Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Building a ‘Kaaba’ Like Structure Called ‘Al Mukab’ in Riyadh
New Age Islam News Bureau
28 February 2023
The Mukaab’, which
translates to cube, a mammoth 400 metre long, wide and deep structure in the
Saudi capital Riyadh (New Murabba Development Company)
------
• US: Prominent Christian Priest Hilarion Heagy,
Formerly a Russian Orthodox Monk, Converts To Islam
• Afghan Refugees Protest in Islamabad against UNHCR’s
Failure to Review Their Cases
• UK-Based Palestine Advocacy Urged Muslims to Avoid
'Taste of Apartheid' This Ramadan and Boycott Israeli Dates
• Imran Asks Scholars to Play Role to Make Pakistan
Truly Welfare State
Arab World
• Arab-Syria Rapprochement Positive Step Toward
Islamic Solidarity: Tehran
• Saudi Human Rights Body Hosts Talk on Religious
Moderation, Coexistence
• Islamic State Land Mines Kill 10 Workers, Injure 12
Others in Central Syria
• Syria landmine blast kills nine civilians: State
media
• Egypt’s foreign minister oversees aid delivery to
Turkey after Syria visit
• Lebanon security chief’s term to end after
authorities skip on renewal
• Egypt’s FM visits Damascus for first time in more
than a decade, meets with Assad
--------
North America
• Canada targets IRGC, law enforcement officials in
fresh Iran sanctions
• US House passes resolution mourning deaths in
Türkiye, Syria earthquakes, slamming Assad
• After 45 years of closure, Argentina reopens embassy
in Bangladesh
• US announces $444M in new humanitarian assistance
for Yemen
--------
South Asia
• Pakistan Threatens Afghanistan with War Even As
Taliban Refuses To Act against TTP Bases
• Top Islamic State commanders killed by Taliban forces
in Afghanistan
• Afghan businessmen in UAE willing to invest in
Afghanistan
• Afghan national with expired visa held in Gurugram,
says he fears Taliban
• Sri Lanka hopes for stronger relations with Saudi
Arabia
--------
Europe
• France condemns ‘unacceptable’ Israeli settlers’
attack on Palestinian civilians
• Bosnia's high representative suspends controversial
immovable property law
• Belgian minister hails 'very useful' work of field
hospital in quake-hit Türkiye
--------
Pakistan
• Meagre Progress Made By Pakistan in Dismantling
Terrorist Organisations: US Bureau of Counterterrorism
• Defaulting Pakistan takes the steam out of CPEC
• Two soldiers, one child martyred in North, South
Waziristan attacks
• Partial strike observed in Sindh on TLP’s call
• Hazara PTI workers swear oath to court arrest
• TTP have Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police in their
crosshairs
--------
India
• Prime Minister Speaks about Pasmanda Muslims to
Reach Out To the Poorest
• Jammu & Kashmir: Muslim Neighbours Help with
Kashmiri Pandit’s Funeral
• Karnataka BJP MLA Invokes Tipu, Compares Muslims to
18th Century Ruler
• BJP and the PDP: United in Grief over Kashmiri
Pandit’s Killing
• Terrorist killed in encounter in J&K's Pulwama
• Killing by cow vigilante: DNA reports match two
Muslim men burnt to death
• Muslim quota 'reduced': Congress demands inquiry
--------
Southeast Asia
• Umno Ulama Council to Focus on Elevating Dignity of
Muslims not for Political Alliances
• September trial for Dr M’s ‘Kutty’ defamation suit
against Zahid
• Santiago’s remarks about Naik caused racial tension,
says preacher
--------
Mideast
• Israel Should Be Made Accountable For ‘Crimes’ In
Palestine: OIC Chief
• Israel Sees ‘Difficult Days Ahead’ After West Bank
Attacks, Riot
• Palestine PM: Israel responsible for settler crimes
in Nablus
• Iranian FM: US Ready for Resumption of JCPOA Revival
Talks
• Human Rights Chief: Iran Seeking to Put Ex-Chief
Torturer on Trial
• Damaged buildings collapse after fresh quake in
eastern Turkiye
• Top Commander Underlines IRGC's Readiness to Train
Iraqi Armed Forces
• President Rayeesi Calls on Iraq Not to Turn into
Platform for Terrorist Attacks on Iran
• Israeli-American motorist killed in West Bank after
settlers rampage against Palestinians
--------
Africa
• Muslim Rights Concern: Think More of Nigeria –
Islamic Group Tells Politicians
• UN Libya envoy to launch new effort to break
stalemate
• Nigeria's opposition Labour Party wins Lagos
stronghold of ruling party
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/saudi-crown-prince-kaaba-al-mukab-riyadh/d/129218
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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Building a ‘Kaaba’ Like Structure Called ‘Al Mukab’ in Riyadh
The Mukaab’, which
translates to cube, a mammoth 400 metre long, wide and deep structure in the
Saudi capital Riyadh (New Murabba Development Company)
------
Syed Ali Mujtaba
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has recently
announced the new Murabba project called as ‘Al Mukab’ which plans to build a
gigantic ‘New Kaaba’ in the middle of a new city center being developed in the
capital Riyadh.
It will be a mammoth 400-meter-long, wide and deep
structure made up of overlapping triangular forms, in an architectural style
inspired by the Najd architectural style- in reference to the central Arabian
ancestral homeland of the ruling Al-Saud dynasty.
Mohammad bin Salman's "new Kaaba," will
feature a museum, a tech and Design University, a multipurpose theatre and an
immersive theatre, and more than 80 entertainment venues.
The building of the 'new Kaaba' in Riyadh has drawn
flake from different quarters. Some say this project is a new 'Kaaba' of
entertainment. Another quip, the Kaaba in Makkah is being shifted to the Kaaba
in Riyadh which means the Kaaba devoted to Islam is being shifted to another
Kaaba that’s devoted to capitalism.
Prince Salman’s new plans follow the futuristic smart
city project NEOM, which will include a 170-kilometer-long mega city.
The $500 billion development has courted controversy
over its lavish cost, its impact on the environment, its feasibility, and
alleged human rights abuses, including forced displacement of tribes, etc.
The crown prince has promised in 2017 that he will
bring back a moderate version of Islam that existed before 1979, where Muslims
and people of other faiths co-existed peacefully without a sense of supremacy
and dominance.
Written by:
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai.
--------
US: Prominent Christian Priest Hilarion Heagy,
Formerly a Russian Orthodox Monk, Converts To Islam
Christian Priest Hilarion Heagy,
-----
Sakina Fatima
27th February 2023
A prominent Christian priest Hilarion Heagy, based in
California, United States, converted to Islam and changed his name to Said
Abdul Latif.
Hilarion Heagy, an American priest who was formerly a
Russian Orthodox monk, and was highly respected among his followers.
He joined the Antiochian Orthodox Church around 2003,
before leaving in 2007 and converting to the Catholic Church of the East. He
graduated from the Convent of the Holy Resurrection in St Nazianz, Wisconsin to
become a Byzantine Catholic priest and recently announced plans to establish an
Eastern Christian monastery in California.
Hilarion Heagy announced in a blog post about his
journey to Islam, expressed his decision as a ‘reversion to Islam’ and that it
was ‘like coming home’.
“After decades of feeling drawn to Islam in varying
degrees, I had finally decided to take the plunge. It really does feel like
“coming home.” my first-born belief. Since before we were even born, we
worshipped God alone and submitted to him, according to the Qur’an,” he wrote
in a blog post.
According to him, he had felt the spark of Islam since
20 years ago, but he stated that he truly accepted Islam when he announced it.
“One simply can’t be a priest and monk publicly, and a
Muslim privately.”
Abdul Latif said of his conversion that it was “the
return to the East” and the return to his “primitive identity”, offering an
explanation by quoting the Holy Quran.
“It is for this reason that converts to Islam often do
not speak so much of ‘conversion’ as they speak of a ‘reversion’ to Islam — our primordial faith. A long process of Returning,” he
adds.
“The future is uncertain for me. There are always
fears when you take a leap in the dark. And yet, I feel such a peace. A joy. A
relief. My pull towards Islam over twenty years has finally led me home. Now
begins the work of entering deeper into the faith. A deeper learning. A love
for the Deen. A love for the Ummah. A love for the Prophet ﷺ,” he added.
Source: Siasat Daily
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.siasat.com/us-prominent-christian-priest-hilarion-heagy-converts-to-islam-2536279/
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Afghan Refugees Protest in Islamabad against UNHCR’s
Failure to Review their Cases
Photo: The Khaama Press
----
By Nizamuddin Rezahi
February 27, 2023
Scores of Afghan refugees have protested in Islamabad
for over three weeks against UNHCR’s failure to review their immigration cases,
local sources reported.
Dozens of Afghan migrants in Islamabad on Monday said
they have protested for more than three weeks in front of the Society for Human
Rights and Prisoners’ Aid (SHARP) Office, however, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has not paid attention to the living
conditions of migrants in this country so far.
The protestors claim that UNHCR Pakistan has failed to
review their immigration cases, as they have not heard back from the UN refugee
agency since they sought asylum.
“They have been waiting for months with their families
and children, with the current high price of living in Islamabad. It is very
difficult to get a house,” said a protestor.
“As of now, we have been given a token, which is a
piece of paper. It has no legal privileges and we have not received any human
and humanitarian privileges,” a protesting asylum seeker said.
The society for Human Rights and Prisoners’ Aid
(SHARP) Office operates to facilitate the registration process of migrants in
Pakistan under the umbrella of UNHCR.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021,
thousands of Afghans fearing their safety and that of their families moved to
neighboring countries inkling Iran and Pakistan.
Some Afghan migrants registered asylum requests with
the western countries’ embassies and the United Nations office in Pakistan,
others entered the country through illegal channels.
These Afghan migrants are now facing serious issues in
crisis-hit Pakistan. The growing inflation, high price of living, and worst of
all, the uncertainty have overwhelmed them to a great extent.
Source: Khaama Press
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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UK-Based Palestine Advocacy Urged Muslims to Avoid
'Taste of Apartheid' This Ramadan and Boycott Israeli Dates
Israel is the largest exporter of Medjoul dates to
Europe [Getty]
------
27 February, 2023
A UK-based Palestine advocacy group has urged Muslims
in Europe to boycott Israeli dates as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches.
Friends of Al-Aqsa (FoA) launched its annual #CheckThe
Label campaign last week, amid ongoing Israeli raids in the occupied
Palestinian territories.
"By choosing not to buy Israeli dates this
Ramadan the Muslim community can send a clear and powerful message of
condemnation of Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid in Palestine,"
said Shamiul Joarder at FoA.
Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, sees a spike in
date consumption in Europe due to Muslims breaking their fast at sunset with
the fruit, in accordance with Islamic traditions.
Each year, Europe sees two spikes in date consumption
- during Ramadan and in winter, coinciding with Christmas, according to the
Centre for the Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI).
Israel is the world's largest producer of Medjoul
dates and exports more than 50 percent of its produce to Europe, according to
FoA. A large portion of these dates are grown on illegal settlements in the
occupied West Bank.
"It's time to renew our commitment to BDS this
Ramadan. We must remember that as a community we are powerful – we can make our
voices heard through the simple act of putting Israeli dates back on the shelf.
All we need to do is #CheckTheLabel and not buy dates from apartheid
Israel," Joarder said.
The campaign's launch comes as the occupied West Bank
witnesses one of its bloodiest episodes in recent memory, with Israeli forces
and settlers having killed at least 62 Palestinian adults and children.
FoA has marked 17 March - the last Friday before
Ramadan - as a day of action to encourage Muslims to check labels on date
packaging to ensure they are not from Israel.
Source: The New Arab
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
https://www.newarab.com/news/european-muslims-urged-boycott-israeli-dates-ramadan
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Imran Asks Scholars to Play Role To Make Pakistan Truly
Welfare State
Condemns arrest of Gen
Amjad Shoaib, urges Pakistanis to stand up to save Pakistan from abyss
------
February 27, 2023
LAHORE: Renowned religious scholar Allama Shahanshah
Naqvi called on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan here on
Monday. PTI Central Information Secretary Farrukh Habib was also present in the
meeting.
Speaking on the occasion, PTI Chairman said that
scholars should perform the duty of promoting and protecting values in the
society.
He said that people of Pakistan were the trustees of
an unparalleled cultural and religious heritage, adding that as the Ummah of
the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), we have eternal resources of guidance in
the form of the Holy Book and the Sunnah.
Imran Khan said that Deen-e-Mubeen provided them rich
guidance ranging from society, politics and society to economy, vowing that
they would continue to work hard to build Pakistan on the lines of the state of
Medina with the help of Allah Almighty. He said that the scholars should come
forward to guide the nation to make Pakistan a truly welfare state.
Allama Shahanshah Naqvi applauded PTI Chairman for his
role in presenting the case of Islamophobia at the global level in befitting
manner. He also appreciated the key philosophy and goal of transforming
Pakistan into a modern welfare state in the light of the golden principles of
the State of Medina.
Separately, PTI Chairman strongly condemned the arrest
of Lt-Gen. (retd) Amjad Shoaib and added that it showed that democracy and
freedom being totally destroyed in Pakistan to save regime change conspiracy’s
fascist order of cabal of crooks propped by handlers. “It is time for every
Pakistani to stand up for Haqeeqi Azadi and save Pakistan from the abyss,” he
added.
Source: Pakistan Today
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Arab World
Arab-Syria Rapprochement Positive Step Toward Islamic Solidarity: Tehran
28 February 2023
Tehran says a recent visit by Arab parliament speakers
and senior legislators to Syria is a positive step toward Islamic solidarity,
emphasizing that dialogue and regional approaches can solve the woes in the
region.
“The recent progress in relations between Arab
countries and Syria, including the visit by Arab parliamentary delegations to
Damascus to express solidarity with Syria following the recent devastating
earthquake, in addition to being a realistic approach, is a positive step
toward Islamic solidarity,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani tweeted
on Tuesday.
He added that regional countries will be able to
resolve their problems through “dialogue and regional mechanisms” if they act
realistically, adopt an independent national stance, and pay no heed to the
demands of the hegemonic powers.
The high-profile Arab lawmakers arrived in Damascus on
Sunday amid attempts by certain countries, above all Iraq, to restore Syria’s
membership in the Arab League, more than a decade after it was suspended from
the 22-member bloc.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry also arrived in
Damascus on Monday in the first such visit by a top Egyptian diplomat since the
foreign-sponsored militancy erupted in Syria more than a decade ago.
In a meeting with President Assad, the top Egyptian
diplomat reaffirmed his country's solidarity with Syria and its preparedness to
continue supporting Syrians in the aftermath of the devastating February
earthquake.
In a meeting with the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union
later on Sunday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said, “The delegation’s visit
to Syria today means a lot to the Syrian people as it indicates the support to
the Syrians ... who are exposed as a result of the terrorist war and the
repercussions of the earthquake.”
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/28/699037/Iran-hails-Arab-parliamentary-speakers-visit-Syria
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Saudi Human Rights Body Hosts Talk on Religious
Moderation, Coexistence
February 27, 2023
RIYADH: The Saudi National Society for Human Rights on
Monday hosted a meeting on religious moderation and coexistence led by Sheikh
Saad bin Nasser Al-Shathri, adviser to the Royal Court and member of the
Council of Senior Scholars.
The meeting, which came as part of the society’s
cultural program, aimed to promote the respect of differences in others, as
well the upholding of knowledge and awareness as two critical pillars for the
protection of human rights.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2259106/saudi-arabia
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Islamic State land mines kill 10 workers, injure 12
others in central Syria
February 27, 2023
Land mines left behind by the Islamic State group in
central Syria went off in two different locations on Monday, killing 10 workers
as they were collecting truffles in the countryside and wounding 12, state
media reported.
According to Syria's state news agency SANA, the two
mines exploded east of the central town of Salamiyeh. All the casualties were
taken to a hospital in the town, the report added. It wasn't immediately clear
what had triggered the explosions.
It is not uncommon for mines left behind years ago,
when IS controlled large parts of Syria, to go off inadvertently, usually when
stepped on, inflicting casualties.
IS was driven out of all the territory it once held in
Syria and neighboring Iraq in 2019, but the extremists left behind countless
bombs and booby traps, and large areas have yet to be cleared. The militant
group’s sleeper cells still carry deadly attacks both in Syria and Iraq.
SANA said the first explosion on Monday killed nine
people and wounded two while the second killed one person and wounded 10.
Earlier this month, IS sleeper cells attacked workers
collecting truffles near the central town of Sukhna, killing at least 53
people, mostly workers but also some Syrian government security forces.
Source: Fox News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.foxnews.com/world/isis-land-mines-kill-10-workers-injure-12-others-central-syria
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Syria landmine blast kills nine civilians: State media
27 February ,2023
Nine Syrian civilians were killed Monday when a
landmine planted by extremists exploded, state media said, in the latest
tragedy to have hit truffle-hunters in the war-torn country.
“Nine citizens were killed and two others injured...
in the eastern countryside of al-Salamiyah,” in the central province of Hama,
when a landmine left behind by ISIS militants blew up under their car, the
official SANA news agency said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor
said the victims had been hunting in the desert for truffles, a delicacy that
can be sold at exorbitant prices.
On February 18, at least 68 people picking truffles in
a desert of neighboring Homs province were killed in a suspected ISIS attack,
said the Observatory, which has a wide network of sources inside Syria.
The Britain-based monitor said ISIS was taking
advantage of the annual harvest of the desert fungus, which is in season from
February to April, to carry out attacks in remote locations.
Truffle digging has seen many people, including women
and children, lose their lives in the country’s central, northeastern, and
eastern regions in recent years.
Explosives left in fields, along roads or even in
buildings by all sides in Syria’s 12-year conflict have wounded killed hundreds
of civilians and wounded thousands more, according to the Observatory.
Across Syria, more than 10 million people live in
areas contaminated by explosive hazards, the United Nations has said.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Egypt’s foreign minister oversees aid delivery to
Turkey after Syria visit
27 February ,2023
Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and
his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu oversaw the delivery of the sixth
shipment of aid provided by Egypt to Ankara, during the Egyptian minister’s
visit to the earthquake-hit country.
Shoukry arrived at the Turkish port of Mersin with
Cavusoglu, where the two welcomed the latest relief packages sent by Egypt to
the victims of the devastating quake that hit the country earlier this month.
Turkey and Egypt will continue to work together to
improve relations between their two countries, Turkish foreign minister
Cavusoglu said on Monday during a joint conference with his Egyptian
counterpart.
“Our visit (to Turkey) is a message of friendship and
solidarity,” Shoukry told journalists alongside his Turkish counterpart
Cavusoglu, behind an aid ship docked at Mersin’s port.
“We, as the Egyptian government and the Egyptian
people, wholeheartedly believe that Turkey will overcome this as soon as
possible. It is a great disaster,” he said in remarks translated from Arabic.
“We will continue to do our best to help,” he said.
Shoukry’s visit to Turkey comes after the foreign
minister traveled to Damascus for the first time in nearly a decade.
Egypt’s foreign minister arrived in Damascus on
Monday, the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister to Syria since its
civil war began in 2011 and another sign of warming ties between President
Bashar al-Assad and Arab states that once shunned him.
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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Lebanon security chief’s term to end after authorities
skip on renewal
February 28, 2023
BEIRUT: The term of Lebanon’s powerful General
Security chief Abbas Ibrahim is set to end this week as neither cabinet nor
parliament have discussed a measure that would allow him to stay on after
reaching the legal retirement age.
Ibrahim, who hails from southern Lebanon, has headed
the General Security directorate since 2011 and is considered a key regional
interlocutor who has good ties with the Iran-backed group Hezbollah and links
with Western governments.
On Thursday, he will turn 64, which is the legal
retirement age in Lebanon. Lebanese authorities have in the past issued
exceptional exemptions for top officials to stay on past 64 if a vacuum in
their post is seen as risking instability.
But Lebanon’s caretaker cabinet did not discuss an
extension at its meeting on Monday. Information Minister Ziad Makary told
reporters after the meeting that cabinet “can do nothing” and that the decision
was to be taken by the interior minister.
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Al-Mawlawi, whose
ministry manages General Security and some other security forces, did not
respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Lebanon’s caretaker premier Najib Mikati said in an
interview last week that the issue should be dealt with by parliament as it
involved legal amendments. Parliament has not met and no session is scheduled
before Ibrahim is set to retire.
A source close to Hezbollah told Reuters that the
group had tried to “throw its full weight” behind a parliament session to
extend Ibrahim’s term but was unable to secure enough support.
Mawlawi is expected to name an acting chief once
Ibrahim’s term ends. Lebanon is already in an unprecedented constitutional
crisis — with the presidency vacant and cabinet acting in a caretaker capacity
since last year’s parliamentary elections.
Ibrahim is seen as close to Hezbollah and authorities
in neighboring Syria, but he has also regularly traveled to Washington and
Paris to meet top officials there.
As a result, he has been seen as an important
interlocutor, involved in cases from the missing US reporter Austin Tice to
US-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime border, which
was delineated last year.
Source: Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2259266/middle-east
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Egypt’s FM visits Damascus for first time in more than
a decade, meets with Assad
27 February 2023
Egypt’s foreign minister has arrived in Damascus in
the first such visit by a top Egyptian diplomat since the foreign-sponsored
militancy started in Syria more than a decade ago.
Sameh Shoukry met with Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad at the presidential palace on Monday, reaffirming his country's
solidarity with Syria and its preparedness to continue supporting Syrians in
the aftermath of the devastating February 6 earthquake, Syria’s official news agency
SANA reported.
He also conveyed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
el-Sisi’s greetings to the Syrian leader, and called for further development of
long-established and friendly relations between the two countries
Shoukry described relations between Cairo and Damascus
as essential for protection of the Arab world against potential threats and
challenges, stressing that Egypt will always support any initiative that could
help Syria and would serve the interests of all Syrians.
Assad, for his part, underlined the historical
significance of Syrian-Egyptian relations, emphasizing that promotion of
diplomatic ties among Arab countries will actually improve living standards of
Arabs.
He also appreciated Egypt’s warm welcome of Syrian
refugees following the outbreak of the foreign-backed crisis in his country,
stating that such a behavior attests to the strong ties that already exist
between the two nations.
“The goal of the visit is primarily humanitarian, and
to pass on our solidarity – from the leadership, the government and the people
of Egypt to the people of Syria,” Sameh Shoukry told reporters upon arrival in
Damascus.
Egypt was looking forward to providing more quake
assistance “in full coordination with the Syrian government,” after already
having donated some 1,500 tons so far, Shoukry added, standing alongside his
Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad.
“When the foreign minister of Egypt comes to Damascus,
he comes to his home, his people, and his country,” Mekdad said.
The development comes only a day after several Arab
parliament speakers and high-level legislators arrived in Damascus to restore
Syria's membership in the Arab League, which was suspended nearly 12 years ago
due to the country's foreign-sponsored conflict.
The lawmakers were received by Syria's Speaker of the
People's Assembly Hammouda Sabbagh, who stated that Syria's return to the Arab
diplomatic fold is crucial for any joint Arab action to confront current
challenges and crises.
Calls for Syria's return to the Arab League have grown
stronger after the devastating earthquake that hit the country earlier this
month.
Iraqi Council of Representatives Speaker Mohammed
al-Halbousi on Saturday urged all Arab countries to adopt a final decision on
Syria's return to the Arab diplomatic fold, while Jordanian Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi stressed the importance of Syria's return
to the Arab League to act as an active and effective member in decision-making.
Last week, Syria's President Bashar al-Assad visited
Oman and met with Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.
Source: Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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North America
Canada targets IRGC, law enforcement officials in fresh Iran sanctions
27 February ,2023
The Canadian government on Monday said it was imposing
sanctions on 12 senior officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
(IRGC) and Law Enforcement Forces (LEF) for their participation in “gross and
systematic human rights violations.”
Source: Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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US House passes resolution mourning deaths in Türkiye,
Syria earthquakes, slamming Assad
Servet Günerigök
28.02.2023
WASHINGTON
The US House of Representatives passed a resolution
Monday mourning the loss of the life in the earthquakes that hit Türkiye and
Syria and condemning Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime for blocking UN aid through
its border.
The resolution, which cleared the House floor in a
412-2 vote, also expressed its deep condolences to the families of the many
earthquake victims and applauded the work of humanitarian aid and rescue
workers on the ground.
Those who voted against the resolution were Republican
Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie.
Introduced by Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South
Carolina, it "condemns the efforts by the Assad regime of Syria to exploit
the disaster to evade international pressure and accountability."
"American families offer sincere sympathies to
the families who are mourning loved ones and nursing others back to health,"
said Wilson ahead of the voting.
"The Republic of Türkiye for over 70 years has
been a valued NATO ally, and as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on
US-Türkiye relations and Turkish Americans, I'm particularly supportive of
their efforts to meet the needs of the impacted earthquake victims," he
added.
Wilson also called for the UN not to politicize
humanitarian assistance bound for Syria and to circumvent the obstructions of
Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"It is significant that this resolution calls on
President (Joe) Biden to use all diplomatic means to push the UN to get aid to
those in need," he added.
Rep. Bill Keating, a Democrat, noted that the
resolution sends a strong message of solidarity to the peoples of Türkiye and
Syria from the US and pledged support for quake-affected victims.
The devastating Feb. 6 twin earthquakes have claimed
more than 44,300 lives in Türkiye’s southern region.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 quakes, centered in
Kahramanmaras province, have impacted some 13 million people across 11
provinces, including Adana, Adiyaman, Diyarbakir, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kilis,
Malatya, Osmaniye, Elazig and Sanliurfa.
Over 10,200 aftershocks have been reported, including
a 5.6 magnitude earthquake that jolted Malatya on Monday, killing at least one
person and injuring 110 others.
Source: Anadolu Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
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After 45 years of closure, Argentina reopens embassy
in Bangladesh
Md. Kamruzzaman
27.02.2023
Argentina on Monday reopened its embassy in
Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka after 45 years of closure.
Argentine Foreign Minister Santiago Andres Cafiero
inaugurated the new embassy in the upscale area of Banani, where Bangladesh’s
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md. Shahriar Alam and other diplomats and
officials were also present.
“This is the stepping stone to strengthen bilateral
relations between the two nations, not only diplomatically but also
culturally,” the Cafiero said.
The Argentine Embassy in Dhaka was closed in 1978 by
the military junta that ruled the Latin American nation at the time.
Alam, for his part, said that with the opening of the
embassy, bilateral trade and investment between the two countries would be
increased.
According to a report published by the state-run
Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency, the bilateral trade between Bangladesh
and Argentina was $765 million in 2022.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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US announces $444M in new humanitarian assistance for
Yemen
Michael Hernandez
27.02.2023
WASHINGTON
The US announced a new $444 million tranche of
humanitarian assistance for war and famine-ravaged Yemen on Monday while
stressing that "much more is needed" to help those in need.
The announcement comes as the UN hosts a pledge
conference in Geneva to appeal for $4.3 billion from the international
community to address the country's dire woes.
Over 2 million children are "facing deadly
malnutrition" amid a UN budget shortfall that forced the global body
"to scale back or cut over half of its life-saving programs, including
emergency food assistance," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
"More than eight years of conflict have pushed
Yemen’s economy and institutions to the brink. Families have been left unable
to buy basic goods, provide for their children, or access healthcare. The
United States continues our efforts to help stabilize Yemen’s economy and
restore basic services and livelihoods," he said in a statement.
"Despite the dire humanitarian conditions, there
is a glimmer of hope as Yemen is experiencing the best opportunities for peace
in years. Building on the momentum from the UN-mediated truce, the parties now
have the chance to end this war. The international community must do everything
we can to help," he added.
Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability
since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country,
including the capital, Sanaa.
More than 21 million people – two in three Yemeni
children, women, and men – are in need of humanitarian assistance and
protection, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at the donor conference
in Geneva.
“Humanitarian needs continue to soar while access is
constrained, and funding perennially falls short," said Guterres.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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South Asia
Pakistan threatens Afghanistan with war even as
Taliban refuses to act against TTP bases
Ajeyo Basu
February 27, 2023
Kabul: Pakistan has warned of military action inside
Afghanistan if the Afghan Taliban continues to provide support to the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
However, the Afghan Taliban has denied the presence of
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) bases inside Afghanistan.
According to reports in the Pakistani media, a
delegation from Pakistan led by Defence Minister Khawaja Asif delivered this
message during a meeting in Kabul with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting
deputy prime minister of Afghanistan.
Asif was accompanied by Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) chief Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum and other senior officials
from the defence and foreign ministries of Pakistan.
Pakistan threatens Afghan Taliban
“Our delegation delivered a very loud and clear
message to Afghan Taliban leadership to stop Afghanistan-based militants of the
Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from launching any spring offensive inside
Pakistan and eliminate them from Afghan soil,” a Pakistani official was quoted
as saying by Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.
“In case of failure to stop the TTP from cross-border
attacks and does not take any action to eliminate them or expel them from their
hideouts, then Pakistan has no other choice except to target their hideouts in
border areas inside Afghanistan,” he added.
“We showed them proof of how TTP planned and carried
out recent attacks in Bannu and Peshawar from Afghanistan and warned them that
any further attack would result in a tough response from Pakistan. We have no
other option but to target militants’ hideouts in border areas inside
Afghanistan. We have delivered this message to them.”
Afghan Taliban raises concerns with Pakistan
Afghanistan’s acting Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad
Yaqoob also expressed the Afghan Taliban’s concerns with the visiting Pakistani
delegation and accused Pakistan of helping the United States (US) carry out a
drone attack that killed then al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri in Kabul last
year.
The Afghan Taliban has alleged that the US launched
the drone strike using Pakistani airspace. However, Pakistan has rejected the
Afghan Taliban’s allegations and has claimed that the US has not been allowed
to use Pakistan’s airspace against Afghanistan.
Source: Firstpost
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Top Islamic State Commanders Killed By Taliban Forces
in Afghanistan
Feb 28, 2023
The Taliban government in Afghanistan said its
security forces killed two key Islamic State commanders during a
counter-Terrorism raid in capital Kabul a few days ago.
One of the slain terrorists was Qari Fateh, touted as
the intelligence chief and a former minister of war of the Islamic
State-Khorasan Province (ISKP), said Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid.
The ISKP is an Afghan affiliate of Islamic State and a key Taliban adversary.
Mujahid said Qari Fateh was reportedly the main
tactician for the ISKP, and was responsible for planning several attacks,
including those against Russian, Pakistani, and Chinese diplomatic missions in
Kabul.
In the statement, Mujahid also confirmed the killing
of Ejaz Ahmad Ahangar, the so-called first Emir of Islamic State Hind Province
(ISHP) and a senior leader of the ISKP in southern Afghanistan, along with two
affiliates.
Also known as Abu Usman Al-Kashmiri, Ahangar was
designated as a terrorist by the Indian government in January this year. Born
in Srinagar, he was wanted in Jammu and Kashmir for over two decades for
alleged involvement in terror-related activities.
Source: India Today
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Afghan businessmen in UAE willing to invest in
Afghanistan
By Fidel Rahmati
February 27, 2023
The Afghan Business Council in the United Arab
Emirates urged Afghanistan’s de facto government to provide opportunities for
Afghan business people to invest in their country.
The head of the council in the United Arab Emirates,
Haji Obaidullah Sadr Khil, said in a conversation with Khaama Press that 80 per
cent of the business people in the UAE have business across more than 50
countries.
Sadr Khil added that Afghan business people had
invested more than $10 billion in the United Arab Emirates and are willing to
invest in the country if the caretaker government provides the opportunity for
them.
“The caretaker government should provide opportunities
for investors to invest in the country, which will create jobs and provide
employment to the people,” he said.
Afghanistan’s current administration claims that
foreign and Afghan investors will be provided with all kind of facilities and
opportunities to invest in the country.
Abdulsalam Jawad Akhundzada, a spokesman for the
Ministry of Industry and Trade, says that investors who want to invest in
Afghanistan on a large scale will provide the opportunity to invest in economic
zones, and they will be provided with a license, cooperate with the payment of
land and transferring of the raw materials.
However, economic analysts believe large-scale
investments are supposedly feasible if political stability and security are
restored.
Abdul Nasir Reshtia says that the interim government
should increase its international interaction for economic growth and
investment in the country.
He also said that the essential elements for investing
in the country are protecting the investors, their property and a
corruption-free environment.
“Safety of investors, their property, and the rule of
law and prevention of corruption are the main elements for encouraging
investors to invest in the country.”
However, since the takeover of Afghanistan by the
Taliban in August 2021, most of the investors have left the country and
withdrawn their investments from Afghanistan.
Source: Khaama Press
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Afghan national with expired visa held in Gurugram,
says he fears Taliban
Feb 28, 2023
An Afghan national was arrested on Sunday night for
allegedly carrying an expired visa after he was found roaming suspiciously on a
service road in Sector 51, police said on Monday, adding he allegedly avoided
returning to his country out of fear after Taliban took over the control. He
was identified as Rahullah Jabari (33) from Kabul.
Investigators said he was stopped by a police team
which spotted him while patrolling and asked about his details. The team
questioned Jabari but he tried to mislead them by identifying himself as an
Uzbek national.
Police said Jabari was detained and later quizzed,
after which he revealed his real identity. This was also established from his
travel documents later. Inspector Sandeep Kumar, station house officer of
Sector 50 police station, said the suspect had a valid passport but his visa
had expired on May 10, 2020, when the first Covid-19 lockdown was in place.
Jabari arrived in India on a tourist visa. After his
visa expired, the lockdown relaxed and international flights resumed, he had
tried to return to Afghanistan and had contacted the embassy officials too.
However, by the time he could take any action, the Taliban took over
Afghanistan and out of fear, he decided to continue staying in India. Investigators
said he was working with a man in Delhi dealing in rice supply to earn his
livelihood. “He used to come to Gurugram to meet a friend to play snooker at
least thrice a week. It was during one such visit that we spotted him,” said a
police officer privy to the case.
“His visa was issued on November 11, 2019. He was
presently staying in Mahipalpur, Delhi,” SHO Kumar said.
Source: Hindustan Times
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Sri Lanka hopes for stronger relations with Saudi
Arabia
MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN
February 27, 2023
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka was expecting its long-standing
ties with Saudi Arabia to grow stronger, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said on Monday,
after meeting with a delegation from the Saudi Fund for Development.
Sabry hosted the Saudi delegation led by Mohammed
Almasoud, the SFD’s director of central and west Asia operations, in the
capital Colombo and said Sri Lanka was grateful for the fund’s “continuous
assistance despite challenges” as well its support on an extension of an
International Monetary Fund loan.
“The longstanding Sri Lanka-Saudi bilateral
relationship will grow from strength to strength,” Sabry said in a tweet.
The minister visited the Kingdom last month,
discussing with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan ways to boost
economic and energy cooperation between the two countries.
Sabry had then presented Sri Lanka as a gateway to not
only south Asia but the rest of the continent – an “ideal place” to do
business. His trip followed a series of high-level engagements by Sri Lankan
officials with the Kingdom last year.
During Monday’s meeting, the Saudi government pledged
to continue providing financial assistance for projects in Sri Lanka, Sri
Lankan lawmaker Mohamed Shariff Thowfeek said after taking part in the talks.
“This was a great gesture from the Saudi government at
a time when some countries have stopped their aid in the midst of the economic
crisis,” Thowfeek told Arab News.
The SFD has given at least 15 development loans worth
$425 million to Sri Lanka, which have financed various projects in water,
energy, health, roads, and education. This has included support for the
development of the PBC Highway, which connects the country’s central and
eastern provinces.
Thowfeek said the SFD would also help finance
construction of a bridge in eastern Sri Lanka, which cost around $5.4 million.
The island nation of 22 million people is facing its
worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, with challenges
ranging from a shortage of dollars to runaway inflation and a steep recession.
Source: Arab News
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https://www.arabnews.com/node/2259076/world
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Europe
France condemns ‘unacceptable’ Israeli settlers’
attack on Palestinian civilians
27 February ,2023
France on Monday condemned an attack by Israeli
settlers in the occupied West Bank, saying “violence against Palestinian
civilians is unacceptable.”
France “strongly condemns” the attack targeting a town
where two Israeli brothers were killed, the foreign ministry said in a
statement, adding that there was a risk that the situation in the West Bank
could “deteriorate out of control.”
France was calling on all parties “to avoid fueling
the violence, and to contribute to de-escalation,” the statement said.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Bosnia's high representative suspends controversial
immovable property law
Mustafa Talha Öztürk
28.02.2023
The High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina
announced Monday that he had suspended a controversial immovable property law
in the Republika Srpska (RS) entity, a day before it was expected to come into
force.
Following an extraordinary meeting of the Peace
Implementation Council (PIC), Christian Schmidt used his “Bonn Powers” to
suspend the RS Law on Immovable Property Used for Functioning of Public
Authority, which had been voted on in the National Assembly of the Republika
Srpska (NSRS) in December despite a decision by the Constitutional Court of
Bosnia and Herzegovina that immovable properties belong to the state, not the
entity.
According to the statement, Schmidt suspended the law
until the final decision of the Constitutional Court in order to protect state
property.
The Office of the High Representative was established
with the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia
Herzegovina. It oversees the implementation of the peace agreement on behalf of
the international community. The high representative also coordinates the
activities of international institutions operating in the country.
The high representative has the authority to dismiss
anyone who interferes with the implementation of peace in the country,
including members of the Presidential Council, and to pass laws as necessary.
The powers are dubbed "Bonn powers."
Arguing that the immovable properties belong to the
entities according to the Dayton Peace Treaty, which ended the war in Bosnia
and Herzegovina, RS said the administration of the properties is also theirs
under the said law.
While the unconstitutional law on immovable properties
was expected to enter into force on Feb. 28, the public institutions used by
the RS under the law are claimed to be "part" of them.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Belgian minister hails 'very useful' work of field
hospital in quake-hit Türkiye
Selen Temizer
27.02.2023
BRUSSELS
A field hospital set up by Belgium in Türkiye’s
quake-hit Hatay province has proven to be “very useful,” according to Belgian
Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke.
He said more than 1,500 patients have been treated so
far at the facility in Hatay’s Kirikhan district.
“We are very satisfied about the deployment of this
field hospital,” Vandenbroucke told Anadolu.
“Our staff has seen more than 1,500 patients who
needed help, so I think it’s been very useful to be there.”
He said this was the first time Belgium “has deployed
such a large field hospital.”
“It was not an easy exercise … We have never done that
before, so it was a bit of a learning process,” he said, while lauding the
team’s cooperation with Turkish authorities.
The field hospital was the best way for Belgium to
support Türkiye, Vandenbroucke emphasized.
“Solidarity means you show the best you can show. We
have a good healthcare system … so sending a hospital was maybe the best thing
we could do,” he said.
The minister said there was no clear timeline for how
long the Belgian field hospital would be operational in Hatay, which has been
one of the areas hit hardest in the Feb. 6 twin tremors.
The magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 temblors were centered in
Kahramanmaras and rocked 10 other provinces – Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman,
Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye, Sanliurfa, and Elazig.
Source: Anadolu Agency
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Pakistan
Meagre Progress Made By Pakistan in Dismantling
Terrorist Organisations: US Bureau of Counterterrorism
Feb 28, 2023
WASHINGTON: Pakistan has made meager progress in its
pledge to dismantle all terrorist organisations without delay or discrimination.
The country experienced significant terrorist activity in 2021. The number of
attacks and casualties was higher than in 2020, according to the US Bureau of
Counterterrorism's 'Country Reports on Terrorism 2021: Pakistan'.
Major terrorist groups that focused on conducting
attacks in Pakistan included Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Balochistan
Liberation Army (BLA), and ISIS-K, the US Bureau of Counterterrorism's report
said.
"Pakistan reviewed and revised its 2015 National
Action Plan (NAP) to counter terrorism, reducing the NAP from a 20-point plan
to 14 key points, but made meager progress on the most difficult aspects --
specifically its pledge to dismantle all terrorist organizations without delay
or discrimination," the report read.
Terrorist attacks were conducted against varied
targets in Pakistan's Balochistan and Sindh provinces by separatist militant
groups. The terrorists used a range of tactics to attack varied targets,
including IEDs, VBIEDs, suicide bombings, and targeted assassinations.
Pakistan was in 2018, designated a Country of
Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.
It was redesignated as a CPC in 2019, 2020, and 2021.
In 2018, FATF identified Pakistan as a jurisdiction
with strategic deficiencies in its AML/CFT system. Pakistan remained on the
FATF grey list in 2021.
In 2021, members of religious minorities in Pakistan
faced significant threats from terrorist groups. On January 3, ISIS-K militants
claimed responsibility for the murders of 11 Shia Hazara coalminers in the
Kachi district of Balochistan. On April 21, five persons were killed in a VBIED
suicide attack in the parking lot of the Serena hotel in Quetta, Balochistan.
According to details of the investigation, the attack targeted local and
foreign officials. TTP claimed responsibility for the attack, also claiming the
targets were police and law enforcement, according to the Bureau of
Counterterrorism's report on terrorism in Pakistan.
A prominent journalist in Pakistan was on October 10,
2021, killed in an explosion in Hub, Balochistan. According to law enforcement,
the bomb was attached to his vehicle. The BLA claimed responsibility for the
attack.
On December 30, attackers ambushed security officials
in North Waziristan. Four security personnel were killed in the ensuing
exchange of fire. TTP claimed responsibility for the attack.
As per the 'Country Reports on Terrorism 2021:
Pakistan', the Pakistani government continued to implement the Antiterrorism Act
of 1997, the National Counterterrorism Authority Act, the 2014 Investigation
for Fair Trial Act, and major 2014 and 2020 amendments to the Antiterrorism
Act, all of which give law enforcement, prosecutors, and courts enhanced powers
in terrorism cases.
Military, paramilitary, and civilian security forces
conducted CT operations throughout Pakistan against anti-state militants.
Pakistani law allows for preventive detention, permits the death penalty for
terrorism offences, and creates specialized courts to try terrorism cases, as
per the official report.
The extremist doctrine was being taught by some
madrassas in Pakistan.
Source: Times Of India
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Defaulting Pakistan takes the steam out of CPEC
Feb 28, 2023
ISLAMABAD: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)
project that was commenced a decade ago was held as a harbinger of prosperity
for Pakistan. However, seven years later, many projects under the CPEC still
remain non-starters while some of those being operational have become
liabilities and are incurring losses.
China's ambitious CPEC project launched in 2013 was flawed
from the beginning when it was assumed that it would be able to generate jobs
and growth in Pakistan.
While China had its own agenda of resolving its energy
needs through the CPEC project by bypassing the existing route from the Straits
of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, Pakistan was constantly grappling
with its internal horrors like blasphemy-related lynching and over-expressive
"jihadi" groups.
Ever since the CPEC project came into existence few
local groups started opposing it and the project itself faced a lack of a
"skilled" workforce.
The education system of Pakistan is in shambles and it
offered low-grade human capital. Corruption has been a bedrock of CPEC dealings
in Pakistan. Officials and companies involved received kickbacks and everything
was overlooked in the name of national security with no opacity.
The constant face-offs between the locals and the
Chinese workers get highlighted in the media on a daily basis. A special force
of 10,000 has been deployed to protect Chinese workers in Pakistan, while the
locals live in fear.
Pakistan declared itself bankrupt and this has totally
taken the steam out of the CPEC project. China is aware that Pakistan is going
Sri Lanka's way and anytime the public can explode due to the volatile conditions.
Petrol, cooking gas, and even basic amenities like
wheat have become elusive to the common man in Pakistan. The infamous 'wheat
crisis of Pakistan' has been mostly the result of Ukraine-Russia war, poor
distribution, and the smuggling of wheat to Afghanistan.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed
that China holds roughly $30 billion of Pakistan's $126 billion in total
external foreign debt, which is thrice the amount of IMF's debt ($ 7.8 billion)
and exceeds it borrowings from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank
combined.
When Islamabad urged Beijing to forgive its debt
liabilities worth $3 billion owed by it to China-funded energy projects
established under the CPEC the clear response was a no.
Earlier China was able to lure struggling Pakistan
into its debt trap as it has done to many other smaller countries. Pakistan has
a debt of more than $19 billion invested in the plants is owed largely for the
building of independent power producers (IPPs) on take-or-pay power generation
contracts.
Pakistan's all-weathered-ally China refused to budge
on Islamabad's request to renegotiate the power purchase agreements worth $3
billion on the pretext that its prominent banks, including China Development
Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, were not in a position to revise any
of the clauses of the agreement reached earlier with the government.
Dejected by the unfriendly response Pakistan
Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) Senator and industrialist Nauman Wazir stated that
"First, the tariff determined by National Electric Power Regulatory
Authority (NEPRA) at the time of allowing power generation in the private
sector was on the very high side."
Moreover, he said, "Then, the IPPs submitted
erroneous declarations concerning capital, financial assets and operational
cost of the company, which became obvious when the balance sheets of the IPPs
were made public."
Pakistan is reeling under immense pressure and has
entered troubled water with debt liabilities of $294 billion, which ironically
represents 109 per cent of the GDP.
Beijing itself is facing an economic crisis at home
and cannot afford infrastructure loans.
When Pakistan's PM Shehbaz Sharif visited Beijing to
meet and requested a rollover of $6.3 billion in debt, China had allegedly
given affirmation after which Sharif openly announced that over $4 billion debt
would be revised, but all these were mere talks as nothing concrete ever came
into existence.
On the other hand, it is not just CPEC that has taken
a hit even the ties between China and Pakistan are on a decline. A very recent
observation is China's silence against India's move to exclude Pakistan from a
high-level meeting on the sidelines of a virtual so-called BRICS summit,
including other developing nations.
Experts believe that China now is wary of Pakistan's
instability which has put the chances of its CPEC project moving ahead in
danger.
China, being a capitalistic nation, has directed its
companies to invest in Pakistan with the pure aim to earn profit and build on
its CPEC project.
But there are many recent attacks on Chinese nationals
in Pakistan that have irked China. President Xi Jinping too expressed his great
concern about the safety of Chinese nationals in Pakistan when he last met his
Pakistani counterpart.
China is keeping a close watch on Pakistan
deteriorating situation and is aware that a recent round of talks with the
International Monetary Fund to release new funds had failed.
Pakistan is a country with a history of military coups
and extremists having a say in key policy decisions. This often resulted in
major CPEC dealings being stalled that were found to be corrupt in nature.
The only thing that is working for China-Pakistan
relations and keeping the CPEC dream alive is growing US-India security ties.
China is in the middle of an intense trade war with the US and in the same
breadth it is about to extend military assistance to Russia, arch-rival to the
US.
Source: Times Of India
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Two
soldiers, one child martyred in North, South Waziristan attacks
February
28, 2023
NORTH
WAZIRISTAN/SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: Two soldiers and a child embraced martyrdom in
separate incidents in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, officials
confirmed.
According
to local officials, armed militants stormed a check post in the Noorkhel area
of North Waziristan late Sunday night.
The
terrorists, armed with advanced weaponry, were engaged by security forces.
During the operation, two soldiers embraced martyrdom while two attackers were
also gunned down, according to a statement issued by the military’s media wing,
Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR).
The
martyred soldiers were identified as 25-year-old Sepoy lmranullah from Bajaur
and 21-year-old Sepoy Afzal Khan from Upper Dir.
Two
terrorists were also apprehended during the operation, the statement added.
A
heavy cache of weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the militants
who the ISPR claimed were “actively involved in militant activities against
security forces” and responsible for the killing of citizens.
The
military’s media wing said a sanitisation operation was also underway in the
area “to eliminate militants”.
Child
killed in IED attack
In
the second attack, one child was killed and two critically wounded after a
roadside improvised explosive device (IED) went off near the Wana area of South
Waziristan.
Officials
told Dawn that the attack took place some five kilometres south of the district
headquarters Wana on Monday.
“Three
children were crossing the road when the IED went off around 2pm,” a police
official Zia Wazir told Dawn.
He
added that one child died on the spot and the two injured were immediately
shifted to the hospital.
The
injured have been moved to Dera Ismail Khan for further treatment, the official
said.
Source:
Dawn
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1739533/two-soldiers-one-child-martyred-in-north-south-waziristan-attacks
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Partial strike observed in Sindh on TLP’s call
February
28, 2023
KARACHI:
A partial strike was observed in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Badin on
Monday on a call given by the Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) for a nationwide
shutterdown against unprecedented inflation and unbearable IMF
conditionalities. The call was ignored in other parts of Sindh.
In
Karachi, all major markets and bazaars, particularly those situated in district
South, remained opened but vehicular traffic on most roads was reported thinner
than normal, according to officials, traders’ bodies and leaders of different
political parties.
The
TLP, however, claimed that the shutterdown in Karachi and other parts of the
country remained successful.
South
DIG Irfan Ali Baloch told Dawn that all major markets in Saddar, Clifton and
Defence remained opened. Some TLP workers, he said, attempted to create a law
and order situation in the Keamari area. The area police took action to
disperse them. They detained four activists but later released them, said the
police officer.
The
strike largely remained peaceful as no untoward incident was reported. However,
in parts of district south and some other localities, protest demonstrations
were held which caused disruption in a smooth flow of vehicular traffic,
according to a traffic police spokesperson.
All
Karachi Tajir Ittehad (AKTI) chairman Atiq Mir told Dawn that businesses in the
entire Saddar, Clifton, Tariq Road and M.A. Jinnah Road areas remained open. He
said some shops and markets in parts of M.A. Jinnah Road, Old City areas and
Malir remained closed.
The
traders’ body chief regretted that in some areas hooliganism was resorted to,
but no major incident of violence took place. AKTI head said some traders,
particularly in the Old City area, had supported the strike call. He suggested
that the cause (inflation) of the strike was good but the strategy was
‘flawed’.
TLP
terms strike successful
“Commercial
and trade activities in Karachi and other major cities of the country were
suspended while traffic was reported thin on roads on the call for a strike
given by the TLP against increase in petroleum prices, inflation, unemployment
and economic murder of traders,” said a TLP spokesperson in a statement.
There
was less than normal traffic on roads in Baldia, Ittehad Town, Orangi Town,
Korangi and Lyari in Karachi, added the spokesperson.
TLP
chief Hafiz Saad Husain Rizvi, appreciated traders, public transporter
operators and other segments of society for making the strike a ‘success’, and
said that people were fed up with the present rulers and inflation. By holding
the strike, the masses had declared that they would not tolerate tyranny any more,
he said.
The
Hafiz said the TLP had launched a protest movement and the shutterdown was its
first step. A future course of action would be announced very soon, he added.
HYDERABAD:
A partial strike was observed in Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Badin districts on
Monday in response to the TLP’s call.
While
most medical stores and healthcare establishments functioned normally, main
shopping centres, commercial areas, and markets, including Resham Bazaar, Shahi
Bazaar, Chotki Ghitti, Phulelli and furniture bazaar in the city area,
Latifabad and Qasimabad remained shut.
Shops
on Station Road were opened after 5pm.
Some
TLP activists burnt tyres and held protests in the Tilak Incline, Hirabad,
Station Road, Hyder Chowk and old Sabzi Mandi Chowk areas during the day.
Operation
of the Peoples Bus Service was suspended and vehicular traffic remained thin.
MIRPURKHAS:
This district also witnessed a partial strike on TLP’s call. Some markets
remained closed but shops along main thoroughfares, including Mirwah road, Gharibabad
road, Newtown, M.A. Jinnah road, Jameel Shaheed road, Sir Syed road, Colony
road, Hameed Pura Colony road, Iqbal road, Bhansinghabad road and Ring road
remained open as usual.
Vehicular
traffic in the city and other parts of the district also plied normally.
The
strike call was generally ignored in Mirwah Gorchani, Digri, Jhuddo, Naokot,
Kot Ghulam Mohammad and other parts of Mirpurkhas district.
BADIN:
Several markets and bazaars in different towns of Badin district were partially
closed on Monday on TLP’s call for a protest against inflation.
Group
of youths riding motorbikes and raising slogans were seen enforcing a
shutterdown.
On
such group arrived at the Badin press club and spoke to local reporters.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1739513/partial-strike-observed-in-sindh-on-tlps-call
--------
Hazara
PTI workers swear oath to court arrest
February
28, 2023
MANSEHRA:
Former lawmakers and workers of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf from Hazara
division on Monday swore an oath to court arrest under the party’s Jail Bharo
Tehreek.
PTI
Senator Ijaz Chaudhry led the mass oath-taking during a function in the Baffa
area here.
The
participants declared that they would stand firm against the forces damaging
the sanctity and supremacy of the country’s Constitution and would present them
for arrest under the Jail Bharo Tehreek.
PTI
divisional president and former MNA Salah Mohammad Khan had called former
lawmakers and workers from eight districts of Hazara division to the event but
only a handful of them, both men and women, showed up.
Besides
Mr Salah, former speaker of the provincial assembly Mushtaq Ghani, former
adviser to the chief minister Babar Saleem Swati and former minister Qalandar
Lodhi also attended the event.
Senator
Ijaz says party will force govt to announce PA poll dates
Mr
Chaudhry said the PTI was a law-abiding political party, so it opted for a
peaceful way to press the government for holding elections to the KP and Punjab
assemblies and stopping political victimisation of its leaders and workers.
“We
will never yield to the imported government’s undemocratic and unlawful tactics
to delay elections in Punjab and KP,” he said.
On
the occasion, Mr Ghani said the party’s leaders and workers in the Hazara
division were ready to court arrest.
He
criticised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration over “economic and
political instability in the country and record inflation caused by it.”
TWO
Killed: A truck fell into a ravine in Torghar district on Monday killing the
driver and the cleaner.
The
accident occurred as driver Mohammad Mudassir lost control of the truck, which
was carrying granite boulders from Malian Banda to Kundar Hassanzai.
Also
in the day, a female medical student was killed allegedly by an accidental fire
in Hathi Mera area here.
The
police handed over the body to the family after the doctors completed
medico-legal formalities in the hospital.
HELD:
The police arrested 32 drug peddlers and seized a large cache of narcotics
during raids here.
The
action came on the orders of district police officer Zahoor Babar Afridi,
according to a news release issued by the police on Monday.
Source:
Dawn
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1739493/hazara-pti-workers-swear-oath-to-court-arrest
--------
TTP
have Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police in their crosshairs
February
27, 2023
PESHAWAR:
Atop a police outpost in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Faizanullah Khan stands behind a
stack of sandbags and peers through the sight of an anti-aircraft gun, scanning
the terrain along the unofficial boundary with the restive former tribal areas.
On
this cold and rainy February morning, he was looking not for aircraft but for
Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters behind attacks against the Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa police.
It
was daytime, so he could relax a bit, said Khan, an assistant sub-inspector
(ASI), as he sat down on a traditional woven bed. But the night was a different
story, he said, pointing to pock marks left by bullets fired at the outpost,
named Manzoor Shaheed, or Manzoor the Martyr, after a colleague felled by
insurgents years ago.
The
outpost is one of the dozens that provide defence against militants waging a
fresh assault on police from hideouts in the border region adjoining
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. The area, part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is a
hotbed for TTP militants.
The
threat the insurgency poses to Pakistan was illustrated last month when the
bombing of a mosque in Peshawar killed more than 80 police personnel. A faction
of the TTP, Jamat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility.
Visiting
northwest Pakistan this month, Reuters gained access to police outposts and
spoke to more than a dozen people, including senior police officials, many of
whom described how the force is suffering increasing losses as it bears the
brunt of attacks while contending with resourcing and logistical constraints.
The
officials acknowledge these challenges but say they are trying to improve the
force’s capability amid adverse economic circumstances.
‘Stopped
their way’
Police
here have fought the militants for years — more than 2,100 personnel have been
killed and 7,000 injured since 2001 — but never have they been the focus of
militants’ operations as they are today.
“We’ve
stopped their way to Peshawar,” ASI Jameel Shah of Sarband station, which
controls the Manzoor Shaheed outpost, said of the militants.
Sarband
and its eight outposts have suffered four major attacks in recent months and
faced sniper fire with unprecedented frequency, according to police based
there.
Killings
of police in KP rose to 119 last year, from 54 in 2021 and 21 in 2020. Some 102
have been slain already this year, most in the mosque bombing but some in other
attacks. Elsewhere, militants stormed a police office in Karachi on February
17, killing four before security forces retook the premises and killed three
assailants.
The
TTP pledges allegiance to the Afghan Taliban but is not directly a part of the
group that rules in Kabul. Its stated aim is to impose religious law in
Pakistan.
A
TTP spokesman, Muhammad Khurasani, told Reuters its main target was Pakistan
Army, but the police were standing in the way.
“The
police have been told many times not to obstruct our way, and instead of paying
heed to this the police have started martyring our comrades,” he said. “This is
why we are targeting them.”
The
military has conducted operations alongside the KP police and faced TTP
attacks, with one soldier confirmed dead in the province this year, according
to data released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), which did not
address questions from Reuters about military casualties.
In
December, the TTP released a video, purportedly recorded by one of its fighters
from mountains around Islamabad, showing the parliament building. “We are
coming,” said a note held by the unidentified fighter.
The
TTP wants to show that its fighters can strike outside their current areas of
influence, said Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an
Islamabad-based think tank.
While
their ability may be limited, he said, “propaganda is a big part of this war
and the TTP are getting good at it”.
‘Sitting
ducks’
The
police in KP, which neighbours Islamabad, say they are up for the fight, but
point to a lack of resources.
“The
biggest problem is the number of personnel, which is a little low,” said Shah,
of Sarband station, which has 55 people — including drivers and clerks — for
the station and eight affiliated outposts.
“This
is a target area, and we’re absolutely face-to-face with (the militants).”
Days
before Reuters visited Sarband, a senior police official was ambushed and
killed outside the station during a firefight with militants. The attack
demonstrated the firepower of the insurgents, who, according to Shah, used
thermal goggles to target the officer in darkness.
It
wasn’t the first time. About a year ago, the TTP released a video of its
snipers using thermal imaging to take out unsuspecting security personnel.
Defence
Minister Khawaja Asif, who did not respond to a request for comment from
Reuters about the insurgency, told local TV this month that militants saw the
police as “soft targets” because their public-facing role made it easier to
penetrate their facilities.
Zahid
Hussain, a journalist and author of books on militancy, said the police were
more vulnerable than the military, given their resources and training.
“I
mean, they’re sitting ducks there,” Hussain said.
‘Lethal
weapons’
Moazzam
Jah Ansari, who was chief of KP police when he spoke to Reuters this month but
has since been replaced, said militant strategies had been evolving.
“They
try and find more effective ways to conduct military operations, more lethal
weapons,” he said.
Militants
have procured US-made M4 rifles and other sophisticated weapons from stocks
left by Western forces that exited Afghanistan in 2021, police officials said.
Some police guards told Reuters they had seen small reconnaissance drones
flying over their outposts.
Khurasani,
the TTP spokesman, confirmed the group was using drones for surveillance.
Several
police officials at Sarband station said the provincial government and military
provided them and other outposts with thermal goggles in late January to aid
the fight. But they encountered another problem.
“About
22 hours of the day, we have power outages… there’s no electricity to charge
our goggles,” Shah told Reuters at Sarband.
The
station has one rooftop solar panel, which officers paid out of their own
pockets to install, according to station house officer (SHO) Qayyum Khan. One
policeman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary
action, said police use their vehicles or go to a petrol station equipped with
a back-up generator to charge their goggles.
Police
said they had taken other protection measures, including erecting rudimentary
walls to guard against sniper fire, and procuring bulletproof glass from a
market that sells equipment left behind by US-led forces.
Economic
conditions
Reuters
spoke to four other senior officials and more than a dozen lower-ranking
officers, all of whom said the provincial force was neglected despite its key
role. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of disciplinary action.
Required
resources were not forthcoming, and their pay and perks were inferior to that
of counterparts elsewhere in Pakistan, let alone the military, these officials
told Reuters.
“Do
the police need more resources? They absolutely do,” said Taimur Jhagra, who
was provincial finance minister until January, when a caretaker administration
took over ahead of elections.
Jhagra
said his government helped the police as much as it could with pay raises and
procuring equipment such as goggles, despite fiscal constraints. Pakistan’s
debt-ridden economy has been in a tailspin for over a year, and the country is
trying to slash spending to avoid default.
“Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa pays a greater price for that” because of its exposure to the
militants, he said.
Ansari,
the former police chief, said resources had improved, but tended to come
reactively when a threat emerged, rather than as sustained support. He, too,
attributed this to economic circumstances, but added that things were not as
bad as some suggested.
‘Seething
anger’
After
Western forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, Pakistan sought a truce with
the TTP, resulting in a months-long ceasefire and negotiations brokered by the
Afghan Taliban. As part of the effort, many militants from Afghanistan were
resettled in Pakistan.
The
TTP ended the ceasefire in November 2022, and regrouped militants restarted
attacks in Pakistan soon after.
Following
the Peshawar bombing, police personnel held public protests where some voiced
anger against their leadership, the provincial and national governments, and
even the military, calling for more resources and clarity on the policy of
fighting the militants.
Ansari
acknowledged a “deep sense of loss” and “seething anger” in the force in the
wake of the attack.
At
the site of the blast, police personnel gathered on a recent day to remember
their fallen comrades. The imam, a police employee who lost his brother in the
attack, prayed for the success of the force.
Behind
the mosque, Daulat Khan, an ASI, and eight relatives live in cramped police
quarters comprising a 25-square-metre space with only one room. Around him are
crumbling, blast-damaged walls.
“Everyone
can see the sacrifices of the police, but nothing is done for us,” he said,
pointing to rows of century-old, British-colonial era quarters. “You see the
conditions in front of you.”
Outside,
open sewage canals lined the alleyways.
Different
battle
Pakistan
Army effectively dismantled the TTP and killed most of its top leadership in a
string of operations from 2014 onwards, driving most of the fighters into
Afghanistan, where they regrouped.
But
the nature of the fight has changed in recent months, which partly shows why
the police, not the military, are at the forefront. The militants were now
spread in smaller groups across the country and among the civilian population,
instead of operating from bases in former tribal areas, analysts said.
The
military has also been stretched by another insurgency in Balochistan, where
separatists are targeting state infrastructure and Chinese investments.
The
defence ministry did not respond to requests for comment about the armed
forces’ role in resisting militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Miles
from the flashpoints, meanwhile, police graduates receive six-month crash
courses in anti-militant operations at the vast Elite Police Training Centre in
Nowshera.
The
personnel, including women, learn how to conduct raids, rappel from buildings
and use rocket-propelled grenades and anti-aircraft guns, which they unleash on
a model of a militant training camp.
But
beyond the training school’s walls, there is no stationary militant camp,
attacks come at night, and police are often on their own.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/02/27/ttp-have-khyber-pakhtunkhwa-police-in-their-crosshairs/
--------
India
Prime
Minister Speaks about Pasmanda Muslims to Reach Out To the Poorest
Feb
28, 2023
The
Prime Minister on Monday spoke specifically about Pasmanda Muslims in an
attempt to reach out to the poorest, most backward and a majority among the
community. The PM was speaking in a post-budget webinar, and highlighted the
government's efforts to reach out to the most deprived sections of society with
its various welfare schemes.
Here's
is why they could become PM Modi's next game changers -
Who
are Pasmanda Muslims?
Pasmanda
is a Persian word for “those who have fallen behind”. “Pasmanda Muslim” is used
to describe the backward Muslims.
Demographically
speaking, Pasmanda Muslims are estimated to be around 85-90% of the total
Muslim population in India.
Pasmanda
Muslims are said to have an indelible link with the Hindu population as they are
believed to come from the people who converted to Islam through the centuries.
About
40% of Pasmanda Muslims are said to have belonged to castes that currently make
the OBCs — a BJP stronghold across several states.
What
PM said
“We
have to quickly provide various facilities to our tribal people in over 200
districts and over 22,000 villages of the country. Similarly among our
minorities, especially among Muslims, we have Pasmanda Muslims. How we have to
take benefits to them… as they even today after so many years of Independence
remain far behind,” said PM Modi, addressing a webinar on “reaching the last
mile”
He
emphasised the importance of good governance for reaching the last mile, saying
such an approach will have no scope for discrimination and corruption.
Timing
of the push
The
BJP began its Pasmanda Muslim push in 2022, holding several functions, most
notable in October in Lucknow, where it held a conference with prominent
members and intellectuals of the Pasmanda Muslim community.
PM
Modi, however, had set the tone for the push in July, when he told the BJP
national executive, held in Hyderabad, that the party needed to reach out to
Pasmanda Muslims.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Jammu
& Kashmir: Muslim Neighbours Help with Kashmiri Pandit’s Funeral
Feb
28, 2023
SRINAGAR:
Muslim neighbours on Monday joined and helped in the last rites of Sanjay Kumar
Sharma, the Kashmiri Pandit bank guard slain by terrorists the previous day in
Pulwama district.
The
Sharmas are the only Pandit family in Achan village, and his Muslim friends and
neighbours took it upon themselves to do all they could in his funeral.
“He
(Sanjay) was one of us. We never thought of him as a Pandit,” said Mudasir
Ahmad, among those who shouldered the coffin and arranged wood for the
cremation.
The
killing of Sanjay, 40, was among the first such targeted strikes so far this
year by the terrorists who, along with Pandits, have trained their guns on
migrants. Sanjay was gunned down when he was going to buy grocery from a shop
near his home Sunday morning. He is survived by his wife and brother.
Ahmad
recalled a lifetime spent together in friendship and brotherhood. “We share a
bond that goes back hundreds of years. When we heard this sad news, all of us
rushed to console the family (of Sanjay) and did all to help,” he said.
Sanjay’s
relatives echoed the sentiments, pointing out that Muslims in the village
always helped them in need while taking care not to meddle in their religious
affairs.
“They
(Muslims) kept a distance (Monday) when a (funeral) ritual was to be done by
our priest but made all arrangements for the cremation,” a relative said.
Amid
the funeral, J&K ADGP Vijay Kumar visited Pulwama, reviewed security in the
aftermath of the terror strike. He ordered police and paramilitary forces to
enhance counter-insurgency operations in the district and step up intelligence
gathering.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Karnataka
BJP MLA Invokes Tipu, Compares Muslims to 18th Century Ruler
Sagay
Raj
Feb
27, 2023
Tipu
politics is raging in Karnataka ahead of Assembly polls. Weeks after Minister
CN Ashwath Narayan asked the public to “finish off” Congress's Siddaramaiah
like Tipu Sultan, another BJP leader invoked the 18th-century Mysore ruler.
Addressing
a rally in Vijayapura, BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal compared Muslims to Tipu
Sultan and asked people not to cast a vote for a Muslim leader.
"All
MLAs ask me, in your constituency there are one lakh Tipu Sultans (Muslim
votes) how a Shivaji Maharaj descendant won from Bijapur. Going forward in
Bijapur, none of the followers of Tipu Sultan will win," he said in
Kannada.
"Even
by mistake you should not cast your votes for Muslims," he added.
Source:
India Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
BJP
and the PDP: United in Grief over Kashmiri Pandit’s Killing
Muzaffar
Raina | Srinagar
28.02.23
Divisive
politics appeared to take a break on Monday at the home of Sanjay Sharma, a
40-year-old Kashmiri Pandit and bank security guard killed by militants a day
earlier.
Rival
politicians from the BJP and the People’s Democratic Party sent out messages of
amity and visited the house at Achan village in Pulwama where Sharma’s wife,
two daughters and son grieved.
Hundreds
of Muslims too arrived to mourn Sharma’s death, express support for his family,
and participate in his last rites. Several local people publicly condemned the
killing.
Among
the politicians who visited the house were former chief minister and PDP chief
Mehbooba Mufti and Jammu and Kashmir BJP president Ravinder Raina.
Sharma’s
wife told Raina that local Muslims were camping at her home and had not cooked
meals at their homes following her husband’s murder. The family, however, told
the visiting politicians that they no longer felt safe at their home.
Raina
later said that Kashmiris had risen above the religious divide to condemn the
act of terrorism.
“People
are extremely grieved by the killing. The entire village is camping there. I
saw tears and pain in their eyes. This bloodshed should stop,” Raina told
reporters.
“I
saw people in large numbers visiting the family for the last rites. Since yesterday,
all Muslims from the village and surrounding areas have been here to mourn the
death. This is the identity of Kashmir. Hundreds of Muslims lifted his body on
their shoulders for his last rites.”
Raina
hit out at “Pakistan-sponsored” militants. “What (evil) had Sanjayji done while
he was living in Pulwama for the last many years? But these cowardly terrorists
attacked him,” he said.
Mehbooba
said Muslims should take up the responsibility of saving Pandits.
“It
is my request to my community, Muslims.... There is no denying we are facing an
onslaught. On the one side, the BJP is committing atrocities on us, and on the
other is the gun of the militants,” she said.
“Kashmiri
Pandits are our wealth, a symbol of Kashmiriyat…. For God’s sake, we should do
everything in our hands to save them.”
She
told reporters: “If militancy, as we are told, is over, then who killed him
(Sharma)? What is the government doing to protect Pandits? I want to appeal to
the government to provide a job to the widow.”
Mehbooba
later said in a tweet that instead of promoting films that sowed hatred, it
would help if the government of the country actually made the lives of
minorities secure in Jammu and Kashmir.
All
Party Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq termed the killing “a
gruesome act”.
“The
killing of human beings in such a manner is a tragedy that Kashmir has been
witnessing for the past three-and-a-half decades now, with no seeming end in
the near future,” the Mirwaiz, who is under house arrest, said in a statement.
“A
state policy of extreme repression and unilateral interventions countered by
equally extreme and viscous vengeance is a vortex we have got caught into,
leading to extreme suffering of Kashmiris of all hues.”
The
Mirwaiz said that in this situation, Kashmiri Pandits living in Kashmir had
become soft targets.
Source:
Telegraph India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/united-in-grief-over-kashmiri-pandits-killing/cid/1919359
--------
Terrorist
killed in encounter in J&K's Pulwama
Feb
28, 2023
SRINAGAR:
An unidentified terrorist was killed in an overnight encounter with security
forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Tuesday. Two
security force personnel were also injured in the gunbattle which began after a
cordon and search operation in Padgampora area of Pulwama, a police official
said.
Giving
details, the official said a cordon a search operation was launched in
Padgampora following information about presence of terrorists there.
The
search operation turned into an encounter after the terrorists hiding in a
house opened fire. In the retaliatory action by security forces, one terrorist
was killed.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Killing
by cow vigilante: DNA reports match two Muslim men burnt to death
28th
February 2023
By
Rajesh Asnani
JAIPUR: In the case relating to the abduction and
killing of two Muslim men from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district on February 15,
DNA reports have confirmed that the remains found in the Bolero jeep were those
of Junaid and Nasir.
Moreover,
an analysis of the blood stains found in a Scorpio SUV used by the cow
vigilantes in the assault which was discovered in a Gaushala in Haryana matches
the two killed men. The Rajasthan Police revealed these details on the basis of
a DNA report that came on Sunday evening.
Bharatpur
Range IG Gaurav Srivastava has issued a statement to confirm the identity of
Junaid and Nasir who died in the horrific incident. To verify this fact, a DNA
test of bones was done and blood samples of Nasir and Junaid’s family members
were taken.
He
added that there was no doubt that the “Bhiwani massacre was a heinous crime.
We are alert about any such statement regarding this incident that disturbs
communal harmony. Rajasthan Police is moving forward through fair investigation
on the basis of technical investigation.”
After
this report, it has become clear that Junaid and Nasir were abducted and
brutally assaulted by cow vigilantes. After this, the kidnappers threw them in
their car and took them 200 kilometres away. There, the victims were burnt to
death. It is also being claimed in some reports that the Scorpio in which blood
stains of Nasir and Junaid have been found was earlier listed as a vehicle used
in government departments of Haryana.
After
this incident, along with Haryana Police, a question mark is now also being
raised on the role of the Rajasthan Police, for even after almost two weeks
after the incident, the latter has arrested only one of the accused, Rinku
Saini. All the other accused are still out of reach of the police.
Source:
New Indian Express
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Muslim
quota 'reduced': Congress demands inquiry
Feb
27, 2023
HYDERABAD:
Former Minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir of the Congress has demanded that a
high-level investigation should be ordered into the recent allegations of the
4% quota for Muslims being reduced to 3% under the BC-E category in jobs and
education.There were allegations that the Muslim quota was reduced from 4% to
3% while preparing the roster for enhancement of ST reservations from 6% to
10%.
However,
chief secretary Shanti Kumari later clarified that the 4% Muslim quota was
intact.
Though
Shabbir Ali welcomed the clarification issued by the CS, he also questioned why
the state government did not order an inquiry into the "fake" roster
circulated in the media.
Shabbir
Ali pointed out that a copy of Roster Point No 69 of General Rules showing a
reduction in the 4% Muslim quota to 3% was circulated on social media in
November 2022.
Congress
party immediately sought clarification from the state government, especially
the chief secretary.
In
response, an unsigned rejoinder was sent to the media claiming that there was
no change in the percentage.
When
the Congress party continued to build pressure, a few days later, home Minister
Mahmood Ali went on record to say that the roster was morphed by some
miscreants.
Source:
Times Of India
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Southeast Asia
Umno
Ulama Council to Focus on Elevating Dignity of Muslims not for Political
Alliances
27-02-
2023
KUALA
LUMPUR: The Umno Ulama Council (MUU) will function as a party wing with the
role of elevating the dignity of Islam and Muslims, and is not aimed at
re-establishing any form of political alliance, its chairman Datuk Dusuki Ahmad
said.
He
said the council’s establishment will focus on finding solutions to the
problems that plague Muslims and Muslim nations.
“We
will undertake a social responsibility towards solving the problems of Islam,
the problems of Muslims and the problems of Muslim countries.
“For
so long, the religious movement has been seen as somewhat marginalised, and so
now, in that sense, we have to consolidate and strengthen cooperation,” he told
a media conference after chairing the first MUU Supreme Council meeting at
Menara Dato Onn here today.
Dusuki
was asked if the newly formed wing will take on the role of re-establishing
political alliances between Umno and other parties such as Muafakat Nasional
prior to this.
MUU
executive secretary Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali, meanwhile, said the
meeting today also approved 30 initial phase MUU landmarks for 2023 and 2024,
involving short and long-term strategic plans to provide an impact to the party
and the people.
They
include organising the ‘Halaqah’ education and training programme for members,
the MUU Roundtable Muzakarah session, and efforts to enliven the role of the
Islamic Centre at the World Trade Centre (WTC).
“The
rest of the landmarks will be notified to party members from time to time,” he
said.
In
addition, the meeting also outlined the four main roles of the council’s
establishment, including its party advisory role in realising the basis and
purpose of Umno on Islam as provided in the party constitution.
“Second,
to educate and discipline party members so that they are in line with the
party’s founding principles and purpose and also to remain steadfast to
becoming pious Muslims and good citizens.
“Thirdly,
the council will play its role of advising the government to always act
according to Article 3 (1) of the Federal Constitution in which Islam is the
religion of the Federation.
Source:
The Sun Daily
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
September trial for Dr M’s ‘Kutty’ defamation suit against Zahid
28
Feb 2023
KUALA
LUMPUR: The High Court here has fixed a four-day trial beginning Sept 11 to
hear a defamation suit brought by Dr Mahathir Mohamad against Ahmad Zahid
Hamidi in relation to Zahid’s alleged derogatory use of the name “Kutty” to
refer to Mahathir.
Lawyer
Mior Nor Haidir Suhaimi, who represented Mahathir, said Justice Rozana Ali
Yusoff fixed the date after an online case management held earlier today.
“A
final case management will be held on July 14 to ensure all pre-trial
directives have been complied with,” he said.
Counsel
Shahril Madisa represented Zahid, a deputy prime minister and Umno president.
Mahathir,
97, filed the suit on July 20 last year, naming Zahid, 70, as defendant.
In
his statement of claim, the former prime minister alleged that Zahid had
defamed him during an Umno divisional meeting held in Kelana Jaya on July 30,
2017.
He
said the statement was republished on Astro Awani’s YouTube channel and several
online news portals, which were accessible by internet users without
restrictions.
Mahathir
claims the statement was meant to imply that he was not born a Malay or a
Muslim, and that his original name was “Mahathir son of Iskandar Kutty”.
He
says the statement suggested that he claimed to be a Malay when he became the
prime minister for political and personal advantage.
He
also claims the statement belittled Malaysians of Indian Muslim descent.
The
former Pejuang chairman and former Langkawi MP says the statement has ruined his
reputation as a responsible politician who cared for the welfare of the people.
He
says it gave the impression that he was dishonest, untrustworthy, selfish,
cunning and deceptive for personal gain.
Mahathir
is demanding general, exemplary and excessive damages in addition to an
injunction to prevent Zahid or his agents from commenting, repeating or causing
the publication of the statement.
He
is also seeking a court order that Zahid issue an unconditional oral and
written apology, costs and other appropriate relief.
Zahid,
in his defence filed on Aug 17, denies that the statement was made maliciously
or to slander and harm Mahathir’s public reputation.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Santiago’s
remarks about Naik caused racial tension, says preacher
V
Anbalagan
27
Feb 2023
KUALA
LUMPUR: A freelance preacher today maintained in court his claim that a press
statement by former Klang MP Charles Santiago about a speech Zakir Naik made in
Kota Bharu, Kelantan, in 2019 had given rise to racial tension at the time.
Cross-examined
by Santiago’s lawyer, Tan Tai Hwa, preacher Hussain Abdullah, 68, disagreed
that he had no proof to support his claim.
Tan
told Hussain, who is better known as Hussain Yee, that more than 100 police
reports had been lodged against Naik after his speech on Aug 8, 2019.
To
another question by Tan, Hussain admitted being aware from media reports that
Naik had been banned from entering Canada, the UK and Bangladesh.
He
also maintained that his testimony was unbiased despite him being a close
friend of Naik.
Hussain
also dismissed the lawyer’s suggestion that several politicians and civil
servants had made adverse remarks about Naik following the Kota Bharu speech.
Naik
is said to have told his audience in that speech that the Malaysian Hindu
community, which is in the minority here, enjoyed more rights than the Muslim
minority in India.
He
is also said to have questioned the loyalty of Malaysian Hindus, who, he
claimed, supported the prime minister of India rather than Malaysia’s own prime
minister.
Naik
is also said to have called Chinese Malaysians “guests” in response to a
politician who labelled him a “visitor”.
He
allegedly went on to say that these “guests” must return to China if he is to
be deported to India.
Naik,
who is now a permanent resident here, is suing Santiago for publishing
defamatory remarks through a media statement issued on Aug 13, 2019.
Santiago
said the press statement had been made to urge the then Pakatan Harapan
government led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad to consider whether Naik should be
allowed to comment on Malaysia’s domestic politics.
Naik
filed the suit in December 2019, claiming that Santiago had said the arrest of
12 individuals under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) over
alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was because of
their criticism of Naik.
He
claims Santiago’s remarks, which were published in a news report titled
“Criticism of Zakir Naik may have led to LTTE arrests, says MP”, published by
FMT on Nov 26, 2019, were motivated by malice and hatred.
The
controversial Muslim preacher said Santiago’s remarks had injured his
reputation and caused him to suffer humiliation and ridicule.
Santiago’s
defence is that the remarks were fair comment on a matter of public interest
and were made without malice.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Israel
should be made accountable for ‘crimes’ in Palestine: OIC chief
February
27, 202
JEDDAH:
A lack of punishment for its actions had encouraged Israel to continue carrying
out “crimes” in Palestine, the secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic
Cooperation claimed on Monday.
Hissein
Brahim Taha made his comments during an extraordinary meeting of the OIC’s
executive committee in Jeddah, called to discuss a recent escalation of
violence in the West Bank city of Nablus and throughout Palestine which has
claimed 11 Palestinian lives and seen dozens of people injured.
“Israel
continues to commit crimes and perpetuates its colonial settlement regime on
Palestinian land in the presence of the international community,” Taha said.
He
noted that Israel had been able to breach the terms of the Geneva Conventions
and UN resolutions due to a lack of political and legal repercussions.
The
OIC chief also passed on his condolences to the families of Palestinians killed
in Nablus and praised the tenacity of the Palestinian people.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2259031/middle-east
--------
Israel
sees ‘difficult days ahead’ after West Bank attacks, riot
27
February ,2023
Israel
on Monday deployed extra troops in the occupied West Bank after a Palestinian
gunman shot dead two Israelis and a Palestinian was killed when Jewish settlers
rampaged through a village, setting fire to houses and cars.
“We
expect difficult days ahead of us,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said
as he toured the largely empty streets of the village of Hawara with a heavy
security detail.
In
fresh violence on Monday, the Israeli military said Palestinians carried out a
series of drive-by shootings on a highway outside the West Bank town of Jericho
before fleeing. An Israeli civilian was wounded in the attack, the military
said.
There
was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Sunday's
rampage partially eclipsed the attack earlier in the day in which two brothers
from a nearby Israeli settlement were gunned down in their car in Hawara, a
Palestinian village north of Ramallah that often sees friction with settlers.
Flames
illuminated the sky into the night as dozens of cars were torched and rioters
set fire to several Palestinian houses. One Palestinian was shot dead.
President Mahmoud Abbas said he held the Israeli government fully responsible
for the rampage.
Lamar
Abusarees, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl, said her house was among those set
alight. “My mother moved us to a corner because there was no safe place, they
broke all the windows while we were inside.”
The
turmoil erupted as Israeli and Palestinian officials agreed at a summit in
Jordan to de-escalate tensions.
The
Israeli army said it was still hunting down the Palestinian gunman and would
send two extra battalions to the area to thwart fresh attacks and prevent
rioting. Police said they had arrested two people.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Palestine
PM: Israel responsible for settler crimes in Nablus
27
February 2023
Palestinian
Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has held the Israeli regime fully responsible
for the crimes committed after deadly violence and arson by Israeli settlers
targeting a town and several neighborhoods near the city of Nablus.
The
premier of the Palestinian Authority (PA) made the remarks on Monday, during a
weekly cabinet meeting in the city of Ramallah, the seat of the PA.
Shtayyeh
said Israeli settlers overnight practiced the most heinous forms of crimes,
including killings, setting fire to property, and terrorizing women and
children. He said the Palestinian government will form a ministerial committee
to assess the damage.
Israeli
settlers reportedly began attacking Palestinian areas overnight after a gunman
killed two settlers in the center of the West Bank town of Hawara, south of
Nablus.
Footage
recorded following the incident showed settlers blocking a street in the nearby
Hawara area, lighting fires and throwing stones toward Palestinian homes.
According to Wafa, the settlers set fire to dozens of homes as well as other
Palestinian-owned structures and vehicles.
A
Palestinian man was also killed with a live bullet fired during an assault by
settlers, who were backed by the regime forces in the area. The Palestinian
Health Ministry identified the victim as 37-year-old Sameh Hamdallah Mahmoud
Aqtash.
Elsewhere
in his remarks, the Palestinian prime minister denounced the Israeli parliament's
preliminary approval of a death penalty law for Palestinian prisoners. Shtayyeh
said, “This decision did not shock us because this government and others are
already practicing extrajudicial killings against our youth and children,
otherwise how else will the world explain the killings of more than 60
Palestinians in less than two months.”
He
labeled such a law fascist and criminal, “which will not deter us from
continuing to demand our rights, freedom, and dignity to live in an
independent, sovereign, contiguous, and viable state with East al-Quds as its
capital, and the right of return for refugees.”
UK
slams Israeli settlers' violent attacks near Nablus
The
British Consulate General in al-Quds in a statement condemned the settlers’
massive violent attacks against Palestinians and the killing of the Palestinian
man.
“Horrified
by scenes of settler violence in Huwara and nearby villages yesterday, with
approximately 400 Palestinians injured and tens of homes, businesses and cars
torched,” the statement said. “Settlers responsible for this violence must be
brought to justice.”
“The
UK condemns the killing of Sameh Aqtash during the same attacks by settlers and
expresses condolences to his family. Sameh was a Palestinian aid worker who
risked his life to save victims of the earthquakes in Turkey. We urge the
Government of Israel to hold the perpetrators of this dreadful crime to
account,” the statement said.
France
"gravely concerned" over settler violence in West Bank
Also
on Monday, the French Foreign Ministry condemned the attack by Israeli
settlers, adding, "Violence against Palestinian civilians is
unacceptable."
The
ministry said there was a risk the situation in the West Bank could
"deteriorate out of control."
France
called on all parties "to avoid fueling the violence, and to contribute to
de-escalation."
"As
part of its responsibility as an occupying power," Israel needed to
"protect Palestinian civilians" and find the perpetrators of the
attacks in which cars and homes were set ablaze in the northern town of Huwara,
the ministry said.
Source:
Press TV
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/02/27/699006/Nablus-West-Bank-Israel
--------
Iranian
FM: US Ready for Resumption of JCPOA Revival Talks
2023-February-27
Amir
Abdollahian made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Al-Alam television
network.
Referring
to his recent visit to Baghdad and his meetings with top Iraqi officials,
including his counterpart, Fuad Hussein, Iran's top diplomat stated that the
Iraqi foreign minister had returned from an earlier visit to Washington with a
message for Iran.
“He
carried the message that the American side is ready for an agreement” with Iran
on the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan
of Action (JCPOA), the minister added.
“We
have always welcomed the path of diplomacy and negotiation and never distanced
ourselves from negotiation,” he emphasized.
The
senior official underscored that Iran is ready to work toward an agreement on
the JCPOA and return of all signatories to their commitments under the deal
within the framework of negotiations carried out in the Austrian capital city
of Vienna and based on messages exchanged between Tehran and Washington through
non-paper contacts.
Amir
Abdollahian stressed that any such agreement must guarantee the interests of
all parties, while respecting Iran's red lines as well.
“If
the American side acts realistically within the framework of the message it has
sent and avoids repeating its previous hypocritical media remarks, we will not
be far from an agreement,” the foreign minister said.
“The
problem, however, is that Americans always issue contradictory diplomatic and
media messages. I mean, they send positive diplomatic messages while making
different media remarks. We hope that [this time around] Americans would act
realistically and avoid being hypocritical,” he added.
Iran
stresses it has not quit the negotiating table with the world powers, but will
not put all its eggs in the negotiation basket and will not wait for the United
States to return to its commitments under the 2015 agreement. Iranian officials
stress Tehran has maintained its constructive aproach towards a good, strong
and lasting agreement on the revival of the accord and arriving at a deal
requires the US pragmatic attitude.
Tehran
says it will not be able to trust Washington as long as President Joe Biden
continues the wrong policy of maximum pressure and sanctions practiced by
Donald Trump against Iran. Iranian officials say the Biden administration has
yet done nothing but hollow promises to lift sanctions against Tehran. They
blast the US addiction to sanctions, and slammed the POTUS for continuing his
predecessor's policy on Iran.
In
quitting the agreement, Trump restored sanctions on Iran as part of what he
called the “maximum pressure” campaign against the country. Those sanctions are
being enforced to this day by the Biden administration, even though it has
repeatedly acknowledged that the policy has been a mistake and a failure.
Iranian
officials say the ball is in the US' court, and the Biden administration should
assure Tehran that it will not repeat Trump's past mistakes.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14011208000278/Iranian-FM-US-Ready-fr-Resmpin-f-JCPOA-Revival-Talks
--------
Human
Rights Chief: Iran Seeking to Put Ex-Chief Torturer on Trial
2023-February-27
In
a letter to the country's attorney general, Qaribabadi demanded the SAVAK chief
torturer's prosecution for his complicity in human rights abuses against the
people of Iran.
The
official asked the attorney general "to collect evidence of crimes
committed by Sabeti and to identify the victims of these crimes, and to take
the necessary measures to file a complaint against him".
Sabeti
and his family were spotted at the gathering of “regime change” proponents in
Los Angeles in mid-February.
There
is documented evidence of how undercover SAVAK agents – working directly on the
orders of Sabeti – would intimidate, arrest, torture, rape and kill women
during the Pahlavi dictatorship.
Responding
to a question over the presence of Sabeti at the gathering, Iranian Foreign
Ministry Spoeksman Nasser Kana'ani said that countries claiming to be the
flag-bearers of human rights have morphed their countries into safe havens for
criminals and hooligans.
“This
came as no surprise that a country purportedly believed to be forerunner in
protecting human rights has hosted a criminal with checkered history,” he
stated.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Damaged
buildings collapse after fresh quake in eastern Turkiye
February
27, 2023
ANKARA:
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake shook southern Turkiye on Monday — three weeks after
a catastrophic temblor devastated the region — causing some already damaged
buildings to collapse and killing at least one person, authorities said.
More
than 100 others were injured as a result of the earthquake which was centered
in the town of Yesilyurt in Malatya province, Yunus Sezer, the chief of the
country’s disaster management agency, AFAD, told reporters. More than two dozen
buildings collapsed.
A
father and daughter who were trapped beneath the rubble of a four-story
building in Yesilyurt were rescued with injuries. The pair had entered the
damaged building to collect belongings.
Elsewhere
in Malatya, search-and-rescue teams were sifting through the rubble of two
damaged buildings that toppled on top of some parked cars, trapping three
people, HaberTurk reported.
Malatya
was among 11 Turkish provinces hit by the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that
devastated parts of southern Turkiye and northern Syria on Feb. 6.
That
quake led to more than 48,000 deaths in both countries as well as the collapse
or serious damage of 185,000 buildings in Turkiye.
AFAD’s
chief urged people not to enter damaged buildings saying strong aftershocks
continue to pose a risk. More than 10,000 aftershocks have hit the region
affected by the quake since Feb. 6.
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2258811/middle-east
--------
Top
Commander Underlines IRGC's Readiness to Train Iraqi Armed Forces
2023-February-27
Maj.
Gen. Salami made the remarks in a meeting with Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet
Mohammad Saeed Al-Abbasi in Tehran on Monday.
He
underlined the need to protect Iraq’s unity and integrity, and stated that the
IRGC is prepared to offer advisory assistance to Iraq, exchange its experiences
and achievements in the fight against terrorism, and provide training for various
units of the Iraqi Armed Forces.
The
military official underscored the importance of “stable, safe and strong
neighbors” for Iran.
"While
the Islamic Republic favors a mighty Iraq, the Americans and the Zionists seek
to dominate the region and create insecurity in Iraq and Iran," Salami
stressed.
"Insecurity
would prevail wherever the US is present," the IRGC chief warned, adding
that the logic behind Iran’s push for the expulsion of American forces from the
region is that the oppressed regional people have to pay the price for the US’
opportunistic policies.
He
also called for the promotion of military, defense and security cooperation
between Tehran and Baghdad.
The
Iraqi defense minister, for his part, called for the enhancement of cooperation
with Iran as the government in Baghdad is determined to strengthen the Arab
country’s defense power.
Al-Abbasi
said Iraq is eager to use Iran’s experiences in the military and defense
spheres, calling for closer interaction with Iran to tighten security along the
common border.
Iraq
is willing to dispatch expert and technical teams to Iran for training
cooperation, he added.
Iranian
military officials have repeatedly expressed the country’s readiness to share
its experiences in the war on terrorism and in the defense industry with Iraq
to help the neighboring state’s security and stability.
The
US invaded Iraq in early 2003 under the later debunked pretext that the regime
of Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. It withdrew soldiers
from Iraq between 2007 and 2011 but redeployed them in 2014 along with other
partners to allegedly counter the threat of the Daesh (also known as ISIS or
ISIL) terrorist group.
Iraq
managed to end the territorial rule of the outfit in the country thanks to the
sacrifices of the national army as well as the anti-terror Popular Mobilization
Units (PMU), which had the backing of Iran.
However,
Washington kept its forces inside Iraq in defiance of a resolution that
required its withdrawal. The resolution was passed by the Arab country’s
parliament on January 5, 2020, two days after the US assassinated Iran’s
anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi
trenchmate Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) deputy
head.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
President
Rayeesi Calls on Iraq Not to Turn into Platform for Terrorist Attacks on Iran
2023-February-27
President
Rayeesi made the remarks in a meeting with Iraqi Defense Minister Thabet
Mohammad Saeed Al-Abbasi in Tehran on Sunday.
The
president described the Iran-Iraq border as one of friendship and cooperation.
He
added that Iran considers Iraq’s security its own security and supports efforts
to strengthen its stability and security, underlining the Arab country must not
be turned into a place for plotting against neighbors.
President
Rayeesi underscored that Iran also backs all efforts aimed at economic and
military reconstruction of Iraq.
The
visiting defense chief, for his part, thanked Iran for its full support of the
Iraqi people during the foreign invasion of the country and also during the
onslaught by the Daesh (also knows as ISIL or ISIS) terrorist group.
Al-Abasi
noted that Baghdad will not let opportunistic people threaten and destabilize
the borders between the two countries.
He
also spoke about Iran’s support for Iraq in tough times, calling for the
continuation of this backing during the reconstruction period.
Since
late September, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched a
series of aerial operations on the headquarters of terrorist groups in Iraq’s
semi-autonomous Kurdistan region. The military operation came after the illegal
entry of armed teams linked with the Kurdish terrorist groups into the Iranian
border cities in recent months.
The
Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN has announced that diplomacy has failed to
bring an end to the presence of terrorists in Kurdistan region and the terror
activities in the Arab country has left Tehran with no other option but to use
military force against them.
In
mid-October, the Permanent Mission of Iran to the UN sent a letter to the head
of the Security Council to elaborate on Tehran’s reasons for its recent
military operation against terrorist groups in Northern Iraq, explaining that
terrorists have used Iraqi territory to carry out armed attacks against
civilians and Iran's infrastructure.
The
IRGC Ground Force has announced that the operations against terror bases will
continue until all anti-Iran separatist and terrorist outfits holed up in the
rugged mountainous area lay down their arms and surrender.
The
Iranian Armed Forces, specially the IRGC, have repeatedly warned that they will
never tolerate the presence and activity of terrorist groups along the Northwestern
border and will give strong and decisive responses in case of anti-security
activities.
The
IRGC has on countless occasions attacked and destroyed terrorist hideouts in
the Kurdistan region with artillery fire, missiles and drones.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Israeli-American
motorist killed in West Bank after settlers rampage against Palestinians
February
28, 2023
HAWARA,
West Bank: Suspected Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli-American motorist in
the occupied West Bank on Monday after Jewish settlers rampaged through a
Palestinian village in a burst of violence that defied US efforts to prod the
sides to cooperate on security.
Israeli
officials said in the latest incident Palestinians carried out several drive-by
shootings on a highway near Jericho, killing an Israeli in his car before
fleeing. The US State Department said the person killed was also a US citizen.
There
was no immediate claim of responsibility by any Palestinian groups. The State
Department did not identify the person killed.
Israel
reinforced its West Bank garrisons after two brothers from a Jewish settlement
were shot dead on Sunday, triggering the rampage by settlers in which a
Palestinian was killed, scores were hurt and dozens of cars and homes were
torched.
With
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Jewish Passover festival weeks away,
foreign mediators have sought to tamp down tensions that surged after Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regained power at the head of a hard-right
coalition.
The
events cast doubt on Netanyahu’s ability to walk a diplomatic tightrope between
Washington — pushing for a lasting compromise — and his own cabinet that
includes hard-line settlers demanding tough action against Palestinian attacks.
At
a regular briefing for reporters, State Department spokesperson Ned Price
condemned attacks by both sides and welcomed statements by Netanyahu calling
for a cessation to what Price described as “vigilante violence” by settlers.
“We
expect the Israeli government to ensure full accountability and legal
prosecution of those responsible for these attacks, in addition to compensation
for the lost homes and property,” Price said.
On
Sunday, Jordan, with US envoys, hosted a rare meeting where Israeli and
Palestinian officials pledged a slowdown in Jewish settlement announcements by
the Netanyahu government and reaffirmed past peace accords.
Diplomacy
stalled in 2014. Israel now rules out West Bank handovers to the Palestinians,
who are themselves divided between the internationally-backed administration of
President Mahmoud Abbas and Islamists opposed to peacemaking.
The
Islamist militant Hamas said through its spokesman, Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua, that
Monday’s attack was a natural response to Israeli attacks.
“The
crimes conducted by the occupation and the herds of settlers will not be met
but with stabbing, shooting and car ramming,” Qanoua said in a statement.
’DIFFICULT
DAYS’
“We
expect difficult days ahead of us,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told
reporters as he toured the largely empty streets of the village of Hawara, site
of Sunday’s violence, under a heavy security detail.
Abbas
blamed the Israeli government for the Hawara rampage.
Lamar
Abusarees, a 10-year-old Palestinian girl, said her house was among those set
alight by settlers: “My mother moved us to a corner because there was no safe
place, they broke all the windows while we were inside.”
Israeli
police said they had arrested two people for the rampage. In parliament,
Netanyahu said security forces were closing in on the gunman who had killed the
Israeli brothers.
Four
extra army battalions and two border police companies were posted to the West
Bank since Sunday as reinforcements, the Israeli military said.
“I
call on everyone to restore calm,” Gallant said. “We cannot allow a situation
in which citizens take the law into their hands.”
Source:
Arab News
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2259256/middle-east
--------
Africa
Muslim
Rights Concern: Think More of Nigeria – Islamic Group Tells Politicians
February
27, 2023
By
Don Silas
The
Muslim Rights Concern, MURIC, has appealed to candidates of political parties
to think more of Nigeria as the nation awaits the results of Saturday’s
elections.
The
group’s Director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola, made the call in a statement issued in
Lagos on Monday.
Akintola
appealed to all candidates to avoid inflammatory statements and to demonstrate
faith in Nigeria’s electoral system.
The
statement read, “Nigerians went to the polls on Saturday, Feb. 25, to pick
their 16th president, senators and representatives.
“As
of today, Monday, Feb. 27, the results are still coming in trickles.
“But
already, there have been pockets of violence in a few places around the
country, although this hasn’t been widespread, and they have been contained.
“MURIC
appeals to all candidates in the 2023 general elections to think more of
Nigeria now and in the next few weeks.”
Source:
Daily Post Nigeria
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
UN
Libya envoy to launch new effort to break stalemate
27
February ,2023
The
UN Libya envoy will launch a new initiative to enable elections this year with
the formation of a high-level steering committee, he said on Monday, attempting
to break a year-long stalemate that has risked renewed conflict.
Addressing
the UN Security Council, Abdoulaye Bathily said the panel would bring together
representatives of political institutions, other political and tribal leaders,
civil society groups, security officials and others.
“Libya’s
political class is going through a major legitimacy crisis. One could say that
most institutions lost their legitimacy years ago,” he said, referring to the
need for elections.
Libya
has had little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted Muammar
Gaddafi and it split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, with
the last major bout of conflict ending in 2020 with a ceasefire.
However,
the political process to resolve the conflict has been stalled since the collapse
of a scheduled election in December 2021 over disputes about the rules
including the eligibility of major candidates.
The
eastern-based parliament, the House of Representatives, has meanwhile said the
interim unity government, installed through a UN-backed process in early 2021,
was no longer valid and it set up a rival administration last year.
However,
the government refused to step down until there are elections and attempts by
armed groups aligned with the rival administration to dislodge it from Tripoli
by force have failed.
Talks
since last year have focused on trying to get the two Libyan legislative bodies
that are internationally recognized to agree on constitutional rules that would
allow an election to take place.
The
House of Representatives, which was elected in 2014 to a four-year term, has
unilaterally issued a constitutional amendment but without support from the
High State Council, which emerged from an earlier parliament elected in 2012.
Bathily
said the House of Representatives’ constitutional amendment was controversial
in Libya, did not address contentious issues such as candidate eligibility and
did not include a timeline for elections.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please click the following URL to read the full text
of the original story:
--------
Nigeria's opposition Labour Party wins Lagos stronghold of ruling party
Olanrewaju
Kola, Ibrahim Shuaibu and Hassan Isilow
27.02.2023
MAIDUGURI,
Nigeria
In
Nigeria's presidential poll, the opposition Labour Party has won Lagos state, a
stronghold of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) party, election
authorities announced Monday.
The
Labour presidential candidate, Peter Obi, scored 582,454 votes, ahead of Bola
Ahmed Tinubu of the APC who got 577,606, said the Independent National
Electoral Commission’s Adenike Oladiji.
The
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came in third in the country's commercial hub,
the official said. No winner is expected before Tuesday at the earliest.
Obi's
surprise lead has been attributed to the strength of the youth vote and support
from his kinsmen.
"Lagos
is a cosmopolitan state with a mix of different people. The unpopular policies
of the ruling APC government and voting from the Igbos, Obi's kinsmen, gave him
the lead," Segun Adeoye, a Lagos resident, told Anadolu.
At
61, Obi is the youngest in the three-way contest in the Feb. 25 presidential
election.
The
former two-time governor of Anambra, a state in southeastern Nigeria, had been
polling strongly in the runup to the general elections, with some surveys
projecting him as the winner.
But
he also has a hurdle of a clear win in 25 of the 36 states of the federation in
fulfillment of the country's electoral law.
The
ruling party has also lost the large voting population in the Kano, Katsina and
Osun states.
3
main contenders
More
than 93 million people were registered to vote for a successor to President
Muhammadu Buhari and lawmakers for both the House of Representatives and
Senate.
The
race for president has narrowed down to three serious contenders: veteran
politicians Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, and new challenger Obi.
Tinubu,
70, is from Buhari’s ruling APC and previously served as a senator and governor
of Lagos.
Abubakar,
a 76-year-old businessman who was Nigeria’s vice-president from 1999 to 2007,
is the candidate for the main opposition PDP, his record sixth shot at the top
office.
Saturday’s
voting, though marked by delays, was largely peaceful.
There
were, however, reports of sporadic violence, with at least two people killed in
an attack on an election office of a New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)
candidate.
In
Lagos, police said unidentified people armed with knives and sticks attacked
polling stations and officials.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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