Treat Far-Right Extremists The Same As Islamists: UK Solicitor General, Alex Chalk QC
New Age Islam News Bureau
24 January 2022
Convicted neo-Nazi Ben John
was resentenced to two years in prison. (File/Lincolnshire Police)
-----
• Sri Lanka Forces Islamic School Textbooks To Be
Withdrawn For Possibility Of Containing ‘Extremist Ideology’
• Uighurs In Turkey Call For Boycott Of Beijing Games
• I Would Be More Dangerous If Forced To Step Down,
Pakistan PM Imran Khan Warns Opposition
• RSS Body Carries Out A Public Awareness Campaign In
UP, Condemns Remarks Made At Uttarakhand ‘Dharam Sansad’
Europe
• UK Govt Orders Probe Into Muslim Ex-Minister, Nusrat
Ghani’s Claims
• Mosque Targeted In Shooting Attack In Germany
• Kazakhstan holding hundreds for terrorism and
disorder following mass unrest
• Former Labour Party head Corbyn slams UK for arming
Saudi Arabia in Yemen war
--------
South
Asia
• High Schools For Girls To Reopen In March, IEA Has
No Issue With Girls’ Education:
Education Ministry
• IEA Issues Joint Statement After Meeting Non-Taliban
Afghans In Oslo
• Taliban, US to discuss establishment of inclusive
government
• We have right to suppress dissidents and imprison
protestors: Mujahid
• Islamic State claims responsibility for attack in
Herat, Afghanistan
• Taliban say bombers target minivan in Afghanistan, 7
dead
--------
Southeast
Asia
• More Islamic Studies classes only a problem for
‘some people’, says Idris
• HR minister: Pilot project to recruit 10,000
domestic helpers from Indonesia next month
• Kelantan PAS respects state Umno’s decision to sever
political ties, says Ahmad Yakob
--------
Pakistan
• Religious tourism is likely to pick pace between
India, Pakistan
• Pakistani YouTuber Gets One Year Jail Term For
Justifying Lynching Of Sri Lankan Citizen
• Pak to hand over 20 Indian fishermen to India at
Wagah
• After invoking UN norm, PM Imran clarifies call for
Afghan help
--------
India
• Stung By Criticism Over Writing To Asad Owaisi,
Sajjad Nomani Issues Clarification
• India ready to ship wheat to Afghanistan via
Pakistan early February
• Fat Muslim weddings are draining away resources of
community
--------
Arab
World
• Arab Bloc Seeks ‘Terrorist’ Designation For Houthis
• UAE intercepts Houthi attack, Saudi Arabia reports
two injured by fallen missile
• ISIS-Kurds battle after Syria prison attack kills
over 120 in four days: Monitor
• Arab Coalition strikes in Yemen kill 40 Houthi
‘terrorists,’ destroy five vehicles
• UAE forces destroy Houthi launch site that targeted
Abu Dhabi: Defence ministry
• Arab League to hold emergency meeting on Houthi
attack on UAE
• Kurdish-led SDF conduct search for Daesh militants
in Hasakah: Report
--------
Mideast
• Palestinian Prisoners Continue Boycott Of Israeli
Military Courts For 3rd Consecutive Week
• Dozens of fanatic Jewish settlers defile al-Aqsa
Mosque
• Iran’s Top Negotiator Meets EU’s Mora, Talks
Underway in Vienna
• Iran Takes Back Voting Right in UN
• Turkish journalist arrested for insulting President
Erdogan: Report
• Israeli minister slams settler violence as
'terrorism’
• 17 Palestinian journalists held in Israeli prisons:
NGO
• Yemen to keep up counterstrikes’ until the end of
invasion: Ansarullah official
--------
Africa
• Taraba Tackles Muslim Body, Alleges Council Inciting
Religious Tension
• French military base in Mali attacked: media reports
• Sudan’s Hemedti visits Ethiopia for bilateral talks
• Burkina Faso’s President Kabore is held by mutinous
soldiers
--------
North
America
• Marie Newman, US Congresswoman, Urges End To
Israel’s Palestinian Homes Demolition Policy
• American citizen in Afghanistan embraces Islam
• Nearly 3,000 Americans sign petition, demand end to
Israel's ethnic cleansing in Negev
• US warplanes bomb Syrian city in purported bid to
repel Daesh attack
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
--------
Treat Far-Right Extremists The Same As Islamists: UK
Solicitor General, Alex Chalk QC
Convicted neo-Nazi Ben John
was resentenced to two years in prison. (File/Lincolnshire Police)
-----
January 23, 2022
LONDON: The UK’s solicitor general has called for
far-right and Islamist extremists to be punished equally, saying there should
be “no hierarchy” when it comes to dealing with terrorists.
Alex Chalk QC was speaking after the Court of Appeal
in London overturned an “unduly lenient” sentence handed down to a convicted
neo-Nazi, Ben John, who as part of his punishment had been told to read novels
by 18th-century writers, including Jane Austen, instead of extremist material.
John was resentenced to two years in prison.
The solicitor general argued for the 22-year-old to
receive a harsher sentence, telling the Independent: “Those who reach for
terrorism to advance their warped worldview, whether that’s extreme right-wing
terrorism or Islamist terrorism, or whether it’s anarchic terrorism, need to
understand that the authorities will intervene and they should expect a robust
penalty.”
UK police arrest twice as many people for suspected
involvement in far-right activity as they do people of Asian ethnicity.
In December 2021, Dean Haydon, the UK’s senior
national coordinator for counterterrorism policing, told the Independent the
far-right makes up around 13 percent of live terror cases.
Since March 2017, authorities have stopped 12
far-right plots, in addition to 18 planned by Islamists.
John was part of an increasing number of cases where
police intervene early before attacks or escalation can be planned. He was
convicted of possessing a document containing instructions on how to make
explosives.
The far-right extremist previously had been referred
to the UK’s counter-extremist Prevent program twice, but was found to have
white supremacist, antisemitic and satanic material, including propaganda from
the neo-Nazi terrorist groups National Action and Atomwaffen Division.
Chalk told the Independent: “We thought that, given
all the circumstances — the nature of the terrorism manual he was in possession
of, plus the failure to respond to respond to efforts to de-radicalize him
through Prevent — meant that a suspended sentence didn’t meet the justice of
the case and was insufficient to protect the public.”
He added: “Possession of these materials is not a
minor offense, it’s a serious offense and rightly so. The point is that if
somebody harbors an extremist mindset then those materials, if ready to hand,
can be the very tool they need to perpetrate the atrocity. That’s why it’s so
serious — it’s that unholy alliance of the terrorist manual and the warped worldview
that can lead to really significant and dangerous outcomes. That’s why we make
no apology for taking a robust approach.”
At John’s first trial, he was handed a two-year
suspended prison sentence, and Judge Timothy Spencer QC asked him: “Have you
ever read Dickens? Austen? Well, start now. Start with ‘Pride and Prejudice.’
Shakespeare? Try ‘Twelfth Night.’ Dickens, start with ‘A Tale of Two Cities’
and, if you have time, think about Hardy and think about Trollope.”
At the subsequent resentencing, Lord Justice Holroyde
said the issue with the original sentence was not the instruction to read works
of British literature in place of radicalizing material, but that the original
suspended sentence was unlawful, and should have been custodial.
“It was certainly a very lenient sentence, but we are
not persuaded that in the circumstances in this case, the length of the term of
imprisonment was itself unduly lenient. It is because the term was unlawful
that we conclude it was unduly lenient,” he said.
Nick Lowles, CEO of pressure group Hope Not Hate,
welcomed the new sentence.
“While prison often fails to rehabilitate and isn’t
always the answer, (Spencer’s) baffling suggestion that Ben John read classic
literature reduced the serious offenses he committed to a parody. The far right
represents the fastest-growing threat of violence in Britain today.”
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2010171/world
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Sri Lanka Forces Islamic School Textbooks To Be
Withdrawn For Possibility Of Containing ‘Extremist Ideology’
File photograph: Sri Lankan
soldiers at a Tamil school.
----
23 January 2022
Sri Lanka’s controversial ‘One Country, One Law’ Task
Force and a think-tank under the defence ministry have forced the withdrawal of
an Islamic text book, reportedly over concerns that “they might contain ideas
of extremist ideology”.
According to a report in the Sunday Times the
textbooks for Grade 6 schoolchildren “contained some objectionable words”.
The withdrawal of the textbooks reportedly came on the
recommendation of the task force, which came under criticism after the
appointment of an extremist racist Sinhala monk with a history of incendiary
statements and incitement to violence, as chairman.
The Institute of National Security Studies, a think
tank that comes under Sri Lanka’s powerful Defence Ministry, reportedly also
raised concerns.
“There is no need for significant changes to be made
in those text books except for minor changes,” said Sri Lanka’s Educational
Publications Department Commissioner General P.N. Illapperuma. “We will rectify
them soon and distribute the amended books.”
Last week, Tamil poet and teacher Ahnaf Jazeem
described the torture he faced at the hands of Sri Lanka’s security forces who
arrested him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act over his Tamil poetry. “The
officers said because I did not own the Buddhist books, that I am a terrorist,”
he told The Morning.
Source: Tamil Guardian
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Uighurs In Turkey Call For Boycott Of Beijing Games
People from China's Uyghur
Muslim ethnic group protest outside the city's Turkish Olympic Committee
building, calling for a boycott of next month's Winter Olympics in Beijing over
China's treatment of the minority, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 23, 2022. REUTERS/Umit
Bektas
-----
January 23, 2022
ISTANBUL: Dozens of people from China’s Uighur Muslim
ethnic group protested in Istanbul today, calling for a boycott of next month’s
Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s treatment of the minority.
The protesters gathered outside the city’s Turkish
Olympic Committee building, waving the blue-and-white flags of the independence
movement of East Turkestan, a group Beijing says threatens the stability of its
far western region of Xinjiang.
“China stop the genocide, China close the camps”,
chanted the demonstrators, some holding up a banner reading “Stop Genocide
Olympics”.
Chinese authorities have been accused of facilitating
forced labour by detaining around a million Uighurs and other primarily Muslim
minorities in camps since 2016.
China initially denied the camps existed but has since
said they are vocational centres and are designed to combat extremism. It
denies all accusations of abuse.
“China does not have the right to host the Olympics
while committing all the torture, cruelty and genocide against Uighurs,” said
headscarved Uighur housewife Munevver Ozuygur, who said she had relatives in
camps in China.
The Beijing Olympics begin on Feb 4.
The US and many of its allies, including Britain,
Canada, Australia, Japan and Denmark, have said they will not send official
diplomatic delegations to the Games in protest at China’s rights record.
About 50,000 Uighurs – with whom Turks share ethnic,
religious and linguistic connections – are believed to reside in Turkey, the
largest Uighur Diaspora outside Central Asia.
Last month, 19 Uighurs filed a criminal complaint with
a Turkish prosecutor against Chinese officials, accusing them of committing
genocide, torture, rape and crimes against humanity.
Uighurs living in Turkey have criticised Ankara’s
approach to China. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this month he
conveyed Turkey’s “views, expectations and sensitivities” over the Uighurs to
his Chinese counterpart during talks in Beijing.
UN experts and rights groups estimate more than a
million people, mainly from the Uighur and other Muslim minorities, have been
detained in recent years in camps in Xinjiang. “The world, Turkic countries and
Islamic countries need to wake up. China is committing genocide right now,”
said protester Abdurrahman Taymaz.
“They are deceiving people. We want these Olympic
Games to be boycotted as soon as possible.”
Source: Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/world/2022/01/23/uighurs-in-turkey-call-for-boycott-of-beijing-games/?_
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I Would Be More Dangerous If Forced To Step Down, Pakistan
PM Imran Khan Warns Opposition
File photo of Pakistan PM
Imran Khan | Photo Credit: Reuters
------
JANUARY 24, 2022
He accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief of
evading cases of corruption by not responding to allegation charges
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on January 23
warned the Opposition parties that he would be more dangerous if they forced
him to step down as he ruled out granting any concession to them.
Responding to a question about the planned long march
by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on March 23 during live calls by the
public, Mr. Khan said that the move would fail.
"If I take to the streets, then you (opposition
parties) won't find any place to hide,” Mr. Khan said, adding that he would be
more dangerous if forced to step down.
The PDM – an alliance of nearly a dozen opposition
parties – was formed against the Pakistan Army's interference in politics and
installing "puppet" Prime Minister Khan through a
"manipulated" election.
PDM President and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl head
Maulana Fazlur Rahman has announced that the opposition parties would launch a
long march towards Islamabad on March 23 to rid the nation of the
"incapable and illegitimate" government of Imran Khan.
Mr. Khan also slammed the Leader of the Opposition in
the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and refused to have any interaction with
him.
"I get called out for not meeting Shehbaz as he
is the Leader of the Opposition. (But) I see him as the nation's
criminal," he said.
He accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
chief of evading cases of corruption by not responding to allegation charges.
Mr. Khan said that the entire Sharif family would end
up fleeing to London where Nawaz Sharif and his two sons were already living.
To a question about the possible return of Nawaz
Sharif, he said, "Please come back, we are waiting for you" but
added: "He will not come back. He loves money." Sharif has been
living in the U.K. in self-exile since November 2019. He had gone to London
after the Lahore High Court granted him bail for four-weeks to get his
treatment abroad. He was serving a seven-year term at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail
in a corruption case.
Mr. Khan said that former military ruler Gen Pervez
Musharraf committed the "biggest sin" by granting NROs (National
Reconciliation Ordinances) to the Opposition.
He said that the Opposition wanted to blackmail the
government, but said that it would be a "betrayal" if he ever granted
them any concession.
Mr. Khan said that his government will complete its
current term and also win the next general elections.
Shortly after Mr. Khan's address, PML-N leader and
daughter of Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, took to Twitter and said that his
warning that if removed from power he will become more dangerous are nothing
but empty threats.
"(Khan) sounds like a person who is not only
defeated but has also accepted his defeat. 4 years into the govt & he is
still only whining. The ‘cartels’ you are complaining about are the MAFIAS on
your right & left who have fleeced 220 million & who run your kitchen,”
Ms. Maryam tweeted.
She was apparently referring to a recent damning
report by the Election Commission which said that Mr. Khan's ruling Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf has under-reported an amount of PKR 312 million over a
four-year period, between FY 2009-10 and FY 2012-13. The year-wise details
reveal that an amount in excess of PKR 145 million was under-reported in FY
2012-13 alone.
She said that the corruption cases the Imran Khan
government has filed against Sharifs could not be proved.
"The cases you made against Sharifs and PML-N
were false & fabricated and were bound to meet the fate they have met. Now
that your reality has dawned on the world, do not blame the judiciary. You have
only your vindictiveness & revengefulness to blame," she wrote.
"Every word that Imran Khan uttered today reeks
of failure, dashed hopes and no faith in his or PTI’s future. This was
inevitable, man," she said.
In his programme, Mr. Khan also said that the rising
commodity prices in the country were robbing him of peaceful night slumber.
"It is the only issue that keeps me awake at
night,” he said when asked by a caller about the skyrocketing inflation, but
hastened to add that the rise in the prices was a global phenomenon and even
the U.K. and EU were facing this issue.
He dwelt at length on the issue of prices and his
efforts to fix the economic problems, including inflation, which his government
had been trying to address through a raft of measures.
"My government also spent $8 billion on the
welfare of the people to offset the impact of the coronavirus,” he said, but
added that the money spent was little compared to rich countries and said that
the U.S. spent $6,000 billion for the welfare of the people.
He said that apart from COVID-19, his government had
to face the Afghan crisis as after the Taliban takeover, dollars started flowing
out of Pakistan which had a negative impact on the rupee.
Mr. Khan defending his performance said that the net
wealth had increased as the World Bank had estimated an increase of 5.37% in
Pakistan's GDP. He said the increase was due to solid policies.
He said that the production of cars and motorcycles
was at an all-time high and the corporate sector made big profits while the
agriculture sector also did very well.
Source: The Hindu
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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RSS Body Carries Out A Public Awareness Campaign In
UP, Condemns Remarks Made At Uttarakhand ‘Dharam Sansad’
RSS Body Carries Out A
Public Awareness Campaign In UP, Condemns Remarks Made At Uttarakhand ‘Dharam
Sansad’
-----
January 24, 2022
The RSS’ Muslim wing on Sunday carried out a public
awareness campaign in three districts of Uttar Pradesh and held meetings with
Muslim clerics and scholars to garner the community’s support for the BJP ahead
of assembly polls.
The campaign was carried out by a 10-member team of
the Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) in Amroha, Moradabad and Rampur districts of
Uttar Pradesh, the RSS affiliate said in a statement.
The MRM team comprised its national convenor Md
Akhtar, head of the outfit’s Madrasa cell Mazahar Khan and Uttarakhand Madrasa
Board chairman Bilal Ur Rehman, it added.
“In all the three districts, we had long and intense
discussions with the Maulana of Jama Masjid, Qazi and Muslim intellectuals like
doctors, lawyers, and engineers on the problems that the members of the
community are facing and their solution,” MRM’s national convenor and media
in-charge Shahid Sayeed told PTI.
During the meetings, the MRM said in a statement,
members of the Muslim community raised concerns over “growing animosity” in
society, referring to the remarks made by some of the participants at a ‘Dharam
Sansad’ in Uttarakhand recently.
“They felt that the kind of statements made at the
Dharam Sansad were not right for any civilised society,” the MRM said.
“Md Akhtar clarified that neither the government nor
the Sangh had anything to do with any such Dharam Sansad and also told them
that the MRM does not support such people and it strongly condemns their
remarks,” the outfit said.
The MRM team also apprised the community of various
measures taken by the Narendra Modi government for the “welfare and
empowerment” of Muslims, especially women.
They also heard their problems and assured them of
addressing their grievances if the party retained power in the state.
In the meeting with Muslim intellectuals, the MRM
said, serious discussions were held on the issues related to education, health,
security and self-reliance of Muslim society, especially its women.
The community members were assured that the MRM will
continue to hold a dialogue with them “even after the elections are over,” Sayeed
said.
The RSS’ Muslim wing recently released a ‘Nivedan
Patra’ (letter of request) and appealed to the minority community to vote for
the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls in five states, including Uttar Pradesh,
saying Muslims are “most secure and happy” under the BJP rule whereas the
Congress, SP and the BSP considered them just as vote bank.
Source: India Today
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original story:
--------
Europe
UK Govt Orders Probe Into Muslim Ex-Minister, Nusrat Ghani’s Claims
January 24, 2022
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has
ordered an inquiry into claims by a Muslim former minister that she was sacked
from his government because of her faith, a spokesperson said Monday.
The claims by Nusrat Ghani, a former junior transport
minister, have stoked fresh controversy for Downing Street as Johnson awaits
the findings of a different inquiry into “partygate” revelations.
“The prime minister has asked the Cabinet Office to
conduct an inquiry into the allegations made by Nusrat Ghani MP,” the
spokesperson said.
Johnson had initially urged Ghani to file a formal
complaint through the Conservative party. But she declined, arguing that the
allegation centered on government rather than party work.
“The prime minister has now asked officials to
establish the facts about what happened,” the spokesperson said, adding that
Johnson “takes these claims very seriously.”
Ghani welcomed the new probe, which was announced
after she held talks with Johnson on Sunday evening.
“As I said to the prime minister last night, all I
want is for this to be taken seriously and for him to investigate,” she
tweeted.
The inquiry must look into what she was told both by
Downing Street aides and by a Conservative whip in parliament, the Tory MP
added.
Ghani, 49, was sacked as a transport minister in 2020,
and told the Sunday Times that a whip said her “Muslimness was raised as an
issue” at one meeting in Downing Street.
She was also told her “Muslim woman minister status
was making colleagues feel uncomfortable,” she claimed.
Chief whip Mark Spencer, whose role is to keep MPs on
board with the government’s agenda, took the unusual step of identifying
himself as the person at the center of the claims, and strongly denied the
allegations.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2010591/world
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Mosque targeted in shooting attack in Germany
JAN 24, 2022
Amosque in Germany’s Saxony-Anhalt province was
targeted in an attack by assault rifles, a report said early Monday.
Two individuals heard shots near the Islamic Cultural
Center in Halle, according to a statement made by police, Anadolu Agency (AA)
reported.
The police discovered three bullets on the ground.
Eyewitnesses noted that a 55-year-old person from a
building across the mosque opened fire on the mosque from his home.
Police reportedly confiscated two weapons found in his
home.
The police statement noted that the suspect did not
have a criminal record and the investigation was still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Central Council of Muslims in Germany
condemned the incident in a Twitter post.
“Thankfully nobody was injured. Police are still
investigating and interrogating. Anti-Muslim hatred and racism are not just in
words,” the statement read. The council continued by thanking police for
catching the suspect and hoping that they shed further light on the incident.
The council also said the mosque had faced similar
attacks in the past.
Germany has experienced a rise in racism and
anti-Muslim hatred in recent years. Germany is home to 81 million people and
hosts the second-largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Of
the country’s nearly 4.7 million Muslims, at least 3 million are of Turkish
descent.
The Turkish community in Europe is concerned with the
rising trend of Islamophobia and Turkophobia in Western countries and has
called on European states to escalate measures against hate crimes.
Source: Daily Sabah
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dailysabah.com/politics/eu-affairs/mosque-targeted-in-shooting-attack-in-germany
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Kazakhstan holding hundreds for terrorism and disorder
following mass unrest
22 January ,2022
Kazakhstan said Saturday it was holding more than 460
people on terrorism and disorder charges in the wake of mass unrest that saw
Russian-led forces called in to restore calm.
The former Soviet republic has been roiled by clashes
that escalated from peaceful protests against a car fuel price increase.
Authorities have blamed bandits and international
terror cells, despite evidence of a struggle at the top of the authoritarian
leadership.
Eldos Kilymzhanov, a representative of the state
prosecutor, said Saturday that 464 suspects were facing charges related to
terrorism and mass disorder.
A total of 970 suspects were in custody he said
including on charges of theft, disorderly behavior and possession of weapons.
Kilymzhanov said 73 suspects had sustained bodily
injuries and among them “29 people with gunshot wounds were hospitalized to
city hospitals on our instructions.”
Although protests began in the country’s west where
the price of a popular car fuel, Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) spiked at the
New Year, former capital Almaty -- a financial hub of 1.8 million people --
became the epicenter of the violence that followed.
The foreign ministry on Friday pushed back angrily
against a European Parliament resolution that flagged violations of fundamental
rights in the government’s handling of the crisis.
The ministry called the resolution from earlier in the
week “not only biased but also based on prejudiced opinions and assumptions.”
Multiple former detainees have alleged torture in
detention since they were released.
Over 2,000 troops from the Moscow-led Collective
Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) completed a withdrawal from Kazakhstan on
Wednesday.
The clashes that peaked in the firt week of January
sparked speculation of a rift between President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, 68 and
his long-ruling predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev, 81. Prominent relatives of
the former strongman were dismissed from corporate and government posts as
Tokayev appeared to cement control over the situation.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Former Labour Party head Corbyn slams UK for arming
Saudi Arabia in Yemen war
23 January 2022
Former leader of the Labour Party of the United
Kingdom has condemned the British government for arms flows to the Saudi
Arabia, after dozens of people lost their lives in a Saudi-led aerial raid on
Yemen’s northwestern city of Sa’ada.
“Airstrikes in Yemen last night killed more than 60
people dead and caused a nationwide internet blackout,” Jeremy Corbyn, who was
Leader of the Opposition from 2015 to 2020, wrote in a post published on his
Twitter page.
He added, “The UK government is complicit in these
crimes through arming and training the Saudi-led war on Yemen. Arms sales to
Saudi Arabia must end now.”
“Arms sales to Saudi Arabia must end now,” Corbyn
pointed out.
Palestinians slam Saudi bloodshed
On Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians took to streets
in the Gaza City to voice solidarity with the Yemeni nation and to denounce the
bloody Saudi bombing of Sa’ada Central Prison in Yemen.
“The Yemen war is primarily aimed at serving the
interests of the Zionist regime. All thinkers of the Muslim world must put an
end to the onslaught as it yields benefits to enemies,” Yousef al-Hasayneh, a
leader of the Islamic Jihad leader, told Iran’s Arabic-language al-Alam
television news network during the rally.
Furthermore, Maher Mazhar of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said Saudi Arabia spends billions of dollars to
purchase US-built military equipment, which utilize Israeli technology.
“Such armaments are developed and manufactured in
order to bring Muslim nations to their knees. The treacherous Arab regimes
would batter used their weapons and munitions to confront the Israeli enemy and
defend al-Qaqsa Mosque and the Palestinian cause than to massacre innocent
women, children and elderly people,” he stressed.
Nael Abu Edah, a senior member of the Palestinian
Mujahideen Movement, also said, “Gazans have taken part en masse in the
demonstration to express support for their Yemeni brethren in the face of the
Saudi-led coalition, which is outrageously killing ordinary citizens by means
of a devastating war and is advancing US-Israeli agendas.”
A correspondent for Yemen’s al-Masirah television
network reported on Sunday that the death toll from the Saudi airstrike against
Sa’ada detention center has risen to 91, after two bodies were pulled out of
the rubble.
UAE-backed mercenaries halt operations in northern
Yemen
Meanwhile, the so-called Giants Brigades, Takfiri
militants backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), have suspended their
operations in northern Yemen after the spokesman for Yemeni Armed Forces warned
of more retaliatory strikes against the Persian Gulf country.
A UAE-backed militant in Shabwah province, speaking on
condition of anonymity, told Middle East Eye online news outlet that the
mercenaries have halted their operations in Yemen’s oil-producing Ma’rib
province.
On January 10, dozens of UAE-sponsored militants were
killed when Yemeni army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Committees
launched a missile strike against their position in the Yemeni province of
Shabwah.
Informed sources, who preferred not to be named, told
Yemen News Portal website that a massive explosion shook a military camp of the
UAE-backed militants – better known by the nom de guerre the Giants – in the
Nokhan area, which lies east of the provincial capital of Ataq.
According to the sources, the incident occurred when
Yemeni soldiers and allied fighters launched a domestically-developed ballistic
missile at the site, leaving dozens of the militants killed and injured.
“In the aftermath of the crimes committed by the
Saudi-led coalition of aggression against Yemeni people, we advise foreign
companies in the Emirates to leave because they have invested in an unsafe
country,” Yemen's Armed Forces spokesman Yahya Saree tweeted on Friday.
“The UAE would grow more insecure as long as its
rulers continue their military aggression against Yemen.”
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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South
Asia
High schools for girls to reopen in March, IEA has no
issue with girls’ education: Education
Ministry
24 Jan 2022
Ministry of Education of the Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan announced that high schools for girls are most likely to reopen in
March across Afghanistan.
The educational year in Afghanistan starts in March
which also marks the first month of the new solar year.
The Ministry said that the IEA is committed and
optimistic to reopening schools for girls and that it is working in this regard
seriously and tirelessly.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Education Aziz Ahmad
Reyan said the reason behind not allowing girls to attend classes in high
schools was creating a safe system for girls.
“IEA has no issue with girls’ education that is why we
have paid the salaries of female teachers. We will hire more female teachers
for girls.” Said Reyan.
The spokesman added that they are working on capacity
building of female teachers and want to increase the number of these teachers
so that only female teachers teach girls.
Meanwhile, the ministry also said that only elderly
male teachers will be allowed to teach girls in case female teachers were not
available in some areas.
Girls are only allowed to attend classes up to six
since the Taliban gained power on August 15 last year.
Source: Khaama Press
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IEA issues joint statement after meeting non-Taliban
Afghans in Oslo
24 Jan 2022
Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in a joint statement
said that they met with a number of non-Taliban Afghan figures in Oslo and both
agreed to be working together for the betterment of the ongoing situation in
Afghanistan.
The meeting was conducted in the Norwegian capital
Oslo on Sunday, January 23, 2022.
As per the joint statement, both sides listened to
takes of each other patiently, and they agreed to be working for the betterment
of Afghanistan’s economic, political, and security situation as it is a shared
country of all.
“Participants of the meeting agreed that solution for
all the conflicts in Afghanistan is negotiations and reconciliation and that
such meetings are in the favor of Afghanistan.” Reads the joint statement.
The meeting was arranged behind closed doors.
The names of the non-Taliban figures who met IEA’s
delegation in Oslo are not disclosed yet.
Source: Khaama Press
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Taliban, US to discuss establishment of inclusive
government
23 Jan 2022
State Department of the United States has announced
that special representative Thomas West will discuss the establishment of an
all-inclusive government in Afghanistan with the 15-member delegation of the
Taliban visiting Norway.
State Department in a statement released on Sunday,
January 23, 2022, said that the meeting is supposed to take place on Monday, in
the Norwegian capital Oslo.
The statement reads that forging an inclusive
government in which all the people have a say will be dominating the agenda of
Thomas West with the Taliban.
In the meantime, counterterrorism and the US security
concerns from Afghanistan will also be discussed in the meeting.
Meanwhile, an official of the State Department has
reiterated that inclusivity of Afghan government, addressing the ongoing
humanitarian and economic crisis, security concerns, counterterrorism, human
rights, and girls’ education will be part of the agenda between the US envoy
and the Taliban.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/taliban-us-to-discuss-establishment-of-inclusive-government-876875/
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We have right to suppress dissidents and imprison
protestors: Mujahid
23 Jan 2022
Deputy Minister of Culture and Information and
spokesman of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabiullah Mujahid said that the
Taliban have the right to suppress the dissidents of the system and arrest
protestors.
Speaking with AFP, Zabiullah Mujahid said protestors
and dissidents trigger chaos and that no one has the right to intrude on the
tranquility of cities.
It comes after two women activists-Tamana Zaryab
Paryani and Parwana Ibrahimkhel-were reportedly detained but the Taliban have
denied the women being arrested.
UNAMA has expressed concern over the disappearance of
the women and has asked the Taliban to disclose the whereabouts of the women.
On Sunday, January 23, 2022, a number of women took to
the streets in the provincial capital of the northern Balkh province and
protested against the detention of women activists across Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/we-have-right-to-suppress-dissidents-and-imprison-protestors-mujahid-877679/
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Islamic State claims responsibility for attack in
Herat, Afghanistan
January 24, 2022
Islamic State claimed responsibility for a deadly
attack on Saturday in the western Afghan city of Herat, it said in a post on
Telegram on Sunday.
At least six people were killed when a blast ripped
through a minivan in the city, officials said. Since the Taliban took over in
August, a series of blasts and attacks, some claimed by Islamic State, have
taken place across Afghanistan.
Source: India Today
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the original story:
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Taliban say bombers target minivan in Afghanistan, 7
dead
Jan 23, 2022
ISLAMABAD: A bomb attached to a packed minivan
exploded in Afghanistan's western Herat province on Saturday, killing at least
seven civilians and wounding nine others, Taliban officials said.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the
explosion, but the Islamic State has claimed credit for similar attacks on
civilians and the country's new Taliban leaders elsewhere in the country since
the group seized power on Aug. 15.
Saturday's bombing was the first such attack in Herat.
Local Taliban official Naeemulhaq Haqqani said investigations were ongoing.
A Taliban intelligence official in western Herat told
the Associated Press that the bomb was attached to the van's fuel tank. He
spoke on condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to release the
information to the public.
Herat Ambulance chief Ebrahim Mohammadi said the
victims - three in critical condition - were transferred to the provincial
hospital.
Since their return to power, the Taliban have imposed
widespread restrictions, many of them directed at women.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan
on Saturday called on the Taliban to find two women rights activists - Tamana
Zaryab Paryani and Parawana Ibrahimkhel - who disappeared on Wednesday from
Kabul.
"We urge Taliban to provide information on their
whereabouts & to protect rights of all Afghans,'' UNAMA said in a tweet
Saturday. Taliban have denied any involvement in their disappearance.
An eyewitness said that at least ten-armed people
claiming to be Taliban intelligence members broke into an apartment Wednesday
in Kabul and arrested Tamana Zaryab Paryani and her three sisters.
The women rights activist posted a video on social
media shortly before they were taken away, showing them frightened, breathless
and screaming for help. She said that Taliban were banging on her door.
Source: Times Of India
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Southeast
Asia
More Islamic Studies classes only a problem for ‘some
people’, says Idris
January 22, 2022
SHAH ALAM: Complaints that more hours have been
allocated for Islamic Studies lessons over core subjects are only the views of
some, said religious affairs minister Idris Ahmad.
He said he found the complaint “strange” as the matter
had never cropped up.
“However, it is normal in our large community (for
some people to complain). Perhaps, it is because they don’t understand or do
not want to understand,” he said at the opening of Madrasah Tahfiz OKU Ata ‘bin
Abi Rabah here today.
He was commenting on a tweet by a Malaysian father who
expressed shock to find out that his daughter’s school had allocated more hours
for religious studies and other related classes than for Mathematics and
Science classes combined.
Source: Free Malaysia Today
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HR minister: Pilot project to recruit 10,000 domestic
helpers from Indonesia next month
Monday, 24 Jan 2022
JAKARTA, Jan 24 — Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed
to implement a pilot project on the recruitment of 10,000 domestic helpers from
the neighbouring country as early as next month, said Human Resource Minister
Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.
The pilot project is expected to start a week after
the memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the recruitment and placement of
Indonesian domestic helpers is signed on Feb 7 and 8 in Bali.
“At today’s meeting, I saw a light at the end of the
tunnel where the Indonesian and Malaysian governments share the same aspiration
to champion the plight of immigrant workers and protect their rights.
“Malaysia in principle has agreed to introduce various
measures to champion the plight of immigrant workers, especially from
Indonesia,” he told reporters after the meeting with his Indonesian
counterpart, Ida Fauziyah, here.
Saravanan explained that the pilot project was
significant to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of the MoU,
which will be monitored by a special committee comprising of representatives
from both countries, and further improve any weaknesses that arise.
During the second meeting with Ida Fauziyah within a
period of two months, Saravanan said Indonesia had also agreed to allow the
entry of 10,000 Indonesian workers for the plantation sector.
According to a press statement issued after the
meeting, the ministry explained that the permission marked the beginning of the
recruitment of 32,000 foreign workers in the plantation sector through special
exemption as decided by the Cabinet meeting on April 7, 2021.
Meanwhile, the main MoU on domestic helpers to be
signed next month has been agreed upon by the two countries including key
issues such as the One Maid One House policy, One Channel System and salary.
The One Maid One House policy will replace the
proposed One Maid One Task concept where one maid can be employed to work in a
household with not more than six people, while the One Channel System will be
the sole channel for the entry of Indonesian domestic helpers into Malaysia,
the statement read.
It added that issues regarding the cost structure of
recruitment will be reviewed every six months to ensure that it is in line with
current developments, taking into account, among others, airfares and
quarantine costs.
Source: Malay Mail
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Kelantan PAS respects state Umno’s decision to sever
political ties, says Ahmad Yakob
23 Jan 2022
KOTA BARU, Jan 23 — Kelantan PAS says it respects the
decision by the state Umno to sever ties between the two political parties
effective yesterday.
Kelantan PAS commissioner Datuk Ahmad Yakob said his
party could not do anything about it as the decision was made by Umno’s own
internal leadership.
“We understand Umno’s intention to part political ways
because Umno cannot accept Bersatu. And our stand is we still want to be with
Bersatu, strengthen Muafakat Nasional (MN) and eventually empower Perikatan
Nasional (PN).
Muafakat Nasional was a political partnership between
Umno and PAS while PN is a coalition led by Bersatu. PAS has made it clear that
it wants to work with both Umno and Bersatu.
“Islam places emphasis on unity and it is our wish to
be with Umno until the 15th general election,” he said.
He told this to reporters after officiating the 20th
anniversary celebration of Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Ismail
Petra (KIAS) here today. Also present was Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk
Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah.
Yesterday, Kelantan Umno Liaison Committee chairman
Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub was reported to have said that the state Umno had
decided to sever ties with the state PAS with immediate effect.
He said the decision was made after a meeting between
Kelantan Umno’s Political Bureau and Dewan Harian PAS Kelantan which failed to
agree on the cooperation between the two parties in MN.
Commenting further, Ahmad, who is also the Kelantan
Mentri Besar, said PAS had urged that the cooperation be continued since the
relationship between both parties was good.
“But we have not given up hope and are prepared to sit
with Umno again. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do now since the matter
has already been decided.
Source: Malay Mail
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Pakistan
Religious tourism is likely to pick pace between
India, Pakistan
January 23, 2022
LAHORE: Religious tourism is likely to pick pace
between the two archrival neighbours India and Pakistan.
Following the arrival of Indian tourists in Pakistan
earlier in January, Pakistani tourists will also fly to India on January 29 on
a special Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight for the first time in 75
years.
Earlier, pilgrims used to visit each other’s countries
either by foot or via Samjhauta Express. According to Member National Assembly
and Chairman Pakistan Hindu Council Ramesh Kumar, an agreement was reached
between the PIA and Air India for the promotion of religious tourism between
the two neighbouring countries.
As per the pact, both airlines would operate special
flights in this regard. A group of Pakistani tourists would depart from Lahore
airport on January 29 and will return on February 1.
During the three-day visit, the group would visit the
dargah of Sufi saint Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer Sharif, Jaipur, Agra,
Mithra, Haridwar and the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi.
Dr Ramesh said that the visit would cost $1,500 to
each pilgrim and an additional $200 would also be charged if they want a
separate room during their stay in Agra and Delhi.
Source: Pakistan Today
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Pakistani YouTuber gets one year jail term for
justifying lynching of Sri Lankan citizen
Jan 22, 2022
LAHORE: A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sentenced
a 27-year-old man to one year of imprisonment and imposed a fine for justifying
the lynching of a Sri Lankan citizen in a video, which went viral on his
YouTube channel.
On December 3 last year, a mob of over 800 men,
including supporters of hardline Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan
(TLP), attacked a garment factory in Sialkot district, some 100 km from Lahore,
and lynched its general manager Priyantha Kumara, 47, and burned his body over
allegations of blasphemy.
According to police, Muhammad Adnan of Sialkot had
uploaded a video on his YouTube channel on the lynching incident in which he
justified Kumara's killing and burning of his body.
"Adnan had advocated the killing of those
committing blasphemy. On his YouTube channel, he made arguments in favour of
the killing of Kumara. As the video went viral on social media, police lodged
an FIR against him and presented a chargesheet against him in Gujranwala
anti-terrorism court (ATC)," said Assistant Sub-Inspector Mubarak Ali, who
is also a complainant of the case.
Pronouncing the verdict on Friday, ATC Gujranwala
judge Natasha Naeem sentenced Adnan to one year jail term, besides imposing a
fine of PKR 10,000 on him. The prosecution presented the video of Adnan in the
court which he did not deny, Ali said.
Some 85 main suspects whose role has been identified
through video footages and investigation in the brutal lynching of Kumara are
detained on physical remand. They will be presented before the ATC on January
31.
After Kumara's murder, some 200 suspects were taken
into custody. However, 115 of them were subsequently released after no evidence
of their involvement in the incident was found.
Lahore High Court Chief Justice Muhammad Ameer Bhatti
has also directed the Sialkot District Police Officer to complete chargesheet
of the suspects and submit it to the ATC at the earliest so that the trial
could begin and the culprits are brought to justice.
The local business community has handed over a
donation of USD 100,000 to Kumara's wife and the factory owner says his salary
of USD 1,650 is also given to his family every month.
However, surprisingly, neither the federal nor the
Punjab government has announced any compensation package for the victim's
family so far.
Source: Times Of India
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Pak to hand over 20 Indian fishermen to India at Wagah
Jan 24, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Twenty Indian fishermen arrested by
Pakistan for allegedly entering into the country's territorial waters are set
to be handed over to India through the Wagah border crossing on Monday,
according to a senior jail official.
The fishermen, kept in Karachi's Landhi Jail, were
released on Sunday on humanitarian grounds.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Azeem Thebo said that
with the release of these 20 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture, there are
now 568 Indian fishermen left in the jail, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The released fishermen, arrested for illegally
entering into the Pakistani waters and fishing without permission, were
escorted to Lahore by road by the Edhi Foundation.
A spokesperson of the Edhi Foundation, a non-profit
social welfare organisation, said that the charity would bear their travelling
cost to Lahore, where they would be handed over to Border Security Force.
The Edhi Foundation also paid Rs 5,000 to each
fisherman as a goodwill gesture.
One of the fishermen, Bhavesh Bhika, who has served
four years in the prison, said that the boat he was on had drifted towards the
Pakistani waters at night.
“There is no boundary in the sea. We had no way of
knowing that we had violated your border,” he said.
Pakistan and India regularly arrest rival fishermen
for violating the maritime boundary which is poorly marked at some points.
According to the lists of prisoners exchanged by India
and Pakistan at the start of this year, at least 628 Indian prisoners were held
in Pakistan, including 51 civilians and 577 fishermen.
The Indian Government also shared the list of 355
Pakistani prisoners in India, including 282 civilians and 73 fishermen.
Fishermen from Pakistan and India usually end up in
jails after they are arrested for fishing illegally in each other's territorial
waters.
Source: Times Of India
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After invoking UN norm, PM Imran clarifies call for
Afghan help
January 24, 2022
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan revisited his
call to help Afghanistan under the international doctrine of Responsibility to
Protect (R2P), inviting the international community to fulfil its obligation to
the Afghan people by providing humanitarian assistance to the country.
“One pillar of R2P is to help protect people from mass
scale humanitarian crisis left in the wake of a prolonged conflict. Right now
millions of Afghan people are in danger of starvation,” he tweeted.
This tweet was a follow-up to his earlier call for
immediate humanitarian relief for Afghans, fulfilling the obligation under the
“UN principle of R2P”.
The later tweet was perhaps necessitated by criticism
on electronic and social media of the wording of his appeal, which seemed to
negate Pakistan’s foreign policy stance regarding the status of Afghanistan and
its government.
“R2P has nothing to do with the current humanitarian
situation in Afghanistan. Please take to task who came up with this frivolous
and dangerous interpretation of R2P,” former Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul
Basit tweeted in response to the prime minister.
According to the Global Centre for R2P, this is an
international norm that “seeks to ensure that the international community never
again fails to halt the mass atrocity crimes of genocide, war crimes, ethnic
cleansing and crimes against humanity.”
The concept emerged in response to “the failure of the
international community to adequately respond to mass atrocities committed in
Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s”.
These preconditions were pointed out by analyst
Mosharraf Zaidi, who tweeted: “Unless someone is arguing that one or more of
these conditions is prevalent in Afghanistan, there is no R2P.”
It is worth noting that PM Khan has advocated the need
for the international community to engage with the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan, saying this is the only way to ensure the protection of the people
of the war-torn country.
Recalling Pakistan’s principled stance on the issue of
R2P, legal expert Feisal Naqvi pointed out that Pakistan was opposed to the
“constructivist concept of R2P because it is often wrongly used by stronger
states to intervene. For example, India used R2P to justify its 1971 invasion
of then East Pakistan,” he tweeted.
Source: Dawn
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of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1671130/after-invoking-un-norm-pm-imran-clarifies-call-for-afghan-help
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India
Stung by criticism over writing to Asad Owaisi, Sajjad
Nomani issues clarification
Syed Hurairah
23rd January 2022
Stung by harsh criticism over his open letter to
Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi in which he discouraged his party
from contesting many seats in Uttar Pradesh, All India Muslim Personal Law
Board member Maulana Sajjad Nomani clarified on Sunday his position by praising
Owaisi. Nonetheless, he stood by his suggestion that the Hyderabad-based party
should not contest 100 seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Recently, Maulana Sajjad, in a private capacity, wrote
to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen supremo, about the Uttar Pradesh
elections. He cautioned Owaisi about the possibility of a division of votes and
the importance of a united OBC community in Uttar Pradesh in combating what he
said were fascist forces. He urged Owaisi to field candidates in constituencies
where there were near-certain chances of them emerging victorious. He also
suggested that Owaisi should enter into alliances with others on other seats.
In his second open letter, Maulana Sajjad sought to
placate those who harshly criticised him. He reiterated his respect for Owaisi.
He also said that his suggestion stems from the situation on the ground in
Uttar Pradesh.
“Once again after having Allah as my witness, I say
that the Muslim community of India badly needs a political leader like Owaisi.
But it is my opinion that in the upcoming UP elections his candidates should be
in constituencies where possibilities of emerging as winners are strong, and
not contest 100 seats,” he wrote.
Maulana Sajjad thanked those who voiced support for
his opinion as well as those who were critical of it.
Owaisi has not responded directly to Maulana’s first
open letter. However, he did state that the All India Muslim Personal Law
Board’s constitution states that it does not enter into politics. In a press
conference in Uttar Pradesh, he said he had no comment when a journalist asked
him a question on Maulana Sajjad’s letter.
Source: Siasat Daily
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India ready to ship wheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan
early February
Jan 23, 2022
India and Pakistan have finally arrived at an
agreement to transport 50,000 MT of Indian wheat to Afghanistan through the
land route that passes through the Attari-Wagah border, ToI has learnt. The
gigantic exercise involving thousands of trucks is expected to roll out early
February.
India and Pakistan had been engaged in finalising the
modalities for transporting wheat to drought-stricken Afghanistan for almost 2
months. The government is learnt to have conveyed to Pakistan that it will be
ready to despatch the first consignment by the second week of next month.
India recently sent its third batch of assistance to
Kabul, mostly life-saving medicines, by air. Its offer of delivering wheat to
Afghanistan through the border with Pakistan though, despite unceasing
hostility in ties with Islamabad, is still the most significant initiative in
its outreach to the Taliban who returned in August last year to take control of
the strategically important country.
Pakistan has rarely, if ever, allowed transit facilities
for Indian aid to Afghanistan in the past several decades and in 2002 had
rejected the same proposal by India when Afghanistan was faced with a similar
humanitarian crisis.
The Taliban have not just welcomed India's proposal to
ship wheat to Afghanistan via Pakistan at this "critical time" but
had also sought an early approval from Pakistan PM Imran Khan. ToI had first
reported on October 19 that India had contacted Pakistan for transporting
50,000 MT of wheat to Afghanistan.
As per the understanding the 2 sides have reached,
Afghan trucks operating under UN's World Food Programme (WFP) will ferry Indian
wheat from the India-Pakisan border to Afghanistan via Pakistan's Torkham
border crossing with Afghanistan. Pakistan had announced earlier this week that
it had put all arrangements in place and was awaiting final confirmation from
India for the despatch of the first consignment.
Official sources denied that there had been any delay
by India while recalling that Pakistan had taken well over a month to approve
the Indian government's proposal last year. India is still working to resolve
logistical issues involved in transporting 50,000 MT of wheat to the border.
The exercise has been further complicated by the upcoming elections in Punjab.
Source: Times Of India
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Fat Muslim weddings are draining away resources of
community
22nd January 2022
Fat Muslim weddings and the accompanying regal fanfare
are draining away resources of the community. Dinners at these weddings served
in gorgeous halls of the exorbitantly priced super fancy marriage halls ( read
palaces /castles), are but feasts for kings, dished unabashedly to thousands,
who have more dinners than appetite.
After two seasons of Covid-19 caused draught, the
wedding season is back with a vengeance, throwing the gauntlet to the pandemic.
A see-saw battle is on between the defiant hosts, their equally defiant guests,
and the resurging pandemic. The verdict- the pandemic has edged past the
party-goers, as reports of the surge in numbers suggest, apparently the
majority being the attendees to the wedding and other social gatherings.
The fortunate of the community showing little regard to
the pleas of community elders, social workers, politicians, not the mainstream
naqheebs and habeebs (captains and beloveds) and flaying’s by men of cloth,
continue to show off their boorish tastes at weddings, betrothals, and related
rituals. The money spent, sources in the business claim could be anywhere
between Rs 3,500/ to 4000/ crore. The estimate could even go up to over Rs
5,000 crores. Only if the spenders show some concern for the existing condition
of the community and channel a percentage to projects underway for the
betterment, it would greatly ease the situation.
Muslim wedding rituals were once a simple faith-based
contract between man and woman to be wife and husband, solemnly solemnized by a
Qazi in the presence of two Gawha (witnesses) has become so costly and
expensive that for many a families marriage of their wards, male or female, has
become a financial nightmare. The malady has not spared the lower rungs of the
community, following suit they bend over backward to keep up with their rich
and well-to-do brothers in faith. And willingly succumb to miseries of becoming
debtors to ruthless loan sharks, pawning and pledging whatever meager resources
they have to pay for the show. The middle and upper-middle classes go for bank
loans to be in the rat race and end up in huge debts. While many such marriages
end up on the rocks. (press reports say ten to fifteen in every 1000 marriages
are vulnerable to divorce).
There may be exceptions, but generally, the Muslim
wedding season begins with the onset of the third month of the Muslim calendar
and ends in the eighth month before the fasting month of Ramadan begins. The
positive to all this expensive razzmatazz is the micro-economics, providing
short relief for the lower cadres in the industry who work on daily wages from
serving food to washing the leftovers.
Shariah, (Islamic canonical law) disapproves and
discourages uncalled-for expenditure on the bride. Going by the template of the
times of the Prophet, there is no space for dinners on the wedding night from
the bride side, nor the practice of shipping expensive house furnishing as
Dehaj (dowry) to the bridegroom house. Shariah enables the institution of
marriage easy and affordable for the parents of the bride. Ignoring the book is
delaying marriages for girls as many parents are unable to meet the demands of
the bridegroom’s side. In the Arab Gulf societies, it is vice-versa as the
shots are called from the brides’ side. Here it is the boys’ side that has to
provide with the Dahej to the girl along with handsome jointure, giving youth
reason to go for non-gulf wives.
Once upon a time marriages in Hyderabad, with the
exception of a few of the rich nobility and aristocracy, were a simple affair
done within a couple of hours. Held in homes and nearby open spaces under
shamianas (tents). Except for the amplified Bollywood wedding songs played till
late into the night to the angst of the neighbors.
A cup of tea with the famed Osmania biscuits and the
post-Nikah ceremony, which would be over by evening, people close to the bride
and bridegroom’s family would be furtively signaled to stay back for a special
at-home. And food for about twenty or thirty people or more depending on status
would be packed and handed over to the bridegroom’s entourage at the time of
Vidai (ceremonial departure of the bride for her husband’s home).
That was all about affordable and normal marriage,
performed free of any status burden. And as time went by, the tea and biscuit
were improvised with a slab of ice cream. Then the ice cream also vanished,
giving way to traditional biryani with a couple of side dishes and a sweet dish
of either qhobanee or double ka meetha (Apricot and Bread pudding). And
finally, to what it is today. Kingly feasts in imperial style, where event
management companies, expensive orchestras, celebrity crooners, reputed
professional photographers, designer outfits for bride and bridegroom costing
lakhs for just a night’s wear, jasmine and mint leave garlands weighing kilos
are the in things Rituals like Bridal shower, Mehendi, and dholki were added on
adding to the costs. Incidentally, the famed Falaknuma Palace, the abode of the
Nizam now leased out to a leading hotel chain, is the latest of the facilities
available to whosoever can pay the price.
Source: Siasat Daily
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/fat-muslim-weddings-are-draining-away-resources-of-community-2262501/
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Arab
World
Arab bloc seeks ‘terrorist’ designation for Houthis
January 24, 2022
CAIRO: The Arab League on Sunday said Yemen’s
Iran-backed Houthi rebels should be labelled as a “terrorist” group after they
attacked the United Arab Emirates.
On January 17 the Houthis claimed a drone and missile
attack that struck an oil facility and the airport in the UAE capital Abu
Dhabi, killing three people and wounding six.
It was the first deadly assault acknowledged by the
UAE inside its borders and claimed by the Yemeni insurgents during a seven-year
Saudi-led coalition campaign against the rebels.
The pan-Arab bloc, based in the Egyptian capital, said
the Houthis should be designated “as a terrorist organisation” after the attack.
In a statement following an extraordinary meeting, it
called the strikes “a flagrant violation of international law... and a real
threat to vital civilian installations, energy supplies, and global economic
stability,” as well as a threat to regional peace and security.
Former US president Donald Trump designated the
Houthis as a terrorist movement but the administration of President Joe Biden
removed the group in response to fears from aid groups responding to what the
UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Biden’s administration has, however, sanctioned
individual Houthi figures.
On Friday, the UN Security Council unanimously
condemned the Houthi strikes on the UAE, whose UN ambassador denounced “these
terrorist attacks.” The UAE is a non-permanent member of the Council.
The Emirates have had a major role in the Saudi-led
coalition defending the internationally-recognised government of Yemen against
the Huthis. Although it announced a troop withdrawal from Yemen in 2019, the
UAE has remained involved by supporting and training forces there.
On Saturday the coalition denied carrying out an air
strike on a prison in Yemen’s rebel-held north that aid groups said killed at
least 70 people, including migrants, women and children.
Source: Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1671148/arab-bloc-seeks-terrorist-designation-for-houthis
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UAE intercepts Houthi attack, Saudi Arabia reports two
injured by fallen missile
January 24, 2022
The United Arab Emirates intercepted and destroyed two
Houthi ballistic missiles targeting the Gulf country on Monday with no
casualties, its defence ministry said, following a deadly attack a week
earlier.
For more than six years, the Houthis have been
battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, repeatedly carrying out
cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, and launching an unprecedented
assault on the UAE on Jan 17.
“The remnants of the intercepted ballistic missiles
fell in separate areas around Abu Dhabi,” the ministry said, adding it was
taking necessary protective measures against all attacks.
UAE newspaper The National cited residents reporting
flashes in the sky over the capital around 4:30am.
Monday's attack was the second on UAE soil since last
week's strike that hit a fuel depot in Abu Dhabi, killing three people, and
causing a fire near its international airport.
Houthi-run Al Masirah television said the group would
announce within hours the details of a “wide military operation” against Saudi
Arabia and the UAE.
Explainer: What is the Yemen war?
Saudi state media early on Monday said the coalition
intercepted a ballistic missile, with remnants damaging workshops and vehicles
in the south of the kingdom. It said late on Sunday that a ballistic missile
fell in the south, injuring two foreigners and causing damage in an industrial
area.
The Yemen conflict is largely seen as a proxy war
between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The United Nations, which along with the United States
has struggled to engineer a ceasefire for Yemen, voiced concern over
escalations and called for maximum restraint by both sides.
The Saudi-led coalition has ramped up air strikes on
what it describes as Houthi targets in Yemen. At least 60 people were killed in
a strike on a temporary detention centre in northern Saada province on Friday,
and about 20 were killed in the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa in an operation on
Tuesday.
The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 months
after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from Sanaa.
The group says it is fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.
Source: Dawn
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of the original story:
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ISIS-Kurds battle after Syria prison attack kills over
120 in four days: Monitor
23 January ,2022
At least 120 people have been killed in ongoing
battles between US-backed Kurdish forces and ISIS fighters after an attack on a
Syrian prison, a war monitor said Sunday, as clashes entered a fourth day.
“At least 77 IS members and 39 Kurdish fighters,
including internal security forces, prison guards and counter-terrorism forces
have been killed” in violence inside and outside the Kurdish-run Ghwayran jail
in Hasakeh city since the start of the attack on Thursday, said the
Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Arab Coalition strikes in Yemen kill 40 Houthi
‘terrorists,’ destroy five vehicles
22 January ,2022
Arab Coalition strikes in Marib against the
Iran-backed Houthis have killed more than 40 “terrorists” and destroyed five
military vehicles in the last 24 hours, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA)
reported on Saturday.
It comes as a part of the coalition’s eight targeted
strikes, during a time when tensions are rising with Yemen’s Iran-backed
Houthis.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
Permanent members of the Arab League are expected to
host an extraordinary meeting of the council upon the UAE’s request to discuss
the recent attack in Abu Dhabi.
The Houthi militia attack backed by Iran has attracted
global outcry, with statements condemning the attack from over a 114
international organizations and countries.
UAE’s Dr. Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the
country’s president, is among many of the local officials who are in
conversation with global representatives to find a solution to the Iran-backed
Houthi issue.
On Friday, Gargash said that the UAE has a “legal and
moral right” to defend itself against terrorist acts by Yemen’s Iran-backed
Houthi militia during a call with Hans Grundberg, the Special Envoy of the
Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen.
The UAE official also met with the US Special Envoy
for Yemen Tim Lenderking on Saturday, where he reiterated the need for
“appropriate international pressure” which may help reach a ceasefire agreement
and aid in finding a political solution to the Yemeni crisis.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have launched dozens of
cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia throughout 2021.
In September 2021, the Houthis intensified their
efforts to take Marib, a provincial capital which is the government’s last
northern stronghold.
The Iran-backed militia frequently target civilian
areas and energy facilities in the Kingdom with explosive-laden drones and
ballistic missiles.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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UAE forces destroy Houthi launch site that targeted
Abu Dhabi: Defence ministry
24 January ,2022
United Arab Emirates forces have destroyed the launch
site from which the Iran-backed Houthi militia fired two blocked missiles
toward Abu Dhabi early Monday morning, according to the UAE Ministry of
Defense.
An F-16 fighter jet struck the location in al-Jawf, in
northern Yemen, at 4:10 a.m.
The two missiles were intercepted over the UAE capital
Abu Dhabi and there were no reported casualties or injuries, the defense
ministry revealed in an earlier statement.
The attempted attack came one week after Iran-backed
Houthis targeted Abu Dhabi with two drones, causing three fatalities.
One Pakistani and two Indian nationals were killed,
and six others were injured - ranging from light to medium - when the incident
took place at 10 a.m. on Monday January 17, according to WAM and ADNOC.
It was a rare instance of attacks on UAE soil, often
seen as a safe haven in a turbulent region.
The UAE intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 as
part of the Arab Coalition with Saudi Arabia.
It scaled down its operations in 2019. The coalition
made significant advances in early January, taking the Shabwa and Ain
districts.
A UAE cargo ship, the Rwabee, was hijacked by Houthi
forces on the night of January 1.
The vessel was on its way from Socotra Island in Yemen
to the port of Jazan in Saudi Arabia, carrying equipment leased by a Saudi
company used in a field hospital on the island, according to the Arab
Coalition.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Arab League to hold emergency meeting on Houthi attack
on UAE
Diana Shalhub
22.01.2022
The Arab League will hold an emergency meeting at the
level of permanent delegates on Sunday to discuss a recent attack by Houthi
rebels in Yemen on the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The meeting will be held at the request of the UAE and
other Arab countries, Ambassador Ahmed al-Bakr, the Kuwaiti delegate to the
Cairo-based league, said in statements cited by the state news agency KUNA.
Al-Bakr, whose country is the current chair of the
pan-Arab body, said the meeting will discuss this week's terrorist Houthi
attack on Abu Dhabi.
On Monday, three people were killed in a Houthi attack
on Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, a member of a Saudi-led coalition that
has been fighting Houthi rebels since 2015.
The UAE said it reserves the right to respond to the
Houthi attack, saying it will not go unpunished.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
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Kurdish-led SDF conduct search for Daesh militants in
Hasakah: Report
24 January 2022
The so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have
reportedly searched for Daesh (ISIS) suspects in Syria’s northern city of
Hasakah after members of the terrorist group took over a prison in the city to
free their comrades.
Video showed the armed SDF personnel searching houses
and stopping a suspected escaped inmate in the street on Sunday.
Video also showed warplanes flying over the prison
from which the inmates were thought to have escaped.
At least 70 inmates were killed in the Daesh’s attack
on the prison, which began on Thursday. The Daesh terrorists detonated a car
bomb near the prison gates, helping dozens of inmates flee to the neighboring
Ghwayran district of Hasakah, witnesses and officials said, Reuters reported.
The US-backed SDF initially said it had thwarted the
breakout and arrested nearly 90 militants sheltering nearby, but later
acknowledged that inmates had taken over parts of the facility.
It said on Sunday that 17 of its forces were killed in
the deadliest rioting in detention centers holding thousands of suspected
terrorists.
On Saturday, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby claimed
that the US-led occupation forces had carried out airstrikes in support of the
SDF. However, the Daesh terrorists took full control of the prison after the
SDF and US-led occupation forces failed to control the situation.
Arab tribal figures in touch with residents in the
area said US-led troops had taken over positions around the prison and planes
were seen flying overhead.
“The clashes are still going on inside the prison, its
outskirts, surroundings of the al-Basel roundabout and the highway,” Syria’s
official news agency SANA reported Saturday, quoting local sources who further
noted that freed terrorists have been fortifying themselves in surrounding
complexes.
Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy
since 2011, when the US and its Western and regional allies began their overt
attempts to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
In recent years, the US has been maintaining an
illegal military presence on Syrian soil, collaborating with militants against
Syria’s legitimate government, and bombing the positions of the Syrian army and
anti-terror popular forces.
The US military has also stationed its forces and
equipment in eastern and northeastern Syria with the alleged aim of preventing
the oilfields in the areas from falling into the hands of the Daesh terrorists.
The Takfiri terrorists have been active in the
oil-rich provinces of Syria despite the heavy deployment of the US occupation
forces.
Source: Press TV
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of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Palestinian prisoners continue boycott of Israeli
military courts for 3rd consecutive week
23 January 2022
Palestinian inmates imprisoned under Israel’s
so-called policy of administrative detention continue their boycott of the
Israeli military courts for the 23rd consecutive day.
At least 500 Palestinian prisoners have been
registering their protest against the controversial policy by refusing to show
up for their military court hearings since the beginning of the year,
Palestine’s official Wafa news agency reported on Sunday.
The boycott includes hearings for renewal of
administrative detention orders as well as appeal hearings and later sessions at
Israel’s so-called supreme court.
Palestinian detainees say their move is a continuation
of longstanding Palestinian efforts "to put an end to the unjust
administrative detention practiced against our people by the occupation
forces."
Palestinian prisoners also maintain that Israel’s use
of administrative detention has expanded in recent years and many women,
children and elderly people have been incarcerated under the thorny policy.
Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are held under
administrative detention, in which Israel keeps the detainees without charge
for up to six months, a period which can be extended an infinite number of
times. Women and minors are among those detainees. The detention takes place on
orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the Israeli regime
describes as ‘secret’ evidence. Some prisoners have been held in administrative
detention for up to 11 years.
Palestinians and human rights groups say the detention
violates the right to due process since evidence is withheld from prisoners
while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or
convicted. Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended
hunger strikes in an attempt to express their outrage at the detention. They
have also been subjected to systematic torture, harassment and repression all
through the years of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently
held in some 17 Israeli jails, with dozens of them serving multiple life
sentences. Over 540 detainees, including women and minors, are under Israel’s
administrative detention.
Rights groups describe Israel’s use of administrative
detention as a “bankrupt tactic” and have long called on Israel to bring its
use to an end.
Palestinian prisoner in coma for 3rd week over medical
negligence
In a separate development, a Palestinian commission
for prisoners said Nasser Abu Hamid, a cancer patient held in Israeli jails, is
in a coma for the third week due to acute pneumonia.
In a statement on Sunday, the Palestinian Commission
of Detainees' and Ex-Detainees' Affairs called on human rights and
international organizations to urgently intervene and pressure the Israeli
authorities to release the49-year old Palestinian prisoner, Wafa news agency
reported. The commission further warned that Abu Hamid is facing an imminent
risk of death as a result of his suffering from the consequences of a surgery
he underwent last year.
On Saturday, Abu Hamid’s brother said the Israel
Prison Service (IPS) has not allowed anyone, including family members, the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or political figures to visit
his critically ill brother in Israeli detention.
Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the General Authority of
Civil Affairs of the Palestinian Authority, said in a post on his Twitter
account on Saturday that the Israeli regime had rejected a request he
officially made to visit Abu Hamid to check on his health condition. He held
the Tel Aviv regime fully responsible for the Palestinian inmate’s life while
calling on international organizations to pressure Israel to release him.
Source: Press TV
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Dozens of fanatic Jewish settlers defile al-Aqsa
Mosque
January 23, 2022
Dozens of Jewish settlers defiled the holy Aqsa Mosque
Compound on Sunday morning under tight Israeli police protection.
Jerusalemite sources said that the settlers broke into
the holy Islamic site from the Maghareba Gate and toured its courtyards and
performed Talmudic rituals.
Israeli occupation police imposed movement
restrictions on Palestinian citizens in the vicinity of the holy site
especially at Bab el-Amud and scrutinized their IDs.
Source: ABNA24
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://en.abna24.com/news//dozens-of-fanatic-jewish-settlers-defile-al-aqsa-mosque_1221583.html
--------
Iran’s Top Negotiator Meets EU’s Mora, Talks Underway
in Vienna
2022-January-23
Diplomatic efforts are underway in the Austrian
capital Vienna to revive the 2015 agreement and ways to verify the removal of
US sanction and guarantee its full commitment to the multilateral deal.
On Saturday, Baqeri Kani held talks with Mora while
other delegates were also holding separate meetings.
Bilateral and multilateral expert-level talks were
also held between Iran and the G4+1 countries with main focus on the removal of
all sanctions the US imposed on Tehran following its pullout from the JCPOA.
Iran’s lead negotiator on Friday met separately with
Mora and head of the Russian negotiating team Mikhail Ulyanov.
In a post on his Twitter account on Friday, Ulyanov
said he held a "very useful" meeting with Baqeri Kani and emphasized
that Moscow’s "close coordination" with Tehran plays a key role in
continuing and completing the negotiations in Vienna.
Senior representatives of the EU, the US and the G4+1
group of countries also discussed the latest situation pertaining to the
removal of anti-Iran sanctions.
The eighth round of the Vienna talks began on December
27 with a focus on the removal of all US sanctions. The US is not allowed to
directly attend the talks due to its pullout in 2018 from the deal with Iran.
In a tweet on Saturday, the senior Russian diplomat
highlighted the significance of timing in the ongoing Vienna talks but
emphasized that it should not be the “major factor which defines an outcome of
the negotiations on the future of the JCPOA”.
Ulyanov said timing depends on participants of the
Vienna talks, adding that the negotiators must expedite their work if deem
necessary.
“Under the
circumstances timing is very important but it shouldn’t be the major factor
which defines an outcome of the negotiations on the future of #JCPOA,” the
Russian lead negotiator wrote.
“Under the circumstances timing is very important but
it shouldn’t be the major factor which defines an outcome of the negotiations
on the future of #JCPOA,” the Russian lead negotiator wrote.
Ulyanov said on Friday that Russia rejects “artificial
deadlines” set by Western parties after their meeting with the US.
“The Western colleagues, as they do it publicly,
underlined the need to finalize negotiations ASAP. Russia shares the sense of
urgency but is against artificial deadlines,” he tweeted.
The Islamic Republic has also rejected the pessimistic
assessment of the talks by the US and the European trio – namely France, Britain,
and Germany – as a psychological ploy to win concessions.
On Monday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed
“fabricated deadlines” set by the US and its European allies.
Speaking at a press conference in Tehran, Foreign
Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said the US would better focus on its Plan
A rather than threatening Iran with a Plan B.
Iran and the remaining participants to the deal,
officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), have been
holding talks in the Austrian capital since April last year with the aim of
reviving the deal by bringing the US into full compliance.
Source: Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Iran Takes Back Voting Right in UN
2022-January-23
Iran's arrears have been paid to the United Nations
and as soon as Iran’s debt of its membership fee at the UN is collected in New
York, Iran’s voting rights should naturally resume on Monday of the current
week, Takht Ravanchi said.
Iran has paid its dues to the United Nations with the
country's funds frozen in South Korea in a move to immediately restore its
voting power, Seoul's finance ministry said Sunday.
Iran has more than US$7 billion in funds for oil
shipments frozen at two South Korean banks -- the Industrial Bank of Korea and
Woori Bank -- due to US sanctions.
The US reimposed the sanctions on Iran in 2018 when
then US President Donald Trump pulled out of a 2015 landmark nuclear agreement
with Iran and five major world powers.
The South Korean Ministry of Economy and Finance said
$18 million, part of the delinquent fees, was paid to the UN on Friday, using
the Tehran assets frozen in South Korea after consultations with related
organizations, including the US Office of Foreign Assets Control and the UN
Secretariat.
Last Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Saeed Khatibzadeh strongly lashed out at the UN for suspension of the country's
voting right, stressing that Tehran is not able to pay up its membership due to
the US sanctions.
Khatibzadeh made the remarks after the Islamic
Republic was denied the right to cast its vote on various matters at the UN
General Assembly and the UN Security Council, due to the sanctions that prevent
the country from paying up its membership dues for a second consecutive year.
"As a founding and active member of the world
body, Iran considers itself duty-bound to fully and timely pay its membership
fee at the UN and other international agencies and organizations," he
noted.
Source: Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14001103000321/Iran-Takes-Back-Ving-Righ-in-UN
--------
Turkish journalist arrested for insulting President
Erdogan: Report
22 January ,2022
A Turkish court on Saturday ordered well-known
journalist Sedef Kabas to be jailed pending trial on a charge of insulting
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, CNN Turk said, targeting her with a law under
which tens of thousands have been prosecuted.
Police detained Kabas at around 2 a.m. (2300 GMT) and
took her first to Istanbul’s main police station before transferring her to the
city’s main courthouse, where a court subsequently ruled in favor of her formal
arrest, the broadcaster said.
For the latest headlines, follow our Google News
channel online or via the app.
The alleged insult was in the form of a palace-related
proverb that Kabas expressed both on an opposition television channel and on
her Twitter account, drawing condemnation from government officials.
“The honor of the presidency’s office is the honor of
our country... I condemn the vulgar insults made against our president and his
office,” Fahrettin Altun, head of Turkey’s Communications Directorate, wrote on
Twitter.
Merdan Yanardag, chief editor of the Tele 1 channel on
which Kabas made the comment, sharply criticized her arrest.
“Her detention overnight at 2 a.m. because of a
proverb is unacceptable,” he wrote on Twitter. “This stance is an attempt to
intimidate journalists, the media and society.”
The law on insulting the president carries a jail
sentence of between one and four years.
Last October, Europe’s top human rights court called
on Turkey to change the legislation after ruling that a man’s detention under
the law violated his freedom of expression.
Thousands have been charged and sentenced over the
crime of insulting Erdogan in the seven years since he moved from being prime
minister to president.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Israeli minister slams settler violence as 'terrorism’
Zain Khalil
23.01.2022
JERUSALEM
Israeli Public Security Minister Omer Barlev on Sunday
described settler attacks against Palestinians as "actions of a terror
organization."
Barlev was referring to settler assaults on Friday
against activists near the Burin village in the occupied West Bank, where 10
activists were injured, including four Israelis.
The violence was committed "by a terror group
that acts together and harmed Israeli citizens who came to demonstrate in the
area," Barlev told the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
Israeli forces came late to the scene as "the
terrorists were no longer there and have disappeared," Barlev said, in
reference to the Israeli settlers who escaped from the area before the arrival
of Israeli forces.
On December 27, Barlev was placed under heavy security
protection after receiving threats from Jews as he stated.
In recent months, settlers across the occupied
territories stepped up their attacks against Palestinians and their properties,
which were committed under the watch of the Israeli forces.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-minister-slams-settler-violence-as-terrorism-/2483028
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17 Palestinian journalists held in Israeli prisons:
NGO
Nour Abu Eisha
22.01.2022
GAZA CITY, Palestine
Israel is holding 17 Palestinian journalists and media
workers in prison, according to an Arab journalists rights group on Saturday.
In a statement, the Journalists' Support Committee
said seven of those arrested have already been sentenced, five are still under
Israel’s administrative detention policy, while five others are awaiting their
verdicts.
The policy of administrative detention allows Israeli
authorities to extend the detention of a prisoner without charge or trial.
The rights group warned against "the delay in
issuing verdicts against the prisoners who have been detained for several years
without charge”, describing the policy as “a blatant violation of international
law and human rights.”
"The occupation practices organized state
terrorism against the Palestinian media in an Israeli attempt to silence the
Palestinian media and undermine the steadfastness of the Palestinian
people," it said.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/17-palestinian-journalists-held-in-israeli-prisons-ngo/2482516
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Yemen to keep up counterstrikes’ until the end of
invasion: Ansarullah official
23 January 2022
A senior Yemeni official vows that the country will
keep up its counteroffensives until its complete liberation from the scourge of
a United States-backed and Saudi-led invasion and siege.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Yemeni popular
resistance Houthi Ansarullah movement's Political Bureau, made the remarks on
Sunday in an exclusive interview with Iran's al-Alam Arabic-language television
network.
Saudi Arabia and several of its allies have been
attacking Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest nation, since March 2015 in an
unsuccessful bid to change its ruling structure in favor of its former Riyadh-aligned
regime.
The war, and an ensuing siege that the aggressors have
been employing, has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and turned the
entire Yemen into the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The Yemeni forces that feature the Yemeni army and its
allied fighters from the Popular Committees have, however, vowed not to lay
down their arms until the expulsion of all foreign forces.
"Yemen's operations against the countries of the
[invading] coalition will continue at the domestic and overseas levels until
the coalition stops its attacks and ends the blockade," al-Bukhaiti said.
Invaders' systematic denial
The invading countries are trying to deflect the
international public opinion from their atrocities through a number of methods,
he noted.
"They first deny any responsibility for their
crimes, but later admit their involvement only to say they are going to
investigate the atrocities," said the official.
Al-Bukhaiti, meanwhile, rebuffed the invaders' claims
that they are attacking the impoverished country to retaliate for the Yemeni
forces' operations.
He said the aggressors took Yemen under heavy
bombardment throughout the first three years of the war, during which the
country did not have the deterrent power that it is using now to return the
Saudi-led offensives.
"The invaders used to commit such crimes from the
very first day of the invasion for three [consecutive] years," long before
Yemen became able to retaliate the aggression with ballistic missiles and
drones, the Ansarullah official said.
He also hailed that the counterattacks had managed to
force the invaders to reduce the number of their military assaults.
'US, Zionists support aggressors'
"Those who support the invading countries,
including Saudi Arabia and the UAE [in their crimes against the Yemeni people],
are the United States and the Israeli regime, which are bereft of all human
values," al-Bukhaiti said.
Source: Press TV
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of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/01/23/675375/Yemen-warning-invaders-Saudi-Arabia-UAE
--------
Africa
Taraba tackles Muslim body, alleges council inciting
religious tension
24 January 2022
The Taraba State Government, on Sunday, described as
false allegation of marginalisation levelled against Governor Darius Ishaku by
the Muslim Council in the state.
While lamenting the action of the council, the
government described the allegation as a blatant attempt to cause religious and
political tension in the state.
Addressing a press conference in Jalingo, the
Commissioner for Information and Re-Orientation, Danjuma Adamu, said the action
of the council amounted to giving the public false information that the
governor did not like Muslims, thereby causing religious tension.
Adamu stated, “The Taraba State Government views the
move as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the relative peace being enjoyed in the
state, particularly the mutual respect among the adherents of the two dominant
religions.
“The Muslim Council of Taraba State has free access to
the governor. Just last December, the leadership of the council was in Takum,
where their Chairman, Grand Khadi Abdulmunin, praised the governor for being
fair to Muslims and Christians in the state.
“If they had issues with the governor, what stops them
from raising the issues there? It is, therefore, surprising that the council
would choose to embarrass the governor by calling a press conference instead of
seeking an audience with him to discuss the issues.
“The allegation of marginalisation of Muslims in
Taraba State is false, unfounded and an attempt to distract the administration
and cause religious and political tension in the state, especially now that
political activities are beginning to pick up.
“The Ishaku administration totally rejects this
unpatriotic attempt and insists that at no time did the government exhibit bias
against any group in the state, whether ethnic or religious, in appointments
and in the provision of amenities.
Source: Punchng
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://punchng.com/taraba-tackles-muslim-body-alleges-council-inciting-religious-tension/
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French military base in Mali attacked: media reports
Fatma Esma Arslan
23.01.2022
DAKAR, Senegal
A French military base in Mali was targeted by a
rocket attack early Sunday, according to media reports.
The Gao military base in northern Mali was hit with
rockets, France 24 reported.,
The Italian Ministry of Defense said that none of the
20 Italian soldiers on duty at the base were injured.
Italian Defense Minister Lorenzo Guerini is closely
following the situation, it added.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/french-military-base-in-mali-attacked-media-reports/2482763
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Sudan’s Hemedti visits Ethiopia for bilateral talks
Talal Ismail
22.01.2022
KHARTOUM, Sudan
The deputy leader of Sudan’s Sovereign Council,
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, began a two-day official visit to
Ethiopia on Saturday for talks on bilateral relations.
The talks will focus on bilateral relations between
the two countries and ways of strengthening them to serve the interests of the
two sides, Hemedti’s office said in a statement.
Hemedti is the first top Sudanese official to visit
Addis Ababa following the escalation of a border dispute between the two
neighbors after the Sudanese army captured the contested Fashaga area in
December 2020.
With a 1,600-km (994-mile) long shared border,
Ethiopia and Sudan face issues regarding the Fashaga Triangle, a
decades-long-disputed border without hard demarcation.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/sudan-s-hemedti-visits-ethiopia-for-bilateral-talks/2482447
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Burkina Faso’s President Kabore is held by mutinous
soldiers
January 24, 2022
OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso’s President Roch Marc
Christian Kabore is being held by mutinous soldiers, two of the soldiers told
The Associated Press by phone early Monday. They did not say where Kabore is
being held, but said he is in a safe place.
Gunshots were heard late Sunday night near the
president’s residence and in the early hours of Monday a battle took place at
the presidential palace while a helicopter flew overhead. The roads of the
capital were empty Sunday night except for checkpoints heavily guarded by
mutinous soldiers.
State news station RTB was heavily guarded on Monday
morning.
Fighting began on Sunday when soldiers took control of
the Lamizana Sangoule military barracks in the capital, Ouagadougou. Civilians
drove into town in a show of support for the rebellion but were broken up by
security forces firing tear gas. The mutiny came a day after a public
demonstration calling for Kabore’s resignation, the latest in a series of
anti-Kabore protests as anger has mounted over his government’s handling of the
Islamic insurgency.
The government has not made any statements since
Sunday when Minister of Defense Aime Barthelemy Simpore told state broadcaster
RTB that a few barracks had been affected by unrest not only in Ouagadougou but
in other cities, too. He denied, however, that the president had been detained
by the mutineers, even though Kabore’s whereabouts was unknown.
“Well, it’s a few barracks. There are not too many,”
Simpore said.
Kabore had been leading Burkina Faso since being
elected in 2015 after a popular uprising ousted longtime strongman President
Blaise Compaore who was in power for nearly three decades. Kabore was reelected
in November 2020 for another five-year term, however, frustration has been
growing at his inability to stem the spread of jihadist violence across the
country. Attacks linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group are escalating, killing
thousands and displacing more than an estimated 1.5 million people.
The military has suffered losses since the extremist
violence began in 2016. In December more than 50 security forces were killed in
the Sahel region and nine security forces were killed in the Center North
region in November.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2010651/world
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North
America
Marie Newman, US Congresswoman, Urges End To Israel’s
Palestinian Homes Demolition Policy
22 January 2022
A US Congresswoman has condemned the Israeli practice
of demolition of Palestinian-owned homes in the occupied East al-Quds
neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, calling on Israeli authorities to quit the
policy.
Democratic Representative Marie Newman made the appeal
in a post on her Twitter account on Saturday, after Israeli forces tore down
the property of a Palestinian man in Sheikh Jarrah earlier this week,
displacing his entire family of over a dozen, mainly children, the Palestinian
Information Centre reported.
Newman further noted that members of the Palestinian
family became homeless after Israeli police forced them out of their home in
the middle of the night, while pointing that Israeli forces have carried out
more than 1,000 demolitions since 2016 in the same area.
On January 19, an Israeli mechanical digger, under the
tight protection of Israeli soldiers, tore down the property of Mahmoud
Salhiyeh in Sheikh Jarrah. The Israeli police cordoned off the area where the
house was located during and after the demolition. Local sources said a large
number of police forces stormed the house and arrested 20 activists and six
individuals from the 18-member Salhiyeh family, including Mahmoud.
They assaulted the other members of the family, including
his nine-year-old daughter and her aunt. The family said that the Israeli
forces had cut off electricity from the house as they raided it, and started
firing tear gas to block everyone’s vision.
The Israeli regime presses ahead with its settlement
expansion and land-grab policy across the Palestinian territories despite
international outcry. Many believe such a policy is aimed at forcing the
Palestinians to leave their homeland by making it difficult for them to live
there.
Sheikh Jarrah has been the scene of frequent
crackdowns by Israeli police on Palestinians protesting the displacement of
dozens of Palestinian families from their homes.
Since Israel seized East al-Quds in the 1967 war,
Israeli settler organizations have claimed ownership of land in Sheikh Jarrah
and have filed multiple lawsuits to force Palestinians from the area.
Most of the international community considers Israeli
settlement construction illegal under international law and an obstacle to the
so-called two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Source: Press TV
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American citizen in Afghanistan embraces Islam
January 24, 2022
An American citizen in Afghanistan has converted to Islam
at the hands of Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, the state news agency
said on Sunday.
Cristopher, who has been now rechristened Muhammad
Isa, said he has been living in the country for many years and embraced the
faith because he was inspired by the morals of the Taliban.
Zabihullah Mujahid officially converted the American
national by reciting the mandatory Shahada (prayer of initiation into the
faith) and gave him the Muslim name Muhammad Isa as the latter repeated after
him with teary eyes, said the state-run news outlet.
Source: Tribune Pakistan
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https://tribune.com.pk/story/2340141/american-citizen-in-afghanistan-embraces-islam
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Nearly 3,000 Americans sign petition, demand end to
Israel's ethnic cleansing in Negev
23 January 2022
Nearly 3,000 Americans have signed a petition,
demanding an immediate end to Israel’s ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian
citizens in the Negev (Naqab) desert.
The rocky desert of Negev, which makes up almost half
of the historical Palestine, has been the scene of growing tensions since
January 10, when diggers and bulldozers of the so-called Jewish National Fund
(JNF) began flattening some Bedouin farming lands as part of a controversial
tree planting program or afforestation. The much-condemned move triggered large
protest rallies, which met with brutal crackdown and mass arrests by Israeli
forces.
In a bid to raise awareness about the JNF’s
provocative demolition campaign in the region and force the occupying regime to
halt the move, Code Pink, a women's organization that supports Palestinian
rights, launched a petition drive, calling on US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken to urge the so-called JNF to “cease and desist their ethnic cleaning
activities” and “destructive actions” in the Negev region.
“Since 1948, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has been
planting trees to displace Palestinians from their lands. They are currently
carrying out an afforestation project in the Negev/Naqab (Southern Israel) on
land used by Bedouin communities for agriculture. They aim to drive the
Bedouins from their lands,” the petition said.
It also provided a brief account on how the JNF was
established in 1901 for the purpose of buying and developing land for Jewish
settlement in Palestine.
The JNF “played a central role in the plans to expel
Palestinians from their lands. They meticulously charted topography, roads,
land, and water sources and profiled the entire Palestinian population by age,
political affiliations, and hostility to the Zionist project. Known as the
Village Files, these documents became a crucial military tool for Jewish
militias, who in 1948 burned villages, carried out massacres, and drove around
750,000 Palestinians out of their homes and villages, making them refugees,”
Code Pink added in its petition.
It also said that the Israeli regime has been working
tirelessly to expel Palestinian Bedouin populations from Negev, south of
occupied Palestine.
The community of Al-Araqeeb has been demolished over
100 times since it is situated in Bedouin agricultural areas, where the JNF is
currently carrying out its afforestation/ethnic cleansing program.
“The JNF is now carrying out its afforestation/ethnic
cleansing project” on “Bedouin agricultural lands,” the petition further read,
adding, “Throughout January 2021, Palestinian Bedouins, about a third of them
children, have been arrested protesting the JNF’s afforestation/ethnic
cleansing project.”
Since Israel seized East al-Quds in the 1967 war,
Israeli settler organizations have claimed ownership of land in Sheikh Jarrah
and have filed multiple lawsuits to force Palestinians from the area.
Source: Press TV
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US warplanes bomb Syrian city in purported bid to
repel Daesh attack
23 January 2022
US warplanes have bombed the northeastern Syrian city
of Hasakah in a purported bid to support US-backed Kurdish militants, so-called
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to repel a major attack by alleged Daesh
terrorists on a prison holding thousands of their companions.
US Defense Department spokesman John Kirby confirmed
the illegal American airstrikes in Syria on Saturday to assist the unsuccessful
attempt by the mercenary SDF militants to drive off the Daesh attack on the
city’s Ghwayran prison amid reports that terrorists have taken over control of
the compound.
“The clashes are still going on inside the prison, its
outskirts, surroundings of the al-Basel roundabout and the highway,” Syria’s
official news agency SANA reported Saturday, quoting local sources who further
noted that freed terrorists have been fortifying themselves in surrounding
complexes.
They also noted that SDF militants failed to protect
the prison compound – the largest of several detention centers under their
control in Hasakah – and surrounding facilities despite receiving aerial
support from the US occupation forces.
“The battles are taking place on the edge of the
prison,” SDF spokesman Siamand Ali claimed as quoted in an AP report on
Saturday, adding that most of the prison is under their control apart from a
small part that is held by “rioting prisoners.”
He further noted that fighting is also ongoing in the
nearby Zohour neighborhood, where Daesh forces were holed up.
The report also cited Ali as saying that SDF forces
and American warplanes targeted a technical academy building where dozens of
"Daesh terrorists took positions,” adding that the US-backed militants are
advancing slowly in order to protect the lives of civilians as Daesh gunmen are
holed up in alleys and in residential homes in the area.
The clashes have also led to the fleeing of nearly
4,000 residents to areas of the city controlled by Syrian government forces,
Hasakah Governor Ghassan Khalil said as cited in Syrian media outlets.
The Ghwayran prison holds about 5,000 suspected Daesh
terrorists, including commanders and figures considered among the most
dangerous, according to the AP report.
Syria calls for US withdrawal amid ‘war crimes’
The development came as the Syrian Foreign Ministry
slammed on Saturday the actions that led to the displacement of thousands of
Syrian civilians in Hasakah province, reiterating the country’s demand for the
total withdrawal of US forces from northeastern Syria and Turkish forces from
northwestern Syria.
“During the past few days, Daesh and QSD (SDF) gangs
committed massacres against the civilians and massive destruction in the
infrastructure in Hasakah province,” the ministry said in a statement.
It further described the acts committed by American
occupation forces and the SDF as “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”
The Syrian Foreign Ministry also called on all
international humanitarian organizations to provide assistance to thousands of
Syrian civilians who were displaced in such harsh weather conditions.
It came after US warplanes completely destroyed the
Technical Institute building in Hasakah city under the pretext of targeting the
released prisoners.
Nearly 90 people have reportedly been killed so far,
as fighting raged for the third day on Saturday.
The SDF further asserted earlier in the day that
“fierce clashes” broke out in the neighborhoods north of Ghwayran, where it
claimed to have killed more than 20 Daesh terrorists and seized explosive
belts, weapons, and artillery.
According to SANA, people have been pushed by the SDF
to leave their houses immediately. The SDF imposed a curfew on Ghwayran and
al-Zohour neighborhoods on Friday, the news agency added.
Syria has been gripped by a foreign-backed terror
campaign since 2011, when the US and its Western and regional allies began
their overt attempts to overthrow the government of Bashar al-Assad.
Source: Press TV
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