Osama Bin Laden Was Planning More Attacks On The US Three Years After 9/11, Documents Reveal
New Age Islam News Bureau
26 April 2022
Osama Bin Laden/ Photo: Kaumudi Online
-----
• Muslim Americans Gave $1.8bn In Zakat In 2021,
Muslim Philanthropy Initiative Study Finds
• Iran Sentences Two Award-Winning Students To 16
Years In Prison Each On Charges Of “Corruption On Earth”: Report
• Tunisian Lawyers Look To Criminalize Normalization
Of Relations With Israel
• Uttar Pradesh: Mosque, Temple In Jhansi Pull Down
Loudspeakers To Promote Amity
Arab World
• As Crises Loom, It’s A Very Different Ramadan In
Lebanon
• Sheikh Qassem: Hezbollah Enemies Take Orders From US
Embassy
• Official: Turkey Has ‘No Agreement, Legal Basis' For
Launching Operations In Northern Iraq
• Lebanon rescue teams search Mediterranean for
migrant boat disaster survivors
• Yemen’s Houthis release crew of seized Emirati cargo
vessel: Spokesman
• Saudi Arabia’s Hajj and Umrah Ministry fines 10
companies for bad services
--------
North America
• Council On American-Islamic Relations Says
Islamophobic Incidents Hit 27-Year High In 2021
• Hundreds attend Lailatul Qadr rituals in New York,
Washington
• US Condemns Attacks on Afghan Mosques and Schools
During Ramadan
• Saudi Arabia banks on Trump's return to office,
snubbing Biden: Report
--------
Mideast
• Quds, Al-Aqsa Mosque Red Line For Islamic Ummah; OIC
Calls To Defend Quds And Its Holy Sites Against The Crimes By The Israeli
Occupiers
• Spokesman: Rulers in Afghanistan Responsible for
Establishment of Security for All Ethnic Groups
• Iran's Top General Asks for Punishment of Culprits
behind Terrorist Attacks in Afghanistan
• Islamic Jihad leader: Palestinians creating new
equations in confrontation with Zionist enemy
• Major West-Originated Cyberattack against Iranian
Infrastructures Thwarted
• Iran arrests three suspects in gun murder of two
Sunni Muslim clerics
--------
Africa
• Biden, King Abdullah discuss violence in Jerusalem
--------
India
• Uttar Pradesh: Mosque, Temple In Jhansi Pull Down
Loudspeakers To Promote Amity
• MP: HC Orders Police to Offer Security to Muslim Man
Booked for 'Love Jihad'
• 3 Muslim Employees Of Khargone Municipal Corporation
Sacked Post Khargone Violence, Say No Cause Given
• Muslim Painters Decorate Prakash Parv Celebration
Venue In Haryana on the Occasion of Gurpurab
• Don’t Buy Gold From Shops Owned By Muslims: Hindu
Outfits In Karnataka
• Maharashtra Puts Ball In Centre’s Court On
Mosque-Loudspeaker Issue After All-Party Meet
• Uttar Pradesh: Political churning among Muslims over
Azam Khan factor
--------
Pakistan
• Pakistan's New Govt Issues Passport To Ex-Premier Nawaz
Sharif To Return
• Bilawal, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Chief Maulana Fazlur
Rehman to Accompany PM Shehbaz On Visit To Saudi Arabia
• Cash-strapped Pakistan, IMF agree to extend stalled
bailout package, increase loan size to $8 billion
• Two persons convicted in lynching case of Lankan
national in Pakistan file appeal against anti-terror court verdict
• Imran Khan thanks his social media ‘warriors’ for
drive against ‘US conspiracy’
• PTI's Shireen Mazari Comes Under Fire For 'Using
Religion Card' Against Miftah Ismail
• Swat police recover kidnapped Sikh boy
• ‘Plot hatched’ to get Imran disqualified thru ECP:
Qureshi
• Pakistan’s current situation ‘disturbing and
worrying’, says ex-Interior Minister
• Pak PM Shehbaz announces 2-month remission in
prisoners' jail terms
--------
Europe
• Frankfurt mosque extends Ramadan charity to Ukraine
refugees
• Russia warns about threats of Israeli settlement
plans in Syrian Golan
• UN Experts Urge US to Unfreeze Afghanistan’s Assets
• Russia condemns destruction of Palestinian homes by
Zionist regime
• Non-Muslims invited to Iftar meal at mosque in UK’s
Bolton
• Macron’s victory prompts conflicting reactions in
Dubai, from detachment to relief and dismay
--------
South Asia
• Taliban Moving Away Terrorists From Pakistan-Afghan
Border: Report
• Afghanistan takes Pak air strikes to UN, Taliban
turns on its mentor
• Iran Accepts Credentials of Three Afghan Diplomats
• Aims at Addressing Afghan Refugees’ Issues, Afghan
Delegation to Pay Visit to Iran
• Afghan, Qatari FMs Meet in Doha, Discussing Economic
& Political Issues
--------
Southeast Asia
• Women’s Rights Groups Condemn Petaling Jaya MP Maria
Chin’s Jail Sentence For ‘Insulting’ Islamic Judicial System
• Selangor Sultan Launches Al-Quran With Chinese Translation
• Turning Malaysia’s Failure In Education Into Great
Success
• Indonesia Must Capitalize On Muslim Fashion
Opportunity: Minister
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/osama-laden-us-documents/d/126870
--------
Osama Bin Laden Was Planning More Attacks On The US Three
Years After 9/11, Documents Reveal
Osama Bin Laden/ Photo: Kaumudi Online
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April 26, 2022
LONDON: Osama bin Laden was planning a second
terrorist attack targeting the US just three years after masterminding the
atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001, according to a report from CBS News.
Letters and other papers obtained after the former
Al-Qaeda chief was killed by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan in 2011 revealed that he
wanted to launch another attack using similar methods to those employed on
9/11, but using private jets instead of passenger planes.
The plans were discovered by security and terrorism
expert Nelly Lahoud when she analyzed the documents. She told CBS that if bin
Laden’s plan to use private jets proved to be impossible, he wanted to sabotage
railway tracks in the US to cause derailments that resulted in large numbers of
casualties.
While in hiding after 9/11 to evade capture by US
forces, she added, bin Laden remained in contact with other Al-Qaeda leaders
and began planning the next attack, using his background in engineering to
devise methods for causing as much death and destruction as possible.
“He wanted to have 12 meters of steel rail removed so
that, this way, the train could be derailed,” Lahoud said. “And we find him
explaining the simple toolkit that they could use. He said: ‘You could use a
compressor, you could use a smelting iron tool.’”
Another of bin Laden’s ideas was for undercover
Al-Qaeda operatives to blow up small wooden fishing boats at American ports to
sink oil tankers in an effort to damage the US economy.
“Bin Laden suggested Al-Qaeda operatives could
integrate themselves into the port areas by posing as fishermen,” Lahoud said.
“He instructed his team on where to buy specific boats to evade radar and
detailed how the vessels should be used to transport explosives.”
The war in Afghanistan ultimately stymied the ability
of Al-Qaeda to carry out other large-scale attacks, she added, and by 2006 the
organization only had about $200,000 in accessible funds.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks and
Lahoud said that bin Laden failed to anticipate the ferocity of the US response
it would provoke, including the launch of a full-fledged invasion and
subsequent war in Afghanistan.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2070566/world
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Muslim
Americans Gave $1.8bn In Zakat In 2021, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative Study
Finds
A
volunteer hands out food to a person in need at a Muslim-run pantry in Brooklyn
(MEE/Zainab Iqbal)
----
By
Zainab Iqbal
25
April 2022
Muslim
Americans gave an estimated $1.8bn in zakat (an obligatory religious levy) in
2021, a recent study has shown.
According
to a report released last week by the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at Indiana
University, the average Muslim in the US donated around $2,070 in zakat.
Shariq
Siddiqui, the director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, said it was very
likely that much of the $1.8bn was donated or pledged during the Muslim holy
month of Ramadan.
During
Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn until dusk, abstaining from food, liquids and
smoking. The month is also a time for prayer, reflection, atonement and charity
- when rewards for good deeds are multiplied.
"It
is critical that nonprofit organisations and charities find meaningful ways to
engage with Muslim-American donors around Ramadan," Siddiqui said.
Zakat
is obligatory charity in which Muslims are expected to give at least 2.5
percent of their annual wealth to the poor.
One
of the five pillars of Islam, zakat is said to purify and increase the
remainder of one's wealth. While there is no prescribed time for giving zakat,
many Muslims choose to fulfil the obligation during Ramadan when charity is
emphasised.
According
to the study's findings, the largest portion of zakat, some 25.3 percent, was
disbursed to international nonprofits, while 21.7 percent was directed to
governments (mostly Muslim-majority countries that collect Zakat via state
mechanisms), and 18.3 percent was disbursed to domestic nonprofits.
Around
14.7 percent was given informally, whether in person, to relatives or to
others.
'Means
to address social ills'
Sharif
Aly, the chief executive officer of Islamic Relief USA, which funded the study,
said his organisation received around $135m in charity last year. Of that
amount, $40m was given by donors to meet their zakat obligations, which was up
from $35m the previous year.
"Though
Zakat is a religious obligation, it's also a means for us to address social
ills in our communities and to address social ills that have impacted people,
have impoverished people, have caused difficult lives for people," he told
Middle East Eye.
Zakat
payments can be a matter of personal choice in many Muslim countries, though it
is a religious obligation under Islamic law.
Governments
in some countries deduct payments from savings accounts on a pre-determined
day. The funds tend to be used to help those in poverty, in debt or refugees.
Shazaib
Cheema, a New York-based taxi driver, told MEE he was unable to donate as much
this year, in relation to previous years, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"The
beauty of zakat is that it's based on how much we make. It is not a burden, but
it's a blessing," he said.
"I
don't make a lot of money. But I send zakat to Pakistan. My neighbours from my
childhood are very poor. There are two young kids and their dad died. My son
gives it to organisations here. It is an obligation and we fulfil it
happily."
Eman
Fathimah, a college student in New York, told MEE that like many people she
knew, she sent her zakat to organisations back home in Yemen because they need
the funds most.
Yemen
has been gripped by fighting since 2014, when Houthi rebels seized the capital
Sanaa and ousted the internationally recognised government.
Saudi
Arabia and its allies intervened in March 2015 and have since carried out more
than 22,000 air strikes in an effort to roll back the rebels, with one-third
striking non-military sites - including schools, factories and hospitals,
according to the Yemen Data Project.
Riyadh
has been repeatedly criticised by US lawmakers for launching air strikes that
have killed civilians - something the Houthis point to as they launch drones,
missiles, and mortars into their northern neighbour.
"My
parents have always sent both charity money and specifically zakat to a few
organisations in Yemen. They tell me that while there are people in need in the
US, the government also provides them with many resources, while that is not
the case in Yemen" Fathimah said.
"That's
not to say I don't donate money here in America, because I do. It's just that
there's a literal war in Yemen and people need money desperately."
Source:
Middle East Eye
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-muslims-gave-18-billion-zakat-2021-study-finds
--------
Iran
Sentences Two Award-Winning Students To 16 Years In Prison Each On Charges Of
“Corruption On Earth”: Report
Ali Younesi (R) won gold at the International
Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in 2018 in China, while Amirhossein Moradi (L)
won silver at Iran’s National Astronomy Olympiad in 2017. (Photo via Twitter)
-----
25
April ,2022
Iran
has sentenced two award-winning students who have been under arrest for two
years to 16 years in prison each, a rights group reported on Monday.
Ali
Younesi and Amirhossein Moradi, two students from Tehran’s Sharif University,
were each sentenced to 16 years in prison on charges of “corruption on earth,
conspiracy against the regime, and propaganda against the regime,” the Human
Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a news site run by a group of Iranian
human rights advocates, reported, citing a verdict issued by a Revolutionary
Court in Tehran.
State
news agency IRNA, using only the students’ initials, reported on Monday that
they were each given 16 years in prison on the same charges reported by HRANA.
In
its report, IRNA accused Younesi and Moradi of carrying out “terrorist
operations in different parts of Tehran with guidance from” the Iranian
opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK).
Younesi
and Moradi were arrested in April 2020 and have been in detention ever since. A
judiciary spokesman accused the two at the time of cooperating with MEK and
planning attacks inside Iran.
Younesi’s
family reject the allegations and have described them as “ridiculous” and
“fictional.”
Younesi
won gold at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in 2018 in
China, while Moradi won silver at Iran’s National Astronomy Olympiad in 2017.
Amnesty
International said in November 2021 that agents from Iran’s ministry of
intelligence “beat (Younesi and Moradi) and held them in prolonged solitary
confinement in harsh conditions to extract forced confessions.”
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Tunisian
Lawyers Look To Criminalize Normalization Of Relations With Israel
Photo: Pars Today
-----
25
April 2022
Dozens
of Tunisian lawyers have strongly denounced the Tel Aviv regime’s daily
aggression against Palestinian people across the occupied West Bank and the Old
City of al-Quds, calling on the North African country’s authorities to
criminalize normalization of ties with Israel through a clear and transparent
ruling.
“The
National Bar Association of Tunisia reiterates its outright rejection of
all forms of normalization with the
Zionist enemy, and calls on state authorities to criminalize the process
through explicit legal means,” they said in a statement.
“We
are seriously following up on the daily acts of aggression and attacks by
Israeli forces against the Palestinian nation, and are witnessing their
continuation,” the lawyers added.
“These
violent attacks are carried out amidst unprecedented and utter ignorance, and
are in violation of all international principles,” the statement said, adding,
“The acts of aggression are accompanied by an embarrassing silence on the part
of Arab and Muslim countries.”
The
Tunisian lawyers also slammed the West's double standards as to the rights of
nations, stating that the Israeli forces’ continued attacks on al-Aqsa Mosque
have increased tensions in occupied Palestinian territories and provoked the
feeling of all Arabs and Muslims around the world.
Back
in late December 2020, the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the
country will not follow in Morocco’s footsteps to normalize diplomatic ties
with Israel, and that its position on the Palestinians' legitimate rights will
not be affected by any international changes.
The
ministry, in a statement published on its official Facebook page, dismissed
media reports that Tunisia intended to establish ties with the Tel Aviv regime
as unfounded and contrary to its principled and official position vis-à-vis the
Palestinian issue.
“Tunisia
reiterates the firm stance of the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, who
has emphasized on several occasions that the rights of the Palestinian people
are inalienable, foremost among which is their right to self-determination and
establishment of an independent state with al-Quds as its capital,” the
statement read.
Tunisians
feel solidarity with the Palestinian people and strongly support their rights,
which have been recognized by numerous United Nations resolutions and various
international bodies, especially the UN Security Council and the General
Assembly, it added.
“Tunisia
reaffirms its full conviction that a just, lasting and comprehensive peace
cannot be established in the region without implementing international
decisions regarding the rights of the Palestinian people to recover their
stolen land and to establish their independent state,” the ministry noted.
“As
Tunisia respects the sovereign positions of other countries, it affirms that
its stance is principled, and changes in the international scene will never
affect it,” the statement said.
The
foreign ministry concluded that Tunisia will not participate in any initiative
that infringes upon the rights of brotherly Palestinian people, and it is not
interested in establishing diplomatic relations with the occupying regime of
Israel.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Uttar
Pradesh: Mosque, Temple In Jhansi Pull Down Loudspeakers To Promote Amity
Representative
image
-----
Apr
26, 2022
JHANSI:
A mosque and a temple each in the Baragaon area of this UP district have
mutually decided to pull down their loudspeakers, strengthening the spirit of
amity in a region as proud of its “Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb” as it is of Rani
Lakshmibai’s legacy of valour.
The
initiative came from the Imam Hafiz Mohd Taj Aalam of Sunni Jama Masjid and
Mahant Shyam Mohan Das of Ram Janki temple at Baragaon, 15km from Jhansi city.
Das
told reporters on Monday that the idea was to set an example of mutual
understanding amid an atmosphere of friction over various issues, including the
use of louspeakers at religious places, in parts of the country. “Jhansi has
always been known for the way people of various communities coexist,” he saiid.
“Steps
like ours should set the template for others to follow and send out a message
of love and respect. ” Hafiz Mohd said prayers at the mosque would be broadcast
only within the premises through a small soundbox.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Arab World
As
crises loom, it’s a very different Ramadan in Lebanon
April
26, 2022
BEIRUT:
For decades, Patisserie Cremino, a popular pastry shop in Beirut braced itself
for the high demand of cakes, eclairs, tarts and other delectables during the
months of Christmas, Easter and Ramadan.
This
Ramadan, however, proved different.
The
shop rarely receives customers nowadays. The pastry chef and the owner made a
decision to cut down portions and instead focus on maintaining the high quality
the patisserie is famous for.
“The
more time passes, the worse we all get. We live and work day by day; you don’t
know if you’ll be able to open tomorrow with all the chaos happening and the
fuel crisis,” Ali, one of the shop’s workers, told Arab News
“And
this is supposed to be a blessed month. Let’s see where we’re headed to. No one
knows.”
For
confectioners and local retailers, Ramadan is usually a time to look forward
to. The holy month is capped by Eid Al Fitr, the three-day high point where
fasting, faith and discipline are rewarded with delightful treats and a fresh
new set of clothes.
Shadia,
a keeper of a children’s boutique called Hello Baby, told Arab News: “What
would usually be a busy time for me has evaporated; a woman comes in with her
two or three children but can barely afford to get them a few pieces for Eid,
and nowadays most walk out without having bought anything. It breaks my heart
really.”
In
the streets of Beirut, candidates’ posters are hung alongside decorative yet
toned-down Ramadan ornaments. With parliamentary and presidential elections due
to start next month, political parties have been campaigning with promises of
better living conditions for their citizens.
Lebanon
has been mired in an unprecedented economic meltdown since 2019. Its currency
has been devalued by more than 90 per cent and soaring prices have turned basic
goods and services into a luxury.
Even
in a country famed for finding ways of getting by, no matter the circumstance,
the continuous crumbling of state institutions has left practically no business
unscathed.
A
report by Save the Children published early this year revealed that an
estimated four million Lebanese citizens have been pushed into poverty, with
many children skipping at least one meal a day. Children’s diets consist mainly
of filling carbs such as rice and potatoes and even that has been cut in half.
Jennifer
Moorehead, Save The Children’s country director, said that the situation in the
country is “rapidly spiraling out of control” facing multiple crises with no
sign of relief in sight.
In
the Beirut suburb of Dahye, Umm Hassan, a 72-year-old grandmother, lamented at
how “politicians have left us in utter humiliation, all of them, no one is
exempt from the indignity they’ve placed upon us.”
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2070621/middle-east
--------
Sheikh
Qassem: Hezbollah enemies take orders from US embassy
26
April 2022
Lebanon’s
Hezbollah resistance movement says its enemies are instructed by the US
embassy, which he said is conspiring to target the Lebanese resistance and
render it defenseless.
"Hezbollah
enemies gather at the US embassy, take orders to target the resistance, and
work to disarm it," Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy secretary
general, said late Monday.
Some
parties in Lebanon are plotting to sabotage the Lebanese resistance, with
Hezbollah on top of their target list, he told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television
network.
Qassem
touched on violent October 17 protests in Lebanon, saying the US embassy tried
to use them to achieve its goals.
A
series of protests took place in Lebanon on October 17, 2019 over planned taxes
on gasoline, tobacco, and VoIP calls on applications such as WhatsApp. The
protests further expanded into a country-wide condemnation of economic
stagnation, unemployment, and articulation of concerns over social justice and
economic inequality.
Qassem
further said Lebanon's parliamentary election will be held on time on May 15,
adding that there is no reason to postpone it as sought by the US.
The
US embassy, Qassem said, has concluded that the upcoming election will “neither
turn the table nor change the existing state of affairs.”
It
is almost impossible for the other parties to win the majority in the election,
he said, adding that his party is not seeking to win the majority of the seats,
but rather, “what matters to us to have a balanced presence” within the
parliament to “make a noteworthy impact.”
Stabbing
resistance in the back
Last
week, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, a member and deputy head of the executive council of
Hezbollah, censured the United States and Saudi Arabia for intervening in
Lebanon’s parliamentary elections.
Those
who allied with Israel in the 1982 [Lebanon War] are now waiting for an
opportunity to “stab the resistance in the back” with financial support and
encouragement from foreign embassies, Qaouk said, according to a report by
Lebanon’s Al Jadeed TV.
“They
are on the same side with Israel and share the same goal. Nothing has changed,
they have not learned their lessons,” he added.
Qaouk
further said that some ambassadors “summon senior Lebanese officials, in
violation of diplomatic principles and Lebanon’s sovereignty,” adding that
those embassies are unprecedentedly interfering in the upcoming Lebanese
election by supporting certain electoral lists.
“We
want an election to save the country,” he said. However, he continued, they
consider the election as a means to fight the resistance, which amounts to “plunging
the country into sedition.”
According
to Qaouk, Hezbollah opinion polls across Lebanon showed the results of the
election will be close to the make-up of the current parliament, despite the
fact that Hezbollah’s adversaries hope to overturn the majority won by the
group and allies including President Michel Aoun’s Christian Free Patriotic
Movement in 2018.
Since
late 2019, Lebanon has been mired in a deep financial crisis that has caused
the Lebanese pound to lose around 90 percent of its value to the US dollar and
led its banking system to collapse, plunging the bulk of Lebanese into poverty.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/04/26/681012/Hezbollah-enemies-instructed-US-embassy-Deputy-chief
--------
Official:
Turkey has ‘no agreement, legal basis' for launching operations in northern
Iraq
25
April 2022
A
high-ranking Iraqi official says Turkey's ongoing operation against members of
the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group in the semi-autonomous
Kurdistan region is not being carried out under any agreement with the Baghdad
government.
The
spokesman for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry, Ahmed al-Sahaf, told the Iraqi News
Agency on Sunday that there was a pre-2003 agreement between Ankara and Baghdad
that temporarily permitted Turkish military forces, under certain
circumstances, to cross five kilometers over the border in pursuit of PKK
militants for a limited number of days in coordination with the Iraqi
government.
However,
in 2009, the Iraqi parliament “canceled” all agreements permitting Turkish
troop to enter the country, Sahaf noted.
“The
Turkish side is carrying out repeated violations [against Iraq] that have no
legal basis or agreement,” the Iraqi diplomat said.
Sahaf
highlighted that even the United Nations' Article 51, which Ankara invariably
cites to justify its cross-border operations, must be implemented with
“official approval” from Baghdad.
Last
week, Turkey announced its latest cross-border incursion into Iraq, codenamed
Operation Claw-Lock. The air-and-ground military attacks target suspected PKK
positions in the Zab, Basiyan, Avasheen, and Korajiwar districts in the
Kurdistan Region.
The
Iraqi government summoned the Turkish ambassador, Ali Riza Guney, and handed
him a "strongly worded" protest note over the offensive, and called
the operation a blatant violation of its sovereignty.
On
the other hand, Ankara summoned the Iraqi charge d'affaires and informed him
those military operations will continue if Baghdad doesn't take action against
PKK members.
Hassan
al-Adari, the head of the Sadrist bloc, which has the largest number of seats
in the Iraqi parliament, has said that Iraq must take the matter of Turkey's
repeated attacks to the United Nations Security Council and the Arab League to
establish a “unified stance” on the matter.
Earlier
this year, the Iraqi anti-terror Kata'ib Hezbollah group, which is part of the
Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, denounced the Turkish
military strikes on Kurdistan region, calling on the Ankara government to withdraw
its forces from the Arab country before it gets "too late."
Kata'ib
Hezbollah, in a statement released on February 5, demanded that Turkish
authorities stop repeated violations of Iraq’s sovereignty and deadly raids on
ordinary people and fully withdraw Turkish forces from Iraqi soil.
“Our
patience has reached its limit. Disregard for the loss of our compatriots’
lives and violations of the state sovereignty were the last straw,” the
statement read.
“The
Iraqi nation, which dispelled the myth about US forces as the world’s most
powerful military and subjected them to humiliation, can demean you as well.
Therefore, you are recommended to pull out your troops before it is too late,”
Kata'ib Hezbollah warned Ankara.
Militants
of the PKK — designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and
European Union — regularly clash with Turkish forces in the Kurdish-dominated
southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.
A
shaky ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed in July 2015.
Attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Lebanon
rescue teams search Mediterranean for migrant boat disaster survivors
25
April ,2022
Lebanese
rescue teams searched the Mediterranean for survivors Monday after an
overloaded people-smuggling boat capsized while under pursuit by naval forces,
with dozens unaccounted for still missing at sea.
At
least seven people died as a result of the disaster, which occurred late
Saturday and ignited widespread rage just three weeks before May 15
parliamentary elections.
The
body of a woman was retrieved from the water on Monday morning, bringing to
seven the number of confirmed deaths in Lebanon's worst such disaster in years.
“The
body of a woman from the Al-Nimr family was recovered today from the Tripoli
beach,” the director general of Tripoli Port Ahmed Tamer told AFP, adding that
rescue efforts were ongoing.
The
Lebanese army said on Sunday that 48 people had been rescued, but it was not
immediately clear exactly how many would-be asylum seekers were crammed onto
the boat when it set sail.
The
United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said the boat was carrying at least 84
people when it capsized, about three nautical miles off the coast of Tripoli.
According
to UNHCR figures, that means potentially some 30 people are still unaccounted
for.
The
passengers included Syrian and Palestinian refugees, but most were Lebanese,
the army said.
The
circumstances that led the small overloaded craft to sink were not entirely
clear, with some survivors claiming the navy rammed into their boat, and
officials insisting the smuggler attempted reckless escape maneuvers.
Lebanon
was once a transit point for asylum seekers from elsewhere in the region who
were hoping to reach the shores of European Union member Cyprus by sea, an
island 175 kilometers (110 miles) away.
However,
an unprecedented economic crisis that has caused hyper-inflation and plunged
millions into poverty is driving growing numbers of Lebanese to attempt the
perilous crossing.
The
UN says more than 1,500 would-be asylum seekers tried to leave Lebanon
illegally by sea since the start of 2021.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Yemen’s
Houthis release crew of seized Emirati cargo vessel: Spokesman
25
April ,2022
The
Iran-backed Houthis have released the crew of the United Arab Emirates cargo
ship RWABEE that was seized on January 3, the group’s spokesman said on Monday.
The
release of the crew – 11 in all according to sources familiar with the matter –
was agreed with the assistance of Oman, spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said in a
tweet.
He
said a detained British man was also released. He did not provide more details.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday a British man and his wife and child
were also released by the Houthis.
The
British government earlier identified the man as Luke Symons and said he had
been held without charge or trial since 2017.
The
Houthis have said the Emirati cargo vessel was carrying military hardware when
seized in the Red Sea on January 3. The Arab Coalition fighting the Iran-backed
Houthis since 2015 said the ship was carrying medical equipment.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Saudi
Arabia’s Hajj and Umrah Ministry fines 10 companies for bad services
April
26, 2022
Saudi
Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has fined 10 Umrah companies $13,000 each
for failing to provide adequate services to pilgrims.
The
companies were fined for negligence, breach of duties, and failure to fulfill
their obligations to pilgrims in terms of transportation and housing, the
ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The
ministry holds regular inspections and monitors all pilgrimage service
providers to prevent any breaches, the statement added.
All
pilgrims – whether traveling from outside or within the Kingdom – must use
licensed Umrah service providers to guarantee their rights, according to the
ministry.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2070781/saudi-arabia
--------
North America
Council
On American-Islamic Relations Says Islamophobic Incidents Hit 27-Year High In
2021
By
Mark A. Kellner
April
25, 2022
Reports
of Anti-Muslim or Islamophobic incidents were up 9% last year over 2020 figures
to a 27-year high of 6,720 cases, according to an annual report released Monday
by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
CAIR
cofounder and executive director Nihad Awad told a news conference that the
District-based advocacy group’s report, titled “Still Suspect: The Impact of
Structural Islamophobia,” indicates that “Islamophobia has become mainstream in
America. It made its way into the government institutions and public sphere
through laws, policies, political rhetoric and other manifestations.”
Mr.
Awad said the 2021 total represents “the highest number of cases reported to
CAIR in 27 years,” adding, “this milestone is alarming.”
Huzaifa
Shahbaz, the group’s senior researcher, said there were 2,823 complaints on
immigration and travel-related issues, the most common report received for the
second year in a row.
One
of CAIR’s chief targets is the federal watchlist of suspected terrorists.
Robert
McCaw, the group’s government affairs director, said the rules for the list
should be changed to preclude the inclusion of “innocent people, people who
have not been arrested, charged or convicted on terrorism-related offenses from
being listed.”
The
group also wants to stop federal officials from sharing watchlist data with
“foreign governments, private individuals and corporations and state police
officers.”
Attorney
Justin Sadowski of the CAIR Legal Defense Fund has filed lawsuits in Virginia,
the District, Maryland, Texas, and Oregon challenging the constitutionality of
the watchlist as well as the “religious questioning that the government will
sometimes ask … at the border. We are challenging its effects on banking and on
the ability to own and possess a gun.”
He
added, “Congress has never authorized the watchlist. This is something that the
Department of Justice and other government entities did on their own, based on
an executive order in the fear and chaos after 9/11.”
The
group also is pushing back against legislation blocking government contracts
for those who advocate for boycotts, divestment and sanctions targeting Israel.
He said such rules unconstitutionally punish “political speech in support of
Palestine.”
Source:
Washington Times
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/apr/25/muslim-advocacy-group-says-islamophobic-incidents-/
--------
Hundreds
attend Lailatul Qadr rituals in New York, Washington
April
26, 2022
Hundreds
of Shia Muslims attended rituals marking Lailatul Qadr (Night of Qadr) in New
York and Washington, DC, on Sunday night.
The
participants in the spiritual ceremonies were mostly from Iran, Afghanistan,
Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, and Iraq.
This
is the first time since 2020 that the Lailatul Qadr rituals are held at the
centers as they were cancelled in the past two years due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
They
began with recitation of verses from the Holy Quran followed by recitation of
Al-Iftitah Supplication.
Following
religious speeches, the participants said congregational Maghrib and Isha
prayers and after iftar (breaking of the fast), they recited the Jawshan Kabir
Supplication and listened to elegy recitations.
Laylat
Al Qadr is considered the holiest night of the year for Muslims and is believed
to fall either on the 19th, 21st, 23rd or 27th day of Ramadan.
Source:
ABNA24
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
Condemns Attacks on Afghan Mosques and Schools During Ramadan
April
25, 2022
STATE
DEPARTMENT —
The
United States condemns recent attacks at mosques and education centers in
Afghanistan that targeted civilians and schoolchildren.
“It's
a huge concern to us right now in the middle of Ramadan,” said a senior State
Department official. It is “inhumane,” “unjust” and “unacceptable” to target
Afghan women, children and vulnerable populations.
Last
Friday, Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said a bomb blast inside a packed
mosque in northeastern Kunduz province has killed at least 33 worshipers,
including children.
There
were no immediate claims of responsibility, though officials suspected Islamic
State militants could be behind the bloodshed.
The
deadly assault came a day after a bomb ripped through a Shiite Muslim mosque in
the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, and days after attacks on the
Mumtaz Education Center and the Abdul Rahim Shaheed School in Kabul.
The
Taliban recognize that the security in Afghan and the rights of vulnerable
populations are issues that the U.S. takes “very seriously,” said the official,
while stopping short of elaborating on whether there has been direct
communication with the Taliban on recent attacks.
Monday,
U.S. Special Envoy Rina Amiri spoke to VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike
Ching about women, girls and human rights in Afghanistan.
She
said the Taliban “should emphatically be held accountable” for a decision March
23 to renege on their commitment in girls’ education, continuing to bar girls in
grades seven to 12 from attending school.
The
U.S. has made it clear to the Taliban that “they have to implement on concrete
deliverables to the Afghan population, including getting girls the right to
school,” said Amiri when asked if the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education has
made it even less likely for the U.S. to release frozen Afghan funds.
The
following are excerpts from the interview. It has been edited for brevity and
clarity.
VOA:
First, I’d like to get your response on recent attacks against schools and
mosques in Afghanistan, where children and civilians were among the victims.
How worried is the U.S.?
Amiri:
Oh, We're deeply … first, we extend our deep condolences to the families that
have suffered so immensely, that are suffering even more devastating losses
right now. It's a huge concern to us right now in the middle of Ramadan, and at
a time that is holy for Muslims throughout the world. Afghan women, children
and vulnerable populations are being targeted is inhumane. It's unjust and it's
unacceptable.
VOA:
Is there any communication with the Taliban regarding recent attacks?
Amiri:
The Taliban recognize that this is an issue that we take very seriously. We are
particularly concerned about the situation of the vulnerable populations,
ethnic and religious groups that have been under increasing attack. And the
situation of women and children are continuing to go in a very negative
direction. The longer this continues in this way without robust response from
the Taliban, the greater the country is going to suffer more devastating
consequences.
VOA:
In late March, the Taliban reversed their commitment and barred Afghan girls
from attending school beyond sixth grade. You have joined other senior U.S.
officials to condemn such [a] decision. But in reality, how would the Taliban
be held accountable?
Amiri:
The Taliban should emphatically be held accountable. The Taliban made
commitments to the Afghan population and the international community that they
would open up girls' schools on March 23. They did it repeatedly, they made the
statement repeatedly even a week before they reneged on their decision. They
had said that they would open up girls’ schools.
This
is a decision that has been made from the top. And it's coming directly from
the Taliban. There is no excuse for it. It's unacceptable. It has put
Afghanistan in a reverse position and makes the situation - not just Afghan
women and girls, but the population - it puts them at risk of greater poverty,
greater suffering and greater instability.
If
you look at anywhere in the world, the greatest indicator of a country's
ability to progress - at an economic level in terms of peace in terms of
stability - is the degree to which women and girls are engaged, are allowed
education, are allowed the opportunity to work and to contribute to the
viability of their country. You cannot just completely take away the rights of
50% of the population and expect to have a better outcome.”
VOA:
Why did the Taliban make such [a] decision? Is it a reflection of [an] internal
rift?
Amiri:
I don't... I cannot speak on behalf of where the Taliban stands on these
issues. But what I can say is that the decision that they're making is bad for
the country. It's bad for the Taliban as a group, and it's bad for the
viability of a secure and stable Afghanistan.
VOA:
So this decision has made it even less likely [for the U.S.] to release the
frozen Afghan funds?
Amiri:
The Taliban understand that not only in the last six, seven months, but for the
last several years, what has been very clear to the Taliban is that: They have
to deliver on their commitments. They cannot just deliver on in terms of
rhetoric. They have to implement on concrete deliverables to the Afghan
population, including getting girls the right to school, for women to have the
right to work and to create a culture of hope rather than a culture of
repression.
The
direction that they're taking the country - by making these decisions - that's
going to lead to greater instability, greater conflict, greater migration, a greater
brain drain. It’s a direction that's going to take Afghanistan on an even more
negative course.
VOA:
On March 14, 12 women received [the] State Department's International Women of
Courage Award. But there was not an Afghan honoree, which was rare. How do you
respond to critics who [say] it’s sending a disappointing message to Afghan
women?
Amiri:
There's a collective recognition - not just by the U.S., but globally, the
international community - that the Afghan women are the bravest women. … Quite
honestly, I think what I understand in terms of the deliberations is that it
was very hard to come back and say we're going to pick one woman out of
hundreds of thousands of brave Afghan women.
VOA:
Does the fact that the U.S. does not maintain an embassy in Kabul make it more
difficult to recommend an Afghan awardee?
Source:
VOA News
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--------
Saudi
Arabia banks on Trump's return to office, snubbing Biden: Report
25
April 2022
Saudi
Arabia’s decision to reject US President Joe Biden’s calls for it to increase
oil production as the West tightens energy sanctions on Russia suggests the
kingdom is still banking on Donald Trump’s return to office, according to a
report.
The
Biden administration has been pressuring Saudi Arabia to increase oil
production as part of efforts to bring down energy prices, which have soared as
a result of sanctions targeting Russian oil and gas.
In
an apparent change of tone, the White House said on Thursday that the United
States had an “iron-clad commitment from the president on down” to Saudi
Arabia’s security. The Pentagon is also reportedly working on a draft of a new
statement of joint security arrangements.
Observers,
however, say the new push by the White House is likely to fall short of the
kind of security guarantees Saudi Arabia and other Parisian Gulf countries have
demanded.
Saudi
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, reportedly
declined to take a call from President Biden last month, displaying his
displeasure at the administration’s decision to restrict arms sales to Riyadh
amid the war in Yemen.
Instead,
the ambitious prince shows signs of betting on the return of Donald Trump, who
had aligned US policy in the Middle East more closely with that of Saudi Arabia,
the Guardian reported.
Relations
between the United States and Saudi Arabia have plunged to their lowest point
in decades over Riyadh’s reluctance to increase oil production.
A
Saudi wealth fund led by bin Salman has placed over $2 billion to a new and
untested investment fund run by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. The
contribution was made six months after Kushner left the White House, in what
ethics experts say could be potential payback for defending the controversial
prince.
Citing
experts on US-Saudi relations, the Guardian said the investment is yet another
indication that bin Salman is hoping Trump would make a political comeback in
2024.
“It
boils down to something very simple. The Saudis – meaning Mohammed bin Salman –
have chosen Trump over Biden, and they’re sticking to their bet,” said Bruce
Riedel, a former senior CIA official who is director of the Brookings
Institution’s intelligence project.
“It’s
not an unreasonable proposition. Trump gave them everything they wanted:
complete support in Yemen, support over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi,
whatever they wanted in terms of access in the United States.”
Kushner,
who was a senior Middle East adviser to Trump, played a key role at the White
House defending bin Salman after US intelligence concluded he was responsible
for the 2018 killing of Saudi dissident and journalist Khashoggi.
John
Jenkins, a former UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia said he believed the Saudi
crown prince “is betting on the Republicans winning big in the midterms and
then regaining the presidency – with or without Trump.”
“He
probably thinks Biden is politically weak and he can therefore afford to spite
him,” Jenkins told the British daily.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/04/25/681000/Saudi-Arabia-bet-Trump-return-
--------
Mideast
Quds,
Al-Aqsa Mosque Red Line For Islamic Ummah; OIC Calls To Defend Quds And Its
Holy Sites Against The Crimes By The Israeli Occupiers
April
26, 2022
The
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has reaffirmed its commitment and
support for the right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty over their occupied
land.
The
member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) today, Monday,
held an extraordinary meeting in Jeddah and at the end of the meeting, the
member states called for coordinating efforts to defend Quds and its holy sites
against the crimes committed by the Israeli occupiers.
The
OIC member states emphasized that Holy Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque are a red line
for the Islamic Ummah and without liberating it from the occupation of the
Zionist Israeli regime, security and stability in the region will not be
achieved.
The
aggression of the Israeli occupiers against the Palestinian people, especially
in the city of ًQuds , and the illegal
actions of the Zionist regime in the city with the aim of taking full control
over it and trying to change the historical and legal situation in Quds and the
Al-Aqsa Mosque were condemned.
In
the statement, the OIC member states said that the Zionist regime of Israeli
must be held to account for any consequences of the aggression and illegal
actions of the occupiers in Quds including the attempt to divide Al-Aqsa
Mosque, and demanded an immediate end to the dangerous and illegitimate
actions.
Meanwhile,
in the opening ceremony of today's session, Secretary-General of the OIC
Hissein Brahim Taha, reaffirmed the OIC’s total commitment and support for the
right of the Palestinian people to sovereignty over their occupied land.
He
also underlined the religious and spiritual centrality of the city and the
eternal connection of Muslims across the world to the blessed al-Aqsa Mosque.
This
was contained in his statement at the opening session of the open-ended
extraordinary meeting of the OIC Executive Committee at the level of Permanent
Representatives to discuss the ongoing Israeli aggression against the blessed
al-Aqsa Mosque, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency.
Source:
ABNA24
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://en.abna24.com/news//quds-al-aqsa-mosque-red-line-for-islamic-ummah-oic_1251811.html
--------
Spokesman:
Rulers in Afghanistan Responsible for Establishment of Security for All Ethnic
Groups
2022-April-25
Khatibzadeh
made the remarks in his weekly press conference on Monday in response to a
question about the series of bombings in Afghanistan that have targeted Hazaras
and Shiites and that the Taliban appear incapable of providing security in
Afghanistan.
"The
situation in Afghanistan, including all ethnic and religious groups, has been
always important to the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is the sole responsibility
of the governing body of Afghanistan to ensure the security of all ethnic
groups in the country. They have not yet been able to establish security in
some areas," he added.
Also
asked about the tension between Iran and Afghanistan on the Dogarun border,
Khatibzadeh said, "Our zealous border guards have been stationed on the
country's borders with Afghanistan due to the internal situation in
Afghanistan. They have a responsibility to prevent any illegal traffic."
He
also pointed to the presence of a diplomat from the Afghan governing body in
Afghanistan's embassy in Tehran, saying, "Tens of thousands of Afghan
people [residing in Iran] per month go to Afghan Embassy in Tehran [for their
consular works]. Therefore, a large number of employees are needed in the
consular section. So, we should help the embassy in this regard."
"We
will not hand over the embassy to any government that we have not recognized,
and this is Iran's decision," the spokesman said.
Elsewhere,
he referred to the upcoming visit of the Turkish president to Iran, and said,
"The date is not yet finalized and there should be some preparations for
Erdogan's trip, and meetings must be arranged to determine the date of the
trip."
Khatibzadeh
also pointed to the fifth round of talks between Iran and Saudi Arabia which
was held in Baghdad, terming it positive.
"The
talks were serious. We can expect to see serious progress quickly in the
various areas if the talks have some progress at the political level."
He
also rejected the possibility of a meeting between the foreign ministers of
Iran and Saudi Arabia at this level.
Khatibzadeh
also referred to the latest developments in Palestine and occupied territories,
saying that despite the conspiracies of the Zionist regime, the issue of
Palestine is being considered the first issue in public opinion of the Islamic
world.
He
also added that the issue of Palestine is the main focus of the Organization of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and all free countries that stand against racism.
Last
week, Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi condemned the recent terrorist
attacks on innocent people in Afghanistan, and asked the ruling body in the
country to punish the culprits and prevent recurrence of such crimes.
Rayeesi
warned of the expansion of terrorist threats against Afghanistan and other
nations in the region, and emphasized the necessity of providing security for
all Afghan people, especially in schools, mosques, and religious centers.
He
highlighted the responsibility of authorities in Afghanistan to identify and
punish the perpetrators, and said that the Islamic Republic of Iran was ready
to deploy all its capabilities to help Afghanistan prevent such threats.
President
Rayeesi also expressed Iran’s readiness to help in treatment of people injured
in recent terrorist attacks.
Also,
Khatibzadeh voiced Tehran's deep concern over repeated terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.
"Iran
is concerned over the sharp rise in the number of such bitter incidents,"
the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said.
Pointing
out that the latest bomb attacks in Afghanistan took place in the holy fasting
month of Ramadan when mosques are more crowded due to people’s presence, he
said such terrorist attacks, whose main targets are fasting Muslim prayers, are
abhorrent.
Khatibzadeh
wished patience for the families of the victims of the terrorist attacks and
recovery of the injured ones.
Two
powerful explosions hit two mosques in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh
province on Thursday.
According
to the reports, at least 40 people were killed and 100 injured in the explosion
that took place in the largest Shia mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Also,
at least 26 people, mostly students, were killed and tens of others wounded
after two blasts targeted a boys’ school in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood
earlier this week.
Two
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) blew up outside the Abdul Rahim Shahid high
school in Western Kabul.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran's
Top General Asks for Punishment of Culprits behind Terrorist Attacks in
Afghanistan
2022-April-25
General
Baqeri in a message on Sunday vehemently condemned the recent terrorist attacks
in Afghanistan, and expressed sympathy with the families of the victims.
“Adoption
of expedient measures as well as serious and practical steps ... to discover
the reasons and causes of such disasters in addition to identification and
categorical punishment of those groups and elements that are behind them is a
necessity,” he said.
General
Baqeri added that the perpetrators of such terrorist acts have targeted the
“security of this Islamic land, including its schools, mosques and [other]
religious locations in line with the evil strategy of the White House and
enemies of the Grand Prophet [of Islam]”.
Afghanistan
has been in turmoil since the Taliban, who had previously ruled Afghanistan from
1996 to 2001, took power again on August 15 last year amid a chaotic US troop
withdrawal from the war-torn country.
Since
then, the country has been the scene of recurrent terrorist attacks, some of
which have been claimed by the ISIL terrorist group.
Two
powerful explosions hit two mosques in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of Balkh
province last Thursday.
According
to the reports, at least 40 people were killed and 100 injured in the explosion
that took place in the largest Shiite mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Also,
at least 26 people, mostly students, were killed and tens of others wounded
after two blasts targeted a boys’ school in Kabul’s Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood
earlier this week.
Two
improvised explosive devices (IEDs) blew up outside the Abdul Rahim Shahid high
school in Western Kabul.
A
third blast occurred at an English language center several kilometers away but
in the same area.
Iranian
President Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi warned of the expansion of terrorist threats
against Afghanistan and other nations in the region, and emphasized the
necessity of providing security for all Afghan people, especially in schools,
mosques, and religious centers.
He
highlighted the responsibility of authorities in Afghanistan to identify and
punish the perpetrators, and said that the Islamic Republic of Iran was ready
to deploy all its capabilities to help Afghanistan prevent such threats.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Islamic
Jihad leader: Palestinians creating new equations in confrontation with Zionist
enemy
25
April 2022
Secretary
General of the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad movement Ziad al-Nakhala says
Palestinian people are more energetic than ever before in their confrontation
with the Zionist regime.
Nakhala
made the remarks in a Monday conference themed “Palestine, the Central Issue of
Islamic Ummah,” which was held in the Yemeni capital city of Sana'a.
“Our
nation is faced with the Zionist regime’s onslaught, which seeks to Judaize
al-Quds and create new realities on the ground,” he said, adding, “The
Palestinian nation is creating new equations in its confrontation with the
Zionist regime.”
Nakhala
said the holding of this conference is another proof of Yemen's support for the
Palestinian cause and that the aggressors in Yemen are approaching the Zionist
regime despite the occupying entity’s Judaization moves and the destruction of
the Palestinian nation's identity.
“The
Zionists use military force and under the guise of international organizations
exploit the compromising Arab countries that have recognized the legitimacy of
this occupying regime. They also cause conflicts with the Palestinian people in
order to take advantage of them,” the secretary general of the Islamic Jihad
movement said.
Nakhala
said Palestinian people are facing plots by an enemy that has never ceased any
efforts to dominate al-Quds through the falsification of history and the
massacre of people in al-Aqsa Mosque.
“Despite
Israeli efforts to Judaize al-Aqsa Mosque and destroy the identity of the
Palestinian people, the aggressors in Yemen are trying to get closer to the
Zionist regime in any way possible,” Nakhala noted.
The
Islamic Jihad’s chief said it is regrettable that Palestinians have been
forsaken and have to fight against arrogance, Zionism and the siege imposed on
them by some of their Arab brothers.
“The
countdown for the Zionist regime has begun, and today it is rapidly going
downhill on the domestic front and in its confrontation with the Palestinian
intifadas (uprisings),” Nakhala underlined.
Palestinian
officials and resistance groups have repeatedly voiced concerns over the
Israeli regime’s plot to divide al-Aqsa into Jewish and Muslim sections or set
visiting times.
Israeli
forces have repeatedly attacked Palestinian worshipers at the site since early
April, with the onset of the holy month of Ramadan which coincided with Jewish
Passover.
More
than 150 Palestinian worshipers were injured when Israeli forces stormed the
compound in the holy occupied city of al-Quds’ Old City last week. The forces
have kept up their violations on the flashpoint site besides cracking down on
solidarity protests throughout the occupied West Bank.
The
clashes in al-Quds had sparked fears of another armed conflict similar to an
11-day war last year between Israel and Gaza-based Palestinian resistance
groups, including Hamas.
Israel
waged the war last May in response to Palestinian retaliation against violent
raids on worshipers at al-Aqsa Mosque and the regime’s plans to force a number
of Palestinian families out of their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of
East al-Quds.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2022/04/25/680983/Palestinians-Islamic-Jihad-movement-Ziad-Nakhala--
--------
Major
West-Originated Cyberattack against Iranian Infrastructures Thwarted
2022-April-25
The
AFTA Strategic Management Center, an Iranian cyber security institution,
announced that its specialists thwarted a large-scale cyberattack originating
from IPs in western states against the country’s infrastructure.
AFTA
added that the cyberattacks were conducted through the security loopholes of an
application commonly used at different institutions.
It
said the body succeeded in fending off the cyberattack on the back of “timely
action” taken by its security operations command center.
“The
hackers were planning to exploit the security hole in one of the widely used
applications at [Iranian] organizations to get access to the infrastructures
and their data, inject them their own malware, and give them their desired
commands,” AFTA said.
The
organization's experts, however, managed to discover the “clues and the
behavioral patterns” used in the cyber raid and detect the ultimate targets,
which included over 100 important e-services in both state and private sectors
of the country.
By
detecting the security holes and making the necessary updates, the Iranian
experts prevented the access of hackers to “back doors” for “a variety of IP
addresses” from the Netherlands, the US, and Britain, the statement added.
Iran’s
state organizations and nuclear facilities have repeatedly been the target of
cyber assaults by Israel and the US.
In
2010, US and Israeli intelligence agencies unleashed a computer worm called
Stuxnet on Iranian uranium-enrichment plants in an attempt to disrupt Iran’s
nuclear program. The Washington Post reported two years later that the US
National Security Agency (NSA), its spy service CIA, and Israel’s military had
worked together to launch Stuxnet against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The
act of sabotage was followed by Mossad’s assassination of several Iranian nuclear
scientists.
In
December, Iran's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Majid Takht Ravanchi underlined Tehran’s opposition to inference in the
internal affairs of the states using ICTs, saying that his country is itself a
victim of cyberattacks by the US and Israel.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
arrests three suspects in gun murder of two Sunni Muslim clerics
26
April ,2022
Iranian
police have arrested three suspects in the recent gun murder of two Sunni
Muslim clerics, the head of the judicial authority of the northern province of
Golestan said Tuesday.
Investigators
had found that the three, also Sunnis, had “no connection with terrorist
groups,” the official, Heydar Asyabi, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA
news agency.
The
two clerics were shot dead on April 2 outside a seminary in the town of
Gonbad-e Kavus, local media reported.
“Less
than a month after the crime, the killer of two Sunni clerics and his two
accomplices have been arrested,” Asyabi said, without naming the suspects,
adding that the crime had been motivated by a “personal conflict.”
A
search of the home of one of the accused uncovered four guns, Asyabi said.
Sunnis
make up around five to 10 percent of the nearly 83 million people of Iran,
where Shiism has been the state religion since the early 16th century.
The
constitution of the Islamic Republic stipulates that Sunnis “are free to
perform their religious rites.”
Golestan
is a half-Sunni province on the Caspian Sea.
Nearly
a week after the Gonbad-e Kavus killings, a Sunni extremist, reportedly of
ethnic Uzbek origin, killed two Shia clerics in Iran's most revered place of
worship in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Africa
Biden,
King Abdullah discuss violence in Jerusalem
25
April ,2022
US
President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah spoke on Monday about the recent
violence at the al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in Jerusalem, the White House said.
The
White House said the two leaders discussed “in detail” the recent efforts to
reduce violence in Israel and Palestine.
“The
President welcomed recent steps to reduce tensions and expressed his hope that
the final week of Ramadan will pass peacefully,” a statement from the White
House read. Biden also underscored the need to preserve the historic status quo
at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount, while he recognized Jordan’s role as the
custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem.
“The
King briefed the President on his recent engagements in the region and the
President emphasized the US commitment to the Middle East and regional
stability,” the White House said.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
India
MP:
HC Orders Police to Offer Security to Muslim Man Booked for 'Love Jihad'
APRIL
25, 2022
The
principal bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed the arrest of a
Muslim man booked on charges of abducting a Hindu girl and ordered the police
to offer him security, if need be.
Dindori
resident Asif Khan had eloped with Sakshi Sahu, who lived nearby, and the
couple got married in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh. Her family had lodged a
complaint against Khan and his family, terming their marriage illegal. During
the hearing, Sakshi testified that she had consented to the marriage and was
not abducted.
Khan
had pleaded before the court that the Dindori police acted in partisan manner
and booked him on charges of abduction. The man demanded that the irregular
first information report (FIR) lodged against him be quashed.
After
the FIR, police and administration demolished his house, as part of a bulldozer
drive against criminals in the state.
After
hearing the matter, the court of judge Nandita Dubey served notices to the
police, state government and others. The court also sought a clarification from
the Dindori administration on the demolition drive. The HC also ordered them to
get married under the Special Marriage Act.
Source:
News18
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
3
Muslim Employees Of Khargone Municipal Corporation Sacked Post Khargone
Violence, Say No Cause Given
24th
April 2022
Following
the violence in Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone on the occasion of Ram Navami earlier
this month, four Muslim employees were laid off for allegedly spreading
rumours.
The
three employees were identified as Chirag Idris, Masoom Kala, and Ijraeed
Raool, who along with their supervisor Akbar Rafiq Khan, were fired from their
job. Days after their expulsion from the Khargone Municipal Corporation, the
workers are yet to be given a reason.
A
mere WhatsApp message saying that they have been removed from work was sent to
them by the higher authorities. “I have been fired. My only mistake was
following the orders of the Nagarpalika Health Officer Prakash Chitey,” a
supervisor at the Khargone Nagarpalika was quoted as saying by Maktoob Media.
Media
reports suggest that Khan has been suspended, and Chitey added that only the
chief medical officer knows the reason for laying him off. Khan was supposed to
gather workers to clean up the lake and a few other areas after the Ram Navami
procession.
The
corporation reportedly fell short of workers, following which Khan arranged for
a few workers. Among the newly arranged employees, Idris, Kala, and Raool were
travelling on the bike toward their assigned site, when they were stopped by
the police, and their pictures were clicked.
Source:
Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/3-muslim-employees-sacked-post-khargone-violence-say-no-cause-given-2314729/
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Muslim
Painters Decorate Prakash Parv Celebration Venue In Haryana on the Occasion of
Gurpurab
25th
April 2022
Panipat:
A team of Muslim painters have been working dawn to dusk to prepare a painting
of “Ik Onkar” (there is only one God) to commemorate a grand celebration here
on Sunday to mark the 400th Prakash Parv of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur.
Mohammad
Gulfam, who has been leading the team of 26 Muslim artisans, all hailing from
Delhi, said: “Art knows no religion. We work in temples, mosques, and Gurdwaras
everywhere. Sometimes we even do decorations in ‘jagrans’. Our team has done a
lot of decoration work at various religious events organised on the occasion of
Gurpurab.”
Along
with fellow painters, he reached here on April 12 and has been working with
reverence for 18-19 hours every day to decorate the venue.
His
team members — Sharif, Akram, Nawab Ali, Rizwan, Ayub, etc., had first prepared
an iron structure at the main entrance, stage and backdrop. After that,
beautiful wood and thermocol art have been done on this structure to give a grand
welcome to the devotees.
“Working
on religious events that are preaching the message of communal harmony and
brotherhood certainly gives him and his team an all different spiritual comfort
and inner peace. We all should come together to show religious and communal
harmony,” added Gulfam.
Led
by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Haryana is all set to welcome the people
converging to mark the celebrations of Guru Tegh Bahadur, also known as ‘Hind
Di Chadar’.
A
grand ‘pandal’ spread over 25 acres in Panipat has become the centre of
attraction. Adequate parking arrangements have been made on 60 acres, an
official statement said.
Khattar,
his cabinet colleagues, leader of Opposition Bhupinder Hooda, Sant Samaj members
and leaders of all other political parties in the state will participate in the
event. Sikh musicians, ‘ragi’ and ‘dhadi’ from across the country will also be
present.
Member
of Parliament, Sanjay Bhatia, who is the convener of the programme management
committee, said it is a matter of pride for the state as they would be
witnessing the grand and historic celebration.
The
Information, Public Relations and Languages Department has also made
arrangements for the live telecast of the event.
Ahead
of the event, a team of the state government visited Amritsar to bring holy
water from the Golden Temple Sarovar for the programme.
Haryana
has a special connection with Guru Tegh Bahadur as there are more than 30
gurdwaras in the state named after him. The government has been taking
decisions from time to time to preserve these historical gurdwaras.
Khattar
recently announced the establishment of a ‘peeth’ in the name of Guru Tegh
Bahadur at Kurukshetra University in Kurukshetra.
Source:
Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/muslim-painters-decorate-parkash-Parv-celebration-venue-in-haryana-2315536/
--------
Don’t
Buy Gold From Shops Owned By Muslims: Hindu Outfits In Karnataka
25th
April 2022
Bengaluru:
With Akshaya Tritiya round the corner, Hindu outfits in Karnataka have urged
people not to purchase gold from jewellery shops owned by Muslims on the day of
the festival.
Akshaya
Tritiya is a Hindu festival which is believed to bring good luck, and people
believe that buying gold on this day will turn their fortunes. The festival
will be celebrated on May 3.
However,
the auspicious occasion has been given a communal tone this time with Hindu
outfits urging people not to make any purchase from jewellery shops owned by
Muslims. Posts and messages to this effect have gone viral on social media.
Pramod
Muthalik, founder of Sri Ram Sena, said on Monday that people should make
purchases only from shops owned by Hindus on Akshaya Tritiya.
“The
money which you pay for gold jewelleries at Muslim shops will reach
organisations working against Hindus. The money will find its way to
organisations based out of Kerala, where scores of Hindus have been killed by
fundamentalist groups. Your money will help them commit more atrocities on
Hindus in Kerala,” he said.
T.A.
Sharavana, the President of Karnataka Jewellers Association, said that the
statements are being made to create unrest in the society.
“It
should be left to the discretion of the customer to make purchase of their
choice,” he said.
Source:
Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/dont-buy-gold-from-shops-owned-by-muslims-hindu-outfits-in-karnataka-2315687/
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Maharashtra
Puts Ball In Centre’s Court On Mosque-Loudspeaker Issue After All-Party Meet
Purva
Chitnis
25
April, 2022
Mumbai:
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra Monday put the onus of
resolving the mosque-loudspeaker issue on the Modi government, following an
all-party meeting meant to find a solution to the controversy. Opposition BJP
boycotted the meeting, called by the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA.
Ever
since the Shiv Sena’s alliance with the BJP ended in 2019, the former has
pointed to the Centre every time the issue of loudspeakers at religious places
has come up. At Monday’s meeting, the Shiv Sena’s MVA allies — the Congress and
the NCP — toed the same line.
Addressing
the media, Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil said the Centre should
come up with a policy on loudspeakers, which the state would then follow.
“It
is the government’s responsibility to maintain law & order. Police will
take action if somebody violates it. If the Centre makes a national-level rule
over loudspeakers, issues won’t come up in states. It was decided that an
all-party delegation will meet the Centre and discuss this,” Walse-Patil said.
The
meeting came amid a raging controversy in the state over the loudspeaker issue,
which started with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s Gudi
Padwa address earlier this month.
Raj
Thackeray said if the practice of loudspeakers at mosques doesn’t end, speakers
would blare the Hanuman Chalisa outside the Islamic places of worship. A few
days later, at a rally in Thane, Thackeray gave the state government an
ultimatum to remove loudspeakers from mosques by 3 May.
Over
the weekend, an MP-MLA couple from Amravati — Navneet and Ravi Rana — were
arrested over their proclamation that they would play the Hanuman Chalisa
outside CM Uddhav Thackeray’s residence at Matoshree.
Their
announcement led to protests by the Shiv Sena and the couple has since been booked
for allegedly creating animosity between communities, and “sedition”, among
other charges, earning the state government criticism from the BJP.
The
BJP said it boycotted the meeting because “the law and order in the state is
all over the place”.
“We
received an invitation from Maharashtra Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil for an
all-party meeting today but we didn’t go in view of what happened in the last
few days,” said Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of the Opposition. at a press
conference. “If someone has taken the role of Hitler, it is better to fight
instead of communicate,” he added.
The
meeting was skipped by CM Uddhav Thackeray and chaired by Walse-Patil and
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Those in attendance included the Shiv Sena’s
Aaditya Thackeray and Eknath Shinde, and the Congress’ Ashok Chavan and Aslam
Sheikh. Representatives from the AIMIM, SP, and AAP attended as well.
Raj
Thackeray was absent, but sent MNS representatives.
MNS
leader Sandeep Deshpande told ThePrint that they are firm on their stand and
Monday’s meeting did not achieve anything concrete.
“We
had asked them to not allow (mosques) permission to play loudspeakers for all
365 days. That was not accepted. And instead they just said we will ask Centre
to make guidelines, which is passing the buck,” he said.
Also
Read: Muslims must give up azaan by loudspeakers. Even Prophet would have
rejected it
What
happened at the meeting
Walse-Patil
said the state government cannot remove loudspeakers over mosques as the rules
in this regard “are very clear”.
In
2005, he said, the Supreme Court passed an order issuing certain guidelines,
based on which, between 2015 and 17, the Maharashtra government released a
government resolution.
The
Supreme Court, in July 2005, banned the use of loudspeakers and music systems
between 10 pm and 6 am (except in the cases of public emergencies) at public
places, citing the serious effects of noise pollution on health of people.
Consequently,
the minister said, loudspeakers can be played between 6 am and 10 pm.
The
minister said the meeting involved “discussions over playing azaan on
loudspeakers”.
“But
if any decision is taken over one community, it will impact other communities
too. Prayers, bhajans are also played publicly in other parts of the state. So,
if a decision has to be taken, there should be one similar rule for all
communities,” he added.
Reacting
to the BJP’s absence at the meeting, Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe said the
BJP has “shown its real face by boycotting a meeting… aimed at maintaining law
and order in the state”. “Now it is clear that the BJP wants to disrupt harmony
in the state and create riots,” he added.
Speaking
to reporters in Pune, NCP chief Sharad Pawar made light of BJP leaders’
comments regarding the “need” for President’s rule in the state.
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Uttar
Pradesh: Political churning among Muslims over Azam Khan factor
Apr
26, 2022
LUCKNOW:
Jailed SP MLA Azam Khan's simmering despondency for his own party have tuned
the arc-lights on politics around the Muslim community which consolidated
momentously behind the Akhilesh Yadav-led outfit in the recently concluded UP
assembly elections. Political experts maintain that the sullen affliction of
Khan as a "victim" of BJP as well as Akhilesh's purported neglect
could potentially set a deep-rooted churning among the minority community ahead
of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when BJP would seek to repeat its stupendous
performance to hoist PM Narendra Modi back to Delhi throne for the third
consecutive time.
Analysts
point out that Azam's restlessness towards SP amid a chilling discord between
Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal coincides with the presumably
"moderate" stance of CM Yogi Adityanath vis-a-vis restricting use of
loudspeakers during religious functions post Jahangirpuri violence in Delhi --
a move, that BJP leaders insist, positions the saffron pantheon to take the
guard for a swiftly changing dynamics in politically crucial UP.
While
BJP has been maintaining an arm's distance with developments around Azam and
SP, party sources confide that the existing situation in the rival camp was
"somewhat suitable" for the saffron outfit. Experts said that the
discreet silence maintained by the top BJP leaders on Azam and his supporters,
too, contributed its bit in diffusing the possible build-up of reactionary
propensity in the opposition camp.
"A
host of Muslim leaders chastising SP in support of Azam was bound to trigger a
churning in the political landscape of UP," affirmed Prof SK Pandey, head
of the political science department in Babashaeb Bhimrao Ambedkar University
(BBAU). He said that Muslim community's profound political despair for being
rendered as a mere vote bank was "showing up". "Already their
representation in UP politics has been shrinking following a galactic rise of
BJP in 2014 Lok sabha elections," he said.
Experts
said that Akhilesh himself has not been very vocal for the Muslim community
during the UP elections fearing a possible counter-polarisation -- even though
he was at the receiving end of BJP for fielding Nahid Hasan in exodus-hit
Kairana and comparing Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah with Jawaharlal
Nehru and Sardar Patel. Muslim consolidation behind SP, which managed to
position itself as the most potent rival of BJP in UP polls, nevertheless, is
credited to have helped the regional outfit raise its vote share from around
22% in 2017 to over 32% this year.
Sources
said that the SP and its allies, especially the Jayant Chaudhary-led RLD, have
been sensing the precariousness of the situation. It was only last week that
Jayant reached Rampur to meet the family of Azam. The development attained
great pertinence in the backdrop of his consistent efforts to cobble up his
core Jat vote voters with the Muslims -- the two communities had entered into
acrimonious terms after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
BSP
chief Mayawati, too, has been perceiving a chance to amalgamate her core Dalit
voters with the Muslim to throw up a challenge at the BJP. Experts, however,
insist that it will not be an easy task for Mayawati who has only been showing
signs of rigidity in her strategy.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
Pakistan's
new govt issues passport to ex-premier Nawaz Sharif to return
Apr
25, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan's former prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been issued a passport to
return to his home country from the UK where he was seeking treatment, a media
report said on Monday.
The
72-year-old three-time premier, against whom several corruption cases were
launched by the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, had left for
London in November 2019 after the Lahore High Court granted him four-week
permission allowing him to go abroad for his treatment.
The
Express Tribune newspaper reported that he has been issued a passport by the
new government headed by his younger brother, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The
nature of the passport is “ordinary” and it was made in the “urgent” category,
Geo News reported.
Sharif,
who is the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo, last week met Pakistan
People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in London and discussed
the "overall political situation" in Pakistan and vowed to work
together on issues pertaining to politics and national interest.
The
PPP and the PML-N- the two main political parties- have been alternatively in
power when the military was not ruling the country.
The
powerful Army has ruled the coup-prone country for more than half of its
75-plus years of existence.
Sharif,
before flying to the UK in 2019, had given an undertaking to the Lahore High
Court to return to Pakistan, citing his record to face the process of law and
justice within four weeks or as soon as he is declared healthy and fit to
travel by doctors.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Bilawal,
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to Accompany PM Shehbaz On
Visit To Saudi Arabia
25
April,2022
ISLAMABAD
(Dunya News) – The schedule of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Saudia
Arabia has been issued.
According
to the details, PM Shehbaz will visit brother Islamic country on April 28 and
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Jamiat
Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Akhtar Mengal, Khalid
Maqbool Siddiqui and other members of the Assembly including Maulana Asad
Mahmood, Shagufta Jamani, Sardar Sardar Khalid Magsi, Siddiqui and Amir Haider.
Hoti, Shah Zain Bugti, Aslam Bhootani, Ali Nawaz Shah, Mohsin Dawar, Mahmood
Khan Achakzai, Abdul Malik Baloch, Shah Owais Noorani, former Special Assistant
Hafiz Tahir Ashrafi will also be a part of the PM’s delegation.
The
16 members of Sharif family will also visit, including Hamza Shehbaz, his wife
and daughter Samavia, Maryam Nawaz, Capt (R) Safdar, Sabiha Abbas Sharif while
Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz will reach Jeddah from London.
Source:
Dunya News
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--------
Cash-strapped
Pakistan, IMF agree to extend stalled bailout package, increase loan size to $8
billion
Apr
24, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Cash-strapped Pakistan and the IMF have agreed to extend the stalled bailout
package by up to one year and increase the loan size to $8 billion, giving a
breathing space to the new government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a
media report said on Sunday.
The
understanding was reached after the crucial talks between Pakistan's
newly-appointed finance minister Miftah Ismail and IMF deputy managing director
Antoinette Sayeh in Washington, The Express Tribune reported, citing sources.
Subject
to the final modalities, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed that
the program will be extended by another nine months to one year as against the
original end-period of September 2022, while the size of the loan would be
increased from the existing $6 billion to $8 billion, the paper reported,
citing sources.
The
IMF is expected to issue a statement on Monday on the development.
Minister
of state for finance Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha, outgoing State Bank Governor Dr Reza
Baqir, finance secretary Hamid Yaqoob Sheikh and Pakistan's Executive Director
to the World Bank Naveed Kamran Baloch also participated in the meeting with
the IMF team.
Ismail
was in Washington to renegotiate the $6 billion bailout package that was
stalled by the previous Imran Khan regime.
The
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government and the IMF had signed a 39-month Extended
Fund Facility (July 2019 to September 2022) with a total value of $6 billion.
However, the previous government failed to fulfil its commitments and the
program remained stalled for most of the time as $3 billion remained
undisbursed.
Before
taking Pakistan's case to the IMF Board for approval, Islamabad would have to
agree on the budget strategy for the next fiscal year 2022-23, the sources
said.
Also,
the government of Prime Minister Sharif would have to demonstrate that it would
undo some wrong steps taken by the former regime against the commitments that
it gave to the IMF Board in January this year.
Cash-strapped
Pakistan is passing through a phase of political and economic uncertainty and
the decision to stay in the IMF program for longer than the original period
would bring clarity in economic policies and soothe the rattling markets.
The
release of the fund would be a welcome antidote for the country's sagging
economy that is staring at plummeting forex reserves ($10.8 billion) and a
current account deficit crisis.
To
give a final shape to the extended program, an IMF mission would visit Pakistan
likely from May 10, the sources said, adding that the IMF team will be led by
its new mission chief, Nathan Porter.
On
the successful conclusion of talks, it was expected that both sides would reach
a staff-level agreement, a senior finance ministry official said.
The
technical staff of Pakistan and the IMF would start engagement from Monday to
see the budget position in light of the “irresponsible” decisions made by the
previous government.
However,
before formally securing the IMF approval for increasing the program size and
the cash limit, the government will have to show that it is sincere in making
the needed tough policy decisions.
The
sources said the IMF had asked Pakistan to withdraw fuel and electricity
subsidies that former premier Khan had announced on February 28 in "total
disregard for fiscal prudence” and to “gain the lost support” due to
double-digit inflation in the country.
Finance
Minister Ismail has said last week that the government was giving Rs21 per
litre subsidy on petrol and Rs51.54 per litre on high-speed diesel that in the
month of April alone would cost the taxpayers Rs68 billion. These subsidies
would have to be withdrawn to revive the program.
The
newly-formed Shehbaz Sharif government that took over this month also has to
deal with spiralling inflation and an economy that simply refuses to rebound.
In
its latest report on Pakistan, IMF has predicted an annual growth of 4 per
cent, against the country's central bank's estimates of around 4.8 per cent.
On
Wednesday, Ismail in his first press conference as the country's finance
minister said that the IMF had put forward a list of demands for the revival of
the bailout package to be implemented.
These
include withdrawal of fuel subsidy, banishing the tax amnesty scheme,
increasing power tariff and imposing additional taxation measures.
The
subsidies on fuel and power were implemented by Khan, days before he was ousted
from power.
A
rollback would be an arduous task for the present government, especially at a
time when Pakistan's consumer inflation clocked at 12.7 per cent for the month
of March.
In
Washington, Ismail also held meeting with the World Bank managing director and
the two sides discussed the possibility of unlocking about $1.8 billion WB
lending that too had stuck up because of either lack of fulfillment of actions
promised by the last government or because of the bureaucratic snags, the
sources added.
Source:
Times Of India
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Two
persons convicted in lynching case of Lankan national in Pakistan file appeal
against anti-terror court verdict
25
April, 2022
Lahore,
Apr 25 (PTI) At least two persons convicted by a Pakistani anti-terrorism court
for their involvement in the lynching of a Sri Lanka citizen in Punjab Province
over blasphemy allegations have challenged the court’s verdict, claiming
“glaring contradictions” between the complainant and the witnesses in the case.
In
an appeal filed by the two accused, Taimoor Ahmed and Muhammad Ahmed, their
lawyer termed the conviction illegal and said that his clients were not named
in the FIR and in a supplementary statement. The lawyer said no identification
parade was held, adding that the name of the eyewitness was not even mentioned
in the FIR, The Express Tribune newspaper reported, Taimoor was sentenced to
death sentence while Muhammad had been handed out eight years of rigorous
imprisonment for involvement in the crime, which brought bad name for Pakistan.
The
Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore on April 18 sentenced six people to death and
varying jail terms to 81 others for their involvement in the brutal murder of
47-year-old Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara, who was a general manager at
a private garment factory in Pakistan’s Sialkot district, some 100 kms from
Lahore.
A
mob of over 800 men, including supporters of radical Islamist party
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan, attacked a garment factory and lynched its general
manager Kumara and burned his body over allegations of blasphemy on December 3
last year.
Some
factory employees had accused Kumara of tearing a poster of TLP inscribed with
Islamic verses during his inspection of machines in the factory after which the
mob dragged him out of the factory, brutally beat him and killed him before
setting the body on fire.
After
Kumara’s murder, some 200 suspects were taken into custody. However, over 100
of them were subsequently released after no evidence of their involvement in
the incident was found.
The
appeal filed against the verdict claimed that “there are glaring contradictions
between the complainant and other witnesses which makes the case of the
prosecution doubtful.” According to the appeal, the lynching took place out of
reach of the CCTV cameras but the court still admitted “inadmissible evidence
of footage of mobile phones”. It said the makers of these videos neither
appeared before the court nor did they share the original source of the video,
the daily said.
Source:
The Print
The
two convicted persons prayed that the impugned judgement be set aside.
Please
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--------
Imran
Khan thanks his social media ‘warriors’ for drive against ‘US conspiracy’
25
April, 2022
Islamabad
[Pakistan], April 25 (ANI): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman and former
Pakistan prime minister, Imran Khan has thanked his online supporters for
spreading the narrative of the “foreign conspiracy” that is rejected by the
ruling party and the country’s powerful military.
“I
want to thank all our social media warriors who have valiantly taken our fight
against US regime change conspiracy forward on all social media platforms,” he
said in a Twitter post late Sunday night.
“Continue
carrying on our movement for Pak’s sovereignty & democracy. You are our frontline
warriors,” he added.
This
comes a day after Imran Khan accused Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
supremo and former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of hatching a
conspiracy to dislodge his government through a no-confidence vote.
In
his maiden press conference after being ousted as Prime Minister, Imran Khan
said: “Supreme Court should hold an open hearing on threat letter… we will not
accept any in-camera hearing.”
The
PTI chief also claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples
Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari colluded with “foreign conspirators” to
remove him from power.
Earlier,
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had claimed that the PTI was using botnets
to generate coordinated spam activity to artificially boost their trends
against the government led by Shehbaz Sharif.
PML-N
Vice-President Maryam Nawaz had stated that PTI’s “criminal ring” was running a
smear campaign on social media against the state institutions after the ouster
of the PTI government.
Maryam
had said the malicious campaign and “lies” about foreign conspiracy were spread
by a handful of people employing hundreds of fake accounts and bots.
Even
Pakistan National Security Committee (NSC) said that there was no foreign
conspiracy to topple the Imran Khan-led government.
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
PTI's
Shireen Mazari comes under fire for 'using religion card' against Miftah Ismail
Apr
24 2022
Former
minister for human rights Shireen Mazari has recently come under fire for
"using the religion card" against Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.
Taking
to Twitter, Mazari shared a video of the finance minister while he was
addressing a US thinktank Atlantic Council in Washington and alleged that he
"made fun" of some Islamic concepts.
Miftah
had departed for Washington in the early hours of Thursday to renegotiate the
$6 billion Extended Fund Facility programme with the International Monetary
Fund (IMF).
In
the video, Miftah could be heard telling journalists about the no-confidence
motion that led to the ouster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan from power. He then
narrated how the former prime minister built a narrative of good versus evil,
where the Opposition was painted as evil.
"The
former prime minister essentially then started talking about some Quranic
verses called Amr bil Maroof wa Nahi anil Munkar (promotion of virtue and
prevention of vices). Somehow, we (the Opposition) were the standards bearers
of vice and he was the standard bearer of virtue."
Miftah
went on to say that the Taliban also used the same reference during their
previous incarnation, adding that they had a ministry with a similar name.
In
response to Miftah's statement, Mazari called him out and wrote: "Shame on
Miftah Ismail. While flattering America, he is mocking the basic Islamic
concepts like Amr bil Maroof."
She
added that Miftah's "ignorance was evident from the way he was stuttering
during his speech".
"Isn't
anything sacred to this gang of thugs?" she said.
Condemnations
pour in
Following
Mazari's tweet, several journalists, politicians, and civil society members
condemned her move of "using religion", with some stating that such
rhetoric could incite violence.
Minister
for Maritime Affairs Faisal Subzwari, in a tweet, called Mazari out and wrote
that one cannot blame the illiterate and ignorant for resorting to extremism
when highly-educated and qualified people like her would use the religion card
and extreme misrepresentation of facts to attain political gains.
"Please
don't put this fire in politics. I am with Miftah Ismail."
Journalist
Mubashir Zaidi wrote: "The betrayal card has now upgraded to the blasphemy
card ... but remember this fire will burn everyone's house one day".
"Disappointed
in Dr Mazari — who knows better than to try to whip up religious sentiment
against their opponents," wrote political analyst and commentator
Mosharraf Zaidi.
Lawyer
and human rights activist Jibran Nasir wrote: "Miftah Ismail: Imran Khan
used Islam to paint PMLN corrupt in light of religious scriptures.
Shireen
Mazari: Miftah is ridiculing basic Islamic concepts by highlighting IK used
religion card against PMLN.
This
was our human rights minister, on whom we relied for compassion."
Source:
Geo TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Swat
police recover kidnapped Sikh boy
April
26, 2022
SWAT:
The police on Monday claimed the recovery of a kidnapped Sikh boy and the
arrest of his captors.
The
Mingora police said Karam Chund, a resident of Mingora, lodged a complaint
against his brothers, including Janam Raj and Prem Chand, and his nephew,
Jatindar Kumar, for the ‘kidnapping’ of his son, Taran Kumar.
They,
however, said the investigation found the accused to be innocent.
The
police said further probe helped them trace the culprits.
DSP
(city) Badshah Hazrat told reporters that Taran Kumar was recovered from a
‘fake pir’, Taj Mohammad of Kedam area, in Lahore.
He
said the fake spiritual leader first befriended the Sikh family and then took Taran
Kumar to Lahore and kidnapped him there for money.
“No
one knew about the whereabouts of Taran Kumar for more than five months. The
kidnappers took around Rs5.5 million from his father,” he said.
The
DSP said the investigation led the police to reach the real culprit and the
accomplice, his sister-in-law, who were taken into custody.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1686799/swat-police-recover-kidnapped-sikh-boy
--------
‘Plot
hatched’ to get Imran disqualified thru ECP: Qureshi
April
26, 2022
LAHORE:
Former foreign minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice chairman Shah
Mehmood Qureshi alleges that a conspiracy has been hatched to disqualify Imran
Khan and ban the party through the election commission.
He
was addressing the PTI workers gathered to welcome him outside the Daulat Gate
late on Sunday night. A number of people came out on the roads to welcome Mr
Qureshi from Multan airport to his house.
He
announced that Imran Khan will address a public rally in Multan on May 29 and
asked the workers to start preparations for welcoming Mr Khan.
Mr
Qureshi said a conspiracy was hatched to topple the PTI government and impose
the ‘corrupt’ politicians.
Announces
rally in Multan on May 29
He
announced that the PTI’s political committee had decided to stage protests
outside the election commission offices while adding that the people of
Pakistan had rejected the “imported” government. “The way people are turning
out at the PTI rallies is enough to show that they are not happy with the
change of faces,” he remarked.
He
urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to simultaneously hear the
foreign funding cases against PPP and PML-N, adding if it did not do so, it
would be safe to assume that it was part of a conspiracy to ban PTI and declare
Imran Khan “ineligible” to contest the elections.
Mr
Qureshi further said that the history of these political parties that formed
the coalition government at the Centre was an open secret. “Both PPP and
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have seldom been cordial towards each
other,” he said while adding JUI-F’s and PPP’s manifestos were not same and one
could imagine what forced them to sit together in a coalition.
He
said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had once announced to drag the PPP
co-chairman on roads for corruption.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1686817/plot-hatched-to-get-imran-disqualified-thru-ecp-qureshi
--------
Pakistan’s
current situation ‘disturbing and worrying’, says ex-Interior Minister
APRIL
25, 2022
Pakistan’s
current situation under the newly-formed government of Prime Minister Shehbaz
Sharif is “disturbing and worrying”, former Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid has
said, predicting that the incumbent coalition would be the “shortest one” in
the country’s history.
Mr.
Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has only 86 seats in the 342-member
National Assembly and the rest of the numerical support has come from the
coalition partners who apparently have nothing in common except their rivalry
for ousted Prime Minister Imran Khan, and it will be a big challenge for him to
keep them calm and satisfied.
Mr.
Rashid took to social media to predict that Mr. Khan’s call for the Islamabad
march will surprise the world.
“The
incumbent government will be the shortest one in Pakistan’s history,” he said.
Mr.
Rashid termed Pakistan’s current situation as “disturbing and worrying” after
the removal of Mr. Khan’s Government.
“Those
who should have been in jails are being appointed to important posts and those
who needed to be respected by the country are becoming questionable,” he said,
in an apparent reference to appointments like that of Pakistan Peoples Party
(PPP) Member of National Assembly Abdul Qadir Patel, 53, as the new Health
Minister.
Mr.
Patel, who is from Karachi, has been implicated in a terrorist facilitation
case for allegedly providing treatment to members of the Lyari gangwar. In
March, the Islamabad High Court gave protective bail to Mr. Patel in the case
pertaining to the treatment and facilitation of terror suspects.
Source:
The Hindu
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pak
PM Shehbaz announces 2-month remission in prisoners' jail terms
25.04.22
Pakistan's
new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a two-month remission in
prisoners' sentences ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr, a relief not applicable to convicts
of terrorism cases, including Mumbai terror attack mastermind and banned
Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.
During
his visit to the high-security Kot Lakhpat Jail here on Sunday, Prime Minister
Shehbaz announced the remission.
"The
two-month remission will not apply to the prisoners convicted in terrorism
cases," senior advocate Waheed Shahzad told PTI on Monday.
On
April 8, an anti-terrorism court here sentenced JuD chief Saeed to 32 years in
jail in two more terror financing cases.
Earlier
in five such cases, the 71-year-old radical cleric had already been convicted
for 36 years imprisonment in five terror financing cases.
The
total sentence of 68 years imprisonment will run concurrently. Saeed may have
to spend not many years in jail because his sentence will run concurrently.
However,
a lawyer told PTI that Saeed may not have to spend many years in jail as his
sentence will run concurrently. Saeed is serving his term in Kot Lakhpat jail.
Saeed,
a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty,
was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases.
Saeed-led
JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is
responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people,
including six Americans.
The
US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated
Global Terrorist.
Shehbaz
also visited the barrack at Lot Lakhpat where he remained imprisoned in the
money laundering and assets beyond means cases for about eight months.
Sharing
his personal experience at the jail, the 70-year-old premier said that jails
lack basic facilities for prisoners, including washrooms, laundry and health
facilities.
The
prime minister also ordered the setting up of a committee headed by Interior
Minister Rana Sanaullah to formulate a comprehensive strategy for the provision
of basic facilities to the inmates, besides making improvements in the overall
system governing the prisons in the country.
"The
skill development resources should be used in a manner that prisoners could
spend their time in the jail in a positive way and play an effective role in
society after completion of their terms," Shehbaz said.
Source:
Telegraph India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
Frankfurt
mosque extends Ramadan charity to Ukraine refugees
DAVID
KAMPMANN
April
25, 2022
FRANFURT:
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine millions have fled the country, many
of them people from the Middle East.
A
mosque in the German city of Frankfurt is doing what it can to provide them
with a happy Ramadan.
Abu
Bakr Mosque lies in the Hausen quarter, and is one of about 50 mosques in
Frankfurt. Since it was built and inaugurated in 2007, it has seen several
crises.
Mohamed
Seddadi, 51-year-old German Moroccan who is the mosque’s administrator,
remembers them all. He faced its first crisis after the 9/11 attacks.
Seddadi
and his colleagues had finally received the license to build the mosque a year
before. Now they were unsure if they should build it at all due to rising
Islamophobia.
“Then
local politicians, among them the mayor, visited us and told us that now we
have to build it more than ever,” he told Arab News. “They gave us comfort.”
Seddadi
came to Frankfurt as a student in 1990. In 1992, he joined a group of Muslim
students who would regularly meet for discussions and prayer. He had tried
several other Muslim groups before but found none of them appealing.
“This
one had no national boundaries so I felt just at home,” he said. “Faith
shouldn’t have any national boundary at all.”
It
was not just faith but also loyalty to Germany that Seddadi considered a
necessity. “I love this country and its freedom. It’s my home.”
It
was a long time before the foundation for a mosque building was laid. In 1996,
the group bought an estate in Hausen where the faithful would pray in the
building of a former car repair shop.
“We
had two major goals at the time: To collect donations to build a mosque, and to
get to know the neighborhood,” Seddadi said.
Neighbors
of all faiths were regularly invited to join meals during Islamic festivities.
“It’s important to us that we’re good neighbors.”
The
building — comprising two storeys with room for more than 1,000 people to pray
— was finished and inaugurated in 2007.
Two
imams, from Egypt and Morocco, lead the prayers and hold sermons. Seddadi is
hoping for a third, German, imam. “I’d like to have a German imam who was born,
raised and educated here,” he said.
In
the basement, there is a restaurant serving Middle Eastern and North African
dishes. “It’s open to everyone.”
When
COVID-19 hit in 2020, the mosque faced another crisis just before Ramadan as
its prayer rooms could not run at full capacity.
With
both the worries of community members and the need for spiritual guidance
rising, Seddadi and both imams would receive about 30 phone calls a day.
The
restaurant remained closed, but Seddadi and his colleagues began a new
approach: “We’d deliver the menus or offer iftar meals to go.”
The
most recent crisis has been the war in Ukraine. For Seddadi and his colleagues,
it came as a surprise.
“We
never would’ve thought that it could get that serious,” he said. “With a war
this close, we’re needed.”
A
special meeting of the members of nine mosques in Frankfurt was held. Its
participants made several decisions to come to the aid of those who require it.
Since
the outbreak of the war, more than 5 million refugees have left Ukraine, with
more than 360,000 coming to Germany.
Many
of those are from the Middle East and North Africa as Ukraine has a community
of tens of thousands from the region.
Seddadi
strives to provide them with whatever is possible so they can have a happier
Ramadan — just as every year, the kitchen staff of the mosque prepare and cook
meals for those in need.
The
meals are either directly delivered to the refugee camps in town, or can be
picked up by refugees in front of the mosque. To do that, Seddadi and his
colleagues closely coordinate with the management of the camps.
To
meet these goals, the kitchen staff must prepare 150 meals a day, a number that
stretches them to their limits.
“It’s
difficult,” Seddadi said. “But we can’t reject the request of anyone who is in
need.” Volunteers from the neighborhood, including non-Muslims, also help.
The
mosque’s openness that Seddadi values so much is evident during Ramadan as
staff deliver menus to non-Muslims from Ukraine as well. “The concept of iftar
and charity is that anyone in need will get something to eat,” Seddadi said.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2070176/world
--------
Russia
warns about threats of Israeli settlement plans in Syrian Golan
26
April 2022
Russia’s
Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya has once again
denounced Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights, stating that the regime’s
plans for the expansion of its illegal settlements in the strategic region
undermine regional stability.
He
made the remarks during a UN Security Council session on the situation in the
Middle East, including the Palestinian question in New York on Monday.
“Israel’s
settlement plans in the occupied Syrian Golan threaten to undermine regional
stability,” Nebenzya said.
In
1967, Israel waged a full-scale war against Arab territories, during which it
occupied a large area of the Golan and annexed it four years later – a move
never recognized by the international community.
In
1973, another war broke out, and a year later, a UN-brokered ceasefire came
into force, according to which Tel Aviv and Damascus agreed to separate their
troops and create a buffer zone in the Heights. However, Israel has over the
past several decades built dozens of illegal settlements in the Golan in
defiance of international calls for the regime to stop its illegal construction
activities there.
In
a unilateral move rejected by the international community in 2019, former US
president Donald Trump signed a decree recognizing Israeli “sovereignty” over
the Golan.
Nevertheless,
Syria has repeatedly reaffirmed its sovereignty over the Golan, saying the
territory must be completely restored to its control.
The
United Nations has also time and again emphasized Syria’s sovereignty over the
territory.
Earlier
this year, Deputy Russian Ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy said Russia is
concerned over Tel Aviv’s announced plans for expanding settlement activity in
the occupied Golan Heights.
He
said the move directly contradicts the provisions of the 1949 Geneva
Convention.
“We
stress Russia’s unchanging position, according to which we do not recognize
Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights that are an inalienable part of
Syria,” Polyanskiy said on February 23.
Last
December, Israel announced that it intends to double the number of its illegal
settlements in the Golan, despite an earlier resolution adopted by the UN
General Assembly demanding the regime’s full withdrawal from the occupied
territory.
Israeli-Russian
relations have soured since the beginning of Moscow’s military operation in
Ukraine. Observers had already predicted that the Russia-Ukraine crisis could
put Israel in a difficult position, as the Tel Aviv regime has good relations
with both Moscow and Kiev.
Earlier
this month, the Israeli regime voted in favor of a United Nations General Assembly
resolution suspending the Russian Federation’s membership in the UN Human
Rights Council.
Reacting
to the vote, the Russian foreign ministry called the resolution “unlawful and
politically motivated.”
It
also called the Israeli regime’s support for it “a thinly veiled attempt to
take advantage of the situation around Ukraine in order to divert the attention
of the international community from one of the oldest unresolved conflicts —
the Palestinian-Israeli one.”
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
UN
Experts Urge US to Unfreeze Afghanistan’s Assets
26
Apr 2022
The
United Nations experts have expressed concern about Afghanistan’s grave
humanitarian crisis and have asked the government of the United States to unfreeze
the $7 billion of Da Afghanistan Bank, Central Bank of Afghanistan.
The
experts said the money release will enable the provision of humanitarian
assistance to cover the basic needs of ten million people in the war-torn
country.
The
press release of the experts read that freezing Afghanistan’s assets, drought
across the country, and gender-based discrimination by de facto authorities in
Afghanistan have immensely impacted the lives of over half of the Afghan
population whereas women and children are the most impacted ones.
“We
are gravely concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan,
which puts at serious risk the lives of more than half of the country’s
population, with a disproportionate impact on women and children.” Reads the
statement.
The
experts have echoed the words of UNSG qualifying Afghanistan’s situation as an
‘epic humanitarian crisis on the verge of development catastrophe’ and urged
countries to lift their adopted unilateral measures that hinder financial
support and humanitarian aid.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.khaama.com/un-experts-urge-us-to-unfreeze-afghanistans-assets-54576567/
--------
Russia
condemns destruction of Palestinian homes by Zionist regime
April
26, 2022
Russia's
permanent representative to the United Nations condemned the destruction of
Palestinian homes and the confiscation of their property and lands by Israel.
"We
condemn any attempt by Israel to create new conditions on the ground, including
the demolition of Palestinian homes and the confiscation of their property and
land," Vasily Nebenzia told a Security Council meeting on Middle East
developments Monday night.
He
continued: "We will continue to contact and communicate with Israel and
the Palestinians with the aim of resuming the peace talks."
The
Russian ambassador added: "Israel's plan to develop settlements in the
occupied Golan Heights threatens the stability of the region."
Source:
ABNA24
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Non-Muslims
invited to Iftar meal at mosque in UK’s Bolton
April
26, 2022
People
of different faiths and backgrounds were invited to take part in an iftar
(Ramadan dinner) at the largest mosque in Bolton, a town in Greater Manchester
in North West England.
The
Zakariyya Jaam'e Masjid in partnership with the Bolton Council of Mosques
(BCOM) hosted the iftar (fast-breaking) event which aimed to give people more
of an insight into the holy month.
During
Ramadan Muslims fast from dawn till dusk but the period is also a time for deep
reflection and spiritual development.
Guests
included leader of the council, Councillor Martyn Cox, Chief Executive of the
Bolton Hospital, Fiona Noden, Assistant director of the hospital, Rachel
Hemingway, Yasmin Qureshi MP and Senior Coroner, Timothy Brennand. Also in
attendance were representatives from Greater Manchester Police and the local
fire service.
The
event was opened by the executive member of BCOM, followed by a talk on the
virtues of Ramadan by Maulana Talha of the mosque. He spoke about the
importance of the fasting month to Muslims, hosted a tour of the mosque and
invited people to the iftar meal.
A
BCOM spokesman said: “The month of Ramadan brings families and communities
together and it is a period of reflection and solace.
“It
allows the community to extend a hand of caring and kindness to people from
different faiths and bringing them together was a real honor showing strong
unity and community cohesion in Bolton.
Source:
ABNA24
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Macron’s
victory prompts conflicting reactions in Dubai, from detachment to relief and
dismay
April
25, 2022
DUBAI:
On April 24, French President Emmanuel Macron made history by becoming the
republic’s first head of state to be reelected for a second term in two
decades.
Garnering
nearly 58 percent of the votes, he won against far-right candidate Marine Le
Pen, whose performance saw an uptick from her 2017 run.
In
his victory speech, surrounded by a sea of cheering voters and flags of France
and the EU, Macron declared: “Today you have chosen an ambitious, European,
social and ecological project, one based on work and creation … From now on, I
am no longer the candidate of one party, but the president of all.”
France
and the UAE have maintained strong cultural and economic ties over the past few
years.
In
Dubai, there is a population of over 10,000 French nationals, who have set up
businesses, raised families and contributed to the financial growth of the
multicultural city.
Arab
News reached out to members of Dubai’s French community to hear their take on the
2022 election and its consequential outcome.
They
expressed a mixed bag of reactions, from detachment to relief and dismay.
Some
voted while others did not, as they felt it would not directly impact their
lives in the UAE.
“I’ve
always voted, but this time, I felt all the candidates were worse than each
other,” said a French-Syrian entrepreneur, who wished to remain anonymous.
“They
were all against everything that we stand for. It was the first time I felt
completely disconnected from it,” she said.
Five
years ago, the female entrepreneur voted for Macron but was not able to cast
her vote this time around as she is not registered. Her views on the president
have changed over time.
“I
prefer Macron over Le Pen — 100 percent — but I’m not happy with the result,”
she said.
Having
lived in Paris, the entrepreneur believes Macron’s presidency was flawed, from
his unsatisfactory handling of the massive Gilets Jaunes protests to his
flip-flop policies during the pandemic.
Meanwhile,
another unnamed marketing specialist and parent of two children voted at a
Dubai hotel, describing the experience as “quick and well-organized.”
However,
she was “disappointed” with the final result.
“I
found the past few weeks undemocratic with the press criticizing anyone who is
not Mr. Macron,” she remarked.
She
refrained from voting for Macron in both of his runs but did initially think he
could be an agent of change.
“When
he was elected, I admit thinking that he could be good. We had hope,” she
added.
In
her view, some of his shortcomings include a lack of belief in “French culture
and history … He believes that we can only survive by depending on Europe.”
Insecurity
and uncontrolled immigration were some of his other weak points. However, the
marketing specialist does not believe Le Pen is the right official to lead the
nation either.
“Some
of her claims are too extreme, such as prohibiting the headscarf in public.
This is not the battle we should be fighting,” she said.
Holding
a more optimistic view is business owner Rodolphe Duffour, co-founder of French
gourmet food shop Maison Duffour, who supported Macron.
Duffour
believes that Macron has a better image and entrepreneurial spirit
internationally than his opponent.
“Economic
projects would never have been conducted properly if Marine Le Pen were elected
president,” he said.
Paris-born
Duffour has lived abroad for many years but still feels the duty to participate
in the French voting system.
“I
never miss a chance to vote, since I have the right to do so and to express my
voice,” he said.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2070456/world
--------
South Asia
Taliban
moving away terrorists from Pakistan-Afghan border: Report
APRIL
25, 2022
"Our
demand is clear that these groups must be eliminated or dealt with in a manner
that they never pose threat to us again," the report quoted an official as
saying
The
Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has started taking steps to shift
terrorist groups away from the regions bordering Pakistan following a series of
recent cross-border attacks that killed nearly a dozen Pakistani soldiers and
prompted a strong reaction from Islamabad, a media report said on April 25.
Pakistan,
in recent months, has been increasingly frustrated by the Taliban government's
reluctance to eliminate the terrorist groups, including the banned
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Taliban leadership is not ready to take
action partly because these groups fought alongside the Taliban against the U.
S.-led foreign forces and also share the same ideology.
A
senior Pakistani official familiar with the development told The Express
Tribune on Sunday that after the recent spate of cross-border attacks, Pakistan
conveyed in clear terms to the Taliban leadership to take action against the
terrorist groups or face the consequences.
“Some
of the groups have already been moved out of our border regions,” said the
senior official, who deals with the issue. “Pakistan though does not agree with
the approach, it accepts the Taliban’s decision to at least stop the immediate
cross-border attacks,” said the official who did not want to be identified.
"Our
demand is clear that these groups must be eliminated or dealt with in a manner
that they never pose threat to us again," the report quoted the official
as saying.
There
has been a surge in cross-border terrorist attacks in recent weeks with a
number of Pakistani soldiers getting killed. On Saturday, three Pakistani
soldiers were killed in North Waziristan when terrorists from across the border
launched an attack. On April 14, seven Pakistani soldiers lost their lives in
another terrorist attack.
After
that attack, Pakistan reportedly carried out airstrikes in the Kunar and Khost
provinces of Afghanistan to eliminate the terrorist hideouts. The foreign
office in Islamabad had issued a strong statement in response, condemning the
cross-border terrorist attacks. The strongly-worded statement said terrorists
were using the Afghan soil with impunity and urged that the Taliban leadership
take stern action against them.
Pakistan
has been fencing the 2,600km border with Afghanistan since 2017 to end
terrorist infiltration and smuggling, despite intense opposition from the
neighbouring country. Besides the erection of a fence, the project also
includes the construction of border posts and forts and the raising of new
wings of the Frontier Corps, the paramilitary force that guards the border.
When
the Taliban returned to power last year, Pakistan hoped that the new
dispensation would deal with these terrorist groups. Despite promises, the
Taliban have not yet taken decisive action to fulfil their commitments, the
official said. "It only makes their [Taliban] case difficult as far as the
recognition is concerned," the official said.
Source:
The Hindu
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Afghanistan
takes Pak air strikes to UN, Taliban turns on its mentor
Apr
26, 2022
By
Shishir Gupta
Despite
former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Niazi and his then ISI protégé Lt Gen Faiz
Hameed playing an active part in installation of the Taliban Islamist regime in
Afghanistan in 2021, Kabul has taken Islamabad to UN Security Council for
violating its territorial integrity by launching air strikes in Kunar and Khost
province on April 16.
While
a formal complaint against Pakistan has been filed by Naseer Ahmad Faiq of the
previous Ashraf Ghani regime, the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and the
Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan have joined hands in opposing the airstrikes in
which more than 40 persons including women and children were killed, score
injured, and houses destroyed. All three Pashtun factions are opposed to
division of their ethnic community by Pakistan by imposing the British Durand
Line as the international border and erecting a security fence to demarcate it.
In
a letter to President of UNSC, Afghanistan Charge d’ Affairs has complained
that the air strikes “ is a flagrant breach of international laws, including
humanitarian laws, the principles of UN Charter, the UNGA and UNSC resolutions,
including resolution 1453 (2002) on Kabul Declaration of Good Neighbourly
Relations.”
“The
persistent violation of Afghanistan’s territory by Pakistani military forces
through cross-border shelling, construction of military posts and fences inside
Afghanistan’s soil have been going on for over a decade. Particularly of high
concern is the cross-border shelling which has caused scores of civilian
casualties, displacement, and destruction of public and private properties.
These acts are reprehensible and must be stopped. Continuation of these
breaches will impact the relations of two nations and it will further destabilize
the peace and security in Afghanistan and the region,” the April 18 missive
stated.
The
issue has been raised by Afghanistan previously also via letters dated February
22, 2019, August 22, 2019, and July 17, 2020.
While
Pakistan leadership particularly under Imran Khan thought that the Taliban
regime in Afghanistan would provide Islamabad with much needed strategic space
against India, fact is that the Taliban regime has turned against its erstwhile
mentor and handler, the ISI. It was the then ISI DG and hatchet man of Imran
Khan who ensured that Haqqani Network captured Kabul by keeping the traditional
Kandahar based Islamists at bay. The Afghan complaint has been circulated among
the UNSC members with Kabul asking both permanent and non-permanent members to
take up the issue.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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Iran
Accepts Credentials of Three Afghan Diplomats
26
Apr 2022
Tehran
has agreed to accept new Afghan diplomats to Afghanistan’s embassy in the city
and has accredited three diplomats sent by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan
to the country, BBC Pashto reported.
Sources
on the condition of anonymity told BBC, that the new diplomats included the
third secretary of the embassy and the other two are normal employees of the
embassy.
Afghanistan’s
embassy has not been closed yet despite the transformation of government in the
country and is led by the previous envoy.
The
spokesperson of Iran’s Foreign Ministry Saeed Khatibzada said the exchange of
diplomats between Afghanistan and Iran is compatible with international
conventions and has nothing to do with recognition.
Earlier,
Russia, China, Pakistan, Turkey, and Turkmenistan had accredited
Taliban-dispatched diplomats but no country in the world has recognized the new
Afghan government yet.
Source:
Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/iran-accepts-credentials-of-three-afghan-diplomats-68576/
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Aims
at Addressing Afghan Refugees’ Issues, Afghan Delegation to Pay Visit to Iran
26
Apr 2022
Following
the recent tensions between Iran’s border guards and the Taliban forces at the
border zone in the western Herat province, an Afghan delegation is all set to
leave for Iran.
The
visit of the IEA’s delegation is also days after Afghan refugees’ videos
circulated on social media regarding the refugees being mistreated and tortured
for no reason by Iranian people and police.
The
acting Minister of Refugees and Repatriates Khalilurahman Haqqani said the
visit will be carried out in the coming days during which they will try to talk
to Iranian officials so that they resolve the difficulties of Afghan refugees
residing in the country.
Not
only Afghan refugees working as laborers are facing issues in Iran but also
Afghan students have issues with extension and issuance of visas, accommodation
problems, and employment ones.
Source:
Khaama Press
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Afghan,
Qatari FMs Meet in Doha, Discussing Economic & Political Issues
25
Apr 2022
Afghanistan’s
Foreign Ministry announced that the Afghan delegation led by acting Foreign
Minister Amri Khan Muttaqi met with Qatar’s Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime
Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Abdurrahman Al-Thani in Doha on Sunday.
Spokesperson
of the Ministry Abdul Qahar Balkhi in a series of Twitter posts said both sides
discussed Afghanistan’s economic and political situation including the issue of
Afghan airports.
“The
meeting focused on political & economic issues as well as Afghan Airports
Contract provisions that require a final agreement by the two parties. The
meeting also identified issues related to the contract that needed further
discussions.” Reads a Tweet.
Turkey
and Qatar are supposed to get in charge of five international airports in Afghanistan
including Kabul International Airport the contract of which is in the final
stages.
Abdul
Qahar Balkhi said that Turkish and Qatari technical teams are intended to work
together so that they reach an agreement on the operation of five Afghan airports.
The
stalled international flights from Afghanistan that have been in place since
August last year is costing the economy-afflicted country millions of dollars.
Source:
Khaama Press
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https://www.khaama.com/afghan-qatari-fms-meet-in-doha-discussing-economic-political-issues-89687687/
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Southeast Asia
Women’s
rights groups condemn Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin’s jail sentence for
‘insulting’ Islamic judicial system
26
Apr 2022
BY
YISWAREE PALANSAMY
KUALA
LUMPUR, April 26 — The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality (JAG) today
“strongly condemned” the jail sentence meted out to Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin
Abdullah over her criticism of the Shariah legal system.
In
a statement today, the coalition of women’s rights groups said that the issue
raised by Maria Chin in her 2019 statement, which led to her being sued at the
Kuala Lumpur Shariah High Court, is not an isolated incident.
It
added that many survivors faced injustices when it came to the protection of
their rights under the Shariah legal system.
The
group also labelled the decision as “disproportionate and clearly
unreasonable”.
“As
a member of Parliament, Maria has both the right to freedom of expression and
the duty to address injustice and inequalities, including that which takes
place through any legal system, Shariah or civil. Maria is one of the beacons
who speak for gender equality and women’s lived realities and her role should
not be undermined.
“Prosecuting
Maria is not only oppressive and appalling, but it also serves as a form of
intimidation, a consistent pattern of silencing women who have faced injustice
as a result of legal and religious interpretations of the law,” the coalition
said.
The
Kuala Lumpur Shariah High Court yesterday sentenced Maria Chin to one week in
jail for contempt of court over her statement that had reportedly “insulted”
the Islamic judicial system.
Free
Malaysia Today (FMT) reported that the decision was over Maria Chin’s statement
on September 5, 2019, in which she remarked that Muslim women in Malaysia are
still being discriminated against under the Shariah judicial system.
She
had said this in response to a one-week jail term given to Emilia Hanafi, the
ex-wife of Naza Group chairman Datuk SM
Faisal SM Nasimuddin, for rescheduling his visiting days with their children.
National
news agency Bernama reported Syarie judge Mohamed Fouzi Mokhtar as saying that
the article published by Maria Chin on September 5, 2019 had belittled,
demeaned and insulted the Shariah Court.
Bernama
also reported that the judge had granted a stay of execution pending an appeal
to be filed at the Shariah Court of Appeal.
Source:
Malay Mail
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Selangor
sultan launches Al-Quran with Chinese translation
April
25, 2022
SHAH
ALAM: Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today launched the
Al-Quran Al-Karim with Chinese translation published by Restu Foundation at the
Selangor International Islamic Art Complex here.
Also
present was Tengku Permaisuri Selangor Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin.
At
the event, the royal couple also visited the Islamic art gallery at the
complex.
Restu
Foundation executive chairman Datuk Abdul Latiff Mirasa, in his speech, said
the Al-Quran with Chinese translation has over 2,000 footnotes to provide the meaning
and explanation of the verses.
He
said the Chinese language used in the mushaf Al-Quran was easy to understand
due to refinement and improvement efforts by the foundation's Chinese
Translation Committee, compared to the original translation.
"This
Holy Book has been approved by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia
(Jakim) and Home Ministry's Publication and Quranic Text Control Division.
"To
facilitate readers, every word that refers to Allah SWT will be in red while
those that refer to Prophet Muhammad SAW will be in green," said Latiff.
He
said the six-year Al-Quran publication and translation efforts were carried out
by Restu Foundation and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association, starting with
Juz Amma and selected surah and the opening of the Selangor International
Islamic Art Complex by Sultan Sharafuddin on May 28, 2016.
Latiff
said Restu Foundation was also trying to raise RM4 million in funds to print
50,000 copies of the mushaf Al-Quran.
"Printing
will be done in stages starting with the first 5,000 copies while the next
printing will depend on the funds raised.
"To
ensure its success, the moral and material support from all quarters is very
much needed. It is also part of efforts to breathe new life into the field of
Al-Quran and enrich Islamic arts in Malaysia," he said. – Bernama
Source:
NST
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Turning
Malaysia’s failure in education into great success
Murray
Hunter
April
26, 2022
Education
has always been a very controversial issue in Malaysia. This is because the
education system has an enormous impact on the nation’s cultural evolution,
sustenance of the nation’s labour pool and the peoples’ critical thinking
skills. It is also a major influence on national unity.
Malaysia’s
higher educational institutions should be on a par with Hong Kong and
Singapore, given the similar colonial heritage.
However,
according to Times Higher Education 2021 Asia University Rankings, Singapore’s
National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technical University are ranked
3rd and 5th respectively, while the University of Hong Kong is ranked 4th,
Chinese University of Hong Kong 7th, Hong Kong University of Science and
Technology 8th, and City University of Hong Kong 19th. Malaysia’s top
university in the rankings is Universiti Malaya at 49th.
There
are a number of factors that will pose challenges to higher education.
Malaysia’s
birthrate of 1.98 is below the population replacement rate of 2.1. This is well
below the world average of 2.4. This means that Malaysia’s stock of university
places will lead to surplus capacity over the next generation. The sudden loss
of international students at private universities at the beginning of the
Covid-19 restrictions showed how devastating this can be to the industry. Some
private universities have been forced to close down over the last two years.
This
coming surplus in capacity, unless met with an influx of foreign students, will
require a rationalisation within the public university system. This will mean
fewer and/or smaller public universities in Malaysia within the next decade.
Similarly,
Malaysia’s high graduate unemployment – 202,400 in 2020, representing 4.4% of
5.36 million graduates in 2020 – points to some mismatch in what courses are
offered in universities and what is required within the marketplace. This
requires an agile reappraisal of what courses are run by universities over the
next decade.
These
basic structural issues are supplemented with a number of systemic issues.
Industries
have long complained about the poor command of English and soft skills by local
graduates. Others complain about poor critical thinking and problem-solving
skills. From the student side, public universities are experiencing high
dropout rates, while pass standards are kept low as a perceived university
management solution. Graduate students are having difficulty with PTPTN student
loans, indicating issues with the funding system.
Malaysian
public university staff mixes are far from representative of the national
ethnic structure, where a number of public universities prefer to employ
foreign academics over non-Malay academics. UiTM accepts Malay and foreign
students but shuts out local non-Malay students. This is very much counter to
the philosophy that students need to learn from other cultures to understand
each other. In fact, the opposite is occurring.
There
is also wide criticism of the lack of university autonomy and a high-handed
ministry of higher education. Public universities have the prime mission of
enhancing labour utility for industry needs, where students become industrial
fodder, rather than nurturing people to become the best they can be.
Restrictions
on student political activities is preventing these institutions nurturing
Malaysia’s leaders of tomorrow.
Public
universities have also been criticised for wasteful spending, faculty and
chancellery politics, often leading to political appointees, and nepotism.
University research has led to intellectual property registrations with little
or no commercial utility.
This
is not to say there aren’t successes within Malaysian public universities.
There are some pockets within the system that have world-class recognition and
operate with excellence. However, there is more mediocrity than excellence
within the Malaysian higher education system today.
Thus,
in a post Covid-19 pandemic environment, where the world will once again
reopen, and the economy requires new drivers, higher education should have an
important role to play. It’s now time for us to reimagine what the Malaysian
higher education system should be.
The
first issue involves preparing young people to enter university. This is a
primary and secondary education responsibility. Malaysia must head towards
multilingual education, where all students should be able to speak at least two
languages fluently upon completion of secondary school. There are very good
models of multilingual education systems, such as that of Switzerland, that can
be learnt from.
The
development of soft skills and critical thinking must also be focused upon.
There must be a return to classical education to primary and secondary schools.
This needs to be followed up in higher education. The set of compulsory
subjects which include courses like Islam and Asian civilisation need to be
dropped to provide more class and study time in the disciplinary work involved
in the respective courses. Universities should not be indoctrination mills.
Leadership
must be nurtured. Now that the voting age is 18, students have a constitutional
right to participate in politics, and should be encouraged to while at
university. Bans on political activity within university campuses should be
immediately lifted. Both political and apolitical club activity on campuses
will assist in developing argument articulation and become a good incubator for
future leaders.
Malaysian
higher education institutions must be decoupled from the ministry of higher
education, which formally directs institutions in policy and who they employ.
These decisions must go to the institutions themselves. University boards must
have student and local citizen representatives. The employment of academic and
administrative staff should be based on meritocracy and represent the
demographics of general society.
Funding
should be provided to institutions on programme-based budget criteria in order
to make these organisations run much leaner and more efficiently. Universities
should make use of short and other postgraduate courses to raise faculty funds.
Research with industry should be encouraged where university-industry
consortiums bid for research funds.
The
future of Malaysian higher education will heavily involve vocational and
community colleges. These should become the education and skill support of
Malaysia’s SME sector. According to the Malaysian Department of Statistics,
SMEs contribute 38.2% to national GDP, 13.6% of export revenue, and employ 48%
of Malaysia’s workforce. This is the sector set to play a major role in
national recovery and needs educational support.
Not
only will community colleges play a major role in educating the youth by
equipping them with knowledge skills, accrediting them to trades, and
developing new trades, they also act as a place where those in mid-career can
gain new sets of skills with which they can re-enter the workforce or set up
their own SMEs.
Vocational
education will be critical for national recovery and nurturing innovation at
the SME level. As the scope of SME-based activities are wide, the private
sector must jump in to assist in developing this revamped vocational sector.
Qualification regulations must be changed where those with trade-based
experience can teach part-time under supervision as practical instructors.
Changing
the emphasis from university to vocational education could be a real game
changer in national economic revival. The concept can be introduced into
community centres all around the country, where lifelong skill development is
encouraged. In this way rural and urban kampongs can be redeveloped into
value-based business communities that develop vibrant local economies. This is
very much the sustainable-circular economy highlighted within the 12th
Malaysian Plan.
Such
changes will require massive political will. It will require a completely
different corporate culture within the ministry of higher education. These
changes will assist Malaysian education realign to the needs of tomorrow’s
society. This is also an imperative strategy if Malaysia wants to lessen the
need for foreign workers in the country.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
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Indonesia
Must Capitalize On Muslim Fashion Opportunity: Minister
Jakarta
(ANTARA) - Indonesia must take advantage of the Muslim fashion trend, which has
currently become a lifestyle, considering the nation’s cultural strength,
Minister of Trade, Muhammad Lutfi, has said.
In
a press statement issued on Monday, he informed that, based on the data that he
gathered, Indonesia has a Muslim population of at least 229 million.
The
figure is 12 percent of the global Muslim population of 1.9 billion.
The
demand for halal products has continued to rise. By 2024, Muslim fashion is
projected to contribute 6.04 percent to the global halal industry, whose value
has reached US$311 billion.
"To
this end, every stakeholder must cooperate to find similarities to create a
Muslim fashion ecosystem and to transform the nation into the Muslim fashion
center of the world," Lutfi remarked.
This
effort must be backed by other parties, such as academicians, to support the
ecosystem through education, he said.
"Because
in order to become the world's Muslim fashion center, we cannot be fixated on
Indonesia's taste, it also has to be universal," the minister added.
The
Ministry of Trade is committed to continuing its support for the formation of Indonesia's
fashion industry ecosystem, he said.
"It
is expected that, before 2024, the cooperation in realizing the ecosystem can
proceed within Indonesia's strong collectivity," he remarked.
Speaking
about the Muslim Fashion Festival+, or MUFFEST+, Lutfi further said he expects
the event to be a stepping stone to the Jakarta Muslim Fashion Week (JMFW) so
that the world takes notice of Indonesia.
This
year's MUFFEST+ was held by the Indonesian Fashion Chamber (IFC), with the
support of the Kinarya Cipta Kreasi, which served as the event organizer.
The
event was held from April 21 to 23, 2022, at the Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place's
Grand Ballroom, here.
Source:
Antara News
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/osama-laden-us-documents/d/126870