Supreme Court Of India Lifts Restrictions on Issuing ‘Fatwa’
New Age Islam News Bureau
27
Oct 2014
General John R. Allen (C), special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, attends a meeting in Kuwait City. AFP PHOTO/YASSER AL-ZAYYAT
-----------
India
• Supreme Court Of India Lifts
Restrictions on Issuing ‘Fatwa’
• Madrasas on India-Bangla
Border under Watch
-----------
Pakistan
• Islamic State Defections
Fracture Pakistan Taliban
• Fresh Controversy over
Polygamy, Marriage Dissolution
• No information about
presence of ISIS in Balochistan: CM
• Hindu citizens looking for Jinnah’s
Pakistan
• ‘Revolution’ can’t bring any
change: JI
• No One Can Spread Hatred on
Ethnic, Religious Basis: Shah
• Drive for 20 new provinces
to begin after Muharram, says MQM
------
North America
• U.S. Official Urges Allies
to Combat ISIS Ideology
• ‘Canada Parliament gunman
intended to go to S Arabia’
• Horror of Canadian
Parliament Shooting
• Obama invites new Afghan
leaders to White House
------------
Arab World
• Emergency rule in Egypt's
Sinai after bomb kills 30 troops
• Suicide Bomber Kills 27
Militiamen In Iraq, All Eyes On Kobani
• Syria regime air strikes
kill 13 children
• Egypt's outlawed MB condemns
Sinai attacks
• Egypt army to join police to
guard key facilities
• Iraqi forces seize four
villages after victory near Baghdad
• Egypt court orders arrest of
leading activist Abdel Fattah
• Rise in MERS cases prompts
Saudi warning to residents
• 218 Saudis charged with
smuggling Haj pilgrims into holy sites
• Manual issuance of visas for
house workers halted
• Militants threaten to kill
Lebanon prisoners
-------------
Mideast
• Yemeni jets, US drone kill
‘20 Al Qaeda militants’
• Israel green lights plans
for 1,000 Jerusalem settler homes
• Palestinians barred from
Israeli West Bank buses
• Turkey held 5 over deadly
attack blamed on PKK
• Gaza truce talks in Cairo
held back, say Palestinians
--------------
Africa
• Cameroon army kills 39 Boko
Haram fighters
• Boko Haram kills 17, kidnap
30 young men, women – Official
• Somalia: Jubaland forces
clash with Al Shabaab, Militants take over village
-------------
South Asia
• Return of the shoe in front
of Baitul Mukarram, Bangladesh
• Afghanistan’s Re-Emerging
Baloch
• British forces hand over
control of last base in Afghanistan
• Crisis over fleeing Rohingya
Muslims
-----------
Southeast Asia
• Al-Qaeda Declares War on
China, Too
• China to Amend Anti-terror
Law and to Set Up Anti-terrorism Intelligence System
• Iranian nationals arrested
in Malaysia for alleged drug trafficking
• Future of human rights in
Southeast Asia remains bleak
• Sex education campaign to be
rolled out on Indonesian Youth Pledge Day
• Kontras: Ryamizard
Appointment Shows Jokowi ‘Negligent’ on Human Rights
• Singaporean grilled in Batam
for exporting US bomb devices
-------------
Europe
• London march backs
Kashmiris’ struggle
• Muslim inmate at Prison
planned kidnap and escape, IS Flag Found in Cell
• Divided Ukraine votes under
shadow of war
• ISIS threatens to kill
British jihadists
• The challenges faced by
Muslim soldiers in Afghanistan
• A Museum of rich Jewish life
in Poland
Compiled by New Age Islam
News Bureau
URL:
------------
India
Supreme Court Of India Lifts
Restrictions on Issuing ‘Fatwa’
26 October 2014
In a significant judgement,
a bench of three judges of the Supreme Court of India has overruled a high
court order restraining issuance of ‘fatwa’ by Dar Al-Quaza and Dar Al-Ifta in
Bhopal.
The judgement is bound to
have a far reaching effect as it would deter the Indian judiciary at various
levels from interfering in the religious matters of Muslims. The order is
expected to give relief to Muslims.
In an earlier judgement in
the case of Vishwa Lochan Madan, the Supreme Court had held: “In our opinion,
one may not object to issuance of fatwa on a religious issue or any other issue
so long as it does not infringe upon the rights of individuals guaranteed under
the law.”
The Supreme Court said the
high court judgement shall be treated as substituted by the above law laid down
by it.
The three-member bench
comprised former Chief Justice M. Lodha, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice
Rohinton Fali Nariman.
“A fatwa is an opinion, only
an expert is expected to give. It is not a decree, nor binding on the court or
the State or the individual. It is not sanctioned under our constitutional
scheme. But this does not mean that existence of Dar Al-Quaza or for that matter
practice of issuing fatwas are themselves illegal,” the premier court
clarified.
The judgement said it is
informal justice delivery system with an objective of bringing about amicable
settlement between the parties. It is within the discretion of the persons
concerned either to accept, ignore, or reject it. However, as the fatwa gets
strength from the religion; it causes serious psychological impact on the
person intending not to abide by that.
It may be recalled here that
one Mohammad Zahir Khan Koti, a resident of Jabalpur, in 2009 had filed a PIL
in the MP High Court alleging that Dar Al-Quaza and Dar Al-Ifta are indulging
in “the illegal activities of declaring ‘Talaq’ besides making various other
baseless allegations. He had prayed that these two Islamic institutions be
declared illegal and unconstitutional and be restrained from adjudicating
matrimonial disputes.”
The high court in its order
dated 14-8-2012 disposing off the PIL writ petition approved the role of
conciliation, meditation and arbitration being performed by Dar Al-Qaza when
invited to do so by both the warring parties. However, certain part of the
judgement though not forming part of the operating order seemed to imply that
Dar Al-Ifta shall not render any fatwa and that now stands clarified/substituted
by the Supreme Court in the Appeal filed by the Masajid Committee, Bhopal.
http://www.arabnews.com/world/news/650646
------------
Madrasas on India-Bangla
border under watch
ABHINANDAN MISHRA
25th Oct 2014
Madrasas situated along India's
porous borders with Bangladesh and Nepal have come under the scrutiny of
security agencies in the wake of the Burdwan blast.
The National Investigation
Agency (NIA), which is probing the 2 October blast in the Khagragarh locality
of Burdwan, has found that the Simulia madrasa, situated 40 km from the blast
site, acted as a module for terrorists operating out of Burdwan and its
neighbouring districts in West Bengaal.
According to officials,
almost all the identified operatives involved with the module have been found
to have close links with this madrasa.
"The roles of certain
madrasas in the region have been found to be suspicious in the wake of the
Burdwan blast. We have strong evidence to suggest that they are acting as safe
havens for terrorists. We are focusing on unrecognised madrasas that have come
up along the international borders in recent times," an agency source
said. The India-Bangladesh border is around 150 km from Khagragarh.
On the basis of the NIA
investigation, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked West Bengal, Bihar and
Uttar Pradesh to submit a report on such madrasas, their funding and the
details of the people behind them. However, the response received from West
Bengal, according to officials, has not been satisfactory.
According to reports, the
largest number of madrasas and mosques has come up in the border areas of Lower
Assam, Bihar and Bengal that share a boundary with Nepal and Bangladesh.
Sources said that at least 40% of the villages in Bengal's border districts are
predominantly Muslim. "Along with the madrasas, a large number of
Muslim-focused NGOs have also sprung up in the area bordering Nepal."
"Most of these madrasas
and NGOs promote anti-India activities. The NGOs receive substantial and
completely unregulated funding from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Islamic
countries, and work to radicalise the local youth," an intelligence
official said.
Last week, an NIA team spent
almost eight hours searching a madrasa in Murshidabad's Lalgola in West Bengal
after a piece of paper with its name scribbled on it was found during the
Burdwan blast probe. The madrasa is barely 7.5 km from the Bangladesh border
and was set up by an illiterate mason who had no source of funds for the
building. "Local intelligence suggests that it was built using foreign
funding received from Bangladesh-based elements. We have not been able to trace
its founder, who has not been seen since the Burdwan blast," said a Home
Ministry official.
The founder of the madrasa,
which the NIA says was built in 2008 along the unfenced border, used to sell
eggs. In 2009, he purchased around 10 kattah of land in the same area. A
majority of the 150 plus students here were girls.
What has also caught the
attention of the investigators is the fact that land prices in these areas have
shot up in recent times. "The reason behind the increase is that people
are willing to pay whatever is being demanded by the locals. In the Burdwan
incident too, we have discovered that land was purchased by the terrorists at
double the market rate. A land for another unfinished madrasa in Burdwan was
bought for Rs 9 lakh, although the market price is Rs 4 lakh," an official
said.
http://www.sunday-guardian.com/news/madrasas-on-india-bangla-border-under-watch
------------
Pakistan
Islamic State Defections
Fracture Pakistan Taliban
By Arif Rafiq
October 24, 2014
In an audio statement
released last week, the former Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman
Shahidullah Shahid announced that he and five other commanders from the terror
group have given the bay’ah (oath of allegiance) to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the
self-styled “caliph” of the group that describes itself as the Islamic State
(IS), and is also known as ISIS and ISIL. This is the first public defection of
commanders from the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban groups to IS.
Their defection portends
further divisions within Pakistan’s jihadist community, which has rapidly
splintered since the killing of the TTP leader Hakimullah Mehsud last fall in a
U.S. drone strike. These divisions could result in heightened violence between
anti-state jihadist groups in Pakistan. But Pakistan is also likely to see a
rise in both sectarian and overall violence. Down the road, there is a risk
that Pakistan’s disparate jihadist groups could consolidate into a united
front, even if the probability of such a scenario is low at present.
None of the TTP commanders
who have defected to IS are major figures. They do not command sizable forces.
But their standing within the region could be enhanced as a result of their
association with IS. Some Pakistani observers claim that the IS brand is
increasingly popular with younger, rank-and-file jihadists. Indeed, the
al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban brands are two decades old. Shahid and his allies
could see a surge in their ranks as a result of their association with IS.
While Shahid has given the
oath of allegiance to al-Baghdadi, it’s unclear whether he has been accepted as
a member of IS. In his audio statement, Shahid said that he had given the oath
of allegiance to al-Baghdadi on three previous occasions via a number of
emissaries, but still awaits a response. Evidently, al-Baghdadi has yet to
respond affirmatively to Shahid’s overtures, though the reasons for his silence
are unclear. It may be that IS has yet to develop an actual strategy for South
Asia, though another South Asian jihadist group, Ansar al-Tawhid fi Bilad
al-Hind defected from the al-Qaeda orbit into the IS world, but it is India and
Afghanistan-centric.
Meanwhile, the core
leadership of the two major Pakistani Taliban factions, the TTP and its
Jamaatul Ahrar splinter group (TTP-JA) are currently hedging between supporting
al-Qaeda and IS – the two major transnational jihadist fronts. Both groups have
issued statements calling on al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra,
and IS to reconcile. They will likely continue to issue statements of support
for IS that fall short of making an oath of allegiance to the group.
Both regional and sectarian
dynamics tie the TTP and TTP-JA to the Afghan Taliban. The Afghan Taliban, TTP,
TTP-JA, and most other Pakistani jihadist groups come from the Sunni subsect
known as the Deobandis. And a common attribute of Deobandi militant groups is
their nominal allegiance to Mullah Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, who
holds the title of amir-ul-mumineen (commander of the faithful). Mullah Omar
has a quasi-caliph status, and were the TTP and TTP-JA to declare allegiance to
al-Baghdadi, this would likely nullify their allegiance to Mullah Omar.
IS is ascendant in the
Middle East and al-Qaeda has been weakened in South Asia. But the Afghan
Taliban finds itself in a favorable position as the United States completes the
withdrawal of its combat forces this year. It has a decent chance of seizing
significant portions of southern and eastern Afghanistan from the Kabul
government in the coming years. And so the TTP and TTP-JA cannot afford a
hostile relationship with the Afghan Taliban, which could very well be in control
of their backyard.
Major commanders associated
with the TTP and the TTP-JA are certainly discomfited by the defection of
mid-level commanders to IS, which poses a potential threat to their hold over
their respective fiefdoms inside Pakistan. They will have to take active
measures to contain these new competitors. This containment strategy could
involve direct violence against pro-IS commanders, as well as seeking to outdo
them in attacks against the Pakistani state and religious minorities. The prime
leadership of the TTP and TTP-JA has avoided public criticism of IS. Similarly,
they may be reluctant to attack outfits that have moved into IS’s orbit. While
this is a battle they may hope not to fight, it may also be one they cannot
avoid.
The six TTP commanders who
have moved into IS’s orbit come from the central region of the Federally
Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. This
region, in particular the Kurram Agency, was hit by a full-scale sectarian war
from 2007-11. While violence there has been reduced significantly, the major
militant commanders in this region remain at-large. Undoubtedly, they will work
to prevent encroachment by IS-aligned forces in their areas. At the same time,
though, given IS’s extreme anti-Shia focus, both the TTP and IS-aligned
militants could once again renew sectarian violence in central-FATA and KP.
While the threat of
Sunni-Shia sectarian violence elevates, so too does the potential for
intra-Sunni sectarian tensions. Curiously, Shahid’s audio statement suggested
that he is now styling himself as a Salafi, the puritanical sect to which
al-Baghdadi belongs. Shahid’s statement was released by a media outlet called
al-Muwahideen (The Monotheists), a terminology that is particularly indicative
of a Salafi bent, given its fervent opposition to all sorts of shirk
(polytheism or association of partners with God).
While al-Qaeda is also a
Salafi jihadist group, it has had an alliance of convenience with militant
organizations from the Deobandi subsect. Indeed, the amir of its new South Asia
affiliate is a Deobandi cleric. And Shahid’s apparent transition to Salafism
may indicate that a sectarian conversion is perhaps a prerequisite for
Pakistani jihadist groups to associate themselves with IS. The Deobandis as
well as the many Deobandi militant clerics and seminaries will not find this
congenial.
The Salafi factor raises the
issue of Lashkar-e Taiba (LeT), which perpetrated the 2008 Mumbai attacks. LeT
comes from the Ahl-e Hadis sect, which is effectively the South Asian
equivalent of the Salafis. And so while the LeT prime organization is likely to
remain aligned with the Pakistani security apparatus, there is potential for
low-to-mid-level fighters from LeT to defect and join IS, moving from one Salafi
jihadist group to another, seeing IS as a more authentic jihadist force – one
that is not “polluted” by a partnership with a “secular” state like Pakistan.
Jihadist groups in South
Asia are in the midst of a major transitional phase that is taking place against
a backdrop of a global jihad that itself is in a state of flux. Old alliances
and relationships will be tested. Still, senior commanders with the TTP and
TTP-JA are likely to publicly maintain a polite disposition toward IS while
affirming their loyalty to the Afghan Taliban. Maulvi Fazlullah, the amir of
the weakened TTP, issued an audio statement this weekend in which he renewed
his allegiance to Mullah Omar. The TTP-JA is more likely than the TTP to ally
with IS, but its spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan will probably continue to tease the
media and other observers with statements that adulate IS but baulk at formally
associating with the group. For the TTP-JA, its primary goal is to supplant the
TTP as the major umbrella organization for anti-state jihadists in Pakistan.
And so it will seek to maintain good ties with all regional and transnational
jihadist outfits as long as possible. But if the impact of this small group of
IS defectors is a wave rather than a ripple, then the TTP-JA, in particular, may
have to abandon its diplomatic balancing act and choose a side.
Arif Rafiq (@arifcrafiq) is
an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute and president of Vizier
Consulting, LLC, which provides strategic guidance on Middle East and South
Asian political and security issues.
http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/islamic-state-defections-fracture-pakistan-taliban/
------------
Fresh Controversy over
Polygamy, Marriage Dissolution
By Waseem Ahmad Shah
October 27, 2014
The Council of Islamic
Ideology (CII) stirred controversies a few months ago by putting forward
certain recommendations regarding the mechanism provided under the Muslim
Family Laws Ordinance 1961, for putting certain restrictions on polygamy, and
the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929, which prohibits child marriages. While
those issues are yet to be settled the council created a fresh controversy by
declaring against Sharia the provision of Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act
1939, seeking dissolution of marriage by a wife on ground of husband entering
another marriage without following the provision given under the law.
According to media reports,
while presiding over a meeting of CII its chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan
Sherani stated that a Muslim woman could not object to the second or subsequent
marriages of her husband. He had added that a woman could not demand divorce if
her husband married a second, third or fourth time. He was quoted as stating
that the council had observed that the relevant provision of the Dissolution of
Muslim Marriages Act (DMMA) 1939 was against Sharia and it wanted the
government to repeal the same. He stated that the woman could seek separation
if she was treated with inequality or cruelty.
Earlier, in March this year
CII had declared that Section 6 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance (MFLO)
1961, related to polygamy, was against Sharia. Contrary to the CII decision
regarding MFLO, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC), and another forum set up under
the Constitution for examining laws, had on Jan 5, 2000 declared the said
provision not repugnant to injunctions of Islam. However, so far there are no
findings of the FSC regarding the provision of DMMA.
Lawyers dealing with cases
of dissolution of marriages, dower, etc, believe that these provisions, of MFLO
and DMMA, which are under debate, are beneficial to women and by invoking them
they could get relief from the family courts.
“Section 6 of MFLO prohibits
polygamy except with the permission of arbitration council. If a husband marry
in contravention of this section he is liable to pay immediately the entire
dower, whether prompt or defer, to the existing wife,” said an advocate of
Supreme Court Arshid Jamal Qureshi.
He said that if a husband
took additional wife in presence of earlier one in violation of the provision
of MFLO that could be a ground for dissolution of marriage under DMMA. He added
that even if a wife had not been seeking dissolution of her marriage on that
ground there were cases when she had filed suit for receiving her dower on the
same ground under MFLO.
Mr Qureshi said that CII was
only a recommendatory body and it was up to parliament to implement its
decisions by amending the relevant laws.
Section 2 of DMMA entitles a
woman, married under the Muslim Law, to obtaining a decree of dissolution of
marriage on any ground provided therein. Important grounds in the said section
are: that the whereabouts of the husband have not been known for four years;
that the husband has neglected or has failed to provide for her maintenance for
a period of two years; that the husband has been sentenced to imprisonment for
seven years or more; that the husband has failed to perform, without reasonable
cause, his marital obligations for three years; that the husband was impotent
at the time of marriage and continues to be so; etc.
Through MFLO a sub-section
II-A was included in Section 2 of DMMA so as to add another ground for
dissolution of marriage, which states: “that the husband has taken an
additional wife in contravention of the provisions of the Muslim Family Laws
Ordinance 1961.”The MFLO 1961 was promulgated keeping in view certain
recommendations of the Commission on Marriage and Family Laws constituted in
1955.
About Section 6 of MFLO,
related to polygamy, the FSC in its judgment in 2000 ruled: “since this section
has not expressly declared the subsequent marriage as illegal and has merely
prescribed a procedure to be followed for the subsequent marriages and
punishment for its non-observance, we find that the spirit of this section is
reformative only as it has prescribed a corrective measure for prevention of
injustice to the existing wife/ wives.”
The FSC ruled that there is
no doubt that a Muslim male is permitted to have more than one woman as wife
with a ceiling of four, at a point of time as the ultimate, but the very ayat
(Verse) which gives this permission also prescribes a condition of “Adl”
(justice) and the holy Quran has laid emphasis in the same Verse on the gravity
and hardship of the condition which Allah Himself says is very difficult to be
fulfilled.
Despite the passage of over
five decades since MFLO was promulgated it still remains under debate and
certain quarters are averse to it. Supporters of these laws believe that CII
has presently been used for political gains and even the appointment of its
chairman by the previous government was on political considerations due to
which the present interpretations put forward by CII were not acceptable.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140685/fresh-controversy-over-polygamy-marriage-dissolution
------------
No information about
presence of ISIS in Balochistan: CM
By Syed Ali Shah
QUETTA: Chief Minister
Balochistan Dr. Malik Baloch on Sunday said that some elements want to impose
their agenda on the people through the use of force.
Speaking to journalists in a
local hotel, after chairing a function regarding the promotion of the Balochi
language, the chief minister said he had no information about the presence of
ISIS in the volatile province.
He said however that there
are fundamentalists whose approach is similar to that of ISIS.
The chief minister termed
past policies of rulers as the underlying reason behind the unrest in
Balochistan, plagued by growing sectarianism and violent attacks by Baloch
separatists.
Baloch stated that his
government was determined to restore peace in the province through political
means.
"I stand for peace and
I strive for a negotiated settlement of issues relating to Balochistan,"
he said.
Regarding security
arrangements in the aftermath of recent terror acts, the chief minister stated
that police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were deployed at all exit and
entry points to ensure peace during the month of Muharram.
Capital City Police Officer
Quetta, Razaq Cheema while addressing a press conference said that 71 pickets
manned by 525 policemen were established in Quetta during Muharram.
He said a ban was also
imposed on pillion riding from 7th to 10th Muharram.
Two people killed near
Pak-Iran border
Meanwhile, armed men opened
fire at a vehicle and killed two people near Mashkail, Pakistan's bordering
town with Iran on Sunday morning, levies said.
Levies sources said armed
men opened fire at a pick up and killed two people on the spot near the Iranian
border.
"The pick up was loaded
with Iranian diesel and petrol and caught fire. Both persons inside the vehicle
were burnt to death", they added.
They were identified as
local residents of Mashkail. Motive behind the incident was yet to be
ascertained.
Levies and personnel of
other law enforcement agencies reached the spot and started investigation into
the incident. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.
This incident has come two
days after the Iranian forces fired five mortar shells in Mashkail.
There were no fatalities and
Frontier Crops retaliated against the Iranian attack. A blame game between the
two countries has been intensified in recent days with regard to border
skirmishes.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140520/no-information-about-presence-of-isis-in-balochistan-dr-malik
------------
Hindu citizens looking for
Jinnah’s Pakistan
By Shiraz Hassan
October 27, 2014
RAWALPINDI: Hindu citizens
are demanding Jinnah’s Pakistan on the occasion of Diwali. From no official
holiday on their religious festivals, Hindu marriage laws and social
discrimination to life threatening security concerns, the Hindu community in
Pakistan faces a myriad of problems.
“No holiday on Diwali is a
minor issues. Our problems are much bigger,” said Akash Raj, a Hindu citizen.
He narrated that he got
married many months ago but his wife is still waiting for her new Computerised
National Identity Card.
“Why is Hindu marriage act
still pending,” he demanded.
Raj criticised political
leaders like Imran Khan and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who are using Hindus for their
own political gains. “If they actually care about minority rights, they should
play a role in drafting legislation for us,” he said.
“Jogendra Nath Mandal was
Pakistan’s first law minister and today we live in a state where we cannot even
choose our own representatives,” said Rajiv Thakur, coordinator Pakistan Hindu
Seva Welfare Trust.
“Religious minorities in
Pakistan are facing problems because they do not have real community
representatives in assemblies; we should be given the electoral right to choose
our representatives in assemblies. Nobody raises our problems in assemblies, it
feels like minority lawmakers are helpless too,” he added. Thakur demanded for
the Pakistani school curriculum system to be reformed.
“When you promote hatred in
schools, it results in creating hatred at a societal level. For a better
Pakistan, followers of religions have an equal role to play,” he said.
Hindu Sikh Social Welfare
Organisation President Jagmohan Arora demanded that the word ‘minority’ should
not be used as it has negative implications. “We should be called ‘non-Muslim
Pakistanis’,” he said.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140459/hindu-citizens-looking-for-jinnahs-pakistan
------------
‘Revolution’ can’t bring any
change: JI
October 27, 2014
LAHORE - Jameet-e-Islami
Secretary General Liaquat Baloch has said that slogans of ‘new Pakistan’ and
‘revolution’ cannot bring any change in the country.
Addressing a communal
breakfast ceremony by his party, Bloch held that the public rights only be achieved
by making country a welfare Islamic state. PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid
Hussain Syed and other parties’ leaders also attended the ceremony.
Baloch said that country was
passing through a political turmoil but politicians were busy mud-slinging on each
other. He stressed that personal attacks should come to an end as these caused
deep unrest among the political workers. He stressed the need for unity among
the political and religious leaders.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/lahore/27-Oct-2014/revolution-can-t-bring-any-change-ji
------------
No one can spread hatred on
ethnic, religious basis: Shah
October 27, 2014
SUKKUR: The leader of the
opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said that no one can
spread hatred on ethnic or religious basis. He was talking to the media in
relation to the observance of black day by the MQM protesting his supposedly
“derogatory remarks” against the ‘Muhajirs’. Shah said that religion and politics
should be kept separate. On October 18, Shah had said that Urdu-speaking people
of Pakistan were now permanent residents of the Sindh and should therefore stop
calling themselves ‘Muhajirs’. “The word ‘Muhajir’ is a ‘Gaali’ (word of abuse)
for me and I urge our friends to please stop referring to themselves as
Muhajir,” he had said. Shah said that all Urdu-speaking people are his brothers
and the Sindhis would not let anyone spread hatred on ethnic basis. Speaking
about the blasphemy charges levelled against him, he said several conspiracies
had been formulated against him in the past as well, but despite all these
nefarious schemes against him voters have elected me eight times and he has an
important role to play in the politics of the country. On the appeal of MQM
chief Altaf Hussain, businesses and petrol pumps in a few areas of Karachi,
Hyderabad and other parts of Sindh were closed down.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/national/27-Oct-2014/no-one-can-spread-hatred-on-ethnic-religious-basis-shah
------------
Drive for 20 new provinces
to begin after Muharram, says MQM
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque
October 27, 2014
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi
Movement staged a big rally on Sunday in protest over the remarks of senior PPP
leader Syed Khurshid Shah against the word ‘Mohajir’ and announced that it
would launch a movement for 20 new provinces in the country after Muharram.
The rally was the
culminating point of the MQM’s ‘black day’ which was observed in the metropolis
on Sunday against Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khurshid
Shah’s remarks that he considered the word ‘Mohajir’ a swear word.
Despite the fact that the
city was shut throughout the day, a large number of MQM workers and
sympathisers, women and children included, reached the Shahrah-i-Quaideen-Sharea
Faisal intersection, the venue of the rally, to condemn what they described as
the blasphemous act of Mr Shah.
Wearing black armbands and
carrying tri-colour party flags and portraits of their leader Altaf Hussain,
the MQM workers used the event to raise the demand for a separate province for
Mohajirs as well as the creation of new administrative units in the country.
Not only the workers, but
every MQM leader who spoke to the protesters on the occasion pointed out
discrimination and injustices allegedly meted out to the people of the urban
areas of Sindh and condemned the ‘feudal and landlords who are occupying
resources of Karachi’.
The charged crowd shouted
slogans when senior MQM leader Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui announced that the
party would launch a country-wide drive from Karachi after Muharram for the
creation of 20 new provinces in the country.
While the MQM is being
criticised for invoking the much-controversial blasphemy law against Mr Shah
for his remarks against the word ‘Mohajir’, Dr Siddiqui said: “We are being
told that from a liberal and progressive party we are becoming an extremist
organisation... But we want to tell everyone that they would see us protesting
whenever it comes to Namoos-i-Risalat.”
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140617/drive-for-20-new-provinces-to-begin-after-muharram-says-mqm
------------
North
America
U.S. Official Urges Allies
to Combat ISIS Ideology
Oct. 27, 2014
The retired American general
in charge of coordinating the U.S.-led coalition's fight against Islamic State
militants is urging allies to do more to combat the group's extremist ideology.
Gen. John Allen's appeal
came during a meeting of Western and Arab partners in Kuwait on Monday.
Full report at:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/middle-east-updates/1.622945
------
‘Canada Parliament gunman
intended to go to S Arabia’
October 27, 2014
TORONTO - The Canadian
citizen who police contend shot dead a soldier at the nation's war memorial
before charging into Parliament had intended to travel to Saudi Arabia, not
Syria, his mother said in a letter to a news agency published on Saturday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted
Police said on Thursday that Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, 32, had traveled to Ottawa
from Vancouver to try to obtain a passport and intended to travel to Syria,
saying that his mother, Susan Bibeau, had revealed that information in an
interview. But Bibeau told Postmedia, which publishes many major Canadian
newspapers, that she had said her son intended to travel to Saudi Arabia, not
Syria.
‘I want to correct the
statement of the RCMP,’ wrote Bibeau, who is deputy chair of the Immigration
and Refugee Board of Canada.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/canada-parliament-gunman-intended-to-go-to-s-arabia
------------
Horror of Canadian
Parliament Shooting
Oct 26, 2014
The Muslim Public Affairs
Council condemns the criminal behavior and actions committed by Michael
Zehaf-Bibeau on Parliament Hill yesterday in Ottawa, Canada. MPAC offers its
condolences to the family members of Cpl. Nathan Cirrillo and victims who were
injured during the heinous attack by Zehaf-Bibeau. We stand in solidarity with
the Canadian people who are horrified by the vicious attacks.
This tragedy presents an
opportunity for North American Muslim communities to take leadership in
ensuring continued education about Islam, especially for the most
impressionable and vulnerable in our communities: young people and converts.
Young people who are fed misinformation online by violent extremists must be
engaged in healthy conversations in safe spaces within our schools and mosques
to minimize any chance of being lured into false promises of glory. As far as converts are concerned, Dr. Maher
Hathout said: “It is paradoxical because
most who convert to Islam have a positive change in their life that makes them
compassionate, calming, contributors to society. However, the aggregation of
these few cases are a cause for alarm and create a false impression about Islam
and Muslims.”
Zehaf-Bibeau was a known
troubled individual with a criminal history who recently converted to Islam. We
must continue to educate the community and others who are interested in Islam
that while this and other incidents are isolated, there is no justification
within the faith that would allow such immoral and criminal behavior. Further,
Zehaf-Bibeau’s troubled history highlights the need for communities to have
structured education, prevention, intervention and rehabilitation programs that
focus on mental health, religious and counseling services. It is imperative
that communities work in close coordination with law enforcement and government
agencies to address some of these challenges faced by communities to ensure the
public safety for all.
Full report at:
http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/horror-of-canadian-parliament-shooting/0020310
------------
Obama invites new Afghan
leaders to White House
October 27, 2014
KABUL - US President Barack
Obama, keen to reset relations with Afghanistan that soured under longtime
president Hamid Karzai, has invited the leaders of Afghanistan's new unity
government to visit the White House early next year. The new Afghan leadership
comes at a crucial time as American combat troops draw down after 13 years and
a remaining US force of about 10,000 shifts to a support role for Afghan
security forces taking over the fight against Taliban insurgents.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/obama-invites-new-afghan-leaders-to-white-house
------------
Arab World
Emergency rule in Egypt's
Sinai after bomb kills 30 troops
October 27, 2014
CAIRO: A state of emergency
came into force Saturday across much of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula after 30
soldiers were killed in a suicide car bombing by suspected jihadists.
It was the deadliest attack
on the country's security forces since the army deposed Islamist president
Mohamed Morsi last year, to the fury of his supporters.
The state of emergency,
which took effect from 0300 GMT in the north and centre of the Sinai, will
remain in place for three months, the president's office said.
A curfew is in force from 5
pm to 7 am.
Egypt also announced it
would close the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, the only route into the
Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel.
“The army and the police
will take all necessary measures to tackle the dangers of terrorism and its
financing, to preserve the security of the region... and protect the lives of citizens,”
the presidential decree said.
The Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces was due to meet on Saturday to decide what measures to implement
under the state of emergency.
The bombing on Friday was
carried out by a suspected jihadist who rammed a checkpoint with his
explosives-packed vehicle, security officials said.
The attack, in an
agricultural area northwest of El-Arish, the main town in north Sinai, also
left 29 other soldiers wounded, medics said.
A senior army official and
five officers were said to be among those wounded.
Gunmen also shot dead an
officer and wounded two soldiers on Friday at another checkpoint south of
El-Arish, security officials said.
Jihadists in the peninsula
have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Morsi's overthrow to avenge
a bloody police crackdown on his supporters.
The attacks have dealt a
further blow to a tourism industry already reeling after a 2011 uprising that
overthrew long-time president Hosni Mubarak.
While south Sinai is dotted
with tourist resorts on the Red Sea — a popular destination for scuba divers —
the lawless north is a base for militants who have launched a wave of attacks,
mostly targeting security forces.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140311/emergency-rule-in-egypts-sinai-after-bomb-kills-30-troops
------------
Suicide bomber kills 27
militiamen in Iraq, all eyes on Kobani
BY MICHAEL GEORGY
Oct 27, 2014
A suicide bomber killed at
least 27 Shi'ite militiamen on the outskirts of the Iraqi town of Jurf
al-Sakhar on Monday after security forces pushed Islamic State militants out of
the area over the weekend, army and police sources said.
The attacker, driving a
Humvee vehicle packed with explosives and likely stolen from defeated
government troops, also wounded 60 Shi'ite militiamen, who had helped
government forces retake the town just south of the capital.
Holding Jurf al-Sakhar is
critical for Iraqi security forces who finally managed to drive out the Sunni
insurgents after months of fighting.
It could allow Iraqi forces
to prevent the Sunni insurgents from edging closer to the capital Baghdad,
sever connections to their strongholds in western Anbar province, and stop them
infiltrating the mainly Shi'ite Muslim south.
The group has threatened to
march on Baghdad, home to special forces and thousands of Shi'ite militias
expected to put up fierce resistance if the capital comes under threat.
Gains against Islamic State,
an al Qaeda offshoot made up of Arab and foreign fighters, are often fragile
even with the support of U.S. airstrikes on militant targets in Iraq and
neighboring Syria.
As Iraqi government soldiers
and militias savored their victory and were taking photographs of Islamic State
corpses on Sunday, mortar rounds fired by Islamic State fighters who had fled
to orchards to the west rained down on Jurf al-Sakhar.
The blast hit the
militiamen, killing dozens and scattering body parts, according to a Reuters
witness.
The next significant
fighting near Baghdad is expected to take place just to the west in the Sunni
heartland Anbar province.
The town of Amriyat
al-Falluja has been surrounded by Islamic State militants on three sides for
weeks. Security officials say government forces are gearing up for an operation
designed to break the siege.
Gains in the Islamic State
stronghold of Anbar could raise the morale of Iraqi troops after they collapsed
in the face of a lighting advance by the insurgents in the north in June.
NO LETUP TO THE VIOLENCE
Islamic State kept up the
pressure on security forces on Monday, attacking soldiers, policemen and
Shi'ite militiamen in the town of al-Mansuriyah, northeast of Baghdad. Six
members of the Iraqi security forces were killed, police said.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters
also made advances over the weekend against Islamic State, which has declared a
caliphate in the heart of the Middle East and is determined to redraw the map
of the oil-producing region.
Full report at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/27/us-mideast-crisis-idUSKBN0IG15G20141027
-------
Syria regime air strikes
kill 13 children
October 27, 2014
BEIRUT - Syrian government air strikes on two
besieged, rebel-held areas of the central province of Homs killed at least 29
people, 13 of them children, a monitoring group said on Sunday.
Sixteen members of the same
family were among 22 people killed in raids late Saturday and Sunday on the
town of Talbisseh, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, updating an
earlier toll. They included 12 children and three women, said the Britain-based
monitoring group which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.
Talbisseh was one of Syria's
first areas to fall under rebel government control, after the 2011 outbreak of
a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad. It has been under total army siege
for two years, and near-daily bombardment. In the Waer district on the
outskirts of Homs - the only area of Syria's third city still in rebel hands -
air strikes late on Sunday killed seven people, including a child, the
Observatory said.
Activists say army bombing
of densely-populated Waer has escalated in recent weeks, marring hopes of a
truce similar to those reached in other parts of the country. The escalation
came after 47 children were killed in an October 1 suicide attack at a school
in a government-held area of Homs city.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/syria-regime-air-strikes-kill-13-children
------------
Egypt's outlawed MB condemns
Sinai attacks
October 27, 2014
CAIRO - Egypt's outlawed
Muslim Brotherhood has condemned attacks in the Sinai Peninsula that killed at
least 33 security personnel on Friday but said President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
was responsible for security failures.
The attacks are a setback
for the government, which had managed over the past few months to make some
progress in the struggle against an Islamist militant insurgency in the Sinai
as it focuses on trying to repair the economy. As army chief Sisi ousted
elected President Mohamed Mursi of the Brotherhood in July 2013 after protests
against his rule.
His government has since
cracked down on Egypt's oldest and most organised Islamist movement, throwing
thousands of Mursi's supporters in jail and labelling the group a terrorist
organisation. It draws no distinction between the Brotherhood and Islamist
militants in the Sinai.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/egypt-s-outlawed-mb-condemns-sinai-attacks
------------
Egypt army to join police to
guard key facilities
October 27, 2014
CAIRO (AP) — The Egyptian
president has ordered that the military will join police forces in guarding
vital state facilities against terror attacks.
President Abdel-Fattah
el-Sissi issued the order in a decree Monday.
It follows a surge in
attacks by Islamic militants against troops and police. Thirty Egyptian
soldiers were killed on Friday by suspected militants in the troubled northern
part of the Sinai Peninsula. It was deadliest attack against the army in
decades.
Full report at:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Egypt-army-to-join-police-to-guard-key-facilities-5849938.php
------------
Iraqi forces seize four
villages after victory near Baghdad
October 27, 2014
BAGHDAD - Iraqi government
forces retook four villages on Sunday near a mountain ridge overlooking Islamic
State supply lines, security officials said, in a campaign which has struggled
to make advances against the Sunni Islamist insurgents.
Iraqi security forces backed
by Shi'ite militias gained some momentum on Saturday in their bid to loosen the
grip of Islamic State, which controls large swathes of territory in the north
and west of the country. After months of fighting they drove Islamic State
militants out of Jurf al-Sakhar, just south of Baghdad, while Kurdish fighters
regained control over the town of Zumar in the north.
Sunni insurgents have been
moving fighters, weapons and supplies from western Iraq through secret desert
tunnels to Jurf al-Sakhar, Iraqi officials have said. Now it appears government
forces may be able to disrupt that network. Iraqi security forces backed by
Shi'ite militias launched an assault on Saturday on areas around the Himreen
mountains, a hotbed of militant activity 100 km (60 miles) south of the oil
city of Kirkuk.
On Sunday they seized
control of four villages in the area, security officials said, adding that it
was very difficult to accelerate efforts to capture more territory because of
roadside bombs and booby-trapped houses. ‘We have decided to make slow
advances. We hold the ground, set up watch towers, clear the explosives and
build sand barriers to prevent the armed men from returning,’ army major Ahmed
Nu'aman told Reuters by telephone.
The operation is designed to
isolate Islamic State fighters controlling the towns of Jalawla and Saadiya and
cut off the areas they seized northeast of the city of Baquba, which is held by
Iraqi security forces and Shi'ite militias. Government forces and Kurdish
peshmerga fighters have been trying for months to take over Jalawla and
Saadiya, located northeast of Baghdad.
Islamic State swept through
northern Iraq in the summer, facing little resistance from U.S.-trained
government troops. The al Qaeda offshoot then declared a caliphate and
threatened to march on Baghdad, rattling the Shi'ite-led government and
intensifying sectarian bloodshed. While U.S. airstrikes on Islamic State
targets in Iraq and Syria may have disrupted their operations, it is hard to tell
whether the campaign can defeat the insurgents who want to redraw the map of
the Middle East.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/iraqi-forces-seize-four-villages-after-victory-near-baghdad
------------
Egypt court orders arrest of
leading activist Abdel Fattah
27 October, 2014
An Egyptian court detained
leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and 20 others on Monday pending a retrial on
charges of breaking a law that seeks to curb protests, judicial sources said.
Abdel Fattah, a well-known
secular figure in the 2011 revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak's rule, and 24
fellow activists had been freed on bail last month pending a retrial after the
presiding judge in their case stepped aside.
The first hearing in their
retrial was held on Monday and the 21 activists who were attended were all
detained. The remaining four were absent, but the court also ordered that they
be detained.
The judge set Nov. 11 as the
date of the next hearing. (Reuters)
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/middle-east-updates/1.622945
-------
Rise in MERS cases prompts
Saudi warning to residents
27 October, 2014
Saudi Arabia's Health
Ministry on Monday urged residents of the world's top oil exporter to renew
precautions against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) after a rise in new
cases of the disease since early September.
The Health Ministry has
announced a total of 23 confirmed new cases this month of the virus, which
causes coughing, fever and sometimes fatal pneumonia. In addition to the 12
cases detected in September, this brings the total number in the kingdom to 777
since it was identified in 2012, of which 331 died.
Full report at:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/middle-east-updates/1.622945
-------
218 Saudis charged with
smuggling Haj pilgrims into holy sites
26 October 2014
Seasonal administrative
committees at the General Directorate of Passports in Al-Shumaisi and Taif have
charged 218 citizens and 36 residents with smuggling illegal and unlicensed
pilgrims into the holy sites during Haj.
The director general of the
Passport Department in Makkah, Col. Khlaf Allah Al-Tuwairqi, said the
committees also booked 53 vehicles whose owners have been arrested for helping
transport illegal pilgrims more than once.
Al-Tuwairqi called on visitors
coming to the Kingdom to perform Haj or Umrah to comply with the laws of the
land and leave the country after completing their religious duties before the
expiry of their visas.
Meanwhile, the General
Directorate of Passports issued a list of possible penalties against those
found violating any of the regulations.
Any individual involved in
transporting pilgrims without a license faces a fine of SR100,000 and a jail
sentence of up to two years. Any pilgrim who attempts to perform Haj without
obtaining a necessary permit will be immediately deported and denied entry to
the Kingdom for 10 years. Pilgrims or groups who do not depart the country on
expiration of their visas will be subject to a fine of SR15,000 and immediate
deportation upon their first offense. A second offense will incur a fine of
SR25,000, a 3 month prison term and deportation effective immediately.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/news/650761
------------
Manual issuance of visas for
house workers halted
26 October 2014
The Ministry of Labor has
halted the manual acceptance or issuance of domestic worker visas amid several
reforms aimed at curbing high employee turnover rates and protecting the rights
of domestic workers.
Under the new decision,
which took effect Saturday, applications for hiring domestic labor will be
submitted exclusively online through the ministry’s Musaned system.
The new system will also
unify recruitment fees at SR2,000, much to the relief of countless Saudi
families that had reportedly been duped into paying as much as SR20,000 by
recruitment agencies to hire maids and drivers.
Saad Al-Baddah, chairman of
the National Recruitment Committee (NRC) at the Saudi Council of Chambers,
confirmed the new measure would “increase transparency and ensure a hassle-free
hiring process.”
Under the previous manual
system, which allowed applicants to submit requests for hiring manpower at
Labor Ministry offices, many workers would eventually run away for alleged
nonpayment of salaries and long working hours.
Several employers would,
however, deny these allegations, but authorities would have no way of knowing
who was right.
“Going electronic is bound
to reduce the number of complaints and grievances voiced by expat workers and
hiring losses incurred by Saudi employers,” he said.
Labor-exporting countries
have become increasingly reluctant to send their nationals to the Kingdom amid
a large volume of controversial grievances.
Indonesia, a major
labor-exporting country, has stopped sending workers, while the Philippines,
Sri Lanka, India and other countries are involved in discussions with their
Saudi counterparts to come up with mechanisms and guarantees to protect the
rights of their workers.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/featured/news/650326
------------
Militants threaten to kill
Lebanon prisoners
26 October 2014
BEIRUT: Al-Qaeda’s Syrian
affiliate threatened Sunday to kill Lebanese soldiers it captured in fighting
in August unless the army halts operations against IS militants in Lebanon’s second
city Tripoli.
The Lebanese Army,
meanwhile, said gunmen kidnapped a soldier from his home in the port city, the
second seized in northern Lebanon since Saturday.
Al-Nusra Front, which has
previously executed one captive Lebanese soldier, issued its threat after
troops cleared militants from Tripoli’s historic bazaar district Saturday in an
operation that left one civilian and a militant dead.
Many of the militants
managed to withdraw to the Bab Al-Tebbaneh district of the city, a Sunni
Islamist stronghold, where troops were engaged in heavy fighting on Sunday, an
AFP correspondent reported.
The army’s offensive against
the militants, who are suspected of having links to Al-Nusra, sparked attacks
on troops across the Tripoli region that left six dead.
“We warn the Lebanese Army
against any military escalation targeting Sunnis in Tripoli,” the Al-Nusra
statement said. “We call on it to lift its siege and accept a peaceful
solution, or else we will be forced in the coming hours to bring closure to the
issue of the soldiers we are holding hostage, given that they are prisoners of
war.”
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/650656
------------
Mideast
Yemeni jets, US drone kill
‘20 Al Qaeda militants’
October 27, 2014
SANAA: Yemeni troops and a
US drone struck positions held by Al Qaeda suspects and Sunni tribes on Sunday,
killing over a dozen militants battling Shia rebels, tribal sources said.
The rebels, known as
Houthis, have been facing fierce resistance from Al Qaeda fighters and
tribesmen as they seek to expand their areas of control after seizing the
capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hudeida.
Clashes broke out on Friday
evening when Houthi fighters trying to wrest control of the mountains around
the central town of Rada, in Baida province, met resistance from Sunni
militias, tribal sources said.
Also read: Al Qaeda attack
kills two Yemeni soldiers
On Sunday, the rebels took
over several of these areas after a suspected US drone and army jets raided the
positions held by Al Qaeda and the Sunni tribesmen, tribal sources said.
One source said that “20 Al
Qaeda militants” were killed in the strikes, although the toll could not be
confirmed from independent sources.
The rebels took control of
Sanaa on September 21 after orchestrating weeks of protests that paralysed the
government.
They then pushed south
earlier this month, meeting little or no resistance from security forces.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140566/yemeni-jets-us-drone-kill-20-al-qaeda-militants
------------
Israel green lights plans
for 1,000 Jerusalem settler homes
October 27, 2014
JERUSALEM: The Israeli
government has given the green light for the planning of more than 1,000 new
Jewish settler homes in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, an official told AFP on
Monday.
“The government has decided
to advance the planning of more than 1,000 units in Jerusalem — roughly 400 in
Har Homa and about 600 in Ramat Shlomo," the official in Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in English, referring to two existing east
Jerusalem settlements.
He did not elaborate and
declined to comment on the likely political and diplomatic impact of such a
move at a time when Palestinians and the international community are already
incensed at latest settler moves in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan,
where there have been almost nightly clashes for months.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140698/israel-greenlights-plans-for-1000-jerusalem-settler-homes
------------
Palestinians barred from
Israeli West Bank buses
October 27, 2014
JERUSALEM - Palestinians
will be effectively banned from riding the same buses as Israeli settlers in
the West Bank, local media said Sunday, with a rights group slamming the plan
as ‘racial segregation’.
Hundreds of Palestinians
travel each day to work in Israel from the occupied West Bank, mainly in the
construction business, using a single crossing point at Eyal where they present
travel permits. Currently they are allowed to return to the West Bank on the
same buses as Israeli settlers. But a new measure announced by Israeli Defence
Minister Moshe Yaalon, due to go into effect next month, will require them to
again check in at the Eyal crossing point, the Haaretz daily reported. The
workers would have to find separate transportation from that point on.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/palestinians-barred-from-israeli-west-bank-buses
------------
Turkey held 5 over deadly
attack blamed on PKK
October 27, 2014
ISTANBUL - Turkey on Sunday
arrested five people over the killing of three off-duty soldiers in the
Kurdish-majority southeast of the country blamed by the authorities on
separatist militants, the official Anatolia news agency.
The three soldiers were
gunned down in the middle of the afternoon Saturday while walking in the town
centre of Yuksekova in the eastern Hakkari province. The army blamed the attack
on the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three decade
insurgency for self-rule but largely observed a ceasefire since March 2013.
As part of the
investigation, police conducted several morning raids on addresses in
Yuksekova, Anatolia said. Five suspects named as Mesut K., Islam B., M.Ali A.,
Orhan B. and Bayram A. were arrested and being interrogated, it said. The
attack, for which so far no claim of responsibility has been made, dealt a
heavy blow to efforts led by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to
make peace with the Kurds.
In a new crime linked by
some Turkish media to the PKK, the corpse of a village guard who had been
missing for two months was found hanging from a telegraph post in the Tatvan
district of the southeastern Bitlis region. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said
in comments published on Sunday he believed that neither the PKK or Turkey's
main pro-Kurdish political party the People's Democratic Party (HDP) wanted
peace.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/turkey-held-5-over-deadly-attack-blamed-on-pkk
------------
Gaza truce talks in Cairo
held back, say Palestinians
26 October 2014
RAMALLAH, Palestine:
Israeli-Palestinian talks on a lasting Gaza truce are to resume after
mid-November, instead of Monday as initially planned, the chief Palestinian
negotiator Azzam Al-Ahmad told AFP Sunday.
The announcement came after
other Palestinian officials said the talks had been postponed due to Egypt’s
closure of the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.
Full report at:
http://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/news/650651
------------
Africa
Cameroon army kills 39 Boko
Haram fighters
October 27, 2014
YAOUNDE - Cameroonian troops
killed 39 Boko Haram fighters in clashes with the Islamists, who were carrying
out three raids on Cameroon's territory, the defence ministry said Sunday.
Friday's fighting in the far
north of Cameroon near Nigeria also claimed four civilian lives, the ministry
said in a statement sent to AFP. Boko Haram rebels, who have been waging
attacks in northern Nigeria and who kidnapped more than 200 school girls there
in April, frequently cross into neighbouring Cameroon.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/cameroon-army-kills-39-boko-haram-fighters
------------
Boko Haram kills 17, kidnap
30 young men, women – Official
October 27, 2014Ola' Audu
The caretaker chairman of
Mafa Local Government Area of Borno State, Shettima Maina, said on Sunday that
suspected Boko Haram gunmen attacked communities in the council and kidnapped
some residents.
Mr. Maina told journalists
in Maiduguri that at least 17 people were killed by the gunmen whose attack on
the communities started on Wednesday. He said 30 young men and women were also
abducted by the insurgents.
The Borno State Police
Command, however, said it is not aware of the attacks while an official of the
Department of State Security, DSS, said the abductions could not have been in
one swoop.
“We have received reports of
series of attacks in communities near Mafa since last week, and during the
attack Boko Haram used to pick younger ladies and boys and forcefully take them
away,” a DSS official who sought anonymity said on Sunday. “But we are not sure
if there was a bigger kidnap that may have involved up to 30 girls.
A local vigilante official,
Abbas Gava, told PREMIUM TIMES that the Boko Haram gunmen abducted about 25
women between Wednesday and Thursday last week; but only left with young
ladies, leaving the older women behind.
Full report at:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/170190-boko-haram-kill-17-kidnap-30-young-men-women-official.html
------------
Somalia: Jubaland forces
clash with Al Shabaab, Militants take over village
Oct 26, 2014
KISMAYO, Somalia Oct 26,
2014 (Garowe Online)-As Somalia Federal Government is striving to fend off
Islamist threats in southern and central Somalia, Jubaland forces clashed with
Al Shabaab militants in deadly battle, Garowe Online reports. The fighting
raged after Jubaland forces in armoured fighting vehicles began to thrust into
Abdalla Biroole village which lies a few kilometers away from the southern port
city of Kismayo on Saturday afternoon on their way to Bulo Haji vicinity. Al
Shabaab militants ambushed Jubaland convoy along the road leading to Bulo Haji,
20 km west of Abdalle Birole, with residents of Bulo Haji disclosing that
subsequent armed confrontation lasted nearly seven hours. Meanwhile, speaking
with Garowe Online correspondent on condition of the anonymity because of the
sensitivity of the matter, Jubaland forces commander said they lost 11 soldiers
in the battle, and confirmed that Abdalle Birole fell to Islamist insurgents.
Jubaland President Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed Islam (Madobe) who had been on visit to
Raskamboni right away returned to Kismayo, holding talks with army commanders
in nearby Turqato village. Beleaguered Al Shabaab militants are said to have
shifted balance from fertile hinterland along Jubba River to hotbeds, west of
Kismayo. - See more at:
http://www.garoweonline.com/page/show/post/713/somalia-jubaland-forces-clash-with-al-shabaab-militants-take-over-village#sthash.Cq5brQSb.dpuf
http://www.garoweonline.com/page/show/post/713/somalia-jubaland-forces-clash-with-al-shabaab-militants-take-over-village
------------
South Asia
Return of the shoe in front
of Baitul Mukarram, Bangladesh
October 27, 2014
It was a funeral in front of
Baitul Mukarram where people threw shoes at Ghulam Azam in January 1981 as he
made his first appearance at any big public gathering after returning to
independent Bangladesh.
Thirty-three years have
passed but he continues to draw the same ire, even after his death. A young man
yesterday threw his sandal at the hearse carrying the infamous war criminal's
body to Baitul Mukarram.
"When I saw the hearse
pass by, I couldn't control myself. I threw a sandal on impulse," said the
youth.
He was among those who
gathered in front of the Jatiya Press Club around 11:30pm to prevent the
funeral of Ghulam Azam from taking place at the national mosque. They included
members of Blogger and Online Activist Network, Chhatra Moitree and Bangladesh
Sammilito Islamic Jote.
The protesters tried to
reach the mosque marching in a procession but faced police obstruction at the
Paltan intersection and thus waited near the police box for about an hour.
As the azan from the mosque
was heard through loudspeakers, the hearse, with a motorcade in the front and
several truckloads of people at the back, reached the intersection.
"It was about 1:05pm
when I saw a young man throw a sandal at the car [hearse]. The Jamaat men
escorting the car pounced on him, but police acted quickly and drove away the
protesters," said an eyewitness, wishing anonymity.
However, Azam's Janaza
conducted by his son Abdullahil Aman Azmi was held at Baitul Mukarram, and
later he was buried at his family graveyard at the capital's Moghbazar.
"How can a person who
read history of Liberation War not despise Ghulam Azam and other razakars for
what they did in 1971?" said the 28-year-old youth, son of a freedom
fighter, while talking to The Daily Star.
Only 10 days after horrid
massacre of the Bangalees on the night of March 25, 1971, Ghulam Azam met
Pakistani General Tikka Khan, nicknamed butcher of Beluchistan, the very person
who was one of the masterminds of the killings.
The Daily Pakistan on April
6, 1971 reported on the meeting where Azam, the then ameer of East Pakistan
Jamaat-e-Islami, and leaders of other anti-liberation political parties assured
Tikka Khan of all help.
Azam played the key role in
forming notorious militia groups like Peace Committee, Razakar, Al-Badr and
Al-Shams that collaborated with the Pakistan occupation military in committing
genocide and other heinous crimes against humanity.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/return-of-the-shoe-47404
------------
Afghanistan’s Re-Emerging
Baloch
By Karlos Zurutuza
September 26, 2014
“We are the only nation that
has fluent relations with all the rest in the country,” claims Abdul Sattar Purdely.
A former MP during the rule of Mohammad Najibullah (1987-1992), Purdely today
is a professor, writer, and one of the main advocates for the Baloch language
and culture in Afghanistan. In his late sixties, he looks tireless.
“In coordination with the
Afghan Ministry of Education, I have written the schoolbooks in Balochi up to
the 8th grade (15 years old) and they’re already being used at three schools,”
Purdely tells The Diplomat just before producing the full set of volumes.
In the absence of comprehensive
census data, Purdely puts the population of Afghan Baloch at about two million,
“not all of them being Balochi speakers.” However, the Baloch in Afghanistan
are just a tiny portion of a people divided today by the borders of Iran,
Pakistan and Afghanistan, living in a vast swathe of land the size of France.
Theirs is a rugged terrain that boasts enormous deposits of gas, gold and
copper, untapped sources of oil and uranium, as well as a thousand kilometers
of coastline near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
But despite the wealth under
their sandals, the Baloch inhabit the most underdeveloped regions of their
respective countries. Afghanistan is no exception.
The three schools the
professor points to are in Afghanistan’s remote Nimroz province, the only one
that shares borders with Iran and Pakistan. In Nimroz, Afghanisan’s Baloch
minority are the majority.
Zaranj, the provincial
capital located 900 km southwest of Kabul, lies within walking distance of the
official border with Iran, across the Helmand river. For centuries, the local
Baloch have lived on the banks of one of the country’s main water sources, but
the droughts of the past ten years have forced many families to leave their
native land. Officials at the water supply department in Zaranj told The
Diplomat that Iran is to blame for diverting and storing water from the Helmand
river. But accusations go beyond interference in the water supply.
“Tehran is constantly trying
to quell any Baloch initiative here, in Nimroz, as they consider it a potential
threat to their security,” Mir Mohamad Baloch, who describes himself as a
“political and cultural activist,” says.
Full report at:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/09/afghanistans-reemerging-baloch/
------------
British forces hand over
control of last base in Afghanistan
October 27, 2014
CAMP LEATHERNECK: British
forces on Sunday handed over formal control of their last base in Afghanistan
to Afghan troops, ending combat operations in the country after 13 years which
cost hundreds of lives.
The Union Jack was lowered
at Camp Bastion in the southern province of Helmand, while the Stars and
Stripes came down at the adjacent Camp Leatherneck, the last US Marine base in
the country.
All Nato combat troops will
depart Afghanistan by December, leaving Afghan troops and police to battle
Taliban insurgents on their own.
The huge joint base built in
the desert near the provincial capital Lashkar Gah was the most important
installation for the Nato mission in Afghanistan.
Between 2010 to 2011, it
housed almost 40,000 foreigners including sub-contractors.
Hundreds of US Marines and
British troops are set to leave Helmand soon, though the precise date has not
been revealed for security reasons.
In a ceremony Sunday the
Afghans took formal control of the base, despite already being present in a
portion of it. The British and US flags were lowered, leaving only
Afghanistan's national flag to flutter in the breeze.
Britain's Defence Secretary
Michael Fallon paid tribute to his nation's role in fighting the Taliban.
A total of 453 British
troops and 2,349 Americans were killed.
“It is with pride that we
announce the end of UK combat operations in Helmand, having given Afghanistan
the best possible chance of a stable future, “he said in a statement from
London.
Many facilities such as
pipelines, buildings, roads and even office furniture remain in place, with the
US alone estimating $230 million worth of equipment is being left behind.
Marine General Daniel D.
Yoo, regional commander, said the Afghan army is now now capable of taking over
the reins.
“I'm cautiously optimistic
they will be able to sustain themselves. I know from my experience that they
have the capability and the capacity if they allocate the resources properly,”
he said.
“We're very proud of what
we've accomplished here,” added the officer, who was among the first Marines on
the ground in autumn 2001, when a US-led coalition toppled the Taliban who had
been in power since 1996.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140517/british-forces-hand-over-control-of-last-base-in-afghanistan
------------
Crisis over fleeing Rohingya
Muslims
2014-10-26 07:27
Yangon - A growing sense of
desperation is fuelling a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims from western Myanmar,
with the number who have fled by boat since communal violence broke out two
years ago now topping 100 000, a leading expert said on Saturday.
Chris Lewa, director of the
non-profit advocacy group Arakan Project, said there has been a huge surge
since 15 October, with an average of 900 people per day piling into cargo ships
parked off Rakhine state.
That's nearly 10 000 in less
than two weeks, she noted, one of the biggest spikes yet.
Myanmar, a predominantly
Buddhist nation of 50 million that only recently emerged from half a century of
military rule, has an estimated 1.3 million Rohingya.
Though many of their
families arrived from neighbouring Bangladesh generations ago, almost all have
been denied citizenship. In the last two years, attacks by Buddhist mobs have
left hundreds dead and 140 000 trapped in camps, where they live without access
to adequate health care, education or jobs.
Lewa, who has teams
monitoring embarkation points, is considered the leading authority on the
number of fleeing Rohingya. But boats are now shoving off from more and more
places, she said, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of how
many are leaving.
Aggressive campaign
"The real number may be
higher," Lewa said.
She said some Rohingya families
have received phone calls notifying them that ships from the latest exodus have
started arriving in neighbouring Thailand, where passengers often are brought
to jungle camps, facing extortion and beatings until relatives come up with
enough money to win their release.
From there they usually
travel to Malaysia or other countries, but, still stateless, their futures
remain bleak.
Full report at:
http://www.news24.com/World/News/Crisis-over-fleeing-Rohingya-Muslims-20141026
------------
Southeast Asia
Al-Qaeda Declares War on
China, Too
By Zachary Keck
October 22, 2014
Al-Qaeda central appears to
have joined the Islamic State in calling for jihad against China over its
alleged occupation of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
This week, al-Sahab media
organization, al-Qaeda’s propaganda arm, released the first issue of its new
English-language magazine Resurgence. The magazine has a strong focus on the
Asia-Pacific in general, with feature articles on both India and Bangladesh, as
well as others on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
However, the first issue
also contains an article entitled “10 Facts About East Turkistan,” which refers
to the name given to Xinjiang by those who favor independence from China. The
ten facts seek to cast Xinjiang as a longtime independent state that has only
recently been brutally colonized by Han Chinese, who are determined to
obliterate its Islamic heritage.
“In the last 1,000 years of
its Islamic history,” the article says, Xinjiang “has remained independent for
763 years, while 237 years have been spent under Chinese occupation at various
intervals.”
This occupation has been
costly, the article argues, alleging that: “In 1949, 93 percent of the
population of East Turkistan was Uyghur, while 7 percent was Chinese. Today, as
a result of six decades of forced displacement of the native population and the
settlement of Han Chinese in their place, almost 45 percent of the population
of East Turkistan is Chinese.”
The article goes on to claim
that teaching the Quran in Xinjiang is punishable by up to ten years in prison,
and that Muslim women caught wearing the hijab can be fined more than five
times the average annual income of the area. Al-Qaeda also claims that
following its takeover of the mainland in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party
murdered some 4.5 million Muslims in Xinjiang. The group further claims that
China has conducted no less than 35 nuclear weapon tests in Xinjiang, and the
radioactive fallout from these are estimated to have killed 200,000 Muslims. In
1998 alone, the article adds, 20,000 babies were born deformed in Xinjiang as a
result of these nuclear tests.
Although “10 Facts About
East Turkistan” stops shorting of calling for jihad against China, the point is
more directly articulated elsewhere in the first issue of Resurgence. For
example, one article says that the “the victory of the Ummah” will be a
“deathblow” and a “bitter defeat… for America, Iran, Russia, China and all
those who have fought this war by proxy against Muslims.” In a particularly
troubling article for China and other state actors, al-Qaeda calls on its
followers to try to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and Strait of
Malacca, noting the waterways’ centrality for China and other Asian economies
in particular.
Al-Qaeda central’s sudden focus
on China follows closely on the heels of the Islamic State also condemning
Beijing for its handling of its Uyghur Muslim population. Back in July, IS
leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi gave a speech in which he argued “Muslim rights are
forcibly seized in China, India, Palestine” and many other countries around the
world. Later, IS released a map that outlined the borders of its envisioned
Caliphate. Notably, Xinjiang province was included in the Caliphate.
Full report at:
http://thediplomat.com/2014/10/al-qaeda-declares-war-on-china-too/
------------
China to Amend Anti-terror
Law and to Set Up Anti-terrorism Intelligence System
27/10/2014
MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA
Novosti) – Beijing will set up a national anti-terrorism intelligence system
and amend the country’s anti-terror law in a move that it hopes will improve
intelligence gathering and the sharing of information across government
departments, China’s Xinhua news agency reports.
The decision was made in the
wake of an upsurge in violence in the far western region of Xinjiang, which has
left hundreds dead over the past two years. The ongoing conflict is being
blamed by Beijing on Islamists who want to establish a separate state called
East Turkestan.
According to the agency, the
most recent attacks in Xinjiang have pointed to serious intelligence failures
despite the massive security presence there.
Improving China's
anti-terror law will also assist in “bettering international cooperation in the
fight”, it added.
Full report at:
http://en.ria.ru/world/20141027/194657262/-China-to-Amend-Anti-terror-Law-and-to-Set-Up-National.html
---------
Iranian nationals arrested
in Malaysia for alleged drug trafficking
Seven Iranian nationals,
including two women, were arrested in the Malaysian capital for allegedly
trafficking drugs, a senior police official said Monday.
Police also arrested a
Malaysian woman believed to be an accomplice, anti-narcotics chief Noor Rashid
Ibrahim said in a press briefing.
Full report at:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/middle-east-updates/1.622945
-------
Future of human rights in
Southeast Asia remains bleak
October 27 2014
The future of human rights
in Southeast Asia remains gloomy, an official has said, with little progress
having been made by ASEAN in applying the Declaration of Human Rights since the
establishment of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)
in 2009.
Former Indonesian foreign
minister Nur Hassan Wirajuda highlighted the Terms of Reference (TOR) of AICHR,
which, he said, had caused progress to be slow.
“The [fourteen] existing
mandates [that can be found in the TOR] are weak and unbalanced. For me, [the
standard of] AICHR’s TOR is far below international and regional standards,” he
said during a recent event in Central Jakarta entitled “Multi-stakeholder Panel
on the Future of Human Rights in ASEAN Community: Opportunities and
Challenges”.
Hassan argued that the TOR
failed to promote the protection of human rights, which explained why several
ASEAN members seemed uninterested in furthering democracy.
“We made good progress in
Myanmar because it had adopted democracy. But now Myanmar has ‘exported’ its
military junta to Bangkok [Thailand’s capital city],” said Hassan, who was
foreign minister from August 2001 to October 2009.
He said that he was also
disappointed by the fact that after he left the foreign minister’s post,
Indonesia did not provide “effective intellectual leadership” to promote human
rights in ASEAN.
Before 2009, Indonesia had not
only been successful in convincing ASEAN members to develop the ASEAN Human
Rights Body, but also in convincing them to make the legal statement official.
However, he continued,
Indonesia then failed to encourage other ASEAN members to translate the principles
into concrete actions.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/27/future-human-rights-southeast-asia-remains-bleak.html
------------
Sex education campaign to be
rolled out on Indonesian Youth Pledge Day
October 26 2014
A flag-raising ceremony is
usually the norm to commemorate the historical moment when a group of
Indonesian youths proclaimed three ideals — one motherland, one nation and one
language — on Oct. 28, 1928, now known as Youth Pledge Day.
However, youngsters may instead
find themselves rocking out to local tunes in Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta
on Sunday, as part of a campaign by the Seperlima group to promote sex
education.
The five organizations that
constitute Seperlima — youth group Pamflet, the Indonesian Family Planning
Association (PKBI), the Center for Education and Information on Islam and
Women’s Rights Issues (Rahima), Dutch NGO Hivos and the University of
Indonesia’s Gender and Sexuality Research Center — are holding the third
Festival Seperlima with the theme “Beda Itu Biasa” (Different is Normal) in
commemoration of Youth Pledge Day.
Pamflet coordinator Afra
Suci Ramadhan told The Jakarta Post that the campaign’s main objective was to
promote the importance of sex education for youths, using the music and film
event as a way of reaching out to young people in a relatable way.
“We chose this theme in
honor of the Youth Pledge. We want to encourage pluralism and unity among young
Indonesians, and sex education is one way of doing so. People learn how to
respect themselves and each other when they are given sex education and that is
also a key principle of the Youth Pledge,” she said.
Last year, campaign events
were held in October at 365 Eco Bar in Kemang, South Jakarta, and in April at
the National Museum in Central Jakarta.
However, Afra said,
Seperlima wanted to hold the Oct. 26 event in a free open space so that it
would be more accessible to the public.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/26/sex-education-campaign-be-rolled-out-youth-pledge-day.html
------------
Kontras: Ryamizard
Appointment Shows Jokowi ‘Negligent’ on Human Rights
By Farouk Arnaz & Ezra
Sihite
Oct 27, 2014
Jakarta. The Commission for
Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says the appointment of a
controversial former general to the new cabinet shows President Joko Widodo is
“negligent” towards human rights issues.
The prominent human rights
group has struck out at Joko’s decision to name Gen. (ret.) Ryamizard Ryacudu
the country’s defense minister, saying his involvement in operations against
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Free Papua Organization (OPM) made him
unsuitable for the role.
“Ryamizard’s appointment shows
that our president is negligent towards human rights and the defense sector,”
Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar said on Sunday evening.
The retired general was one
of 34 ministers announced in Indonesia’s new cabinet at the State Palace on
Sunday.
Ryamizard was Army chief of
staff between 2002 and 2005 and chief of the Army’s strategic command (Kostrad)
between 2000 and 2002. He was involved in Indonesia’s invasion of East Timor,
but has been singled out by Kontras for his role overseeing operations in Aceh
and Papua.
Haris said that Ryamizard’s
“sins” included his leadership role during the implementation of martial law by
the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) in Aceh following the collapse of peace talks
in 2003. A report by Human Rights Watch published in 2003 voiced concern about
serious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law committed by
both the TNI and GAM forces during the period.
Full report at:
http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/kontras-ryamizard-appointment-shows-jokowi-negligent-human-rights/
------------
Singaporean grilled in Batam
for exporting US bomb devices
October 27 2014
Riau Islands Police are
intensively questioning Singaporean Lim Yong Nam, 40, who is wanted by the US
Department of Justice for allegedly exporting electronic devices used to make
bombs in Iran and Iraq.
The US Department of Justice
has requested that the Indonesian police arrest Lim and extradite him to the
US, but the Singaporean government has been carrying out efforts to stop its
citizen being extradited, arguing that he did not violate the law.
Through the Singaporean
Consulate in Batam, the Singaporean government has continued to provide Lim
with consular aid since he was arrested by immigration officers at the Batam
Center Ferry Terminal Port on Friday.
“We provide aid according to
the consular convention,” said Gavin Chay, consul of the Republic of Singapore
in Batam, said on Sunday.
He was referring to the 1963
Vienna Convention on consular relations. Yet, he declined to give detailed
information regarding his country’s efforts to prevent Lim Yong Nam from being
extradited by Indonesia.
Lim Yong Nam is one of four
Singaporeans accused of exporting radio modules produced by the US to Iran
through Singapore.
The four were identified as
Wong Yuh Lan, Lim Yong Nam, Lim Kow Seng and Benson Hia Soo Gan.
Two of the four Singaporeans
were extradited but Lim Yong Nam was not because he was not considered to have committed
any wrongdoings in Singapore.
Full report at:
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/27/singaporean-grilled-batam-exporting-us-bomb-devices.html
------------
Europe
London march backs
Kashmiris’ struggle
October 27, 2014
LONDON: Thousands of people
took part in a march here on Sunday to express solidarity with the people of
Kashmir and support their decades-long struggle for the right to
self-determination and to protest human rights violations by Indian troops in
the occupied region.
The march which started from
London’s Trafalgar Square and concluded at 10 Downing Street was attended by
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, his sister Assefa, leaders of Pakistan’s
religious and political parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, and members
of civil society.
Also read: Held Kashmir:
submerged and suppressed
Addressing the participants,
former Azad Kashmir prime minister Barrister Sultan Mehmood said: “We have
gathered here to express solidarity with the Kashmiris and draw attention of
the international community to the Kashmir issue”.
He said the struggle would
continue till the independence of Kashmir in accordance with UN resolutions.
Full report at:
http://www.dawn.com/news/1140595/london-march-backs-kashmiris-struggle
------------
Muslim inmate at Prison
planned kidnap and escape, IS Flag Found in Cell
26 October 2014
Detailed plans to kidnap a
prison officer in a bid to escape from the Isle of Wight Prison were found in
the cell of a Muslim inmate.
An internal Prison Service
document, seen by the BBC, reveals an Islamic State, or ISIS, flag was also
found in the cell at the jail's Parkhurst site.
The prisoner was placed in
the jail's close supervision unit.
A Ministry of Justice (MoJ)
spokesman said security measures had been shown to be "robust" by the
discovery.
'Detailed' plans
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-29775729
------------
Divided Ukraine votes under
shadow of war
October 27, 2014
KIEV - A divided Ukraine
voted Sunday in parliamentary elections expected to back President Petro
Poroshenko's pro-Western reforms and test support for his plan to negotiate
with pro-Russian insurgents threatening to break up the country.
Reformers and nationalists
supporting a drive to steer Ukraine out of Russia's sphere of influence were
expected to dominate. The Petro Poroshenko Bloc was forecasted to be the
biggest party, although needing partners to form a ruling coalition. ‘Today we have
a new Ukraine,’ Poroshenko said after voting in the capital Kiev. ‘I hope it
will be possible to form a strong, pro-European democratic coalition.’
The snap election came eight
months after a street revolt overthrew Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovych,
sparking conflict with Russia and a crisis in relations between the Kremlin and
Ukraine's Western allies. Sunday's election was meant to clear out the last
vestiges of the Yanukovych regime.
But the war with pro-Russian
rebels in the industrial east, in which 3,700 people have died, and Russia's
earlier annexation of the southern Crimean region, cast a long shadow. Voters
in Crimea and in separatist-controlled areas of the eastern Lugansk and Donetsk
provinces - about five million of Ukraine's 36.5 million-strong electorate -
were unable to cast ballots.
Even 25,000 soldiers
deployed in the war zone were shut out, Poroshenko said, blaming the outgoing
parliament for failing to make provisions. Twenty seven seats in the 450-seat
parliament will remain empty. Dressed in camouflage, Poroshenko helicoptered in
for a surprise visit to Kramatorsk, a government-held town in the heart of the
conflict zone. The dramatic gesture was clearly meant to show that the
beleaguered region has not been forgotten.
‘Today on territory
liberated by Ukrainian servicemen they will vote for the European future of our
country,’ Poroshenko said in nationally televised remarks. However, the
disenfranchisement of the separatist areas and Crimea seemed likely to further
cement the once peaceful, now bloody faultline between Ukraine's
Russian-speaking east and Ukrainian-speaking west.
Full report at:
http://nation.com.pk/international/27-Oct-2014/divided-ukraine-votes-under-shadow-of-war
------------
ISIS threatens to kill
British jihadists
October 27, 2014
British jihadi fighters
desperate to return home from Syria and Iraq are being issued with death
threats by the leadership of Islamic State (ISIS), the Observer has learned.
A source with extensive
contacts among Syrian rebel groups said senior ISIS figures were threatening
Britons who were attempting to travel home. He said: “There are Britons who
upon wanting to leave have been threatened with death, either directly or
indirectly.”
The news comes after it was
revealed that another young Muslim from Portsmouth had been killed on the
frontline in Syria, the fourth to die from a group of six men known as the
“Pompey lads” who travelled together to fight for ISIS.
Meanwhile, the former
Guantánamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg confirmed that he was also aware of dozens
of British men keen to return to the UK but who were trapped in Syria and Iraq,
in effect held by a group they wanted to leave.
Begg said he knew of more
than 30 who wanted to come back. They had travelled to join rebels fighting the
Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad but had subsequently become
embroiled with ISIS, some for language reasons – ISIS had more English-speaking
members.
In Syria, Muhammad Mehdi
Hassan, 19, from Portsmouth was killed in fighting on Friday. He is understood
to have died during the ISIS offensive to capture the Syrian border city of
Kobani, which is continuing.
Full report at:
http://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/isis-threatens-to-kill-british-jihadists-47556
------------
The challenges faced by
Muslim soldiers in Afghanistan
26 October 2014
BBC Inside Out looks at the
experiences of Muslim soldiers fighting for Britain in Afghanistan.
British Muslims who served
in Afghanistan say the conflict was not a war against Islam.
There are about 700 Muslims
serving in the British armed services but they are rarely heard from or seen,
largely due to hostility from extremists within their own community.
But now they have spoken to
BBC Inside Out about why they fought for Britain against an enemy of the same
faith.
Full report at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-29731737
------------
A Museum of rich Jewish life
in Poland
October 27, 2014
In the two millennia between
ancient Israel and its modern rebirth, Jews never enjoyed as much political
autonomy as they did in Poland, a land that centuries later would become
intrinsically linked to the Holocaust.
The story of this great
flourishing of political and cultural life is part of a 1,000-year history told
in a visually striking new museum, the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish
Jews, which opens its long-awaited core exhibition to the public on Tuesday
amid days of celebrations.
The Polish and Israeli
presidents will attend, along with Polish Holocaust survivors who helped create
this memorial to the lost world of their ancestors.
Polin is Hebrew for Poland,
and also means “rest here,” a reference to a story Jews told themselves about
their arrival in Poland in the Middle Ages- that they found favour from the
rulers and were allowed to dwell there in tranquillity. The result was
centuries of a flourishing Yiddish-speaking civilization that made important
contributions to Polish and world culture before being nearly wiped out by Nazi
Germany.
“The Holocaust has cast a
shadow onto this great civilization and the generations of Jews who lived in
Eastern Europe before the Second World War, as if those centuries of life were
little more than a preface to the Holocaust,” museum director Dariusz Stola
said. “But that is absurd. This museum stresses that 1,000 years of Jewish life
are not less worthy of remembrance than the six years of the Holocaust.”
Poland, in a union formed in
the 16th century with Lithuania called the Commonwealth, became one of Europe’s
largest and most ethnically diverse territories. Jews benefited from tolerance
and a large degree of self-governance granted by the rulers, growing into the
world’s largest Jewish community. Today 9 million of the world’s 14 million
Jews can trace their ancestry to Poland.
Despite their
once-significant presence, memory of the Jews all but disappeared from public
discourse in Poland in the communist era, leaving post-war generations largely
unaware that their country was once a multi-ethnic land where Jews and other
religions lived in relative peace, even avoiding the religious wars that
devastated other European lands.
Poland’s pre-war population
of 3.3 million Jews was reduced to 300,000 by Adolf Hitler’s genocide, while
communist-era persecution drove most of those survivors away. Today there are
fewer than 30,000 Jews in Poland, though the community is again growing.
In the post-war decades,
“Polish history didn’t speak of Jews. It spoke of cemeteries, of the Holocaust,
of the ghettos. ... It spoke exclusively of death,” said Piotr Wislicki, who
heads a Jewish historical association that raised $48 million for the
exhibition. “And in the eyes of the world, Poland was just one big cemetery.”
Full report at:
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/a-museum-of-rich-jewish-life-in-poland/article6538248.ece
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/supreme-court-india-lifts-restrictions/d/99744