Taliban Celebrates One Year in Power with Few Civilians and No Women
New Age Islam News Bureau
16 August 2022
Taliban fighters gather in
Kabul to mark a year since their takeover of Afghanistan, on Monday. (Express
Photo by Nirupama Subramanian)
----
• Al-Qaeda and Islamic State Are On the Rise in Africa
after Last French Troops Left Mali
• Salman Rushdie Attack Suspect, Hadi Matar, 'Changed'
By Middle East Visit: Mother
• Hindus and Muslims Will All Walk Together: Yoga Guru
Ramdev Hoists Tricolour at Haridwar Madrasas, Joined By Muslim Village Heads
• Ex-PM Imran Khan Admits Hindu Girls Being Forcefully
Converted To Islam in Pakistan
South
Asia
• Taliban Rejected Appeals to Create Inclusive
Government, Says Afghan Diplomatic Missions
• Heavy rains set off flash floods, killing 31 in
Afghanistan
• Taliban Delegation to Visit Turkey to Assess
Situation of Afghan Refugees and Migrants
• Iranian Customs Officers Seize Afghan Tanker Truck
Containing 100KG of Drugs
• How life has changed for Afghans since the Taliban
takeover
• Afghan resistance group claims arrest of Taliban
forces
--------
Africa
• Arrest Miyetti Allah leaders for killings in Benue –
Group tasks security agencies
• Extremist group claims to have killed four Wagner
mercenaries in central Mali
• Protests as Ruto declared winner of disputed Kenya
vote
--------
North
America
• Canada Urged To Bring In More Afghans Facing Risk of
Death from Taliban
• Father and son linked to murders of Muslims in New
Mexico
• US Spy Services in Afghanistan Continuing
Destructive Actions
• The Albuquerque murders are a wake-up call for
American Muslims about our own communities
• US acknowledges direct talks with Syrian regime over
imprisoned journalist
--------
India
• India’s ‘Salaried Class’ Shrank During Covid, Muslims
Hit Hardest, Govt Data Suggests
• Ismailis lead the march of communities to celebrate
76th Independence Day
--------
Pakistan
• Nawaz to end exile, back in Pakistan this Sept:
PML-N
• IHC to form larger bench to hear PTI’s plea against
prohibited funding verdict
• US, Pakistan discuss options for Gen Bajwa’s visit
to DC
• Imran distances himself from Gill's remarks, calls
them 'wrong'
• Militant behind JUI-F leader’s assassination killed
in N. Waziristan: ISPR
• Sharif offers condolences over deaths in Egypt
church fire
--------
Arab
World
• Hamas Calls for Formation of United Front against
Israel after Aggression on Syria
• Pro-Iran Shia Bloc Resume Efforts in Forming New
Iraqi Cabinet
• Base housing US occupation troops, allied militants
in SE Syria comes under drone attack
• Saudi Crown Prince leads washing ceremony of Holy Kaaba
in Mecca
• Egypt’s deadly church fire sparks global outpouring
of sorrow and sympathy
• Rockets target military base housing Turkish forces
in northern Iraq
• Hezbollah’s precision strike missiles can hit any
target across occupied territories: Nasrallah aide
--------
Mideast
• Top Islamic Jihad Official: We Are Preparing For the
Next Round of Fighting Against Israel
• Iran to Inaugurate Major Water Desalination Project
at Bushehr Power Plant
• Army Commander Reiterates Iran’s Support for
Diplomacy to Resolve Border Disputes with Taliban
• Iran responds to EU nuclear text, seeks US
flexibility
• Israel army says found, blocked ‘attack’ tunnel from
Gaza
--------
Europe
• UK Government under Fire over Treatment Of Afghan
Refugees
• Bosnian court sentences former Serb police officer
to 20 years in jail for war crimes
• Al-Qaeda affiliate claims it killed four Russian
mercenaries in Mali
--------
Southeast
Asia
• Police Arrest Man Suspected Of Uprooting Gravestones
At Muslim Cemetery
• PBS factor in Warisan’s decision on election seats
• Umno man hails Ismail’s brave decisions in first
year as PM
• Indonesia at ‘pinnacle of global leadership’:
President Widodo
Compiled by New
Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/taliban-civilians-women-afghan-emirate-/d/127723
--------
Taliban Celebrates One Year in Power with Few
Civilians and No Women
Taliban fighters gather in
Kabul to mark a year since their takeover of Afghanistan, on Monday. (Express
Photo by Nirupama Subramanian)
----
By Nirupama Subramanian
August 16, 2022
HUNDREDS OF Taliban fighters took to the streets of
Kabul on Monday to celebrate the first anniversary of their takeover of
Afghanistan, riding in open pick-up trucks, holding automatic guns and waving
their group’s white-and-black flags.
The Taliban regime marked the occasion with sedate
victory speeches by senior leaders inside a state-media auditorium in the
high-security Green Zone, close to the Indian Embassy. But few civilians, either
on the streets or indoors, took part in the celebrations — and no women at all.
However, a small group of women reportedly met in
secret at a house in Kabul to mark their protest, and pledged to continue their
resistance against the Taliban. A statement by the group, RAWA (Revolutionary
Association of the Women of Afghanistan), denounced the Taliban for being
anti-women and blamed the US for the “planned” handover of power last year.
On the streets, fighters congregated through the day
at a prominent roundabout in Kabul named after Ahmad Shah Massoud, whose
Northern Alliance was the main resistance to the Taliban in the 1990s before he
was killed by an Al Qaeda suicide bomber two days ahead of the 9/11 attacks in
the US.
“We defeated America, and we won our independence.
That is what we are celebrating here,” said Abdul Qahar Agha Jan, from Laghman
province, south of Kabul. He said he was working in the Ministry of Defence.
He said the decision to congregate at Massoud Circle,
close to the US Embassy, was a message that the Taliban now rule Afghanistan.
“We are in power. This place belongs to all Afghans. We also want to tell other
Mujahideen and the family members of Ahmad Shah Massoud that they come here and
live with us in peace,” said Agha Jan.
Some of the fighters were holding posters of the
Haqqani group patriarch, Jalaluddin Haqqani, who died in 2018. A middle-aged
Talib delivered a speech denouncing the recent US drone strike in Kabul to kill
Ayman Al Zawahiri, and declared that the Americans were “lying” that they had
eliminated the Al Qaeda leader.
One group of Taliban in the back of a sand-coloured
Toyota pick-up were dressed in US army uniforms with American military gear —
night-vision equipment, goggles, sand-coloured face masks and M4 automatic
carbines. As religious songs blared from portable public address systems, a
Talib holding an M4 said the weapon had been left behind by the “Amreeki” while
another held a Soviet-era gun, boasting that it “worked very well”.
Across the roundabout was a huge concrete security
wall around a government ministry, painted with slogans hailing the Taliban’s
victory last year. “Freedom is as beautiful as spring,” one slogan proclaimed.
“The people are our own, and we are from the people,” another read.
Many Taliban fighters also gathered at the Wazir
Mohammed Akbar Khan hill, a few kilometres from the roundabout, anticipating a
formal flag-hoisting on top. With a song praising jihad in the background, they
did the “atan” (a traditional Pashtun dance) around a flagpole on which the
Afghan Republican flag gifted by India had flown until the collapse of the
republic last year.
Asked why no women were participating, a Talib said,
“they have their own work to do”; another said “it was not allowed under
sharia”; and, a third assured that “you will see women next year”.
In the afternoon, all roads led to the auditorium of
state-owned Radio Television Afghanistan, where children sang a song in praise
of Mullah Omar, the Taliban founder who died in 2013, with lines about how
peace had returned to Afghanistan. VIPs spoke about the government’s
achievements. The road to the Green Zone was jammed with vehicles, including
unmarked Toyota Prados ferrying Taliban leaders to the function. But the top
leadership was not present, including Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Mullah Omar’s son Mullah Yaqoub, who heads the defence
ministry, said the Taliban had restored security in the country. “Those who are
plotting rebellion will be punished, and their plans defeated,” he said.
“We should evaluate our performance of the year and
ask ourselves if it is enough or not,” he said, adding that international
recognition, sanctions and blacklists did not matter. “Our efforts should be
directed to serve this country and make progress,” he said.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, who is in charge of the foreign
ministry, said Afghanistan wants good relations with all countries. He said the
Taliban’s foreign policy was geared towards maintaining a balance in the
region. “We don’t want to get into trouble with anyone. We have satisfied all
countries that we will not allow the soil of Afghanistan to be used against
anyone” he said.
Although the day had been declared an official
holiday, most of Kabul’s residents seemed to have decided not to step out,
making this a Taliban-only celebration. At the secret protest by RAWA, the
participants reportedly pledged that their voices would not be drowned by
gunfire — a reference to the aerial firing that the Taliban resorted to on
Saturday to disperse a protest by women demanding “work, bread and education”.
In a statement, RAWA declared that the women of
Afghanistan would continue to resist. “It was easily predictable that women and
girls would be the prime victims of this barbaric rule and are facing
devastating and inhumane suppression in all areas of life. However, the women
of our country proved that no force could impose their reactionary ideologies
or hold them captive inside their homes,” it said.
“Afghan women made history by raising the flag of
struggle against the Taliban and for freedom and justice. Since the first days
of Taliban’s takeover, these women have protested on the streets without any
fear of guns or whiplashes; they were suppressed, threatened, and humiliated,
but bravely continued their fight,” RAWA said.
It said that “the inquisition-based government” was
“so reactionary, abhorred, and brutal” that no country had officially
recognised it, “not even their supporters and patrons”. It denounced the US for
“claims that they were surprised” by the fall of Kabul and the escape of
President Ashraf Ghani — and for supporting the Taliban regime by giving it
financial assistance.
“We have full faith in this great struggle and the
extraordinary potential hidden in our Afghan women, and we warmly shake the
hands of every justice-seeking force and individual in this crucial battle for
Afghanistan and its people and to continue hoisting the banner of struggle
against Taliban and Jihadi fundamentalism,” the statement said.
Source: Indian Express
Please click the following URL to read the text of the
original story:
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Al-Qaeda
and Islamic State Are On the Rise in Africa after Last French Troops Left Mali
French
troops have been part of Operation Barkhane against militants in the Sahel/
Getty Images
----
August
16, 2022
As
the world remembered the chaos and tragedy that surrounded the U.S. and allied
withdrawal from Afghanistan a year ago, a quieter exit took place Monday. The
last French troops left Mali for neighbouring Niger, drawing to a formal close
a near-decade-long mission in the sprawling West African nation of 21 million
people. Their presence in Mali had begun in 2013 as part of an ambitious
Paris-led effort to fight back an Islamist militant threat that was spreading
across the vast region between desert and Savanna known as the Sahel.
But
the mission ended incomplete despite billions of euros spent and thousands of
Malian lives lost (as well as 59 French soldiers), leaving in its wake no
shortage of geopolitical rancor and a worryingly deteriorating security
situation. Militants from factions linked to both al-Qaeda and the Islamic
State have entrenched themselves on a widening battlefield across the African
continent.
The
French departure from Mali had been telegraphed months in advance amid a
rupture in relations between the government of French President Emmanuel Macron
and a Malian junta that seized power in August 2020 and carried out “a coup
within a coup” — as Macron himself put it — against civilian officials nine
months later. Those overthrows were part of what U.N. Secretary General António
Guterres lamented was “an epidemic of coups d’etats” in the region including in
neighboring Burkina Faso and Guinea.
In
Mali — not unlike what happened once the United States announced its drawdown
in Afghanistan — attacks by Islamist insurgents have spiked in recent weeks as
the French completed their exit. “The situation is worse than in 2013,” said
Alpha Alhadi Koina, a Bamako-based geopolitical analyst, to the New York Times.
“The cancer has spread through Mali.”
The
scale of the violence shows how the central zone of Islamist-related violence
has shifted away from the Middle East and South Asia. “In Mali nearly 2,700
people were killed in conflict in the first six months of this year, almost 40
percent more than in all of 2021,” the Economist detailed last week. “Last
month jihadists attacked a military checkpoint 60km from Bamako, the capital; a
week later they hit the country’s main military camp on its doorstep. In Niger,
deaths in conflict have fallen slightly but will probably exceed 1,000 in 2022.
In Burkina Faso in the first half of the year about 2,100 people have been
killed.”
An
Islamic State offshoot has supplanted fundamentalist Islamist group Boko Haram
in northern Nigeria. Further afield, Islamic State-affiliated militants are
waging attacks across a swath of central and East Africa, from northern Mozambique
to Uganda to the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Somalia, al-Shabab, an
insurgent faction originally linked to al-Qaeda that is arguably more capable
than its much-diminished parent organization, remains a powerful force — and a
threat with such menace that it prompted President Biden to redeploy U.S.
forces to the country earlier this year.
Last
week, Martin Ewi, a South Africa-based analyst, briefed the U.N. Security
Council on the scale of the threat, pointing to how the Islamic State was active
in more than 20 African countries already, and warned that the continent may
represent “the future of the caliphate.”
The
Islamic State’s first supposed “caliphate” took root in Iraq and Syria amid the
chaos of the latter’s civil war. But a coalition of Western and local forces
eventually smashed its forces, recaptured the cities it once controlled and
forced its surviving fighters into captivity or hiding. Ewi told the assembled
U.N. dignitaries that “no similar coalition was mounted to defeat [the Islamic
State] in Africa … meaning that the continent was left to bear the consequences
of those who are fleeing Syria and finding safe havens on the continent.”
France’s
exit from Mali, though, underscores both how fraught the prevailing security
situation is and how difficult it may be to address. After being initially
welcomed when huge stretches of Mali were under Islamist militant control,
France’s presence turned unpopular over time, with incidents like a French
airstrike last year in central Mali that killed 19 civilians souring attitudes
against the old colonial ruler.
“French
forces eliminated a significant number of jihadist fighters and leaders,
operating under incredibly difficult circumstances and at high risk,” Andrew
Lebovich, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an
expert on the Sahel, told me. “At the same time, the French were ultimately not
able to manage tensions with successive Malian governments.”
The
current junta in Mali appears to be seeking to replace France’s help by
enlisting mercenaries from notorious Russian firm Wagner Group — charges Mali’s
government denies. Forces linked to that organization, along with Malian
troops, are believed to have carried out mass extrajudicial executions in a
central Malian town in March. The political environment in Mali with the junta
is so troubling that it compelled Germany to suspend its comparatively smaller
role in supporting a U.N. mission in the country.
“The
disruption of much of the security cooperation with French and partner forces
has almost certainly contributed to the deterioration of the security
situation, while the arrival of Wagner forces has contributed to a number of
significant human rights abuses, while doing little to visibly improve security
in the areas in which they most frequently operate,” Lebovich said.
In
recent years, he added, “the most active components” of both al-Qaeda and the
Islamic State “have been in Africa, particularly in the Sahel and Lake Chad
Basin,” and remain deeply difficult to dislodge.
“Even
where some regional interventions have been moderately more successful, these
groups continue to operate and not only retain a strong presence, but in some
cases expand their operations across quite vast spaces,” Lebovich said.
Source:
Washington Post
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/16/africa-mali-france-al-qaeda-isis-insurgents/
--------
Salman
Rushdie Attack Suspect, Hadi Matar, 'Changed' By Middle East Visit: Mother
Hadi
Matar, 24, right, leaves an arraignment in the Chautauqua County Courthouse in
Mayville, NY. on Saturday. AP
-----
Aug
16, 2022
LONDON:
The accused attacker of British author Salman Rushdie was transformed by a trip
to Lebanon in 2018, when he became more religious and less outgoing, his mother
has said.
Lebanese-born
Silvana Fardos, of Fairview, New Jersey, described her 24-year-old son Hadi
Matar as "a moody introvert" increasingly fixated with Islam after
the visit to see his estranged father.
"One
time he argued with me asking why I encouraged him to get an education instead
of focusing on religion," she told the website of Britain's Daily Mail
newspaper.
"He
was angry that I did not introduce him to Islam from a young age," she
said in an interview published online late Sunday.
Matar
was arrested at the scene of the attack on Rushdie, 75, at a literary event in
upstate New York on Friday.
He
pleaded not guilty the following day to attempted murder and assault with a
weapon charges and is being held without bail.
Prosecutors
have described a planned, premeditated assault on Rushdie, who was stabbed
approximately 10 times.
Police
have provided no information about the suspect's background or his possible
motive.
Fardos
said she was "shell shocked" to receive a call from one of her twin
14-year-old daughters telling her that the FBI were at the family's home and
her son was allegedly responsible.
"I
just cannot believe he was capable of doing something like this. He was very
quiet, everyone loved him," she said.
Fardos
said federal agents had removed Matar's computer, his PlayStation, books and
other items including knives and a sharpener.
Her
son "changed a lot" after his trip to Lebanon, she said.
"I
was expecting him to come back motivated, to complete school, to get his degree
and a job, but instead he locked himself in the basement," she said.
"I
couldn't tell you much about his life after that because he has isolated me
since 2018," and also said little to the rest of his family for months.
"He
sleeps during the day and wakes and eats during the night," she said.
Fardos,
a teaching assistant and translator, said she was born a Muslim, but is not
religious and does not care about politics -- and had never even heard of
Rushdie.
"I
had no knowledge that my son ever read his book," she said.
Matar
was born in the US and grew up in California. His parents divorced in 2004, his
father Hassan Matar returning to Lebanon, while Fardos moved to New Jersey,
according to the Mail.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Hindus
and Muslims Will All Walk Together: Yoga Guru Ramdev Hoists Tricolour at
Haridwar Madrasas, Joined By Muslim Village Heads
Yog
Guru Ramdev hoisted the national flag in Madrasa Islamia Arabia in Bodaheri
Mohiuddinpur village, Haridwar
-----
16
AUG 2022
Yoga
guru Swami Ramdev organised a 'Tiranga Yatra' here on the occasion of the
country's 76th Independence Day Monday which was attended by the Patanjali
family and people from the Muslim community.
The
march started at the Patanjali Yogpeeth and ended at Kasampur village via Budahedi.
Swami Ramdev and his close associate Acharya Balkrishna hoisted the national
flag at madrassas in both the villages.
Bodahedi
village head Maulana Riyasat, his Kasampur counterpart Maulana Anees and social
worker Qari Shamim Ahmed and a large number of people from the Muslim community
participated in the yatra.
This
Yatra would help bring together different faiths, religions, castes and sects,
he said. "Hindus and Muslims will all walk together. We will keep alive
the unity, mutual harmony, sovereignty and brotherhood of India," he said.
Balkrishna
said the message of unity, integrity, sovereignty and brotherhood will be sent
to the whole world through this tricolour yatra. Before the flag hoisting
programme at the Madrassass, Ramdev also hoisted the national flag in
Patanjali.
Source:
Outlook India
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
Ex-PM
Imran Khan Admits Hindu Girls Being Forcefully Converted To Islam In Pakistan
Imran
Khan speaks on forced conversions Photograph:( Reuters )
------
Aug
13, 2022
Pakistan’s
former Prime Minister Imran Khan has admitted that forced conversions of young
non-Muslim girls are carried out in the country.
While
addressing a minority convention, the cricketer-turned-politician on Thursday
condemned the forced conversions of Hindu girls to Islam in Sindh, reports
Dawn.
“There
is an ayat (verse) in the Holy Quran [that] there is no coercion in Islam. This
is Allah’s commandment. Whoever forcefully converts a non-Muslim is disobeying
Allah,” he was quoted as saying.
This
is the first time that any politician has commented on the issue of forceful
conversions in Pakistan.
Though
there have been several reports of forced conversions, especially of minority
Hindu girls, the governments and politicians in Pakistan have remained silent
on the practice so far and have done little to address the issue.
In
October last year, a parliamentary committee disallowed an anti-forced
conversion bill to be taken up at the Parliament after the Ministry of
Religious Affairs opposed the proposed law despite protests by legislators
belonging to minority communities.
On
November 26 last year, a report by the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group
(APPG) for Pakistani Minorities, an informal, cross-party group formed by MPs
and Members of the House of Lords, found that around 1,000 girls between the
ages of 12-25 from minorities are forcibly converted to Islam in Pakistan every
year and married to their abductors.
They
had described the situation as a “human-rights catastrophe”.
According
to the 2017 census, Hindus make up around 2 per cent of Pakistan population, an
overwhelming majority of them — close to 90 per cent — residing in Sindh
province bordering Hindu-majority neighbour India.
Last
year, the United States had placed Pakistan on the list of “countries of
particular concern” for religious freedom violations.
In
2016, Sindh province passed a law declaring forced conversion a punishable
offence, but the region’s governor refused to ratify the legislation.
Source:
WIO News
Please
click the following URL to read the text of the original story:
--------
South
Asia
Taliban
rejected appeals to create inclusive government, says Afghan diplomatic
missions
15.08.22
The
Taliban have not only failed to deliver on their commitments but also
"re-enacted draconian policies", including systematically erasing
women from public life, Afghan diplomatic missions across the world said on
Monday on the first anniversary of fall of the democratically-elected
government in Kabul.
The
Taliban seized power in Kabul on August 15 last year following withdrawal of
American troops and collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government.
"Afghan
citizens are deprived of basic services and face grave human rights abuses and
violations, poverty, repression, and fear," the missions said in a
statement.
"Almost
overnight, the Taliban militant group rolled back hard-won gains achieved
through the joint effort and sacrifice of the people of Afghanistan and the
international community since 2001," they said.
Most
of the diplomatic missions of Afghanistan, including in India, are still
functioning independent of the Taliban dispensation.
They
said the Taliban have rejected consistent national and international appeals
for the creation of an inclusive and representative government, which is
critical for political stability.
The
statement was released to the media by an official of the Afghan embassy in
Delhi.
The
missions said that despite the "violent and illegitimate" nature of
the Taliban takeover, they were offered the opportunity to deliver on
commitments, including ensuring the fundamental rights of citizens and not
allowing Afghanistan to become a safe haven for international terrorism.
The
statement said that many countries and international organisations adopted a
policy of dialogue and engagement with the group in the hope that such
interaction would positively influence the Taliban's approach and actions
toward the people's expectations.
"One
year on, the Taliban have not only totally failed to deliver on all their
commitments but re-enacted draconian policies and directives," the
missions said.
"Among
others, the group has banned girls from attending secondary education and
systematically erased women and girls from public life by restricting their
fundamental rights to work and play an active role in society," the
statement said.
The
missions said that preventing girls from education not only constitutes a
"grave human rights violation" but also jeopardises the country's
progress and future.
They
alleged that "arbitrary detentions" including of women activists,
forced disappearances and forced displacements, collective punishment,
crackdown on media and extra judicial killings became normal practice under
Taliban rule.
Source: Telegraph India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Heavy
rains set off flash floods, killing 31 in Afghanistan
Aug
15, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Heavy rains set off flash floods that killed at least 31 people and left dozens
missing in northern Afghanistan, the Taliban's state-run news agency reported
Monday.
The
Bakhtar News Agency said the flooding took place on Sunday in northern Parwan
province. The agency said that women and children were among the dead and 17
people were reported injured.
At
least 100 people remained missing on Monday, the report said, and a search and
rescue operation was underway.
The
flash floods swept away dozens of homes in the three affected districts in
Parwan. The province is ringed by mountainous and more often witnesses floods
from heavy rains.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Taliban
Delegation to Visit Turkey to Assess Situation of Afghan Refugees and Migrants
By
Saqalain Eqbal
15
Aug 2022
According
to Taliban authorities, a delegation from the Ministry of Refugees and
Repatriation of the Taliban government would visit Turkey to assess the
situation of Afghan migrants and refugees as Turkey deported as many as 40,000
Afghan migrants to Afghanistan.
Mohammad
Arsala Kharouti, the Taliban government’s deputy minister for refugees and
repatriation, was quoted by the Bakhtar news agency as saying that the Taliban
officials were not satisfied with their talks and meetings with Turkish
authorities regarding the situation of Afghan refugees and their return to
Kabul.
Deputy
Minister Kharouti announced that he along with a delegation will visit Turkey
this week to examine the situation of Afghan refugees and their issues.
“We
want this delegation to have extensive discussions regarding the refugees’
repatriation, their issues, and challenges,” he continued.
According
to the Taliban government’s deputy minister for refugees and repatriation,
there are issues with the statistics, the deportation procedure, and assistance
provided to Afghan refugees in Turkey.
According
to Kharouti, the Taliban demands that Turkey provide the facilities for Afghan
refugees in compliance with the rights granted to refugees by international
law.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iranian
Customs Officers Seize Afghan Tanker Truck Containing 100KG of Drugs
By
Saqalain Eqbal
15
Aug 2022
Iranian
media citing the country’s security officials reported that Iranian forces in
Dogharun customs in Iran discovered and seized a tanker truck from Afghanistan
containing 100 kilograms of drugs.
As
soon as the customs officers at Dogharun Khorasan Razavi became suspicious of
the Afghan tanker truck, they sent it to an x-ray unit where they conducted a
comprehensive scanning and inspection.
Anti-drug
enforcement officers discovered and dismantled a drug trafficking tanker truck
that was attempting to deliver a sizable quantity of drugs to Iran’s central
provinces, according to Iranian media.
“After
physical checks and cutting the appropriate spots of the tanker, 100 packages
with a weight of roughly 100 kg of Sheesha narcotics were discovered,” a
monitoring official of Dogharun customs was quoted by the IRNA news agency.
Source:
Khaama Press
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
How
life has changed for Afghans since the Taliban takeover
15.08.22
The
Taliban took the world by surprise when they captured Kabul on August 15 last
year experiencing little or no resistance from former President Ashraf Ghani's
forces. The Islamic fundamentalist group finally managed to return to power
after the US overthrew their regime in a 2001 military invasion.
Experts
say the downfall of Ghani's government was inevitable once NATO forces started
withdrawing from the war-ravaged country in May 2021 as a result of
Washington's deal with the Taliban in February 2020. But few expected the
country to fall to the militants so quickly.
Apart
from the geopolitical impact of the Taliban's return to power, life for
ordinary Afghans has changed drastically since last year — mostly for the
worse.
Progress
reversed
Despite
criticism against the US-backed governments in Afghanistan after the Taliban's
ouster in 2001, Afghanistan had made progress on several fronts in the last two
decades.
Independent
media had flourished under former presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani,
human rights had seen a substantial improvement, an increased number of girls
had started going to school and universities, and Afghanistan's middle class
had experienced relative prosperity during the same period.
Over
the past twelve months, these achievements have been largely reversed.
The
Taliban have not fulfilled most of their promises under the 2020 Doha
agreement. They have been reluctant to form an inclusive government in the country,
while girls above grade 6 are not allowed to go to school. Also, women are not
permitted to work in most sectors, and they can visit public parks only on
specific days.
Afghanistan's
economy is now in freefall, with the UN warning of a humanitarian catastrophe
unfolding in the country.
Since
seizing power, the Taliban have been pressing the international community to
recognize them as Afghanistan's legitimate rulers.
International
recognition is crucial for the Taliban to avoid potential economic collapse.
Millions of Afghans are jobless and their bank accounts are frozen. Many people
are selling their possessions to buy food, with urban communities facing food
insecurity on levels similar to rural areas for the first time.
In
January, the United Nations made the "biggest-ever appeal" for
humanitarian aid for a single country, saying it needed $4.4 billion (€3.9
billion) for Afghanistan to prevent the "world's most rapidly growing
humanitarian crisis" from deteriorating further.
But
the international community has been reluctant to hand over the funds directly
to the Taliban, fearing they would use the money to buy weapons. For the same
reason, Washington has refused to unfreeze Afghanistan's bank assets.
Deteriorating
women's rights
According
to the UN, Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are not
allowed to attend high school.
A
large number of women working in different positions in previous administrations
— from the ministerial level to office clerks — were sent home by the Taliban
in the first months of their rule.
Many
Afghan women took to the streets to protest the Taliban's oppressive decisions.
The hardline group used force to crush the protests, arresting many women's
rights activists.
"Less
than one year after the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, their draconian
policies are depriving millions of women and girls of their right to lead safe,
free, and fulfilling lives," Agnes Callamard, the secretary-general of
Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, said in July.
Despite
pressure from the Islamist rulers, many Afghan women are still trying to make
their voices heard.
Several
women protesters have left the country, but at least five women's rights groups
are still active there. Some of them are raising their voice on social media
against the Taliban's crackdown, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances,
not to mention physical and psychological torture.
Zholia
Parsi, a women's rights advocate, told DW that she chose to continue her
protest to safeguard her children's future.
"One
of my daughters should have been studying at university, while another should
have been in grade 11. When I look at their psychological state, I have no
choice but to protest. Until I get back our rights, I will not be
silenced," she said.
Free
media under threat
Independent
media is seen as an enemy by the Taliban. The sector progressed in leaps and
bounds between 2001 and 2020, but now thousands of Afghan journalists are
either in exile or have lost their jobs.
According
to Reporters Without Borders, 43% of Afghan media outlets have been shut down
in the past three months. "Out of the 10,780 people working in Afghan
newsrooms (8,290 men and 2,490 women) at the beginning of August 2021, only
4,360 were working in December (3,950 men and 410 women), or four out of ten
journalists," according to the watchdog.
Mohammad
Zia Bumia, head of the South Asian Free Media Association for Afghanistan, told
DW that after the collapse of Ashraf Ghani's government, many Afghan media
outlets closed their operations, which rendered hundreds of Afghan journalists
jobless.
The
Taliban crackdown and the worsening economic situation are also the reasons
behind a deteriorating media landscape, he said.
"The
Taliban have imposed strict censorship on media — on news as well as
entertainment," he added.
Reporters
Without Borders says that women journalists have suffered more since the
Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
"The
Taliban tried to arrest me on many occasions. They visited our house several
times. When they gave a warning to my family, I had no choice but to leave
Afghanistan," Saleha Ainy, an Afghan journalist who fled to Iran, told DW.
Hujatullah
Mujadidi, head of Afghanistan's Independent Journalists Association, has urged
the international community to support Afghan journalists.
Dangers
ahead
Despite
the gravity of the situation, the Afghanistan crisis is receiving scant
attention from the international community, as the Ukraine conflict and
tensions over Taiwan dominate the global agenda.
Some
observers say the current situation in Afghanistan is disturbingly similar to
the geopolitical scenario in the late 1990s. The Taliban seized power in 1996,
but the global community did not fully grasp the potential consequences of that
development.
Away
from the global spotlight — and amid a lack of interest in Afghan affairs — the
country became a hub of local and international militant groups. The recent
killing of al-Qaida chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, in Kabul is just one example of
the imminent danger.
Source:
Telegraph India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Afghan
resistance group claims arrest of Taliban forces
16th
August 2022
Kabul:
An Afghan armed resistance group claimed to have arrested dozens of Taliban
forces, as the Islamists celebrated their first year in power and others called
it a “dark day”.
Five
“Taliban occupiers” were killed and 40 captured in the Arezoo valley of
Panjshir province, said the spokesman of the National Resistance Front (NRF),
Sibghatullah Ahmadi, as he released pictures of alleged captives.
NRF
is led by Ahmad Massoud, the son of famous anti-Soviet guerilla commander Ahmad
Shah Massoud, and claims to be fighting for democratic values such as a
equitable political representation of ethnic groups, protection of women’s
rights and fair elections.
The
Taliban’s government is yet to comment on the claim.
However,
Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob Mujahid said on Monday that their forces will
suppress rebel groups under all circumstances.
To
mark the first anniversary of the fall of Kabul, Taliban members paraded in the
city with US military equipment and their leaders spoke at a televised
gathering.
At
the event, the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi called on the world
to cooperate with their government.
On
social media, many Afghans spoke of their ordeal and called it a “dark day” for
the nation.
Source:
Siasat Daily
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.siasat.com/afghan-resistance-group-claims-arrest-of-taliban-forces-2391199/
--------
Africa
Arrest
Miyetti Allah leaders for killings in Benue – Group tasks security agencies
August
15, 2022
A
group known as Benue Youth Forum, BYF is demanding security agencies to arrest
and prosecute the leadership of Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore for perpetrating
killings in Benue State.
The
group also describes as “laughable, baseless and empty” a threat by Miyetti
Allah Kautal Hore to drag Governor Samuel Ortom to the International Criminal
Court of Justice at the Hague for allegedly seizing their cattle and arresting
their members.
The
Benue Youth Forum was reacting to threats by the Fulani socio-cultural group,
Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore whose National Secretary, Alhassan Saleh was recently
quoted to have said they would sue Governor Ortom to the ICC for “seizing
25,000 of their cows and arresting 400 of their members without any cause”.
The
President of the Benue Youth Forum, Terrence Kuanum who addressed a press
conference Monday, August 15, 2022 in Makurdi stated that Miyetti Allah Kautal
Hore are known to be responsible for incessant massacre of Benue people and
demanded their arrest and prosecution.
Parts
of the statement read:
“it
has become imperative for us, the Benue Youth Forum, to react to recent threats
by a Fulani socio-cultural group, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore who are known to be
responsible for incessant massacre of Benue people to drag Governor Samuel
Ortom to the International Criminal Court of Justice at the Hague for allegedly
seizing their cattle and arresting their members.
“The
group which made the laughable threats in a press statement by its National
Secretary, Alhassan Saleh raised lame allegations that Governor Ortom seized
25,000 of their cows and arrested 400 of their members without any cause.
“Granted
that Governor Ortom had while unveiling the Benue Community Volunteer Guards,
BVCGs in Makurdi, said the government had secured the conviction of over 400
Fulani herders who had besieged the state and had seized over 25,000 cows, we
all know that it was done within the law.
“While
we are not worried over the empty and baseless threats to drag the Governor the
ICC, we are once again concerned that this group that has claimed
responsibility for the massacre of Benue people and sacking of communities and
creating a humanitarian crisis is reminding us that cows are more important
than human lives.
“Even
though the Miyetti Allah leadership further contradicted itself by saying in
one breath that their members were not in Benue State, and claiming in another
that they were being maltreated in the state, “thereby making the whole issue
confusing and nor worthy of much attention, we have to put some records
straight.
“It
is common knowledge that there is a law prohibiting open grazing in Benue state.
When the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the state
was enacted in 2017, the leadership of Miyetti Allah addressed a press
conference and threatened to resist the legislation violently.”
The
BYF further stated that “There were also several threats by a group known as
Fulani Nationality Movement, FUNAM to ensure that there was no peace in Benue
unless the law banning open grazing was repealed.
“We
are all aware that the same Fulani Nationality Movement claimed responsibility
for the attempted assassination of Governor Ortom in March 2021 and several
other threats on his life by the group and Miyetti Allah.
“That
they have resolved to make Benue a killing field as long as the people do not
surrender their land for them to occupy is nothing new, except that little or
nothing has been done by the Federal Government to tame them, despite repeated
calls by Governor Ortom.
“The
Ortom administration has persistently told the herdsmen that they are free to
acquire land and establish ranches if they wanted to rear cattle in Benue, but
they keep insisting that the land belongs to them and there were cattle routes
in Benue hence they must keep grazing openly.
“These
killer-herdsmen who bear sophisticated weapons and carry out nefarious activities
are bent on continually destroying lives and property in our communities and
there seems to be little concern from the federal government to call them to
order.
“Even
as we speak, the group that has been identified as one of the most dangerous
terrorist organizations in the world is still unleashing terror on the people
and has never stopped even for a moment, creating a huge humanitarian crisis in
the state after killing over 5,000 people, destroying property worth billions
of naira and displacing about two million people from their ancestral lands.
“Funnily
enough, these same people who have the blood of innocent women, children and
the elderly on their hands are the ones crying blue murder now. But one thing
is certain; whichever way we look at the situation, these characters value the
lives of animals more than human lives.”
The
statement added that “The Benue Youth Forum therefore wishes to tell the
Miyetti Allah that they are embarking on an exercise in futility as their empty
threats to seek justice at the ICC would remain what they are – futile efforts.
We
also want them to know that the crimes they have committed against humanity in
Benue state and other parts of the country shall not go unpunished.
“They
may be enjoying the sympathy and protection of some powerful persons in
authority now; but that will not be forever, as they shall be brought to
justice sooner or later.
As
the Governor and the entire Benue people have always reiterated, there is no
land for open grazing in the state, so anyone who wants to rear cattle in the
area should go through the normal procedure to acquire lands for ranching.
“We
do not expect the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore to pretend not to be aware that the
Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law of the State is not
targeted at any group or tribe; but seeks to prevent incessant clashes between
farmers and herders.
“The
BYF also calls on security agencies to rise to the occasion as threats such as
the one made by the Miyetti Allah always come with renewed momentum from the
killer-herdsmen as they continue their desperation to kill, main, displace and
occupy our lands.
Source:
Daily Post Nigeria
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Extremist
group claims to have killed four Wagner mercenaries in central Mali
16
August, 2022
An
al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group claimed to have killed four mercenaries
from the Russian private security group Wagner in an ambush in central Mali,
the SITE Intelligence monitoring group said Monday.
The
Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main extremist alliance in the
Sahel, said it ambushed a group of Wagner soldiers on Saturday as they rode
motorcycles in the Bandiagara region from the village of Djallo toward the
mountains, according to a statement by its propaganda arm authenticated by
SITE.
Its
fighters killed four of the group while the rest fled, the statement said.
Two
local elected officials confirmed the incident to AFP, while a senior Malian
army official refused to confirm or deny it.
“Four
Russians were killed over the weekend by [extremists] near Bandiagara,” one of
the local officials, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
A
hospital source in the region also confirmed the “death in combat of four
Russians,” adding that one had “passed through Mopti hospital.”
Russia
has become a close ally of Mali’s ruling junta in its fight against a
long-running extremist insurgency.
The
regime has brought in Russian paramilitary fighters - described by Bamako as
military instructors but by Western nations as mercenaries - to support the
beleaguered armed forces.
Their
deployment was a key factor in prompting France, Mali’s former colonial power
and traditional ally, to pull its military forces out of the country.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Protests
as Ruto declared winner of disputed Kenya vote
August
16, 2022
NAIROBI:
William Ruto was declared the winner of Kenya’s close-fought presidential poll
on a day of high drama Monday, with violent protests in his defeated rival’s
strongholds, claims of rigging and a split in the commission that oversaw the
vote.
As
tensions ran high after his narrow victory in the August 9 race against Raila
Odinga, the 55-year-old president-elect issued a conciliatory message, vowing
to work with “all leaders.”
“There
is no room for vengeance,” said Ruto, who will become Kenya’s fifth president
since independence from Britain in 1963. “I am acutely aware that our country
is at a stage where we need all hands on deck.”
The
dispute will test Kenya’s stability after previous elections in the East
African political and economic powerhouse were blighted by claims of rigging
and vicious bouts of deadly violence.
Ruto
secured 50.49 percent of the vote in his first-ever attempt at the top job,
just ahead of Odinga on 48.85 percent, Independent Electoral and Boundaries
Commission head Wafula Chebukati said after an anxious days-long wait for
results.
He
will succeed his estranged boss President Uhuru Kenyatta, 60, the son of
Kenya’s first post-independence leader, who has served two terms and could not
run again.
But
it was yet another bruising defeat for 77-year-old Odinga, the veteran opposition
leader who had hoped it would be fifth time lucky as he ran with the support of
former foe Kenyatta and the weight of the ruling party machinery behind him.
Odinga
was nowhere to be seen on Monday, but his party agent described the election as
“shambolic,” saying it had been marred by irregularities and mismanagement.
Odinga
has accused his opponents of cheating him out of victory in the 2007, 2013 and
2017 presidential elections, and analysts say it is likely he will appeal to
the Supreme Court over this year’s results.
“It
is not over till it is over,” Odinga’s running mate Martha Karua said on
Twitter.
Chaos
erupted at the IEBC’s national tallying center in Nairobi before the results
were announced, with chairs hurled and scuffles between party rivals.
Four
of the IEBC’s seven commissioners disowned the results, saying the process was
“opaque” but without elaborating.
In
Odinga’s lakeside stronghold of Kisumu, angry supporters took to the streets,
hurling stones, setting fire to tires and building roadblocks, with police
responding with tear gas.
“We
were cheated,” Isaac Onyango, 24, said on a street sealed off by two large
bonfires and broken rock.
Protests
also erupted in slums in Nairobi where Odinga is popular, with police firing
live rounds, although no casualties were reported.
Several
African leaders offered their congratulations to Ruto, while the US embassy in
Kenya reserved its plaudits instead for the people of Kenya and the IEBC.
It
called on party leaders to urge their supporters to refrain from violence, and
for any concerns about the election to be resolved through “existing dispute
resolution mechanisms.”
The
row over the results is likely however to further dent the IEBC’s reputation
after it had faced stinging criticism over its handling of the 2017 election
which was annulled by Kenya’s top court in a historic first for Africa.
Chebukati,
who was also in charge of the IEBC in 2017, insisted he had carried out his
duties according to the law of the land despite facing “intimidation and harassment.”
Despite
a divisive campaign and swirling disinformation, polling day had passed off
generally peacefully.
But
turnout was historically low at around 65 percent of the 22 million registered
voters, with disillusionment over corruption by power-hungry elites prompting
many Kenyans to stay home.
Power
transfers can be fraught in Kenya, and any challenge to the Supreme Court will
leave the country of about 50 million people facing weeks of political
uncertainty.
It
is already struggling with soaring prices, a crippling drought, endemic
corruption and growing disenchantment with the political elite.
Ruto,
a shadowy rags-to-riches businessman, had characterised the vote as a battle
between ordinary “hustlers” and the Kenyatta and Odinga “dynasties” who have
dominated Kenyan politics since independence from Britain in 1963.
With
memories of previous post-poll violence still fresh, Odinga and Ruto had
pledged to accept the outcome of a free and fair election, and air their
grievances in court rather than on the streets.
If
there is no court petition, Ruto will take the oath of office in two weeks’
time.
But
no presidential ballot has gone uncontested in Kenya since 2002.
Any
challenge must be made within seven days to the Supreme Court. The country’s
highest judicial body has a 14-day deadline to issue a ruling, and if it orders
an annulment, a new vote must be held within 60 days.
In
August 2017, the Supreme Court annulled the election after Odinga rejected the
results that gave Kenyatta victory, with dozens of people killed by police in
the protests that followed.
Kenyatta
went on to win the re-run after an opposition boycott.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2143556/world
--------
North
America
Canada
urged to bring in more Afghans facing risk of death from Taliban
Barry
Ellsworth
15.08.2022
TRENTON,
Canada
Canada
came under criticism Monday for the slow pace in bringing Afghan refugees into
the country as the Taliban marks one year since taking back control in the
beleaguered nation.
The
government has brought in 17,300 Afghans who helped the Canadian military in
its battle against the authoritarian Taliban, but that is a far cry from the
40,000 promised, says the head of Aman Lara, a non-profit group of Canadian
veterans and former interpreters working to bring Afghans to safety in Canada.
"When
we were unable to get them out a year ago, it was devastating," said Brian
Macdonald.
"These
people that have helped Canada now have to stand up and go to an office that's
controlled by the Taliban and give their name and address and the dates of
birth of their children," he said. "It's a very dangerous thing to
do."
But
the Canadian government said it has added more staff to process applications
and the country has one of the largest Afghan refugees programs in the world.
"We
can hold our heads up high when we think about our response compared to that of
our allies," Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday, but
she conceded "there is a lot more work to do" and that they
"need to keep on working to bring more people from Afghanistan to
Canada," saying: "That's exactly what we're doing."
Macdonald
also noted that with lives in danger, Canada needs to pick up the pace and get
those Afghans away from the Taliban's grasp and the risk of death.
"A
year ago, we were panicking to get as many people out as possible," he
said. "We all thought — as veterans and other interpreters — that that
window had closed, that the people we didn't get out were stuck in Afghanistan.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Father
and son linked to murders of Muslims in New Mexico
August
15, 2022
NEW
MEXICO: Police in New Mexico have found evidence that appears to tie a father
and son to the killings of Muslim men in New Mexico, federal prosecutors said
on Monday.
Both
Muhammad Syed, 51, and his son Shaheen Syed were in the same area of
Albuquerque shortly after an Aug. 5 murder took place, based on cellphone data,
federal prosecutors said in court documents.
Agents
believe Shaheen Syed observed Aug. 5 murder victim Naeem Hussain attending a
funeral service that day for two other Muslim men who were murdered, based on
FBI analysis of cell tower data.
Shaheen
Syed then followed Hussain to the location where he was gunned down,
prosecutors said in documents for a Monday detention hearing.
“Telephone
calls between Muhammad Atif Syed and the defendant would be consistent with
quick surveillance calls, both before and after the shooting,” federal
prosecutors said, citing an FBI analysis of cell tower data.
The
reference to the defendant is Shaheen Syed, who was arrested last week on
federal firearms charges for providing a false address.
An
attorney representing Shaheen Syed described the latest allegations as
“exceedingly thin and speculative.”
In
a court filing, lawyer John Anderson said federal prosecutors provided no
evidence as to the size of the “general area” the father and son’s phones were
both in shortly after the Aug. 5 murder.
Muhammad
Syed was formally charged with killing Aftab Hussein, 41, on July 26 and
Muhammed Afzaal Hussain, 27, on Aug. 1.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2143391/world
--------
US
Spy Services in Afghanistan Continuing Destructive Actions
2022-August-15
Kazzemi
Qomi made the remarks in a televised interview and in response to a question
about the outcome of the American military forces’ 20-year presence in
Afghanistan for that nation.
The
senior Iranian diplomat reiterated that the US espionage services are still
active in Afghanistan after a year since the American military forces’ escape
from that country now, and said that they are continuing their destructive acts
under various scenarios.
“The
Americans occupied that country for 20 years and led it towards destruction and
extinction of its infrastructures," he added.
Kazzemi
Qomi pointed out that the Americans resorted to mass killing of civilians and
brought to power an incompetent government, and said, "Besides financial
corruption in that government, the Americans did not even permit a professional
and strong army take shape in Afghanistan."
In
relevant remarks in late June, Kazzemi Qomi underlined the necessity for the
settlement of crises and problems in the region through collective cooperation
among the regional states, and underlined that the US presence is not helpful.
The
US presence and plans in the West and South Asia have resulted in nothing but
destruction and displacement for the people of these regions, Kazzemi Qomi
wrote on his twitter page.
The
US does not seem to have learned lessons from Afghanistan yet, he added.
The
US seeks to return to the region by making some promises to some countries in
the region, Kazzemi Qomi said.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.farsnews.ir/en/news/14010524000279/US-Spy-Services-in-Afghanisan-Cnining-Desrcive-Acins
--------
The
Albuquerque murders are a wake-up call for American Muslims about our own
communities
Hafsa
Lodi
“Is
he Sunni or Shia?” It’s one of the questions often asked to us Pakistani,
Muslim women when we inform our elders of our boyfriends – or potential
husbands-to-be. If he doesn’t belong to the same sect that we do, it can be a
dealbreaker for our families (though thankfully my own is more open-minded).
Sometimes it’s just the prospect of marriage that’s killed off – but in extreme
cases, actual, fellow Muslims are killed due to the extremity of these
sectarian sentiments.
Such
may have been the case with 51-year-old Albuquerque resident Muhammad Syed, who
was arrested and charged with the murders of two Muslim men (and is suspected
to have killed two others) last week in New Mexico. Bullet casings from the
crime scenes of two of the murders were linked to a gun found at Syed’s home,
and police stated that “interpersonal conflict” may have been a motive behind
the murders, though unofficial reports claim that he may have been driven by
anti-Shia sentiments after his daughter married a Shia Muslim. (Syed’s daughter
admitted that he wasn’t happy when she married her husband in 2018, but claims
her father is innocent.)
As
always, it’s important to discuss Syed’s case as an individual one, lest we
risk painting all Muslims with a single stroke of extremism. Syed has denied
involvement in the four killings, yet has a history of violence according to
court records. In 2013, a boyfriend of one of his daughters claimed Syed, a
Sunni, attacked him because he belonged to the Shia sect of Islam. He also
allegedly beat his wife and son. None of these arrests led to charges being
held against Syed: twice, the people involved declined to press charges, and
the third time, Syed attended an intervention program.
While
we await confirmation regarding the motives and police investigation, the
curtain has nonetheless opened to reveal the undeniable disharmony that divides
Muslims – not only in the Middle East and Asia, but also here on western soil.
Muslims
are Muslims, you might think, naively. But as Egyptian-American scholar Leila
Ahmed writes in Women and Gender in Islam, different interpretations of Islamic
sources can yield “fundamentally different Islams”. So much so that, as a
Muslim journalist, I find the phrase “Muslim community” in the singular to be
inaccurate and simplistic. Today, there is no sole, uniform community – or
ummah – as much as Muslims would like to lay claim to one.
Muslim
feminist scholar Amina Wadud elucidates this fact in her newly released book,
Once in a Lifetime: “When people say the ‘Muslim ummah’ today, it is just
romantic. We are far too diverse and divided for it to mean what it used to as
a unified collective with a single interpretation of things; things are now far
too complex for such uniformity.”
No
essay or news story can fully unwrap the history or complexities of the
Sunni-Shia schism in Islam, but Islamic sects essentially developed after the
death of the Prophet Muhammad, over disputes about his successors, or caliphs.
There were no “Sunnis” or “Shias” during the lifetime of the Prophet, and later
rulers’ obsessions with locking in specific, standardized,
government-sanctioned interpretations of Islam contrasted vastly with the
pluralism and diversity of thought that defined the faith’s early history.
Today,
there are numerous sects and further groups and schools of thought within each
of these sects. Sunnis remain the overwhelming majority, with an estimated 10
to 13 percent of the world’s Muslims identifying as Shia, according to the Pew
Research Center. I too was raised knowing that my family was categorized as
Sunni – though I personally no longer identify with this label, finding our
tendencies to associate with sectarian factions to be unnecessarily divisive
and sometimes overly dogmatic.
I
also can’t help but feel like centuries-long feuds between Muslim sects are
thoroughly counterproductive to proving that at its core, Islam is a religion
of peace – a pursuit that drives many modern-day American Muslims like myself.
When
Albuquerque, New Mexico first started making headlines for its string of Muslim
murder victims, the initial assumption was that these were anti-Muslim hate
crimes influenced by Islamophobia. Why else would anyone kill Muslims in
America, a country to which many Muslims fled after experiencing religious
persecution within their own countries? Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi
Arabia – attacks, arrests and general mistreatment of minority sects take place
unchecked in many of these Muslim-majority countries. But the US isn’t a place
we’d expect to see such intra-faith violence.
Oftentimes
we view Islamophobia to be the main concern of Muslims in the west — but if you
ask me, these sectarian animosities are more divisive, dangerous and
destabilizing to our communities. Especially post-9/11, Muslims tend to
collectively sweep the faults, issues and injustices within our communities
under the rug, fed up with the scrutiny and surveillance we already face
because of our hijabs, our beards, our dark skin and our countries of origin.
Sharing and spreading news of a Muslim man’s arrest for murders of fellow
Muslims is the last thing we want to do when still in “damage control” mode
from a terrorist attack that occurred more than two decades ago.
Yet,
I’m thankful that Muslim social media accounts are highlighting the fact that
the Albuquerque murders may have been instigated by anti-Shia motives. Accounts
like @Muslim and @MuslimGirl are not shying away from publicizing this news,
but are instead posting it online and encouraging dialogue among Muslims.
Yesterday
was Pakistan’s 75th Independence Day, and while I wore green with the rest of
my family, I can’t help but feel that there isn’t much to celebrate about my
country of origin, which is replete with religious extremism and targeted
violence against religious minorities, particularly against Shia Hazara and
Ahmadi communities. Every few days, local news stories detail attacks on these
groups at the hands of fundamentalist factions. But we tend to become
desensitized when violence occurs far away, “back home” in remote villages and
districts with which we no longer have personal ties.
To
celebrate Pakistan’s Independence day, Pakistani blogger Naveen designed a
T-shirt in collaboration with Seed Out, a charity that’s raising funds for its
interfaith campaign. The design features “Pakistan” written vertically as an
Acrostic poem, with eight of its religions – Muslim sects like Shia, Sunni and
Ismaili, along with Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Parsi, listed horizontally. In
the same spirit of this T-shirt, it’s up to my generation of Muslims to abandon
age-old prejudices regarding sects, practice tolerance and embrace religious
pluralism – including pluralistic interpretations of a single faith.
At
the very least, the Albuquerque murders – the fact that the suspected
perpetrator is Muslim, and that he may have been motivated by sectarian
sentiments – should serve as a wakeup call for fellow Muslims, in America and
beyond. It’s time to urgently abandon the harmful prejudices, the classism and
the chauvinistic attitudes that we might inherit from our families, even while
living in the supposedly liberal “land of the free.”
Source:
Independent UK
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US
acknowledges direct talks with Syrian regime over imprisoned journalist
Michael
Hernandez
15.08.2022
WASHINGTON
The
US has held direct talks with the Syrian regime in an effort to secure the
release of detained American journalist Austin Tice, the State Department
announced on Monday.
Tice
has been held in captivity in Syria for 10 years, and State Department
spokesman Ned Price said Washington has "directly engaged Syrian officials
to seek to effect Austin's return home to his family."
Price
declined to comment on the specifics of the US engagement, including at what
levels the efforts have taken place, but said "we will pursue every
opportunity to engage if we feel it has the potential to bring Austin
home."
Tice
was abducted near Damascus, Syria on Aug. 14, 2012 while covering the country’s
civil war as a freelance journalist for multiple US news organizations. A
decade later, he has yet to be released and returned to his hometown of
Houston, Texas.
On
Sept. 26, 2012, nearly six weeks after his abduction, a video emerged showing
Tice blindfolded and detained by a group of unidentified armed men. To this
day, however, no one has claimed responsibility for his capture.
US
President Joe Biden said on Aug. 10 that the US knows "with
certainty" that Tice "has been held by the Syrian regime."
Source:
Anadolu Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
India
India’s
‘salaried class’ shrank during Covid, Muslims hit hardest, govt data suggests
NIKHIL
RAMPAL
16
August, 2022
New
Delhi: There’s much to lament in India’s post-Covid job market, where recovery
has been painfully slow. However, government data suggests that when it comes
to the salaried sector, the participation of religious minorities — Muslims,
Sikhs, and Christians, in that order — has been most gravely affected.
The
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation’s latest Periodic Labour
Force Survey (PLFS) — covering the period from July 2020 to June 2021 and released
earlier this year — at least partly captures the impact of lockdowns, and their
immediate aftermath, on salaried jobs across sectors.
The
survey defines “regular/salaried employees” as “persons who worked in others’
farm or non-farm enterprises (both household and non-household)” and, in
return, received salary or wages on a regular basis (i.e. not on the basis of
daily or periodic renewal of work contracts). This category includes paid
apprentices, both full-time and part-time.
According
to the data, during 2020-21, the share of India’s salaried class in the
workforce shrank by almost 2 percentage points. In 2019-20, about 23 per cent
of the workforce earned a regular salary or wage, but in 2020-21, only 21 per
cent did.
But
to get a better idea of the effect of lockdowns, older data is instructive.
Since
the survey is conducted between July and June every year, the 2019-20 survey
includes values from the April-June 2020 quarter, when the most severe lockdown
was in force.
In
the year prior to that, the share of the salaried class in India’s labour force
had actually risen by one percentage point, from 22.8 in 2017-18 to 23.8 in
2018-19. Hence, if we factor in all this data, it could be surmised that
India’s salaried class has shrunk by 2.7 percentage points during the years
that the economy reeled under the pandemic.
A
closer look at the data, however, suggests that some religious minorities were
disproportionately affected, with Muslims being most so.
When
gender is factored in, the picture grows even bleaker, with the data indicating
that women’s participation in the salaried sector has witnessed significant
declines across religions.
“India’s
marginalised communities are most vulnerable to uncertainties — the pandemic
has just proved that,” Archana Prasad, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru
University’s Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies, told ThePrint.
“Only
those who had the opportunity to work from home and had access to the internet
and other amenities survived the pandemic job crash. As a result, [people
belonging to] marginalised communities were automatically pulled out from the
formal sector and forced to look for work elsewhere to survive,” she said,
adding that “discrimination” as a factor was also likely.
Further,
Prasad also believes that the PLFS numbers misrepresent the actual employment
landscape because its definition of the “salaried class” includes jobs that
don’t offer social security (pension/ Provident Fund), paid leave, or written
contracts. Many jobs that are counted as “salaried”, she argued, could come
under the informal sector, which employs the most vulnerable sections of
society.
Muslims,
women most affected
According
to the survey, the share of Muslims who were earning a regular salary fell from
22.1 per cent in 2018-19 to 17.5 per cent in 2020-21— a drop of almost 5
percentage points. What this means is that for every 100 Muslims who were
working, there were now five fewer among them doing a regular salary-paying
job.
In
the same period, the share of Sikhs employed in the salaried sector went down
by 4.5 percentage points, from 28.5 per cent in 2018-19 to 24 per cent in
2020-21. For Christians, the drop was 3.2 percentage points, from 31.2 per cent
to 28 per cent.
Compared
to these minorities, Hindu workers in salaried jobs fared relatively better,
with their share shrinking by ‘only’ 2.3 percentage points, from 23.7 in
2018-19 to 21.4 in 2020-21.
But
the declining participation in the salaried sector is starkest among women,
cutting across communities.
On
average, the share of men in the salaried class dropped by about 1.7 percentage
points (from 24.4 per cent in 2018-19 to 22.7 per cent in 2020-21), but the
share of women fell by a much steeper 4.5 percentage points (from 21.9 per cent
to 17.4 per cent).
This
trend was pronounced among religious minorities, too.
The
drop in the share of salaried Sikh men fell by 2.7 percentage points (from 26.8
per cent in 2018-19 to 24.1 percent in 2020-21), but for women it was by 12
percentage points (from 35.6 per cent to
23.7 per cent).
Among
Muslims, the share of men earning a salary fell by 4 percentage points (from
22.4 per cent to 18.4 per cent), but for women, it was 8 percentage points
(from 20.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent).
For
Christians, the salaried class shrank by 1.7 percentage points for men (from
28.7 per cent to 27 percent) and by 6.2 percentage points for women (from 36.1
per cent to 29.9 per cent).
In
2018-19, about 21.3 per cent of the surveyed Hindu women had a salary/
wage-paying job, which dropped by four percentage points to 17.3 per cent by
2020-21. Hindu men, on the other hand, saw a mere 1.3 percentage point drop in
the same period, from 24.5 per cent to 23.2 per cent.
Where
did all the salaried workers go?
Many
among those who left, or had no choice but to leave, salaried jobs became
self-employed — either in their own enterprises or as “helpers in household
enterprises”, the report said
In
2018-19, about 52.1 per cent of employed Indians were self-employed, and by
2020-21 the share of this category of workers had swollen to 55.6 per cent.
It
should be noted, though, that the term “self-employed” here does not
necessarily translate to entrepreneurship. Much of the gain in this sector is
down to greater numbers of “helpers”, which the survey defines as those who
work for a household enterprise but may not necessarily be given a wage (for
instance, a son helping his father run a shop).
In
2018-19, the share of “own account workers” (self-employed workers who do not
hire paid employees) formed 38.8 per cent of the employed workforce, falling
slightly to 38.2 per cent by 2020-21. However, the helpers’ category accounted
for 17.3 per cent of the workforce in 2020-21, up from only 13.3 per cent in
2018-19.
What
experts say about Muslims’ employment
The
shrinking of the salaried class among Muslims was the starkest across religius
communities. While it is difficult to pinpoint why this is the case, some
experts conjecture that this could be due to Muslims facing the first cut in an
already stressed post-pandemic job market.
In
an article for ThePrint in April 2020, Asim Ali, a researcher at the Centre for
Policy Research, had argued that the pandemic worsened the well-documented
economic marginalisation of Muslims in India — and especially so in the
informal sector at a time when misinformation was being spread about how the
community was supposedly perpetuating infections.
This
year, too, there have also been a few calls for economic boycotts of Muslims,
including a campaign targeting mango traders from the community, and another
calling for a ban on them in temple fairs (both these instances were in
Karnataka).
According
to Prasad, it appears as if discriminatory attitudes towards Muslims have
permeated most sectors. “This ideology is neither being countered by the political
class nor by the business class. The discrimination in hiring has always been
stark, but post pandemic, it has intensified,” she claimed.
Source:
The Print
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Ismailis
lead the march of communities to celebrate 76th Independence Day
Aug
15, 2022
Drumbeats
resonated in their hearts even as their fingers flew on the bagpipes.
These
children predominantly belong to the Ismaili (Khoja Muslim) community,
registered with the Bharat Scouts and Guides musical band, which had organised
a parade with members of diverse communities to commemorate the 75th
Independence Day anniversary on Monday.
A
lane in Hasnabad came alive as around 150 members from the community marched from
Aga Khan 1 Hasan Ali Shah mausoleum at Mazgaon. They offered the first
traditional “salami” to the national flag and the Bharat Scouts and Guides flag
here.
The
fervour on display inspired members of other communities to join in as well, as
the scouts marched from Hasnabad to Maharana Chowk junction, where they saluted
the statue of Maharana Pratap.
The
Ismaili community has had a time-honoured tradition of enrolling kids as scouts
and guides, who eventually play in a band. This, observed a member of the
community, on condition of annonymity, is in keeping with the community’s
spirit of volunteerism. “It teaches them to go beyond themselves and work for
others. With their sense of individualism riding high, the scouts and guides
put others before themselves, which prepares them to face the world better,” he
said. He added that the kids are enrolled at three when they are taught
different life skills.
“We
instil discipline and confidence through camps, which helps dispel their stage
fright. All these skills are a crucial part of the training and indeed become
essential life lessons,” he added.
The
spirit of togetherness and brotherhood among communities was also on display in
a rally organised by Vishwas Utagi and Jamat-e-Islami Hind, where over 1000
residents, predominantly Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Hindus and
Christians, joined in a solidarity march in Dadar (West).
Fr
Frazer Mascarenhas, parish priest, at St Peter’s church in Bandra who
participated in the rally told HT, “We are celebrating 75 years of our
independence but our freedom can never be taken for granted. So, it does look
like we need to defend the constitution and secular values, and dignity for
every Indian citizen.” Fr Mascarenhas expressed concern towards the increasing
polarisation of people in the country. “We are people from different religious
backgrounds and we stand for the constitution and are ready to defend it,” he
added.
Fr
Calistus Fernandes, of Our Lady of Salvation, commonly called the Portuguese
church in Dadar added, “It isn’t a religious festival. It is our country’s
festival today. We are experiencing a decay in the freedom we used to enjoy. We
need to strive towards four goals of the UN -- freedom of speech, freedom from
division, wants and fear. I would like to remind people through this rally that
we need to protect this freedom and remain fearful.”
Bhikshu
Vidhaten Mather, president, Bhiku Sangh Mumbai, a Buddhist monk, too joined the
rally along with other monks from his tribe to stress on various issues faced
by the scheduled castes and tribes. They walked from Veer Kotwal Garden, near
Plaza Theatre to Chaitya Bhoomi in Shivaji Park.
Shabbir
Bhopalwalla, representative of Dawoodi Bohra community in the central PR
department, who represented his community, said, “People from all faiths lived
in harmony in the past and will continue to do so. The Bohra community firmly
owes its allegiance to the country they live in. We consider it our duty.
Bohras in Iran or other countries will remain loyal to the country they live in
but we as Indians will always be loyal to India.”
Santok
Singh Rathore, who represented the Sikh community, expressed, that the
objective of this march was to display a spirit of oneness among all religious
groups.
Source:
Hindustan Times
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pakistan
Nawaz
to end exile, back in Pakistan this Sept: PML-N
Aug
16, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claimed Monday that the party’s chief
and former three-time PM Nawaz Sharif would return to the country in September,
ending a self-imposed exile in London on medical grounds.
Saying
injustice was done to Nawaz, minister and party stalwart Javed Latif told
reporters that PML-N that leads a coalition government in Pakistan would not
let him to go back to jail upon his return. The government is considering
relevant legislation to ease the party chief’s return.
Nawaz
was sentenced by an accountability court in 2018 to seven years in prison for
corruption. The same year, he was also sentenced to a total of 11 years in
prison and slapped an £8-million fine (Rs 1.3 billion) in the Avenfield
properties reference.
In
2019, the Lahore high court suspended his sentence and allowed him to go abroad
for medical treatment. Subsequently, he went to London in November 2019 and
never returned to Pakistan since then.
Latif
said a level playing field in Pakistani politics was impossible without the
PML-N supremo’s presence in the country. Criticising former PM Imran Khan, the
minister asked whether those (army generals) who had removed Nawaz and
facilitated Imran’s rise to power had still not learned their lesson.
“Some
people (a reference to top military officers), are still pulling his (Imran’s)
strings today. We know everything,” the minister said.
Responding
to a question, Latif said PML-N did not want friendship or enmity with those
(military establishment) who “made and broke governments” and the party had a
clear stand that it wanted all institutions, including politicians, to operate
within their legal and constitutional limits.
Interior
(home) minister Rana Sanaullah had said the coalition government might make
certain amendments that would help repeal the life-time ban imposed by the
Supreme Court on Nawaz in the Panama Papers case against him.
Source:
Times Of India
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
IHC
to form larger bench to hear PTI’s plea against prohibited funding verdict
Tahir
Naseer
August
16, 2022
The
Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday decided to form a larger bench to hear
the PTI’s plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) judgement in
the prohibited funding case.
IHC
Acting Chief Justice Aamer Farooq presided over today’s hearing during which
PTI’s lawyer Anwar Mansoor was also present.
Mansoor
said that the party had challenged the electoral watchdog’s “fact- finding
report” in the case.
He
went on to argue that money was transferred from the main account to the
provinces, saying that it was not necessary to disclose the details.
Mansoor
urged the court to ensure that no action is taken as far as the notice to the
party is concerned.
“A
larger bench will take up the matter,” Justice Farooq remarked. Subsequently,
the court fixed the matter before a larger bench and adjourned the hearing for
August 18 (Thursday).
Prohibited
funding saga
Earlier
this month, the ECP, in a unanimous verdict, had ruled that the party did receive
millions of dollars of funds from 351 foreign companies and 34 foreign
nationals, including a US-Indian businesswoman, and ordered the issuance of a
notice to the PTI, seeking an explanation as to why the prohibited funds it
received should not be forfeited.
A
three-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikander (CEC)
Sultan Raja announced the verdict in a case filed by PTI founding member Akbar
S. Babar which had been pending since November 14, 2014.
Read:
Who contributed to PTI’s prohibited funds?
The
ECP also said the party had only owned eight accounts before the commission and
declared 13 accounts to be unknown. The commission noted that the party also
failed to mention three accounts which were also being operated by the party’s
senior leadership.
The
verdict also stated that the PTI chairman submitted Form-I for five years
(between 2008-2013) which was found to be “grossly inaccurate on the basis of
the financial statements obtained by this commission from SBP and other
material available on record”.
The
PTI said the verdict vindicated its stance that it never received foreign
funding, but could be a case of prohibited funding, while the government
considered the decision a “charge sheet” against “crimes” of the party and its
chief Imran Khan.
Last
week, the party had moved the IHC against the ECP’s judgement in the prohibited
funding case against the party.
The
main petition filed by the party stated that the Supreme Court had examined the
matter and referred it back to the ECP for scrutiny of the accounts of all
political parties, including the PTI. “Sadly, only PTI was targeted.”
Filed
by PTI Additional General Secretary Omar Ayub, the case against PTI pertains to
an allegation of receiving “funds from prohibited source”
The
petition said, “the party explained and reconciled each and every account
through a financial expert, orally as also by submitting a written financial
summary, reconciling each and every transaction and, explaining all amounts
received with its reconciliation with the audited accounts. However, in
complete disregard to all the submissions and without giving any reasoning for
such disregard the respondent [ECP] passed the impugned fact finding report”.
The
petition pointed out the ECP is not complete “in the absence of the total
number of members as defined in the Constitution and deficient representation
from all provinces? If so, does it not disenfranchise the provincial
representation on the ECP as envisaged by the Constitution of Pakistan
permitting manipulation and outside political interference in the work of the
ECP?”
Ayub
said ECP had not considered, not even rebutted, the information provided by PTI
and “acted with sheer mala fide, without application of mind and has based its
findings on fabricated facts, which were aimed to harm and tarnish the
political image of the petitioner”.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
US,
Pakistan discuss options for Gen Bajwa’s visit to DC
Anwar
Iqbal
August
16, 2022
WASHINGTON:
The United States and Pakistani officials are considering various options for
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Bajwa to visit the United States in late
August or early September, diplomatic sources told Dawn.
“A
date will soon be finalized,” a source said. Since the visit has not yet been
officially confirmed, neither side has announced the agenda of the talks Gen
Bajwa is likely to hold in Washington.
But
diplomatic circles and think-tank experts point out that both sides have been
trying to arrange such a visit for more than a year now. They also refer to
various recent events and statements that might be discussed if and when Gen
Bajwa visits Washington.
“We
remain engaged with a range of stakeholders in Pakistan, (including) those
currently in the government” and with “a broad array of others,” the
department’s spokesperson Ned Price said.
Last
month, Gen Bajwa reached out to Washington to request help in securing an early
disbursement of funds from the IMF. He spoke with US Deputy Secretary of State
Wendy Sherman and later a State Department official rejected media speculations
that the call was linked to the current political situation in Pakistan.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1705147/us-pakistan-discuss-options-for-gen-bajwas-visit-to-dc
--------
Imran
distances himself from Gill's remarks, calls them 'wrong'
August
15, 2022
PTI
chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan has distanced himself from his
chief of staff Shahbaz Gill's controversial remarks aired on ARY News earlier
this month, admitting that they were "wrong" and should not have been
uttered.
Gill
was arrested last week at Banigala Chowk in the capital after a video clip of
his controversial remarks, aired on ARY News, went viral on social media. Later
in the day, he was booked on charges of sedition and inciting the public
against the state institutions. He is currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail in
Rawalpindi.
In
an interview with journalist Fereeha M Idrees on GNN News today, Imran said:
"He [Gill] shouldn't have said it because it falls under instigating the
army [...] it is completely right [...] we want to see army as a strong
institution."
However,
the PTI chief contended that statements against the establishment were also
passed by coalition government leaders Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maryam Nawaz,
Ayaz Sadiq, Nawaz Sharif and others in the past.
"But
what happened with them?"
Imran
said he was "extremely upset" with the treatment meted out at Gill in
prison. "It is extremely painful. I didn't even know this [...] Our
lawyers told us that his clothes were stripped off and he was beaten up.
"They
are torturing and trying to mentally break him. And they are forcing him to
give statements against Imran Khan," the ex-premier alleged, adding that
if "Imran has to say something, he will say it himself [...] he doesn't
need Shahbaz Gill for that".
He
further revealed that Gill was asked about "Imran and Lieutenant General
Faiz Hameed's meetings".
Propaganda
campaign against PTI
Imran
also claimed that everything that happened with Gill was a conspiracy to
"scare PTI supporters" and "create an impression that PTI is
against the army and martyrs".
"This
propaganda campaign was created in the prime minister's cell," he alleged,
adding that the closure of ARY News was also part of the conspiracy.
"This
is all their plan to shut my supporters," the former prime minister
pointed out, continuing that the same was being done with YouTubers who spoke
up in support of him.
"Their
aim is to make a treason case against us and create misunderstanding between
the army and PTI because we are the only party that represents all of the
provinces."
Gill’s
controversial comments
Earlier
this week, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) issued a
show-cause notice to ARY News for airing comments from Gill, that it said were
“highly hateful and seditious” remarks tantamount to “incite armed forces
towards revolt”.
The
notice stated that Gill was invited via a telephonic call for his comments and
during his talk with the channel, Gill had alleged that the government was
trying to provoke the lower and middle tier of the army against the PTI, saying
the families of such “rank and file” support Imran Khan and his party “which is
fuelling rage within the government”.
He
had also alleged that the “strategic media cell” of the ruling PML-N was
spreading false information and fake news to create divisions between PTI chief
Imran Khan and the armed forces.
Gill
had said the government leaders, including Javed Latif, Defence Minister
Khawaja Asif and former National Assembly speaker Ayaz Sadiq, had lambasted the
army in the past “and they were at the government positions now”.
“The
statement made by the guest on ARY News is a violation of Article 19 of the
Constitution as well as Pemra laws. Airing of such content on your news channel
shows either weak editorial control on the content or the licensee is
intentionally indulged in providing its platform to such individuals who intend
to spread malice and hatred against state institutions for their vested
interests,” the watchdog stated.
Source:
Dawn
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.dawn.com/news/1705037/imran-distances-himself-from-gills-remarks-calls-them-wrong
--------
Militant
behind JUI-F leader’s assassination killed in N. Waziristan: ISPR
August
15, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan Army Monday killed a militant who masterminded the assassination of a
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader in an intelligence-based operation
(IBO) it conducted in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan District, said the
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Qari
Sami-ud-Din and his colleague, Hafiz Numan Dawar, were on their way home in
Eidek village in July when their car was ambushed on Bichi Road. Both died on
the spot. At the time, relatives said Sami-ud-Din had no feud with anyone.
On
Monday, the ISPR said that during the operation, an intense exchange of fire
took place between the troops and a group of terrorists, following which the
militant was shot dead.
Weapons
and ammunition were also recovered from the dead terrorist, the statement said.
The
slain man remained actively involved in plotting attacks against security
forces and killing of civilians, the statement said.
Source:
Pakistan Today
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Sharif
offers condolences over deaths in Egypt church fire
August
15, 2022
ISLAMABAD:
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the loss of lives after a
fire ripped through a packed Coptic Orthodox church during morning services in
Egypt’s capital on Sunday, quickly filling it with thick black smoke and
killing 41 worshippers.
The
blaze started just before 9:00 am in the Abu Sifin church in the city of Giza
where about up to 1,000 people had gathered.
The
fire blocked an entrance to the church, causing the stampede, the two sources
told Reuters, adding that most of those killed were children.
The
prime minister, on behalf of the people of Pakistan, extended his condolences
to Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and the families of the deceased, his
office said on Monday.
Sharif
also prayed for the speedy recovery of the wounded.
Electrical
fires are not rare in Egypt. But Sunday’s blaze was one of the worst fire
tragedies in recent years in Egypt, where safety standards and fire regulations
are poorly enforced.
Source:
Pakistan Today
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Arab
World
Hamas
Calls for Formation of United Front Against Israel After Aggression on Syria
2022-August-15
Hazem
Qassem, a spokesman for Hamas, said in a statement that the “terrorist Zionist
occupation” is expanding its aggression against the Palestinian people
following its latest wave of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip, the deliberate
killing of civilians, assassination operations in the West Bank, and the
incursions into Al-Aqsa Mosque, presstv reported.
“It
has now committed a new act of aggression through the barbaric bombardment of the
brotherly Arab Republic of Syria,” Qassem said.
He
underscored that the ongoing and extended Zionist terrorism in the Middle East
region must be confronted by means of a unified stance from all forces within
the Muslim world.
“Regional
nations should stand up to the regime and end such crimes,” Qassem said.
Syria’s
official news agency SANA said on Sunday that Israeli missile attacks took
place at 8:50 pm local time (1750 GMT) and targeted “some points” in the
countryside near the capital, Damascus, and the coastal province of Tartous.
Syrian
air defense forces confronted the “aggressions” and downed some of the
missiles, SANA reported, citing an unnamed military source.
“The
aggression led to the death of three soldiers, the wounding of three others,” it
added.
The
attacks on Damascus were carried out from the direction of Southeast Beirut,
while the attacks on Tartous came from the Mediterranean Sea.
In
addition to the deaths, the attacks caused some “material damage”, the military
source told SANA.
Syria
has been in the grip of foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian
government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies aid
Takfiri terrorist groups that continue to wreak havoc in the country.
Israel
frequently targets military positions inside Syria, especially those of the
Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah which has played a key role in helping
the Syrian army in its fight against foreign-backed terrorists.
The
Tel Aviv regime rarely comments on its cowardly attacks on Syrian territories,
which many see as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s success in
confronting and decimating terrorism.
Source:
Fars News Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Pro-Iran
Shia bloc resume efforts in forming new Iraqi cabinet
15
August, 2022
Pro-Iran
Shia factions gathered under the banner of the Coordination Framework launched
"a new initiative" toward Iraqi Sunnis and Kurds in a bid to form a
new government after ten months of a political stalemate.
Shia
politician and head of the Fatih Alliance, Hadi al-Amiri, has been authorised
by the Coordination Framework to negotiate with all the Iraqi sides to
accelerate establishing a new cabinet.
Al-Amiri
visited the Iraqi Kurdistan region on Sunday, where he met with heads of
several ruling and opposition Kurdish parties, including Masoud Barzani, head
of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), in Erbil's Salahadin.
"Both
sides emphasized that political parties should step forward to end the
political deadlock and make efforts to end the political crisis,"
according to a statement from Barzani's office.
On
the same day, Amiri also met with Bafel Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), another Kurdish ruling party.
"The
meeting focused on unifying national efforts to find constitutional and legal
frameworks to escape Iraq's unwanted situation. The two sides agreed to
continue discussions and constructive dialogue to overcome the dispute,"
reads a statement by PUK's media platform.
"Amiri
came with an initiative of starting a national dialogue among all the Iraqi
political sides, the Kurds accepted that," Mohammed Hawrami, a Kurdish
political observer told The New Arab.
"Barzani
has told Amiri that his party is ready to attend future sessions of the
parliament and participate in the upcoming Iraqi government, if KDP's rival,
the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), changes its formal candidate for Iraq's
presidency," Hawrami added.
Barham
Salih, Iraq's incumbent president is PUK's candidate for Iraq's presidency.
Amiri
also met with the speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohammed al-Halbousi.
Ahmed
Haji Rashid, a former Iraqi lawmaker from the Islamic Justice Group, told TNA
that Sadr and his pro-Iran Shia rivals eventually will reach an agreement via a
third party to establish a new cabinet if guarantees are given to Sadr that
current officials from the Sadr Movement in Mustafa al-Kadhimi's caretaker
government remain in their positions.
Iraq
held its first-ever early election on 10 October 2021, in which Muqtada
al-Sadr's bloc won a majority with 73 seats.
After
10 months, however, different Iraqi factions have yet to agree on naming a
president and forming a government capable of making reforms.
Since
the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the country has been marred with a
proportional (Muhasasa) ruling system, in which the Shia hold the PM, the
Sunnis run the parliament speaker post and the Kurds run the presidency.
Failed
to form a government free of Iran-backed parties that have dominated many state
institutions for years, Sadr ordered all 74 of his lawmakers – around a quarter
of the parliament – to resign in June.
Divisions
between Sadr and the Iran-aligned groups and Kurds vying for the post of Iraqi
president have already forced the country into its second-longest period
without an elected government.
Early
this month, supporters of Sadr stormed the Iraqi parliament in an attempt to
hinder the Coordination Framework in appointing Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani for the
prime minister's post.
Last
week Sadr said that by the end of this week, the Iraqi judiciary should
dissolve the parliament. However, the Supreme Judicial Council, Iraq's top
court, said Sunday it does not have the authority to dissolve the country's
parliament.
Salih
Mohmmed al-Iraqi, a controversial personality on Twitter thought to be close to
Sadr, called on supporters yesterday to organise a million-person rally on
Saturday to ask for dissolving the parliament.
Source:
The New Arab
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/pro-iran-shia-bloc-resume-efforts-form-new-iraqi-cabinet
--------
Base
housing US occupation troops, allied militants in SE Syria comes under drone
attack
15
August 2022
A
military base in southeastern Syria near the borders with Jordan and Iraq,
where US occupation troops and their allied Takfiri militants are stationed,
has come under attack by armed unmanned aerial vehicles.
The
US military said in a statement that the attack took place in the vicinity of
al-Tanf base, adding that there were no reports of casualties or damage. There
was also no claim of responsibility for the air raid.
The
statement asserted that American forces in coordination with the US-backed and
so-called Maghawir al-Thawra terrorists “responded to an attack by multiple
unmanned aerial systems in the vicinity of al-Tanf Garrison” on Monday.
It
said US troops engaged one of the drones preventing its impact while a second
one detonated within the compound run by the Takfiri militants. The other
attempted drone strikes were apparently not successful.
Last
month, the US military purportedly armed allied Takfiri terrorists in
southeastern Syria with the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
(HIMARS).
Maghawir
al-Thawra terrorists published a picture, showing the launch of HIMARS units
during military exercises in the strategic al-Tanf region.
The
militant group said that the launch showed its members' skills and capability
to defend themselves against any potential attack, apparently referring to an
earlier Russian raid that targeted them in al-Tanf region.
The
development came a few days after anti-Damascus Takfiri militants conducted
joint military exercises with American forces in al-Tanf region.
The
drills purportedly included sniper training exercises, direct ground combat,
strike operations with various types of missiles and rockets, in addition to
training courses on raising awareness and drawing up military plans.
The
M142 HIMARS system is a modernized, lighter and more agile wheel-mounted
version of the track-mounted M270 MLRS developed in the 1970s for US and allied
forces.
HIMARS
units carry one preloaded pod of six 227mm guided missiles (the M270 carries
two pods), or one large pod loaded with an Army Tactical Missile System
(ATACMS) tactical missile.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Saudi
Crown Prince leads washing ceremony of Holy Kaaba in Mecca
16
August, 2022
Saudi
Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Tuesday led the annual washing ceremony
of the Holy Kaaba on behalf of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Press
Agency reported.
The
Crown Prince was accompanied by a number of dignitaries and carried out the
ceremony, which is part of the tradition set by Prophet Mohammed, after
performing prayers.
He
was accompanied by Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki, Minister of
Sports and was welcomed by the President of the General Presidency for the
Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques Dr. Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz al-Sudais, the
SPA said in a statement.
In
a video shared by SPA on Twitter, the Crown Prince was seen carrying a cloth
and cleaning the inner walls.
“Following
that, the Crown Prince performed two Rakaas as per the tradition of Prophet
Mohammed,” the statement added.
Maintaining
the Holy Kaaba is an important and delicate ritual and cleaning is done based
on traditions.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Egypt’s
deadly church fire sparks global outpouring of sorrow and sympathy
August
16, 2022
CAIRO:
On Sunday, thick smoke and the sound of screams engulfed the Imbaba
neighborhood of Cairo as fire broke out in the Abu Sifin church in the
working-class district west of the Nile River.
Many
of the 5,000 worshippers who had gathered for a peaceful mass at the Coptic
church were forced to throw themselves from windows on to the street below.
By
the time emergency services were able to respond and extinguish the blaze, 41
people, including 15 children, had died and 14 were left injured.
Later
that day, hundreds gathered to pay their respects in and around two churches in
the Giza governorate of greater Cairo, where clergymen prayed for the victims.
Pallbearers
pushed through crowds of weeping mourners who reached out to touch the coffins,
including that of a priest at the church, Father Abdel-Messih Bekhit.
In
an earlier statement, the Coptic Orthodox Church said that the fire broke out
during the divine liturgy at the building in the north of Giza, and that
several worshippers were transferred to the Imbaba and Agouza hospitals.
The
following morning, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that he had
“mobilized all state services” in response and, later, that he had “presented
his condolences by phone” to Pope Tawadros II, head of the Coptic Orthodox
Church.
The
Egyptian leader also directed the Armed Forces Engineering Authority to “take
over the reconstruction and renovation” of the church, the presidency said in a
statement.
Witnesses
to the fire described people rushing into the multi-story church to save those
trapped, but the rescuers were soon overwhelmed by heat and deadly smoke.
“Everyone
was carrying kids out of the building,” said Ahmed Reda Baioumy, who lives next
to the church. “But the fire was getting bigger and you could only go in once
or you would asphyxiate.”
Another
witness, Sayed Tawfik, told AFP news agency that “some threw themselves out of
windows to escape the fire.” He pointed to a car bearing dents “left by a
person who is now lying in the hospital with a broken arm and back.”
A
statement from the public prosecutor’s office suggested that the deaths were
caused by asphyxiation, as there were “no visible injuries.”
The
Egyptian interior ministry said that “forensic evidence revealed that the blaze
broke out in an air-conditioning unit on the second floor of the church
building,” which also houses social services.
Father
Farid Fahmy, from a nearby church, said a short circuit caused the fire.
“The
power was out and they were using a generator,” he said. “When the power came
back, it caused an overload.”
Accidental
fires are not uncommon in the sprawling city of Cairo, where millions live in
informal settlements. Last year, at least 20 people died in a blaze in a
clothing factory on the outskirts of the capital.
Following
the Abu Sifin church fire, Giza’s governor ordered “urgent aid of 50,000 pounds
(around $2,600) for the families of the deceased and 10,000 pounds for the
injured.”
Prosecutor-General
Hamada El-Sawy said that the public prosecution authority had completed its
investigation into the fire and found that the victims died of smoke
inhalation.
The
interior ministry confirmed that the blaze was caused by an electrical fault in
the air-conditioning system on the second floor of the church building, which
includes a number of classrooms.
Mostafa
Madbouly, Egypt’s prime minister, directed the minister of social solidarity to
pay compensation of EGP100,000 to victims’ families and a maximum of EGP20,000
to those injured.
Copts
are the largest Christian community in the Middle East, making up around 10
percent of Egypt’s 107 million Muslim-majority population. They justifiably
claim to be the original Egyptians, with their liturgical language descended
directly from the language of the pharaohs. Many Copts can trace their heritage
back to ancient Egypt.
For
many, the fire brought back painful memories of deadly attacks by Islamist
extremists, including a bombing at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral that killed
25 people in 2016 and a gunman who killed nine worshippers at another church
the following year.
Copts
have lived through times of both harmony and adversity throughout much of
Egypt’s long history. In the 20th century, many were pushed out of political
life. Others have deplored restrictive legislation for the construction and
renovation of churches.
El-Sisi,
who was elected in 2014, became the first Egyptian president to attend the
Coptic Christmas mass every year. In February, he appointed the first-ever
Coptic judge to head the Supreme Constitutional Court, the country’s highest
legal body.
Muslim
religious officials in Egypt expressed their condolences to the grieving Coptic
community.
Al-Azhar’s
Grand Imam Ahmed Al-Tayeb pledged to aid the families of the victims and is
coordinating cash payouts with various NGOs. He also sent a message of support
to Pope Tawadros II.
“Al-Azhar
and its scholars and sheikhs all stand by their brothers in this tragic
accident and extend their sincere condolences to the families of the victims,”
he said, and affirmed “the readiness of Al-Azhar hospitals to receive the
injured.”
The
tragedy resulted in an outpouring of support from across Egypt and the world.
In a statement, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres offered his “deepest
condolences” to families of the victims.
King
Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia offered their
condolences to El-Sisi and the victims’ families. They expressed “profound
sorrow and sincere sympathy,” and wished the injured a “quick recovery.”
The
UAE’s leaders offered prayers for the victims’ families and El-Sisi. President
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al-Maktoum wished the people who were injured in the blaze a steady
recovery.
Prince
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s crown prince and prime minister, offered
his condolences to El-Sisi and Madbouly.
Jordan’s
Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh offered his “condolences and sympathy” to the
Egyptian government, people and victims’ families.
Tunisian
President Kais Saied offered his condolences to his Egyptian counterpart, and
wished the injured a speedy recovery in a phone call following the incident.
Hissein
Brahim Taha, secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation,
expressed his sympathy.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2143526/middle-east
--------
Rockets
target military base housing Turkish forces in northern Iraq
15
August 2022
A
number of rockets have reportedly targeted a military base in Iraq’s northern
province of Nineveh, which houses Turkish forces involved in ongoing military
operations against purported positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)
militant group in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Sabereen
News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular
Mobilization Units – better known by the Arabic name Hashd al-Sha’abi –
reported that a number of 122 mm rockets struck Zilkan base in northern Iraq’s
Bashiqa region at around 12 p.m. local time (0900 GMT) on Monday.
An
Iraqi resistance group calling itself Taskeel Ahrar al-Iraq (Assembly of Free
Iraqi Men) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it targeted the base.
The
Erbil-based Directorate General of Counter Terrorism (CTD) said in a statement
on its Facebook page that the military base in Zilkan was targeted with two
rockets.
“One
rocket landed inside the base while the other landed in the vicinity of Gudad
village without causing casualties or material damage,” Kurdish-language Rudaw
television news network cited the CTD as saying.
The
rockets were believed to have been fired from near Gugjali neighborhood in
Mosul city, the report added.
On
July 20, Turkey carried out a strike against the Iraqi hill village of Parakh
in the Zakho district in Dohuk province, killing at least nine tourists,
including children and women, and wounding more than 20 others.
Authorities
in Iraq insist that the attack was carried out by Turkish forces and that they
are responsible for the deaths and injuries of Iraqi civilians, while Ankara
says the country’s forces did not attack civilians.
In
an interview with Iraq's al-Sumaria television network later in the day, Iraqi
Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said, "If there is a problem between the
Turkish government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), this problem should
not be dragged into the Iraqi territory.”
“Some
Iraqi military experts have proved that this attack was carried out by
Turkey," he added.
However,
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the following day that
"according to the information we’ve received from the Turkish Air Force,
we have not had any attacks on civilians [in Dohuk, Iraq]."
The
Turkish Foreign Ministry also rejected claims by the Iraqi authorities in a
statement, and attributed the attack to members of the PKK terrorist group.
Militants
of the PKK — designated as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States, and
the European Union — regularly clash with Turkish forces in the
Kurdish-dominated southeast of Turkey attached to northern Iraq.
In
response, the Turkish military has occupied areas in northern Iraq, where it regularly
conducts attacks against purported PKK positions without the Arab country's
consent. Baghdad has repeatedly condemned Ankara's ongoing military operations
in northern Iraq.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Hezbollah’s
precision strike missiles can hit any target across occupied territories:
Nasrallah aide
15
August 2022
A
senior aide to the secretary general of the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance
movement says the precision strike missiles that the movement possesses are
capable of hitting any Israeli target at sea or on land, stating that the Tel
Aviv regime is well aware of such military prowess.
Mohammad
Yaghi, the executive assistant of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, emphasized that the
movement has an arsenal of precision-guided missiles that can strike all
designated targets inside the occupied territories, the Arabic-language
el-Siyasa news website reported on Sunday.
Yaghi
went on to comment on the upshot of a potential military confrontation between
Hezbollah and the Israeli military, saying, “I think the situation will be
fully determined in the sea, on land and in the air within the initial hours.”
He
stated that the Israeli regime is well aware of the military capabilities of
the Lebanese resistance movement.
“We
(Hezbollah) really mean what we state. We will never back down and renege on
our pledges. The entire Muslim Ummah will be victorious if we emerge
triumphant. Every victory notched up by the resistance front will surely bear
the hallmark of sacrifices made by fallen resistance fighters,” Yaghi
highlighted.
Commenting
on indirect negotiations on the demarcation of Lebanon's southern maritime
border with the occupying regime of Israel, the Hezbollah official said,
“Protection of Lebanon’s oil and gas resources is an absolute and bounden
duty."
"We
will not allow the Israeli enemy to extract even a single drop of crude oil or
a cubic meter of natural gas if we are not able to do so following a sea
demarcation agreement in September,” Nasrallah’s executive assistant pointed
out.
“Israel
knows that we are serious about what the Hezbollah secretary general has
already announced. We don't have a problem with the breakout of a war as it
will be decisive. We will achieve the lofty ideal of creating a robust economy
once we start extracting oil and gas from our own energy resources,” Yaghi
concluded.
Earlier
this month, a senior Hezbollah official commended his group’s publication of a
video showing Israeli vessels involved in offshore oil and gas industry at a
disputed maritime area in the Mediterranean, stressing that Israeli officials
will not sleep a wink if they find out about the actual extent of the Lebanese
resistance movement’s military capabilities.
“The
video that Hezbollah’s War Media Department released a few days ago relayed a
clear message to the Israeli enemy that the resistance movement is fully
prepared, and has aimed its missiles at the Karish [gas field is disputed
territory] and areas beyond that,” Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, deputy head of the
executive council of Hezbollah, said at a ceremony in the southern Lebanese
town of Bint Jbeil on August 3.
The
high-ranking Hezbollah official underscored that Israeli authorities will be
gripped by fear once they find out about his group’s preemptive measures
against the regime’s strategic energy and military installations.
Hezbollah
on July 31 published a video threatening the gas extraction infrastructure at
the Karish offshore field, near a disputed maritime border between Lebanon and
Israel.
The
video footage, which also contains a rare glimpse of Hezbollah weaponry, was
broadcast on Lebanon’s Arabic-language al-Manar television station.
It
was issued by Hezbollah’s War Media Department, which the group uses to
broadcast footage of military operations and battles, and contains images of
ships involved in drilling for and extracting hydrocarbons, along with what
appear to be their coordinates.
Source:
Press TV
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Mideast
Top
Islamic Jihad official: We are preparing for the next round of fighting against
Israel
Dalit
Halevi
Aug
16, 2022
Khaled
al-Batsh, a member of the political bureau of the Islamic Jihad, on Monday
warned Israel against eliminating other senior members of the terrorist
organization.
In
an interview with the Voice of Al-Quds radio station and quoted by the
Palestinian Arab Quds Net agency, Batsh said that the military arm of the
Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, "will not hesitate to respond to any
assassination of any Palestinian leader."
Batsh
noted that after each round of confrontation with Israel, the Islamic Jihad
evaluates the situation and draws lessons, and on this basis "the effect
of the military capabilities in pressuring the occupation and its encouragement
to comply with our conditions could be seen."
"The
campaign against the enemy is not carried out in a victorious blow and is not measured
by the number of martyrs, but is rather a campaign for justice and it is tested
by the degree of our ability to stand firm and keep our breath and protect the
rights and adhere to them," said Batsh.
Source:
Israel National News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/358225
--------
Iran
to Inaugurate Major Water Desalination Project at Bushehr Power Plant
2022-August-15
Mohammadizadeh
stated on Sunday that works for Iran’s first nuclear-powered desalination plant
will start in late August concurrent with ceremonies to mark the Administration
Week in the country.
"The
Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) will contribute to the construction
of the desalination plant in Bushehr which will have a capacity of 70,000 cubic
meters per day," he added.
“The
nuclear power can solve the water crisis and this project has become final ...
the execution phase will begin during the Administration Week and it will come
on line based on the schedule,” he was quoted as saying by the semi-official
Fars news agency.
The
governor added that nuclear reactors in the two planned power plant units in
Bushehr will be used to operate two desalination projects with a combined
capacity of 150,000 cubic meters per day.
Iran’s
first and only nuclear power plant in Bushehr is capable of producing nearly 1
gigawatt per hour of electricity.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Army Commander Reiterates Iran’s Support for Diplomacy to Resolve Border
Disputes with Taliban
2022-August-15
Maj.
Gen. Mousavi stated that sporadic border skirmishes with Afghanistan's Taliban
should be resolved diplomatically, adding that there is no need for involvement
of armed forces.
"There
is a small border dispute in a part of the border with Afghanistan; Due to the
fact that on the other side of the border after the change in the government
and the fact that the necessary order has not been restored there, sometimes
these misunderstandings occur and small-scale skirmishes will follow, which end
quickly," the army commander stressed
"The
main reason for the recent border conflicts with Afghanistan is that the other
side has not yet obtained favorable order and coordination. We hope that the
political officials will resolve these differences as soon as possible,"
Mousavi underscored.
In
response to the question of whether it is possible that the conspiracy and ill
wishes on the part of the enemies who seek to destroy Iran-Afghanistan
relations play a role in the spread of such misunderstandings, he answered,
"Certainly, our enemies do not want normal relations between the two
neighboring countries based on the independence and mutual respect. Our enemies
are neither friendly with the Iranian nation nor with the Afghan nation, so
they look for issues to create divisions between us, which we must be careful
about."
Governor:
No Casualties in Border Clashes Between Iranian Forces,
Talibanhttps://t.co/GBW23xdNjr pic.twitter.com/GYPeJVZCN5
—
Fars News Agency (@EnglishFars) July 31, 2022
Tehran
has called for joint efforts with Kabul to secure the joint border areas amid
intermittent clashes at Iran-Afghanistan border crossings in recent months.
In
late June, Iranian President's Special Envoy for Afghanistan Hassan Kazzemi
Qomi asked the Taliban to take serious action to identify culprits behind the
recent border incident which led to the martyrdom of an Iranian border guard,
and prevent repetition of such crimes.
"No
insecurity on our borders is tolerable," Kazzemi Qomi wrote on his twitter
page.
The
Iranian border guard, identified as Mohammad Sayyad, was shot dead in the
Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan, when a gang of armed thugs
entered the area from across the border.
The
attackers fled the area immediately after the encounter, which occurred in the
Milak area of the Hirmand county of Sistan and Balouchestan.
Tehran
has not officially recognised the Taliban since the group quickly took control
of neighbouring Afghanistan following the withdrawal of United States forces in
August. Iranian officials have repeatedly said the recognition would hinge on
the formation of an “inclusive” government in Afghanistan.
Source:
Fars News Agency
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Iran
responds to EU nuclear text, seeks US flexibility
15
August, 2022
Iran
responded to the European Union’s “final” draft text to save a 2015 nuclear
deal on Monday, an EU official said, as the Iranian foreign minister called on
the United States to show flexibility to resolve three remaining issues.
After
16 months of fitful, indirect US-Iranian talks, with the EU shuttling between
the parties, a senior EU official said on Aug. 8 it had laid down a “final”
offer and expected a response within a “very, very few weeks.”
While
Washington has said it is ready to quickly seal a deal to restore the 2015
accord on the basis of the EU proposals, Iranian negotiators said Tehran’s
“additional views and considerations” to the EU text would be conveyed later.
The
EU official on Monday provided no details on Iran’s response to the text.
“There
are three issues that if resolved, we can reach an agreement in the coming
days,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said earlier on Monday,
suggesting Tehran’s response would not be a final acceptance or rejection.
“We
have told them that our red lines should be respected ... We have shown enough
flexibility ... We do not want to reach a deal that after 40 days, two months
or three months fails to be materialized on the ground.”
The
United States said the deal could only be revived if Iran dropped “extraneous”
issues, an apparent reference to Tehran’s demands the UN nuclear watchdog close
a probe into unexplained uranium traces in Iran and that its Revolutionary
Guards come off a US terrorism list.
Diplomats
and officials told Reuters that whether or not Tehran and Washington accept the
EU’s “final” offer, neither is likely to declare the pact dead because keeping
it alive serves both sides’ interests.
Amirabdollahian
said that “the coming days are very important” and “it would not be end of the
world if they fail to show flexibility ... Then we will need more efforts and
talks ... to resolve the remaining issues.”
The
stakes are high, since failure in the nuclear negotiations would carry the risk
of a fresh regional war with Israel threatening military action against Iran if
diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.
Iran,
which has long denied having such ambition, has warned of a “crushing” response
to any Israeli attack.
“Like
Washington, we have our own plan B if the talks fail,” Amirabdollahian said.
In
2018, then-President Donald Trump reneged on the deal reached before he took
office, calling it too soft on Iran, and reimposed harsh US sanctions, spurring
the Islamic Republic to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.
The
2015 agreement appeared on the verge of revival in March after 11 months of
indirect talks between Tehran and US President Joe Biden’s administration in
Vienna.
But
talks broke down over obstacles including Tehran’s demand that Washington
provide guarantees that no US president would abandon the deal as Trump did.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Israel
army says found, blocked ‘attack’ tunnel from Gaza
15
August, 2022
Israel's
army said Monday it had discovered and blocked a tunnel leading out of the
blockaded Gaza Strip dug by the Palestinian enclave's Hamas rulers.
Israel
says the militant group aims to use so-called attack tunnels to infiltrate
fighters and abduct Israeli soldiers or civilians as bargaining chips in
prisoner exchanges.
The
Israeli military said it had identified the tunnel “with two routes belonging
to the Hamas terrorist organization, dug from the northern Gaza Strip.”
The
tunnel had “crossed into Israeli territory,” said Brigadier General Nimrod
Aloni, the outgoing commander of the Gaza division.
However,
he said it stopped short of an underground concrete barrier and therefore “did
not pose a threat to Israeli communities in the area near the Gaza Strip.”
The
army said the tunnel was “neutralized” but did not immediately reply to a query
as to how, having previously destroyed or flooded such structures.
Hamas
responded that “the Palestinian resistance has the right to use all means to
enhance its capabilities against the arrogance and criminality” of Israel.
The
news came just over a week after a three-day conflict between Israel and
Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza ended with an Egyptian-brokered truce.
At
least 49 Palestinians, including several Islamic Jihad fighters and 17
children, died in the violence, while in Israel shrapnel wounded three people.
Groups
in Gaza, a densely populated coastal territory home to 2.3 million people, have
used tunnels since 2007 when Israel imposed a crippling blockade in response to
Hamas seizing power there.
Source:
Al Arabiya
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
--------
Europe
UK
government under fire over treatment of Afghan refugees
August
15, 2022
The
UK government is facing criticism over its failure to safeguard Afghan refugees
who worked with coalition forces during the war in Afghanistan, The Guardian
reported on Monday.
About
6,200 people along with their families are eligible for relocation under the
Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP).
The
ARAP scheme has brought more than 10,000 Afghans to the UK, and the Afghan
Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will allow up to 20,000 to settle in the
country.
However,
as Western allies mark the one-year anniversary of NATO’s withdrawal from
Afghanistan, the UK faces accusations of abandoning many Afghans to persecution
at the hands of Taliban.
Ret.
Gen. Sir John McColl, who served as first head of NATO’s International Security
Assistance Force in Afghanistan, told BBC Radio 4’s “World at One” that Defense
Secretary Ben Wallace and other ministers should “hang their heads in shame.”
McColl
described the UK’s evacuation of Afghans as “random,” and at times prioritizing
animals over people.
“The
system was broken when we withdrew from Kabul last year and it remains broken.
It was a source of shame then and it continues to be a source of shame,” McColl
said.
Those
eligible for ARAP include people still in Afghanistan and those who have fled,
most often to Pakistan, but also Iran, where strained relations between London
and Tehran have hindered the scheme’s ability to assist people.
Earlier
this month, nine expert groups on Afghanistan criticized the government’s
resettlement schemes as “unjustifiably restrictive.”
They
also expressed deep concern over the government’s failure to provide a safe
route for Afghan women, girls and oppressed minority groups.
According
to sources at the Ministry of Defense, about 1,050 people evacuated out of
Afghanistan under ARAP are living in hotels in Pakistan while awaiting
processing and transportation to the UK or another destination.
However,
the ministry expressed frustration that many Afghans who are brought to the UK
end up, as one highly placed source put it, “stuck in hotels.”
The
ministry source attributed this to the government’s failure to put adequate
plans in place.
With
only 7,000 Afghans having been rehoused, the UK government is still providing
hotel accommodation to 9,500 people who sought refuge in the UK, The Guardian
reported.
The
news outlet also said that thousands of Afghan refugees were told by the Home
Office to search for housing on the websites Rightmove and Zoopla.
A
Home Office spokesperson said that the UK intends to welcome up to 20,000
people in need via ACRS.
“Already
we are proud this country has provided homes for more than 7,000 Afghan
evacuees, but there is a shortage of local housing accommodation for all,” they
said.
“While
hotels do not provide a long-term solution, they do offer safe, secure and
clean accommodation. We will continue to bring down the number of people in bridging
hotels, moving people into more sustainable accommodation as quickly as
possible.”
Source:
Arab News
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2143366/world
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Bosnian
court sentences former Serb police officer to 20 years in jail for war crimes
Talha
Ozturk
15.08.2022
BELGRADE,
Serbia
A
court in Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced a former Bosnian Serb police officer
to 20 years in prison for crimes against Bosniak civilians during the 1990s
Bosnian war.
Dusan
Culibrk was accused of participating in the killing of 51 civilians from the
area of Prijedor in the summer of 1992.
Culibrk
has a right to appeal against the verdict.
In
March 1992, when the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina had just begun, 1,775 Serbs
from 13 police stations in Prijedor were armed in about a month.
Serbian
troops seized the city of Prijedor on the night of April 29, when the majority
of the population was then Bosniak. Serb troops with heavy weapons attacked
villages around Prijedor on May 23.
During
the attack and the massacre in and around Prijedor, 3,176 civilians died,
including over 100 children.
About
30,000 civilians from Prijedor were also taken to concentration camps in
Omarska, Keraterm, Kozarac, Trnopolje and Manjaca. Tens of thousands were
deported from their own lands.
Concentration
camps near Prijedor had been centers of torture, massacres, and rape in 1992
when the Bosnian War began.
About
6,000 people were held captive in the Omarska camp, established on May 26,
1992, and 700 of these were killed. Among the captives were 37 women and 28
children.
Source:
Anadolu Agency
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Al-Qaeda
affiliate claims it killed four Russian mercenaries in Mali
August
16, 2022
BAMAKO:
An Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group claimed to have killed four mercenaries
from the Russian private security group Wagner in an ambush in central Mali,
the SITE Intelligence monitoring group said Monday.
The
terrorist group (GSIM), the main militance alliance in the Sahel, said it
ambushed a group of Wagner soldiers on Saturday as they rode motorcycles in the
Bandiagara region from the village of Djallo toward the mountains, according to
a statement by its propaganda arm authenticated by SITE.
Its
fighters killed four of the group while the rest fled, the statement said.
Two
local elected officials confirmed the incident to AFP, while a senior Malian
army official refused to confirm or deny it.
“Four
Russians were killed over the weekend by terrorists near Bandiagara,” one of
the local officials, who requested anonymity, told AFP.
A
hospital source in the region also confirmed the “death in combat of four
Russians,” adding that one had “passed through Mopti hospital.”
Russia
has become a close ally of Mali’s ruling junta in its fight against a
long-running terrorist insurgency.
The
regime has brought in Russian paramilitary fighters — described by Bamako as
military instructors but by Western nations as mercenaries — to support the
beleaguered armed forces.
Their
deployment was a key factor in prompting France, Mali’s former colonial power
and traditional ally, to pull its military forces out of the country.
Source:
Arab News
Please
click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2143561/world
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Southeast
Asia
Police
arrest man suspected of uprooting gravestones at Muslim cemetery
08-
16- 2022
SIBU:
The police arrested a homeless man suspected of being involved in uprooting
several gravestones at the Al-Qadim Muslim Cemetery here which had caused a
stir among the Muslim community in the city.
The
issue went viral on social media yesterday when some individuals claimed that
the headstones on the graves of their family members had been uprooted after
conducting inspections at the cemetery.
Sibu
District Police chief ACP Zulkipli Suhaili said the police received a report at
1.21 pm today from a 39-year-old local man who informed that the headstone on
his father’s grave had been removed from its original position.
“Following
a police investigation, at about 3 pm, a 49-year-old local man suspected of
being involved in the incident was arrested,“ he told Bernama in a statement
tonight.
Source:
The Sun Daily
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PBS
factor in Warisan’s decision on election seats
Willie
Jude
August
15, 2022
KOTA
KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) will be a factor when Warisan discusses
whether to contest all 25 Sabah parliamentary seats and one in Labuan at the
coming general election.
Warisan
president Shafie Apdal said: “We will study it thoroughly, and see if PBS will
be part of it (the election plans). If they are there, then they are there,” he
said at a press conference today.
He
refused to explain why he singled out PBS. However, he said that Warisan needed
to strengthen itself.
His
comment was the latest in an exchange of feelers between the two parties about
electoral ties.
Shafie
has repeatedly expressed interest in working with PBS, saying he considered the
party’s ideals to be in line with those of Warisan, while PBS president Maximus
Ongkili has said the party was ready to work with any party, including Warisan,
if it benefitted Sabahans.
The
two Sabah-based parties have both had experience in running the state
government. PBS, founded in 1985 by Joseph Pairin Kitingan, formed the state
government in the 1980s and 1990s and has been in several governing coalitions
since. Warisan won power in 2018 but was defeated in the 2020 state elections.
Shafie
said Warisan has yet to hold any talks with other parties or coalitions as it
was busy preparing for its annual meeting at the end of the month.
On
a separate matter, Shafie said the party will amend its constitution to be in
line with anti-hopping legislation recently passed by Parliament.
“I
think Warisan is the first party to do this and I hope that the bill would also
be passed at the state assembly.”
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
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Umno
man hails Ismail’s brave decisions in first year as PM
August
16, 2022
PETALING
JAYA: An Umno leader, marking Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s first year as prime
minister, has hailed Ismail for making brave decisions and introducing radical
changes in politics.
Umno
vice-president Khaled Nordin said it was not easy for the government to set
aside almost RM80 billion for subsidies on various commodities and necessities.
The
huge sum, almost one-third of national revenue, meant that many development
projects had to be sacrificed, he said.
“At
times, it is easy to be cynical towards our leaders. But we should not come to
the point where we are no longer objective and rational,” he said in his
tribute, posted on Facebook.
Khaled
praised Ismail, a fellow Umno vice-president, for being brave in abolishing
import permits (APs) for food “especially since the AP is perceived to be a
curse that people avoid”.
He
said Ismail had implemented many radical changes since taking office, including
seeing through the anti-hopping bill. “This is an amazing achievement as he has
done it in a year,” Khaled said.
The
anti-hopping bill was one of the reforms demanded by Pakatan Harapan in return
for keeping Ismail’s government in office. The bill was passed by Parliament
last month and awaits royal assent before it becomes law.
Khaled
said the public should also recognise Ismail’s commitment to declassifying a
government investigation report on the troubled littoral combat ship programme
to build six frigates for the navy.
Source:
Free Malaysia Today
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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Indonesia
at ‘pinnacle of global leadership’: President Widodo
16
August, 2022
Indonesian
President Joko Widodo on Tuesday hailed his country’s growing stature on the
global stage and reiterated calls for the Southeast Asian nation to be a
“bridge of peace” between Russia and Ukraine.
“In
2022, we hold the presidency of the G20, an international forum made up of the
world’s largest economies. Next year, we will assume the chairmanship of
ASEAN,” he said in an annual state of the nation speech a day before Indonesia
celebrates 77 years of independence.
“It
indicates that we [are at the] pinnacle of global leadership,” he added.
As head
of the G20 this year Jokowi, as the president is known, has taken an
increasingly active role in foreign affairs.
In
late June he travelled to Kyiv and Moscow to meet with his Ukrainian and
Russian counterparts, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin, as part of
diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful solution to the war and ease the global
food crisis. He was the first Asian leader to do so.
Indonesia,
he said, “has been accepted as a diplomatic bridge” between the two nations.
In
the televised national address Jokowi also noted the country’s economic
fundamentals remain strong amid a volatile global economy, with inflation at
4.9 percent and economic growth reaching 5.4 percent in the second quarter of
2022.
As
the pandemic eases, relatively low case numbers this year have allowed Jokowi
to refocus on his priorities, including economic growth and infrastructure
development in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
The
parliament passed legislation earlier this year on relocating the country’s
capital to Indonesian Borneo, a cornerstone of the president’s agenda.
Source:
Al Arabiya
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click the following URL to read the full text of the original story:
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