Quran Recitals to Protest Rizvi PIL: Shia Board Appealed To the Supreme Court to Dismiss the Petition
New Age Islam News Bureau
19 March 2021
• ‘Some Europeans Hold Centuries-Old Grudge Against Muslims’:
Former Far-Right European Politician
• Saudi Arabia Calls for Greater Tolerance As Crimes
against Muslims Soar: Saudi Representative to the UN
• UAE Angered over Netanyahu’s Exploitation of
Normalization Deal, Cancels Summit with Israel, US
• Making Pakistan a Model Of State Of Medina Is Final
Goal, Says President Alvi
• Sri Lankan Police Arrest Muslim Leader Using
Draconian Anti-Terror Laws
• Uighur Exiles Urge Blinken to Demand China Close
Xinjiang Camps
• Nigerian Soldiers Flee As Boko Haram Takes Over
Military Base In Borno
• Russia, Us, China Urge Taliban to Cut Spring
Offensive
India
• Quran Recitals to Protest Rizvi PIL: Shia Board
Appealed To the Supreme Court to Dismiss the Petition
• Authors of MBBS Book Linking Tablighi Jamaat to
Covid-19 Spike Promise Revision
• Key Changes Have Been Made To the Blueprint of the
Mosque-Hospital Complex at Ayodhya Construction after Ramzan
• Lucknow Book Fair: Bookstall tries to clear
misconceptions about Islam, Muslims in India
• Allahabad HC Asks UP Govt under Which Authority of
Law It Appointed Administrator In Shia Waqf Board
• Space diplomacy: India plans space pact with Saudi,
pushes key projects with Quad nations
• Why is the Asian Church cold about Muslim
friendship?
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Europe
• ‘Some Europeans Hold Centuries-Old Grudge Against
Muslims’: Former Far-Right European Politician
• Anti-Muslim Hatred Has Reached ‘Epidemic
Proportions’ Says UN Rights Expert
• Russia hosts Afghanistan peace conference, urges
speedy deal to end violence
• 'EU should support Turkey for hosting over 4M
refugees'
• EU criticizes Assad regime, its global supporters
• 'Turkey key in Europe’s future as it was in past'
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Arab
World
• Saudi Arabia Calls for Greater Tolerance As Crimes
against Muslims Soar: Saudi Representative to the UN
• ‘Three Mossad-linked Teams Active in Syria’s
US-Controlled Al-Hawl Refugee Camp, Recruit Spies’
• Cardinal and Imam Talk About Pope Francis's Visit
with Al-Sistani
• Lebanon’s Hariri says new cabinet, IMF dialogue
necessary to halt collapse
• Certain groups attempt to create civil war in
Lebanon, Hezbollah chief warns
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Mideast
• UAE Angered over Netanyahu’s Exploitation of
Normalization Deal, Cancels Summit with Israel, US
• Iran Blasts Growing Trend of Intolerance, Prejudice
against Muslims in West
• Turkey Orders Muslim Brotherhood TV Channels To Stop
Airing Anti-Egypt Rhetoric
• Pakistani PM Stresses Using Iran's Energy Capacities
• Envoy Lauds Brazilian Lawmakers for Passing Bill to
Develop Ties with Iran
• Over 550 intl. organizations urge UN Human Rights
Council to 'end Israel’s impunity'
• Yemen: Al-Qaeda attacks military post, kills 12
--------
Pakistan
• Making Pakistan a Model Of State Of Medina Is Final
Goal, Says President Alvi
• Time for India and Pak to Bury Past, Move Forward: Pak
Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa
• Fazl, Nawaz agree to go ahead even if PPP leaves PDM
• Kuwait seeks stronger ties with Pakistan: minister
• SC to hear Imran’s petition against Akbar’s PTI
membership
--------
South
Asia
• Sri Lankan Police Arrest Muslim Leader Using
Draconian Anti-Terror Laws
• Bangladesh still far from achieving founding
father's dreams
• U.S Air Force bombs Taliban in Kandahar
• US, Russia join forces for Af-Taliban deal despite
spat
• US, Regional Powers Call on Taliban to Forego Spring
Offensive at Moscow Conference
--------
Southeast
Asia
• Uighur Exiles Urge Blinken to Demand China Close
Xinjiang Camps
• Jakim awaits Conference of Rulers’ consent for next
course of action over ‘Allah’ issue
• Johor allows congregational prayers at mosques,
surau from tomorrow
• Indonesia president calls for ASEAN high level
meeting on Myanmar crisis
• China accuses outspoken scholar on Xinjiang of
fabrication
--------
Africa
• Nigerian Soldiers Flee As Boko Haram Takes Over
Military Base In Borno
• At least 30 hospitalized by strange illness in
Nigeria
• Qatar denounces terror attack in Niger
• Attackers on trucks and motorbikes raid Mali base,
kill 33 troops
--------
North
America
• Russia, Us, China Urge Taliban to Cut Spring
Offensive
• Iran-Backed Attacks on US Forces to Accelerate
Nuclear Deal Will Not Work: US Envoy
• Biden urges UNSC to act on Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/quran-recitals-protest-rizvi-pil/d/124580
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Quran Recitals to Protest Rizvi PIL: Shia Board
Appealed To the Supreme Court to Dismiss the Petition
Mar 19, 2021
Ayodhya: The All India Shia Personal Law Board
(AISPLB) appealed to the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition of former Uttar
Pradesh Shia Waqf Board chairperson, Wasim Rizvi, who sought removal of 26
verses of the Quran.
At an emergency meeting of the board executive in
Lucknow on Thursday, it was decided that Quran would be recited in groups on
Monday evening at Imambara, mosques and mausoleums and by women at their homes
and these videos would be uploaded on social media. The board also demanded
harsh punishment to those who insult religion.
Talking to TOI after the meeting at Shia Degree
College campus, general secretary of the Board, Maulana Yasoob Abbas, said,
community members have been asked to recite the Quran at religious places and
homes. He also announced that the board would counter Rizvi’s petition and the
convener of the Board’s legal cell, Afzal Imam, reached Delhi on Thursday to
finalise the legal strategy. He also criticitised Allahabad University VC Prof
Sangeeta Srivastava for her stand against azan from mosques.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/quran-recitals-to-protest-rizvi-pil-shia-board-at-crucial-meet/articleshow/81578653.cms
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‘Some Europeans Hold Centuries-Old Grudge Against
Muslims’: Former Far-Right European Politician
Joram was once close to
the Dutch far-right anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders. (AP Archive)
-----
March 19, 2021
Deep-rooted hatred against Islam persists, says Joram
van Klaveren, the former far-right European politician, who was once a close
ally of Geert Wilders.
When Brenton Tarrant live-streamed the massacre of
Muslims at two mosques in New Zealand, viewers noticed his guns were covered
with inscriptions - racial slurs such as ‘Migration Compact’ and ‘Kebab
Remover’. One read ‘Vienna 1683’.
That last one is a reference to the year when the Ottoman
Empire fought a bloody war with the Holy League, a Christian European alliance
that included Russia.
Tarrant, 30, who has been imprisoned for life, without
any possibility for parole, for the killing of 51 Muslim worshippers in the
city of Christchurch on March 15, 2019, was well-versed in white supremacist
propaganda.
He cherry-picked historical events to justify
targeting Muslims, who according to him, are migrating in large numbers and
have more babies, something that threatens to turn white Europeans into a
minority.
Muslims make up 5 percent of Europe’s population,
according to Pew Research.
“What Tarrant and the others from the far-right do is
that they bring these stories out of history, twist them around and use them to
scare everybody,” says Joram van Klaveren, a former lawmaker of the anti-Muslim
Party for Freedom (PVV) of Netherlands.
“They don't say that we in Europe should be thankful
to Muslims for algebra, maths and hospitals - the things we borrowed from the
Islamic civilisation.”
Klaveren was a close associate of Geert Wilders, the
Freedom party leader, and for years worked as his spokesperson on Islam. He
once submitted a bill in the Netherlands parliament that called for a ban on
Islam because it permits violence against women.
But in 2018, Klaveren renounced Freedom party’s
politics. While researching a book that was supposed to highlight the dangers
posed by Muslims, he ended up writing Apostate - a book about his conversion to
Islam.
Klaveren is now a board member of the Islam Experience
Center, which promotes Islam’s understanding in Europe and actively promotes
Muslim causes.
A time for reflection
What happened at Christchurch was the worst terrorist
attack in New Zealand’s history. It was also one of the most gruesome against
Muslims anywhere in Europe.
New Zealand’s immediate response was widely
appreciated. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, her head covered with a scarf, was
alongside mourners during funerals, gun laws were tightened and the court
handed the maximum punishment to Tarrant within the country’s laws.
But there are concerns that authorities are not
keeping track of white supremacists like Tarrant who openly exchange anti-Islam
propaganda online.
Just weeks back, New Zealand police arrested a man who
posted messages on 4Chan message board - also frequented by Tarrant -
threatening to attack the same mosques in Christchurch that were targeted by
Tarrant.
Police were able to nab the guy only after a tip-off
from a user, leading to criticism of the slow response of New Zealand’s
Security Intelligence Service.
Two years since the Christchurch attack, not much has
changed in the way right-wing politicians spew hatred against Muslims, says
Klaveren. And they still appear to be a formidable political force in a few
countries.
In the Netherlands, PVV, which is already the second
largest in the parliament, is expected to do well in national elections being
held this week.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is expected to
win another term in office, hasn’t done much to inspire confidence in the
Muslim community either.
“Our government doesn't want Islamic organisations and
mosques getting funding from abroad. But it’s okay for a Church or a political
party to get funds from abroad.”
Nevertheless, the New Zealand attack made European
Muslims realise that they have to come together and that has encouraged them to
better organise themselves.
“Also politicians now know that there will be
consequences to what they say and do.”
A crisis of Christianity
Tarrant’s infamous manifesto, which he wrote before
carrying out the attack, spoke about the perceived threat that Muslim migrants
pose to white Europeans. It’s a view that’s shared by many others as reflected
by a rise in Islamophobic attacks in countries such as Germany.
“That perception hasn’t really changed,” says
Klaveren. Especially as Europeans are not being given the true picture of
Islam, he adds.
“More often they see the news of terrorist attacks and
young Muslim migrants shown as hooligans. A combination of this worries people.
There are Muslim organisations, which are doing a lot of charity work but it
never gets the media coverage.”
Many Europeans have an inherited fear of Islam because
of a history of wars that Muslims and Europeans fought centuries ago.
At the same time, the rise of the nationalist
right-wing politics has coincided with the rapid increase in Europe’s
secularisation, says Klaveren.
“A lot of people, in a sort of spiritual way, have
lost their God. There is emptiness in their heart. They go do drugs, they start
drinking, they go partying, and they join the ranks of extreme-right
nationalists - do everything to fill up the hole,” he says.
“Then they are confronted by a group, in this case the
Muslims, who are still very practicing. They do believe in God, it's clear what
we think and what we want to do. And it scares them. The extreme right misuses
this fear.”
https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/some-europeans-hold-centuries-old-grudge-against-muslims-45087
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Saudi Arabia Calls for Greater Tolerance As Crimes
against Muslims Soar: Saudi Representative to the UN
March 18, 2021
NEW YORK: “Islamophobia is unfortunately pervasive
everywhere,” Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to
the UN, told a high-level international meeting on Wednesday.
It was organized by the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation (OIC) to mark the first International Day to Combat Islamophobia.
In response to an increase in attacks and other hate crimes targeting Muslims
worldwide, the organization adopted a resolution in November last year calling
for March 15 to be observed as a day to highlight and address the issue.
Fifty-seven countries, with a total population of 1.8
billion people, are members of the OIC. They include some, in West Africa and
South America in particular, that are not Muslim-majority nations.
“Social media, hate speech and disinformation
campaigns have made Islamophobia harder to address and eradicate,” said
Al-Mouallimi, who stressed that any threat to the freedoms of one community
based on the faith of its members is a threat to the religious freedoms of all.
Not only does the media perpetuate Muslim stereotypes
through a “disproportionate” focus on the actions of individuals “perceived to
be Muslims,” he said, it also plays an active role in spreading hatred. He
called on the international community to come together to address this threat.
Speaking on behalf of Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the
Kingdom’s foreign minister, Al-Mouallimi cited the words of the “Charter of
Makkah,” which affirms that “religions and philosophies are exonerated from the
sins committed by their adherents and claimants,” and that “true understanding
of Islam requires an objective view that is devoid of stereotypical and
prejudicial notions.”
The charter, adopted in the Holy City by the Muslim
World League in May 2019, is a pan-Islamic set of principles that aim to
counter extremism, advocate religious and cultural diversity, and support
legislation against hate and violence. It was presented by Saudi Arabia’s King
Salman, approved by the Islamic leaders of 139 countries, and signed by more
than 1,200 prominent Muslims.
Al-Mouallimi also raised concerns about an increase in
individual attacks against Muslims, and reminded those at the meeting that
“personal behaviors should not be attributed to any religion or nationality. We
underscore that the dissemination of hate speech jeopardizes the peace of
society and serves the agenda of individual extremists to nourish their notion
of hatred.”
The Saudi envoy called for an end to all
“disproportionate measures” that target Muslims, and activities that stir up
“religious intolerance, discrimination and violence.”
He reiterated the principles enshrined in the
establishment of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia: a recognition of
the growing threat from rising intolerance and sectarian violence; the
importance of breaking perceived links that connect terrorism with any
particular religion; and the need to raise awareness of acts of violence based
on religion and condemn them.
Al-Mouallimi also welcomed a recent report by the UN
Human Rights Council that concluded “suspicion, discrimination, and outright
hatred” toward Muslims has risen to “epidemic proportions.”
It highlighted the disproportionate restrictions
placed on Muslims manifesting or practicing their faith, limits on their access
to citizenship, the socioeconomic exclusions they face, and the pervasive
stigmatization of Muslim communities. These forms of discrimination, in the
private and public spheres, “often make it difficult for a Muslim to be a
Muslim,” the UN’s special rapporteur said in the report.
Muslims are frequently targeted based on visible
characteristics of their faith, according to the report, such as their names,
skin color and religious attire, including headscarves. The study also
highlighted “the triple levels of discrimination” that Muslim women face
because of their “gender, ethnicity and faith.”
The report — titled Countering
Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred to Eliminate Discrimination and Intolerance
Based on Religion or Belief — also examines “how Islamophobia perpetuates a
vicious circle whereby state policy validates private Islamophobic attitudes
and actions, and the prevalence of such attitudes can propel state policies
that penalize Muslims; with stark consequences for the enjoyment of human
rights, including freedom of religion or belief.”
It concludes that “cumulatively, in some contexts,
such actions may amount to the level of coercion as prohibited under
international law.”
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the
meeting: “Unfortunately, far too often stereotypes are further compounded by
elements of the media and some in positions of power.
“Anti-Muslim bigotry is sadly in line with other
distressing trends we are seeing globally: a resurgence in ethno-nationalism,
neo-Nazism, stigma and hate speech targeting vulnerable populations including
Muslims, Jews, some minority Christian communities, as well as others.”
Although acts of intolerance might not always be
recorded in official statistics, they “degrade people’s dignity and our common
humanity,” Guterres said.
“Discrimination diminishes us all,” he added. “As the
Holy Qur’an reminds us: nations and tribes were created to know one another.”
Calling for social cohesion and an end to bigotry, the
UN chief said that fighting discrimination, racism and xenophobia is a priority
for the organization.
Other guests at the meeting included President of the
UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir, OIC Secretary-General Yousef Al-Othaimeen,
UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Angel
Moratinos, and the foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Pakistan.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1827321/saudi-arabia
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UAE angered over Netanyahu’s exploitation of normalization
deal, cancels summit with Israel, US
19 March 2021
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has canceled an event
with Israel and the US, accusing Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of
exploiting the normalization deal and using Crown Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed’s
commitment as an election ploy to boost his chances in upcoming Israeli general
elections.
The UAE, the US, and Israel and leaders from Arab
states that have normalised relations with Tel Aviv had planned to organize an
April summit to celebrate Israel’s normalization agreement with Sudan. The
event was canceled after the UAE officials expressed their frustration with
Netanyahu's electioneering.
This is the first big crisis between the UAE and
Israel since the two sides announced the normalization of relations last
August.
Netanyahu had touted his role in Israel’s
normalization deals as a key component of his campaign strategy, announcing
that the UAE would invest $10 billion in Israel.
He has reportedly taken to name-dropping bin Zayed in
recent political events, billing himself as the facilitator of the
multi-billion-dollar UAE investment projects in Israel.
Netanyahu, who faces general elections on 23 March,
has suggested that his opponents do not have the same political lout.
According to the UAE, Netanyahu has misrepresented the
Emirati commitment as one tied to Netanyahu’s political fortunes.
The UAE downplayed what it described as “our
potential” $10 billion investment, with UAE’s Minister of Industry and Advanced
Technology Sultan Al Jaber emphasizing that the investment is “commercially
driven and not politically associated.”
Al Jaber reiterated that the UAE’s possible investment
is anything but a done deal. “We are at a very early stage in studying the laws
and policies in Israel,” he told Emirati outlet The National.
Meanwhile, officials and analysts doubt that
irritation over the electioneering will weaken the foundations of the
normalization deal, such as cooperation against the Islamic Republic of Iran
and bilateral investment and tourist opportunities.
“It is inevitable that such a relationship with
Israel, which remains so controversial for so many in the Arab world, is and
will remain subject to politicking, and some public spats are normal,” said
Cinzia Bianco, research fellow on Europe and the Gulf for the European Council
on Foreign Relations.
This is not the first time Netanyahu has angered an
Arab country he is seeking to court.
Back in November, Saudi Arabia was angered and
embarrassed after Israel leaked a secret trip Netanyahu took to the kingdom to
meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's day-to-day leader.
That meeting came as the Trump administration sought
to convince Riyadh to follow the UAE's lead and normalize ties with the Israeli
regime.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/19/647628/UAE-cancels-summit-with-Israel-US-over-Netanyahu-electioneering
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Making Pakistan a model of State of Medina is final
goal, says President Alvi
March 19, 2021
MADEJI: President Dr Arif Alvi on Thursday said that
making Pakistan a model of the State of Medina is the final goal as envisioned
by the Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan.
The president was addressing the opening ceremony of a
series of webinars entitled, “Nurturing Peaceful, Respectful and Inclusive
Societies in Pakistan: Seerat counters hate speech through decisive action”,
being jointly organised by the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and
the Responsibility to Protect (OSAPG) and the Higher Education Commission
(HEC), Pakistan.
He underlined that lack of communication generates
phobias among individuals, states, and nations, yet cooperative and peaceful
discussions, as enshrined in the UN Charter, are the key to address these
phobias.
Alvi stated that hate speech should have no standing
in Pakistan. “We need to make sure that the laws isolating communities must be
condemned,” he said. Highlighting the role of media, he stressed the need for
judiciously handling the ‘weapons of misinformation’ and communicating to the
world that Pakistan is a peaceful country, and the Muslims around the world are
peaceful.
According to the HEC statement issued on Thursday, the
introductory webinars will continue for three days to cover six sessions,
including topics like Seerat of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him),
minorities, and the role of youth in combating hate speech.
The series of webinars are aimed at encouraging
peaceful, inclusive, and empathetic communities in Pakistan through tools like
active and continuous intersectional participation, dialogue, and collaboration.
It also aims to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs), in particular SDG16 on building peaceful, inclusive and just societies.
Alvi said that it is imperative that all of us hold
ourselves to the true principles of Islam which can counter all kinds of
religious, ethnic and gender hatred, marginalisation, discrimination, and
inequality. He underlined that Islam establishes the fact that all human beings
are equal, and there is no point of discrimination among them except piety.
He said that Arabs had a patriarchal society wherein
slavery was common, yet the Holy Prophet (PBUH) encouraged people to break the
chains of slavery.
He maintained that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) taught and
emphasised forgiveness, putting compensation as a secondary and vengeance as a
last resort in case of any confrontation. He added that the Holy Prophet (PBUH)
laid emphasis on adopting a just approach in financial affairs to set up an
economically just society.
He added that the father of the Pakistani nation,
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, was also a staunch advocate of unity and peaceful
coexistence.
On this occasion, UN Special Adviser Alice Wairimu
Nderitu emphasised that the United Nations was committed to using education as
a tool to counter hate speech.
“Education highlights the difference between good and
bad, right and wrong, and true and false,” she said, adding that the promotion
of quality education and the establishment of peace, justice and strong
institutions were among the UNDP’s SDGs.
None of the SDGs to establish inclusive and resilient
societies by 2030 can be achieved without the promotion of education, she
affirmed. She also acknowledged the world’s accumulative response to Covid-19.
Nderitu said that the past decade witnessed an increase in access to education,
however, there was still a lot to be done in this direction.
She appreciated Pakistan for its commitment to
achieving the goal of ensuring free and compulsory education for all, as per
the Constitution. She observed that the governments around the world had a
strong role in combating the increased exclusion and stigmatisation of
communities and groups, especially on social media platforms.
Nderitu emphasised that the majority and the minority
need to join hands to wipe out hate speech and fulfil the responsibility to
protect the marginalised segments of societies. She also highlighted the role
of Pakistani youth in the elimination of discrimination by capitalising on
education.
HEC Chairman Tariq Banuri, HEC Executive Director, HEC
Dr Shaista Sohail, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics former vice
chancellor Dr Asad Zaman, a faculty member of Fatima Jinnah Women University,
Dr Ayesha Rafique, and Dr Aayesha Leghari also spoke on the occasion, while
former project director for Seerat Chairs, Dr Amineh Hoti, and Political
Affairs Officer at the UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility
to Protect Dr Simona Cruciani moderated the first-day webinars.
The UN and the HEC aim to follow these webinars in a
few months with another set of sessions giving more time to speakers in order
to allow supportive in-depth impact.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/03/18/making-pakistan-a-model-of-state-of-medina-is-final-goal-says-president-alvi/
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Sri Lankan police arrest Muslim leader using draconian
anti-terror laws
March 19, 2021
Sri Lankan police arrested Muslim political leader
Azath Salley on Tuesday at the orders of Attorney General Dappula de Livera,
following provocative statements last week by former rear admiral, now Public
Security Minister Sarath Weerasekera. Salley has been detained for three months
under the country’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
De Livera “advised” the Criminal Investigation
Department to arrest the Muslim leader, claiming “credible information” that he
had committed offences under the Penal Code, the PTA and the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in a recent speech.
Enacted in 1979, the PTA has been widely used to
detain and arrest individuals allegedly linked to the separatist Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other Tamil groups, beginning with Colombo’s
bloody communalist war in 1983. It has also been employed by Sri Lankan
governments to suppress political opponents and militant workers. Confessions
extracted forcibly by the police under this law can be used as evidence against
the victims.
The ICCPR, which was adopted in Sri Lanka in the early
1990s, was introduced under the guise of curbing “hate speech.” It has,
however, been used to witch hunt individuals, accusing them of defaming
Buddhism or preaching Muslim extremism.
Salley leads the National Unity Alliance (NUA) and was
Western Province governor under the previous government. He has been taken into
custody for allegedly declaring that Muslim Sharia law and the Koran cannot be
changed, and that his community will only respect these laws.
While the Socialist Equality Party does not support
Salley’s politics, or the NUA’s Islamic communalist agenda, we oppose his
arrest and detention, which is a part of an anti-Muslim campaign initiated by
the Rajapakse government. Salley’s persecution is a warning to all political
critics of the government and a threat to the democratic rights of the working
class. It followed provocative comments last week by Weerasekera, who told the
media, “We will arrest him, question him and take the necessary legal action.”
Further allegations have been hurled against Salley
since his arrest. Police spokesman Ajith Rohana told the media that the Muslim
leader was also being questioned over the April 21, 2019 terrorist bombing on
three Catholic Churches and two tourist hotels. The Easter Sunday attacks,
which were carried out by ISIS-backed Islamists, killed over 270 people and
injured another 500.
The bombings were immediately seized on by the
government, and the parliamentary opposition parties, to witch hunt the Muslim
community. This provoked violent attacks on Muslims and was also used to divert
attention from Colombo’s austerity measures against the working class and the
poor.
Gotabhaya Rajapakse, with the backing of the Sri Lanka
Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), won the Sri Lankan presidency by rallying support
from Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinist groups and the military and by promising a
“strong and stable government.”
Weerasekera told parliament on March 11 that the
government would act to “ban Madrasas [Islamic schools] and the burqa.” He
claimed these measures would “prevent the recurrence of Islamic extremist
activities” in Sri Lanka. Weerasekera later told a press conference that “The
burqa is something that directly affects our national security” and that he had
signed a cabinet paper to outlaw it.
Cabinet spokesmen claimed that the public security
minister’s proposal had not come up at this week’s ministers’ meeting. The
foreign ministry also said a decision had not yet been made and described it as
“merely a proposal… under discussion.”
The latter statements, however, appear to be a
tactical move by Colombo, which wants to downplay the issue at the moment
because it is attempting to win support from Muslim countries in the UN Human
Rights Council (UNHRC). Next Tuesday, a UNHRC meeting will discuss a resolution
prompted by the US and its allies over Sri Lankan war crimes committed during
Colombo’s war with the LTTE, as well as ongoing attacks on democratic rights.
The US and other Western powers, which have themselves
committed numerous war crimes, have little concern about human rights
violations and the suppression of democratic rights in Sri Lanka. Washington,
which is intensifying its geo-strategic and military preparations against
China, is using the resolution to pressure the Colombo regime to distance
itself from Beijing.
Last Friday, President Rajapakse gazetted new
additions to the repressive PTA, which are supposed to “de-radicalise” those
“holding violent extremist religious ideology” and are clearly targeted against
Muslims.
Under these rules any one can be detained “on
suspicion of being a person who by words, either spoken or intended to be read
or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, causes or intends to
cause commission of acts of violence or religious, racial or communal
disharmony or feelings of ill will or hostility between different communities
or racial or religious groups.”
In fact, anybody could be arrested and detained under
these vague and sweeping regulations. The new measures also allow a magistrate
to order anyone found guilty of “extremist ideology” to be sent for as long as
18 months to a so-called rehabilitation centre controlled by the commissioner
general of rehabilitation.
The communal, discriminatory character of the
government’s actions is revealed in its attitude towards Bodu Bala Sena (BBS),
a fascistic Buddhist group. The recent Presidential Commission of Inquiry’s report
into the Easter Sunday terror attack recommended, among other things, the
banning of BBS for causing religious disharmony.
On March 8, however, SLPP chairman and Minister of
Education G.L. Peiris told the media the commission of inquiry’s recommendation
to ban the BBS “wasn’t acceptable to the government.” BBS is one of the extreme
right formations that campaigned for Rajapakse to become president and backs
his government.
The Rajapakse government, which faces an unprecedented
economic crisis, with rising foreign debts and falling export income, is
systematically provoking racial and religious tensions in order to divide and
weaken rising working class opposition to its attacks on jobs and social
rights.
The Sri Lankan ruling elite, from the outset of so-called
national independence in 1948, and whenever faced with a political crisis
since, has systematically discriminated against the country’s minorities,
principally the Tamils, to defend capitalist rule.
Predictably, the Sri Lankan media has backed the
government’s anti-Muslim campaign. Gayantha Karunatilleke, an MP from the main
opposition party the Samagi Jana Balavegaya, condemned Salley’s remarks.
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) leader Vijitha Herath advised the government to
“speak to the communities and religious and political leaders” about banning
the burqa. These parties, which are mired in reactionary Sinhala communal
politics, have no differences with Rajapakse’s anti-democratic measures or his
moves towards the establishment of a presidential dictatorship.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/19/sril-m19.html
--------
Uighur exiles urge Blinken to demand China close
Xinjiang camps
MAR 18, 2021
The largest group representing exiled ethnic Uighurs
has written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging him to demand that
Beijing close its internment camps in the Xinjiang region in talks on Thursday.
Activists and UN experts say that more than 1 million
Muslim Uighurs and other Turkic Muslims are being held against their will in
harsh camps in the remote western region.
China rejects US charges that it has committed
genocide against ethnic and religious minorities, and says the camps provide
vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and separatism.
Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan
are to meet China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi and State Councilor Wang Yi in
Alaska, in the first face-to-face meetings between the rival powers since Joe
Biden became US president.
Blinken has already accused China of coercion and aggression
at home and around the region.
Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress,
told Blinken: "First and foremost, it is imperative that China immediately
and unconditionally ends the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in
East Turkestan.
"This includes that China closes all internment
camps and unconditionally releases all those arbitrarily detained," he
said in the letter from his group's base in Munich, Germany.
The exiles call Xinjiang "East Turkestan",
and the group uses a different spelling for the word Uighur.
Isa said China must also end the use of forced labour
in Xinjiang and other regions and allow UN monitors to investigate.
Chen Xu, China's ambassador to the United Nations in
Geneva, told the UN Human Rights Council on Monday: "Today, Xinjiang and
Tibet enjoy prosperity and stability ... It can’t be more absurd to pin the
'genocide' label on China, and this attempt will not go anywhere."
On Wednesday, European Union countries agreed in
principle to blacklist Chinese officials for human rights abuses, according to
diplomats.
China has said allegations of forced labour and human
rights violations in the region are groundless, and that there are no
"detention camps".
It has also said all those who have attended the
complexes in question have "graduated" and gone home. Access is
restricted and it is not possible to verify Beijing's assertions independently.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/uighur-exiles-urge-blinken-to-demand-china-close-xinjiang-camps-101616065041187.html
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Nigerian Soldiers Flee As Boko Haram Takes Over
Military Base In Borno
MAR 17, 2021
Militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of
Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as
Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād, have taken over a military base in
Damasak town, Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.
Sources told SaharaReporters that the insurgents
stormed the community, shooting in all directions before ramming a pick-up
truck loaded with explosives into the military base.
A resident said the gunmen came in different groups
and could not be counted.
He added that some Nigerian soldiers were killed while
others fled into the bush.
“They came, hundreds of them, with guns, trucks, and
grenades and started firing from different directions. The soldiers ran away
and left us on our own. They didn’t shoot at them (insurgents) at all. Though
some soldiers were killed I can’t say how many,” he told SaharaReporters.
It was learnt that the insurgents also burnt a
Nigerian army tanker and some buildings in the military base.
The attack on the base took place just days after Boko
Haram fighters ambushed a military convoy in Gudumbali, Kukawa Local Government
Area of Borno state, killing over 15 soldiers, including the commanding
officer, 123 Special Forces Battalion, Major U.I. Urang.
Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa
Province, have killed thousands and displaced millions in northeastern Nigeria.
The Nigerian military has repeatedly claimed that the
insurgency has been largely defeated and therefore frequently underplays any
losses.
In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the
insurgents.
Many soldiers and officers have been reportedly killed
since January 2021.
At least 33 soldiers were recently killed when two
vehicles loaded with explosives rammed into a military convoy in Wulgo.
The suicide bombers were identified as Abu Bakr
al-Siddiq and Bana Jundullah. The group also claimed four military vehicles
were destroyed.
In February, about 20 soldiers were also killed in
Malari, Borno State by the insurgents.
SaharaReporters gathered that the soldiers were on
patrol to clear some Boko Haram elements in the area following credible
intelligence when they were ambushed by the group.
http://saharareporters.com/2021/03/17/exclusive-nigerian-soldiers-flee-boko-haram-takes-over-military-base-borno?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2117933_
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Russia, US, China urge Taliban to cut spring offensive
Elena Teslova
18.03.2021
Russia, the US, China, and Pakistan -- the expanded
troika on the Afghan settlement -- called on the Taliban to abandon plans on
the Spring offensive following the Moscow meeting on Afghanistan on Thursday.
In a joint statement, approved by the meeting
participants, the expanded "troika" urged all parties "to reduce
the level of violence", and on the Taliban – not to pursue a Spring
offensive.
According to the statement, Russia, the US, China, and
Pakistan agreed to "acknowledge the widespread and sincere demand of the
Afghan people for an end to the war and a lasting and just peace", which
can only be achieved through a negotiated political settlement.
"As stated in the UNSC resolution 2513 (2020), we
do not support the restoration of the Islamic Emirate and we call on the
Government of the Islamic Republic and the High Council for National
Reconciliation to engage openly with their Taliban counterparts regarding a
negotiated settlement," the statement said.
Four states "call on the parties to negotiate and
conclude a peace agreement that will bring an end to the war in
Afghanistan," aiming to achieve "a durable and just political
resolution that will result in the formation of an independent, sovereign,
unified, peaceful, democratic and self-sufficient Afghanistan free of terrorism
and an illicit drug industry".
Also, Afghanistan has to ensure that terrorist groups
and individuals do not use its soil to threaten any other country's security,
it said.
"Any peace agreement must include protections for
the rights of all Afghans – women, men, children, victims of war, and
minorities," the statement said.
The expanded troika welcomed international efforts on
the Afghan peace settlement. It gave individual gratitude to Qatar, saying it
"appreciates Qatar's long-standing support to the peace process, support
continuation of the Doha process."
On March 18, Moscow hosted a regular meeting of the
extended 'troika' comprising representatives of Russia, China, the US, and Pakistan,
which focused on making progress in the intra-Afghan process to reach a
negotiated settlement and permanent and comprehensive cease-fire.
The event was attended by representatives of the
Afghan government, the High Council for National Reconciliation, prominent
Afghan political figures, representatives of the Taliban movement, and Qatar
and Turkey guests of honor.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/russia-us-china-urge-taliban-to-cut-spring-offensive/2180669
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India
Authors of MBBS Book Linking Tablighi Jamaat to
Covid-19 Spike Promise Revision
MAR 19, 2021
The authors of Essentials of Medical Microbiology, a
textbook for undergraduate medical students, have issued a clarification and
assured that the parts of it that blamed Muslim group Tablighi Jamiat’s
gathering in Delhi last year for a spike in Covid-19 cases will be removed.
The assurance came after the Student Islamic
Organisation (SIO) took this matter up with the publishers and asked them to
remove the reference as there has been no epidemiological study to corroborate
such claim.
“...there were many large socio-political events and
gatherings at the said time period,” said SIO’s joint secretary (South
Maharashtra) Musaddiq Ul Moid. He added courts have condemned such
misinterpretation of the gathering.
Apurba Sastry and Sandhya Bhat, the authors, issued a
clarification after SIO approached them.
“We sincerely apologise if we have inadvertently hurt
the sentiments of a group of people by the content of our third edition of
Essentials of Medical Microbiology. The intention was only to convey the
epidemiology timelines, nothing else. However, understanding the sentiments of
people, such statements have been changed in the re-print of the third edition
of the same book,” said a statement released by Sastry.
The third edition of the book has a chapter about “the
explosive spread of Covid-19”. It said the Jamaat cluster was an important
“causative factor” for the spread of the virus. The book mentions how “most of
the [Jamaat] cases were asymptomatic” and were detected positive after they
returned home. “Thus, led to several clusters of cases in various states.” The
book notes Maharashtra accounts for nearly one-third of the total cases in
India as well as about 22% deaths. The surge in cases was attributed to factors
such as the Jamaat cluster, foreign returnees, and overcrowding in slum areas
of Mumbai.
The Bombay high court’s Aurangabad bench in August
quashed criminal cases registered against 34 people, including 28 foreign
Tablighi Jamaat members, in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, saying they were
virtually persecuted. “The material of the present matter shows that the
propaganda against the so-called religious activity was unwarranted,” it said.
The Jamaat hit the headlines in March last year when
authorities blamed a congregation at its headquarters in New Delhi’s Nizamuddin
area for a jump in Covid-19 infections. The headquarters was sealed and
thousands of attendees, including foreigners from countries like Indonesia,
Malaysia, and the US, were quarantined.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/competitive-exams/authors-of-mbbs-book-linking-tablighi-jamaat-to-covid-19-spike-promise-revision-101616133259889.html
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Key Changes Have Been Made To the Blueprint of the
Mosque-Hospital Complex at Ayodhya Construction after Ramzan
Mar 19, 2021
Ayodhya: Key changes have been made to the blueprint
of the mosque-hospital complex at Ayodhya on recommendations of the Uttar
Pradesh government. A green belt, sewage treatment plant and basement for
parking were accommodated in the design, which will be submitted to the Ayodhya
Development Authority for approval before construction begins after the month
of Ramzan.
The Ayodhya mosque Trust — Indo-Islamic Cultural
Foundation (IICF) — held brainstorming sessions in Delhi last week with chief
architect Prof S M Akhtar, who tweaked the design as per state government’s
recommendations. On Thursday, political officer at US embassy, Alexi LeFevre,
and political adviser Abhiram Ghadyalpatil called on IICF secretary Athar
Husain in Delhi and discussed the political scenario in ÜP and Ayodhya
developments in the context of the mosque project .
Talking to TOI, Athar Husain, said, “I “told them
about the progress of the Ayodhya mosque project and emphasised on cordial
relations between Hindus and Muslims in Awadh and eastern UP, where both
communities participated in the freedom struggle and shared a legacy in
literature, music, architecture, art and cuisine. Our concern for environment
was lauded by embassy officials.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/mosque-blueprint-tweaked-construction-after-ramzan/articleshow/81578671.cms
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Lucknow Book Fair: Bookstall tries to clear
misconceptions about Islam, Muslims in India
19th March 2021
Lucknow: The Lucknow Book Fair 2021 that began on 5
March lasted till 14th March. One of the bookstalls, Rational Thinker’s Cafe,
was dedicated to promoting communal harmony by distributed free pamphlets and
literature.
It also tried to clear misconceptions about Muslims
and Islam in India in present political context and received positive comments
from visitors from all age groups.
Imran Ali, one of its members, received a memento from
the Lucknow police commissioner D J. Thakur.
Imran Ali gifted the Holy Quran and Dawah literature
to him which he received with thanks and appreciated the true efforts of the
organization.
https://www.siasat.com/lucknow-book-fair-bookstall-tries-to-clear-misconceptions-about-islam-muslims-in-india-2112892/
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Allahabad HC asks UP govt under which authority of law
it appointed administrator in Shia Waqf Board
18th March 2021
LUCKNOW: The Allahabad High Court asked the Uttar
Pradesh government on Thursday under which authority of law it appointed an
administrator in the Shia Waqf Board.
The Lucknow bench of the court further asked the
government when would it initiate the process of election to constitute the
board.
The court also directed a special secretary-level
officer to appear before it on March 25 to assist it in the matter.
A division bench of justices DK Upadhyaya and Manish
Kumar passed the order on a writ petition moved by Asad Ali Khan.
The petitioner's lawyer, Abhinab Singh, pleaded that
there was no provision under the Waqf Act, 1955 and the rules framed under it
for the appointment of an administrator in the board, in case the elections
could not be held on time.
In the course of the hearing, the bench found out that
the last election of the board was held on May 19, 2015 for a term of five
years and the term of the elected body expired on May 19, 2020.
Subsequently, the elections to constitute a new body
could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state government appointed an administrator on
March 16 to look after the affairs of the board, but was reluctant to start the
election process for no obvious reason, the petitioner said.
https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2021/mar/18/allahabad-hc-asks-up-govt-under-which-authority-of-law-it-appointed-administrator-in-shia-waqf-board-2278435.html
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Space diplomacy: India plans space pact with Saudi,
pushes key projects with Quad nations
Mar 19, 2021
NEW DELHI: To boost space diplomacy, India and Saudi
Arabia have held discussions on initiating cooperation in space science and
technology, and explored the possibility of a space pact. Also, New Delhi has
given a boost to space ties with Quad countries — the US, Japan and Australia —
in the last few weeks.
Isro had held separate meetings or talks with Japanese
space agency JAXA, Nasa and Australian Space Agency (ASA) recently to give push
to several key programmes like joint lunar mission, earth imaging satellite
programme (NISAR), navigation satellite and establishing a transportable
terminal in Australia to help the Gaganyaan mission.
On Wednesday, Isro chairman K Sivan and president of
board of directors of the Saudi Space Commission, Prince Sultan bin Salman, led
the space meeting on virtual mode. “Both had discussions on initiating space
cooperation in areas of mutual interest. The possibility of concluding a
country-level MoU for space cooperation was also discussed,” an Isro statement
said. In December last, India’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia Ausaf Sayeed had
held talks with Prince Sultan bin Salman in Riyadh to boost cooperation in
remote sensing, satellite communication and satellite-based navigation
projects.
On March 11, Isro and JAXA agreed on collaborative
activities for rice crop area and air quality monitoring using satellite data
during a meeting between the Isro chief and JAXA president Hiroshi Yamakawa.
The two agencies reviewed ongoing programmes in earth observation, lunar
cooperation and satellite navigation, and also agreed to explore opportunities
for cooperation in space situational awareness and professional exchange
programme. Both space agencies are specifically working on sharing earth
observation data and establishing Isro’s NavIC (India’s constellation of eight
navigation satellites in space) reference station in Japan.
Isro had on March 8 flagged off a key component of the
joint Isro-Nasa SAR (NISAR) mission to the US to fast-track the earth imaging
satellite project, which will help measure dynamic changes on the earth’s
surface, natural resources and hazards. Isro had shipped the S-band synthetic
aperture radar to Nasa’s JPL in California so that it could integrate it with
its L-band radar and sent the module back to India for its launch, which is
likely in 2023. Both agencies are also working for an implementing arrangement
to carry Nasa’s Laser Reflectometer Array (LRA) in Chandrayaan-3 mission and
exploring collaboration in the human spaceflight programme.
On February 17, Isro and ASA signed an amendment of
the ‘2012 India – Australia Inter-Governmental MoU for cooperation in Civil
Space Science, Technology and Education’ in the presence of envoys from both
countries. The amendment makes the Department of Space and ASA as executive
organisations. Both sides also reviewed the status of activities in earth
observation, satellite navigation, space situational awareness and
establishment of the transportable terminal in Australia to support India’s
first manned mission (Gaganyaan) to space.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/space-diplomacy-india-plans-space-pact-with-saudi-pushes-key-projects-with-quad-nations/articleshow/81579050.cms
--------
Why is the Asian Church cold about Muslim friendship?
Ben Joseph
March 19, 2021
Most of the world’s Muslims live in Asia, the
birthplace of all major religions including Christianity and Islam. But the
world’s most populous continent has yet to wake up from the slumber of colonial
trade wars and the Crusades when it comes to Christian-Muslim ties.
In Indonesia, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, which
together house half of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims, the battles for
supremacy between the Christian West and Muslim rulers left the two cultures
parting ways during earlier centuries.
Hardly any serious efforts have been made to mend the
relationship in modern times other than some sporadic, token gestures.
While the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British
military escapades throughout Asia stripped many Muslim rulers of their royal
robes, Vatican-sponsored missionaries painted Islam as a distorted version of
the Holy Book among their new recruits in Asia.
Many Islamic towns in Asia were changed with a
European town planning ethos, dominated by churches and monasteries. The
Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans and Jesuits preached to convince the
local people of the superiority of the Western religion.
During their centuries of occupation of the Asian
continent, both the European governors and the clergy often resorted to
questionable methods to compel the "Indios" to accept the Christian
religion of love and forgiveness.
With control of Asian seas falling into the hands of
colonial Christendom, a vast colonial network from Sumatra to Calcutta (now
Kolkata) flourished where Islamic rulers once thrived.
On the part of the Church, the popes were encouraging
the monastic orders to prevent the expansion of Islam worldwide. The clergy
were armed with books and handbooks of advice to convert Muslims in foreign
lands.
As a countermove, Muslim theologians termed
Christianity a religion of pantheism and a ploy by Western imperialism to
spread its wings.
In Asia, the world’s main religious brands competed
with each other in three ways — conquest, demographic rivalry and persuasion.
Hate speech is an old tactic religions discovered much earlier than the social
media age.
In the fight to increase adherents, Muslim rulers and
Christian governors were unforgiving at mere signs of disloyalty and erected
barriers to prevent mutual interaction. Muslims and Christians in Asian
countries even followed separate dress codes, residues of which are still
visible.
The 1.8 billion Muslims and more than 286 million
Christians in Asia still subscribe to the us-versus-them philosophy, albeit
unwritten and silent.
The legacy of confrontation, distrust and
misunderstanding passed on from the Middle Ages to the present day found many
takers in Asia when both Europe and America came up with anti-Islamic
stereotypes after the Twin Tower blasts.
The US-led invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan resulted
in a face-off reminiscent of the medieval hyperbole for Asian Muslims and
Christians.
While the West has made a theological and political
compromise with Islam under the mutual cohabitation norm, in Asia the
segregation has increased, with few takers for cordial Muslim-Christian
cultural endeavors and for a thaw.
Muslim-majority nations in Asia are also taking a
radical approach to their religious minorities. For example, Indonesia and
Bangladesh, known for moderate Muslim politicians, are now adopting a hardline
approach to please their conservative electorates.
In Indonesia, faith-based politics has gained ground
and the persecution of religious minorities has increased. Hundreds of churches
have been forced to close in the largest Muslim country in the world where
about 10 percent of the population is Christian.
Though freedom to practice religion is guaranteed
under the country’s constitution, proselytizing is banned.
Under President Jokowi Widodo, Christians find
themselves victims of one-sided blasphemy accusations which punish those who
speak against Prophet Muhammad or Islam while those who blaspheme against Jesus
go scot-free.
In Bangladesh, Christian-Muslim ties have been
nominally fraternal. A sense of fear persists among Christians about
numerically and politically dominant Muslims.
Of late, the ruling Awami League, which officially
professes a secular-leaning ideology, has sided with conservative Muslim
clerics who regularly call for the persecution of minorities, including
Christians, who make up less than 0.4 percent of Bangladesh's more than 160
million people.
Christians, who account for 1.27 percent of the 208
million population in Pakistan, face extreme persecution and discrimination.
New converts from Islam face the greatest levels of persecution and all
Christians are considered second-class citizens because of their faith in this
Islamic nation.
Christian men are victims of bonded labor and face
severe workplace discrimination in Pakistan. Christian girls live with the risk
of abduction, rape and forced marriage. The country’s notorious blasphemy laws
are frequently used to target Christians.
In India, where 195 million Muslims make up 14 percent
of the 1.3 billion population, there is hardly any camaraderie between them and
Christians. Muslims, hit hard by the wounds of the 1947 Partition, still look
down on the Christian minority for their symbolic association with British
colonialism.
After the Hindu right-wing government came to power in
2014 headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Christian-Muslim bonhomie has
become a remote possibility due to political reasons.
Hindu-majority India is predicted to become home to
the largest Muslim population in the world by 2050, surpassing Indonesia’s 231
million Muslims, if the current level of population growth continues.
As the Vatican makes efforts to reach out to Muslims
worldwide, it also needs to put the focus on South and Southeast Asia where
Muslim-Christian fraternity is historically difficult to come by.
Serious and time-consuming efforts are needed to heal
the wounds of colonialism and the injuries of insult that the history of
mission heaped on Asian lands.
A cultural paradigm shift is needed to help Asian
Muslims to stretch their arms towards Christians.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/why-is-the-asian-church-cold-about-muslim-friendship/91816
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Europe
Anti-Muslim hatred has reached ‘epidemic proportions’
says UN rights expert
19th Mar 2021
Nadine Osman
Institutional Islamophobia, fear of Muslims and those
perceived to be Muslim, have escalated to ‘epidemic proportions’, the UN Human
Rights Council (HRC) heard on March 4.
Addressing the HRC’S forty-sixth session in Geneva, UN
Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, independent rights expert
Ahmed Shaheed, said that “numerous” States, regional and international bodies
were to blame.
In a report to the Council titled ‘Countering
Islamophobia/Anti-Muslim Hatred to Eliminate Discrimination and Intolerance
Based on Religion or Belief’, he cited European surveys in 2018 and 2019 that
showed that four in 10 people held unfavourable views about Muslims. In 2017,
some 30 per cent of Americans surveyed viewed Muslims in a negative light.
He said that States had responded to security threats
“by adopting measures, which disproportionately target Muslims and define
Muslims as both high risk and at risk of radicalisation”.
These measures include restricting Muslims from living
according to their belief system, the securitisation of religious communities,
limits on access to citizenship, socioeconomic exclusion and pervasive
stigmatisation of Muslim communities. Shaheed noted that these developments
followed the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US in 2001 and other acts of
terrorism “purportedly conducted in the name of Islam”, institutional suspicion
of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim have escalated to “epidemic
proportions.”
He further raised concerns that in States where Muslims
are in the minority, they are frequently targeted based on stereotypical
‘Muslim’ characteristics, such as names, skin colour and clothing, including
religious attire, such as headscarves (hijab).
The independent expert said that “Islamophobic” discrimination
and hostility were often intersectional, such as where “Muslim women may face a
‘triple penalty’ as women, minority ethnic and Muslim…Harmful stereotypes and
tropes about Muslims and Islam are, chronically, reinforced by mainstream
media, powerful politicians, influencers of popular culture and academic
discourse”.
The report emphasised that the critiques of Islam
should never be conflated with Islamophobia, adding that international human
rights law protects individuals, not religions. The criticism of the ideas,
leaders, symbols, or practices of Islam are not Islamophobic in itself, the
Special Rapporteur stressed, unless it is accompanied by hatred or bias towards
Muslims in general.
“I strongly encourage states to take all necessary
measures to combat the direct and indirect forms of discrimination against
Muslims and prohibit any advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes
incitement to violence”, the UN expert said.
The report also attributes rising anti-Muslim hatred
to ‘Harmful stereotypes and tropes about Muslims and Islam’ that ‘are
chronically reinforced by mainstream media, powerful politicians, influencers
of popular culture and in academic discourse.’
As an example of Muslims are ‘generally
underrepresented’ and ‘often misrepresented in the media’ the report cites a
study by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. It found that
between 2016 and 2017 in more than 600,000 Dutch news items ‘the adjectives
most used to describe Muslims were “radical”, “extremist” and “terrorist;” in
contrast, Dutch people are often described as “known”, “average” and
“beautiful.”’
Furthermore, the studies ‘show that media in several
countries disproportionately focus on negative angles for news stories
involving Muslims, such as reporting on their perceived failure to integrate,
and disproportionate media attention is often paid to a terrorist attack
committed by Muslims than coverage of terrorist attacks committed by far-right
extremists.’
Indeed, a Federal Commission against Racism-commissioned
study on the quality of media coverage of Swiss Muslims in 18 print media
outlets covering 2014 to 2017 found that coverage largely focused on ‘a lack of
will of Muslims to integrate, but only 2 per cent of reporting covered the
daily life of Muslims or their successful integration, respectively.’
The Special Rapporteur noted that surges in online
anti-Muslim hate are often catalysed by offline “trigger-events” such as terror
attacks (including attacks on Muslims), comments by public figures, or political
events such as elections or referenda.
In Myanmar, inflammatory statements shared on social
media by prominent Buddhist monks have alleged that Muslims are responsible for
sexual crimes against Buddhist women.
Muslim women receive more extreme hate speech online
than other women: 55 per cent of the most aggressive online hate speech
documented by Amnesty India directed at female politicians was directed at
Muslim women.
In Europe and North America, prominent politicians,
influencers and academics advance a narrative on both social networks and blogs
that Islam is innately antithetical to democracy and human rights —
particularly gender equality — often propagating the trope that all Muslim
women are oppressed.
In China, popular narratives on social media emphasise
the incompatibility of Muslim identities with being Chinese and claim that
State initiatives attempting to strip Muslim women of their religious identity
serve to “rescue” them from being ‘vessels of Muslim reproduction.’
Conspiracy theories drawing on xenophobic and racist
narratives about Muslims are also propagated by far-right groups online.
Designed to influence attitudes towards policies meant
to promote immigration and inclusion, or to ascribe blame for challenges facing
society, such theories include fabrications that immigrant Muslim populations
are going to “out-breed” native populations, which are widespread online in
Europe, North America, Myanmar and Sri Lanka; and in India, Hindu nationalists
have pushed the “Love Jihad” narrative, claiming that Muslim men conspire to
marry Hindu women into converting to Islam
In India, the hashtag #CoronaJihad went viral on
Twitter following the BJP’s Hindu Nationalist Government announcement of high
levels of Covid-19 infection among the Muslim community. WhatsApp group chats
and forwarding features have been used, including allegedly by government
officials, to propagate disinformation about Muslims, depicting them as
criminals or terrorists, and at times including specific calls to violence.
Similarly, in Sri Lanka, disinformation rapidly spread
online that Muslims deliberately disseminated Covid-19 in the country, and in
the UK, discourse online alleges that Muslim communities were responsible for
the spread of Covid-19. Encrypted chat platforms such as WhatsApp or Telegram
are also used to spread Islamophobic disinformation, particularly during the
pandemic.
http://muslimnews.co.uk/newspaper/islamophobia/anti-muslim-hatred-reached-epidemic-proportions-says-un-rights-expert/
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Russia hosts Afghanistan peace conference, urges
speedy deal to end violence
18 March 2021
Russia has urged both the Afghan officials and the
Taliban leaders during talks in Moscow to reach an speedy agreement to put an
end to years of violence as the deadline for US troops to withdraw from the
war-torn country draws near.
The call came during a Thursday conference in Moscow,
which was part of intensified negotiations between the Afghan government, the
Taliban militant group, and the United States. The three parties had already
met in Qatar’s capital, Doha, to negotiate Washington's exit from Afghanistan
about 20 years after US troops invaded the country under the pretext of
fighting terrorism.
The US reached a deal with the Taliban in February
last year on the withdrawal of 12,000 US troops from Afghanistan in exchange
for the Taliban’s halting of their attacks on American forces.
Under the so-called Doha Accord, the former US
administration promised to bring the number of US forces in Afghanistan to zero
by May 2021.
The new US President Joe Biden, however, said on
Wednesday that it would be "tough" to meet that deadline.
Last week, Russia said it supported the formation of
an interim government in Afghanistan that will include the Taliban.
"The formation of an interim inclusive
administration would be a logical solution to the problem of integrating the
Taliban into the peaceful political life of Afghanistan," Russian Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova said last Friday.
Opening the conference on Thursday, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov said, "In a degrading military-political situation,
further delays are unacceptable.”
He also expressed regret that Afghanistan peace talks
in Doha have so far failed to progress, hoping that
international negotiations with Afghan government
representatives and the Taliban in Moscow would support the process.
"We regret that so far the efforts to launch a
political (peace) progress in Doha have yet to yield a positive result,"
Lavrov said, adding, "We hope today's talks will facilitate the creation
of conditions to achieve progress."
Taliban co-founder and deputy leader Mullah Abdul
Ghani Baradar told the Moscow conference that Afghans "should be left to
decide their own fate," a Taliban spokesman said in a tweeted summary of
Baradar's speech, which was given behind closed doors.
He added, "The world should take into account the
Islamic values, independence and national interests of the Afghan people."
During the conference, participants from Russia, the
United States, China and Pakistan appealed for a reduction in violence in
Afghanistan, urging all warring sides to avoid further escalation in order to
"create a favorable atmosphere for achieving a politico-diplomatic
settlement."
"We call on all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan
to reduce the level of violence in the country and the Taliban ... not to
declare a spring-summer offensive campaign," they said in a joint
statement.
The international mediators also said the Afghan
government and the Taliban should reach an agreement "as soon as
possible" that would "bring an end to over four decades of war in
Afghanistan."
Also in a show of support for the international
efforts, the head of the Afghan government's reconciliation council, Abdullah
Abdullah, said Kabul wanted to speed up negotiations and for "the two
sides to start their talks and discussions in a different atmosphere."
The Afghan delegation included a large spectrum of
personalities from the past four years of conflict, including members of the
current negotiation team in Doha, a former president and two former military
leaders.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/18/647595/Russia-Afghanistan-peace-deal-
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'EU should support Turkey for hosting over 4M
refugees'
Baris Seckin
19.03.2021
ROME
The European Union should support Turkey for hosting
more than four million refugees, the EU’s foreign policy chief said Thursday.
Josep Borrell made the remarks after visiting the
command center of Operation Irini, the EU initiative to implement a UN arms
embargo on Libya.
On the EU-Turkey refugee deal, Borrell said illegal
immigration was stopped and many lives were saved thanks to the agreement.
“This agreement is still valid and its implementation
should continue,” he added.
Underlining that Turkey hosts more than four million
refugees, he said the EU should ease the country’s burden.
Most of the EU funding under this agreement goes
directly to immigrants, not the Turkish government, he noted.
Earlier in the day, Borrell met with Italian Foreign
Minister Luigi Di Maio and held a press conference.
“On Turkey, also we have a momentum, a good momentum,
following their exploratory talks with Greece,” Borrell said.
“I will present a report to the European Union
leaders, where I will outline current trends and suggest a way ahead to
consolidate a constructive attitude, while at the same time being ready to take
measures if necessary,” he stressed.
Borrell and Maio will discuss the report with other
European Union colleagues during the EU Foreign Ministers' meeting, which will
be held on Monday.
Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers
aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war
and persecution.
Turkey hosts nearly 4 million refugees, more than any
other country in the world. Ankara says it has so far spent more than $40
billion from its own resources for the refugees and has stressed that the EU
should do more to share the burden.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/eu-should-support-turkey-for-hosting-over-4m-refugees/2181145
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EU criticizes Assad regime, its global supporters
Erdal Turkoglu
18.03.2021
The Assad regime and its international supporters are
not working to find a diplomatic and political solution in Syria, said the EU’s
top representative in Turkey on Thursday.
Visiting Hatay – in southern Turkey, bordering Syria –
Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, said the Syrian
civil war had dragged on for 10 years now because of the brutal pressure the
Assad regime puts on its people.
"Both Turkey and the EU are making efforts to
find a diplomatic solution to this conflict. This effort aims to solve the
underlying cause of the problem. If we can find such a solution, then those who
have been forced to flee their country can return honorably, safely, and
voluntarily,” said Meyer-Landrut.
“Unfortunately, neither the regime nor the regime's
international supporters are making any serious efforts to find a diplomatic
and political solution. For this reason, unfortunately, we need to act,
thinking that the current situation will continue for some time," he
added.
Turkey’s ‘tremendous efforts for refugees’
This week the Turkish-EU 2016 migrant agreement marked
its fifth birthday, said Meyer-Landrut, adding that the agreement saves lives,
with far fewer people making dangerous sea journeys from Turkey since the pact
was reached.
He also congratulated the Turkish government,
interested parties, and the municipality of Hatay for “their tremendous efforts
for refugees” in Turkey – which hosts some 4 million Syrian refugees, more than
any other country in the world.
Saying that the EU is working to support meeting
Syrian refugees’ basic needs, health, education, vocational education, and
municipal infrastructure, Meyer-Landrut added: “I know that the main burden is
on you, but I hope that we will contribute to your work with these projects.”
During the visit, Hatay Mayor Lutfu Savas also briefed
the EU delegation about the Syrians in the Hatay border province.
After meeting with Hatay Governor Rahmi Dogan, Meyer-Landrut
attended a meeting with district mayors and businesspeople at the Antakya
Chamber of Commerce.
Turkey has been a key transit point for irregular
migrants who want to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those
fleeing war and persecution.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/eu-criticizes-assad-regime-its-global-supporters/2180982
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'Turkey key in Europe’s future as it was in past'
Burak Bir
18.03.2021
On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of 18 March
statement with the EU, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Turkey
is a key country in Europe's future as it was in the past.
"Our renewed close cooperation with the #EU will
continue to bring peace, prosperity and stability to the entire
continent," the ministry said on Twitter by sharing an infographic on
EU-Turkey 18 March statement.
In the infographic, the ministry said that the
statement is an example of a positive result when the EU and Turkey cooperate
on common goals.
"[The statement] is also a suitable tool for
developing Turkey-EU relations with a membership perspective," it added.
"Strengthening Turkey's EU accession
process", "starting the negotiations on Customs Union
modernization", "Visa Liberation for Turkish citizens",
"Holding High-Level Dialogue Meetings," and "Turkey-EU
Summits", "counter-terrorism operation", "cooperation on
migration" are elements of the statement.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/turkey-key-in-europe-s-future-as-it-was-in-past/2180605
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Arab
World
‘Three Mossad-linked teams active in Syria’s
US-controlled al-Hawl refugee camp, recruit spies’
18 March 2021
The head of the Union of Muslim Scholars in Iraq's
eastern province of Diyala says three teams affiliated with Israel's Mossad spy
agency are active in the US-controlled al-Hawl refugee camp in the northeastern
Syrian province of al-Hasakah, and recruiting spies.
“We have received information about the activities of
three Mossad-linked teams in the Syrian al-Hawl camp under the disguise of
humanitarian organizations. They are actually engaged in espionage, have
recruited several young people, have formed multiple spy cells and are
providing the youths with various forms of support,” Jabbar al-Mamouri told
Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency on Wednesday.
He said the presence of Mossad in the refugee camp is
indicative of "fresh plots" against the region, especially those
targeting Iraq.
“The Syrian al-Hawl camp has turned into a hotbed for
international intelligence services seeking to undermine the security of
regional countries, including Iraq. This explains for US protection of the camp
despite the presence of thousands of Daesh terrorists inside it,” Mamouri
highlighted.
Al-Hawl camp is located in a region controlled by
US-backed militants affiliated with the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces
(SDF), and holds internally displaced people as well as families of Daesh
terrorists.
It is the largest camp in war-torn Syria, with more
than 60,000 people, according to UN figures.
More than 80 percent of its inhabitants are women and
children. Aid agencies have long complained of inhumane conditions in the
overcrowded camp.
Thousands of former Daesh supporters, including German
nationals, are also kept at al-Hawl.
The UN reported last year that several children had
died there. The reasons varied from complications as a result of malnutrition,
diarrhea or internal bleeding.
US military brings in 40-truck convoy into Syria’s
oil-rich Hasakah
Separately, a US military convoy of 40 vehicles,
loaded with logistic reinforcement, has arrived in oil-rich Hasakah.
Syria’s official news agency SANA, citing local
sources, reported on Thursday that the US military brought truckloads of
weapons and logistical equipment into Kharab al-Jeir air base, which lies on
the outskirts of al-Ya'rubiyah town, through the al-Walid border crossing
earlier in the day.
The US military has stationed forces and equipment in
northeastern Syria, with the Pentagon claiming that the troops deployment are
aimed at preventing the oilfields in the area from falling into the hands of
Daesh terrorists. Damascus, however, says the deployment is meant to plunder
the country's resources.
The US first confirmed its looting of Syrian oil
during a Senate hearing exchange between South Carolina Republican Senator
Lindsey Graham and former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in July last year.
During his testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Pompeo confirmed for the first time that an American oil company
would begin work in northeastern Syria, which is controlled by SDF militants.
The Syrian government strongly condemned the
agreement, saying that the deal was struck to plunder the country's natural
resources, including oil and gas.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/18/647593/%E2%80%98Three-Mossad-linked-teams-active-in-Syria%E2%80%99s-al-Hawl-refugee-camp,-recruiting-spies%E2%80%99
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Cardinal and Imam talk about Pope Francis's visit with
Al-Sistani
Mar 18, 2021
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp
On Wednesday, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, Archbishop of
Washington, D.C., and Imam Sayyid M. B. Kashmiri, Representative of Ayatollah
Al-Sistani in the U.S., discussed Pope Francis's historic visit with Ayatollah
Al-Sistani. That visit took place on 6 March, the second day of Pope Francis's
three-day 'pilgrimage' to Iraq.The online discussion was hosted by the
Archdiocese of Washington and moderated by Tamara Sonn, Hamad Bin Khalifa
Al-Thani Professor in the History of Islam and Director of the Alwaleed Center
for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign
Service at Georgetown University. She introduced the event characterizing the
meeting between Pope Francis and the Ayatollah as "a first, but not the
last, the beginning of a process."
Pope Francis's journey to Iraq
Regarding the importance of the Pope’s journey to
Iraq, Cardinal Gregory emphasized the strong desire Pope Francis expressed to
be near Iraq’s Christians and to “those who have suffered”. Going to visit them
was a tangible way of communicating that "the suffering they have endured matters",
the Cardinal said.Imam Kashmiri characterized Pope Francis’s visit as “not only
in support of peace but it was also a challenge to terrorism.” This is the
aspect that has brought hope to Iraqis regardless of the minority they may
belong to. The Imam also said Al-Sistani’s perspective is that it is “important
to keep minorities alive in Iraq” because all of these minorities contributed
to the constructing the number of civilizations that have been present in Iraq
over the millennia. Thus, the Iraqi’s “deserve such holy visits”, he said.
Pope's with Al-Sistani: a model
In a country such as Iraq "ravaged by conflict
and war for many years”, Cardinal Gregory believes Pope Francis is tangibly
demonstrating the type of dialogue he has been promoting for a long time.
"Pope Francis went to visit Al-Sistani to create a relationship of
dialogue and respect," the Cardinal said. Therefore, he continued, others
who want to embrace this model can look to the example of the Pope and
Al-Sistani engaging in healthy dialogue. The fact that "these two
religious leaders with so much at stake" could meet face to face, shows
that overcoming fears of the other can be done and is worthy of imitation,
Cardinal Gregory noted.Picking up on that thought, Imam Kashmiri called their
meeting "an inspiration to everyone". He said it "will put a lot
of responsibility on other religious scholars in the world." This meeting,
he continued is a clarion call for "collaboration and cooperation between
scholars in different parts of the world. The ball is in our court right
now" to "put pressure on various governments in the world who can
create the change needed to bring peace to people who are suffering," and
to right injustices, the Imam stated.Summing up this topic, Cardinal Gregory
said the Pope and the Ayatollah "have raised the bar considerably in our
religious traditions. We cannot abandon this opportunity to advance fraternity
and collaboration. This will enrich and improve the faith experience of both
communities."
Catholic and Muslim relations in the U.S.
This brought the discussion to the domestic level.
Imam Kashmiri stated that Christianity and Islam "share some
commonalities." Working together on the basis of these commonalities, he
said, "can be utilized in a way to model collaboration to members of other
faiths." A specific example he then gave for the U.S. context is working
together to "promote family, religious and human values and the future of
our young people."With this concrete demonstration from the Pope and the
Ayatollah that "people from different religious traditions can work
together in dialogue and mutual respect", Cardinal Gregory suggested that
Catholics and Muslims collaborate in the
area of "works of charity." "Both religions place an emphasis on
charitable work. This is where collaboration and dialogue can focus," he
said.
http://www.heraldmalaysia.com/news/cardinal-and-imam-talk-about-pope-franciss-visit-with-al-sistani/58585/2
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Lebanon’s Hariri says new cabinet, IMF dialogue
necessary to halt collapse
18 March ,2021
Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said on
Thursday after a meeting with President Michel Aoun that forming a government
that could re-engage with the IMF was the only way to halt the country’s
financial collapse.
The meeting took place after a heated exchange on
Wednesday night between the two top politicians, who have been at loggerheads
for months over cabinet formation.
Aoun asked Hariri to form a new government immediately
or make way for someone else in a televised speech, and Hariri hit back by
telling him that if he could not approve his cabinet line-up then he should
call an election.
On Thursday, Hariri’s tone was more positive after
saying a further meeting was scheduled for Monday and that he saw “an
opportunity to be seized”.
“The main priority of any government is to prevent the
collapse that we are facing today... that we proceed to start halting the
collapse with the IMF and regain the trust of the international community,” he
told reporters.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he
would push for a new approach in the coming weeks on Lebanon.
Paris has spearheaded international efforts to rescue
the former French protectorate from its deepest crisis since the 1975-1990
civil war, but has failed so far to persuade squabbling politicians to adopt a
reform roadmap and form a new government to unlock international aid.
“The time of the test of responsibility is coming to
an end and there will be a need in the coming weeks, in a very clear manner,
change approach and the methods because we can’t leave the Lebanese people
since last August in the situation in which they are,” Macron said.
Lebanon’s talks with the IMF stalled last year over a
row among Lebanese government officials, bankers and political parties over vast
financial losses.
The Lebanese pound has sunk by 90 percent in the
country’s worst crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. It has plunged many into
poverty and endangered imports as dollars grow scarce.
Politicians have since late 2019 failed to agree a rescue
plan to unlock foreign cash which Lebanon desperately needs.
“We are really looking at the abyss, seeing it very
clearly, and I think it’s either now or never,” Mohanad Hage Ali of the
Carnegie Middle East Center said, alluding to the urgency of forming a new
government able to make reforms.
He added that major political parties, including
Aoun’s ally, the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, were re-evaluating their
positions as delays worsen the economy’s free-fall and unrest grows.
A French diplomat said on Wednesday that France, which
has led aid efforts to its former colony, and its partners will seek to ramp up
pressure on Lebanese politicians in the coming months.
Strikes and closures
The currency has crashed so fast in recent weeks,
losing a third of its value, that grocery shops closed on Wednesday and
bakeries cautioned they may have to follow suit.
Many pharmacies shut their doors on Thursday and
flashed neon strike signs, the latest sector of the economy to voice
frustration.
Ali Obaid, a Beirut pharmacist, said he could no
longer keep up with expenses. “Pharmacies will close permanently if this
continues,” he said.
Comments that subsidies - including on fuel, wheat and
medicine - may soon end have also triggered panic buying.
Cars lined up outside gas stations earlier this week,
and scenes of brawls over subsidized goods at supermarkets have heightened
fears among Lebanese over their most basic needs.
The sharp descent of the pound sent protesters into
the streets this month, blocking roads in anger at an entrenched political
elite that has dominated since the civil war.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/03/18/Lebanon-s-Hariri-says-new-cabinet-IMF-dialogue-necessary-to-halt-collapse
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Certain groups attempt to create civil war in Lebanon,
Hezbollah chief warns
18 March 2021
The secretary-general of Lebanon’s Hezbollah
resistance movement has warned against attempts by certain groups to foment a
civil war in the cash-strapped country on economic, racial, and religious
grounds, emphasizing that the movement will not allow anyone to realize such a
fiendish plot.
Those, who become frustrated in the face of the
country’s resistance, could resort to the option of trying to ignite such an
internal conflict, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised speech broadcast
from the Lebanese capital city of Beirut on Thursday evening.
"I have information that there are outside forces
and some internal ones that are pushing towards civil war ... They are looking
for the fuel to add to the fire,” he said.
“The chaos in Lebanon is aimed at driving Lebanon into
a civil war and this is a red line,” he, however, added.
Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic crisis in
decades, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Prices are skyrocketing and more
than half of the population is now living below the poverty line.
Nasrallah’s remarks came as the country’s major cities
are hosting fresh protests at the situation afflicting the economy that is
falling apart at the seams. He, therefore, entitled the high point of his
address to the domestic woes.
“Lebanon is at the heart of a true and great national
economic, livelihood, financial, and also political crisis,” he said, noting,
“It can also be described as a crisis of the establishment.”
Nasrallah categorically dismissed that his movement
harbored any intention to exacerbate the already explosive situation.
“Some say that Hezbollah is the party, which has
weapons [and may start a civil war]. This rhetoric is wrong since the civil war
can be waged by light arms and such arms are found everywhere in Lebanon and
are in the hands of many people,” the Hezbollah chief said.
Hezbollah has no intention to resort to its weapons in
a bid to form a government or to deal with the economic and financial crisis.
Since the Lebanese government formally resigned after
a massive explosion in Beirut port last August, domestic political divisions
and pressure by some Western states have hindered the formation of a formal
cabinet.
‘US pressure main factor behind crisis’
Nasrallah pointed to the pressure that the United
States was applying to Lebanon as a main principle driving the country’s
crisis.
The United States wants for Lebanon to “be placed in
the US-Israel axis” in the same way that such regional countries as the United Arab
Emirates and Bahrain did by normalizing their relations with the Israeli regime
through Washington’s facilitation, he stated.
Nasrallah questions dependence on IMF
Without a formal cabinet, the country cannot resume
negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for potential bailout
packages.
Even if the country was to be thrown such a lifeline,
it would be required by the IMF and the West to enact certain “reforms” in its
political structure. The reforms entail introduction of stringent austerity
measures, the biggest part of whose burden falls on the people.
Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri
alleged earlier that the only way to stop the country’s economy from total
collapse was to re-engage with the IMF.
“The main priority of any government is to prevent the
collapse that we are facing today... that we proceed to start halting the
collapse with the IMF and regain the trust of the international community,”
Hariri said at a press conference at the presidential palace in Baabda.
Nasrallah, however, asked whether the Lebanese nation
could bear the burden of the IMF’s conditions, including subtraction of
subsidies from staples.
He considered the country’s economic policies,
including the policy of burrowing money from others, to be one of the reasons
that Lebanon had ended up this way.
The American pressure, he added, was aimed at forcing
Lebanon into “resorting to certain economic options.”
It was this very fear of Washington that was scaring
some inside the country from strengthening its ties with China.
Hezbollah agrees to a technocratic-political govt.
The Hezbollah leader, meanwhile, signaled his
movement’s approval of the formation of a government composed of technocrats
and politically influential elements at the same time.
He said if Hariri and President Michel Aoun reached an
agreement on formation of such a ruling structure, Hezbollah would agree to it
too.
US apparatuses freeing Daesh ringleaders in Iraq
Nasrallah also said there were evidence pointing out
that the US’s intelligence and security apparatuses were establishing contact
with the Takfiri terrorist group of Daesh’s ringleaders in Iraq’s prisons
before enabling their release.
“With every day that goes by, the truth that lies
behind the armed Takfiri terrorist groups and the nature of their handler and
supporter comes further to light,” he said.
Nasrallah, however, announced, “We stand up to the
terrorist groups that are shaped, run, supported, and armed by the American
intelligence apparatuses.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/18/647609/Certain-parties-attempts-to-create-civil-strike-in-Lebanon-Hezbollah-chief-warns
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Mideast
Iran Blasts Growing Trend of Intolerance, Prejudice
against Muslims in West
2021-March-18
Zarif made the remarks during a meeting of the
Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to mark “International Day to Combat
Islamophobia” on Wednesday.
Zarif criticized the growing trend in intolerance and
prejudice against Muslims across the world, in particular the West, which he
said has become a hub for anti-Muslim media outlets, hate groups posing as
think tanks and civic groups promoting a hostile and abusive environment
against Muslims.
“It is imperative for the Islamic Ummah to unite
against attempts at embracing Islamophobia, including through such measures as
the Muslim travel ban, banning Muslim symbols and the abhorrent use of such
ignorant terms as Islamic terrorism,” Zarif said.
“Meanwhile, we must root out terrorism and extremism
within the Islamic world. We need to take a unified and resolute stand against
those who export hateful Takfiri ideologies,” he remarked.
Zarif lauded the determination of Islamic countries to
address Islamophobia as one of the main challenges facing the Islamic Ummah.
He highlighted the OIC’s objectives in protecting the
true image of Islam, promoting values of peaceful co-existence as well as
encouraging interfaith and intercultural dialogue as an effective and valuable
mechanism to combat all forms of racism, discrimination, xenophobia,
Islamophobia, extremism and incitement to hatred based on religion.
“It is incumbent upon the international community to
take more concrete measures to raise awareness at the global level on the need
to counter Islamophobia, bigotry, and anti-Muslim hate crimes,” the chief
Iranian diplomat said.
“In this connection, the Islamic Republic of Iran
expresses its strong support for OIC initiatives on tackling Islamophobia, in
particular the designation of the 15th of March as an International Day to
Combat Islamophobia by the UN General Assembly,” he added.
Islamophobia has been on the rise in Western countries
in recent years. The problem has even shown itself through the words and
actions of Western leaders, including former US President Donald Trump, who
imposed a travel ban against Muslims entering the United States.
Trump has famously said that Islam hates America, that
there is something going on with Islam and Muslims, and that Islam is
incompatible with the West.
Last month, the lower house of the French parliament
approved a controversial bill targeting religious freedom and stigmatizing
Muslims, tightening rules on the funding of mosques, associations, and
non-governmental organizations belonging to Muslims.
Months earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron’s
comments sparked a wave of condemnations by Muslims and activists around the
world.
Macron unveiled a plan to defend France’s secular
values against what he labeled as “Islamist radicalism” and claimed that the
religion was “in crisis” all over the world. He said “no concessions” would be
made in a new drive to eliminate religion from education and the public sector
in the country.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991228000248/Iran-Blass-Grwing-Trend-f-Inlerance-Prejdice-agains-Mslims-in-Wes
--------
Turkey orders Muslim Brotherhood TV channels to stop
airing anti-Egypt rhetoric
18 March ,2021
Turkish authorities have ordered Istanbul-based TV
channels affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood to stop airing criticism geared
toward Egypt immediately, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The announcement comes as Cairo and Istanbul have
looked at ways to ease tensions between the two, which boiled over in 2013
after Egypt’s army ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Mursi, an ally
of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Cairo has since designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a
terrorist organization, while Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party supported
Mursi’s short-lived Egyptian government. Many Brotherhood members and their
supporters have fled to Turkey since their activities were banned in Egypt.
In recent days, officials from Egypt and Turkey have
said there is an ongoing dialogue between the two, albeit limited.
Sources familiar with the matter told Al Arabiya that
Turkey issued an order for three Muslim Brotherhood channels (El Sharq TV,
Watan TV, Mekameleen) to immediately stop airing political shows critical of
Egypt and to only air non-political shows and series.
Penalties will be imposed on those who defy the order;
this includes permanently closing down the TV stations.
A tweet from El Sharq TV’s official account read: “To
our dear followers, we apologize [for not airing] tonight’s episode of ‘The
Streets of Egypt.” No further clarification was given.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/03/19/Turkey-orders-Muslim-Brotherhood-TV-channels-to-stop-airing-anti-Egypt-rhetoric
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Pakistani PM Stresses Using Iran's Energy Capacities
2021-March-18
Imran Khan made the remarks, addressing the inaugural
session of the two-day Islamabad Security Dialogue in Islamabad on Wednesday.
He said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is
Pakistan's neighbor and a rich source of energy through which Pakistan's energy
needs can be met.
Imran Khan also said that without peace and security
in the region it is difficult to achieve economic prosperity.
He said peace in Afghanistan is important for the
security of the regional countries, specially the trade route from China to
Pakistan to Central Asia through Afghanistan.
PM Imran said that economic prosperity cannot be
sustained without peace in the neighborhood.
Earlier this year, Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan
Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said that the gas pipeline from Iran to the
Pakistani border had been laid and despite some restrictions imposed by foreign
powers both sides are serious to complete the project.
He said that the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of
the countries that are a rich source of energy, specially oil and gas and is
ready to help its neighbors to meet their energy demands.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991228000358/Pakisani-PM-Sresses-Using-Iran's-Energy-Capaciies
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Envoy Lauds Brazilian Lawmakers for Passing Bill to
Develop Ties with Iran
2021-March-18
Brazilian senators approved a resolution to develop
ties with Iran and setting up the parliamentary friendship group with Iran.
The resolution, raised for the first time in the
Federal Senate of Brazil, underlined the importance of trade relations with
Iran.
Qaribi appreciated the Brazilian senators for passing
the bill, and said that the parliament and senate friendship groups are two
powerful arms for expanding the existing 118-year-long ties between Iran and
Brazil.
He stressed the position of the Iranian and Brazilian
parliaments in creating long-term connections between the two countries.
Developing bilateral relations in all fields and
removing possible obstacles in the post-COVID-19 era is the most important
mission of the parliamentary friendship group, he added.
Earlier this year, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister
Seyed Abbas Araqchi and his Brazilian counterpart Kenneth Nobarga held the
tenth round of bilateral negotiations via video conferencing.
During the videoconference in January, Araqchi and
Nobarga discussed political and economic relations, as well as regional and international
issues.
The two deputy foreign ministers also exchanged views
on the expansion of economic and trade relations.
In a relevant development in July 2020, Iranian and
Brazilian officials reviewed the ways of strengthening mutual cooperation in different
spheres, and stressed the need to share economic experiences in the coronavirus
era.
Qaribi and Governor of the State of Paraná Ratinho
Júnior discussed the ways of improving bilateral ties in the fields of
agriculture, petrochemicals and technology.
Qaribi voiced Iran’s readiness to expand economic
relations with the South American country, and emphasized the need for using
and exchanging of all potentials to compensate for the losses caused by the
COVID-19 epidemic.
Ratinho Junior, for his part, said that job-creation
is on top the agenda to compensate for the losses caused by coronavirus
outbreak, and noted that cooperation with Iran could help alleviate sufferings
in this respect.
The members of Iran-Brazil Parliamentary Friendship
had also attended the meeting.
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/13991228000461/Envy-Lads-Brazilian-Lawmakers-fr-Passing-Bill-Develp-Ties-wih-Iran
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Over 550 intl. organizations urge UN Human Rights
Council to 'end Israel’s impunity'
19 March 2021
More than 550 international human rights organizations
have jointly called upon the UN Human Rights Council to recognize and denounce
the Israeli regime’s racist policies against the entire Palestinian population,
which include home demolitions and violation of the right of Palestinians to
self-determination.
The organizations, in a letter published on Thursday,
urged the world body to form an independent fact-finding mission and
investigate the Tel Aviv regime’s colonial and apartheid practices, in addition
to its associated systematic policies.
They stressed that Israel’s culture of impunity has
further allowed business enterprises to benefit from the prolonged Israeli
occupation, and the perpetration of gross human rights violations.
The signatories urged the Office of the High
Commissioner for Human Rights to further develop in a transparent manner the UN
database on business enterprises involved in Israel’s illegal settlement
expansion activities.
They also called on the international community to
utilize all available mechanisms to obtain justice and accountability, to
intervene immediately and slap economic sanctions against Israel, and hold
individuals who may have committed war crimes in the occupied Palestinian
territories to account.
The human rights organizations finally urged member
states of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to publicly
support and fully cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure the arrest and trial of
individuals investigated and found guilty of international crimes at The Hague,
and prevent the continued perpetration of crimes against Palestinian people.
Israel receives ICC letter on its war crimes probe
Israel has received a letter from the International
Criminal Court formally detailing the scope of its war crimes investigation in
the occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli Hebrew-language Channel 13 television network
said on Thursday the letter was sent over the weekend, and has requested the
Tel Aviv regime to respond to it within 30 days.
The report added that Israel's so-called National
Security Council has already met to formulate an official response.
It noted that the letter covers three main topics: the
2014 Israeli military onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli settlement
policy, and the 2018 Great March of Return protests in Gaza along the fence
separating the territory from the occupied lands that led to Israel’s killing
of dozens of Palestinians.
Earlier this month, ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou
Bensouda announced in a statement the launch of a war crimes investigation into
the Palestinian territories, which have been under Israeli occupation since
1967.
She said her inquiry will be conducted “independently,
impartially and objectively, without fear or favor.”
The Palestinian Authority (PA) welcomed the
prosecutor’s announcement.
It is “a long-awaited step that serves Palestine’s
tireless pursuit of justice and accountability, which are indispensable pillars
of the peace the Palestinian people seek and deserve”, the PA foreign ministry
said in a statement.
Hamas resistance movement also praised the ICC’s move.
“We welcome the ICC decision to investigate Israeli
occupation war crimes against our people. It is a step forward on the path of
achieving justice for the victims of our people,” Hazem Qassem, a Hamas
spokesman said.
“Our resistance is legitimate and it comes to defend
our people. All international laws approve legitimate resistance,” Qassem
noted.
Israeli president Reuven Rivlin has reportedly started
an official visit to Europe aimed at convincing European countries to pressure
the court to cancel its probe.
Palestinian FM meets ICC chief prosecutor in The Hague
Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Expatriates Riyad al-Maliki met on Thursday with the ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou
Bensouda in The Hague, as part of the Palestinian Authority’s ongoing
collaboration with the court concerning its war crimes investigation against
Israel.
During the meeting, Maliki stressed the need for
quicker probes into crimes committed across the Palestinian lands, and ensuring
justice for Palestinian victims and their families, especially in light of
Israel's ongoing human rights violations, the official Palestinian Wafa news
agency reported.
He also expressed Palestine's support for the work of
the ICC, the Prosecutor and the court's staff for their pursuit of
international justice despite all threats facing them.
The top Palestinian diplomat called on the
international community to assume its responsibilities for protecting the
integrity and independence of the ICC, and provide all necessary means to
ensure the exercise of its mandated tasks in accordance with the Rome Statute.
Maliki underlined that the Palestinian Authority will
cooperate with the Court and its staff in order to end the era of impunity and
create a new path of accountability.
UN: Israel targets EU-funded humanitarian relief
structures in Feb.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in the occupied Palestinian territories says the
Israeli regime’s targeting of EU-funded aid structures across the Palestinian
lands soared dramatically in February, and registered a three-fold increase
compared to the same period last year.
OCHA, in a report titled West Bank demolitions and
displacement | February 2021, stated that Israeli authorities demolished,
forced people to demolish, or seized 153 Palestinian-owned structures across
the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds during the mentioned period.
The report highlighted that the Israeli officials’
actions throughout February resulted in the displacement of 305 Palestinians,
including 172 children, and affected the livelihoods or access to services of
435 others.
The UN report highlighted that nearly 90 percent of
all structures targeted (demolished or seized) last month were seized without
prior warning in Area C of the West Bank.
The report said the figure marks a significant rise,
and shows an increase by 30 percent in 2020, 11 percent in 2017 and eight
percent in 2016.
So far in 2021, a total of 93 structures provided as
humanitarian aid have been demolished or seized by the Israeli authorities,
compared with 157 structures in entire 2020, according to OCHA.
Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace
Process and United Nations Resident Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian
Territory, Lynn Hastings, called on Israeli authorities on February 24 to
“immediately halt all further demolitions of Palestinian homes and possessions,
allow the humanitarian community to provide shelter, food and water to this
most vulnerable group and these people to remain in their homes.”
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2021/03/19/647624/Over-550-intl--organizations-urge-UN-Human-Rights-Council-to-end-Israel%E2%80%99s-impunity
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Yemen: Al-Qaeda attacks military post, kills 12
Tareq al-Shal and Shoukry Hussein
18.03.2021
ABYAN, Yemen
At least 12 people, including nine soldiers from the
UAE-backed forces, were killed when al-Qaeda terrorists attacked a military
post in Yemen's southern Abyan province Thursday morning.
A security source told Anadolu Agency that “12 people,
including nine soldiers from the UAE-backed forces, known as Security Belt
Forces were killed in an attack by al-Qaeda militants on a security checkpoint
in Ahwar town on the coastal road on Thursday morning.”
Requesting anonymity, the source added the terrorists
used hand grenades and medium machine guns to attack the post.
Another medical source referred that three civilians
were also killed in the attack.
Military headquarters and security checkpoints in
Abyan province are exposed to frequent attacks, usually attributed to al-Qaeda,
which is active in the mountainous areas near the districts of Ahwar and
Al-Mahfad, east of Zinjibar city, the provincial capital.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/yemen-al-qaeda-attacks-military-post-kills-12/2180419
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Pakistan
Time for India and Pak to bury past, move forward: Pak
Army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa
Mar 18, 2021
NEW DELHI: A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
expressed his desire for better ties with India, Army chief General Qamar Javed
Bajwa said that it is time for both countries to "bury the past and move
forward".
Addressing a session of the first-ever Islamabad
Security Dialogue in the country's capital, General Bajwa also said that the
potential for regional peace and development always remained hostage to the
disputes and issues between Pakistan and India - the two "nuclear-armed
neighbours".
"We feel it is time to bury the past and move
forward," he said, adding that the responsibility for a meaningful
dialogue rested with India.
The statement came a day after PM Imran Khan made
similar overtures towards New Delhi.
Khan said on Wednesday that India will be benefitted
economically by having peace with Pakistan as it will enable New Delhi to
directly access the resource-rich Central Asia region through Pakistani
territory.
"India will have to take the first step. Unless
they do so, we cannot do much," Khan said while delivering the inaugural
address at the launch of the two-day Dialogue.
Khan said that having a direct route to the Central
Asian region will economically benefit India. Central Asia is rich in oil and
gas.
Today General Bajwa echoed PM Khan's statement and
said that peace between Pakistan and India would help to "unlock the
potential of South and Central Asia" by ensuring connectivity between East
and West Asia.
"Our neighbour will have to create a conducive
environment, particularly” in Kashmir, Gen Bajwa said in his address, adding
that any effort to improve ties without addressing the core issue would be
vulnerable to external political factors.
"The Kashmir issue is at the heart of this. It is
important to understand that without the resolution of the Kashmir dispute
through peaceful means, the process will always remain susceptible to
derailment to politically motivated bellicosity,” he said.
In early February, Gen Bajwa had said that Pakistan
stands firmly committed to the ideals of mutual respect and peaceful
co-existence.
"It is time to extend a hand of peace in all
directions," he remarked. Pakistan and India should also resolve the
longstanding issue of Jammu and Kashmir in a dignified and peaceful manner as
per the aspirations of people of Jammu and Kashmir and bring this human tragedy
to its logical conclusion, the army chief emphasised.
"However, we will not allow anybody or any entity
to misinterpret our desire for peace as a sign of weakness," he added.
India last month said that it desires normal
neighbourly relations with Pakistan in an environment free of terror, hostility
and violence. India has said the onus is on Pakistan to create an environment
free of terror and hostility.
India has also told Pakistan that "talks and
terror" cannot go together and has asked Islamabad to take demonstrable
steps against terror groups responsible for launching various attacks on India.
Their remarks came weeks after the militaries of India
and Pakistan announced on February 25 that they have agreed to strictly observe
all agreements on a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and
Kashmir and other sectors.
India and Pakistan signed a ceasefire agreement in
2003, but it had hardly been followed in letter and spirit over the past
several years with more violations than the observance of the pact.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/time-for-india-and-pak-to-bury-past-move-forward-pak-army-chief-gen-qamar-bajwa/articleshow/81575093.cms
--------
Fazl, Nawaz agree to go ahead even if PPP leaves PDM
Amir Wasim
March 19, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Two days after announcing postponement of
the anti-government long march due to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)’s
rejection of the proposal of submitting en masse resignations from the
assemblies and in an effort to keep the opposition’s alliance intact, Pakistan
Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday
separately talked to former president Asif Zardari and Pakistan Muslim League-N
(PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif over telephone.
Sources in the three major opposition parties
confirmed to Dawn that the Maulana, who is also head of the Jamiat
Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), talked to the leaders of the two parties over the issue
of the resignations and the proposed long march.
The sources said Mr Zardari, who had forcefully
opposed the idea of quitting the assemblies during the meeting of the heads of
the PDM parties in Islamabad on Tuesday, told the Maulana that the PPP had
decided to convene a meeting of its Central Executive Committee (CEC) after its
public meeting in Rawalpindi on the occasion of the death anniversary of the
party’s founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto on April 4 in which they would again review
the proposal of submitting resignations from the assemblies.
According to sources in the PPP, both Mr Zardari and
Maulana Fazl once again tried to convince each other on the issue of en masse
resignations. However, Mr Zardari reiterated his stance that they should not
come out of the assemblies as such a situation would only strengthen the hands
of “the establishment” and Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Mr Zardari also expressed concern over the decision of
the other PDM parties to link the resignations with the long march. The former
president drew the attention of the Maulana to the agreed “plan of action” in
the multi-party conference held in September last year, which clearly stated
that the resignations would be the last option and for this purpose, a
committee would be formed.
Mr Zardari, the PPP sources said, told the Maulana
that the PML-N and other parties had suggested resigning from the assemblies
believing that by doing so they might block the Senate elections and prevent
the government from taking a majority in the upper house of the parliament.
However, he opined, after contesting the Senate elections, the issue of the
resignations had already become redundant.
The Maulana told Mr Zardari that the PDM component
parties would wait for a final reply from the PPP after its CEC meeting before
making any decision.
Later, the Maulana talked to Mr Sharif, who has been
living in self-exile in London for more than a year, and apprised him about his
conversation with Mr Zardari.
The sources said that the two leaders also discussed
the probabilities in case the PPP decided to stick to its previous decision of
not resigning from the assemblies. The two leaders, the sources said, were of
the view that the PDM should continue its struggle against the government and
should go ahead with its plan, even if the PPP decided to formally part ways
with the alliance. They agreed to convene another meeting of the heads of the
PDM soon after the PPP’s CEC meeting to discuss the future strategy.
The cracks within the ranks of the 10-party opposition
alliance had become visible on Tuesday when its leadership announced
postponement of their March 26 anti-government long march due to differences
over the issue of the resignations.
An upset looking Maulana Fazl had suddenly left the
press briefing without taking questions of the reporters after making a brief
announcement that the PPP had sought more time to reconsider its position on
the issue of en masse resignations and till the time the PPP would come back
after an in-house discussion in its CEC, the long march stood “postponed”.
Before leaving the venue, the Maulana had disclosed
that nine parties were in favour of resigning from the assemblies during the
long march, but only the PPP had some “reservations over this thinking”. He
said the PPP had sought time to discuss the matter again in its CEC which had
been granted.
The sources said that in the PDM meeting, Mr Zardari
had made submission of resignations conditional on the return of Mr Sharif to
the country. The PPP leader in his speech launched political attacks on Mr
Sharif and highlighted his own sacrifices, stating that he had spent 14 years
in jail.
In the meeting, PML-N vice-president Maryam Nawaz had
defended her father in a forceful manner and categorically declared that her
father would not return to the country to put his life into danger.
The sources said that the Maulana was unhappy over the
proceedings of the PDM meeting in which the PPP and the PML-N, the two arch
rivals of the past, once again made some personal attacks against each other.
Speaking at a ceremony in Peshawar in Wednesday, the
PDM president had expressed annoyance over the PPP’s attitude, saying it should
have respected the opinion and viewpoint of the nine parties. He had also
indirectly criticised the PPP for “leaking the proceedings of the meeting” to
the media, saying that “discussions in such meetings are always kept secret as
a trust and leaking the proceedings amounts to the breach of trust”.
Again speaking at a function in Islamabad on Thursday,
without mentioning any name, the Maulana said that those who were afraid of
going to jails should not have joined politics.
“It is a weakness to say that I can’t go to jail now.
How will I fight? If you can’t fight then why you have joined politics?” the
Maulana said without any reference, adding: “If you are in politics then you
can find both power and jail.”
The Maulana once again asked the “establishment” not
to support the government.
“Your job is to defend the country’s frontiers and not
an illegitimate government,” he said.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1613275
--------
Kuwait seeks stronger ties with Pakistan: minister
March 19, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Nasser
Al-Sabah on Thursday said that his country was committed to developing stronger
relations with Pakistan.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, the
Kuwaiti foreign minister identified education, economy, trade and investment,
and people-to-people linkages as priority areas in which his country intended
to intensify cooperation with Pakistan.
Dr Al-Sabah also underscored the need to further
strengthen the institutional frameworks of bilateral cooperation.
The prime minister hailed efforts for building an
enhanced partnership between the two countries. He underscored the imperative
of forging deeper economic, trade and investment cooperation.
The two sides had at the third round of bilateral
political consultations held in January this year agreed on broadening their
ties, especially through enhancing cooperation in the areas of trade,
investment, manpower export and food security.
Dr Al-Sabah also met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood
Qureshi at the Foreign Office.
During the meeting, the FO said, the foreign ministers
reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including cooperation in
political, economic, defence, trade and investment sectors, and manpower
export, and discussed ways to enhance people-to-people linkages between the two
countries.
Mr Qureshi reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong commitment to
further strengthening and diversifying bilateral cooperation with Kuwait in all
fields.
“The resolve to continue close collaboration in
multilateral fora, in particular the United Nations and the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation, was reaffirmed,” the FO said.
Mr Qureshi mentioned Pakistan’s shifting focus to
geo-economics with emphasis on peace, development and connectivity.
The two sides agreed to convene the 5th Session of the
Joint Ministerial Commission at the earliest.
During the meeting, Mr Qureshi called for easing visa
curbs for Pakistanis by Kuwait. This, he said, would provide impetus to
bilateral trade.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1613273/kuwait-seeks-stronger-ties-with-pakistan-minister
--------
SC to hear Imran’s petition against Akbar’s PTI
membership
March 19, 2021
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted leave
to appeal to a petition filed on behalf of Prime Minister Imran Khan against a
declaration that Akbar S. Babar — a founding but dissident member of the ruling
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — is still a member of the party.
Headed by Justice Mushir Alam, the two-judge Supreme
Court bench, of which the other member is Justice Yahya Afridi, issued a notice
to Mr Babar directing him to furnish a reply.
Senior lawyer Anwar Mansoor informed the court that Mr
Babar was expelled from the party on Sept 26, 2011, but he contended that
nowhere the notice for expelling him from the party had ever been shown.
Through the petition, the PM has challenged a Dec 4,
2019, Islamabad High Court (IHC) order which upheld the Election Commission of
Pakistan’s (ECP) declaration that Mr Babar is a member of the party.
Earlier filed by Barrister Umaimah Anwar Khan on
behalf of PTI chairman Imran Khan, the appeal pleads before the Supreme Court
that the high court decision came without defining the ambit and power of the
ECP. Rather the IHC indulged in fact finding, it added.
The ECP, the petition alleges, acted as a court of law
or a tribunal and travelled beyond the scope of prayer. It extended its
jurisdiction in matters of factual controversy, in contravention of the settled
law. Thus by assuming the jurisdiction, the ECP gave a declaration in violation
of law which was liable to be set aside being illegal, void ab initio and coram
non judice, the petition argues.
Can the ECP treat any information received by it under
Order 6(3) and (4) of the Political Parties Order 2002 (PPO) as adversarial form
of complaint, the petition questions. It argues that the high court failed to
consider the clear law laid down by the Supreme Court in the 2017 Hanif Abbasi
case that information by a third party pertaining to the accounts of a
political party can only be entertained subject to the condition that the
information emanated from a credible and reliable source and was verifiable.
The petition says that the high court failed to
acknowledge that the proceedings under Order 6 of the PPO are not dispute
resolution between two parties, but inquisitorial proceedings.
The petition alleges that the high court ignored a
pertinent question regarding the jurisdiction of the ECP and whether it
exceeded in exercising its jurisdiction over the party membership status of Mr
Babar.
When the membership of Mr Babar had been cancelled
permanently in accordance with the law and he himself had shown antagonism in
his clear declaration of parting ways with the party, can the ECP still, that
too while sitting as an inquisitorial body for determining the question of the
funding of a political party, declare Mr Babar a prominent member of the PTI,
the petition wonders.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1613270/sc-to-hear-imrans-petition-against-akbars-pti-membership
--------
South
Asia
Bangladesh still far from achieving founding father's
dreams
Rock Ronald Rozario
March 18, 2021
A festive mood prevails in Bangladesh despite a
sudden, rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in the country in recent weeks.
The nation is celebrating the 101st birth anniversary
of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the country’s founding leader and father of Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina of the ruling Awami League.
A 10-day nationwide celebration from March 17-26 marks
the conclusion of the year-long observance of Mujib Borsho (Year of Mujib) and
the beginning of the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence from
Pakistan.
The main programs are being held at the National
Parade Ground in capital Dhaka, where a host of sociocultural shows are on
display in the presence of national and international dignitaries including the
heads of five South Asian countries — India, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Nepal and
Bhutan.
Popularly called Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal), Mujib
deserves such high-flying tributes from Bangladeshi people because it was his
seminal leadership that materialized Bengalis' dreams of independent statehood
in 1971.
As exemplar of a great, visionary politician, Mujib
always stood by the people through thick and thin, mostly against oppressive
regimes. Thus, he spent most of his adult life in jail.
Mujib was born on March 17, 1920, in the Gopalganj
area of the Bengal region of British India and studied at a Christian
missionary school before moving to Kolkata for higher studies.
His political career started with the Muslim League, a
party devoted to the idea of a separate Muslim homeland in India leading to the
creation of Pakistan. In 1949, only two years after Partition, he left the
increasingly Islamist party and joined the Awami League, then an avowedly
secular party.
It was his dynamic, courageous and grassroots politics
that made him a champion of poor and oppressed Bengali people who rose against
the discrimination of the civilian and military establishments of Pakistan.
A man of incredible bravery, his political career
evolved around his love of the people based on equality, dignity and justice
for all. His visionary leadership led the Awami League to a landslide victory
in Pakistan’s first national election in 1970.
However, Pakistan’s ruling elites, dominated by West
Pakistani politicians and the influential military, refused to transfer power,
sparking a massive nationalist movement.
On March 7, 1970, Mujib delivered a historic,
inspiring speech to galvanize public support against the political conspiracy.
Following the speech, Newsweek magazine termed Mujib “the poet of politics” and
in 2017 UNESCO recorded the speech as a documentary heritage.
Mujib was soon arrested and flown to a jail in West
Pakistan, while the military sought an armed solution to a political crisis,
launching a genocidal crackdown in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) on March 25.
Hours before his arrest, Mujib declared independence for Bangladesh.
During the ensuing nine-month civil war, about three
million people were killed, tens of thousands of women were raped and about 10
million fled to India as refugees. Bengali guerrilla fighters defeated the
Pakistan army with support from India on Dec. 16, 1971.
Released from prison, Mujib returned to war-ravaged
Bangladesh to lead the country on Jan. 10, 1972. Less than a year later, his
government promulgated the country’s first constitution with four principles —
nationalism, socialism, secularism and democracy.
Though a devout Muslim, Mujib was a strong advocate
for religious pluralism and liberalism his entire life.
In a country totally destroyed by the war and
grappling with over 70 percent of people facing poverty, hunger, disease and
death, Mujib never lost hope. He unified people for a dream for better days
that he called Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal), which is free from poverty,
hunger, corruption and injustice and only achievable by honesty, sincerity and
hard work.
But his efforts came to an abrupt end on Aug. 15,
1975, when a group of misled military soldiers, backed by conspirators at home
and abroad, assassinated him along with most of his family members. The
killings led to 15-year military rule until the 1990s when democracy was
restored. Military rule saw Bangladesh’s secular constitution amended to impose
Islamic identity and the reintroduction of banned religion-based politics.
Now, 46 years after Mujib’s demise, Bangladesh has
made significant strides in socioeconomic development that has brought global
praise.
The nation has successfully tackled high rates of
infant and maternal mortality, reduced poverty from about 70 percent in the
1970s to about 25 percent today and achieved laudable gender equality.
Bangladesh is considered an emerging economy that has
been booming thanks to the burgeoning US$30 billion garment industry, $15
billion in remittances from migrant workers and its agricultural sector. The
nation is well set to graduate from the United Nations' least developed
countries category.
Rising authoritarianism
But that’s not the complete picture. Bangladesh has
been constantly faltering to uphold human rights and human dignity and to stop
corruption and rising authoritarianism in the absence of effective democracy.
The ruling Awami League, in power since 2008, has
exploited the state machinery to destroy political opposition. The two latest
elections, in 2014 and 2018, were rigged to keep the party in power. Opposition
leaders and supporters have been jailed, tortured and killed.
All democratic and constitutional bodies including the
judiciary have been made subservient to toe the government line.
Draconian laws, such as the Information and
Communication Technology Act and Digital Security Act, have been passed to
muzzle dissent, criticism and to censor media and social media, violating the
constitutional right to freedom of expression. The recent death of writer
Mushtaq Ahmed in jail showed the worst form of abuses of the laws.
Law enforcement agencies are widely accused of
hundreds of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances but enjoy near
impunity.
The country has seen a rising tide of Islamic
radicalism and attacks on liberals and religious and ethnic minority groups in
recent years. Many blame it on the government’s appeasing of Islamic groups for
political dividends.
Back in 2013, when Islamic extremists started killing
atheist bloggers, the government rebuked bloggers for crossing the line instead
of backing free speech. It frustrated bloggers and writers, forcing many to
flee the country for Europe and America.
Despite making some progress, the country still reels
from endemic corruption, which was once again exposed during massive anomalies
during the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bangladesh is poised to achieve the third-fastest
growth in the number of high-net-worth individuals in the world in the next
three years, but it is also among countries with the highest levels of social
inequality in the Global Inequality Index.
A group of extremely rich and well-connected political
and business elites reap the dividends of socioeconomic development and the
poor remain neglected and exploited.
Socially, the nation has been experiencing a horrific
and exponential rise in violence against women, girls and children, triggering
condemnation at home and abroad.
The most worrying fact is that progressive student
groups, civil society and concerned citizen groups are largely silent about
such grave anomalies and injustices, either fearing a backlash or losing what
they have gained. Christians including Catholic Church officials have joined
the same tide.
Mujib’s life and works are an inspiration for millions
even if they don’t support the party now led by his daughter. Sadly, under the
helm of the same party, the very basic foundations of the nation that Mujib
propelled to independence are under threat.
There are area reasons to be cheerful about
Bangladesh's recent socioeconomic advancement, but the sorry state of affairs
in terms of human rights, justice and democracy is the complete opposite of
Mujib’s coveted Golden Bengal.
Bangladeshi people still face a long journey before
the dreams of the great founding father can come true.
https://www.ucanews.com/news/bangladesh-still-far-from-achieving-founding-fathers-dreams/91801
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U.S Air Force bombs Taliban in Kandahar
17 Mar 2021
According to American forces based in Afghanistan, the
US air force has targeted Taliban positions in the Zherai and Spin Boldak
districts of Kandahar.
Taliban have been bombed by these forces for the past
48 hours after the group’s multiple attacks on Afghan forces.
The US forces spokesman in Afghanistan, Col. Sonny
Leggett tweeted on Wednesday the incident occurred when Taliban fighters were
trying to attack and maneuver Afghan national defense and security force’s
positions.
He says that under the US-Taliban agreement, American
military are defending ANDSF.
In response to the attacks, the Taliban said US had
acted in violation of the Doha agreement.
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban, said
in a statement that in the past 24 hours, US forces had bombed Taliban
positions in the Panjwai, Zherai, and Khakriz districts of the province.
The air raids have reportedly inflicted heavy
casualties on the Taliban.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of defense in a released
statement said, that at least eight Taliban militants were killed and nine
others are wounded in a joint operation by Afghan infantry and air force in
Chak-e- Shir Ahmad area, Chahar Bolak district of northern Balkh province.
MoD said in the statement that the air force targeted
the Taliban’s depo and group’s tactical operating center (TOC) in the region.
Helmand’s National Directorate of Security (NDS)
stated that the department has arrested 12 individuals on various terrorist
charges in the province.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) in Helmand
said it had arrested 9 people on charges of targeted killing of government
employees and tribal elders, one enemy infiltrator, and two insurgent mine
planters were detained.
Helmand’s deputy governor, Baryalai Nazari told the
media that the accused militants had confessed to their crimes and soon will be
sent for prosecution after investigations on their cases are finalized.
Despite peace efforts, violence across Afghanistan has
escalated and the rampage of targeted killings, magnetic IEDs have intensified.
https://www.khaama.com/u-s-air-force-bombs-taliban-in-kandahar-654633/
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US, Russia join forces for Af-Taliban deal despite
spat
Mar 19, 2021
Russia hosted a peace conference for Afghanistan on
Thursday, bringing together government representatives, the Taliban and
international observers in a bid to help jump-start the stalled peace talks. US
special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, attended the meeting in a rare
example of collaboration between the ex-Cold War foes and amid an angry
response in Moscow after President Biden said he agreed his counterpart
Vladimir Putin is a “killer”. Representatives of Pakistan, Iran, India, China
also participated.
The one-day meet was the first of three planned
international conferences ahead of a May 1 deadline for the final withdrawal of
US troops from the country, a date fixed under a deal between the Trump
administration and Taliban.
In a statement issued after the talks, Russia, the US,
China and Pakistan called on the warring parties to reduce the level of
violence in the country — and specifically urged the Taliban not to pursue a
spring offensive. “We urge participants in the intra-Afghan negotiations to
engage immediately in discussions on fundamental issues to resolve the
conflict, including the foundations of the future peaceful and stable Afghan
state, the content of a political roadmap leading to an inclusive government,
and the modalities of a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire,” they said.
The talks took place on a day a roadside bomb killed
four people in a bus carrying Afghan officials in Kabul. A day earlier, nine
members of the security forces died when their helicopter was shot down. The
Taliban denied involvement in either of the attacks.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/us-russia-join-forces-for-af-taliban-deal-despite-spat/articleshow/81580221.cms
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US, Regional Powers Call on Taliban to Forego Spring
Offensive at Moscow Conference
By Ayesha Tanzeem
March 18, 2021
ISLAMABAD - The United States, Russia, China, and
Pakistan have called on all parties in Afghanistan to reduce violence and the
Taliban to forego their Spring offensive, the yearly renewal in attacks after a
winter lull, in order to facilitate peace negotiations.
The demand was part of a joint statement after a
conference on Afghanistan hosted by Russia in Moscow Thursday.
The one-day gathering was part of an intense
diplomatic push to jumpstart a stalled peace process amid a looming deadline
for withdrawal of foreign forces from the country. Some fear Afghanistan will
descend into chaos if international forces depart without a negotiated
political settlement in place.
Negotiations between a sanctioned Afghan government
team and the Taliban started in Doha in September 2020 but have so far not
yielded results.
An Afghan delegation led by the chair of Afghanistan’s
High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) Abdullah Abdullah, and a
Taliban delegation led by the group's political deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani
Baradar, were also present.
The statement called on both sides to conclude their
peace negotiations and supported the formation of “an independent, sovereign,
unified, peaceful, democratic, and self-sufficient Afghanistan,” free of
terrorism and drugs. It also called for the protection of the rights of women,
children, minorities, and others.
“[W]e do not support the restoration of the Islamic
Emirate,” the statement said, using the Taliban’s name for their own
government.
“It is only through diplomatic peace negotiations and
compromise that peace can be achieved,” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov in his opening remarks. “And the agreements that are to be reached have
to include the interests of all parties.”
Russia’s top diplomat also said his country was ready
to facilitate but Afghans had to take the lead.
“Outside parties like Russia should create the
conditions for forces inside Afghanistan to negotiate and move forward,” Lavrov
said.
The newly elected administration of President Joe
Biden had been pushing to involve regional powers and other countries to try
and bring the warring Afghan sides to negotiate. As part of its efforts, the
U.S. has also floated the idea, supported by Russia, of a transitional
government that includes the Taliban.
That idea is strongly opposed by Afghan President
Ashraf Ghani who said elections are the only way to choose a government.
The push comes as the U.S. is reviewing an agreement
the administration of former President Donald Trump made with the Taliban—a
deal Biden called “not a very solidly negotiated deal,” in a recent interview
with U.S. broadcast network ABC.
Under the deal, the U.S. is supposed to withdraw all
forces from Afghanistan by May 1. However, an increase in violence, lack of
progress in peace negotiations between Taliban and Afghan government, and a
wave of targeted assassinations of human rights activists, journalists, and
government officials have forced the U.S. to reevaluate its decision.
The Taliban, who have not directly attacked the U.S.
or NATO forces since the February 2020 agreement, have warned that failure to
stick to the withdrawal deadline would lead to a bloody response.
Some regional experts have suggested the U.S.
negotiate a one-time extension in the deadline with the Taliban to salvage the
deal.
Under this diplomatic push, two more international
conferences are expected as early as next month, one hosted by the United
Nations and the other by Turkey.
Moscow was also the venue for a February 2019 dialogue
between senior Afghan opposition politicians and former top government
officials, including former president Hamid Karzai, and the Taliban. That
conference, which Ghani’s government criticized as “little more than a
political drama,” paved the way for formal negotiations to start between
Taliban and an Afghan government sanctioned delegation.
The idea for Thursday’s conference was first floated
by Russian envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov in an interview with the
country’s state-run Sputnik news agency last month.
Kabulov said the U.S. supported the idea of gathering
a small group of countries with the most influence on the Afghan peace process.
The format, called an “expanded troika,” included Russia, the U.S., China,
Pakistan, and Iran—although Iran was hesitant to sit at the table with the U.S.
Kabulov said he hopes Iran will change its mind once
tensions with the U.S. decrease.
In a Sunday meeting with Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan's
special envoy on Afghanistan, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif “stressed
the need to promote regional cooperation to help establish peace in Afghanistan
and preserve achievements gained by Afghan people,” according to the official
Iranian news agency IRNA.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Secretary-General
António Guterres appointed a new personal envoy on Afghanistan and the region
Wednesday.
Announcing the appointment, the U.N. said Jean Arnault
of France was tasked with helping find a political solution to the Afghan
conflict.
“The responsibilities of the Personal Envoy include to
liaise, on behalf of the Secretary-General, with regional countries with the
aim of supporting the negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
and the Taliban and implementation of any agreements which are reached,” U.N.
spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said.
The appointment comes at a time when the U.S. is
expected to ask the U.N to invite the foreign ministers of the U.S., Russia,
China, Pakistan, Iran, and India for a conference on Afghanistan.
“It is my belief that these countries share an abiding
common interest in a stable Afghanistan and must work together if we are to
succeed,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said to President Ghani in a
letter leaked to the media earlier this month.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh
told a weekly press briefing on March 8 that his country had “not yet received
any invitation for any session on Afghan Peace Talks at the United Nations,”
adding that “Iran will review the invitation whenever it receives any.” His
remarks were printed in Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency.
https://www.voanews.com/south-central-asia/us-regional-powers-call-taliban-forego-spring-offensive-moscow-conference
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Southeast
Asia
Jakim awaits Conference of Rulers’ consent for next
course of action over ‘Allah’ issue
18 Mar 2021
KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 — The Department of Islamic
Development Malaysia (Jakim) and other Islamic religious agencies will take
appropriate action on the issue on the use of the word “Allah” after getting
the consent of the Conference of Rulers.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious
Affairs) Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said the outcome of discussions
on the issue between muftis of all states and legal experts held last Tuesday
has been submitted to the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal.
“InshaAllah we will announce the appropriate action to
be taken soon,” he told reporters after attending a gathering of agencies under
his ministry at the National Mosque here today.
Present were Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s
Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary and the heads of
agencies under the ministry.
Zulkifli was previously reported to have said that a
meeting would be held with muftis from throughout the country and law experts
to finalise a resolution on the issue on the use of the word “Allah”.
On March 10, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that
Christians nationwide can use the word “Allah” and three other Arabic words in
their religious publications for educational purposes. The three other words
are Baitullah, Kaabah and solat.
However, the Home Ministry and the Malaysian government
filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision at the High Court Registry on
March 15. — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/03/18/jakim-awaits-conference-of-rulers-consent-for-next-course-of-action-over-al/1959057
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Johor allows congregational prayers at mosques, surau
from tomorrow
18 Mar 2021
JOHOR BARU, March 18 — The Sultan of Johor, Sultan
Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, has consented to allow the five daily obligatory
prayers and Friday prayers to be performed statewide, according to the capacity
of mosques and surau, by taking into account physical distancing.
The permission was announced through a joint statement
issued by state Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Tosrin Jarvanthi;
state Mufti Datuk Yahya Ahmad and Johor Islamic Religious Department director
Datuk Md Rofiki Samsudin here today.
According to the statement, the permission will be
effective from the Subuh prayers tomorrow (March 19) until further notice,
after obtaining the advice of the National Security Council and the Ministry of
Health.
It also said that all gatherings for the purpose of
enlivening the mosques and surau would be allowed.
These include religious lectures and reading the
Quran, recitation of Yasin and Tahlil and Solat Hajat.
It also said that the Terawih prayers, Tadarus Quran
and Qiamullail can be held during the Ramadan month.
“Breaking the fast and Suhoor (pre-dawn meals) are
also allowed, but food must be prepared in packages, while cooking activities
are disallowed but the distribution of ‘bubur lambuk’ (porridge) is allowed,”
it said.
The congregation should give priority to Malaysians
and permanent residents.
In addition, mosques and surau committee members must
also be responsible for ensuring that the management and implementation of all
permitted activities are made in accordance with the standard operating
procedures (SOPs). — Bernama
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/03/18/johor-allows-congregational-prayers-at-mosques-surau-from-tomorrow/1959030
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Indonesia president calls for ASEAN high level meeting
on Myanmar crisis
Mar 19, 2021
JAKARTA: Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Friday
called for democracy to be restored and violence to be halted in Myanmar and
for Southeast Asian leaders to hold a high-level meeting to discuss the
situation there.
"I will immediately call the Sultan of Brunei
Darussalam as head of ASEAN to as soon as possible hold a high-level ASEAN
meeting to discuss the crisis in Myanmar," he said in a virtual address.
Brunei is currently chair of the 10-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/indonesia-president-calls-for-asean-high-level-meeting-on-myanmar-crisis/articleshow/81582158.cms
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China accuses outspoken scholar on Xinjiang of
fabrication
MAR 18, 2021
China on Thursday accused a scholar and outspoken
critic of its policies toward Muslim minorities of fabricating charges that
have helped bring sanctions against Chinese officials and companies operating
in the Xinjiang region.
The ruling Communist Party’s deputy head of
propaganda, Xu Guixiang, made the accusations against Adrian Zenz in the latest
of a series of news conferences aimed at deflecting criticism over China’s
detention of more than 1 million Uyghurs and other Muslims in reeducation
camps.
Zenz has also used government documents to detail the
mistreatment of Muslim women in such facilities and the coercive use of birth
control that has radically cut the birthrate among such groups. He has also
published on the alleged use of forced labor in Xinjiang's cotton fields.
“Adrian Zenz and his so-called research reports are
sure to be thrown on the dust heap of history and be despised by the 25 million
people of various ethnicities in Xinjiang,” Xu said.
China's Foreign Ministry and state media have said
companies and individuals have petitioned to sue Zenz for economic and
reputational damages, although the names of the plaintiffs haven't been
revealed and it isn't clear how they will pursue the charges.
China first denied the existence of the camps but has
since described them as centers to provide job training and reeducate those
exposed to radical jihadist thinking. Officials deny all charges of human
rights abuses in the northwestern region.
Xinjiang had been a hotbed of anti-government
violence, but Beijing claims its massive security crackdown has brought peace
in recent years.
Zenz is a German anthropologist and senior fellow at
the U.S.-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation that has been sharply
critical of China’s human rights record and its policies in Xinjiang and Tibet.
In a telephone call from Minnesota, Zenz said the
Chinese government campaign against him “smacks of desperation.”
“The attacks on the Uyghur witnesses have become more
and more nasty. It’s especially disgusting,” Zenz said.
Zenz said the economic pressure of sanctions, along
with the designation of China’s campaign as genocide by some Western countries
and growing calls for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics to be held in
China, have led to increased attacks on his character.
One video displayed during Xu's news conference showed
two former husbands of a Uyghur woman who has spoken spoke to media about her
abuse in detention. One of the men called her an obscene name and said she had
“bad moral quality."
Another video showed men alleging another woman who
has spoken to the foreign media about Xinjiang had perpetrated a bank loan
scheme.
“You are a lousy person,” one man said. Another said
the woman had been an unfaithful spouse.
Zenz says the vast majority of his work is based on
documents produced by the Chinese government such as propaganda videos, local
government websites and company notices.
“I used their propaganda against them, and read
between the lines,” Zenz said.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-accuses-outspoken-scholar-on-xinjiang-of-fabrication-101616060278961.html
--------
Africa
At least 30 hospitalized by strange illness in Nigeria
Ibrahim Garba Shuaibu
18.03.2021
At least 30 people suspected to have contracted a
strange illness were hospitalized in the northern city of Kano on Thursday.
The sick were from six villages under the Rogo local
government area of Kano state, located 136 kilometers (85 miles) from the city.
The victims were reportedly rushed to the area’s
primary health center after passing excessive blood urine and vomiting.
The situation is getting worse as local healers and
medicine stores are being overwhelmed in Unguwan Rijiyan Dadi, Gwanwan Gabas,
Gwangwan Yamma, Unguwar Tsarmai, Gangare and Unguwar Kofar Fada.
Residents are complaining about receiving little help
from the government.
A resident of Gwangwan Gabas confirmed that 56 people
contracted the illness since its outbreak.
"We rushed no fewer than 30 people to the Rogo General
Hospital within a day of the outbreak,” said Muhammad Tukur. “So far only one
person has died as a result of the outbreak. Most of the victims of the disease
have complained of spending a lot of money on the disease."
Shehu Adamu, a resident from Gangare, said that two of
his children have been affected.
He said he has spent more than 20,000 naira ($52) at
the hospital trying to get his family treated despite difficult times.
Eight people are affected in Idris Isah Jibrin’s house
and he said he is completely devastated. Affected members include his wife,
mother and children, who cannot stand.
He said he has spent 100,000 naira ($262) between Rogo
Hospital and Gwarzo Hospital without any real result.
The Kano state government confirmed the death of three
people on Tuesday and 284 others hospitalized after drinking water from a
nearby cemetery and consuming expired powder flavored drinks.
The government has debunked any links between the
illness and the coronavirus, however, part of the symptoms associated with the
ailment include urinary blood, vomiting, weakness, diarrhea, fever and
dizziness.
Although the state ministry of health has not
categorically declared the cause, it confirmed victims in 13 local government
areas, including eight metropolitan councils.
Sulaiman Ilyasu, director of infectious diseases at
the Health Ministry confirmed the development but insisted the ministry has
only received reports of four people falling ill and they have since been
treated.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/at-least-30-hospitalized-by-strange-illness-in-nigeria/2180994
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Qatar denounces terror attack in Niger
Ahmed Youssef
18.03.2021
Qatar Thursday condemned a terror attack in Niger that
killed at least 58 people, including six children aged 11-17, in the Tillaberi
region earlier this week.
The Foreign Ministry reiterated its "firm
position of rejecting violence and terrorism regardless of the motives and
reasons."
And it expressed "condolences of the State of
Qatar to the families of the victims, the government and people of Niger"
for the attacks late Monday.
The Tillaberi region has been frequently targeted by
terror groups based in Mali since 2017, with a state of emergency declared in
the area.
Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali in the Sahel are at the
epicenter of one of the world's fastest-growing displacement and protection
crises.
The region is already hosting 851,000 refugees and
nearly 2 million displaced people, according to the UN refugee agency.
In January, around 100 people were also killed in attacks
in two villages in Tillaberi after the first round of presidential elections.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/qatar-denounces-terror-attack-in-niger/2180613
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Attackers on trucks and motorbikes raid Mali base,
kill 33 troops
17 Mar 2021
At least 33 Malian soldiers have been killed and 14
wounded in an attack on a military post in the country’s violence-hit
northeastern region of Gao, according to the army.
Some 100 assailants on pick-up trucks and motorbikes
launched the attack on Monday at about 13:00 GMT in the town of Tessit, located
60km (37 miles) southeast of Ansongo, near Mali’s border with Burkina Faso and
Niger
The army said in a statement on Wednesday that 20
attackers were killed. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
While offering its condolences to the soldiers’
families, the army underlined “the necessity of strengthening the fight against
terrorism”.
Mali has been plagued by a brutal conflict that began
as a separatist movement in the north but devolved into a multitude of armed
groups jockeying for control in the country’s central and northern regions.
The violence has spread into Burkina Faso and Niger,
with fighters linked to ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda exploiting the poverty of
marginalised communities and inflaming tensions between ethnic groups.
The “tri-border” region – the three-country point
joining Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – has seen the most intense fighting in a
worsening conflict that has sparked a major humanitarian crisis.
Attacks grew fivefold between 2016 and 2020, with
4,000 people killed in the three countries last year, up from about 770 in
2016, according to the United Nations.
Last month, French President Emmanuel Macron ruled out
an immediate drawdown in France’s 5,100-strong Barkhane forces battling armed
groups in the Sahel, describing a rushed exit as a mistake.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/17/at-least-33-killed-in-northern-mali-attack?utm_source=iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2117933_
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North
America
Iran-backed attacks on US forces to accelerate nuclear
deal will not work: US envoy
Joseph Haboush
18 March ,2021
Attacks by Iran-backed militias against US forces
abroad will not force Washington to move faster to reach a new deal with
Tehran, Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley has said.
Iraqi militias have repeatedly targeted military bases
hosting US troops across Iraq, and the number of attacks has escalated since
President Joe Biden took office.
Biden and his administration have said they want to
sit down with Iran for talks on the nuclear deal, which former President Donald
Trump withdrew from in 2018. The original agreement, also known as the JCPOA,
was brokered by then-President Barack Obama.
Democrats argue that the deal prevented Iran from
acquiring a nuclear weapon in exchange for sanctions relief and allowing Tehran
access to the global economy, dominated by the US dollar.
But Iran has given Biden the cold shoulder and refused
to accept an invitation to sit down for talks. In the meantime, the attacks
against US and Coalition forces in Iraq continue.
This will not pressure the US to move quickly, Malley
told Voice of America.
Insinuating that Iran was directing the attacks in an
effort to pressure the US to act quickly, Malley said, “it’s hard to see how
that is going to work.”
Iran has insisted that the US lift all sanctions
imposed by the Trump administration before it comes back into compliance with
the JCPOA. Biden and the US have said Iran must first come back into
compliance.
As for the attacks, Malley said the US would respond
“as it has responded and it will continue to respond.”
Last month, Biden ordered an airstrike on Iranian
proxies inside Syria to respond to an attack that wounded Americans stationed
in Iraq’s Erbil.
Days later, another rocket attack killed an American
civilian contractor at Iraq’s Al-Asad airbase.
The US has not retaliated for this attack yet.
“It’s not really helping the climate in the US to have
Iranian allies take shots at Americans in Iraq or elsewhere,” Malley said.
Republicans and Democrats are divided, for the most
part, over Biden’s Iran policy.
Republicans are lobbying to maintain sanctions on Iran
to force a behavior change in the Iranian regime, while Democrats favor lifting
sanctions with the belief that Iran will then rein in its proxies and ballistic
missile program.
In separate comments made to the BBC Persian, Malley
said he understood why Iran was frustrated with the sanctions imposed by the
Trump administration. He then proposed for a third party to mediate between the
US and Iran if the latter did not want direct talks with Washington.
This is another attempt by the US to appease Iran
after sending multiple signals to Tehran that it was taking a softer stance
than the previous administration.
Days after taking office, Biden revoked the terror
designation against Yemen’s Houthis and removed three of its leaders from the
Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list. The administration then
signaled that it was willing to release frozen Iranian funds in foreign banks;
the State Department has since said the reports were untrue.
The Biden administration has also frozen arms sales to
Saud Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s archrivals in the Middle East.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2021/03/18/Iran-nuclear-deal-Iran-backed-attacks-on-US-forces-to-accelerate-nuclear-deal-will-not-work-US-envoy
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Biden urges UNSC to act on Ethiopia, Syria, Yemen
Servet Günerigök
19.03.2021
WASHINGTON
US President Joe Biden met virtually with permanent
representatives of the UN Security Council, calling for its action on regional
crises, the White House said Thursday.
During the meeting, Biden reaffirmed the US commitment
to values-based global leadership and re-engagement with international
institutions, in particular the UN, the White House said in a statement.
"The president also noted the need for UNSC
action on a range of regional crises, including those in Burma, Ethiopia,
Libya, Syria and Yemen," said the statement.
Biden and the UN diplomats also discussed the COVID-19
pandemic and global health security.
"The President reiterated the importance of
working with global partners and through multilateral institutions to end the
pandemic, improve global health security, and ensure that our nations drive an
equitable and sustainable economic recovery," it said.
Biden said the US intends to formally join the UN's
Group of Friends on Climate and Security.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/biden-urges-unsc-to-act-on-ethiopia-syria-yemen/2181142
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