Turkey’s Economy Plunges as Tourists Stay Away After Hagia Sophia, Chora Conversions
New Age Islam News Bureau
01
September 2020
Visitors
are seen at the Chora mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, that was recently converted
from a museum back into a mosque. (Nicholas Frakes)
------
•Indo-Islamic
Cultural Foundation Opens Bank Accounts for Donations for Constructing A
Masjid, Hospital, Community Kitchen and Library
•
Delhi Riots 2020: How A Muslim Youth Helped Disabled Hindu Couple Get Life Back
On Track
•
How Growth in Family Business of CPEC Chairman Asim Bajwa Mirrors His Rise in Pak
Army
•
US Lawmakers Demand Probe into Reports Muslim Detainees Forced to Eat Pork
•
Terror Risks Remains ‘Extremely High’ In France: Minister
•
UAE-Israel Deal Will Not Come at Expense of Palestinian Cause: Abu Dhabi Crown
Prince
•
Interfaith Council Urges PM To Act Over PAS MP’s Bible Remarks
•
US, UK, Norway Welcome Sudan Peace Agreement in Joint Statement
•
Bangladesh's Rohingya Refugees Lobby ICC To Sit in Asia During War Crimes
Investigation
Mideast
•
Turkey’s Economy Plunges as Tourists Stay Away After Hagia Sophia, Chora
Conversions
•
Israeli Plane Landing in UAE Violates Arab Consensus Barring Normalization With
Israel: Palestinian PM
•
Zionists should seek shelter, if mediation for lifting Gaza blockade fails: Top
Hamas official
•
Iran’s Judiciary Chief Raps US, Europe for Sheltering Terrorists
•
Israeli airstrikes kill 11 in Syria, including Iran-backed militants
•
Israeli strikes on military targets south of Damascus kill five fighters:
Report
--------
India
•
Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation, Opens Bank Accounts for Donations for
Constructing A Masjid, Hospital, Community Kitchen and Library
•
Delhi Riots 2020: How A Muslim Youth Helped Disabled Hindu Couple Get Life Back
On Track
•
LeT module busted in J&K’s Reasi district, 3 arrested
•
32 Babri case accused submit reply in court
--------
Pakistan
•
How Growth in Family Business of CPEC Chairman Asim Bajwa Mirrors His Rise in Pak
Army
•
HRCP, PBC And Journalists Slam Threats Hurled at Journalist Ahmad Noorani
•
Pakistanis rally against citizens' abduction by secret service
•
Plea seeking referendum on presidential form of govt reaches SC
•
People want Nawaz to assume power in Pakistan, says Maryam
•
Islamabad, Kabul vow to address challenges plaguing ties
•
JUI-F member expelled from PA over threatening remarks
•
Three Pakistani soldiers killed, four wounded in militant attack in northwest
--------
North America
•
US Lawmakers Demand Probe into Reports Muslim Detainees Forced to Eat Pork
•
US vetoes UN resolution on foreign militants, including detainees in Syria,
Iraq
•
US-Israeli team led by Trump's son-in-law arrives in Abu Dhabi
--------
Europe
•
Terror Risks Remains ‘Extremely High’ In France: Minister
•
Global Muslim Scholars Condemn Desecration of Holy Quran
•
EU calls for dialogue with Turkey, end to tensions in Eastern Mediterranean
•
UK: Counter-terrorism team detain 2 at Stansted Airport
--------
Arab world
•
UAE-Israel Deal Will Not Come at Expense of Palestinian Cause: Abu Dhabi Crown
Prince
•
US-Israeli Delegation Lands in Abu Dhabi On Historic Flight
•
Diplomat Mustapha Adib designated as Lebanon's new Prime Minister
•
Saudi King Sacks Top Military Officials in New ‘Graft’ Cases Amid Royal Power
Struggle
•
Blasts hit Dubai, Abu Dhabi ahead of first flight from Israel
•
Beirut explosion could cost more than $8 bln, says World Bank
•
Lebanon turns 100 as nation branded by upheaval, crises
--------
Southeast Asia
•
Interfaith Council Urges PM To Act Over PAS MP’s Bible Remarks
•
Indonesian Militants at Large in Yemen, Southern Philippines
•
Peaceful coexistence conducive to state’s development, says Sarawak chief minister
•
Philippines to begin reconstruction work of mosques in war-torn Marawi
--------
Africa
•
US, UK, Norway Welcome Sudan Peace Agreement in Joint Statement
•
Sudanese rebels agree to key peace deal with transitional government
•
Leading Rwandan dissident arrested over terror links
--------
South Asia
•
Bangladesh's Rohingya Refugees Lobby ICC To Sit in Asia During War Crimes
Investigation
•
Myanmar: Deep Reforms Must End Vicious Violence Against Rohingya Minority
•
New State Peace Minister appointed for Afghanistan, political gridlock
unleashes
•
Former Senator Hasan Hotak Shot Dead in Kabul
•
Afghanistan ready for Taliban negotiations: High Council for National
Reconciliation
•
Taliban attacks on US military bases in Afghanistan raise questions
•
Taliban Self-Proclaimed District Governor Killed in Badakhshan
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/turkeys-economy-plunges-tourists-stay/d/122768
--------
Turkey’s Economy Plunges As Tourists Stay Away After Hagia Sophia, Chora Conversions
Nicholas
Frakes
31
August 2020
Visitors
are seen at the Chora mosque in Istanbul, Turkey, that was recently converted
from a museum back into a mosque. (Nicholas Frakes)
------
As
Turkey experiences an economic decline, the conversion of the Hagia Sophia and
Chora museums into mosques dealt a blow to Turkey’s tourism industry which has
already been dealt a blow from the global coronavirus pandemic. In the second
quarter of 2020, Turkey’s economy shrank 9.9 percent from the previous quarter.
Revenue
from the mosques was set to be around $35 million this year. But because of the
pandemic and the conversions of the mosques, that revenue will not materialize.
In
July 2020, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a controversial decision
that was condemned by the international community, converted the Hagia Sophia
back into a mosque. Built as a Christian church under the Byzantine Empire and
converted to a mosque during the Ottoman Empire and then museum after the
founding of the Turkish Republic, the decision sparked outrage by critics who
said Erdogan was pandering to his conservative, religious base to bolster
domestic support.
At
the start of August, Erdogan announced that another historic site was also
going to be converted into a mosque. This time it was the Chora museum.
This
museum, like the Hagia Sophia, was built as a church and became a mosque under
the Ottomans, only to become a museum following the founding of the Republic.
Every
year, millions of people used to visit the two museums, bringing in tens of millions
of tourism dollars for the Turkish economy. Now, however, tourists are still
free to enter outside prayer times, but they do not pay entrance fees for the
highly trafficked sites.
The
loss of funds could pose a threat to the Turkish economy that depends on
tourism for around 30 percent of its annual income. However, even without
Erdogan’s controversial decision, this year has seen drastically lower numbers
due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Almost
$35 million was expected [this year from the mosques],” Turkish economist
Mustafa Sonmez told Al Arabiya English, “but unfortunately this is almost zero
[because of the pandemic].” In 2019, total revenue from tourism hit a high
$34.5 billion, Turkish state media TRT World reported.
Turkey’s
lack of tourism and economic woes have already started to have an effect on the
country’s tourism industry with some businesses forced to lay off employees and
others having to close their doors. As of now, the government has provided very
limited economic relief for the businesses in the tourism industry.
“Many
hotels and many other touristic places, their capacity has decreased and their
employment has decreased,” Sonmez explained. “They are bad conditions and many
have closed their shops and don’t work anymore. Nobody knows what will happen
because the pandemic situation is not getting better and is actually
worsening.”
Businesses
were hoping that tourism would see a surge this autumn, when people are more
likely to visit cultural sites rather than going to the beach or sea due to the
drop in temperature, but some fear that with the Hagia Sophia and Chora
becoming mosques, tourists may forgo planned visits.
“Turkish
tourism had already suffered a blow with the pandemic when the European Union
did not include Turkey as a ‘safe’ country,” Nazlan Ertan, a Turkish
journalist, told Al Arabiya English. “Still the Turkish tourism operators were
hoping to make a late recovery, meaning, in late autumn and when you speak of
late autumn, of course, you are speaking about cultural tourism.”
According
to Ertan, these decisions by Erdogan send a message that he and Turkey
prioritize Islam and Muslims over other all other things, especially for those
who are looking to visit from the West.
“It
clinches Erdogan’s image in the eyes of the Western tourists as a conservative
who has Islam foremost in his mind,” Ertan said.
This
also comes at a time where Erdogan’s regional rival, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi, has been promoting his country’s diverse religious roots in an effort
to boost tourism.
“This
is when Sisi is sort of capitalizing on the Christian and Jewish heritage of
Egypt,” Ertan stated. “So if you are going to come to the Middle East and on
one hand you have one country which is opening its non-Muslim heritage and
another that it is opening it for worship and removing their statuses as
museums, which one are you going to visit?”
Egypt
and Turkey have been trying to market itself as attractive destinations for
tourists, and earlier this year, the Turkish government announced its plan to
get more people to visit the country by 2023, the year marking 100 years since
the founding of modern-day Turkey.
Ertan
said Turkey is aiming to attract 75 million tourists annually by 2023.
A
major selling point for this vision is Turkey’s multicultural heritage rather
than focusing on any specific religion or ethnic group.
However,
with the value of the Turkish lira falling and inflation and unemployment
rising, Erdogan is losing popularity. And to appeal to more voters, he decided
to convert the museums into mosques in an effort to gain the support of the
more conservative and religious groups in the country.
Read
more: Turkish magazine calls for founding Islamic caliphate after Hagia Sophia
conversion
“A
gesture to Muslims is [a] much more immediate [political gain] and preferable
and the [gains from the] touristic side of Hagia Sophia can be negligible,”
Sonmez argued. “That’s why he didn’t take it into consideration.”
While
nearly 3.5 million people visit the Hagia Sophia and Chora annually, Sonmez
said that it is currently impossible to predict the potential economic fallout
that Erdogan’s decision might have as tourism has practically ground to a halt
as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
A
tourism agency based in Turkey also told Al Arabiya English that it was “much
too early to tell” what the potential impact might be on their business.
However,
Ertan believes that the message that Erdogan’s decisions send to Turkish
society and the world is much larger than any potential economic ramifications
that might occur.
“I
am not sure that the impact would be simply limited to how much money you are
going to make from the Hagia Sophia and Chora museums in terms of entry fees,”
she argued. “It is the overall message that you carry.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/08/31/Turkey-s-economy-plunges-as-tourists-stay-away-after-Hagia-Sophia-Chora-conversions.html
--------
Indo-Islamic
Cultural Foundation Opens Bank Accounts for Donations for Constructing A
Masjid, Hospital, Community Kitchen and Library
Aug
31, 2020
Ayodhya:
The mosque trust constituted by Sunni Waqf Board, on Sunday released bank
details for donations from a large cross-section of people, including
non-Muslims for constructing a masjid, hospital, community kitchen and library
on 5acre land in Dhannipur village in lieu of Babri mosque.
The
trust, Indo Islamic Cultural Foundation, opened two current accounts in two
leading private sector banks at branches in Hewett Road and Vibhuti Khand,
Gomtinagar.
Talking
to TOI, Trust secretary, Athar Hussain, said, “We will accept donations from
all communities to make the Dhannipur complex a unique example of communal
harmony and a centre of healing, teaching and preaching.”
“We
decided to create a website and portal of the Trust with a gateway to receive donations
as we are receiving numerous calls from those willing to donate,” he said.
Funds
for the Dhannipur complex will be raised from donations from all communities,
he said. “We expect financial aid from government too. In fact, a member of
Parliament from Assam, Abdul Khalique, has offered to donate and we are
receiving messages from Muslims and Hindus, who are eager to provide funds for
mosque and other facilities,” he said.
The
Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation was formed with nine members and six more
would be made trust members soon.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/dhannipur-mosque-trust-opens-2-bank-a/cs-for-donations/articleshow/77841697.cms
--------
Delhi
Riots 2020: How A Muslim Youth Helped Disabled Hindu Couple Get Life Back On
Track
Jeevan
Prakash Sharma
31
August 2020
Much-needed
gesture of communal harmony in North-East Delhi / Photo: Hussain Helping Chand
after Delhi Riots
-----
It
is a much-needed gesture of communal harmony in North-East Delhi that had
witnessed a devastating riot just six months ago between two religious
communities leaving over 50 dead, hundreds injured and large-scale destruction
of properties and livelihoods.
Last
week a Muslim youth, Syed Mashkur Hussain, who was out for a walk, stopped at a
kiosk in the riot-hit Chand Bagh area to buy a packet of biscuit. He was little
surprised to see that the kiosk was almost empty with a very few items up for
sale. However, its owners, - a wheel-chair-bound woman and a man with a crutch,
put up a brave face.
Hussain
engaged in a conversation with the couple and realised that their kiosk was
looted and burnt to ashes by the rioters. As they were struggling to make both
ends meet, Covid-19 worsened the situation. They survived the lockdown with the
help of relatives and neighbours.
Though
soon after the riots, the Chief Minister of Delhi had announced, among many
other rehabilitation measures, an immediate relief of Rs 25,000 to those who
lost their properties, Chand claimed that he filled the form for compensation
but never received any communication from the government.
His
biggest challenge was to restart his business. An NGO helped him get a new
kiosk but he had nothing to put up for sale except a few packets of biscuits
and pouches of chips and snacks.
“When
I told Hussain about my plight, he immediately asked me to make a list of items
that I used to sell in my shop. He arranged everything within a couple of
days,” Suresh Chand, 58, said. Chand further said that Hussain might have spent
about 8 to 10 thousand to buy all the products but “his gesture was priceless
for me.”
He
added, “He wanted to buy a bigger kiosk for me but I told him to let me earn
money and do it on my own.”
Chand
lost his left leg in childhood while playing near a wheat mill machine when it
entangled in its belt conveyor. He walks with the help of a crutch. His wife,
paralysed due to polio, is constantly on a wheelchair. The couple had two
adolescent kids who are studying.
Chand
recollected that in the afternoon of February 23, the communal tension started
with stone pelting from all directions. His shop was close to Tahir Hussain’s
house and as there was chaos all around, he immediately shut it down. "I
pushed my wife’s wheel chair in a nearby street that led to my house about half
a km away from my shop,” Chand said.
The
family remained indoors for three days as violence engulfed the whole area.
Some people lost their lives and many houses and shops were completely gutted
in fire. Ankita Sharma, the IB officer, was one of the victims from the area
who was allegedly murdered by Tahir Hussain and his associates.
Chand
returned on February 27 when the situation calmed down and was shocked to see
that along with many other shops, his kiosk was also completely burnt. He
recollected, “In the next few days, government representatives came to assess
the loss of lives and properties. They asked me to fill the form and promised
compensation for my losses but I am still waiting for that.”
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-delhi-riots-2020-a-muslim-youth-helped-disabled-hindu-couple/359587
--------
How
Growth In Family Business Of CPEC Chairman Asim Bajwa Mirrors His Rise In Pak Army
Sep
1, 2020
NEW
DELHI: A major corruption scandal involving Lt General Asim Saleem Bajwa (retd)
is gathering steam in Pakistan. Bajwa is a retired general who is now serving
as the chairman of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and a special
assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan.
According
to a report published on 'Fact Focus', Asim Bajwa’s brothers, wife and two sons
"own a business empire which set up 99 companies in four countries,
including a pizza franchise with 133 restaurants worth an estimated $39.9 million."
The
report said that out of the 99 companies, 66 are main companies, 33 companies
are branch companies of some of the main companies while five companies are
dead.
“The
Bajwa family’s companies spent an estimated $52.2 million to develop their
businesses and $14.5 million to purchase properties in the United States, while
Asim Bajwa and his department were encouraging Pakistanis to invest within
their relatively undeveloped country,” said the report.
"The
businesses of the Bajwa family through different companies were named as Bajco
Group. Asim Bajwa’s sons joined the Bajco Group companies in 2015 and also
started establishing new companies independent of the Bajco Group in Pakistan
and in the United States after he became director general of ISPR and commander
of the Southern Command," the report said.
In
his declaration of assets and liabilities signed in June as an SAPM, Asim Bajwa
declared an investment of $18,468 in his wife’s name. However, according to the
'Fact Focus' report, Asim’s wife Farrukh Zeba's estimated current net worth of
businesses and properties that are jointly owned by her stands at $52.7
million.
"Zeba
was a shareholder in all the foreign businesses from the very beginning. At
present, she is associated with or is a shareholder in 85 companies including
82 foreign companies (71 in US, seven in UAE and four in Canada)," the
report alleged.
The
report claimed that growth of the Bajwa family’s business empire in the United
States and in Pakistan directly matches the rise in power of retired general
Asim Saleem Bajwa, who is now the chairman of CPEC.
The
report also traced the rise of Asim Bajwa's brother who started as a delivery
driver for the pizza restaurant franchise but now runs his own food chain with
133 restaurants.
Asim
Bajwa rubbished the report, calling it a "malicious propaganda"
against him and his family. However, he did not provide any rebuttal to the
story.
"A
malicious propaganda story published on an unknown site, against me and my
family, (just uploaded on social media) is strongly rebutted," he wrote on
Twitter.
Another
story on the same web portal claimed that the Bajwa family purchased 13
commercial and five residential properties in the United States over a period
of last ten years.
"The
estimated value of commercial and residential properties owned by the Bajwa
family in the United States is $14.5385 million. The worth of commercial
properties owned by the businesses stands at $12.8 million," it added.
According
to the report, three sons of Asim Bajwa — Muhammad, Eusha, and Azib — have
direct and absolute ownership of companies in the sectors of mining,
construction, marketing, real estate, beverages, fashion and cosmetic
manufacturing and investments in Pakistan and three companies in the US which
include two companies in the real estate sector.
"All
these companies were set up after 2015 when Asim was either director general
Inter-Services Public Relations or was the commander of the Southern
Command," the report said.
Following
the publishing of the report, the Securities and Exchange Commission of
Pakistan, the organization which regulates companies in the country, started
deleting data of companies owned by the sons of Asim Bajwa from its official
website after 'Fact Focus' started the investigation.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/how-growth-in-family-business-of-cpec-chairman-asim-bajwa-mirrors-his-rise-in-pak-army/articleshow/77864802.cms
--------
US
lawmakers demand probe into reports Muslim detainees forced to eat pork
By
Sheren Khalel
31
August 2020
Dozens
of US House representatives are demanding an investigation into reports that an
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Miami has been
"regularly" serving pork and expired halal meals to Muslim detainees.
In
response to a complaint filed earlier this month by two rights groups,
Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib - the first Muslim women elected
to Congress - sent a letter on Monday to the office for civil rights and civil
liberties at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), calling for the
investigation.
Signed
by at least 27 other representatives, the letter demanded that DHS, which
oversees ICE, look into a complaint filed on 19 August which claimed that the
ICE-run Krome Service Processing Center in Miami, Florida, had been giving
Muslims the choice between pre-plated pork meals and spoiled religious
accommodations since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.
At
the time, ICE refuted the complaint, telling Middle East Eye that "any
claim that ICE denies reasonable and equitable opportunity for persons to
observe their religious dietary practices is false".
But
according to Monday's letter, lawmakers were not convinced.
"While
ICE has publicly denied the allegations, every aspect of the allegations has
documented precedent," the letter reads.
"Given
the history of religious freedom violations across ICE detention facilities,
including violations affecting Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, and Hindu detainees,
we find the allegations of targeted violations of Muslim civil rights to be
credible."
The
lawmakers pointed out that in February 2019, a DHS Office of the Inspector
General's report found "unsanitary and unsafe conditions" at New
Jersey's Essex County correctional facility, the largest of such detention centres
in the region.
The
2019 report said inspectors had found that "food handling, in general, was
so substandard that ICE and facility leadership had the kitchen manager
replaced during [the] inspection".
At
the time, inspectors also documented liquid dripping from ceilings into housing
units, including onto detainee beds, as well as unsanitary and mouldy shower
stalls.
"Given
a history of dangerously poor food quality in ICE detention facilities… we find
the allegation that the 'reasonable accommodation' provided to detainees at
Krome may have included spoiled religiously compliant food alternatives to be
credible," the lawmakers said in Monday's letter.
"As
you are no doubt aware, forcing Muslim detainees to choose between eating pork
and eating spoiled halal food would be a clear violation of ICE's 2011
Performance-Based National Detention Standards. They would also be clear
violations of the civil rights and civil liberties of Muslim detainees,"
the lawmakers continued.
In
a post to Twitter on Monday, Representative Omar slammed the Trump
administration for its ongoing anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim policies.
"It
is unconscionable Muslim ICE detainees were reportedly forced to choose between
eating pork or rotten halal food," Omar tweeted. "This is the latest
betrayal of religious liberty by Trump and a reminder of the inhumanity of ICE
detention".
Spoilt
food
The
original complaint regarding spoiled or religiously uncompliant meals at ICE's
Miami facility was sent to DHS earlier this month by Muslim Advocates,
Americans for Immigrant Justice, and the law firm King & Spalding LLP.
The
groups said that the Krome facility's halal meals had been "persistently
served spoiled and expired", leaving Muslim detainees to "choose
between eating pork or eating spoiled food".
"There
is no reason, even in a pandemic, that Muslim detainees cannot receive
unexpired, unspoiled halal meals, or, at the very least, pre-plated meals that
do not require them to consume pork," the complaint said.
According
to the groups, detainees had gotten sick from the expired food, reporting
stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Detainees
reportedly asked the facility's chaplain for assistance in the matter, but said
the chaplain responded "callously", telling them "it is what it
is".
Lawmakers
on Monday noted that Krome "is not likely to be the only facility where
these alleged violations are occurring" and requested that the
investigation be expanded to include probes into other facilities with
significant numbers of detainees that require religious accommodations.
"We
also ask that you do everything in your office's power to ensure that all
Muslim detainees and other detainees requiring religious dietary accommodations
are given immediate access to those accommodations, and that ICE officers and
employees who have violated detainees' rights are held accountable," the
letter reads.
"The
fundamental values of religious freedom and equality before the law are
essential to the fabric of our democracy. We demand accountability for this treatment,
and we look forward to working with your office to achieve it."
Lawmakers
also asked to receive a list of facilities that have detainees who have
requested religious accommodations, including the numbers of detainees
requiring such accommodations and details regarding which religion such
detainees follow.
The
results of any investigation on the matter should be made public, the lawmakers
said.
In
addition to complaints filed against ICE facilities, at least 64 of the 163
religious freedom cases filed in federal court by Muslims held under the
purview of the state and federal bureaus of prisons between October 2017 and
January 2019 were complaints made about dietary needs.
It
is unclear how many Muslims are currently being held in ICE detention, but
there are currently more than 80,000 Muslims in US prisons.
Black
Americans make up an overwhelmingly disproportionate share of the US prison
population, as well as the Muslim inmate population.
In
April, a report released by the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights
Watch, and the National Immigrant Justice Center found that under President
Trump, "the detention machine has exploded, resulting in billions of
dollars in revenue for private operators" like the Krome facility.
Since
2017, 40 new detention facilities have opened, most of which are run by private
operators, according to the report. The groups also found that at least 39
adults have died in ICE custody or immediately after being released since 2017.
Up
from just over $6bn during the Obama administration, ICE currently receives
$8.1bn in annual funding from Congress, with the White House hoping to secure
$9.9bn in 2021, were Trump to be re-elected.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-muslim-detainees-served-pork-expired-food
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Terror
risks remains ‘extremely high’ in France: minister
August
31, 2020
PARIS:
The risk of terror attacks in France remains extremely high, the interior
minister said on Monday, adding that over 8,000 people were on a national
warning list of Islamist radicalization.
The
comments by Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin came two days before 14 people
are due to go on trial over alleged involvement in attacks in January 2015
including on the Charlie Hebdo weekly that heralded a wave of militant strikes
in France.
The
threat “remains extremely high in the country,” Darmanin said in a speech
during a visit to France’s internal security service the DGSI.
He
said 8,132 individuals had been registered on France’s database of suspected
Islamist radicals considered to be a potential security threat.
Fourteen
alleged accomplices in the January 7-9, 2015 jihadist attacks on the Charlie
Hebdo satirical weekly, a French policewoman and a Jewish supermarket go on
trial in Paris on Wednesday.
All
of the perpetrators were killed in the aftermath of the assaults but lawyers
for the victims and prosecutors insist the trial will be a hugely important if
potentially traumatic moment.
Speaking
on France Info radio Monday, national anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois
Ricard dismissed the idea that it was just “little helpers” going on trial.
“It
is about individuals who are involved in the logistics, the preparation of the
events, who provided means of financing, operational material, weapons, a residence.
“All
this is essential to the terrorist action,” he said.
The
January 2015 attacks heralded a wave of Islamist violence that left 258 people
dead and raised unsettling questions about modern France’s ability to preserve
security and harmony for a multicultural society.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1727466/world
--------
UAE-Israel
deal will not come at expense of Palestinian cause: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince
31
August 2020
The
recent agreement between the UAE and Israel will not come at the expense of the
Palestinian cause, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan
said Monday.
The
Crown Prince said the UAE was the Palestinians' “second nation,” adding that
the UAE was committed to the creation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem
as its capital.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
“Peace
is a strategic choice, but not at the expense of the Palestinian cause,” he was
quoted as saying by Al Arabiya.
The
UAE and Israel agreed to normalize ties last month, with the UAE opening up
diplomatic and commercial relations with Israel in exchange for the Israeli
government halting its annexation of Palestinian land.
A
joint statement released Monday between the UAE and Israel, and the US, which
mediated the agreement, called the new deal “a courageous step towards a more
stable, integrated and prosperous Middle East.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/2020/09/01/UAE-Israel-deal-will-not-come-at-expense-of-Palestinian-cause-Abu-Dhabi-Crown-Prince.html
--------
Interfaith
council urges PM to act over PAS MP’s Bible remarks
September
1, 2020
PETALING
JAYA: An interfaith council has called on Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to
take a stand against the use of religion to divide the nation, following a PAS
MP’s recent controversial remarks on the Bible.
The
Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and
Taoism (MCCBCHST) said Pasir Puteh MP Nik Muhammad Zawawi Salleh’s comments
crossed the line of bigotry as he had stereotyped the religion.
It
said religious tensions would continue to escalate if his comments were
condoned by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, adding that the matter had
to be nipped in the bud.
“MCCBCHST
calls upon the prime minister to provide moral leadership by making a statement
to forbid politicians who seek to use religion to divide the nation.
“The
speaker of the Dewan Rakyat also carries the responsibility on behalf of all
Malaysians to disallow politicians who touch on matters of religion other than
their own in debates.
“If
nothing is done, the current government will bear full responsibility for
destroying the religious harmony which has served to keep our country in peace
and prosperity all these years,” it said in a statement today.
The
interfaith council said Zawawi’s comments were a dangerous precedent and
unacceptable, and that it would not allow irresponsible politicians to build
animosity by disparaging other religions.
The
statement was jointly signed by the council’s president Archbishop Julian Leow
Beng Kim, Malaysian Gurdwaras Council’s Sardar Jagir Singh, Malaysia Hindu
Sangam’s RS Mohan Shan, Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia’s Dao Zhang
Tan Hoe Chieow and Malaysia Buddhist Association’s Venerable Sing Kan.
Zawawi
had alleged in the Dewan Rakyat last week that biblical injunctions about
drinking alcohol had been “distorted or altered”, and that the Bible had
formerly outlawed the consumption of alcohol.
His
remarks have brought protests from politicians in Sabah and Sarawak, and a
Sarawak archbishop who called for a retraction and an apology. A sedition
report was also filed against Zawawi in Kuching.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2020/09/01/interfaith-council-urges-pm-to-act-over-pas-mps-bible-remarks/
--------
US,
UK, Norway welcome Sudan peace agreement in joint statement
31
August 2020
The
United States, Britain and Norway applauded the peace agreement announced
Monday between Sudan’s transitional government and rebels of the Sudan
Revolutionary Front.
The
three countries, known as the Sudan Troika, called the agreement the “first
step” to restore stability and hope for the Sudanese people who have suffered
for years amid violent conflict.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
“The
peace agreement lays a foundation for sustainable peace and stability in Darfur
and other conflict-affected areas that is critical for Sudan’s democratic
transition,” the Troika said in a statement.
They
said both sides had made important concessions and urged the implementation of
the deal “in good faith”, pointing to the need for more peace talks with other
rebel groups.
They
said the risks to sustainable peace remain high given ongoing violence in
Darfur, Port Sudan and South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
“The
Troika urges the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North-Abdelaziz al-Hilu and
the Sudan Liberation Movement-Abdulwahid Al Nur to build on this achievement
and to engage in serious negotiations with the government,” they said.
“The
Troika urges Sudan’s diverse communities to overcome old enmities and to unite
to support this singular opportunity for lasting peace.”
The
deal agreed on Monday is seen as a crucial step towards ending 17 years of
conflict in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed.
Fighting
in Darfur alone left around 300,000 people dead after rebels took up arms there
in 2003, according to the United Nations, with former government leaders
accused of carrying out genocide and of crimes against humanity.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/31/US-UK-Norway-welcome-Sudan-peace-agreement-in-joint-statement.html
--------
Bangladesh's
Rohingya refugees lobby ICC to sit in Asia during war crimes investigation
Sep
1, 2020
Two
Australian lawyers acting on behalf of hundreds of Rohingya refugees are
pushing to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) sit in Asia for the
first time.
The
ICC is investigating allegations of genocide and crimes against humanity
allegedly committed by Myanmar Government and military officials in 2017.
Hundreds
of thousands of Rohingya — a stateless, mostly Muslim minority group — fled to
neighbouring Bangladesh during the unrest.
Myanmar's
Government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, has faced
accusations of failing to stop a systematic campaign of violence by security
forces to wipe out the Rohingya minority, which Myanmar denies.
Lawyers
acting on behalf of Rohingya refugees have now lodged a pre-trial motion asking
the court to investigate the possibility of holding a trial outside of Europe.
What
are they asking for?
Counsel
at the ICC Kate Gibson is representing groups of Rohingya living in the Cox's
Bazar refugee camp in Bangladesh.
Ms
Gibson said they were hoping the court would hold some or part of the hearings
in Asia, possibly in Bangkok in Thailand, or even Bangladesh.
"We're
just asking the court to be aware of this massive gap that is existing between
the Rohingya population in the camp who are cut off in every sense that you
could imagine from The Hague to be aware that they feel like this," she
said.
"And
we think one of the most effective ways of doing that would be to look into
whether the ICC can move its seat to somewhere closer to the victim
communities."
What
are the issues with the ICC's current location?
Postdoctoral
research fellow at Sydney Law School Rosemary Grey said witnesses and victims
faced a number of issues, including financial difficulty, lack of documentation
and poor internet connections.
Emma
Palmer, a lecturer at Griffith University Law School, said The Hague's distance
from victims had an effect on the way it ran its trials.
"[Prosecutors]
need to rely much more on intermediaries, on civil society groups to help them
in the actual jurisdiction that they're trying to investigate," Dr Palmer
said.
What
do claimants say?
Muhammed
Nowkhim is one of the Rohingya refugees hoping to testify before the court.
He
left his village — along with 20,000 other people — after he woke to the sound
to gunfire and rockets in August 2017.
Mr
Nowkhim said his family members were shot at, and his home was burned to the
ground during the violence.
"Most
of the people [in the village] were injured, some of the people were shot, some
people were bleeding."
The
24-year-old said having the court sit in Asia, rather than The Hague, would be
meaningful to other people who wanted to testify.
"If
the court is set up in Asia then every victim who [suffered], they can openly
say their opinion in front of the judges," Mr Nowkhim said.
Ms
Gibson said there were logistical benefits to the move.
"The
court will be closer to the evidence, the sites, the witnesses themselves, and
you won't have to put this burden on the victim communities to travel to this
foreign location," she said.
Is
it likely?
"The
International Criminal Court can theoretically hold proceedings anywhere,"
Dr Grey said.
While
the ICC has never sat outside of its headquarters in The Hague since it began
in 2002, Dr Grey said she thought the move was "realistic".
Victims
in countries such as Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo have made
similar requests in the past, but they had been rejected on security, financial
and technical grounds.
"The
ICC has to have its proceedings somewhere safe for the judges, for the lawyers,
safe for the victims or witnesses," Dr Grey said.
"[But]
there are plenty of locations in Asia that are quite stable.
What
other courts could inform the ICC's move?
Legal
experts pointed to the UN-backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia as a possible model.
The
tribunal investigated war crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, and
was established in the capital Phnom Penh in 2006.
"The
public gallery was full of Cambodian people, full of local people who have
bused in from the provinces, people from Phnom Penh people in school uniform or
they university students, local journalists," Dr Grey said.
Dr
Palmer said the ICC has had little engagement with South East Asia in the past.
"Even
opening the discussion [of having the court in Asia] could be important if it
opens some doors to the court to actually learn a bit more about the
region," Dr Palmer said.
The
ICC has been contacted for comment.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-09-01/bangladesh-rohingya-international-criminal-court-asia-refugees/12571818
--------
Mideast
Israeli
plane landing in UAE violates Arab consensus barring normalization with Israel:
Palestinian PM
31
August 2020
Palestinian
Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has condemned as “very painful” the landing of
an Israeli plane on Emirati territory, stressing the highly provocative move
violates the Arab consensus on refusing to normalize relations with the
occupying regime.
The
Palestinian premier made the remarks in the beginning of the weekly Palestinian
cabinet meeting in Ramallah on Monday, shortly after Israel’s El Al Flight 971,
carrying high-level Israeli and American delegations, landed on Abu Dhabi
International Airport.
“It
is very painful to see today the landing of an Israeli plane in the United Arab
Emirates in a clear violation of the Arab stance on the Arab-Israeli conflict,”
Palestine's official Wafa news agency quoted Shtayyeh as saying.
The
Israeli passenger plane, which made the first direct non-cargo flight between
Israel and the United Arab Emirates, touched down in Abu Dhabi after flying
through Saudi Arabian airspace.
“We
would have very much liked to see a UAE flight land in al-Quds after it is
liberated. But we live in a difficult Arab era,” the Palestinian prime minister
further said.
The
Saudi move to allow the Israeli plane to enter the Arab kingdom’s airspace
apparently signals the possibility that Riyadh could regularly allow such
flights, shortening the route length and making them viable commercially.
The
move is also perceived as a sign of Riyadh’s support for the Israeli-UAE
normalization deal, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia has been sponsoring the
so-called Arab Peace Initiative that bars the Arab and Muslim countries from
normalizing ties with Israel before a Palestinian state is established.
Abu
Dhabi and Tel Aviv announced on August 13 that they had reached an agreement
that would lead to a full normalization of diplomatic relations between the two
sides.
The
highly controversial deal, which has since been widely condemned across the
occupied Palestinian territories and the Muslim world, was brokered by US
President Donald Trump, who has attempted to paint it as a big breakthrough.
The
UAE-Israel deal marks the third such normalization agreement the occupying
regime has struck with an Arab country after Egypt (1979) and Jordan (1994).
The UAE, the first country in the Persian Gulf region to reach such a deal with
Tel Aviv, was already believed to have clandestine relations with Israel.
According
to the accord, Israeli and UAE delegations are to hold meetings and sign
bilateral agreements covering sectors, including investment, tourism and direct
flights and the opening of reciprocal embassies.
On
Saturday, Abu Dhabi announced it was scrapping its economic boycott against
Israel, allowing trade and financial accords between the two sides.
Meanwhile,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday hosted a high-ranking US
delegation, led by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, and held a joint
press conference with him and US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.
Netanyahu
said that Tel Aviv was engaged in “many more unpublicized meetings with Arab
and Muslim leaders to normalize relations with Israel.”
He
also noted that the recent Israel-UAE agreement would “pave the way” for other
countries to normalize their relations with Tel Aviv.
The
US delegation, along with a high-ranking Israeli delegation, headed to the UAE
on Monday morning to meet with Emirati officials.
Elsewhere
in his Monday remarks, the Palestinian prime minister thanked the Arab
countries that have stood firm against normalization with the occupying regime
and stuck to the so-called Arab Peace Initiative.
UAE
allows Israel to penetrate Arab region: Islamic Jihad
On
Sunday, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement said the UAE, through its
much-condemned agreement with Israel, allowed the occupying regime to penetrate
the Arab region and a Muslim nation, holding Abu Dhabi fully responsible for
such a move.
Israel
is “the US’ spearhead and its massive colonial project that targets the Arab
and Muslim regions,” said senior Islamic Jihad official Khader Habib during a
press conference, the Palestinian Information Center reported.
He
also warned against the “Zio-American ambitions” in the region and said
Washington was seeking to push other Arab states to normalize their ties with
Israel and clinch security agreements that would pose a threat to the Arab and
Muslim regions.
“We
are confident that no good will come from America or Israel,” he said,
commenting on Kushner’s current regional visit to Israel and the UAE, which is
believed to push for Arab-Israeli rapprochement.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/31/633009/Palestine-Israel-UAE-plane-Shtayyeh-normalization-Islamic-Jihad-
--------
Zionists
should seek shelter, if mediation for lifting Gaza blockade fails : Top Hamas
official
31
August 2020
A
high-ranking official with the Palestinian Islamic Resistance movement, Hamas,
has warned against the failure of mediation efforts aimed at ending the Israeli
siege on the Gaza Strip, emphasizing that if such efforts fail, Israel's
authorities and settlers will have to look for shelter.
“The
failure of mediators' efforts to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip means that
the Zionist enemy and Zionist settlers will have to experience a life under
siege in their shelters,” Arabic-language Quds Press news agency quoted Hamas
spokesman Mushir al-Masry as saying in a televised interview on Sunday evening.
He
added, “Palestinian factions do not accept that the residents of the Gaza Strip
be subjected to gradual death as a result of the continued [Israeli] siege and
aggression.”
“We
have nothing to lose, and the enemy's effort to exploit the humanitarian
situation [in Gaza] and the coronavirus pandemic to advance its own policies
and extend the blockade imposed on our Palestinian nation will not succeed,”
Masry highlighted.
The
top Hamas official further noted, “The occupying regime refrains from
responding to the legitimate demands of the Palestinian people to lift the
siege. However, our nation and the resistance front have decided to continue
their endeavor to have the siege of Gaza lifted.”
“We
will go to great lengths [in the effort to end the blockade of Gaza] and all
options are on the table. The Zionist regime will be responsible for all the
dangerous consequences of this issue,” Masry said.
On
Sunday, Ismail Haniyeh, head of the political bureau of Hamas, stated that his
resistance movement will continue to make efforts to end all forms of siege on
the Gaza Strip.
Haniyeh
said in a statement that “Hamas and the people in Gaza are determined to
confront the unjust blockade until it is removed completely.”
“The
Hamas leadership is keenly following the current situation in the Gaza Strip as
well as the contacts and efforts being made by many parties to end the siege on
the strip,” the Hamas leader stated.
Haniyeh
also expressed confidence in the mediation efforts being made by Egypt and
Qatar to end the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
The
Gaza Strip has been under Israeli land, air and sea blockade since June 2007,
after Hamas, which has vowed to resist Israeli occupation, rose to power in the
enclave.
Since
imposing the siege, Israel has also waged three wholesale wars against Gaza,
killing thousands of Palestinians in each.
The
crippling blockade has caused a sharp decline in the standard of living as well
as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty in the strip.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/31/633003/Failure-of-efforts-to-lift-Gaza-blockade-means-Zionists-have-to-seek-shelter-Top-Hamas-official
--------
Iran’s
Judiciary Chief Raps US, Europe for Sheltering Terrorists
Aug
31, 2020
Rayeesi
made the remarks on Monday, addressing judiciary officials in Tehran.
“The
US has sheltered the murderers of 17,000 Iranian officials and people, while it
itself is a terrorist government which has clearly declared that it has
assassinated (former) Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)
Quds Force Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani while he was the official guest
of the Iraqi government,” he said.
Rayeesi
reiterated the need for a continued legal pursuit into the case of General
Soleimani's assassination by the judiciary and the foreign ministry, saying
that his blood will cause expulsion of the US from the region by increasing the
regional nations’ awareness.
Earlier
today, Chairwoman of the Iranian parliament’s Human Rights Commission Zohreh
Elahian in a letter to Head of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human
Rights (DROI) Maria Arena called for the access of the Iranian victims of
terrorism to the terrorists residing in the European states for a fair trial.
“Over
17,000 oppressed Iranian citizens have been victimized by the terrorist acts
and clear and systematic violation of the basic human rights, including the
right of living, the right of security and the right of health, by terrorist
groups, specially members of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization,” Elahian wrote in
her letter on Monday.
She
expressed regret that most terrorists who have been sheltered by the European
states are still plotting against the Iranian nation.
“We
expect that the European parliament pursues the issue and the European
governments act based on good will and the principle of commitment to the
international undertakings, support the victims of terror and their family
members, provide the victims with access to justice and put the terrorists who
live in these countries on trial to end the process of no punishment for the
terrorists and take an effective step in the fight against terrorism,” Elahian
concluded.
The
MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international
community. Its members fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where they received support
from then dictator Saddam Hussein.
The
notorious outfit has carried out numerous attacks against Iranian civilians and
government officials for several decades.
In
2012, the US State Department removed the MKO from its list of designated
terrorist organizations under intense lobbying by groups associated to Saudi
Arabia and other regimes adversarial to Iran.
A
few years ago, MKO members were relocated from their Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s
Diyala Province to Camp Hurriyet (Camp Liberty), a former US military base in
Baghdad, and were later sent to Albania.
Those
members, who have managed to escape, have revealed MKO's scandalous means of
access to money, almost exclusively coming from Saudi Arabia.
The
MKO terrorist group specified the targets as martyred Lieutenant General Qassem
Soleimani, who commanded the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps
(IRGC), and Iranian Judiciary Chief Seyed Ebrahim Rayeesi.
The
terrorist organization said it would “welcome” their assassination, adding that
it desired for the ranking officials to “join” Asadollah Lajevardi, Tehran’s
former chief prosecutor, and Ali Sayyad-Shirazi, a former commander of the
Iranian Army’s Ground Forces during Iraq’s 1980-88 war against Iran.
Earlier
in June 2019, a leaked audio of a phone conversation between two members of
MKO, revealed Saudi Arabia has colluded with the MKO elements to frame Iran for
the recent tanker attacks in the Persian Gulf.
In
the audio, Shahram Fakhteh, an official member and the person in charge of
MKO’s cyber operations, is heard talking with a US-based MKO sympathizer named
Daei-ul-Eslam in Persian, IFP news reported.
In
this conversation, the two elements discuss the MKO’s efforts to introduce Iran
as the culprit behind the tanker attacks in the Persian Gulf, and how the
Saudis contacted them to pursue the issue.
“In
the past week we did our best to blame the [Iranian] regime for the (oil
tanker) blasts. Saudis have called Sister Maryam (Rajavi)’s office to follow up
on the results, [to get] a conclusion of what has been done, and the possible
consequences,” Fakhteh is heard saying.
“I
guess this can have different consequences. It can send the case to the UN
Security Council or even result in military intervention. It can have any
consequence,” Daei-ul-Eslam says.
Attacks
on two commercial oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on June 13, and an earlier
attack on four oil tankers off the UAE’s Fujairah port on May 12, 2019, have
escalated tensions in the Middle East and raised the prospect of a military
confrontation between Iran and the United States.
The
US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have rushed to blame Iran for the incidents, with
the US military releasing a grainy video it claimed shows Iranian forces in a
patrol boat removing an unexploded mine from the side of a Japanese-owned
tanker which caught fire earlier this month.
It
later released some images of the purported Iranian operation after the video
was seriously challenged by experts and Washington’s own allies.
The
MKO which is said to be a cult which turns humans into obedient robots, turned
against Iran after the 1979 Revolution and has carried out several terrorist
attacks killing senior officials in Iran; yet the West which says cultism is
wrong and claims to be against terrorism, supports this terrorist group
officially.
After
the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the MKO began its enmity against Iran by
killings over 17,000 Iranians and terrorist activities. Several members of the
terrorist group and its leaders are living in France now, freely conducting
activities.
The
MKO terrorist group has martyred 17,161 Iranian citizens, including late
president Mohammad Ali Rajayee, former prime minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar,
late Head of Supreme Judicial Council Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, late Deputy
Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff Ali Sayyad Shirazi, and 27
legislators, as well as four nuclear scientists.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990610000899
--------
Israeli
airstrikes kill 11 in Syria, including Iran-backed militants
01
September 2020
Israeli
strikes on Syria killed one civilian, three government troops and seven allied
foreign fighters, a war monitor said on Tuesday in a new toll.
The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which had previously put the toll from
Monday's strikes at five, said Iran-backed paramilitary fighters were among
those killed in the attack on positions south of Damascus.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/01/Israeli-airstrikes-kill-11-in-Syria-including-Iran-backed-militants.html
--------
Israeli
strikes on military targets south of Damascus kill five fighters: Report
01
September 2020
Israeli
strikes on military targets south of the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday
killed two soldiers and three allied fighters, a war monitor said.
State
news agency SANA said “the Zionist enemy carried out a strike... on some of our
military positions south of Damascus and our air defenses confronted them” late
on Monday.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
“The
Israeli attack led to two martyrs being killed and seven soldiers being
wounded,” the source said, adding the fire had came from the direction of the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said another
three non-Syrian fighters were also killed.
It
said the missiles targeted positions of pro-government Lebanese Shiite group
Hezbollah and allied Syrian fighters southwest of Damascus and in the southern
province of Daraa.
Israel
has carried out hundreds of raids in Syria since the civil war broke out in
2011, against Tehran-aligned Hezbollah and Iranian forces supporting Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, as well as government forces.
The
Israeli army rarely acknowledges the strikes, but said that on August 3 it had
used fighter jets, attack helicopters and other warplanes to hit Syrian
military targets in southern Syria.
Hezbollah’s
leader Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday warned the group would kill an Israeli
soldier for each of its fighters slain by the Jewish state, after one of its
combatants was killed in an Israeli strike in Syria on July 20.
Nasrallah
on Sunday said a “decisive decision” had been taken but that Hezbollah was “not
in a hurry.”
His
statement came after a series of incidents on the Lebanese-Israeli frontier.
Israel
said on Wednesday it had launched air strikes against Hezbollah observation
posts in Lebanon after shots were fired from across the border.
Hezbollah
also announced the previous weekend it had brought down an Israeli drone flying
over the border.
Hezbollah
has fought several wars against Israel, though a ceasefire has largely held
since 2006 and a UN peacekeeping force patrols along the Lebanese-Israeli
frontier.
Syria’s
war has killed more than 380,000 people and displaced millions from their homes
since it started with the repression of anti-government protests.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/09/01/Israeli-strikes-on-military-targets-south-of-Damascus-kill-five-fighters-Report.html
--------
India
LeT
module busted in J&K’s Reasi district, 3 arrested
Aug
31, 2020
JAMMU:
A joint team of J&K Police and Army busted a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror
module and arrested three affiliates in Mahore area of J&K’s Reasi district
on Monday.
Reasi
SSP Rashmi Wazir said the module was tasked with reviving the organisation in
Mahore. “The arrested trio, Ghulam Hussain, Abdul Aziz and Ashfaq Ahmed was in
contact with Pakistani handler Mohammad Qasim of Mahore — who exfiltrated to
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 2002 — via different means, and some benami
transactions in different accounts of the accused were detected,” she said.
Some
families of slain terrorists who received financial aid from ISI were also
identified, the SSP said, adding that the involvement of more suspects was
found in this module and further probe is in progress.
The
investigation in the case started after a tip-off about LeT’s plan to revive
its unit in Mahore to wage a war against India and disturb its sovereignty and
integrity. With the help of technical data analysis from the Army and
interrogation of suspects by the joint team, it emerged that Qasim was working
for LeT in Pakistan and was the mastermind of the plan, the SSP claimed.
The
aim was to prepare youth to help terrorists in infiltration, recruit new
members from Mahore and adjoining areas, provide logistical support and set up
a LeT base besides facilitating cross-border movement of terrorists.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/let-module-busted-in-jks-reasi-district-3-arrested/articleshow/77858679.cms
--------
32
Babri case accused submit reply in court
Aug
31, 2020
Babri
Masjid demolition case on Monday before a special Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) in Lucknow.
Judge
Surendra Kumar Yadav had set an August 31 deadline for all the accused to
submit their written arguments in the case related to the December 1992 razing
of the 16th century mosque.
“All
32 accused submitted their replies today. With this, the ‘legal fight’ in the
case comes to an end. Only the last arguments will take place on Tuesday,” said
lawyer KK Mishra, who is representing 25 out of 32 accused, including senior
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Kalyan
Singh.
“Tuesday’s
arguments will be just a formality. Counsel of all accused will argue to assert
only those points which they have submitted in writing in court today,” said
Mishra.
The
Supreme Court’s original deadline for the delivery of judgment in the case was
to expire on August 31. Earlier this month, it extended the deadline for the
special CBI court till September 30.
https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/32-babri-case-accused-submit-reply-in-court/story-tfAY8iV0ERR9C2fuucCn5M.html
--------
Pakistan
HRCP,
PBC And Journalists Slam Threats Hurled At Journalist Ahmad Noorani
01
Sep 2020
ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and
Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in a joint statement “strongly
condemned” death threats hurled at senior journalist Ahmad Noorani for writing
an investigative piece about the business fortunes of close relatives of a
retired army officer and prime minister’s aide.
The
statement, issued by PBC vice chairman Abid Saqi, HRCP chairperson Dr Mehdi
Hasan and secretary general Harris Khalique, PFUJ president Shahzada Zulfikar
and secretary general Nasir Zaidi, “denounced this well-orchestrated campaign”
against the journalist, declaring him anti-state and agent of the enemy.
The
statement maintains that if anyone has any complaint against Mr Noorani’s
story, they should approach courts. “The bar, press, and civil society
leaderships urge the government to provide protection to Mr Noorani and
investigate elements behind these threats to the journalist.”
They
reminded the government that Mr Noorani had been brutally attacked a few years
ago and the culprits got off scot-free.
Shibli
says Asim Bajwa will soon speak about assets
Expressing
full support for Mr Noorani, the statement calls upon all human rights
organisations and civil society to take note of the situation where voices of
dissent are being curbed through brute force and even abduction of journalists.
“Freedom
of expression is under more threat under this government than it was during the
martial law regimes. We stand for freedom of expression and speech, and would
resist any attempt to impose any curbs on them,” the statement concluded.
Assets
of PM’s aide, family
In
a separate statement, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) secretary general and former
senator Farhatullah Babar on Monday demanded a thorough probe into the
investigative news report published on a website about alleged offshore
properties and businesses of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on
Information retired Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa and his close family members.
Mr
Babar said there was a need to carry out investigations to ascertain how the
alleged businesses of Mr Bajwa’s family members multiplied in other countries
in proportion to his rise along the official ladder in Pakistan. “The official
documents quoted in the report apparently lend credence to it,” he said, adding
that this had raised serious questions about the fidelity of solemn
declarations made by the SAPM last month.
NAB’s
silence
The
PPP leader said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the anti-graft
watchdog that always claimed to have looked at the nature of cases and not the
faces of individuals, was totally silent in this matter. “Too much is at stake
to turn a blind eye,” he added.
“Restoring
credibility demands that the report is appropriately responded to in a
transparent, effective and convincing manner,” he said, adding that “silence or
closing eyes is no an option”.
He
said: “Discrimination, selective application of the law, some more equal than
others has weakened the fabric of state and society which must come to an end.”
Following
the report’s publication, retired Lt Gen Asim Saleem Bajwa, who is also
chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, denied the
allegations on Twitter. He said: “A malicious propaganda story published on an
unknown site, against me and my family, is strongly rebutted.”
Talking
to reporters in his hometown Multan last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood
Qureshi had claimed that the authenticity of the news report on the alleged
offshore properties and businesses of Asim Saleem Bajwa and his family would be
clear soon.
“It
is now a common practice that the news is run without confirmation. A news
should be made public once it is confirmed. The truth in this case will come to
the fore soon,” the minister had stated.
Speaking
at a protest demonstration organised by the Defence of Human Rights and civil
society organisations outside the National Press Club on Monday evening to
observe the International Day of the Disappeared, PPP leader Farhatullah Babar
said enforced disappearance was a crime against humanity under the international
law and warned that one day the world might wake up and take notice of the
impunity with which people continue to disappear in the country without a
trace.
Meanwhile,
federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz through a tweet
stated that Mr Bajwa would talk about the news report regarding his assets in
the next few days.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577328/lawyers-rights-groups-slam-threats-hurled-at-journalist
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Pakistanis
rally against citizens' abduction by secret service
01
September 2020
These
are victim families of an unending saga of enforced disappearances in Pakistan.
On the eve of the International Day of the Disappeared, the victim families
together with human rights activists staged a protest rally in Islamabad against
Pakistani secret services.
The
country’s intelligence agencies have been at the heart of allegations to have
illegally detained a large number of citizens in Guantanamo-bay like
prison-centers particularly in the northwestern Pakistan. Many among the
victims were handed over to the American under the pretext of so-called war
against terror.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/01/633046/Pakistanis-rally-against-citizens--abduction-by-secret-service
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Plea
seeking referendum on presidential form of govt reaches SC
Nasir
Iqbal
01
Sep 2020
ISLAMABAD:
A civil engineer has moved a petition in the Supreme Court seeking an immediate
referendum on a question whether the people of Pakistan want a presidential
form of government against what he described as a duplicitious parliamentary
system.
Through
the petition, Dr Sadiq Ali, who has done PhD in turbine design from Ulster
University, UK, pleaded the top court that the case whenever be taken up be
telecast live on national TV channels and electronic media for the benefit of
public at large. This, the petitioner, said would help avoid misunderstanding
or distortion of facts in the translation by the media.
A
similar petition was earlier filed by Hum Awam Pakistan Party chairman Tahir
Aziz Khan by invoking Article 184(3) of the Constitution that deals with the
Supreme Court’s authority to enforce fundamental rights of the people.
The
new petition also seeks direction from the top court for Prime Minister Imran
Khan and other relevant parties to hold referendum under Article 48(6) of the
Constitution on the issue whether the people of Pakistan, for their welfare and
wellbeing, want the presidential form of government or not.
Almost
similar arguments have been adopted by Dr Sadiq Ali in the his petition to highlight
the failure of the parliamentary form of government in the country and how it
was imperative to cut costs and unify command of public governance.
The
petitioner has cited high population, high public debt, failure of successive
governments to plan meaningful jobs to the burgeoning youth comparing the
average Human Development Index (HDI) of Pakistan with other countries of the
region: India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan.
“The
governments have also failed to create a unified industrial policy or
industrial base in addition to failure to address the chronic negative balance
of trade thus pushing Pakistan and its people to clutches of foreign-based
warlocks and syndicates,” the petition claimed.
The
governments have also failed to stop the brain drain or to attract foreign
investment which could actually enhance GDP and create jobs.
The
petition regretted that members of parliament were in the habit of changing
loyalties and cut deals under the table to blackmail the governments only to
promote their own personal interests.
“Thus
a healthy opposition and a strong government are not there to take care of the
welfare and wellbeing of the people.”
The
petition also highlighted little legislation work done in assemblies claiming
that meetings of legislatures often failed due to lack of quorum and the
monitoring role of the opposition was often compromised.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577316/plea-seeking-referendum-on-presidential-form-of-govt-reaches-sc
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People
want Nawaz to assume power in Pakistan, says Maryam
Sep
1, 2020
LAHORE:
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Monday
claimed that the people of Pakistan want Nawaz Sharif in power once again.
Maryam
took to Twitter to share the pictures of the reception she received in her
travel from Lahore to Islamabad on the motorway.
She
said that she met the people who had come from Karachi and other areas of the
country when she resided in Bhera area of Punjab during the journey.
Maryam
said that when she stopped at Bhera for the Lunch, the people surrounded her
and asked about her father.
Whether
to use the religion card or to use the traitor card, the work of the PML-N will
speak, she added. The people are demanding salvation from the mess of the
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.
She
claimed that the public’s love for Nawaz has increased and the masses want the
return of Nawaz so that he can assume the power and bring back Pakistan on the
track.
The
PML-N VP said that the opponents of Nawaz can do propaganda or hurl accusations
on him, but no one can erase his work.
https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2020/08/31/people-want-nawaz-to-assume-power-in-pakistan-says-maryam/
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Islamabad,
Kabul vow to address challenges plaguing ties
Baqir
Sajjad Syed
01
Sep 2020
ISLAMABAD:
As bilateral meetings between Pakistan and Afghanistan under the
Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity (APAPPS) resumed on
Monday, both sides vowed to make the best of this engagement framework for
addressing the challenges that keep plaguing their ties.
“The
two sides reiterated their commitment to optimally utilise APAPPS to deliberate
on all key issues, effectively address common challenges, and pursue new
opportunities,” a statement issued by the Foreign Office said after the APAPPS
second review meeting in Kabul earlier in the day.
Foreign
Secretary Sohail Mahmood led the Pakistani delegation comprising senior
officers at the talks. The Afghan side was led by Deputy Foreign Minister
Mirwais Nab.
Both
sides, moreover, agreed to increase the frequency of the meetings under APAPPS
— the ties framework established in 2018 for providing a comprehensive and
structured mechanism for institutional engagement between the two countries.
The framework comprises five working groups dealing with politico-diplomatic
exchanges, military-to-military ties, intelligence sharing, economic
cooperation and refugee issues.
Afghanistan-Pakistan
Action Plan for Peace and Solidarity second review meeting held
The
previous review session was held in June 2019. No subsequent meetings under
APAPPS could be held first because of Afghan presidential elections and later
due to the controversies surrounding the polls results and more recently
because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Foreign
Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had in his first telephone conversation with
acting Afghan Foreign Minister Haneef Atmar, soon after his nomination in
April, called for revitalising the dysfunctional APAPPS.
“During
the meeting, the entire spectrum of bilateral relations was reviewed,” the FO
said.
Speaking
at a press conference in Kabul after the meeting, Mr Mirwais, according to
Afghan media, said: “We agreed to expand relations of the two countries not
only at the bilateral level but with trilateral and multilateral mechanisms.”
He
said the Afghan delegation took up matters relating to border fencing by
Pakistan, border incidents, problems faced by Afghan refugees in Pakistan,
trade and transit issues, and the peace process in the wide-ranging talks.
In-depth
discussions on these issues were held in the meetings of the respective working
groups.
In
the politico-diplomatic working group, the discussion was focused on
strengthening bilateral relations through regular high-level exchanges,
increased institutional engagement, utilisation of the existing mechanisms,
including APTECA and Joint Economic Cooperation, enhanced economic partnership
and intensified people-to-people exchanges, the FO said.
At
the working group on economy, Pakistan reaffirmed its commitment to expanding
bilateral trade through facilitation and liberalisation measures and expressed
its readiness to commence negotiations on a new Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit
Trade Agreement.
Under
the military-to-military and intelligence cooperation working groups, the
importance of regular exchanges and closer collaboration was emphasised.
The
refugee working group, the FO said, discussed all aspects pertaining to the
Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
“The
Pakistan side reiterated that the peace and reconciliation process offered a
unique opportunity to address the return of Afghan refugees to their homeland
with dignity and honour. A time-bound, well-resourced roadmap was important in
this regard,” the statement said.
Secretary
Mahmood, speaking at the meetings, said Pakistan supported peace talks and was
awaiting the start of the intra-Afghan dialogue. He cautioned the Afghan side
about the challenges in the peace process and said that “perseverance and
unflinching commitment” was needed for a successful outcome.
Mr
Mahmood said bilateral mechanisms and regular exchanges between the two
countries could help the two sides better understand each other’s perspectives.
The
foreign secretary and his delegation started the day-long Kabul trip with a
meeting with acting Foreign Minister Hanif Atmar.
Mr
Atmar noted the improvement in military and security cooperation between the
two countries.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577322/islamabad-kabul-vow-to-address-challenges-plaguing-ties
--------
JUI-F
member expelled from PA over threatening remarks
Zulfiqar
Ali
01
Sep 2020
PESHAWAR:
Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl member from South Waziristan tribal district Hafiz
Isamuddin was expelled from the sitting of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on
Monday on the order of Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani for threatening on last
Tuesday to bomb the assembly’s building.
“In
exercise of powers conferred upon me under sub-rule (2) of Rule 227 of the
Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Procedure and Conduct of Business
Rules, 1988, I do hereby order to withdraw Mr Isamuddin, MPA forthwith from the
House on account of his misconduct — threatened the MPAs, this August House and
precinct of the assembly,” read the speaker’s order after the assembly passed a
resolution against the lawmaker.
The
order further read, “The words he (Isamuddin) uttered on a point of order were
disgusting, threatening and breach of privilege of all members of the assembly,
this August House and so forth the people of the province.”
The
speaker directed the security staff to expel Hafiz Isamuddin from the house for
a single day.
The
chair later adjourned the sitting for 15 minutes.
The
MPA from PK-113 while speaking on a point of order on Aug 25 had criticised the
role of the security forces for not clearing landmines from an area in his
constituency and warned that he would bomb the assembly by putting explosives
in his waistcoat if his grievances were not addressed.
Opposition
except ANP protests ‘one-sided’ ruling of speaker against Hafiz Isamuddin
The
lawmaker had complained that the security forces were not clearing landmines
from Badder area of South Waziristan and that several people, including women
and children, had lost life in landmine explosions.
The
chair’s ruling sparked commotion with the opposition members except Awami
National Party’s protesting against what they described one-sided ruling.
ANP
parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak not only slammed the JUI-F MPA for
his remarks but also supported the resolution moved by the government.
The
ANP’s support for the resolution created division among the joint opposition.
He said his party had never supported terrorism and extremism in any form.
Surprisingly
Speaker Mushtaq Ghani had directed on Tuesday last to expunge remarks of MPA
Hafiz Isamuddin from records.
The
issue resurfaced on the floor of the house when labour minister Shaukat Ali
Yousafzai on a point of order said an elected member had threatened to carry
out suicide attack inside the assembly.
He
said political parties should not allot ticket to the people, who threatened to
blow up the assembly, and that such behaviour was unacceptable.
The
minister asked the chair to direct the security staff to subject all lawmakers
to body search on entrance.
Muttahidda
Majlis-i-Amal member Maulana Lutfur Rehman said his party didn’t endorse the
remarks of Hafiz Isamuddin.
He
said he apologised on behalf of the lawmaker, who might have become emotional
due to situation in his area.
The
lawmaker said Hafiz Isamuddin would also tender an apology for remarks.
He
said Hafiz Isam’s father, Maulana Merajuddin, who was elected an MNA from South
Waziristan region, was gunned down in May 2010 over his stand against
militancy.
Mr
Rehman said the JUI-F leaders and workers had lost life to militancy.
Special
assistant to the chief minister Kamran Bangash said the lawmaker should control
his emotions in future.
He
said such irresponsible statements supported the narrative of militants.
Later,
the adviser to the chief minister on science and technology asked the speaker
to allow him to move a resolution against that MPA.
The
resolution moved without relaxing the relevant rule of business was passed by
the house with a majority vote.
The
PTI and ANP supported the resolution, which demanded of the JUI-F to act
against its such elements and of the speaker to expel the MPA from the session
for a day.
Pakistan
Peoples Party MPAs condemned the JUI-F MPA over his statement but said the
chair gave the ruling against him in haste.
They
said the speaker should have given the floor of the house to the MPA to clarify
position.
MPA
Mir Kalam Khan from North Waziristan, who survived an assassination attempt
near Mirali area on Sunday, came down heavily on the government and security
forces.
In
a hard-hitting speech, he said spike in targeted killings and acts of terrorism
in tribal districts was a failure of security forces and intelligence agencies.
The
lawmaker said 200 people, including elders and government officials, had become
a victim of targeted killing in North Waziristan since Feb 2018, but security
forces and intelligence agencies didn’t apprehend a single culprit.
He
said target killers easily escaped after attacks in the area despite the
deployment of 35,000 army troops and paramilitary forces and presence of a
corps of intelligence operatives.
Mr
Mir Kalam said the frequent targeted killings questioned the performance of
intelligence agencies.
“I
request the state institutions to understand the situation and address
grievances of the people of Waziristan,” said Mr Kalam, who has affiliation
with Pakhtun Tahafuz Movement.
Referring
to the speaker’s ruling against MPA Hafiz Isam, he said the lawmaker was
expelled from the house for issuing only a statement, while the PTI had
attacked Parliament House and PTV headquarters in Sept 2014 but got off
scot-free.
He
wondered if anybody expelled PTI parliamentarians for those attacks.
The
house completed a debate on power crisis in the province.
In
his concluding speech, minister Shaukat Yousafzai said electricity-related
issued would be resolved and the government would make no compromise on the
rights of the province. He said the Pesco should address its shortcomings.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577265/jui-f-member-expelled-from-pa-over-threatening-remarks
--------
Three
Pakistani soldiers killed, four wounded in militant attack in northwest
31
August 2020
Suspected
militants attacked Pakistani troops amid a search operation in a former Taliban
and al-Qaida stronghold in the northwest near the Afghan border, triggering a
shootout that killed three soldiers, the army said Sunday.
It
said four soldiers also were wounded in the attack in South Waziristan, a
district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The army provided no further
details, but South Waziristan had served as a militant base until recent years
when Pakistan said its operations there had cleared the area of the Taliban.
No
group claimed responsibility, although Pakistani Taliban have been blamed for
such previous violence in the region, where militants have a presence.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app
According
to a recently released UN report, more than 6,000 Pakistani insurgents are
hiding in Afghanistan, most belonging to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban group,
which often attacks Pakistani military and civilian targets.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/08/31/Three-Pakistani-soldiers-killed-four-wounded-in-militant-attack-in-northwest.html
--------
North America
US
vetoes UN resolution on foreign militants, including detainees in Syria, Iraq
31
August 2020
The
United States Monday vetoed a UN resolution on the fate of foreign militants
which failed to include a call for their repatriation, diplomats said.
Drafted
by Indonesia -- a non-permanent member of the Security Council -- the text drew
support from 14 members, with the United States the only one to vote against.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
It
stopped short of calling for fighters to be repatriated to their countries of
origin -- as sought by the United States but opposed by European nations.
Instead,
the text encouraged UN member states to work to reinsert ex-fighters --
thousands of whom are detained in Syria and Iraq -- into society, once they
have served any possible jail time, and to provide particular support for their
families.
US
Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft criticized Indonesia’s resolution “supposedly
designed to reinforce international action on counterterrorism” as “worse than
no resolution at all.”
She
added: “Terrorist fighters and their families are easily ignored if they are
someone else’s problem. But I tell you now, and I say this with absolute
conviction – failing to address head on the importance of repatriation will
inevitably perpetuate the problem of terrorism.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/09/01/US-vetoes-UN-resolution-on-foreign-militants-including-detainees-in-Syria-Iraq.html
--------
US-Israeli
team led by Trump's son-in-law arrives in Abu Dhabi
31
August 2020
US
President Donald Trump's Zionist son-in-law Jared Kushner has arrived in the
United Arab Emirates capital as part of his efforts in "normalizing
relations" between Abu Dhabi and
the Israeli regime.
Kushner,
who is leading the US-Israeli delegation
including Trump's national security adviser Robert O'Brien and other US
government and Israeli officials,
disembarked on Monday from the El Al airliner on the first-ever official
Israeli flight from Tel Aviv to the UAE that landed at the VIP terminal in the
Emirates capital where US flags flew alongside the Israeli banner.
The
US -Israeli delegation is scheduled to hold talks to give a final touch on a
pact establishing open relations between Israel and the UAE.
Upon
arrival in Abu Dhabi, Kushner said that the United States was looking to
advancing Tel Aviv's relations with Arab and Muslim capitals while maintaining
what he described as Israel's qualitative military edge over the regional
states.
Kushner
also insisted that Palestinians should come to the negotiating table.
Israel
and the UAE agreed to normalize ties earlier this month in an agreement
apparently brokered by Trump, drawing strong criticism from Muslim countries
and Palestinians, who called the move treason.
Before
boarding the first official Israeli flight from Tel Aviv to the UAE, Kushner
claimed, "This is a very hopeful time ... While this is a historic flight,
we hope that it will start an even more historic journey in the Middle East and
beyond."
Kushner
praised the Saudis as being “very gracious” for allowing an Israeli airplane in
the Muslim nation's airspace, insisting that the Israeli jetliner's flight over
Saudi Arabia was “a manifestation of what is possible in the Middle East.”
According
to the accord, Israeli and UAE delegations are to hold meetings and sign
bilateral agreements covering sectors including investment, tourism and direct
flights and the opening of reciprocal embassies.
According
to political commentator Kevin Barrett, Kushner, who is Trump's son-in-law and
a key architect of the president's Middle East policies, is pursuing the
interests of the powerful Kosher Nostra, an ethnically Jewish Zionist-loyal
organized crime syndicate that murdered the Kennedys and orchestrated the
September 11 neoconservative Zionist coup d'etat in America.
According
to Barrett, Kushner, who is acting on behalf of this criminal gang, is in the
region forcing the Arab and Muslim countries to surrender to genocide, while
calling it “normalization."
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/31/633016/US-Kushner-UAE-Israel-Saudi-Flight
--------
Europe
Global
Muslim Scholars Condemn Desecration Of Holy Quran
Mustafa
M. M. Haboush and Ali Semerci
31.08.2020
A
top global Muslim group on Monday condemned recent desecrations of the holy
Quran in Scandinavia.
Desecration
of the holy Quran is an "incitement to terrorism and belittling of sacred
values," said Ali al-Qaradaghi, secretary general of the International
Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS), on Facebook.
At
an anti-Islam protest Saturday in the capital Oslo by the far-right Stop the
Islamization of Norway (SION) group, a protester tore out pages of the Quran
and spat on them.
Last
Friday, in Malmo, Sweden, a copy of the Quran was also burned by supporters of
Rasmus Paludan, leader of the Danish far-right Stram Kurs (Tight Direction)
party.
Al-Qaradaghi
also urged Muslims to strictly follow the teachings of Islam and not respond to
extremism with extremism.
Urging
authorities to take the necessary actions, Al-Qaradaghi said the incident does
not harm the holy Quran but the perpetrator.
The
first response to the incident has to be the establishment of an Islamic
consensus on following the Quran, he added.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/muslim-scholars-condemn-desecration-of-holy-quran/1959066
--------
EU
calls for dialogue with Turkey, end to tensions in Eastern Mediterranean
31
August 2020
The
European Union has called for dialogue with Turkey, demanding that Ankara
refrain from unilateral steps that stoke tensions in eastern Mediterranean.
"It
is essential to go into the dialogue, into a serious, honest dialogue tackling
all the open issues because only in the dialogue and in negotiations, you can
pursue the escalation and the path towards stability and lasting solutions,
which are so necessary in our relations both as a neighbor of Turkey and as a
partner of Turkey. And that concerns the individual (European Union) member
states and the EU as a whole," Peter Stano, the spokesman for EU foreign
policy chief Josep Borrell, said on Monday.
He
added, “The (EU Foreign) Ministers were very clear and determined to show EU
solidarity with its two affected member states - namely Cyprus and Greece - and
they were very clear in their call on Turkish authorities to end any unilateral
activities, which are escalating tensions in the Mediterranean and the
ministers and the EU are very clear in preferring dialogue."
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/31/633014/EU-calls-for-dialogue-with-Turkey,-end-to-tensions-in-east-Mediterranean
--------
UK:
Counter-terrorism team detain 2 at Stansted Airport
Ahmet
Gürhan Kartal
31.08.2020
LONDON
British
counter-terrorism officers have detained two men arriving in London’s Stansted
Airport Sunday evening, authorities confirmed.
A
34-year-old man from Kuwait and a 48-year-old man from Italy have been escorted
off a Ryanair plane, which was intercepted by two RAF Typhoon fighter jets
after reports of a security threat on board.
The
men had arrived on a flight from Vienna and were detained under Schedule 7 of
the Terrorism Act, according to a police statement.
Some
passenger tweeted after they were permitted to leave the plane following the
two men’s detention by armed police.
They
said police found suspicious material in the plane’s toilet.
A
Ryanair spokesman said the crew were “alerted of a potential security threat on
board.”
“In
line with procedures, the captain informed UK authorities and continued to
London Stansted, where the aircraft landed normally and taxied to a remote
stand where passengers disembarked safely,” he said.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/uk-counter-terrorism-team-detain-2-at-stansted-airport/1958441
--------
Arab world
US-Israeli
delegation lands in Abu Dhabi on historic flight
01
Sep 2020
ABU
DHABI: A US-Israeli delegation, led by White House adviser Jared Kushner,
arrived here on Monday on the historic first commercial flight from Tel Aviv to
mark the normalisation of ties between the Jewish state and the UAE.
In
another breakthrough, Saudi Arabia allowed the flight to cross its airspace,
halving what would otherwise have been a long trip around the Arabian
peninsula.
“This
is the first time this has ever happened. I would like to thank the Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia for making that possible,” Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s
son-in-law, said on arrival in Abu Dhabi.
The
word “peace” was written in Arabic, English and Hebrew on the cockpit of the El
Al flight that landed in the Emirates capital, where US flags flew alongside
the Star of David banner.
In
another rare development, Saudi Arabia allows its airspace for Israeli flight
The
landmark direct flight by Israel’s national carrier, numbered LY971 in a nod to
the UAE’s international dialling code, is due to return on Tuesday with the
number 972, matching Israel’s dialling code.
“While
this is a historic flight, we hope that it will start an even more historic
journey in the Middle East and beyond,” Kushner, a key architect of Trump’s
Middle East policy, said before boarding.
“The
future does not have to be predetermined by the past. This is a very hopeful
time.” Kushner urged the Palestinians, who have condemned the UAE deal as a
betrayal of their cause, to come to the negotiating table.
“When
they are ready, the whole region is very excited to help lift them up and move
them forward. But they can’t be stuck in the past, they have to come to the
table,” he said.
The
accord was announced by Trump on August 13, making the UAE the first Gulf
country and only the third Arab nation to establish relations with Israel.
Unlike
Egypt, which made peace with its former battlefield enemy in 1979, and Jordan,
which followed in 1994, the UAE has never fought a war with Israel.
Saudi
Arabia next?
Gulf
Arab nations have had increasingly publicly ties with Israel in recent years,
boosted by their shared rivalry with Iran and the advantages of linking their
powerful economies.
Saudi
Arabia, in keeping with decades of policy by most Arab nations, says it will
not normalise ties until Israel has signed a peace deal establishing an
independent Palestinian state.
But
the overflight was a concrete sign of Saudi cooperation with Israel after years
of behind-the-scenes overtures.
The
plane however skirted the Gulf states of Qatar and Bahrain, who have declined
so far to follow the UAE’s move.
“Peace
is not an empty word used to normalise crimes and oppression,” Saeb Erekat,
secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, said on Monday.
“Peace
is the outcome of justice. Peace is not made by denying Palestine’s right to
exist.”
Sparks
fly
The
talks in Abu Dhabi aim to boost cooperation between the two regional economic
powerhouses in areas including aviation, tourism, trade, health, energy and
security.
The
visit is also expected to include a meeting between Kushner and Israeli and
Emirati national security advisers Meir Ben-Shabbat and Sheikh Tahnoun bin
Zayed.
Ben-Shabbat,
who was also on the flight to the UAE, said the delegation’s goal was to make a
plan to push ahead relations in a broad range of areas.
“We
came here to transform a vision into a reality. There are no limits to
cooperation... in education, innovation, health, aviation, agriculture, energy
and many other fields,” he said in Abu Dhabi.
Since
the agreement between the UAE and Israel was unveiled, there have been phone
calls between their ministers, and on Saturday the Emirates in a new milestone
repealed a 1972 law boycotting Israel.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking alongside Kushner in Jerusalem on
Sunday, praised “the swift pace of normalisation” between his country and the
UAE.
“You
will see how the sparks fly on this. It’s already happening,” he said,
predicting that “today’s breakthroughs will become tomorrow’s norms. It will
pave the way for other countries to normalise their ties with Israel.”
“There
are many more unpublicised meetings with Arab and Muslim leaders to normalise
relations with the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said, without naming any
countries.
As
part of the normalisation agreement, Israel agreed to suspend its planned
annexations in the occupied West Bank, although Netanyahu quickly insisted the
plans remained on the table in the long run.
The
Israeli leader has also denied reports that the accord hinges on the sale of US
F-35 stealth fighter jets to the UAE.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1577315/us-israeli-delegation-lands-in-abu-dhabi-on-historic-flight
--------
Diplomat
Mustapha Adib designated as Lebanon's new Prime Minister
31
August 2020
Lebanon’s
Ambassador to Germany Mustapha Adib was named as prime minister on Monday by
President Michel Aoun, three weeks after Lebanon’s previous Prime Minister
Hassan Diab announced his resignation in the wake of the deadly Beirut Port
explosion.
While
nominations to high-ranking positions in the Lebanese political system are
often deadlocked for months or even years, the country’s major political blocs
consolidated around Adib with uncharacteristic speed.
The
next order of business will be to select a Cabinet, a usually months-long
process of horse trading between the different parties.
The
pressure was on to make a nomination before the arrival of French President
Emmanuel Macron in the country Tuesday. France has been heavily involved in the
response to the Aug. 4 port explosion, with Macron organizing an international
donor conference that raised some 250 million euros in pledged aid.
Adib
has served as Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany since 2013. He also serves as an
adviser to former Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who joined with fellow former
prime ministers Saad Hariri, Foaud Siniora and Tamam Salam in nominating Adib
to head the new government.
Many
had anticipated that Hariri, who resigned last October after the outbreak of
massive anti-government protests, would be brought back to the top government
position after Diab’s resignation, but he has so far resisted.
By
convention, Lebanon’s prime minister is always a Sunni Muslim, the speaker of
parliament a Shia Muslim, and the president a Maronite Christian.
Hariri’s
Future Movement party and allied parties did not take part in Diab’s
government, which was seen as a “one color” government controlled by the Shia
Hezbollah party and its allies, including President Michel Aoun’s Free
Patriotic Movement. As a result, the Diab government had been viewed with
suspicion by the West and Gulf states, from which Lebanon now needs funding,
particularly after the port explosion.
A
newly released damage assessment by the World Bank of the Beirut Port explosion
estimates $3.8-4.6 billion in damages and $2.9-3.5 billion in economic losses
from the explosion, with $1.8-2.2 billion in recovery and reconstruction
funding needed for the next year.
Agreement
on Adib
Future
and Hezbollah both agreed on the nomination of Adib, along with a number of
other major blocs, including the Progressive Socialist Party of Druze leader
Walid Jumblatt, signaling a return to the concept of a “unity government.”
Speaking
after a meeting with Aoun Monday morning, Hariri said that Lebanon’s priority
should be rebuilding after the port disaster and reaching an agreement with the
International Monetary Fund so that “the international community will return
its support to Lebanon to control the economic collapse…and return to growth.”
Lebanon was seeking $10 billion from the fund to help the country get out of a
major economic crisis even before the port explosion.
“All
parliamentary blocs know that to reach this goal, there must be a government
formed of people known for their competence, integrity and competence, and it
must be formed quickly,” he said.
Nasser
Yassin, director of research and interim director at the American University of
Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs,
said it appeared that the French had played a large role in pushing Adib’s
selection.
“Lebanese
politicians always want to have a sponsor or a guardian to give them how to do
it,” he said. “The French I guess were working a lot in the backstage to get
the name of this person.”
Yassin
said it appeared that Adib’s main selling points for the Lebanese political
parties – apart from being acceptable to France and the West – were that he
“he’s not someone provocative – he won’t rock the boat in terms of any new
direction.”
But
at the same time, he said it’s unclear from Adib’s track record if he will be
up to the task of leading the country out of its multiple crises.
“The
designated prime minister now, he has no solid experience, I think – we don’t
know him we don’t know anything about him,” he said.
There
were some dissenting voices to Adib’s nomination, including from Saad Hariri’s
brother, Bahaa, who has taken a harder line on Hezbollah than Saad. Bahaa
wrote, “Mustapha Adib is another proxy for Lebanon’s old system – it is not
acceptable for warlords and militias to run our country. We need total change
to make a new Lebanon.”
Likewise,
the Lebanese Forces party – a Christian party that is a rival to the Free
Patriotic Movement and which also remained outside the Diab government –
declined to endorse Adib, instead naming judge Nawaf Salam as its pick.
The
next order of business will be to select a Cabinet, which typically takes
months.
While
the current circumstances might suggest that the selection process should be
quicker than usual, Yassin said that unless the French are heavily involved in
that process as well, “knowing Lebanese politicians, I think they will take
their time and they will go back to their old tricks of trying to get the most
out of the new cabinet.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/08/31/Mustapha-Adib-is-Lebanon-s-new-Prime-Minister-Reuters-vote-count.html
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Saudi
king sacks top military officials in new ‘graft’ cases amid royal power
struggle
01
September 2020
The
Saudi king has sacked several military officials, including two senior royals,
over what is claimed to be graft charges, sparking speculation of a stepped-up
push to consolidate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s hold on power.
In
a royal decree on Tuesday, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud removed Prince Fahad
bin Turki of his role as commander of joint forces in the Saudi-led coalition
waging war against Yemen.
His
son, Abdulaziz bin Fahad, was also relieved of his post as deputy governor of
al-Jouf region.
According
to the decree, the officials, along with four others, face an investigation
into “suspicious financial dealings” at the defense ministry.
The
decree said the crown prince — who also serves as the defense minister —
designated Lieutenant Gen. Mutlaq bin Salem bin Mutlaq al-Azima to replace
Prince Fahd.
The
decree was based on bin Salman’s missive to the so-called Anti-Corruption
Committee.
Prince
Fahd was commander of the Royal Saudi Ground Forces, paratrooper units and
special forces before becoming commander of joint forces in the Saudi-led coalition,
according to Saudi daily Arab News.
Since
rising to power on the back of a palace coup in 2017, bin Salman, who is
considered Saudi Arabia’s de-facto ruler, has spearheaded a campaign against
alleged corruption in the government.
The
campaign, however, is widely believed to be aimed at getting rid of the
obstacles to the prince's hold on power.
In
the most high-profile purge later that year, scores of royals, ministers and
businessmen were detained at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel under tight security.
The
majority of those high-profile figures later agreed to monetary settlements in
exchange for their freedom and paid colossal sums of money.
Earlier
this year, three senior royals, including the king's younger brother Prince
Ahmed bin Abdulaziz and bin Salman's predecessors, Mohammed bin Nayef, were
arrested.
The
controversial crown prince has been embroiled in a number of scandals,
including the assassination in 2018 of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi at
the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
More
recently, bin Salman has been sued by former intelligence agent, Sa’ad
al-Jabri, at a US court for a murder plot against the exiled figure.
The
heir to the throne has also been under fire over the bloody war he has been
leading against Yemen and the harsh treatment of activists at home.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/09/01/633049/Saudi-Arabia-King-Salman-royals-corruption
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Blasts
hit Dubai, Abu Dhabi ahead of first flight from Israel
31
August 2020
Three people have been killed and several people
injured in two separate explosions in the United Arab Emirates' capital Abu
Dhabi and its tourism hub Dubai, police and local media say.
The
incidents came as the first direct flight between Israel and the United Arab Emirates
entered the Saudi airspace before landing in Abu Dhabi, which was hit by a rare
blast shortly before the arrival of US and Israeli officials.
The
Saudi move signals the possibility Riyadh could regularly allow these flights,
shortening the route length and making them viable commercially. It is also
seen as a sign of Riyadh’s support for the Israeli-UAE normalization deal.
The
El Al plane is carrying US and Israeli officials, who are set to meet with
Emirati officials on Monday to further advance the accord.
Israel
and the UAE on August 13 reached a deal that will lead to a full normalization
of diplomatic relations between the two sides, in an agreement apparently
brokered by US President Donald Trump.
According
to the accord, Israeli and UAE delegations are to hold meetings and sign
bilateral agreements covering sectors including investment, tourism and direct
flights and the opening of reciprocal embassies.
The
US delegation, which is heading to Abu Dhabi, is led by Trump's senior adviser
and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and includes national security adviser Robert
O'Brien.
The
delegation is on a trip to the region to push for Arab-Israeli rapprochement.
Hanan
Ashrawi, a member of the executive committee of Palestine Liberation
Organization, said Kushner and his team were "scrambling to convince as
many Arab and Muslim leaders as possible" to give Trump a boost before his
re-election bid in November.
"They
will be a prop at the backdrop of a meaningless spectacle for a ridiculous
agreement that will not bring peace to the region," she added.
The
normalization deal sparked anger in the Middle East and elsewhere, with
Palestinian leaders describing it as a “stab in the back” by an Arab country.
Shortly
before the arrival of the US and Israeli officials, a blast hit American
fast-food restaurants KFC and Hardees on Abu Dhabi’s Rashid bin Saeed Street,
also known as the airport road where the American-Israeli delegation is
expected to land later on Monday.
Police
said the blast caused several minor and moderate injuries. According to the
National newspaper, other retail outlets were also damaged in the explosion.
A
separate explosion rocked the UAE’s tourism hub, Dubai, killing one person and
leaving several others injured.
Local
media reported that a gas cylinder went off in a Dubai restaurant early on
Monday and killed one person.
The
explosion caused a fire that damaged the ground floor of the building, the
newspaper quoted a Dubai Civil Defense spokesperson as saying. The blaze was
extinguished in 33 minutes.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/31/632999/Saudi-airspace-direct-Israel-UAE-flight-
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Beirut
explosion could cost more than $8 bln, says World Bank
31
August 2020
The
devastating Beirut blast caused up to $8.1 billion in damage and economic loss,
and Lebanon needs hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to recover, the World
Bank said Monday.
The
double explosion on August 4 shattered a vast section of the city’s port and
surrounding areas, killing scores of people and plunging the country into
further economic turmoil.
The
cost of material damage from the blasts ranges from $3.8 billion to $4.6
billion, while economic damage amounts to $2.9 billion to $3.5 billion
according to a bank estimate.
For
all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
Lebanon
now needs from $605 million to $760 million in urgent financial aid to bounce
back from the disaster, the World Bank said in a “Rapid Damage and Needs
Assessment” carried out with the United Nations and European Union.
The
economic sectors most affected were housing, transport and cultural heritage,
including religious and archeological sites, national monuments, theatres,
archives and libraries, the study found.
According
to the World Bank, beyond the immediate need for hundreds of millions of
dollars in aid, Lebanon will have to come up with an additional $1.18 billion
to $1.46 billion in 2021.
Priorities
for government spending would be transport, cultural needs and housing, the
assessment said.
On
a macro-economic level, the bank noted that the impact of the blast will be
felt through “losses in economic activity caused by the destruction of physical
capital” followed by “trade disruptions resulting in higher transaction costs
of external trade, and the loss of fiscal revenues.”
It
forecast that Lebanon’s gross domestic product would decline by an additional
0.4 percentage point this year and by an additional 0.6 percentage point in
2021.
The
country was already facing a grave economic crisis that has been aggravated the
coronavirus pandemic, and the World Bank had estimated earlier that its economy
would contract by 10.9 percent this year.
In
addition to causing a deeper recession, the blasts would increase poverty,
which the bank said already affected 45 percent of the population.
Given
Lebanon’s dire financial straits and lack of foreign exchange reserves, Beirut
will rely on international aid and private investment to recover, the
assessment said.
To
obtain sufficient funds, officials will have to enact a credible program of
reforms to guard against corruption, and focus on “breaking the hold of elite
capture, which has monopolized both private and public resources.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/business/economy/2020/08/31/Beirut-explosion-could-cost-more-than-8-bln-says-World-Bank-.html
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Lebanon
turns 100 as nation branded by upheaval, crises
31
August 2020
It
was a century ago on September 1, 1920, that a French general, Henri Gouraud,
stood on the porch of a Beirut palace surrounded by local politicians and
religious leaders and declared the State of Greater Lebanon — the precursor of
the modern state of Lebanon.
For
all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app.
The
current French president, Emmanuel Macron, is visiting Lebanon to mark the
occasion, 100 years later. But the mood could not be more somber.
Lebanon
has been hit by a series of catastrophes, including a financial crash. On
August 4, a massive explosion at Beirut's port killed at least 190 people and
injured thousands — the culmination of decades of accumulated crises, endemic
corruption and mismanagement by an entrenched ruling class.
Facing
potential bankruptcy and total collapse, many Lebanese are marking the
centennial with a feeling that their experiment as a nation has failed and
questioning their willingness to stay in the crisis-riddled country.
“I
am 53 years old and I don’t feel I had one stable year in this country,” said
prominent Lebanese writer Alexandre Najjar.
Like
others from his generation, Najjar lived through the 1975-1990 civil war, when
Beirut’s name became synonymous with hostages, car bombings and chaos.
He
was a teenager when Israel invaded Beirut in the summer of 1982, imposing a
suffocating siege of the capital for three months, and a young man when
Christian militias turned their guns on each other in 1989. When former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in a massive Beirut truck bombing in
2005, Najjar was in his late 30s.
The
following year, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a month-long war. In between,
countless other conflicts, bouts of sectarian fighting and other disasters
plagued one generation after another, leading to waves of Lebanese emigration.
But
the August 4 explosion, says Najjar, was the “peak of a failed state” — proof
that authorities cannot even provide basic public safety.
It
wasn’t supposed to be that way.
Following
the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, Lebanon fell under the French
mandate, starting in 1920. France governed for 23 years until the country
gained independence as the Lebanese Republic.
Home
to 18 different religious sects, it was hailed as a model of pluralism and
coexistence. The nation settled on an unwritten sectarian arrangement,
initially seen as the guarantee of stability but which many Lebanese now
consider a curse: the president would always be Christian, the prime minister
Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker Shia Muslim, with other posts similarly
divvied up.
In
the 1950s, under pro-Western President Camille Chamoun, the economy flourished
thanks to booming tourism and cash from oil-rich Arab nations. But his
presidency ended with the outbreak of Lebanon’s first civil war in 1958, which
lasted for several months and saw US troops land to help Chamoun.
Lebanon
saw its heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s, but then fell into disaster in
1975, with the start of the 15-year civil war that killed nearly 150,000
people, eventually pitting Lebanon’s sects against each other. Syrian troops
moved in, and Israel invaded twice — once in 1978, then again in 1982, in an
assault that forced late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and his fighters to
leave Lebanon.
US
interests were repeatedly attacked, most notably two bombings of the American
Embassy and the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 US
service members, the deadliest attack on the Marines since the battle of Iwo
Jima in 1945. On the same day, 58 French paratroopers were killed by a second
attacker who struck their installation in Beirut.
Israel’s
1982 invasion and the attacks on the Americans marked the rise of what later
became the militant group Hezbollah.
After
the civil war ended in 1990, the Iranian-backed Shia militia was the only one
allowed to keep its weapons because it was fighting Israeli occupation forces
in southern Lebanon. When Israel withdrew from the south in 2000, Hezbollah
kept its powerful fighting force, depicting itself as Lebanon’s defender. It
fought Israeli forces to a draw in 2006, and tensions remain high along the
border.
Today,
Hezbollah and its allies, led by President Michel Aoun, dominate Lebanese
politics and control a majority in parliament.
But
the Lebanese are deeply divided over Hezbollah. While many in the Shia
community are fiercely loyal to the group, and many non-Shias sympathize with
its anti-Israel stance, others increasingly see it as imposing Iran’s will on
the country.
Many
civil war-era warlords today head political factions, holding onto posts for
themselves or their families and controlling powerful local business interests.
The factions pass out positions in government ministries and public
institutions to followers or carve out business sectors for them, ensuring
their backing.
Corruption
has soared over the past two decades, and the sectarian-based patronage system
has left Lebanon with crumbling infrastructure, a bloated public sector and one
of the world’s highest debt ratios, at 170 percent of GDP — topped by a ruling
class that amassed fortunes.
Last
October, nationwide protests erupted over the worsening economy, and the
financial juggling act that had been the basis of Lebanon's prosperity since
1990 collapsed into the most severe economic crisis of the country's modern
history, made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Lebanon
is in its worst period over the past 100 years,” said legislator Marwan
Hamadeh. “We are in the worst stage, economically, politically and even when it
comes to national unity.”
“We
are currently occupied by Iran and its missiles,” added Hamadeh, who was
seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in 2004 that he blames on
Hezbollah.
Historian
Johnny Mezher says that to solve its problems, Lebanon could start by adopting
a law that boosts national identity rather than loyalty to one’s sect and helps
ensure qualifications determine who gets state posts, rather than sectarian
connections.
“Religious
figures should be prevented from meddling in politics,” he said.
Even
after seven decades of Lebanese independence, France still wields strong
influence on the tiny Mediterranean nation.
Two
days after the port blast — with Lebanese leaders totally absent — Macron
visited Beirut and toured one of the most heavily damaged neighborhoods to a
hero’s welcome, with some chanting “Vive La France.”
More
than 60,000 signed a petition to place Lebanon under French mandate for 10
years, an idea Macron firmly dismissed. “It’s up to you to write your history,”
he told the crowds.
On
his return trip, Macron will plant a tree in Beirut on Tuesday to mark the
centenary and meet with Lebanese officials to push them toward forming a
government and enacting reforms.
“There
is no doubt we were expecting the 100th anniversary to be different. We did not
expect this year to be catastrophic to this level,” said Najjar, who is a
lawyer, poet and author of about 30 books in French, including one that tells
the story of Beirut during the 20th Century.
“There
is still hope,” he said. “We have hit rock bottom and things cannot get worse.”
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2020/08/31/Lebanon-turns-100-as-nation-branded-by-upheaval-crises.html
--------
Southeast Asia
Indonesian
Militants at Large in Yemen, Southern Philippines
2020-08-31
Indonesia’s
counterterrorism chief said Monday that the appearance of an Indonesian
identity card in a video purportedly showing a Houthi raid on an Islamic
militants’ stronghold in Yemen indicated that Indonesian fighters may have
relocated to Yemen from Syria.
Footage
showing the ID card and Indonesian banknotes went viral on social media after
being posted on Twitter on Saturday by Faran Jeffery, deputy director of the
U.K.-based counter-terrorism think-tank Islamic Theology of Counter Terrorism.
“The
video on the discovery of the rupiah notes and the Indonesian ID card shows
that Indonesian FTFs [foreign terrorist fighters] move between war zones,”
National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Boy Rafli Amar said in a written
statement on Monday.
The
ID card in the name of Syamsul Hadi Anwar of Mojokerto, Central Java was found
at an al-Qaeda or Islamic State stronghold in Yemen’s al-Bayda province,
according to Jeffery, who shared videos via his Twitter account @Natsecjeff.
The
footage came from an “official Houthi media” account on Telegram and was likely
shot in recent weeks, Jeffery told BenarNews in a message.
Houthi
rebels are Shia Muslim insurgents backed by Iran who have been waging war
against the government in Yemen, which has the support of Saudi Arabia. The
conflict has raged since 2015, creating chaos and an acute humanitarian crisis.
The
United States has also conducted air strikes in Yemen targeting Al-Qaeda in the
Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and militants affiliated with the self-proclaimed
Islamic State (IS), according to the Council on Foreign Relations, a U.S.
think-tank.
According
to Boy, the video might have been of a Houthi attack on al-Qaeda and IS in
mid-August in the Bayda area.
Footage
of fighters going through belongings in the captured camp shows Indonesian
rupiah notes in denominations of 10,000, 5,000 and 2,000, as well as the ID
card.
“The
emergence of ISIS in the region cannot be separated from the protracted civil
war in Yemen. The defeat of ISIS in Syria and Iraq has caused a number of
fighters to relocate,” he said, using another acronym for the so-called Islamic
State group.
Boy
also said that lax border security had allowed militants to travel from Syria
to Yemen.
The
BNPT did not immediately respond when asked what further actions it was taking
to trace, verify or repatriate Indonesian fighters in Yemen.
Syamsul
Hadi, alias Abu Hatim Al Sundawy Al Indonesy, was a follower of “an important
figure in Syria” known as Ibn Mas’ud, according to Boy.
But
officials in Mojokerto regency in Central Java said that Syamsul Hadi Anwar’s
ID card appeared to be fake, as the address listed on the ID card was a
long-vacant house, and the name and number were not in the regency’s population
database.
The
head of the regency’s Civil Registry Department, Bambang Wahyuadi, told
Detik.com that the ID card was an old version without an electronic chip.
Between
400 and 600 Indonesians foreign terrorism fighters and their dependents are
still overseas, according Indonesian authorities, who base that number on data
from foreign intelligence agencies and the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC).
Most
of them are believed to be languishing in three camps in Syria, guarded by
different authorities.
In
February, the Indonesian government in February 2020 announced that it would
not repatriate its citizens who had joined IS overseas.
On
the run in Mindanao
Meanwhile,
the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday it had been informed
that two Indonesians were wanted by security forces in the southern Philippines
for alleged involvement in suicide bombings on the southern island of Jolo,
including one that killed 15 people and injured dozens of others last week.
On
Saturday, Philippine security forces launched a major operation to hunt down
Indonesians Andi Baso and Reski Fantasya (alias Cici) and said they could have
fled from Jolo to Zamboanga City after suicide attacks by two women belonging
to pro-IS group Abu Sayyaf last week.
They
allegedly fled with Mundi Sawadjaan, the nephew of Abu Sayyaf commander Hatib
Hajan Sawadjaan, who heads the IS branch in the Philippines.
“The
Indonesian Embassy in Manila has been informed of the above developments,”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah told BenarNews on Monday.
By
Monday, however, the commander of the Philippine military’s Western Mindanao
Command based in Zamboanga, Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., said the younger
Sawadjaan and the two Indonesians were still on Jolo Island, which is part of
Sulu province – long a hotbed of Muslim militancy.
The
south has long, unguarded and often porous borders, which have allowed militants
to move from one site to another undetected.
In
Jakarta, National Police spokesman Awi Setiyono said Andi was a fugitive in
Indonesia for his alleged involvement in a bomb attack at the Oikumene Church
in Samarinda, East Kalimantan province in 2016.
“We
are still hunting and coordinating with the Philippine police, exchanging
information about the fugitive,” Awi told BenarNews.
Andi
was part of the IS-affiliated Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) militant network in
Makassar, South Sulawesi, Awi said.
Meanwhile
Reski (Cici) is the daughter of Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani Saleh, who
allegedly carried out suicide bombings at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Cathedral in Jolo on Jan. 27, 2019.
Reski
and her parents left Indonesia to join IS in the Middle East, but were caught
by Turkish authorities in January 2017 and deported to Indonesia six months
later.
“After
returning to Indonesia, some of them illegally entered the southern Philippines
and carried out acts of terror such as the suicide bombing at the Jolo
Cathedral,” Awi told BenarNews, referring to Rullie and Ulfah.
‘He
kept moving’
Sidney
Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict
(IPAC), said Andi fled to Sabah, Malaysia, via Nunukan, North Kalimantan, after
the bomb attack in Samarinda.
“He
got a job in Sabah as a worker in an oil palm plantation, but an illegal one,”
Jones told BenarNews on Monday.
While
in Sabah, Andi established a new militant cell and succeeded in radicalizing
several other migrant workers. He also met Rullie and his family. Andi helped
Rullie travel to Mindanao in May 2018, and later escorted Rullie’s wife and
daughter to the Philippines in October.
According
to a wanted notice released by Philippines security forces at the weekend, Andi
and Reski are married and are “bomb experts.”
Andi
stayed in Mindanao starting in January 2019, and became active with IS-linked
groups there, according to IPAC research.
“Andi
does not have a permanent group in the Philippines. He kept moving, having
joined Daulah Islamiyah Baqiyah and then the Sawadjaan group,” Jones said.
https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/indonesian/Indonesians-Islamic-militants-08312020183502.html
--------
Peaceful
coexistence conducive to state’s development, says Sarawak chief minister
01
Sep 2020
KUCHING,
Sept 1 ― The multiracial and multi-religious people of Sarawak must live in
peaceful coexistence in order to provide an atmosphere conducive to
development, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He
said his administration was guided by the spirit of the ‘Medinah Charter’ used
during the time of Prophet Muhammad which recognised the rights of non-Muslims
that had allowed the mixed community to thrive during that time.
Speaking
during a ceremony for the presentation of certificates of appointment to
community leaders in Sri Aman division yesterday, the chief minister said one’s
religion was one’s personal affair with God and no one could usurp the power of
God to determine who “should go to heaven, or to hell”.
“My
religion is my religion and your religion is your religion,” he told those
present at the ceremony.
He
said Sarawak had set up the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) to assist
religions other than Islam as Sarawak’s resources belonged to the people of all
faiths.
“Unifor
is a unique feature of Sarawak’s social and religious understanding not found
anywhere else, that others wanted to adopt,” he added.
On
the role and functions of local community leaders, Abang Johari said they were
important arms of the government’s administration to oversee and manage
community affairs and issues on behalf of the government.
He
pointed out that the system of community leaders had a long history and existed
through the time of the White Rajah and the colonial administration.
The
Rajah and the British even appointed native officers to manage native affairs
and left the system intact, he said.
Present
with Abang Johari at the ceremony were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas
Uggah, Utilities Minister Dato Sri Stephen Rundi, Tourism, Arts and Culture
Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul
Samion. ― Borneo Post
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2020/09/01/peaceful-coexistence-conducive-to-states-development-says-sarawak-chief-min/1898948
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Philippines
to begin reconstruction work of mosques in war-torn Marawi
ELLIE
ABEN
September
01, 2020
MANILA:
The Philippine government is set to start the reconstruction in September of
three mosques in Marawi City. The mosques were among other places of worship
destroyed in 2017 when Daesh-inspired militants laid siege to the country’s
only Islamic city.
“[Repair
works] will start before the end of September. It will take four months to
complete Masjid Darussalam, five months for Masjid Disomangcop and six months
for the White Mosque,” Eduardo Del Rosario, Department of Human Settlements and
Urban Development (DHSUD) secretary, said in a message to Arab News.
Del
Rosario, who is also head of the task force overseeing the rehabilitation and
rebuilding of Marawi, said that the construction work on the three masjids —
the White Mosque, Masjid Darussalam, and Masjid Disomangcop, which are all
inside Marawi City’s most affected area (MAA) or ground zero — would take at
least four to six months to complete.
The
allotted budget for Masjid Darussalam is P4.39 million ($90,000); P12.25
million for Masjid Disomangcop; and P15.5 million for the White Mosque.
Del
Rosario said the difference in cost and duration of repair is primarily due to
the “size of the mosque and the complexity of the repairs to be undertaken.”
The
White Mosque, located beside the future Grand Padian Market and Fish Port of
Marawi, is frequented by Muslims who travel from the municipalities around
Lanao Lake and visit Marawi City for trade and other purposes.
Masjid
Disomangcop and Masjid Darussalam are located in the area where returning
residents are currently rebuilding their homes.
A
memorandum of agreement (MOA) to pave the way for the reconstruction of the
three mosques through incentivized use of housing developers’ escrow funds was
held at the DHSUD on Friday.
In
a statement following the signing of the MOA, Del Rosario said that it is the first
time that the department is releasing escrow funds amounting to P32.14 million.
“This
is a milestone in the history of the Department and Task Force Bangon Marawi
(TFBM). For the first time, we will use the escrow donation component for the
building of the first three mosques inside the MAA,” he said, adding that
President Rodrigo Duterte had stressed in a meeting in March that the
reconstruction of mosques destroyed during the five-month Marawi siege be
prioritized.
City
Mayor Majul Gandamra, TFBM Field Office Manager Assistant Secretary Felix
Castro Jr. and administrators of the three mosques took part in the MOA signing
event from Marawi via a Zoom meeting.
Present
at the DHSUD central office were officials from the Ayala-led BellaVita Land
Corp. and Property Company of Friends Inc., or Pro-Friends, the contributors of
the escrow funds that will be used for the project.
Gandamra
and the administrators of the three mosques expressed gratitude to President
Duterte and Del Rosario for their commitment to rebuild Marawi City.
Del
Rosario, for his part, reiterated that the government, through the TFBM, is
keen on rebuilding 31 masjids in Marawi, including the Dansalan Bato Ali Mosque
and the Grand Mosque, with the help of donations from private organizations.
The
mosques were destroyed during intense combat operations by the military to
dislodge members of the Maute group who staged the siege.
According
to Del Rosario, the TFBM considers the repair of these mosques as crucial to
the “social healing of the Maranaos affected by the conflict.”
“These
mosques are important monuments of Muslim history and Islamic tradition in the
Philippines. The generosity and goodwill of our partner-developers will go a
long way in boosting the morale and contributing to the overall well-being of
the people of Marawi, which were destroyed along with these physical structures
that represent and embody their faith,” Del Rosario said.
He
added that they are now waiting for the finalization of the program design and
terms of reference for the rehabilitation of the Dansalan Bato Ali Mosque and
the Grand Mosque.
The
Grand Mosque is the largest mosque in Marawi and Northern Mindanao and an icon
of the Islamic faith in Marawi.
The
Bato Mosque is the oldest in Marawi, built on a strategic location inside the
MAA, with an elevated view of Lanao lake.
It
was where the militants kept hostages during the siege. After being heavily
damaged during the battle, the mosque had to be demolished. The TFBM said a new
mosque will be built on the same site at an estimated cost of P105 million.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1727691/world
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Africa
Sudanese
rebels agree to key peace deal with transitional government
31
August 2020
Sudan’s
transitional government and main rebel alliance have reached a landmark peace
agreement aimed at ending a 17-year-old conflict in the Northeast African
state.
The
SUNA news agency said on Sunday that the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), an
alliance of rebel groups from the western Darfur region and the southern states
of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, had inked a peace deal with the government.
A
formal signing ceremony is scheduled for Monday in Juba, the capital of South
Sudan, which helped broker the agreement, with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla
Hamdok and a number of his cabinet members in attendance.
The
peace deal covers key issues including security, land ownership, power sharing,
and the return of refugees to their homes. The dismantling of rebel forces and
their integration into the country’s army is also included in the agreement.
Hamdok
said Sunday that due to the complexity of the issues, closing the final deal
had taken more time than he had expected following an initial agreement reached
during talks between the two sides in Juba last September.
“At
the Juba declaration in September [2019], everyone expected peace to be signed
within two or three months, but ...we realized that the questions were of one
great complexity,” Hamdok noted. ‘However, we were able to accomplish this
great work, and this is the start of peace-building.”
Two
other key rebel groups have, however, refused to take part in the deal — a
faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement, led by Abdelwahid Nour, and a wing of
the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), headed by Abdelaziz
al-Hilu.
The
transitional government took power in Sudan in August 2019 following the ouster
of longtime leader Omar al-Bashir earlier in the year. The ruling council has
since been seeking to make peace with the rebel groups, a key condition for the
country’s removal from the United States’ so-called terror sponsor list.
The
rebel groups — mainly from Sudan’s non-Arab minority — have been fighting
Khartoum against what they see as economic and political injustice.
In
Darfur, about 300,000 people have lost their lives since the armed rebellion
broke out there in 2003, according to the United Nations.
The
conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile erupted in 2011 over unresolved issues
from Sudan’s 1983-2005 civil war.
https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/08/31/632975/Sudan-rebels-peace-deal-Juba
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Leading
Rwandan dissident arrested over terror links
James
Tasamba
31.08.2020
The
Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) on Monday said it has in its custody leading
Rwandan dissident Paul Rusesabagina, who is accused of terror activities.
Rusesabagina
allegedly heads the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), which Rwanda
accuses to be a terrorist organization.
In
a statement, RIB said Rusesabagina, who lived in exile, was arrested through
international cooperation.
He
is suspected to be the founder, leader, sponsor and member of extremist terror
outfits, including MRCD and PDR-Ihumure, operating out of various places in the
region and abroad, it said.
He
had been the subject of an international arrest warrant, wanted on charges of
serious crime, including terrorism, arson, kidnap and murder, perpetrated
against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians on Rwandan territory, including in
Nyaruguru district in June 2018 and in Nyungwe, Nyamagabe district in December
2018, according to the bureau.
It
added that the case is being processed in accordance with Rwandan criminal
procedure.
Rusesabagina,
66, was in 2011 awarded a human rights prize by the Lantos Foundation for Human
Rights and Justice, an honor criticized by Rwanda genocide survivors group.
He
inspired the Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, in which as a hotelier, he is
depicted as having sheltered people during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi
ethnic group.
The
2004 film told the story of how Rusesabagina used his influence as a manager to
bribe, and convince military officials to secure a safe escape for about 1,200
people who sought refuge at the Mille Collines hotel in the capital Kigali.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/leading-rwandan-dissident-arrested-over-terror-links/1958624
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South Asia
Myanmar:
Deep reforms must end vicious violence against Rohingya minority
31st
Aug 2020
By
Merve Aydogan
(AA):
The International Crisis Group (ICG) has called for dialogue and deep reform to
address issues of citizenship, improve the administrative structure, and rein
in the increasing violence in Myanmar.
Ethnicity
and conflict are inextricably linked in Myanmar, creating a vicious cycle of
violence that continues to escalate, the Brussels-based organization said in a
report published on Friday.
“The
state’s inability to address ethnic minority grievances or provide adequate
security to communities has created a literal arms race among minority groups,”
said the report released on the third anniversary of the 2017 crackdown that
marked the start of the genocide of Rohingya Muslims by the Myanmar army.
It
said Myanmar must initiate reforms in “citizenship, the country’s
administrative structure and the peace process with the aim of making ethnicity
less central to the political and legal domains.”
The
group urged Myanmar authorities and leaders to immediately pursue more
manageable changes “such as the language and narratives they use when
discussing ethnicity and conflict.”
The
report underlined that Myanmar, since its independence in 1948, has struggled
to forge a national identity reflecting its ethnic diversity.
The
country’s leaders have perpetuated dangerous notions of ethnic identity that
divide rather than unify its national races, read the report titled Identity
Crisis: Ethnicity and Conflict in Myanmar.
“Ethnic
minority grievances toward the state have perpetuated some of the world’s
longest-running armed conflicts,” said the report.
Minorities’
grievances and the way forward
Highlighting
that the country’s Burman elite continue to control most levers of power, the
ICG report said Myanmar’s leaders have done little to address “minority
grievances or build a more inclusive national identity.”
It
said the government’s failure to protect minority communities has led “tens of
thousands of people to take up arms – both for and against the state, and both
allied with or acting against armed groups representing rival ethnicities.”
“Ethno-nationalism
is at the core of all these groups, a characteristic that often sets them
against their neighbors,” the report added.
On
the ongoing violence against minority groups in the state of Rakhine by the
Myanmar military, the report said “the vicious fighting … since 2018 underlines
the dangers of ethnicity’s growing social and political salience.”
“Non-Rakhine
minorities in Rakhine State have found themselves caught between two warring
groups, neither of which they can rely on for protection,” it said.
“The
insecurity that such conflicts generate only encourages the creation of ever
more armed groups, a phenomenon that has recurred over and over in Myanmar’s
modern history.”
Acknowledging
that “charting a more tolerant and inclusive future for the country will not be
easy,” the ICG said one of the first steps was that “communities must be free
to celebrate their ethnic heritage, culture and identity.”
However,
it said that citizenship and protection should not be based on membership in
particular ethnic categories.
“[…]
Ethnicity should be delinked from the territory, and politics and the peace
process must become venues for resolving grievances and charting a more
peaceful future, rather than cementing arbitrary ethnic categories and
encouraging zero-sum competition between different groups,” the report said.
Myanmar’s
most targeted community is the Rohingya, who have been described by the UN as
the world’s most persecuted people.
According
to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women,
and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces
launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017, pushing
the number of persecuted people in Bangladesh above 1.2 million.
Since
Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s
state forces, according to a report by the Ontario International Development
Agency (OIDA).
More
than 34,000 Rohingya were also thrown into fires, while over 114,000 others
were beaten, said the OIDA report, titled Forced Migration of Rohingya: The
Untold Experience.
As
many as 18,000 Rohingya women and girls were raped by Myanmar’s army and police
and over 115,000 Rohingya homes were burned down, while 113,000 others were
vandalized, it added.
http://muslimnews.co.uk/news/south-east-asia/myanmar-deep-reforms-must-end-vicious-violence-against-rohingya-minority/
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New
State Peace Minister appointed for Afghanistan, political gridlock unleashes
31
Aug 2020
KABUL,
Afghanistan – The Afghan political gridlock unleashed as both President
Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council
for National Reconciliation agreed on a single candidate for the Ministry of
Peace.
Seddiq
Seddiqi, a spokesperson to Presidential Palace announced the names of the 9
cabinet members and the new State Minister for Peace on Monday.
Sadat
Mansoor Naderi, the former Minister of Urban Development and Housing has been
appointed as the State Minister for Peace in a compromise by Ghani and
Abdullah.
Salam
Rahimi, a close ally to Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani was the former
State Minister of Peace, he has recently been appointed as President’s Special
Envoy to peace Affairs as well as a deputy to the High Council of the National
Reconciliation chaired by Abdullah Abdullah.
Sadat
has graduated with a First Class BA Honors Degree in International Business and
Economics from the UK.
This
comes as the intra-Afghan dialogue is more likely to kick-off next week in Doha
with the presence of Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for
National Reconciliation.
Both
the Afghan side and the Taliban negotiating teams will discuss over a potential
peace deal which shall pave the way to ending a prolonged war and violence
years in Afghanistan.
Afghans
are hopeful and at the same time concerned about the future. They have a fear
of losing those values they have achieved in the past 2 decades.
Taliban
will more likely emphasize an interim-government, an Islamic structure for the
new government and modification of the constitution.
The
negotiators from the Afghan government will demand a ceasefire, defend the
Republic of Afghanistan as the future governance structure, welcoming the
Taliban for a power-sharing deal in the new government.
https://www.khaama.com/new-peace-minister-appointed-for-afghanistan-political-gridlock-unleashes/
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Former
Senator Hasan Hotak Shot Dead in Kabul
By
Mohammad Arif Sheva
Sep
1, 2020
KABUL,
Afghanistan – A former senator from Southern Zabul province Mohammad Hasan
Hotak was shot dead in Kabul, local authorities confirmed earlier this day.
According
to officials, the former lawmaker was killed, as a number of unidentified armed
men opened fire in Qala-e-Wazir area of Afghan capital Sunday evening.
Security
officials did not provide further details, but said an investigation is
underway to bring the perpetrator to justice.
No
group or individual has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Meanwhile,
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack, calling security officials
for a prompt investigation on the case, the Presidential Palace said on a
statement.
Sanator
Hotak was one of the influenced personalities of Zabul province, who – aside
for representing his people – devoted himself to their comfort and peace,
according to the statement.
https://www.khaama.com/former-senator-hasan-hotak-shot-dead-in-kabul-235346/
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Afghanistan
ready for Taliban negotiations: High Council for National Reconciliation
31
August 2020
Afghanistan’s
chief of the High Council for National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah, told
Al Arabiya on Sunday that the Afghan delegation is ready for next week’s
negotiations with Taliban that marks another attempt to reach a long-term
ceasefire after the country’s 18 years of war.
Obstacles
that stood before the peace talks, including the issue of prisoners, were
discussed by A Loya Jirga, the Afghan assembly of tribal leaders, at a meeting
earlier this week, according to Abdullah.
“It
was like a guidance to our negotiating team to preserve the values which the
people of Afghanistan have made sacrifices for,” Abdullah said.
The
possibility of peace has emerged in Afghanistan after the US and the Taliban
signed a peace deal in February, creating a path for the US to gradually pull
out of its longest war – but experts expected the move to complicate talks
between warring sides in Afghanistan.
The
Afghan government said it stood ready to negotiate and conclude a ceasefire
with the Taliban, and it affirmed its support for the phased withdrawal of US
and coalition forces subject to the Taliban’s fulfillment of its commitments.
Abdullah
also talked about the Pakistani role in the reconciliation process, saying that
the Pakistani leadership said that it will be supportive of the peace process,
but added that “the background [of the official stance] is different.”
The
war, which has killed tens of thousands of people, began when the United States
launched attacks on Afghanistan just weeks after the September 11, 2001,
attacks on New York and Washington by the Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda militant
group.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2020/08/31/Afghanistan-ready-for-Taliban-negotiations-High-Council-for-National-Reconciliation.html
--------
Taliban
attacks on US military bases in Afghanistan raise questions
31
Aug 2020
Taliban
militants have recently launched rocket attacks on the two US military bases in
southern Afghanistan which is an act in contrast to the US-Taliban deal signed
in late February, the New York Times reported.
The
Taliban will investigate the rockets shelling on Camp Bastion and Camp Dwyer in
Helmand province as they were ordered not to attack the American forces,
Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesperson to the Taliban military section has said.
According
to NYT dozens of rockets were launched on Camp Bastion in late July and several
rockets fall on Camp Dwyer, 50 miles South of Camp Bastion.
The
question is why neither the U.S forces nor the local authorities reported these
incidents to the media, but it is being leaked when Afghans and Taliban at the
eve of starting the intra-Afghan dialogues in Doha.
Camp
Bastion was once the logistics hub for US and NATO troops in Helmand.
This
comes as the Taliban and the United States signed a peace pact in February 2020
under which the Taliban made a commitment not to fight the foreign troops in
Afghanistan and the US agreed to withdraw from Afghanistan in 14 months.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-attacks-on-a-us-military-base-in-afghanistan-raises-questions-8797976/
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Taliban
Self-Proclaimed District Governor Killed in Badakhshan
By
Mohammad Arif Sheva
31
Aug 2020
BADAKHSHAN,
Afghanistan – A Taliban self-proclaimed district governor to Mymi district of
Badakhshan province in northeast Afghanistan killed in a battle with Afghan
security forces, local authorities confirmed.
Sanaullah
Rohani, spokesman to the local police, told Khaama Press the incident occurred
in Wodab area of Mymi district on Monday morning, adding Taliban
self-proclaimed district governor Ziaulhaq killed during the clashes.
At
least two further Taliban killed in the battle, he added.
According
to Rohani, initially the Taliban insurgents launched shootouts, who were then
driven away after Afghan security forces responded.
Taliban
did not immediately comment on the claim.
https://www.khaama.com/taliban-self-proclaimed-district-governor-killed-in-badakhshan-545345/
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