sanctity of Quran and Namoos-e-Risalat Day’ and urged the
governments of Sweden and Netherlands to take immediate action against those
who breached the sanctity and prestige of the Holy Quran.
Addressing the public congregation at Friday Prayer
across the country, they underlined the need to legislate against the
perspective of international law from the forum of the United Nations against
Islamophobia, besides heavenly religions and divine books.
Ulema said the desecrators had hurt the religious
feelings of 1.5 billion Muslims on the globe. Islam was a religion of peace and
security and the teachings of the Holy Quran was to promote peace, affection,
tolerance, and harmony, they added.
They made it clear that sacrilegious remarks about the
sanctity of any religion could not be termed as freedom of expression.
In this regard, the leadership of Pakistan Ulema
Council addressed Friday sermons in their respective districts and divisions
including Chairman Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi who is also the prime
minister’s special representative for interfaith harmony and middle east, in
Lahore, Maulana Dr Abu Bakar Siddique (Islamabad), Allama Abdul Haq Mujahid
(Multan), Qazi Mutiullah Saeedi (Gujarat), Maulana Asadullah Farooq (Lahore),
Maulana Dr Asad Zakaria (Karachi), Maulana Haq Nawaz Khalid, Maulana Ubaidullah
Gormani, Allama Tahirul Hasan (Faisalabad), Maulana Muhammad Shafi Qasmi,
Maulana Hanif Usmani (Sahiwal), Pir Asadhabib Shah Jamali, Maulana Muhammad Asghar
Khosa (Dera Ghazi Khan), Maulana Nauman Hashir, Maulana Tahir Aqeel Awan
(Rawalpindi), Maulana Abu Bakr Sabri, (Islamabad), Maulana Anwar-ul-Haq
Mujahid, Shabir Yusuf Gujjar, Maulana Abdul Malik Asif (Multan), Maulana Aslam
Siddiqui, Maulana Abdul Hakeem Athar, Maulana Islamuddin, Qari Muhammad Aslam
Qadri, Qari Shams-ul-Haq (Lahore), Maulana Hasan Ahmad Hussaini (Diska),
Maulana Muhammad Khurshid Nomani (Bahalangar), Maulana Abdullah Haqqani,
Maulana Abdullah Rashidi (Kasur), Mian Rashid Munir (Sialkot), Maulana Asim
Shad, Maulana Abdul Waheed Farooqui (Narowal), Maulana Abu Bakar Hamza
(Chakwal), Maulana Habib-ur-Rehman Abid, Maulana Tayyab Gurmani, Maulana
Izhar-ul-Haq Khalid, Sahibzada Hamza Tahir-ul-Hasan (Faisalabad), Maulana
Saadullah Ludhianvi (Toba Tek Singh), Maulana Anis-ur-Rehman Baloch (Gojra),
Maulana Abdul Rasheed (Hafizabad), Mufti Muhammad Umar Farooq (Khanewal),
Maulana Abdul Ghaffar Shah Hijazi (Lodhran), Maulana Tanveer Ahmed
(Bahawalpur), Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Makki, Maulana Muhammad Ashfaq Patafi
(Muzaffargarh), Maulana Kaleemullah Muawiya (Nankana), Maulana Azizur Rahman
Muawiya (Talagung), Maulana Aziz Akbar Qasmi ( Rajanpur), Maulana Saadullah
Shafiq (Rahimyar Khan), Maulana Hussain Ahmed Petitioner (Karachi), Maulana
Yasir Alvi (Samandari), Qari Abdul Rauf, Maulana Matloob Mahar (Bahawalnagar),
Hafiz Muhammad Talha Farooqui (Vehari), Maulana Zubair Khatana. (Gujranwala),
Maulana Aqeel Zubiri (Sargodha), Qari Azizur Rehman (Leh), Maulana Atif Iqbal
(Kamalia) and others.
The Ulema said Allah Almighty had taken the
responsibility of protecting the Holy Quran and by such blasphemous acts, the
message of the Holy Quran could not be curtailed.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Allah Responsible For Pakistan's Prosperity,
Development: Pakistan Finance Minister
Jan 28, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Finance minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said
Pakistan is the only country founded in the name of Islam and Allah is responsible
for its development and prosperity, as the cash-strapped nation faced an acute
balance of payments crisis.
Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Green Line
Express Train service here, the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
leader said that he had full faith that Pakistan would progress because it was
created in the name of Islam.
"If Allah can create Pakistan then He can also
protect, develop, and make it prosper," Dar said.
The finance minister said, "they are trying their
best to improve Pakistan's condition under prime minister Shehbaz Sharif's
leadership".
Dar reiterated the incumbent government inherited
several problems from the previous government led by Imran Khan, adding, the
government was working day and night.
"The team is trying to improve the situation
ahead of the elections."
He said the country is still suffering due to the
"drama" that started five years ago and insisted that the economy was
strong during former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's tenure from 2013-2017.
The finance minister claimed that Pakistan Stock
Exchange was the best-performing capital market in South Asia and ranked fifth
in the world during Nawaz Sharif's era and the sights of the world institutions
were set on it.
Dar said that Pakistan was now paying the price for
the "Panama drama", the ouster of the PML-N government, and similar
issues it faced over the last five years. "Pakistan was on the growth
track during Nawaz's tenure, but it was derailed," he said.
"People can see the destruction the country suffered
in the last five years, and they know who has delivered in the past," Dar
added.
Facing an acute balance of payments crisis, Pakistan
is desperate to secure much-needed external financing, with less than three
weeks' worth of import cover in its foreign exchange reserves, which fell $923
million to $3.68 billion.
Pakistan secured a $6 billion IMF bailout in 2019. It
was topped up with another $1.1 billion in 2022 to help the country following
the unprecedented floods. But the IMF suspended disbursements in November due
to Pakistan's failure to make more progress on fiscal consolidation amidst
political turmoil in the country.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based global lender
announced on Thursday that it was sending a staff mission to Islamabad this month
to discuss resuming the bailout programme.
Despite repeated claims by the finance minister, who
replaced Miftah Ismail, to bring the dollar rate under Rs 200, the greenback
surged to a record high of Rs 268.30 in the interbank market.
The Pakistani rupee extended its downward trend on
Friday with the local currency plunging over Rs 12 against the US dollar in the
interbank market as the government eased its control over the currency in order
to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release pending loan
tranche.
The local unit was trading at Rs 268.30 compared to
Thursday's close of Rs 255.43 in the interbank market.
Source: Times Of India
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Pakistani rupee fall slows as PM Sharif hopes for IMF
funds
Jan 27, 2023
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee's two-day decline slowed
on Friday on news that an IMF team was visiting Islamabad next week to discuss
unlocking a suspended bailout package, though the currency still closed at a
record low against the US dollar.
The rupee closed at 262.6 per dollar in the interbank
market, down 2.7%, on Friday, after a 9.61% slump on Thursday, which was its
the biggest single-day dip, according to the central bank.
The rupee has been dropping to adjust to a market
based exchange rate after an artificial upper cap on the local currency was
lifted in line with IMF reforms.
Left with only $3.68 billion in foreign exchange
reserves, Pakistan barely has enough to cover three weeks of imports, and
desperately needs the IMF to release the next $1 billion tranche of its bailout
programme to head off a potential default.
The IMF said on Thursday that its delegation would
visit Pakistan from January 31 to February 9, leaving Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif optimistic that the disbursements would start flowing again.
"An agreement with the IMF, God willing, will be
done... We will soon be out of difficult times," Sharif said at an event
in Islamabad.
A $6 billion IMF package was agreed in 2019, and
topped up to $7 billion after last year's devastating floods, but disbursements
were suspended in November due to the government's failure to do more to reduce
its fiscal deficit.
The IMF wants the government to commit to more
substantial fiscal measures, and once it decides to resume lending, other
multilateral and bilateral lenders are expected to offer more funding to the
politically unstable, nuclear-armed South Asian nation.
Former finance minister Miftah Ismail told Geo TV that
the unlocked funding from the IMF would help head off the risk of Pakistan
defaulting on its external obligations.
This week's plunge in the rupee's value will pile
pressure onto Pakistan's population who are already facing high prices of
imported food and fuel.
On Friday, the rupee fell 1.1% on the open market to
trade between 263-265 per dollar, the Exchange Currency Association of Pakistan
said. The closing rates of the open market - which are different to the
official rate - are yet to be finalised for the day.
The removal of the cap has resulted in the two markets
aligning more closely, and exchange companies expected a black market in
dollars to eventually dry up.
The Pakistan Stock Exchange's benchmark index weakened
0.31% on Friday, having gained 2% on Thursday in anticipation of encouraging
news from the IMF.
Source: Times Of India
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Mysterious illness claims 18 lives in Pakistan
Jan 27, 2023
KARACHI: A mysterious illness has killed 18 people,
mostly children, in Karachi's Kemari area with health officials in this
southern Pakistani port city still unable to find the cause of the deaths.
Director Health Services Abdul Hameed Jumani confirmed
on Friday that 18 people, including 14 children, died from the mysterious
illness in the Mawach Goth area in Kemari between January 10 and 25.
“A health team is working right now to find the cause
of these deaths but we suspect it may be related to the sea or water as the
goth (village) where these deaths have taken place is close to the coastal
belt,” he said.
Mawach Goth is a slum area with inhabitants mostly
daily wage earners or fishermen.
Jumani said that the families of the deceased had
confirmed that before their deaths their loved ones had high fever, swelling in
throats and faced difficulty in breathing.
“Some residents have also complained that in the last
two weeks there is a strange smell in the area,” the official said.
Deputy Commissioner Kemari, Mukhtar Ali Abro, said
they had also detained a factory owner for questioning.
“We have called the provincial environmental agency as
well which has collected samples from three factories which were operating in
the area,” he said.
The deceased include six people from one family
including three children while a man lost his wife and three children to the
mysterious illness.
Head of the Sindh centre for chemical sciences Iqbal
Chaudhary said they had also collected some samples of soya bean from the
factories and they felt the deaths could have been caused by soya allergy.
Source: Times Of India
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Levies soldier martyred in Bolan terror attack
January 27, 2023
BOLAN: A soldier of Levies Force was martyred in a
terrorist attack in Bolan District of Balochistan on Friday.
The terrorists targeted a checkpost of the Levies Force
in Bala Nari area of Bolan and opened indiscriminate firing on the personnel
deployed there.
In the ensuing battle, Levies soldier Khalid Ahmad
embraced martyrdom.
The terrorists fled from the scene while firing.
The latest attack came four days after another Levies
Force soldier was martyred and an officer got injured when unidentified gunmen
opened fire on their vehicle near the Wali Khan bypass in Mastung district.
Source: Pakistan Today
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https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/01/27/levies-soldier-martyred-in-bolan-terror-attack/
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Pakistan strongly condemns Israel’s attack in
Palestine
January 27, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan strongly condemned Israel’s brutal
attack on the city and camp of Jenin in the State of Palestine, killing several
innocent Palestinians, including an elderly woman, and injuring at least 20 others.
Pakistan denounces the spate of reprehensible, cold blooded and murderous
attacks that have already killed thirty (30) Palestinians this month.
According to the press release issued by Foreign
Office (FO) Pakistan called upon the international community to assume its
responsibility in bringing these illegal incursions and actions by the Israeli
occupation forces to a halt and ensuring adequate protection of the human
rights of the Palestinian people.
Source: Pakistan Today
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https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/01/27/pakistan-strongly-condemns-israels-attack-in-palestine/
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Southeast Asia
After protesting at Swedish Embassy in KL, Islamist
group heads over to Dutch Embassy for apology over torn Quran
By Radzi Razak
27 Jan 2023
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 — The Malaysian chapter of a
pro-caliphate group Hizbur Tahrir mounted its second demonstration outside the
Embassy of the Netherlands here after Friday prayers this afternoon, protesting
the desecration of a Quran by a Dutch political leader earlier this week.
Some 80 members of the group, including children, had
earlier held a peaceful protest outside the Swedish Embassy on Jalan Mayang
Sari this morning, to condemn the burning of a Quran by Swedish-Danish
politician Rasmus Paludan who leads a Danish party called Stram Kurs (which
means Hard Line) outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm last week.
Now grown to about 100 strong, they regrouped at the
nearby Tabung Haji mosque after Friday prayers before marching for about one
kilometre to the Dutch Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
They were protesting against Edwin Wagensveld, head of
the Dutch chapter of the German Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamicisation
of the Occident, abbreviated as Pegida, who tore pages from the Islamic holy
book and stepped all over them at The Hague earlier this week.
Hizbur Tahrir — a controversial Muslim group with
chapters worldwide — was also joined by several other people wearing T-shirts
associated with several local Malay-Muslim political parties.
Its representative Mu’adz Abu Thalhah later told the
crowd that it had handed over its memorandum of demands to Eva Oskam, deputy
head of the Netherlands mission here.
He claimed Oskam had “apologised” on behalf of the
Netherlands government.
“But for us, the one who did it must apologise and the
Netherlands government itself must apologise to all Muslims because the one who
did it said his action was allowed by the government,” he told the
demonstrators after meeting the Dutch representatives.
Mu’adz also claimed that Muslim leaders did not do
enough to give a “stern warning” over Wagensveld’s action.
“The Muslim government leaders must give stern warning
to both Swedish and Netherlands governments because as far as I see for now
there are only rhetorical warnings issued,” he said, adding that the caliphate
of old had taken military action when Muslims were slighted in the past.
Source: Malay Mail
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Malaysian Scholar Hails Restu Global Quranic Arts
Festival
January 28, 2023
Speaking to IQNA, Muhammad Bukhari Lubis, a professor
of Persian literature in Malaysia, called for continuation of such programs
that play a role in promotion of the Quranic culture.
He said there are many qaris and Quran reciters in
Malaysia but there is need for more efforts to encourage contemplating the Holy
Book as well.
Not all Malaysians know Arabic and therefore they need
to read a translation of the Quran, he stated.
“Muslims in Malaysia should reflect on the Quran and
try to understand (its concepts),” he said, noting that there are TV and Radio
stations like TV Al-Hijrah that broadcast good programs in the field of
teaching the Quran and Islamic concepts.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Muhammad Bukhari Lubis
referred to his interest in the Persian language and literature, saying he
studied the language first in Chicago and then in the holy city of Mashhad in
Iran.
He noted that he got his PhD from the University of
California, Berkeley, in the field of comparative study of Turkish, Arabic,
Persian and Malay literatures.
The Malaysian scholar described Persian as a very
beautiful language and said he is very much interested in studying the Persian
literature.
The Restu Global Quranic Arts Festival has been
organized in Putrajaya by Restu Foundation and foreign partners including the
Iranian Cultural Center in Malaysia.
It kicked off on January 20, 2023, and will run for
ten days. Four countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran, are
participating in the festival.
The event allows visitors to witness special
exhibitions, and interact with the Quran and Islamic arts and Islamic products
entrepreneurs while also trying to improve the image of Islam as an inclusive
and peaceful religion.
Source: IQNA
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https://iqna.ir/en/news/3482237/malaysian-scholar-hails-restu-global-quranic-arts-festival
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UMNO expels former Malaysian health minister Khairy,
suspends ex-defence minister Hishammuddin
Aqil Haziq Mahmud
28 Jan 2023
SINGAPORE: The United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO) has expelled former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, while former
defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein was among a number of politicians
suspended from the party.
According to a statement issued on Friday night (Jan
27) following a party supreme council meeting, UMNO secretary-general Ahmad
Maslan said former youth chief Mr Khairy and supreme council member Noh Omar
have been sacked for breaching party disciplinary rules.
“UMNO members who have been sacked based on
disciplinary breaches … due to wrongdoings during the 15th General Election
(GE15) are Tan Sri Noh Omar and Saudara Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar,” he said.
Mr Hishammuddin, former UMNO information chief Shahril
Hamdan as well as UMNO leaders Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, Maulizan Bujang and Salim
Sharif have been suspended for six years, he said.
Others who have been sacked include five party members
from the Pasir Gudang division, nine from the Putrajaya division, two from the
Tanjung Karang division, and 26 members from UMNO’s Pahang chapter.
“Among their wrongdoings are becoming independent
candidates, candidates for parties other than Barisan Nasional (BN) and being
involved in helping opponent parties during GE15,” Mr Ahmad said.
The Friday supreme council meeting was keenly watched
after UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said a day earlier that the party will
undergo “mass cleansing" to get rid of "saboteurs" and those who
have "shot themselves in the foot".
He said this included members who allegedly sabotaged
the party and its candidates during GE15, 10 of whom Ahmad Zahid identified by
name during the party’s recent general assembly from Jan 11 to Jan 14.
The 10 politicians, who included Mr Hishammuddin, had
sided with Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Muhyiddin Yassin in forming the new
government, Ahmad Zahid said.
Mr Shahril had resigned as information chief in the
immediate aftermath of GE15, urging Ahmad Zahid to take responsibility for the
party’s defeat by stepping down.
Mr Noh resigned as the chief of UMNO’s Selangor
chapter in November after saying that he no longer had confidence in Ahmad
Zahid.
Mr Khairy had been a vocal opponent of a motion tabled
during the recent party general assembly. The motion was to block UMNO’s top
two posts - party president and deputy president - from being challenged at the
party’s internal elections, which must be held by May.
Rumours of such a motion had swirled as some prominent
party members came out to say they preferred for the posts to remain
uncontested, citing the need to maintain party unity as it rebuilds following
its dismal performance at GE15.
Ahmad Zahid said during his party policy speech on Jan
13 that he was confident in the democratic process and would leave it to the
delegates to decide on the issue. He had consistently maintained that he was
ready to defend his position.
When a no-contest motion was first tabled by an UMNO
delegate from Negeri Sembilan later that day, it was met with boos in the
convention hall.
But the motion was passed by the general assembly the
next day in a majority vote, paving the way for Ahmad Zahid and his deputy
Mohamad Hasan to serve at least another term.
Mr Khairy alleged in a TikTok video on the same day
that some delegates’ seat tags at the convention hall were removed, to be
replaced with those of "imported" delegates who would push through
the motion.
This prompted a rebuke by UMNO Sungai Besar division
chief Jamal Yunos, who told reporters on Saturday that Mr Khairy was tarnishing
the party by spreading baseless claims.
UMNO’s most recent leadership contest, in 2018, saw
Ahmad Zahid fend off challenges for the presidency from Mr Khairy and former
veteran MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Mr Khairy was a three-term MP for Rembau, Negeri
Sembilan before he was moved to contest in the urban constituency of Sungai
Buloh in Selangor during the GE15 on Nov 19. Urban seats are considered Pakatan
Harapan (PH) strongholds. Mr Khairy eventually lost in a seven-cornered
contest.
In a tweet after the party’s announcement on Friday
night, Mr Khairy wrote: “Tonight I was sacked by the party I loved, that I was
loyal to.
“Unbowed, unbent, unbroken.”
The BN coalition - led by UMNO - emerged a distant
third in the election by winning only 30 seats, behind PH’s 81 seats and PN’s
74 seats.
Source: Channel News Asia
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Africa
Human Rights Watch urges Morocco not to extradite
Saudi Shia man
27 January, 2023
A human rights watchdog called on Morocco on Friday
not to extradite a Shia Muslim to his homeland of Saudi Arabia, citing fears he
could face torture and an unfair trial there.
Hassan Al Rabea, who has been in Morocco since last
summer, has been held in a prison near Rabat after being arrested at Marrakech
airport on January 14, Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
Saudi prosecutors accuse Rabea of leaving the kingdom
illegally with the help of terrorists, the campaign group added.
Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request
for a comment. It has denied previous accusations that it practices torture and
conducts unfair trials.
Rabea's case will be examined by a Moroccan court,
which will submit a verdict on the legality of his extradition before a final
decision is made by the government, a Moroccan judicial source said.
Shia activists in conservative, mostly Sunni Muslim,
Saudi Arabia, say the government has cracked down on their minority sect for
years as part of a regional tussle for influence with Shia-majority Iran.
Saudi Arabia denies any discrimination against Shias.
It has accused Iran of instigating past unrest in the kingdom by the Shia
community.
"The Moroccan government should stand for rights
and resist Saudi efforts to forcibly return him," Human Rights Watch said.
Source: The New Arab
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https://www.newarab.com/news/hrw-urges-morocco-not-extradite-saudi-shia-man
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Tunisian activists decry intimidation as vote looms
27 January ,2023
Tunisian activist Chaimaa Issa is due to face a
military court on Friday on charges of insulting a president whom she accuses
of trashing the democracy built from a 2011 revolution in which she took full
part.
Opposition figures say her trial is part of an effort
by the authorities to curb dissent against President Kais Saied amid a
parliamentary election in which low enthusiasm has undermined his claim of
public support for his seizure of powers.
The first round of the election in December drew
turnout of only 11 percent, prompting widespread ridicule among Saied’s
opponents and new demands by the powerful labor union that he change tack.
The second round will come on Sunday, two days after
Issa’s trial is due to begin and after a string of prosecutions of other
critics of the president.
“The situation is very dangerous and disturbing
because of the attacks on democracy,” she said.
Saied, who was elected in a landslide in 2019, sent
tanks to shut down parliament in 2021 before seizing most powers and rewriting
the constitution, passing a new version last year in a referendum.
He said his actions were both legal and necessary to
save Tunisia from years of economic stagnation and political bickering, and has
labelled his foes traitors, calling for action against them.
The authorities have rejected claims that any of the
trials, including that of Issa, are politically motivated.
However, while Saied has promised to defend rights and
freedoms won in the election, the new parliament that voters are selecting will
have hardly any power and he will retain ultimate authority.
Protests
Issa is one of several prominent critics of Saied
facing court cases, timing that the opposition believes is a deliberate tactic
of intimidation.
“Saied started a campaign against the leaders of the
front row of the opposition,” said Najib Chebbi, head of the “Salvation Front”
coalition of opposition groups that have held repeated protests against the
president.
Ali Laaryedh, a leader of the biggest opposition
party, Ennahda, was imprisoned last month on charges of having helped send
extremists to Syria while part of the ruling coalition, something he and it
deny.
Ghazi Chouachi, the former leader of Attayar party and
a vocal opponent of Saied, is being prosecuted for a radio interview in which
he criticized the president.
Another prominent activist, Ayachi Hammami, faces
trial under a law prohibiting the spread of “fake news” online after having
criticized Saied and the justice minister.
For Issa, the contrast between today’s Tunisia and the
democracy she sought to build after the 2011 revolution is stark.
Two days before the previous autocracy collapsed in
January 2011, she had written a social media post saying she was prepared to
pay any price for freedom. As the daughter of a political prisoner, it was a
cost she understood.
“Today, I repeat the same message. I am ready to pay
the price for freedom and democracy,” she said.
For many Tunisians, however, political and democratic
goals have taken a back seat to an economic crash that has pushed the state to
the brink of bankruptcy while emptying supermarket shelves of key goods.
The UGTT labor union, which says it has a million
members, has focused its attacks on Saied’s handling of the economy and his
government’s promises of painful reforms as the price of securing an
international bailout.
It now demands Saied also abort his political plans
and instead move to a national dialogue that includes all the main civil
society groupings to forge a new path forwards.
The dialogue represents “a last opportunity” for
Saied, though he has so far rejected the idea, said Sami Tahri, a senior UGTT
official.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Naira redesign: Islamic group tells Nigerian govt to
extend deadline of old notes till February
January 27, 2023
By Don Silas
An Islamic group, Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has
appealed to the Federal Government to extend the deadline by at least two
weeks.
Barrister Muhammad Mansur Aliyu, the Chairman of
MURIC, Sokoto State chapter, made the appeal in a statement on Friday.
The statement read: “However, this week businesses in
Sokoto, Kebbi and Zamfara States were almost grounded as a result of the 31st
January, 2023 deadline for expiration of old naira notes as a result of refusal
to accept the old naira notes in commercial transactions out of fear of
possible inability to deposit the old naira notes in commercial banks.
“This is because every bank a customer goes to will
meet a very long queue of depositors, trying to deposit their old naira notes
in their attempt to beat the deadline. Businessmen have to be at the bank as
early as 6:00 am in order to join the queue at commercial banks to have their
old naira notes changed. Moreover, because of lack of enough new naira notes in
circulation, fear of receiving old naira notes and unsure of whether one would
be able to deposit the money he collected from customers at banks before the
deadline due to very long queues many businessmen stopped collecting old notes.
“Many filling stations and other essential services
providers also closed, because most of their customers come with old naira
notes and they are not sure whether they would be able to deposit the same to
the bank. This has currently made life more difficult for ordinary citizens.
Many Nigerians have lamented the nonavailability and scarcity of the new notes,
this is because banks up till today, still give out the old naira notes to
customers with the deadline only a few days away.
“Sequel to the foregoing, we appeal to the Federal
Government to reconsider its decision by extending the 31st January, 2023
deadline for expiration of old naira notes by at least two weeks to enable
Nigerians to swap their old naira with the new naira notes. We also call on the
security agencies particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and
the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit to closely monitor how commercial bank
managers handle the new naira notes, they receive from Central Bank of Nigeria,
which apex bank has been consistently insisting that the new notes are readily
available at the vaults nationwide ready for collection. We call on Nigerians
to remain peaceful and stop panicking about the money swap.”
Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, had on
October 26, 2022 announced its plan to redesign N200, N500 and N1,000 notes.
Source: Daily Post Nigeria
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North America
US court convicts Muslim preacher of supporting
Islamic State group
27 January 2023
Muslim cleric Abdullah el-Faisal has been convicted in
a US court on state terrorism charges, after being extradited to New York City
following an undercover police operation.
The Manhattan District Attorney's office said it was
the first-ever state-level trial on terrorism charges. New York's laws on
terrorism were passed a week after the 9/11 attacks.
Faisal, who was born Trevor William Forrest and often
goes by Shaikh Faisal, is due to be sentenced next month after his conviction
in the state's supreme court in Manhattan, on counts including soliciting or
providing support for an act of terrorism, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin
Bragg's office said.
Prosecutors said Faisal, whom they described as highly
influential, had supported the Islamic State (IS) group for several years,
encouraging violent acts in online lectures and calling for the creation of an
Islamic caliphate.
Authorities said that beginning in 2016, an undercover
officer in New York City began communicating with him while he was living in
Jamaica. He was arrested in his native Jamaica in 2017 and extradited to New
York City in 2020.
Faisal began messaging the officer - who claimed to be
an aspiring militant with medical training - on WhatsApp, The New York Times
reported.
Faisal allegedly offered to help the female officer
join IS and introduced her to a member of the group in Syria. He told her the
man would help her travel to join the group and would also be a suitable
husband for her.
According to the prosecutors, Faisal was allegedly
close to one of the suicide bombers who detonated explosives in London in 2005,
when 52 people were killed. The man currently serving a life sentence for the
attempted Times Square bombing in 2010 allegedly listened to Faisal’s sermons
on an iPod.
Michael Fineman, an attorney for Faisal, said he was
"disappointed" by the decision, adding that the cleric never actually
agreed to help the officer travel to territory controlled by the IS group.
Fineman said he planned to appeal the ruling.
In 2003, Faisal served four years in prison in Britain
after being convicted of "inciting racial hatred and soliciting murder
after encouraging the killing of Hindus, Jews and Americans".
After his prison sentence, he lived in Kenya. In 2010,
the government deported Faisal to Jamaica. While living in Jamaica, he reached
a global audience through social media and his personal website.
Source: Middle East Eye
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https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-court-convicts-muslim-preacher-supporting-islamic-state-group
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Top US Treasury official to visit Middle East
countries to ensure sanction compliance
28 January ,2023
The US Treasury Department’s top sanctions official on
a trip to the Middle East next week will warn countries and businesses that
they could lose US market access if they do business with entities subject to
US curbs as Washington cracks down on Russian attempts to evade sanctions
imposed over its war in Ukraine.
Brian Nelson, undersecretary for terrorism and
financial intelligence, will travel to Oman, the United Arab Emirates and
Turkey from January 29 to February 3 and meet with government officials as well
as businesses and financial institutions to reiterate Washington’s sanctions
policy and compliance, a Treasury spokesperson told Reuters.
“Individuals and institutions operating in permissive
jurisdictions risk potentially losing access to US markets on account of doing
business with sanctioned entities or not conducting appropriate due diligence,”
the spokesperson said.
While in the region, Nelson will discuss Treasury’s
efforts to crack down on Russian efforts to evade sanctions and export controls
imposed over its brutal war against Ukraine, Iran’s destabilizing activity in
the region, illicit finance risks undermining economic growth, and foreign
investment.
The trip marks the latest visit to Turkey by a senior
Treasury official to discuss sanctions, following a string of warnings last
year by Treasury and Commerce Department officials, as Washington ramped up
pressure on Ankara to ensure enforcement of US curbs on Russia.
Strained relations
Nelson’s trip coincides with a period of strained ties
between the United States and Turkey as the two NATO allies disagree over a
host of issues.
Most recently, Turkey’s refusal to green-light the
NATO bids of Sweden and Finland has troubled Washington, while Ankara is
frustrated that its request to buy F-16 fighter jets is increasingly linked to
whether the two Nordic countries can join the alliance.
Nelson will visit Ankara, the Turkish capital, and
financial hub Istanbul on February 2-3. He will warn businesses and banks that
they should avoid transactions related to potential dual-use technology
transfers, which could ultimately be used by Russia’s military, the
spokesperson said.
Dual-use items can have both commercial and military
applications.
Washington and its allies have imposed several rounds
of sanctions targeting Moscow since the invasion, which has killed and wounded
thousands and reduced Ukrainian cities to rubble.
Turkey has condemned Russia’s invasion and sent armed
drones to Ukraine. At the same time, it opposes Western sanctions on Russia and
has close ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, its Black Sea neighbors.
It has also ramped up trade and tourism with Russia.
Some Turkish firms have purchased or sought to buy Russian assets from Western
partners pulling back due to the sanctions, while others maintain large assets
in the country.
But Ankara has pledged that international sanctions
will not be circumvented in Turkey.
Washington is also concerned about evasion of US
sanctions on Iran.
The United States last month imposed sanctions on
prominent Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan and his network of firms, accusing him
of acting as a facilitator for oil sales and money laundering on behalf of
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Source: Al Arabiya
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US condemns ‘horrific’ East Jerusalem synagogue attack
that killed seven
27 January ,2023
At least seven people were killed in a shooting
outside a synagogue in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem on Friday, with the
gunman killed at the scene, police and medics said.
“Earlier this evening at around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT), a
terrorist arrived at a synagogue in the Neve Yaakov boulevard in Jerusalem and
proceeded to shoot at a number of people in the area,” a police statement said.
“Police forces quickly arrived at the scene, engaged with the terrorist and opened
fire at him. The terrorist was neutralized,” it added.
The United States strongly condemned the deadly attack
on and voiced solidarity with Israel ahead of a visit by Secretary of State
Antony Blinken.
“This is absolutely horrific,” State Department Spokesman
Vedant Patel told reporters.
“We condemn this apparent terrorist attack in the
strongest terms. Our commitment to Israel’s security remains ironclad, and we
are in direct touch with our Israeli partners.”
“We stand with the Israeli people in solidarity,” he
said.
Patel said there would be no change in the travel
plans of Blinken, who plans to meet with the leaders of Israel, the Palestinian
Authority as well as Egypt starting Sunday.
Blinken will discuss “steps to be taken to de-escalate
tensions,” Patel said.
Fadi Dekidek, a paramedic with the Magen David Adom
emergency response agency, said “this is a very serious terror attack.”
The MDA reported a total of 10 gunshot victims,
including a 70-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy.
Source: Al Arabiya
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US charges three men in Iran-backed plot to
assassinate journalist Masih Alinejad
27 January ,2023
The US announced Friday that three men had been
arrested and charged for allegedly taking part in an Iran-backed plot to kill
an Iranian dissident with American citizenship.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said that the
individuals had been charged for their roles in a conspiracy to assassinate
Masih Alinejad, an outspoken critic of the Iranian regime.
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“These charges arise out of an ongoing investigation
into the Government of Iran’s efforts to assassinate, on US soil, a journalist,
author, and human rights activist who is a US Citizen of Iranian origin,”
Garland said in televised remarks. “The Department of Justice will not tolerate
attempts by an authoritarian regime to undermine those protections and the rule
of law upon which our democracy is based.”
A federal court in New York charged Rafat Amirov,
Polad Omarov and Khalid Mehdiyev with murder-for-hire and money laundering
allegations.
The three men were part of an Eastern European
criminal organization, according to the Justice Department.
Rafat Amirov, from Iran, was arrested Thursday in the
US, while Omarov, also known as Araz Aliyev, was arrested in the Czech Republic
on Jan. 4. The US will request his extradition.
Mehdiyev was arrested in the US on July 29, 2022.
Following the Justice Department’s announcement,
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan slammed the “disturbing pattern” of the
Iranian government-sponsored efforts to kill, torture, and intimidate into
silence activists who speak out for the freedoms of Iranians around the world.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Iran continues to pose a threat to the
US through its proxies and networks.
She said the indictment exposed a dangerous menace to
national security - “a double threat posed by a vicious transnational crime
group operating from what it thought was the safe haven of a rogue nation.”
She also pointed out that over the last year, the US
had charged members of Iran’s IRGC with a plot to murder former US national
security advisor John Bolton.
Iran continues to threaten the lives of former
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook.
Both former diplomats continue to receive federal protection as requested by
the State Department to the ongoing threats.
‘I’m not scared’
In a video shared on her Twitter account, Alinejad
said that she was not afraid and urged the US government to take decisive
action against the Iranian regime.
“Let me make it clear: I’m not scared for my life,
because I knew that killing, assassinating, torturing, raping, it’s in the DNA
of the Islamic Republic,” she said.
“You cannot negotiate with the terrorist regime,” she
added.
Alinejad also warned that failure to take action now
will lead to an increase in terrorist activities on American soil.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Cancelled by truck convoy, vigil for Quebec mosque
massacre to be held Sunday
Jan 27, 2023
Blair Crawford
A year ago, police told Fareed Khan it would be unsafe
for him to hold the vigil he planned in downtown Ottawa to mark the fifth
anniversary of the Quebec City mosque massacre. The truck convoy protesters
were scheduled to arrive that day, police warned. There had been credible
threats made online.
So instead, Khan and the others stayed home and
watched as thousands of protesters flooded into the capital, waving flags and
demanding their freedom, on the first day of what would be a three-week
occupation of downtown Ottawa.
This year, the vigil is going ahead Sunday evening at
the Canadian Human Rights Monument on Elgin Street, said Khan, founder of
Canadians United Against Hate.
“Those so-called ‘freedom protesters’ cared about no
one’s freedom but their own,” Khan said Friday. “Those of us who have been
victimized by Islamophobia and racist violence, our freedom was denied last
year. But not this year. We’re not going to stand down.”
“We’re calling on Canadian to stand against hate —
Islamophobia, yes, but all forms of hate.”
It was Jan. 29, 2017, when a 27-year-old man armed
with a semi-automatic rifle and a 9mm pistol walked into the Quebec Islamic
Cultural Centre and opened fire. He killed six men: Ibrahima Barry, Mamadou
Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Abdelkrim Hassane, Aboubaker Thabti and
Azzeddine Soufiane. Five others were critically injured.
The shooter, Alexandre Bissonnette, pleaded guilty and
is serving life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Sunday’s multi-faith vigil will feature an iman, a
rabbi and a minister who will honour the Quebec City victims along with other
victims of Islamophobia, including a Muslim man stabbed outside a Toronto
mosque in 2020 and a Muslim family of four run down by a driver in London, Ont.
in 2021.
Hate crimes in Canada increased by 27 per cent in
2021, according to a Statistics Canada report released last summer. Ottawa
police report the number of hate incidents reported to them jumped 13 per cent
last year.
Khan said the government isn’t doing enough to counter
Islamophobia, whether it be internationally such as China’s persecution of its
Muslim Uyghur minority, or domestically with Quebec’s Law 21 which bans public
employees such as teachers or health care workers from wearing religious
symbols.
“It’s the legal and moral responsibility of the
federal government to defend the Charter of Rights wherever those rights are
being violated,” Khan said. “Either you’re for defending rights or you’re not.
There’s no half way. And when human rights are violated there needs to be
action taken to hold those violating the rights accountable.”
On Friday, the federal government announced the
appointment of Ottawa journalist and human rights activist Amira Elghawaby as
Canada’s first Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia. In her
position, Elghawaby will be a champion, advisor, expert, and representative” in
the government’s fight against Islamophobia, racism and religious intolerance.
Elghawaby begins her job in February, but is already
thinking about her priorities.
“The pandemic showed how misinformation and
disinformation can create divisions in our society,” Elghawaby said in an
interview Friday. “The fact that we’re so divided, so far apart, means we’re
potentially going to see more conflict if we don’t figure out a way to hear
each other with respect and the ability to discern between what is truth and
what is not truth.”
She also cited issues of systemic racism such as a
Statistic Canada report released last week that showed racialized recent
graduates earn less and have fewer benefits than white graduates.
“These reports signal that there’s still much work to
do,” she said.
“My role is to amplify the concerns of our community,
talk about them with decision makers and policy makers, and do everything I can
to bring these issues forward and have a constructive dialogue,” Elghawaby
said.
Source: Ottawa Sun
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